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(William R. Watt) writes:

"Michael Daly" ) writes:

BTW dictionaries are famous for getting definitions wrong - especially in scientific
and technical terminology. My Webster's here says that oxygen is the most
plentiful element in the universe.

I think you mean "atmosphere", not "universe". I'd check that dictionary
definitions again.

Can someone point me to a source of inexpensive, reliable irony
meters? Mine just broke with a rending snap.

[snip]
On this subject of getting back into capsized boats, I've done in in
canoes, sailing dingys, and once in a kayak. The problem in lightweight
narrow boats is getting one's hips over the gunwale.

You may not be aware of this, but -- at least in the case of kayaks
-- there is a distinction between getting back in a capsized boat,
and righting a boat that has been capsized and then climbing back
in. You use the former terminology, but from your description
below, it seems that you are actually talking about the latter.

Most sailboats have
to be wide to carry sail. The one I built out of a single sheet of plywood
is narrow like a kayak. To carry sail and to re-enter after a capsize the
sponsons are needed. When you re-enter a kayak you normally pull yourself
up onto the rear deck and slide forward until you can straddle the boat
and drop your butt into the seat.

That's not the method I've learned, but I'm sure it works.

On a boat with no rear deck, like my
small sailboat, and also I think on a kayak, you can enter from the side
by first sticking a floatation device under your hips to raise them to the
surface so you can slide them in over the gunwale. That's the way I have
re-enterd the sailboat. I sit on a floation cushion when using the boat
and shove the flotation cusion under my hips to re-enter the boat after a
capsize. However I only did that once as a test because the sponsons have
prevented any capsizes since they were installed.

It's not a very conventional method, but I'm sure it works. More
common are paddle float reentry and its variants.

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Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield,
Other days you're the bug.