Permission to come aboard?
Hiya Junkies. I may be the newest member, (approved today.) I am, and have been, building a 26' heavy displacement junk since 1999. Don't laugh, please. I haven't been terribly diligent in the last four years. I should have built a Benford. I really like dories. But hey, those eggs were broken a long time ago, the omelet is almost done and now I'm famished.
Over the past winter I began to realize I might just end up on the heap already cluttered with old farts who started building boats and never finished. So, despite numerous upheavals and hindrances, I lured myself back into the sawdust with visions of palm trees and azure waters, or icebergs and seals. I have no more time for green bananas.
I have one quote by Jawaharlal Nehru that sustains me, "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will."
A few bits about my background: I was born in Paris. I speak French, Italian and some Spanish, and can read in all three but can't write any very well. Since I was sixteen, I've worked as a carpenter, surveyor, silversmith, cab driver, drywall finisher, house painter, truck driver, goldsmith, lapidary and finally a Union Ironworker, Local 401. I went to school to bartend but upon graduation decided I didn't like being around drunks. I design and build... things.
My mother was a (white)witch and a travel agent. She used to tell clients our family pioneered Caribbean cruises. My father was USN (DD559), an artist and author who knew famous people, though he abhorred the fame himself. My uncle, Bertrand Lafitte, was well known in French sailing circles decades ago. Maybe he still is.
I like to read though I have a reading disability that precludes speed reading. Fifty or sixty books a year is all I usually manage. I love to cook and garden (vegetables.) Soups are my specialty; French onion (no beef) , cream of mushroom(s), cream of garlic, (a summer favorite when you can sleep with the windows open,) and my cream of bacon is to die for.
My boat was named ALBATROSS from the moment I thought of building her. If you're interested in the make and model, consult my profile. The designer and I have been at odds from the beginning. Nonetheless, I do have a detailed record of the build since the outset.
Albatross' Adventure The sail rig is the only part that has evolved over time. What started as a straight PJR (flat, pocketed-battens,) will be a shelf-footed, cambered sail pinned between bolted battens.
I haven't mentioned my Darling, Lisa, with whom I've been together twenty-five years, because she's not a sailor, and not a dreamer, but then I don't have a boat... yet.
My friends call me
"Maddog!" or "MD!" Or you can call me Alan if it pleases you.
Thanks for reading this.