On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:11:43 -0400, Rosalie B.
wrote:

Vic wrote:
I *do* believe that everything breaks, but that was part of my
training, and my nature.
But many people don't have that training and experience, and many
don't have the nature to ever really pay close attention to never
making a mistake and always having a backup plan.

As you may or may not know, Bob was a Navy pilot (off an aircraft
carrier) and as part of that, he graduated from the USN Test Pilot
School. He's way better at the helm than I am. But I do most of the
planning, and whenever I made a plan, I almost always have a backup or
alternate plan in mind.

I didn't know that about Bob, but wasn't referring to you guys in my
comment above. It's pretty evident you're more on top of things
than the average cruisers, if there is such a thing.
It's possible my destroyer served as plane guard for some of Bob's
flights if he was with the 6th Fleet '64-'67, so tell him I said Hi!

As for the throttle cable - I've never heard of another one breaking.
It is almost completely concealed inside the binnacle and engine room,
so not very accessible.

Yes, understandable. It's easy to say that the location and route of
every wire, cable, pipe/hose, etc should be known and they be
inspected on a schedule, but quite another matter to do that when it
requires disassembly to do it, or squeezing yourself into tight
spaces. Large people are at a disadvantage. I'm medium in all ways
myself, and fairly nimble, but the thought of turning myself into a
pretzel in steamy heat no longer appeals to me.
But maybe I'm just too used to A/C. When I try to acclimate to the
heat by foregoing A/C, it's not bad - but I get no peace from my wife
and soon give in and crank it up again.
Thanks again for the interesting logs.
I'll echo Roger's comment by saying cruisers must be a special breed.
I really believe Bob suffered less stress while catapulting from a
flight deck than he did during some of the incidents you recount.
Not sure I could handle cruising - at least if it involves too many
marinas.

--Vic