Is Blogging Dead?

There's a great article over on ProBlogger, by guest author Steff Green, titled Is Blogging Dead?

Subscriber numbers are down. Younger people aren't starting new blogs. The action has moved to other social media platforms accessed by smartphones and it's all about shorter, punchier messages than the average blog post.

I expect all of my watery blogger friends have seen the same trends.

Is it time to recognize the inevitable and organize the wildest funeral party ever to bury all our blogs?




Wait.

I confess I didn't tell you the whole truth.

OK. I lied.

The full title of Steff's blog post is actually Is Blogging Dead? How Blogs are changing and How You Can Stay on Top.

Steff is full of ideas on how to respond to the trends in the blogging world, with suggestions on how to take advantage of the swing to social media, rethink where the conversations about your blog posts will be happening, and make money from your blog in this new world.




Whether you are a blogger or a reader or both, tell me, do you think blogging is dead?

Or, if you think the patient may still be breathing, then what do bloggers need to do to resuscitate the corpse?

Random Things I Am Thankful For This Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for…

My sailing friends 

especially the ones who drove 

down from Massachusetts so many times 

to train with me in Rhode Island this year

The RS Aero 

perhaps the best new singlehanded sailing boat 

since the Laser

Cup-holders on boats 

The winter solstice

Trapezoid courses

Form N-400

MagSafe

Snow

My blog readers 

especially those of you who 

take the trouble to leave a comment 

or send me an email

Waking up

Sunrises

Mangoes

Papayas

Marley

Rum

 especially rum after sailing 

The farmers, growers, fishers, brewers, and winemakers 

of New England 

The Oxford comma 

The Final Beat

IEEE 802.11

Rule 43.1(a) 

Command-Shift-4

The Leinster Burger 

at Aidan's Pub 

Beer 

especially beer after sailing 

All the people who work in restaurants and bars and pubs 

Even More Extreme Sudoku

by

Antoine Alary 

Six little people

RS Aero - Focus on Cup Holder

For those of my readers who thought I had finished writing about the RS Aero, fear not, I still have a lot more to say about the Aero and what I learned while sailing it at Minorca Sailing.

There are many positive attributes to the Aero -  its light weight, its acceleration, its hi-tech, sexy, modern feel and look… But I didn't appreciate one of its most important features on my first few days sailing the boat. I had noticed this cylindrical indentation in the cockpit floor at the back of the hiking strap. And I saw that there was a small hole from its center to the outside of underneath of the hull. But I couldn't figure out what it was. Could it be part of the method for draining water from the cockpit? But that didn't seem to be necessary as there are perfectly good drain flaps in the transom.

Eventually I asked some of the instructors at Minorca Sailing. This caused much scratching of heads. One young instructor suggested it might be an air expansion hole for the hull but that didn't seem to make any sense at all to me. And then the chief instructor worked it out…

"It's a cupholder!!!"

Of course it is. A cupholder.

I found some random bottle of water, and put it in the cupholder, and photographed it. (Actually the cupholder could have accommodated a somewhat larger bottle.) Perfect!



Wow! Just wow! These guys at RS Sailing have thought of everything. I've never ever owned a boat with a cupholder before.

This may just clinch the deal.

That Boat Has a Blog

Tillerwoman and I went for a walk in Warren RI this afternoon. There were some Sunfish racing on the Warren River.

Tillerwoman said she hadn't seen so many Sunfish together since we left Mountain Lakes in New Jersey in 2007. There must have been about 20 of them.

We strolled around Warren and watched the little boats racing up and down, up and down the Warren River.



Wait. I know that boat. That boat has a blog.

That boat on the right. The one with the blue and yellow sail. She has a blog. Sunfish 3929.

Wow. That's like seeing a member of the royal family.

I spotted blogging royalty.

In Warren RI.

Who would have thunk it?

R.I.P Old Friend

 For many years I was "the guy in the green hat."

Then for a few more years I was in my flowery hat phase. For part of that time I was in my flowery hatted bearded marxist phase.

In the last few years I have been "the guy in the orange hat."



