a quick thought...

The other day I was checking out the VolkCruiser stats and saw I was getting some hits from a couple of new blogs who had linked to the site...

Being curious, I trundled over to check them out and they seemed like nice sites by very nice and interesting people who were all about getting ready to cruise off into the sunset/sunrise who seem to equate getting ready to cruise with a whole lot of buying stuff. Really, just about every post was about something they'd just bought or something they were about to buy and they both seemed to have a long list of stuff they thought they needed to get.

It was just a little depressing...

Of course, it's all understandable and the pressure to conform to the consumerist agenda is both ruthless and unrelenting. Come to think about it, there's not a whole lot of pressure from any direction telling folks to use less and simplify is there?

Just something to think about...

Webb Chiles doing it...

Webb Chiles showing it can be done simply with a lot of style...

a great small boat...

Just one of the reasons I'm a huge fan of Atom Voyages...

Something you'll want to read...

Over at SailFeed there's a pretty good article about sails for downwind sailing...

That said, I disagree strongly with their thoughts on drifters.

Speaking of Wharram Tikis...

A reality based multihull..

Yesterday while running errands we noticed a new boat in the anchorage... A very nice example of a Wharram Tiki 30.

What a great boat...

Rowing by I was struck with just how much sense it makes and what a great design it is.

Sure, it might not be everything you want in a boat but it pretty much covers anything you'd actually need...

Definitely a design to spend some time studying.

That said, it does fly in the face of where catamaran design has wandered since cat design took a left at the corner of Charterland and MacMansion leaving real world needs in the dust.