Grumpy old men and boats.

[savoir]

Microsoft wants you to update regularly and spend money while you are at it. XP has officially been retired and the planned end of Windows 7 has been announced.

I like Windows 7 which does everything I want but in two years it will be gone.

[Kenomac]

I finally gave up on microsoft last year after more than 35 years and purchased a MacBook pro. What a difference... in a good way.

[Jd1]

Originally Posted by hpeer

So, speaking of grump, I'll tell you one thing that makes me grumpy. Microsoft!!!!! First of all that sounds like a personal information and TMI!

But why do they have to keep changing the bloody interface! I have an XP machine that works fine but new software isn't compatiable. So I'm running navigatrix on that machine. Now I've got a new Win 10 laptop and I'm trying to make my various devices using com ports work. Damn hard just following help menu because they change stuff like MY COMPUTER is now THIS PC. Com ports don't show up in Device Manager anymore because the are "legacy devices", they can be enabled but you gotta dig to do it.

I don't mind learning, I enjoy it. But this isn't learning in any productive sense. It's just adapting to mindlessly changing the format for no good PRACTICAL reason. I know many here are far more astute on the PC front than I and these things may not be a challenge. But it is a challange for some of us. It's not that I'm not smart enough, i do my own CAD work. But this is something I don't want to do. I retired from the land world to get away from this ceaseless noise and here it is forcing itself in on me.

.... switch to Ubuntu Linux. There are still the odd things here or there that might need windoze but the vast majority of obstacles are easily worked around and once set up are pretty darn consistent.

[Captain Bob]

I particularly liked the post by Weavis with the steering station set with the only forward visibility though the cabin windows. Had a charter once with most guests seated in the salon as it was wet and humid on deck. No ventilation so I could not see ahead. Great marketing idea! And this was a demo for the Fall boat show">Annapolis Boat Show and I was expected to expound upon the virtues of the boat. I expect that I will not be invited back. Idiocy!

[Cadence]

Sometimes it seems designs are targeted at the new buyer, never owned a boat, with deep pockets or good credit. Bells and whistles. Been that way for years.

[Jim Cate]

For Ken...

The usage factor here in Oz is very similar to that I recall from the USA: on a holiday weekend with wonderful weather, the marinas are still essentially f ull. Certainly I have NEVER seen a marina where 75% of the boats were out sailing/motoring.

When we were in New Zealand, a land of enthusiastic sailors, the same was true.

In New Caledonia for the several marinas in Noumea the same is true to this day.

Those are the only venues with which I am quite familiar, but I'll be willing to make a small wager that it is duplicated in much of t he world. If your 75% figure is actually valid, it must be an extreme outlier.

Can anyone else point to an area where that percentage of boats are in use?

Jim

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by savoir

Microsoft wants you to update regularly and spend money while you are at it. XP has officially been retired and the planned end of Windows 7 has been announced.

I like Windows 7 which does everything I want but in two years it will be gone.

Ah yes! But does it make you grumpy?

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

When I hear people getting really, really enamored with such interiors, my commentary & suggestion goes something like this:
Okay, so (think) you truly love this boat's interior. Time to test out how much. And to do so, have your spouse/partner push or slam you into the edges & corners said furniture with all of the force that they can muster. That'll pretty much mimic what happens when you get thrown across the boat into that beautifully styled faux wood, with it's sharp edges, due to the lack of sufficient & proper handholds here belowdecks.

Then, as you're recovering from said shove by your lover. Once you're done contemplating whether or not to call Law Enforcement & a divorce attorney about this. Ask yourself the question:
"If the designers phuked up the cosmetics of the interior this badly, how well did they do when designing the sailing & structural bits"?

Some people get it, others, much to the detriment of the human gene pool, are allowed to live quite long, "safe", unintersting lives. All while propogating similar madness throughout every aspect of our culture. Doing things like padding playground equipment. And creating an environment of social conditioning where we're all brainwashed to where our first response to a looming or occurring problem, is to call someone else for help on our smart phones. Rather than excercising such traits as; self reliance, ingenuity, common sense, good judgement, thinking on our feet, & problem solving, etc.

YUCK!

Well, sometimes I'm a grumpy old woman, but I must say that Uncivilized hit the nail on the head with this one. I just wanted to see it again, so for anyone who missed it the first time, here it is again.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

For Ken...

