On Aug 23, 12:35*pm, Jim wrote:
thunder wrote:
On Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:35:11 -0700, Frogwatch wrote:

Daughter who had melanoma at 17 (reddish hair and white skin) wants to
borrow my sailboat to sail to Bahamas with her bf. *Both are good
sailors but my boat had no bimini and I thought before she borrowed it
I'd put one on it. *

When is she planning this sail? *At this time of year, wouldn't
hurricanes be of concern?

I never had one before because I thought it would
interfere with my looking at the sails and wind indicator and because I
thought there was no good wind in summer and its just too dang hot to
sail in summer anyway. *In winter, I dont need a bimini. Well, I
installed it today. *Dang, immediate relief from the heat even in the
canal. *Took her out by myself to see how well it worked. *8 kts wind so
with big jib I sailed and not bad vis, it does require I poke head out
from under but it sure makes sailing nicer in summer. I suppose I was
just too stubborn all those years.

Nah, stubborn is for children. *We're just set in our ways. ;-)

Being "set in your ways" means you have found out what works and want to
do it that way.

Dodgers make a boat look like a serious cruiser but around here are
not only not needed but would block the spray and breeze that are
necessary for survival.
OK, now that I have to admit everybody else might be right, I want
some lazyjacks. I thought about making my own but I gotta admit, my
time is worth something so buying them from Harken might be
worthwhile.
Of course, this got me thinking about other sailing problems such as
having to winch the main sail up and then having to run up to the mast
and pull it down while looking to make sure nobody else was coming
down the channel (I was alone). Why do sail slides always jam? All
that lube crap you spray into the sail slide slot never lasts more
than one trip. Why not make sail slides from bulk teflon with a
stainless insert for strength? My techies with their cnc mill could
turn out gazillions of em for next to nothing.