Associated Press Pioneer interview with Capt. Skip Grundlach.
March 22, 2017
Yacht, "Flying Pig"
Riverside Marina, Florida


APP: Good morning, Capt., nice of you to afford me some of your valuable
time for this interview.

Capt. Skip (CS): And, a good morning to your sir, nice of you to show
interest in the Flying Pig Project.

APP: Let's get right down to brass tacks so to speak. It is rumored that you
arrived here at Riverside way back in February 2011. It is now March of 2017
so that means you now have the Guinness Book of Records record of longest
working stay on the hard in history of six some odd years. Are you proud of
yourself?

CS: Yes sir, damned proud! You see, it's always something and I never let
all those something's get to me. I persevere until completion. One thing
leads to another and another and another and the years roll past. I am now
72 years old and, quite honestly, I've sorta forgotten how to sail but I
sure haven't forgotten how to do projects.

APP: Some would say that you are no sailor as sailors spend more time
sailing than they spend maintaining.

CS: Bah! They'd just be jealous. They envy my boat and they envy my 67
systems. They envy my ongoing blister elimination procedures and my hull
fairing process.

APP: Yes, some of us have heard about that. Spray your boat with water and
it will magically flush out all the blister causing agents. But, why does it
take six long years?

CS: Well, one thing leads to another. You spray and you watch. You patch
and you spray, you re-patch and your spray some more. It starts becoming a
lifestyle. It's work but it's familiar work. I enjoy it immensely. The
system WORKS. No more blisters because the boat stays out of the water
indefinitely.

APP: Some would say you are a perfectionist and can't abide sloppy
workmanship. That's why you sand and patch, sand and scrub, sand and shine -
even the stainless steel. And, just when you think you have everything ship
shape and Bristol Fashion you get an unwelcome surprise like the stainless
steel tubing crumbling and bending because the walls end up only 1/100"
thick.

CS: Oh Pshaw! That only happened a couple of places and it was easy enough
to replace. Have you been listening to my detractors on rec.boats.cruising
perchance?

APP: What's that? No, Capt., you've become a legend. Your exploits are a
topic of discussion in almost every port in the world. Why, they even made
the Bruce in Bangkok farce seem seamanlike. No offense . . .

CS: I never pay any attention to the naysayers. They don't have a clue. How
would they know the challenges and fulfillment of advanced boat maintenance
anyway? You, see, I've developed a system based upon systems. It goes like
this. I've installed so many systems that as a new or repaired system goes
on line another one breaks down and needs repair. When I get that one
repaired another breaks down and needs repair, etc. I've carefully
calculated that 76 systems will break down with sufficient regularity that I
can spend the rest of my life on the hard working on systems. That's what I
like doing anyway. I'd rather work on systems than sail.

APP: So the highly admired and respected Capt. Neal was telling the truth
when he said sailors sail and wannabe sailors work on systems?

CS: Well, there was a time when I would have resented such a statement but
now, after six years on the hard working on my boat, what he said has turned
out be be Gospel. The man would have made a fine psychologist. But he would
have missed his true calling as he is one of the finest sailors the world
has ever known.

APP: Nice of you to be magnanimous, Capt. But, are you ever planning to wrap
up your maintenance and repairs and eventually get underway again?

CS: Nah! I've just gotten too old and I'm too comfortable here at Riverside.
Pigs will fly before Flying Pig sails again.

APP: Thank you Capt. Skip for being so candid.

CS: You're welcome. Come back ten years from now for another interview. I'm
not planning on going anywhere.

APP: Perhaps I shall, perhaps I shall.

On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:35:01 -0400, WaIIy wrote:

On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:32:02 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:

CS: You're welcome. Come back ten years from now for another interview. I'm
not planning on going anywhere.

APP: Perhaps I shall, perhaps I shall.

I must say, you can be very entertaining.

====

He must have gone to the same creative writing class as someone else
we know.

"Wayne B" wrote in message
...

I must say, you can be very entertaining.

====

He must have gone to the same creative writing class as someone else
we know.


Nah, he outed himself some time ago.

He's owned up to Wilbur being Greg, and, more recently, Neal, as most
suspected.

That said, I've always gotten a kick out of his creative writing; not so
much his sniping stuff, unless it's just satire (which enjoyment you've seen
herein).

However, I hardly, even in this scenario, would hold the record. The guy
with the pump and fittings in the Kollmann thread was here before I even
started looking at boats; we met on the Endeavour group.

More than 10 years, he's finally getting ready to launch (or so he sez, but
it's looking possible).

Despite his being almost as much a know-it-all as Neal, he's had some very
valuable learning-curve shortenings which we've taken advantage of.

And, raspberries aside, we're starting to get, literally, daily, more than
one folks who stop and tell us how amazing the job we're rounding third on
is. Nice kudos from some very experienced hands.

So, keep 'em coming, Neal, and we'll have that beer one day if neither of us
dies too soon!

L8R

Skip

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain