Nugland

So, the wingnut rump of the Republican party seems to want to expel all the old-school Republicans, and they like to call them RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).

What should people call the non-RINO Republicans? Well, according to my friend Mark Best, the answer is:

BLOND PIGs

Bullies, Liars, Obstructionists and Nuts Driving the Party Into the Grave.

Nicely done, says I… Continue reading

Centennial spent all of its prior life on a mooring, which made shore power hook-ups semi-irrelevant. Slips (with power included) are remarkably affordable and convenient at Meinke’s on Lake Erie, so I added shore power. Pretty cheaply, I must add.

The inlet you see above was less than $60 from eBay, and the inside bits were all off-the-shelf… Continue reading

Yeah, I think we got it sorted out. What you will need:

• A big onion. You’ve seen ‘em at the store.
• Besan (gram- or chickpea-flour). This is what South Asians make Pakora and Bhajis from.
• Flour. Plain ol’ white flour, please.
• Amchur. (Powdered dried green mango.)

Jo and I went down to Meinke’s on Friday night. We checked out my wiring job (all the lights work correctly!) and sacked out on board.

This morning (Saturday) we got up, made breakfast, and motored out onto Lake Erie and hoisted sail. We were able to do all the things we tried. Neat-O!

We sailed up… Continue reading | 2 Comments

Click the above if you want to show Centennial Pride at the Stop&Shop. Or wherever it is that you buy your necessities. All profits go to CafePress… Continue reading | 3 Comments

We got the last sail — the main — on today, and we took a crack at hooking up the mast-head lights (won’t know if that worked until we are down there in the dark, but it feels correct).

Sailing next weekend? Looks like it… Continue reading

There was light wind — and that right on the Centennial’s nose — so I was able to get the Mizzen put on (‘bent’) today. The lazy-jacks seemed to work OK, and the sail cover was easy to get on.

Don’t know if I’ll be sailing on Saturday, but we’re darn close… Continue reading

Gives a good idea of scale.

This was an iPhone snap; I toned it a little… Continue reading

As Mark Best tells us, it is every boat-owners dream to get their boat in the water before Labor Day… Continue reading | 3 Comments

And not taking on any water (as far as I can tell). (There’s a boat across the channel, a little powerboat, that has a bilge pump that kicks off every five or ten minutes; Centennial is drier than that, for sures, anyway.)

Sam and I got quite the ride getting her from the launching slip to B-106 where… Continue reading

Wow, there’s a sailboat. We contracted for mast-hoisting service, they showed up, and everything went together from there.

The stays were all the correct length, and all the turn-buckles pinned in fine. The ropes were correctly run. The wires all pulled through. Jeez, September 5th. All ready to go in the water.

Awesome… Continue reading | 1 Comment

And there it is, all painted. In person, the bottom paint doesn’t look as red as it does here; more coppery. And less blotchy, actually. The copper in the paint makes the camera go kinda’ nutty.

I am so pleased with how it came out.

(The photo is another quicky HDR, BTW.)… Continue reading | 1 Comment

This is actually an HDR composite of 3 bracketed shots. It’s not a perfect job, but it was my first HDR, and it was done quickly.

Went down and started painting the bottom (no, ‘bottom-painting’ does not involve a submissive in any way). I used the Interlux VC17m stuff that was so scary sounding, but, with a few… Continue reading

Sam and his buddy came by and helped us get the leeboards back up. It was a lot easier than taking them down, and not just because we had two more people helping; this time we used the ropes that lift them normally to lift them into position. Also: they weren’t dirty and gross.

The VC17m bottom… Continue reading

This week wasn’t one of many accomplishments on the Centennial front. There were other, real-life things that took up time, and the one visit to Curtice didn’t accomplish much.

We did get our Ohio boat registration sticker. Even that seemed up in the air for a few minutes: The published requirements make a big deal about needing an HIN

Over the weekend we were able to get the shrouds, stays and halyards back onto the mast. The new leather on the shrouds looks great, and the halyards are cleaner. I’d post a pic, but I left my camera in Ann Arbor.

The bobstay chain came down (after much struggling with the shackles) and we were able to… Continue reading | 1 Comment

As some of you may already know, I’m a huge fan of the BBC show Top Gear. You may also know that I’m a fan of the site Jalopnik.com.

That all comes together in a video they linked that features Jeremy (‘Jizza’) Clarkson clips mixed into an electronica video.

If you’re into that kind of thing, I conveniently (for you) ripped an MP3 of… Continue reading

We were able to get the lettering done today. I really like the way it turned out.

We printed the letters out full size on paper, then stuck them up with a glue stick. Then I took a razor and cut along the letter edges.

After the paper was taken off (and the glue residue cleaned up)… Continue reading

Probably far from comprehensive, but I wanted to get as much written down as possible:

• Re-rig the masts in preparation for hoisting them
• Review all safety equipment requirements (with an emphasis on equipment with expiration dates – fire extinguishers, flares, etc.)
• Bottom paint (and reviewing old photos really makes me want to throw some of the copper-bronze on the leeboards)
• Legalize the potty (including, perhaps