BLUEMOMENT

I had invited an esteemed fellow member of this forum to join me for today's racing and he had accepted in a manner that I thought indicated enthusiasm. So I duly stocked the boat with milk, coffee/tea, alcohol (several varieties), mince pies, cup-a-soups, biscuits, bars of chocolate, to add to the provisions already carried to ensure his stay would be a pleasant one.

And what happens? Start time comes and goes and no sign of the old codger. Possibly his dementia kicked in and he forgot all about it but I'm inclined to think that a wee bit of inclement weather put him off and this a man who looks the part, clothes himself in the latest Musto HPX gear, tells tales of ocean crossings, and gives the impression of being a grizzled sea-dog.

I seek advice from the forum on the appropriate response one should make when one has been so sorely let down by man previously held in high regard.


As it happened all today's racing was cancelled despite it being the 1st Sunday with wind for ages, but what's that got to do with it?

marisca wrote:this a man who looks the part, clothes himself in the latest Musto HPX gear, tells tales of ocean crossings, and gives the impression of being a grizzled sea-dog.

A member of this parish? (And no, not me, my bottom is only MPX)

Interesting picture. Which country was it taken in, cos it sure doesn't look like anywhere in the UK to me. Sweden?

I live at the top of a very steep hill and when I peered into the darkness at 0700 I could see a snowdrift where I had left my automobile yesterday, so went back to bed. My Mustos had their annual wash last weekend so I was damned if I was going to get them all snowy.

Arghiro wrote:Interesting picture. Which country was it taken in, cos it sure doesn't look like anywhere in the UK to me. Sweden?

The boat looks a bit like Marisca and I think it will have looked very much like that at dawn today..

Actually it's Holland - I nicked the pic off the Contessa Assoc website. The snow was a bit too heavy for photos this morning but Marisca did look very much like that.

Border Maid wrote:I live at the top of a very steep hill and when I peered into the darkness at 0700 I could see a snowdrift where I had left my automobile yesterday, so went back to bed. My Mustos had their annual wash last weekend so I was damned if I was going to get them all snowy.

A little contrition was all I was seeking not some paltry excuses. At the "bottom" of a steep hill might have been valid but from the top he could easily have rolled down (then all he would have needed was a carrot and some coal), and as for "I'd just washed my Mustos and couldn't do a thing with them" - gie's a break. Agreeing to be racing crew should be regarded as a solemn promise with only death or severe disablement as a let out, and then only with a note from his mother. If this man cannot keep such a solemn pledge, goodness knows what other calumnies and malfeasance he is capable of (and he probably ends sentences with prepositions!).

Cleared my paths and the surrounding streets of snow and now I'm bored!

Border Maid wrote:

Arghiro wrote:Interesting picture. Which country was it taken in, cos it sure doesn't look like anywhere in the UK to me. Sweden?

The boat looks a bit like Marisca and I think it will have looked very much like that at dawn today..

What? Frozen in & with the pontoons nicked?

I doubt it unless she's in static fresh water. It was the mooring technique that made me think it was not a UK system.

Arghiro wrote:

Border Maid wrote:

Arghiro wrote:Interesting picture. Which country was it taken in, cos it sure doesn't look like anywhere in the UK to me. Sweden?

The boat looks a bit like Marisca and I think it will have looked very much like that at dawn today..

What? Frozen in & with the pontoons nicked?

I doubt it unless she's in static fresh water. It was the mooring technique that made me think it was not a UK system.

I think you're being a bit literalist. I was thinking of the piles of snow everywhere, mostly. Normally when you can see her Marisca looks far, far, nicer than that, everything carefully maintained down to the finely hand-stitched spinnaker. Not to mention her rugged yet softly-spoken master. [/obsequious fawning]

Arghiro wrote:I doubt it unless she's in static fresh water.

Doesn't need to be static fresh water to freeze - the marina where my boat is freezes over occasionally - and that's a mix of salt and fresh.

Pete Cooper wrote:

Arghiro wrote:I doubt it unless she's in static fresh water.

Doesn't need to be static fresh water to freeze - the marina where my boat is freezes over occasionally - and that's a mix of salt and fresh.

Chichester Marina's brackish, here it is last winter:

http://fattie.freehostia.com/FrozenChi/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...and here were are following a plastic ice breaking sloop out a few winters ago:


Mind you, I've seen Langstone Harbour Frozen in parts and the sea off Southend frozen, so maybe frozen salt water might not be *that* rare even in England.

Thin bits of ice were floating up the Forth this morning on the flood. We're a long way from the sea, so although the river is tidal (and for about another two miles to the west of us) I doubt if there is much, if any, salt water in it. It froze solid, with ice a couple of feet thick, a few years ago. We were woken up one night by very loud groaning and creaking when the thaw came. There were great lumps of ice banging up and down for several days after.

Shard wrote:It froze solid, with ice a couple of feet thick, a few years ago. We were woken up one night by very loud groaning and creaking when the thaw came. There were great lumps of ice banging up and down for several days after.

Ahh yes. August in Scotland.

Shard wrote:We were woken up one night by very loud groaning and creaking when the thaw came.

Aye, the caul' fairly goes fer an auld body!