Some Tesla news, about that anticipatory obedience, and a welcome alternative to Amazon…
I used to work in a boat gear consignment shop and it taught me about what works, what doesn’t, and how gear fails. It also confirmed my suspicion that 90% of sailing folks are idiots who love being treated like an ATM.
For instance, at the store we had a big box of Harken violin blocks that were crap. They were poorly built, made of materials that that held up poorly to UV, and became brittle overnight. However, they were Harken and they were cheap. I hated selling them but being cheap, we sold lots of them.
In fact, one daysail captain who ran tourists every morning and afternoon, bought these crappy blocks all the time. Not a week would go by where he didn’t storm into the store with a broken block complaining that the piece of shit block had exploded. He needed a replacement ASAP because he had a half dozen shit-faced tourists who wanted to go snorkel Buck Island and he needed it NOW.
At this point, I have to add that I always told said captain that the Harken block was crap. For a paltry few dollars more, he could purchase a Garhauer block that would not break and last a lifetime. Of course, the Captain would then insist he wanted the crap Harken and block in hand, he would storm off to do his charter.
Now, I’d be remiss if I did not mention that the crap block in question was woefully undersized for the use and conditions involved in hauling drunk tourists to Buck Island and back. