Laser Maths

30 years ago I was 20.
I had a red Laser, sail number 43373.
The guys with new Lasers had numbers starting with 80000.

Now I’m 50.
I have a yellow Laser, sail number 54884.
The guys with new Lasers have numbers starting with 190000.

Therefore in twenty-five years time I’ll be 75.
I’ll have a Laser with the sail number 64476 or 64477.
Em’s new Laser will have a number starting with 281000.


The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This bit of maths is inspired by Tillermans’s post ‘Sailing in the second space age’.

Arma ceiling

Birgit asked for planks of different widths for the cabin ceiling on the Arma. We decided to do the tongue and grooving ourselves. Here is a fir plank going through the table router for its tongue.

Put away your drysuits

photo: Gerard Drenth

Possibly the last outing for the Trident drysuit this winter. That's if spring continues to spring.

16m2 in action

photo: Hillien van Heuveln


Me and the missus hard at work in the 16m2 during the Oranje Regatta last Sunday.

Silver medal shirt

Em came in a fine fourth at this weekend's Oranje Regatta at the DTP. So did we in the 16m2. Em won a bag of peppermints, we came away empty handed but we had a great day with sun, wind and good racing.
Em also bid for the shirt she is wearing, at the auction. This shirt was worn by Annemieke Bes as she sailed an Yngling to Silver at the Olympics in China.

Diabolos

Em and Mats doing tricks with their diabolos in the middle of our road.

That's where the wood went

A couple of days later the wheelbarrow is empty and all that wood, and quite a bit more, is up in the rear cabin of the Arma. Almost ready for the insulation Geert!

Mobile WC

Claudia has been busy building herself an upstairs loo in the workshop. The blue bit is part of the do it yourself waterless toilet from Separett of Sweden.

Ready, steady, go

A wheelbarrow full of wood and tools ready to make a start aboard the Arma.

M.S. Arma

The Arma might just be the longest barge we've had at our wharf. She has come in for a new interior in the rear cabin. We'll be building a bathroom, a bed, a large workspace and as many cupboards as we can get in. We have to make sure that there is plenty of access to the old Industrie marine diesel and the accompanying reversing gear.

Red, white and blue

Making an early bid for the prizes at the Queen's Birthday regatta we stacked Dennis', Em's and Erwin's Optimists in the right order in the trailer. [the orange paddle is the icing in the cake].

Multimedia daughter

Here is Em working on her class presentation in the subject of Kangaroos. Two Apple laptops and a mobile phone!

Kids

Neil Cowley's kids and my kid brother [Mr. Lazy] on this Amazon video.
Watch it, then buy the album :)

Shiny bits

Peter and I have been working on the Vriendentrouw these last two weeks. Peter finished off and fitted the hatch covers he had made earlier this year, then made a sliding door. I put a sub-floor down in the front end of the hold and put in some framing so that we can finish this part of the interior later this year.
I also had a fight with two brass windows. Though officially fitted by the steel workers a couple of years ago, when I offered them up most of the tapped holes were miles off. Basically the whole job had to be done over, with the added attraction of first welding the crooked holes up and redrilling. Got there in the end though.

Season starts at VWDTP

With 15 knots on the annemometer tthe Summer season got off to a good start today.
We had to fight hard for our third place in the 16m2 but all eyes were on the return of the Optimist to the Summer series. Sailing the Sunday race is now part of a training scheme that includes an afternoon training on Sunday too, as well as the regular Thursday evenings.
We hope to get eight or nine boats in the 'Racing Team' and were really happy to start the season with seven on the start line. Congratulations to all seven and thanks to Racing Team Trainer Tom Hemmes.

Feva is for Mums and Dads too?

As I posted in Three Wet Sails Martien and I had a lot of fun in the Feva.
Optimist Dad Richard Bouma took this picture as we flew past.

Feva practise?

Em and Keri take Emiel's steel dinghy out for a bit of roll tack practise! Fortunately there was just enough wind to get home without resorting to the outboard.

This is why we do it

This is one of our favourite spots. It's about four hours from Groningen but it feels like another world, whether it's winter, spring or summer. [or fall - cue for a song].
We debated stopping earlier at Strobos, but both wanted to push on to the Bergummermeer. It was worth it.

Sneaking out

In theory the bridge we can see from our mooring is too low for ouw wheelhouse. The hinged side is lower than the other though so we thought we'd give it a go. By scraping along the high side we can just get through without needing to call the bridgekeeper or lower the wheelhouse. 

Unfortunately the next bridge is much lower and the bridgekeeper's vhf radio wasn't working properly. It took half an hour to find him. Never mind, we were on our way.

Three wet sails

Three wet sails hanging in the workshop?
The club has bought a couple of RS Feva XL boats, hoping to get the Optimist kids interested in two-man boats as an alternative to the Splash/Laser 4.7 when their legs get longer.
I spent a part of Sunday reading the manual and getting one of the boats rigged, then convinced Martien - a Laser mum - to go home and get her drysuit. We spent an hour and a half flying round the lake, getting the hang of the 'super jib' and tacking downwind.
At about 125 kgs. we were at the heavy end of the boat's capacity but for a couple of kids or even a parent and child combination great fun in a fast, simple boat.
Well done to the Youth Sailing Comittee of the VWDTP for sticking your neck out and getting the boats.
[ ... and yes, the sails are wet because we did capsize on a three sail reach :) ]

Out with that jigsaw

A change in the class rules for the 16m2 allowing the cockpit coming to make a jump instead of a sweeping curve has me firing up the jigsaw and sharpening my plane. It'll make hiking a lot more comfortable and actually looks pretty racy too.
Got to get some varnish on before racing starts on April 11th.

Floor from end to end

The oak flooring now runs from bow to stern and has had it's first coat of oil.
Eric has lots of painting and oiling to do before he returns to our quay after the summer holidays, so that we can finish things off.

Two girls, two rooms

Eric's girls are very different. Their rooms aboard the Willem Johannes are too, though to avoid arguments they are the same size.
Claudia is busy building desks and wardrobes for clothes and homework.
Here are Senna and Lieve in one room, with a Leonard Cohen song.

Can't see the wood for the trees

Birgit and Geert wanted us to use Maple aboard the Arma, but we were afraid the cost was going to be prohibitive. We've found some though - the two logs to the right in the picture - and had it delivered to the shop.
The lovely Ash on the left will become a table for the Willem Johannes, and maybe a couple of tables for Martine [if she reads this!]

End of wintertime

Next week it'll be dark again in the morning but for now I'll just enjoy waking up as the sun comes up over Groningen and listening to the birds.

First floor boards

The first oak floor boards go into the Willem Johannes. From the foot of the main mast forward along the centre line of the boat. You can hear Peter thinking.