July 25, 2004

Avast ye scurvy bunch! __ l˜_ l˜____ )____) l )____) )____ )l)_____) )____) l )____) \ •º•º•º•º•\ / ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ Tall Ships, Regattas and fond memories.
posted by squeak 20 years ago
  • Memories of sailing in open water came back recently, and I wondered if there were any other monkeys entranced by the call of the sea?
  • Went to one of these once. (Excuse pdf.) Pretty fine.
  • No call to the sea here, but I have to say that's one awesome ship!
  • No sailing in open water experience here, but I'm up to book twelve in the Patrick O'Brian series, does that count? Oh, and nice artwork on the post. ))))
  • One of my clients is a nautical photographer. I've gotten to sale with him on a couple of assignments. One of which was a tall ship. Absolutely spectacular.
  • I could so easily come to hate all of you. ...entranced by the call of the sea? Wot a stark staring mad thing to say. O how I love dramamine! Only wish it had been around when I woz a hapless youth being carried/dragged/marched aboard THINGS THAT WON'T HOLD STILL!
  • Stands up, cheers. ))) First use of ASCII art I've seen here OR in the Blue. Remarkable that it ain't happened before. Brilliant!
  • It is one of my aims in life to befriend a wealth person with a yacht and proceed to exloit our friendship for sea trips down the western coast of Mexico. Any takers? (Banana for nicest post relief from angry yelling about terrorists ever)
  • Do *not* encourage ASCII art. You have no idea how bad it will get.
  • I'll try not to encourage the FPP art, but can't help appreciate it. Clever! Especially since I love ships and sailing -- I saw the Tall Ships when I lived in Halifax and like a good Canadian, have toured the Blue Nose (the one on the dime). Learned to sail as a kid on tiny lasers and still can't be trusted with anything much larger; but I do abuse the friendship of the few I know with pocket cruisers at every available opportunity. My goal being to eventually sail to Fiji. Or Tahiti. I haven't totally decided yet.
  • What a magnificent ship, squeak! Beautiful stuff. (Slightly perplexed by her nature though. She appears to be a two decker with only two sails... :-) Like ambrosia, my experience of sailing over the past decade or so has come only from books, mainly O'Brian's, and films and stuff. Living in Cornwall as a child, I used to sail a fair bit, but haven't had the opportunity in a very long time. But some friends and I are planning to spend a few weeks next summer doing nothing but messing about in boats... I can't wait. (Oh, and ambrosia - book twelve? Last time we mentioned O'Brian, weren't you just beginning Desolation Island? That's some going. Took me over two years to get through the twenty. Nice work...)
  • Oceans sailed on boats with actual sails
  • I had a call to the ocean. But after 12 days sailing on a two mast schooner, of which I spent 12 days hanging overboard, I concluded I was one of those few people who never overcome sea sickness. Patches and pills don't work for me, I couldn't even keep water in and was totally dried out after those 12 days. Too bad.
  • Oh, and ambrosia - book twelve? Last time we mentioned O'Brian, weren't you just beginning Desolation Island? Ummm, yeah. *Looks down and kicks the ground, slightly embarrassed* You were absolutely right about Desolation Island- the pursuit of the Leopard by the Waakzaamheid was brilliant, and for a while there I was cranking through about one book a week, until I hit book eleven, which took me a while to get through. (I'm a lawyer dammit, I didn't start reading Patrick O'Brian to read about trials!) But now things are back on track. I'm going away next week to the beach and have books thirteen and fourteen queued up in anticipation.
  • Oops! "You" would be flashboy...
  • Do *not* encourage ASCII art. I am teh Warlord of teh West!!!
  • Alas, the sea calls, but 300 miles of dirt separates us, so our love must go unfullfilled. O'Brian and his ilk will have to fill the void. Can't say I've actually sailed any tall ships, but I've sat upon several while those more able-bodied did the grunt work.
  • Wolof- would you be so kind as to entertain us with details of your travels?
  • The art is amazing, squeak, and deserves to be encouraged. Many, many )s.
  • Way cool, Wolof! Do tell a bedtime story or two.
  • Here's something I never want to see.
  • I have nothing but praise for the ascii art ... and I seem to be the only sailing monkey here ... (ship's monkey?) ... avast ye landlubbers etc etc etc
  • On two-masted fishing and other schooners.
  • thoses are some gorgeous photos surlyboi. re: Wolof's linK -- "rogue" wave delights me in a very cartoon-y way, but once I stop picturing water-with-sentience, that is bloody terrifying, 25 feet of angry vertical sea and all chalked up to "bad weather"!
  • This is my favourite rogue wave picture.
  • Rogue waves - the story told by Shackleton of the voyage to South Gerogia in the James Caird has my favourite (terrifying) rogue wave description ever. On a night of foul weather and heavy seas, they'd been fighting to keep the ship afloat in near pitch-blackness. At one point, Shackleton calls to the rest of the crew that the weather is clearing; high up in the sky, he can see some lighter patches and some white, fluffy clouds. Then they realise that it's actually the crest of a wave. "During twenty-six years' experience of the ocean in all its moods I had not encountered a wave so gigantic. It was a mighty upheaval of the ocean, a thing quite apart from the big white-capped seas that had been our tireless enemies for many days. I shouted 'For God's sake, hold on! It's got us.' Then came a moment of suspense that seemed drawn out into hours. White surged the foam of the breaking sea around us. We felt our boat lifted and flung forward like a cork in breaking surf. We were in a seething chaos of tortured water; but somehow the boat lived through it, half full of water, sagging to the dead weight and shuddering under the blow. We baled with the energy of men fighting for life, flinging the water over the sides with every receptacle that came to our hands, and after ten minutes of uncertainty we felt the boat renew her life beneath us." Eeek.
  • 25 feet of angry vertical sea ilya
  • Also, could anyone who read that link tell me if they had to register? I can't tell, since I'm already carrying the cookie.
  • No reg needed, as far as I could tell.
  • I wondered whether you needed to register for the text-only version (which I linked to), because you certainly do need to if you want to get to their main site. I registered with them because they employ me, and it didn't seem polite to use bugmenot or whatever. Thanks.
  • shoot, meters, yes. This is not the kind of mistake that using "preview" prevents. I was picturing it in meters, if that helps. 25 feet = not unduly horrific; 85 feet = slightly more preoccupying.