The team at Quantum Toronto have been working on the sails for a J160.

Pictures tend to lose some of the scale so I asked Chris to overlay my new Genoa on the Jib.
That's right, a Jib, as in 100%, compared to our 151%.

Here's a shot of the Mainsail.

Look at this headboard and cutout.

And did I forget to mention that it's all carbon? Cha…Ching! : )

Every so often during conversation I hear someone use a term or phrase that I know has nautical roots. It's also usually pretty obvious that this person has no idea what the meaning is or where it came from. I know I am guilty of this because I sometimes happen upon the meaning of a common phrase that I have used, only to discover has nautical history. It really is amazing how much of our everyday language harkens (coincidence?) back to the "days of yore."

So, I've decided to share my childish joy in the discovery of old nautical words and phrases with you, my loyal readers. Our first installment is probably the first thing any swabbie learns.

The Vikings called the side of their ship its board, and they placed the steering oar, the "star" on the right side of the ship, thus that side became known as the "star board." It's been that way ever since. And, because the oar was in the right side, the ship was tied to the dock at the left side. This was known as the loading side or "larboard". Later, it was decided that "larboard" and "starboard" were too similar, especially when trying to be heard over the roar of a heavy sea, so the phrase became the "side at which you tied up to in port" or the "port" side.

If you haven't received your Class button yet you soon will, if you're a paid member.

The feedback indicates that the members are liking them a lot. It has been suggested that they be placed in the cockpit, on the aft wall, underneath your tiller or thereabouts. If we can keep this going then you would have a nice little collection in a couple of years. Or you could make a keychain or some other crafty little gizmo, if you were so incliined.

Eweek reports on a highly critical MS Internet Explorer hole found by Secunia Research's Andreas Sandblad. The vulnerability is due to the processing of the "createTextRange()" method call applied on a radio button control. From Secunia, "The vulnerability has been confirmed on a fully patched system with Internet Explorer 6.0 and Microsoft Windows XP SP2." The vulnerability has also been confirmed in Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview (January edition)

Geez Louise.

You can get the patch for this here.

Building the rudder post…

Part four on the rudder page.

The R/P 72 "BEECOM" laying a wicked wind shadow on what looks to be about a 40 footer.

While checking out some gear I noticed that one of my spreaders was bent a bit. I have managed to get some tubing to make some new ones. Of course, it was a "special order" because of the odd size. OD is 1.25" with .125" wall thickness, 6061 aluminum. I will have enough to make a few extra sets so if anyone is looking for a new set of spreaders then let me know. Paid members will get priority and a very reasonable cost.

This one transcends words. I've got nothin'.

Is that "Bender Orange" these guys are wearing?

This just gives me a chubby. I hope you have broadband. And Quicktime.

The Black Pearl on a screaming reach.

The forum is back online. I don't really know for sure why it went down.

When I rebuilt the site I didn't quite understand how it all worked so I basically did a copy/paste of the old stuff and it seemed fine. It caught up with me somehow. I took this opportunity to upgrade to the latest version and rebuild the database. I learned a bit about PHP and MySql so it isn't all bad.

I've left the original theme in place because I think it actually functions better. I'll leave it like this for awhile.