It's true. Once I find a sailing hat that fits well, I tend to wear it all the time, year after year, until I lose it or it falls to pieces. I have been wearing my orange hat for…

… sailing with friends in Rhode Island...

….sailing with my granddaughter in Massachusetts...

…breaking Laser masts in the BVI…

…training in Florida...

…and hanging out in beach bars with friends in the Dominican Republic.

A lot of good times and happy memories.

That orange hat has had a long and fulfilling life.

But all good things must come to an end.

On our sailing trip to Menorca last month I noticed that my orange hat was falling to pieces.

It was time to arrange for it to be put to rest.

I've had this hat a long time.

As you can see it commemorated the East End Laser Series. As in East End of Long Island. I never sailed in the East End Laser Series. The hat was given to me by a friend who used to organize the East End Series. Maybe he still does. I guess he must have had some hats left over that year.

And so I had to say a sad goodbye to my orange hat in Menorca.

I did contemplate giving it a Viking funeral but, in the end, I threw it out in the trash.

So now it is rotting away in a landfill in Menorca.

Or perhaps it was incinerated and its ashes are blowing away in the Mediterranean breeze.

Either way I like to think it's a fitting end.



So now I have to choose a new hat for sailing from my vast selection of sailing caps.

Something I will proud to wear for at least 5 or 6 years.

Hmmm!

RS Aero - Capsize Recovery Videos

As a follow-up to my own post about RS Aero - Capsize Recovery here are a couple of videos posted by Peter Barton on YouTube. Peter is, I believe, the class association manager for the recently formed RS Aero Class.

In the first video a young sailor of about 60 kilos does a capsize recovery on an Aero that has turned turtle. He first tries to right the boat with the mast coming up to windward of the boat and it blows over on top of him, which is not unusual even in a Laser. He then swims around to the daggerboard, being careful to maintain contact with the boat all the way. On his second attempt to right the boat he briefly loses contact with the boat but does manage to swim after it and catch it before it drifts too far away. He succeeds in righting the boat on his third attempt. The grab rail nearest to him was used to help him pull himself into a position where he could grab the hiking strap and pull himself in. Nice job!




In the second video, the whole recovery goes much more smoothly.  This sailor also looks to be a lot lighter than me and the boat does heel towards him as he pulls himself into the boat. But with his lower weight and a little bit of pressure in the mainsail he succeeds in climbing into the boat amidships, a feat that I never managed in my three attempts.


My take-away from these videos is that entering over the side of the boat in a capsize recovery looks to be easier for lighter sailors than it was for me. But I suspect that with some more time to experiment and practice, especially at positioning the boat across the wind and sheeting in the sail to provide some force to counteract act my weight, I might be able to do as well as these two youngsters.

It also reinforces my suggestion that potential Aero buyers should spend some time practicing capsize recoveries to make sure that they can find a technique that works for their size, strength and agility.

Thanks to Peter Barton for posting these videos and also to "jimmy kneewrecker" for bringing them to my attention on the Dinghy Anarchy RS Aero thread.

Update: There is a more detailed blow by blow of these capsize recoveries (and a third one) at the RS Aero Forum.

RS Aero - Capsize Recovery

On Tuesday of our second week at Minorca Sailing I sailed the RS Aero with a 9 rig specifically to test out capsize recovery. I had heard that a number of people who had sailed the Aero in Minorca had had trouble getting back from the water into the boat from the side. And I had also heard from one sailor that the Aero had blown away from him faster than he could swim.

I took out the boat at lunchtime. Minorca Sailing don't have a rescue boat out on the water at that time of day, just one instructor on the shore keeping an eye out for mariners in distress. So I left instructions that I wanted to do some deliberate capsizes and recoveries and that I didn't need any rescuing unless I was in the water for at least 10 minutes.

It was about 6-8 knots with the occasional gust of 12 so I sailed around for a while and did some ugly tacks and gybes trying to capsize it but the damn thing wouldn't go over. In the end I forced it into a deliberate broach. As the mast hit the water I tried to do a dry capsize but got my foot caught in something as I tried to climb up to the high side, so I dropped into the water thinking that I needed to test what happens if I did fall out of the boat anyway, because even if I did manage to learn how to do a dry capsize I can't guarantee I won't ever end up in the water.

