maybe not the right sort of sailor

Now then lads - not all forums are the same it seems.

I am active of three forums -my main abode is YBW

both scuttlbutt  with around 400 people of an evening and PBO  with around 800

I also stray over to the mainly American sailing anarchy which has a massive number of sailors on it  and there is a lot of swearing and a few trolls

- but I spend time on cruising anarchy which is generally more civilised - there are some gun nuts there and some fairly rude people but most are pretty nice

My third favourite place is TSBB  

this is mainly American small boat sailors - they are a wonderfully tolerant god fearing group - never rude - always supportive - they know everything about small engines and boat trailers

As I have built some wooden boats I go to Wooden Boat Forum -

these blokes are always keen on new ideas and know everything about any wood or glue problem.

Finally there is Sailnet

it is an antopdean and north American forum. The people who run it are a bit over-controlling and keen to scatter links all over eveything you write

All these are open forums and the words are there for search engines to see

I have recently been invited to join this closed forum Scantlings

In for a penny, in for a pound so I applied to join. They offered a question to prove it was a human being. This was the question

Wat does the first S in S & S stand for?

I had no idea

clearly not many Polo driving small boat sailors who spend their days scouring the country for dead boat among their ranks.  I would tell you what they talk about but I ticked a box saying that I would have to kill myself first

Dylan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparkman_%26_Stephens

 

 

This is about Dylan Winter's Blog, Sailing around Britain. Tags:

15 Responses to “maybe not the right sort of sailor”

  1. 21 January, 2014 at 3:56 amTomH says:

    Funny that!

    Being from New England we are exposed to a fair number of the uber-wealthy yachties and their yachts – and I have experienced the same “clubby’ treatment. Now of course everyone can peek into that mindset by watching episodes of Downton Abbey. Thank you PBS.

    Scantlings mention of S&S in their application caught me up as it brought to mind how different the boat owners can be from the designers of the boats they sail.

    In particular, it did make me recall the second S – the Olin Stevens of S&S – and how he was perhaps more the opposite in personal style to so many of the current owners of those now famous yachts.

    He would show up unexpectedly at the odd local boat related meetings – mainly if the subject matter was in the domain of the latest high tech thinking in design or materials (including our local multihull gurus).

    His participation (in his 80’s and 90′ during this period) was truly amazing in the way he could dig into the most sophisticated details on any topic – but always to learn from the others in the room, never taking on the mantle of an expert (which he was).

    Fond memories, that.

    And a reminder to look at the person and not just the tie they wear.

    Cheers,
    TomH

  2. 21 January, 2014 at 10:27 amdylan winter says:

    I thought I was a pretty worldly sailor – it brought me up sharp I can tell you when I did not know the answer to the question that was supposed to tell them that I am not a computer

  3. 21 January, 2014 at 10:35 amRon says:

    My son (wooden boat builder) worked on restoring the last boat Olin owned.
    He has a picture somewhere of them all in the cockpit on re-launch day.
    It was an earlier design that Olin had bought back, and had it restored to it’s former glory.

    I’m slightly surprised that you hadn’t heard of Sparkman and Stevens.
    No, it’s not my world either, but the really beautiful yachts they designed definitely have a place in the sailing world.

  4. 21 January, 2014 at 10:44 amdylan winter says:

    I think it shows that I am a sailor who is a million miles away from that world. S and S – I was just thinking that it was an american way of writing save our souls.

    Pleaswe join us on Scantlings – we love talking about the good old days when Bush and Regan were in charge,. We chat about the price of Haliburton shares and how Obamacare is never going to work. It is lovely

  5. 21 January, 2014 at 11:00 amRon says:

    The yacht was Cometa. Only (?) 48ft.
    Scantlings sounds a bit of a laugh, though not quite sure how relevant the topics would be to us here in Ireland.

  6. 21 January, 2014 at 11:17 amRon says:

    Maybe I should also give my son a plug – http://www.sunfishmarine.co.uk – as I think the interior pics along the bottom of his website are of the fitting out he did on Cometa.

    Wish he’d come and finish mine for me :)

  7. 21 January, 2014 at 2:28 pmTomH says:

    Hey Dylan,
    Where did the quote “Please join us on Scantlings – we love talking about the good old days when Bush and Regan were in charge,. We chat about the price of Haliburton shares and how Obamacare is never going to work. It is lovely” come from?
    Is that you writing? Or you quoting someone?

  8. 21 January, 2014 at 4:12 pmdylan winter says:

    my imagination

    I regret writing it now

    D

  9. 21 January, 2014 at 5:18 pmRon says:

    Blame it on an over enthusiastic burst of sarcasm. :)

  10. 21 January, 2014 at 5:34 pmDavid J says:

    Remember the good old days when a UK Prime Minister was a racing sailor. Forget Reagan and Bush, unless splitting wood and clearing brush seem more appealing than scrubbing up old Centaurs.

  11. 21 January, 2014 at 9:38 pmApplescruffs says:

    You could never be the ‘right’ sort of sailor Dylan………far too port handed.!

  12. 22 January, 2014 at 3:41 amGary Blankenship says:

    S & S certainly did a lot of posh designs but didn’t that firm also do the Lightning, one of the finest small boats ever? I think it was designed in the 30s, but it’s still hard to find a small boat to beat it.

  13. 22 January, 2014 at 9:40 amdylan winter says:

    you are right – I am probably being over-sensitive. It is just that I had never come across a forum entry question to which I did not know the answer. I fear that the conversations over on scantlings will not focus that much on the subtle art of budget stretching.

  14. 22 January, 2014 at 3:31 pmjon sutton says:

    Come the revolution, Comrade…….. come the revolution…….

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