The usage factor here in Oz is very similar to that I recall from the USA: on a holiday weekend with wonderful weather, the marinas are still essentially f ull. Certainly I have NEVER seen a marina where 75% of the boats were out sailing/motoring.

When we were in New Zealand, a land of enthusiastic sailors, the same was true.

In New Caledonia for the several marinas in Noumea the same is true to this day.

Those are the only venues with which I am quite familiar, but I'll be willing to make a small wager that it is duplicated in much of t he world. If your 75% figure is actually valid, it must be an extreme outlier.

Can anyone else point to an area where that percentage of boats are in use?

Jim

Boy, ain't it the truth. I was just out yesterday, Memorial day weekend, calm seas, 15 knots, beautiful weather, southern California, and we and our friends were the ONLY 2 sailboats out and none on any distant horizon! 75%? WHERE is that?

[TrentePieds]

Spot on, Jim!

The percentage, subjectively, here in Vancouver, of boats that lie in slips for which the owners pay upwards of C$5K per year but never move is upwards of 75%. It is totally bizarre! Now, for a poor benighted proletarian like me, there is wisdom in considering that if I move to a remote "Government of B.C. Small Craft Harbour", the savings on moorage will pay the mortgage on a modest shore-side property in that remote location! The rental income from a modest condo in a distant suburb of Vancouver will pay for yet another property in that remote location.

And until we implement the TrentePieds green stamp method of birth control, worldwide, the population pressure, and therefore the nominal property values, will continue to rise, the rise rippling outward from Vancouver/Victoria like the proverbial ripples on a pond.

The Seattle property market is acting just like Vancouver's. And so is the market for boats in Seattle and the entire Puget Sound/Straits of Juan deFuca area.

Now, Italy I don't know about, but I gather that population pressures are no less there.

Cheers

TP

[downunder]

Interesting discussion with Club Marine an Australian Insurer at the Santuary Cove Boat Show. Seems they prefer you to tie up in Marinas rather than anchor.

There policy in the Whitsundays means you berth at a marina rather than anchor at Airlie Beach even in good weather.

Their policy is comparatively expensive anyway and certainly not one for a cruiser.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Can anyone imagine the traffic jams & accidents from boats entering & leaving their slips if boat usage rates was even 25%, let alone 75%! Every marina would need the equivalent of 10 air traffic controllers.


And AMEN to what's been said in this thread since my last posting!


Ann, thanks for reposting my rant. It's contents comprise some of my major annoyances with "society". Feels good to air it out

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

For Ken...

The usage factor here in Oz is very similar to that I recall from the USA: on a holiday weekend with wonderful weather, the marinas are still essentially f ull. Certainly I have NEVER seen a marina where 75% of the boats were out sailing/motoring.

When we were in New Zealand, a land of enthusiastic sailors, the same was true.

In New Caledonia for the several marinas in Noumea the same is true to this day.

Those are the only venues with which I am quite familiar, but I'll be willing to make a small wager that it is duplicated in much of t he world. If your 75% figure is actually valid, it must be an extreme outlier.

Can anyone else point to an area where that percentage of boats are in use?

Jim

Come to Croatia, Montenegro, Ibiza and Italy during the summer months, the anchorages are teaming with activity, boats are out sailing as far as you can see... hundreds of them, sail and powerboats. It's not like the US especially So. Cal where there's no place to go, other than out and back. People over here take extended vacations. I'm sure Greece is the same, but we haven't been there yet.

No grumpy old men just sitting in marinas complaining about looking out and seeing only grumpy old men in their marina or.... complaining about statistical accuracy.

[Jim Cate]

complaining about statistical accuracy.

Nahh, Ken, just wild exaggerations. I am quite ready to believe lots of activity, still don't believe 75% of boats in a marina out at one time... or anything near that. Show me pictures of these nearly empty marinas. And do remember that back in your contemptuously mentioned socal, folks sail 12 months of the year, so there isn't the pressure to enjoy a short season.

I don't know anything about the liveaboard local communities in Europe. The places you find the old geezers hanging out are often full of liveaboard folks... a very different group than summer vacationers, trying to get as much fun into a few weeks as they can... maybe even chartering... even more pressure to get it done! The old guys have all the time they need to go sailing for they are all retired.

And I'm not really grumpy, Ken, and I don't sit in marinas much at all. Kinda busy getting ready to head up to Queensland end of the week, but it's all done at anchor.

Jim

[Sandero]

google earth is your friend. Most marinas are 90% full all the time. 90% of seasonal moorings are occupied all season.