Spring Colours on the Canal

Rideau Canal, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 

©2010 Darren DeRidder

The Other Rudder

Last year I inherited a "new" rudder for my T22 sailboat.  Unlike the original swept-back rudder, which was designed more for aesthetics than handling, the new rudder is straight and moves the turning moment much closer to the axis of the tiller.  Instead of two hands on the tiller pulling hard in a stiff breeze, you can sail along with a finger.

The original owner of this rudder had a sneaking suspicion that it was waterlogged and a lot heaver than it ought to be.  Two years of sitting in a shed, it was dry for sure, but there were a number of hairline cracks around the edges that had me worried. 

I decided to refinish it, seal up any visible cracks, patch the gelcoat as much as possible, and paint the submersed areas with epoxy paint.  First I sanded off the old anti-fouling paint, using an orbital sander and of course a double respirator, as the paint dust is toxic.

With most of the old antifouling off I applied some gelcoat patches to the most dubious areas. These would have to be sanded flush afterwards.

Once the gelcoat patches were sanded smooth I went over the whole rudder with Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure, letting the liquid seep into every tiny crack and crevice I could find on the surface of the rudder and especially around the edges where the two halves of the mold were joined together.

When the liquid stops seeping into the cracks, old Captain Tolley has done his job.  Next I painted below the waterline with several coats of Interprotect 2000 epoxy barrier paint.

Things are starting to look better now.  About six hours after the last coat of Interprotect 2000, I scored some leftover VC-17 from a friend and painted on the anti-fouling.  Nice an bright copper color, but it turns black within a couple of weeks once it's under water.

Turning my attention to the more visible part of the rudder I applied four coats of Brightside white deck paint to the top.  I polished the pintles and purchased new 3" bolts and nuts to mount them.  The new rudder is a little bit thicker than the old rudder so the old bolts wouldn't go all the way through.  The new bolts were a bit too long, though, so I cut off the ends with a dremel.  Broke about half a dozen disks in the process, but that's to be expected.  Of course I wore goggles to keep flying chunks of cutting wheel from hitting me in the eyes.

You can see the old rudder (curved, on the left) and the new rudder (straight, on the right).

The new rudder, refinished.

The rudder is ready to be mounted on the transom.  Here you can see the gudgeons and pintles, and the rudder after it's installed.

Finally the boat is ready to go in the water.  Aura looks good in her new mooring.

Jobs on Flash

In an article posted on Apple's website Steve Jobs outlines a number of reasons why Flash is not implemented on the iPhone or iPad.  Below is a quote of his "most important reason", and it echoes Jobs' sentiment on Java, which he called a "big, heavyweight ball and chain".

We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

This becomes even worse if the third party is supplying a cross platform development tool. The third party may not adopt enhancements from one platform unless they are available on all of their supported platforms. Hence developers only have access to the lowest common denominator set of features. Again, we cannot accept an outcome where developers are blocked from using our innovations and enhancements because they are not available on our competitor’s platforms.

Signs of Spring

Tulips make an early appearance along the Rideau Canal, Ottawa, Ontario.

© 2010 Darren DeRidder

Spring Preparation Begins

April arrived with some unseasonably warm weather, giving sailors no excuse not to get cracking on boat preparation.  No doubt the keeners already have a fresh coat of bottom paint and are busy polishing their brightwork.  Not to be left out, I hauled my new rudder out of the shed, spent about 20 minutes looking at it, and called it a day.  You've got to ease into it, then build momentum.

Last weekend Aura came out from her winter cover.  Looks like she kept pretty well. Through the winter.  Packed in behind literally hundreds of other boats, the wind didn't get up quite so brutally as it did at the BYC.

Yes, so Aura is over at Nepean Sailing Club now.  I've got to say, it's a relief to be over there.  Initially I was on a waiting list but last week the mooring assignments came in, and I'm happy to report that I've got a slip. Aura will be sailing out of NSC this season. 

NSC has really nice facilities - not the old world charm of BYC, but a modern, nautical, fresh kind of look that I think captures the essence of the sailing / cruising lifestyle.  It's always well maintained and has activities going year round.  There are a lot of racers and Tanzer owners, so this it the place to be if you race a Tanzer.  In addition its only about 10 minutes from work, making it a lot easier to make it to the weeknight races.

I took a few pictures of the boat while I was down there.

Hmm, the wax job still looks pretty good from last year.

I installed new deck organizers last summer.  They rock.  My deck is a little dirty though... time for some StarBrite deck cleaner!

One of the new swivel blocks I installed for the spinnaker uphaul and downhaul.  Wish I had gotten these the first time around.  I put the other blocks on the gunwhales for the spinnaker sheets but they don't ratchet or swivel.

The pièce de résistance!  The Spinlock XAS triple rope clutch.  This thing cost more than my bicycle!  It's nice though.  It makes us go faster.  In my imagination.

Winter Path

Gatineau Park, Quebec

©2010 Darren DeRidder

Herb Ellis

Herb Ellis, one of the jazz greats, passed away last month.  I'd just been listening to him playing How High the Moon with the Oscar Peterson Trio on their album Live at the Strattford Shakespearean Festival.  It's been a while since I posted anything, so here's to Herb Ellis.