My name is Michael and I'm a fat boy windsurfer.
This is not necessarily the same as being a fat boy, plain and simple. I don't have three chins and rolls of fat hanging over my collar. I only have about 1 1/2 chins. When I walk down the street, people don't gawk with astonished eyes or make comments about whales. But 108 kg (kgs are SO much nicer than pounds! Doesn't 108 sound svelte? Well, maybe--if one does not know how many pounds that is) is not small for a windsurfer.
Fat Boy windsurfers do have some advantages. We can hold down sails in high winds much more effectively than tweezer butts. And when a big windsurfer gets going, the speeds can be impressive.
But we do have disadvantages--when pencil necks are powered up, we (unless sailing HUGE clouds of monofilm) are still slogging.
When my less weighty friends are rigging 7.5's, I'm cranking the downhaul on a 12.5.
And big sails (with big masts and long booms) cost more.
In the unlikely event that somebody actually reads this post, here are some sail sizes I think (based on a little bit experience, but not as much TOW as I'd like) are right for fat boys. If you have any suggestions about sail size (especially about wave sails that might work for fat boys), I'd love to hear them.
Wind: up to 15 knots; Sail = 12.5 race
Wind: steady 15, gusts to 20; Sail = 12.5 race still :-)
Wind: steady 18, gusts to 25; Sail = 10.5 race/10.0 freeride
Wind: steady 20, gusts to 28; Sail = 9.0 race/ 8.5slalom
Wind: steady 25, gusts to 32; Sail = 7.5 race/slalom
Wind: steady 30, gusts to 35; Sail = 6.0 to 6.5 no-cam freeride.
The mantra for many years was, rig big or go home. I can't get my carcass off a slog any other way. More recently, the trend has been to smaller, more powerful sails. Any big guys had any luck with them?
Friday, August 22, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Upper Arlington & Religion
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has prevailed in lawsuit saying that Upper Arlington Public Library has to open its meeting room to a religious group to discuss religion, with that discussion including "a time of prayer petitioning God for guidance in the church's proper role in the political process" and "singing praise and giving thanks to God for the freedom we have in this country to participate in the political process."
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=4649
The judge did not rule on the Constitutionality of the case, simply positing that eliminating the specifically religious parts of a meeting was "viewpoint discrimination."
The case is certainly an interesting one and raises questions about library meeting room policies, especially in light of a case that the ADF earlier lost in a higher court and that the Supreme Court has refused to visit in spite of a supporting brief from the Bush Administration:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214929,00.html
In this case, the court ruled "Prohibiting Faith Center's religious worship services from the Antioch meeting room is a permissible exclusion of a category of speech."
So, the issue seems to be whether a meeting is a religious service (which seemingly may be disallowed in library meeting rooms) or a meeting discussing religion that might contain so many religious elements that it may as well be a religious service. It would be nice to get a unified legal ruling on this issue. In the meantime, libraries will evidently have to look at their policies to see what they want to allow and what they don't. We may owe our taxpayers a rigourous separtaion of church and state, so that tax dollars to not support religion in our meeting rooms; on the other hand, we have always been advocates of free adn open expression. An interesting dilemma. Any thoughts?
The judge did not rule on the Constitutionality of the case, simply positing that eliminating the specifically religious parts of a meeting was "viewpoint discrimination."
The case is certainly an interesting one and raises questions about library meeting room policies, especially in light of a case that the ADF earlier lost in a higher court and that the Supreme Court has refused to visit in spite of a supporting brief from the Bush Administration:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214929,00.html
In this case, the court ruled "Prohibiting Faith Center's religious worship services from the Antioch meeting room is a permissible exclusion of a category of speech."
So, the issue seems to be whether a meeting is a religious service (which seemingly may be disallowed in library meeting rooms) or a meeting discussing religion that might contain so many religious elements that it may as well be a religious service. It would be nice to get a unified legal ruling on this issue. In the meantime, libraries will evidently have to look at their policies to see what they want to allow and what they don't. We may owe our taxpayers a rigourous separtaion of church and state, so that tax dollars to not support religion in our meeting rooms; on the other hand, we have always been advocates of free adn open expression. An interesting dilemma. Any thoughts?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Learn & Play: First Library Post
As part of Play&Learn@CML (Trumpet Fanfare!), we're supposed to post our greatest strengths and weaknesses on the 7 1/2 Habits of Effective Life-Long Learners matrix.
Okay, because I'm an optimistic kind of guy, I'll talk about a strength first. Item #3 suggests we view problems as challenges, and I'm all over that one. I love challenges, and I see all challenges as opportunities. I'm not easily discouraged by anything, and never discouraged by a problem--I look for solutions and keep going till the problem is solved or (as sometimes happens) no longer matters.
My big weakness is harder to choose because I have so many weaknesses. I'd say it was item # 7 1/2: "play." I love to play. I have so little time, however, that I usually work first and leave myself little time for play. I'm trying to prioritize play and have more simply have fun. Hey, I don't want to be known as the guy who had no fun. Somehow it just seems too ironic and post-modern to rigidly schedule play time, though, so wish me luck getting around to the fun stuff. Though who says work can't also be fun and play?
Okay, because I'm an optimistic kind of guy, I'll talk about a strength first. Item #3 suggests we view problems as challenges, and I'm all over that one. I love challenges, and I see all challenges as opportunities. I'm not easily discouraged by anything, and never discouraged by a problem--I look for solutions and keep going till the problem is solved or (as sometimes happens) no longer matters.
My big weakness is harder to choose because I have so many weaknesses. I'd say it was item # 7 1/2: "play." I love to play. I have so little time, however, that I usually work first and leave myself little time for play. I'm trying to prioritize play and have more simply have fun. Hey, I don't want to be known as the guy who had no fun. Somehow it just seems too ironic and post-modern to rigidly schedule play time, though, so wish me luck getting around to the fun stuff. Though who says work can't also be fun and play?
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