The two US Sailors

Did you read in the newspaper recently about the two american sailors who had to be rescued by the RNLI? In fact we chatted to Bob Weise and Steve Shapiro when we were in Inverness last year, just before our transit of the Caledonian canal. They had begun their journey in Norway and intended to finish in Maine, USA. I remember that their boat had just been taken out of the water for repairs following a grounding which damaged their engine too as I recall. I thought at the time how desperately unlucky they had been. Advance the clock by several months to today and.....

We now read that Bob and Steve have had to call out the RNLI numerous times during their journey - so many times in fact that one wonders whether they really have a clue what they are doing! One report that reached me even suggested they were navigating by road map! I don't know whether that is so, I hope not. I'm not quite sure what to make of it all. On the one hand one has to admire two people following their dreams, but on the other hand are they wasting the time of the RNLI and putting others' lives at risk? And of course the RNLI do like to take part in training activities anyway. I can't help but think these guys would benefit from a refresher RYA course though!

Steve Shapiro

Bob Weise

Joke:
If at first you don't succeed........
Singlehanded nonstop sailing round the world racing may not be for you!
(But maybe you can just about get away with pottering along the British coast!)

Harrythefishmonger and Spencer

Having sold the various bits of the original navigation electronics that was on Blue Star when we bought her, boxed them all up and posted them off....... I then received a message from a chap whose ebay name is Harrythefishmonger. (I don't think that is his real name by the way). Anyway, Harrythefishmonger wanted know where his lead was for his chartplotter, which I had said was included in the sale. To be quite honest, I really don't know where the lead went. It must have existed for me to mention it, so I was a bit surprised when Harrythefishmonger said it hadn't arrived with his chartplotter. I can only think it must have been despatched with a different bit of kit, which isn't very clever of me. I suggested that Harrythefishmonger acquired a lead from elsewhere, and we would then agree on recompense for that. Shortly later a reply came back saying that Harrythefishmoner appreciated that this kit had come off Blue Star and was part of a project to raise money for a very worthy cause, and therefore I did not need to worry about the lead! Well! Top marks to Harrythefishmonger for a) his detective work in figuring out who he was buying kit off, and b) being so very magnanimous about the lead! To show my gratitude to Harrythefishmonger, and as a way of atoning for my sin, I have resolved to donate a further £10 to the CF Trust via my blog link!

I can also report that another kind soul, Spencer (I think that is his real name), who recently visited Stafford Coastal Cruising Club was giving up sailing (sharp intake of breath!) and giving away some sailing kit. I duly acquired some spare sailing clothes that might be useful for crew sailing on Blue Star, and resolved to donate a further £20 to the cause in recognition of the donation from Spencer! Thus, £30 in total is now added to donations!

Jokes:
* Noah started building several arks for various parts of animal kingdom. One was a split level job for all the fish – a multi-storey carp ark
* What do you call a fish with no eyes?…Fsh
* How do fish go into business?…They start on a small scale
* A fish swam into a wall and said, “Dam!”
* Why are fish so smart?…They are always in schools

Does not include yacht........

Roger and I have finally got around to selling (on ebay) some of the 'old' electronic navigation kit that was on Blue Star when we bought her. We managed to work out how to use ebay and got all of the kit advertised. For most of the kit there have been a number of enquiries, which is great. This is the first time I have used the ebay site to sell things, and I must say once you have worked it out it is very easy to use. There is scope for potential buyers to ask questions too, which I suppose is good, but it has meant that I had to keep on checking various details about the bits of kit:

What is the model number?
What leads does it come with?
How do you connect it up?
Can you send it to Timbuktu? (How much will that cost?)
Does it have any marks on it?
Does it have an internal thingamy?
Does it come with all of the other gubbins?
Does it include the rest of the yacht? :-\

You get the picture, I'm sure! I imagined that once you posted your adverts, that was it, you just got paid and sent off the stuff. Now I'm not quite so sure? Anyway, hopefully some sailors will be very pleased with the old kit and get it at a good price with several more years of service.

Happy New Year to everyone who is following our blog!

Joke:
Salesman: This computer will cut your workload by 50%.
Office Manager: That's great, I'll take two of them.