sparks appreciation thread.

[Witness]

[Witness]

[sparks]

Weapons grade gorgeous.

[Witness]

More pics, story & video about Marigold: http://www.classicyacht.tv/journal/2017 ... g-marigold

[Witness]

[Witness]

~ the first three minutes, the rest is tourism. Beware, annoying music.

Jolie Brise: A legend sails the Atlantic

For decades, Jolie Brise has been sailed and maintained by pupils from Dauntsey's School. Clare McComb finds out about their most recent passage - 10,000 miles across the Atlantic and back

When Jolie Brise and the students of Dauntsey’s School in landlocked Wiltshire go transatlantic, 
the planning
 starts very early on, and for good reason.

The tall ship’s long-time skipper Toby Marris knows only too well how different individual crossings can be.

In 2009, during the last leg 
of the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge, Jolie Brise 
lost her topmast in 55 knots of wind, mid-ocean.

They had broken the topmast before, in the Mediterranean, but that was in fairly placid waters; this North Atlantic storm was very different.

Coming down a large breaking wave touching 15 knots
 on the surf, the helm lost control, they gybed, the mainsail preventer pulled the deck fitting out and
 the boom whipped through the backstay, popping 40ft of topmast off.

No one panicked, instructions were given – the Dauntsey’s students got stuck in. That mess of rigging took nearly 14 hours to sort out, after which Jolie Brise continued her race, without the topmast.

For Toby, in 2009, the topmast was a situational problem, not a danger. He knows his ship.

In 
the eight years since, technology has moved on massively. In 2009, he and mate Adam Seager worked with the computer screen in layers of cling film, trying to plot different routes with chinagraph over the GRIB files and weather information sent
to them from Chris Tibbs, giving them different scenarios on each layer.

Now Adrena, PredictWind and the B&G plotter learn Jolie Brise’s polars and crunch the algorithms.

https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/cruisin ... hool-65925 for the rest.

[Witness]

[robinson2]

This is my favorite topic

[sparks]

intro-1532969348.jpeg

This one may have been previously posted... Worthy of a repeat performance.

[Witness]

[Witness]

[izittrue]

Sparks is getting much more appreciation than me. Hmm

[sparks]

Nearly naked red haired women:. It's universal, like health care.

Wait....
What?

[Witness]

[Witness]

NSFW: