Opposite ends…

Twin polingAn explanation from Malcolm: It is quite normal for a yacht to 'pole out' its jib (the foresail) on the opposite side of the boat to the mainsail when running downwind - this is called goosewinging'. A spinnaker pole is attached to the mast at one end and the back corner (clew) of the jib at the other. That holds the jib at the right angle so that it catches the wind. On Berri they've found that they can often get good performance and a comfortable ride by taking the mainsail right down and setting a second jib poled out on the opposite side to the first. rather slowly towards the barn doorMetaphor for whatever we were aiming at. Derived from the saying “Couldn’t hit a barn door at five paces” used to describe anyone who can’t shoot straight.. I've just gybedGybe - A sailing term for turning the boat so that the stern passes through the wind. Potentially dangerous if not controlled because the wind can fill an uncontrolled mainsail from the wrong side and crash it across the boat, possibly causing damage to the rig and anyone getting in the way. us – a welter of sheets, downhauls, topping lifts, strops and the works, a difficult manoeuvre with Berri's current set-up but I think we can make some mods in CT. One armed paperhanger is close. Looks as if I might have to go out and reverse it all – let the 10 minute rule apply. Glorious night out there.

Pete is a sparkling clean person and he washes his clothes. Me, I kind of like the foetids so I tend just to wring them through and it doesn't use as much water but it does catch up eventually. I've been preparing a washing bag of interesting feral colonies in varied technicolor (the colonies – the bag is black plastic to keep them in the dark) and I'm hoping Derek the washing inspector in the CT customs shed doesn't discover the second last non extinct pair of breeding Barking Toads in the bag – I don't want to have to wear it all until they breed in two years time and be inspected daily by Clive the biologist. And I hate to think what is occurring inside the bag as the colonies mix and match.

Yesterday's airing for the neuronic trio led to the thought that there can't be too many people alive who have been to the opposite ends of mainland America – and I bet there aren't too many who have stood on the Greenwich MeridianAn imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth, passing through North and South geographic poles. All points on the same meridian have the same longitude. Meridian can also be used to describe either half of such a circle from pole to pole at the Observatory (51 N 00 E)and been able to say that they stood at the exact opposite end of the earth a few months earlier, on the international date line east of NZ (51 S 180 E) near the Antipodes Islands. And I may well be the only person around who can claim both. But an interesting possibility for a roomful of people. And another one – the opposite end to the AmchitkaAmchitka Pass:a strait in the Aleutian Islands, between the Rat Islands group to the west and the Delarof Islands to the east. Amchitka Island was the site of the Cannikin nuclear test – the biggest underground explosion ever conducted by the USA (as far as we know). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amchitka passage through the Aleutians into the Bering Sea and on the date line is only about 3000 miles south west of here on the Greenwich meridianAn imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth, passing through North and South geographic poles. All points on the same meridian have the same longitude. Meridian can also be used to describe either half of such a circle from pole to pole. We nearly crossed that one last time around. Across Peel Sound from that northern point of America is Strzelezki Harbour. I wonder whether that is the same Strzelezki that named the mountain in Australia.
Idle nonsense.