Our New World

On vaccines and masks:

 A great flood happened.

A man was forced to climb to the second floor. He was looking out the window and a canoe passed. “Do you need help?” The people in the canoe called to the man. “Oh no, God will provide.” So the canoe went on it’s way.

The water kept on rising and the man was forced to go onto his roof. He was sitting there looking around when a helicopter flew close by and a man inside called, “Hey! Need a lift?”, and the man said, “Oh no, God will provide!”

The water rose even higher and the man drowned. He went up to heaven, met God and said, “I trusted you! You were supposed to provide!” And god said, “I sent you a canoe, and a helicopter!”

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He gave us a brain, the brain gave us reason, science that explains the reasons for good hygiene, and vaccines. We should probably be gracious for the gift of reason and use it. (From me, a complete atheist.)

Times are changing and the bubble is opening. We are all thankful for the vaccine and natural immunities that have made this possible. But there is now a new virus in the world, it isn't going away, and we aren't going back to the good old days. In fact, the good old days were full of seasonal colds, the flu, polio, and lots of things that took children before they were adults, adults before they live a full life, and ruined our quality of life. They weren't really that good, and in fact, it seems we were just enjoying one of those idyllic interludes between periodic plagues, ice ages, and world wars. 

Better to work our way through change, which is never easy. The pre-911 world is not coming back, but we have gotten used to it and hardly notice the differences unless we dwell futilly on the past, and some ways it is probably better.

Adapt. Immune compromised people will need to remain vigilant and they will have to take more precautions; annual vaccines and mask wear in many settings. Healthy people will need to be courteous to others and take a few precautions that seem unnecessary to them. In the future there will be no "cover your mouth when you sneeze" or "cough into your elbow." If you have a cold or even allergies, politeness and good hygiene will demand you wear a mask, and not to wear a mask when you have the sneezes will be fundamentally rude. If you think about it, it has ALWAYS been rude and inconsiderate to spread your germs and make other people sick, but we all did it anyway. Now we have better tools not to.

It no longer feels "weird" to wear a mask in the grocery store or office, so I hope we will when we should. It won't be all the time, but will be when we are sick or when some new surge comes along. It may be smart in an airport terminal, and on the same day superfluous in a quiet restaurant. We need to be thoughtful, and determine the difference, not based on politics or local fashion or the fashion of the moment, but based on the situation.

It comes back to reason. I'm looking forward to wearing a mask only as needed, and at the same time, if I can be smart about it, avoiding seasonal colds and all the rest. That would be nice.

 

Mano a Mano

I enjoy the simplicity of trolling for big rockfish with a cuban yo-yo. I can keep the sinkers and long leaders rigged, they take no space to store so I can easily keep many different rigs prepared, they rig to the rail quickly, and most of all, they work.

Rockfish (striped bass)--38 inches

Caught on a large swimming plug at ~ 4 knots

I've been told a large fish will snap the line. Apparently not, certainly not today. The only rigs I've lost have been to crab pots I didn't see. I've been told you need a bungee cord shock absorber. Since I troll 150 feet of 80-pound mono-filament and that can stretch 10 times as far as any reasonable bungee cord, the bungee cord makes little sense if you actually do the math; an additional 30 feet of line will do as much. I've been told you can't play a large fish. Well, I landed the above 38-incher in minutes without gloves and no strain. I did walk up and down the side decks a bit for this one; she started running toward the boat faster than I could wind, but not faster than I could easily walk and wind.

Mostly, I like the Old Man and the Sea, whether the book, or the performances by Spencer Tracy or Anthony Quinn. There is something basic about pulling in a fish in with minimal technology. Fishing should be a simple thing, man against prey--it's nothing when reduced to an arms race, graphite composites and fish finders and stainless steel and all of human technology, against a simple fish.

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Note to sailors: you've got to slow down to catch rockfish; 3.5 to 4.5 knots seems to be the best range. Later in the summer, particularly in the southern Chesapeake, you may catch bluefish at 6-8 knots.

Tricolor vs. Red-Over-Green + Sidelights

 A sailboat needs to show red and green sidelights when sailing (no all-around white, as when motoring).

Boats under 20 meters can substitute a tricolor at the top of the mast. (Not a masthead light BTW--that is a steaming light located on the front of the mast, AKA a steaming light. A confusing matter of COLREGS definitions.) The primary advantage when the rule came out is that fewer bulbs and fewer amps were required. Additionally, it can be more visible in waves.

 

 

Another option is red-over-green, which can be used on any size boat. It may not be used in combination with a tri-color, probably because it could be confused with certain task light combinations (restricted ability to maneuver, underwater operations, dredging) from certain angles and in poor conditions. It is the only high location that can be used by larger sailing vessels, so many believe it is only for over 20 meters or that it is required over 20 meters, but neither is true.

 

 

Notice that in the COLREGS illustration the green light will be reflect of the sails and will be obscured in some sectors. Since it is supplemental, I guess the latter is considered non-critical. It would be a minor arc of the genoa. The reflection off the sail might be quite annoying. But the blocked sectors could be large, about 120 degrees, where as 6 degrees is the COLREGS limit for other lights, such as anchor lights.

 

 

Testing Paint

 Late Summer I hung 7 test panels with 20 paints from a dock in the Mid-Chesapeake Bay (Deale, MD) as part of a Practical Sailor project. Prior projects have all been seawater. I also applied 50 of these paints to my Corsair F-24. Today I pulled them out for a quick look see. No cleaning, just a check-up.

We don't get much growth in the cold season.You can see it in the non-painted frames. Some are doing amazingly well (the white is actually still that white), and some not very different from untreated areas.

All of the paints are either copper-free or formulated to the new EPA/CA/WA copper leach rate, which most of the good multi-season paints already met (or the copper would not have lasted 3 years--kinda of obvious in retrospect.

 

 

 

They'll be hanging there for 3 years, with us checking on them about twice per year. We'll rotate positions. In the summer they will hang from floats to better control the depth (ice is a problem in the winter).