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Ahoy there shipmates and
very best wishes for your success in 2008.
STARTED YET?
Amongst all of your New Years resolutions, how
many of you have committed to begin your planning for your adventure of
your lifetime. For those of you that are already
planning and those of you that have committed to begin, congratulations and
I look forward to working with you this year.
For those of you who have yet to arrive at that
point and leap that first hurdle, come on, let's get cracking and do it
together! You know, once you have jumped that hurdle, put pen to paper and
begun, you will wonder why you didn't begin a lot sooner. Here's some
guidelines and questions to help you along the way:
WHY DO I WANT TO DO
THIS?
The challenge?
Always wanted to?
The love of sailing?
Sea change?
Experience different cultures?
Visit exotic destinations?
Achieve something extraordinary in my life?
WHERE DO I WANT TO GO?
Coastal?
Cross an ocean?
Sail to South Pacific?
Circumnavigation?
WHAT TYPE OF VESSEL DO I
WANT TO DO IT IN?
Classic sailboat?
Modern design sailboat?
Sloop?
Ketch?
35-40ft, 40-50ft, larger?
Basic equipment or all bells and whistles?
WHEN CAN I DO IT?
Six months time?
One year?
Eighteen months?
Two years?
Five years?
WHO DO I WANT TO DO
IT WITH?
Wife, Spouse,
Partner?
Paid Skipper?
Friends?
Hired Crew?
These are all crucial questions that will assist you in formulating your
thoughts. Get them all down on paper or in a file on your computer and then
start filling in the gaps. Once you have answered them fully you will have a
much clearer picture in your head as to where you are going with it. In a
short while you will finish up with something called a plan!! Simple really
- and when you have this plan you will carry it everywhere with you (mind,
paper or file) and you will amaze yourself with all the additional things
that come to mind that you will add to your plan.
Soon, you will reach a point where you cannot stop thinking about it and
that is the point where you will suddenly become quite serious about it.
That my friend, is when you realise and know you are going to do it - Oh,
what a feeling!
I want to help get you to that point as soon as possible, because I know
that once you have arrived there, your project will have gained such
momentum you won't be able to stop it - even if you wanted to - but at that
point you will be so passionate that you will remove any obstacles that come
along.
So, there we have it - begin your journey right now - Good Luck.
BLOG
Following
much prompting and then dragging of feet by me, I have launched a Blog on my
website
www.sailboat2adventure.com
Please check it out and see what you think.
I will post regular items on it of events, happenings, tech. info, equipment
news, sailing knowledge, in fact anything that is of interest to sailors.
As I post these regularly, you can log in at any time you wish as opposed to
waiting for the Newsletter. You will still receive the Newsletter from time
to time.
AUDIO
In addition
to the blog I have recently added a short audio to my homepage. This gives
the opportunity of folks hearing from me first hand the benefits of getting
started with their planning.
TEST FOR YOU
Test your
general sailing knowledge and of sailboat parts - work your way through and
jot down your answers as you go. you can look on the internet for sites with
images to identify various parts.
1. Identify the following parts of a sailboat: backstay,
deck, jib, shrouds ,boom, forestay,
keel, spreaders, bow, gooseneck,
lifelines, stern, bow, pulpit, headstay,
mainsail, stern, pulpit, cabin, hull,
mast, traveler.
2. Describe the functions of the following items on a sailboat:
boom, topping lift, fairlead vs. padeye, mainsheet,
spring/breast lines, boomvang, fenders,
outhaul, stays/shrouds, cleats, halyard,
rudder, tiller/wheel, downhaul, jib, sheet,
shackle, winches, telltails, cunningham.
3. Define the following terms: aft, coming about,
helmsman, standing rigging, abeam, crew,
leeward, starboard, ahead, forward,
port, windward, astern, jibing, running rigging, tacking,
beam, heel, skipper.
4. Identify the following sails and parts of a sail: battens,
foot, jib, spinnaker, batten, pockets, genoa,
leech, storm, jib, bolt, rope, hanks,
luff, tack, clew, head, mainsail.
NAUTICAL
EXPRESSION - 'WINDFALL'
When a ship was working
away from a lee shore, when gusts of katabatic wind came off the land to
ease the pressure, it was called a windfall. These gusts made the ships job
more easy to crab away from the lee of the land and danger, and were
therefore considered to be of great benefit - hence the modern day concept
of a lucky 'windfall'
That's all for this
Newsletter - good planning and I look forward to seeing you regularly on my
Blog on my website
www.sailboat2adventure.com
SEE YOU NEXT TIME
CAP'N VINNIE
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