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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781119999218 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Fernhurst Books Limited |
| Publication date: | 03/29/2011 |
| Series: | Sailing Wisdom , #2 |
| Sold by: | Bookwire |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| File size: | 441 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
HOLY COW!
Playing the blame game rarely proves a useful exercise, especially when a greater power has marked your card
Some thrive on uncertainty, others would turn the tide to avoid it if they could. Like it or not though, the only thing we can be really sure of at sea is that we never know what’ll happen next.
Last week, I dropped my biggest anchor on my foot. Was I unlucky, or was it my own stupid fault? There are arguments on both sides, but before examining what constitutes a genuine accident, it’s worth sparing a thought for a crew of Japanese fishermen as reported in the Australian Financial Review.
These honest sons of the sea were cruising home mending their nets when a large cow fell from the sky, plunged through the deck before their astonished gaze, continued past the fish hold and out through the bottom. You might be thinking that the beast would have been better employed supplying milk to the thirsty, but the fishermen had other priorities because their boat was sinking rapidly. When they were finally pulled from the water, nobody believed their story. Far from being returned to their loved ones, they were interrogated and slung in jail, presumably under suspicion of insurance fraud.
Weeks later, the truth was leaked by the Russian Air Ministry. Apparently the crew of a cargo plane had stolen a cow, herded her aboard, then taken off for home and a fresh beef dinner. The plan backfired somewhere over the Sea of Japan when the hitherto mild-mannered cudster awoke to the fact that her future looked short and far from pleasant. So violent were her berserk rampages that the aircraft’s stability was compromised, leaving the airmen little alternative but to shove the beast out of the door. The chances of her making landfall on the boat below were so remote that not even Mr ‘Jobsworth’ the assessor could blame the fishermen. It just hadn’t been their day.
We can contrast this misadventure with the affair of a young man in mid-ocean on a 21ft boat when his pressure-driven cooking stove ran low on alcohol half-way through supper. These units are considered by many as safer than propane, and lighting the rings follows a sequence.
The fuel tank is pressurised with a hand pump with the supply to the burner turned off. The burner is now heated so that it will vapourise the fuel for combustion. This is done by igniting a small amount of raw alcohol tipped into an open pan under the base of the burner.
With good timing, the pressurised fuel can be turned on just before the flames in the pre-heating pan die. If the burner is hot enough, the stove catches and roars into satisfying life. If it isn’t, you either get the benefit of a jet of burning liquid fuel, or nothing at all. If you miss the right moment and the burner is hot enough, you’re still in with a good chance of lighting it with a match.
Our gallant mariner’s stew was nearly ready but, as the gravy warmed up, the fuel ran down until it became obvious he must refill it. Rather than go through the whole ritual, he opted to open the tank and top it up before the burner cooled off, then pump it up again while it would still work. He’d done it before, but this time his luck was out and an awkward wave spilled his fuel container onto the cooker. This flashed up all right, but not in the way he’d intended. His beard was burning merrily by the time he leapt over the side. So was the cabin as he struggled back on board, but his fire extinguishers were well sited to save his skin and his boat.
Table of Contents
Introduction.1. Holy cow!
2. Passing it on.
3. Uncharted territory.
4. On eth watch for eddies.
5. Cunliffe’s law of diminishing returns.
6. Together in the end.
7. Jonah and the wave.
8. Lessons learnt from a puffin.
9. In the drink.
10. Here’s hoping.
11. Glad to be trad.
12. Fight for the Wight.
13. Join the club.
14. The clock is ticking.
15. Life is looking up.
16. Good, becoming poor.
17. Winged wonders.
18. Good, bad, or just unlucky?
19. Sound of silence.
20. Testing times.
21. Stockholm tar.
22. Where’s Wallander.
23. Weather or not.
24. Wrestling the python of modernity.
25. Touching the bottom.
26. Dead cert.
27. Spring fever.
28. Strike a light.
29. Russian away from freedom.
30. All suggestions welcome.
31. Spirits of the sea.
32. Skipping for joy.
33. The ability for stability.
34. Sheer delight.
35. The big bang.
36. A wise investment?
37. Centenary celebrations.
38. Under pressure.
39. Trial and tribulations.
40. Troublesome seagulls.
41. Skip it skipper.
42. Feeling the pinch.
43. Reckoning with doubt.
44. For your comfort and safety.
45. Grief relief.
46. Put your money away.
47. Going sideways fast.
48. A life of luxury?
49. Don’t neglect your bottom.
50. What a stitch up!
51. Don’t read all about it.
52. Owning or bemoaning?
53. Fail safe.
54. Fearing for steering.
55. Eastern delights.
56. Turning on technology.
57. A break in the weather.
58. Signs of the times.
59. If in drought…
60. The prefect platform.
61. Don’t forget your old friends.
62. Music to my ears.
63. Size matters.
64. The power and the glory.
65. Sailing through red tape.
66. Resisting the rising tide.
67. The right sort of customs.
68. Too much of a good thing?
69. A thousand miles from land.
70. When plastic’s not fantastic.
71. No cause for alarm.
72. The boating backbone of Britain.
73. Cheap and cheerful around the world.
74. Hearing voices.
75. The plastic revolution.
76. Clearing the pipes.
77. Pierhead jumper.