I swam round to the daggerboard and pulled the boat upright. That part seemed a little easier than a Laser. (Important note - the Aero at Minorca Sailing had a mast head float fitted (as do pretty much all the boats there except Lasers) so I wasn't able to test the tendency of the boat to turn turtle or not.

As I was warned by one of the instructors, it was not easy for a heavy person like me to get in over the side of the boat. This pre-production boat did not have grab rails so the only thing to grab was the hiking strap and every time I tried to pull my weight into the boat using that the boat capsized again on top of me. I tried and failed three times. Please note that I weigh 190lbs but have never had this problem before with Lasers or Sunfish.

As I was swimming around the boat to the daggerboard one time I momentarily lost contact with the boat and it started being blown downwind away from me. The boat was on it side and the boom was high in the air so the sail was helping to push it downwind too. I think the only thing that saved me was that the masthead float was acting like a sea anchor and by swimming hard I managed to catch the float and then work my way down the mast to the boat itself. Without that float I don't think I would ever have been able to catch the boat, and this was only in lightish winds. Goodness knows how fast the boat would sail away on its own in 20 knots. I guess this is one of the consequences of the boat being so light.

After three failed attempts to get in over the side of the boat I decided to try Plan B - climb in over the transom. This wasn't as easy as it might have been because although the Aero looks like an open transom boat it isn't really. It has those funny little honeycomb contraptions that hold the drain flaps so you have to pull yourself in over one of those. But by grabbing the back of the hiking strap and pulling hard I managed to drag myself in over one of the honeycomb gizmos. I was worrying I might break the honeycomb gizmo or detach it from the hull. I didn't do any damage this time (but more on this design feature in a later post.)

Rear view of RS Aero showing 

the "honeycomb contraptions" which support the drain flaps 

So I didn't cheat the nursing home this time, but I think my inability to get in over the side of the boat and the speed with which the boat blew away from me in even light winds are serious questions I need to consider before deciding whether to buy one.

Bottom line is that I strongly recommend that anyone having a demo in an Aero should try out capsize recoveries. Maybe you will have a better experience than I did. Sailors who are lighter than me or more agile than me may not have the same problem. Also I understand that the production boats have grab rails so that may make re-entering the boat somewhat easier.

Photo from RS Sailing Facebook page 

showing grab rail on production RS Aero

Alternate Ending

I woke up in bed last night with a panic attack. I had just had this totally freaky dream.

Tillerwoman wondered what the hell was going on.

I dreamed I was employed as resident blogger at this amazing sailing center on a beautiful Caribbean island… and I was also the cook. It was like Minorca Sailing - only better - and not over 3,000 miles away.

Tillerwoman laughed at the idea that I could cook anything.

And there was this little sailing instructor who used the B-word a lot and would always be saying things like, "Yay B-word Musto Skiff!" and "Yay B-word Sea Sail today!"

Tillerwoman tried to calm me down.

But I couldn't stop talking about my dream… "And I had this 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display and a WordPress blog and I wore an orange hat..."

Tillerwoman wasn't impressed.

But I kept going. "I haven't told you the best stuff yet… I was paid a gazillion dollars to be the resident blogger at this place and I had millions of readers and I just killed it…"

"And I lived with this tall beautiful blonde sailing instructor…"

Tillerwoman totally lost it. "Keep dreaming pal."

It was the darndest thing.

Soccer in the Rain

There's a bit of a storm hitting southern New England this weekend. As I write on Saturday, the temperature is in the 40s, it's raining steadily and there's a northerly wind of about 20mph. Tomorrow the winds are supposed to increase to 25mph gusting to 40, and there might be snow. The manly men of the Newport Laser frostbite fleet have even postponed the famous Fat Boys Regatta because of the weather.

We were thinking of going to watch our 6-year-old grandson, Aidan, play his last soccer game of the season in Foxboro, Massachusetts today. But Tillerwoman and I decided that standing around on a muddy field in the rain and wind and cold wouldn't be much fun. So we wimped out.

But the game went on…

Aidan

This boy has British blood in his veins.

So do I. But I am old and he is young.