Commodore Livermore's Wet Hat Regatta

At the end of the MAST awards ceremony a couple weeks ago, a few MAST members made a tribute to our outgoing Commodore, Glyn Livermore. Glyn and his wife Laura were on vacation and one of their friends had keys to their house. So of course, some people went over to the Livermore residence and filmed this "movie" while they were away. One thing to note, as you are reading and watching, any word or phrase you'd think shouldn't be capitalized in the dialog is likely boat name. They tried to incorporate as many MAST boat names into the video as possible. Thank you for all the hard work you put into MAST, Glyn!

More Inexpensive Sailing Solutions

I'm not shy about being cheap. I'm cheap. I'm also not a sucker (for the most part).

For spinnaker sheets (or guys if you run double sheets and guys), they make something called shackle guards that are essentially big, round pieces of plastic that stop the spinnaker pole from clipping or jamming up on the shackle attached to the clew of the chute. If the pole gets caught on the shackle, it makes jibing the sail slightly more difficult.

These green and red colored pieces of plastic are about ten dollars each and are made by a variety of companies like Forespar, Schaefer, Ronstan, etc. What a waste of money.

So what's my solution? I went and bought some wiffle balls (little smaller than baseball size), put some green and red color electrical tape on them and wha-la. I just made shackle guards for two bucks.

Now, I have yet to test my little experiment but doubt I'll have issues. This solution may not work for larger boats, but should be a perfect for my application.

O Dock?! O DANG!!!

Well, the results of the poll are in! The readers overwhelmingly voted for McKinley Marina by nearly a 6 to 1 margin (as of 2/17)!  As I stated in my Jep Poll post, I really didn't care what the results were because I had already made up my mind.  Jep is moving to McKinley!

Since a big chunk of the MAST fleet is on O Dock, I figured there is no better place to be than with the group!  Plus, the MAST O Dockers have a party at the slips every Friday night after our races.  It's the sailors version of après-ski!

Today I spoke with marina management.  There were a number of slips available on O Dock so I pretty much had my pick.  Jep will be in O-12 which is on the east side of the dock (east is on the right hand side in the picture) directly across from s/v Hullabaloo!  It's a starboard side slip like the one I had on the river.

So, it's official!  I signed on the dotted line and put my security deposit down.  O Dockers, you've been warned!!!

Funny Stuff!

A buddy of mine sent this to me today. Hilarious!!

Jep Poll: Where Should I Dock This Year?

As another season approaches, I'm toying with the idea of moving Jep to McKinley Marina (assuming they have openings). There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Current Location - Third Ward / Milwaukee River
Pros: Directly in the middle of the Third Ward, walking distance to bars / restaurants / convenience store (beer & ice), midpoint between home and work, relatively inexpensive
Cons: Parking, no public restroom or shower, bridge closure from 4:30 to 5:30 PM (can't get out to the lake), no afternoon sun

McKinley Marina
Pros: Slightly closer to home, numerous friends have slips there, ample parking, restroom / shower facilities, more social boating atmosphere
Cons: Slightly more expensive, no bars / restaurants / convenience stores in close walking distance

I won't be using the results of this pole to make my decision but I'm interested to see what others out there think.

Anyone for Some Keel Walking?

HA!!!  Talk about having your rail in the water!