Please don't hesitate to ask questions, no matter how "dumb" you think they
might be. I've been on this mail list from the beginning and it is the most
"kind and gentle" list or bulletin board I've encountered. (Some of the
stock investor BBs on Yahoo are 90 percent obscenities and insults.) The
flames here have been few and far between. Most of this group seems to
enjoy answering questions from beginners, and I've never known anyone to
comment, publicly or privately, about "dumb" questions.
As for saltiness, Tim is apparently as salty and experienced as anyone
here, more so than most of us. After all, how "salty" can we get sailing 14
and 18 ft trailer boats on weekends and vacations?
Some, like myself, are more "old" than "salt." Perhaps my longevity is
mistaken for experience. I've been sailing the same 14 ft boat,
occasionally, for 29 years. Some of those years I only sailed once or
twice. In recent years I've sailed more frequently, mainly because this
group keeps me stimulated to do so. But it still often takes me two or
three tries to tie a bowline, I've rarely had occasion to use my anchor, I
never learned to make precise tacks when sloop rigged (except with a jib
boom), my only ocean passage in Manatee was a 20-nmi sail across Monterey
Bay, my knowledge of nautical nomenclature is still minimal, and, in
general, I screw up so frequently when sailing that I'm reluctant to take
out strangers for fear of making a fool of myself.
Still, I've managed to accumulate a lot of quaint and curious Potter lore
that I am glad to pass on. Some of it may even be correct.
Harry Gordon
P14 #234, Manatee
Mountain View, CA
>>At 08:43 PM 09/12/1999 -0400, Lewis Baumstark wrote:
>>
>>>being flamed, I'm just a little self-consious in the presence of you "old
>>>salts," a little afraid of saying something real dumb. I suspect this is
>>>the case with many others. Anybody else feel this way?
>>
>>I do, and I've been around boats, and sailboats, much of my life. I
>>sailed the Chesapeake on this guy - http://spof.org/brigadoon.jpg - with
>>my grandfather, who was about as salty as they come, beginning when I was
>>about 10 or 12 and before that on the boat that became the logo for
>>Fawcett's, Annapolis (http://www.fawcettboat.com), I worked at Fawcett's
>>growing up, and I spent 4 years at sea in the Coast Guard. But the fact
>>is, I'm not very experienced and, yes, I fear asking the stupid question
>>or, worse, making the stupid comment. But with one notable exception,
>>I've found the folks here to be extraordinarily helpful and if they do
>>condescend to us less experienced folks, they do it out of ear range.
>
>Tim Spofford
>Kirkland, Washington
>http://spof.org
>P-19 #611 "Heron"
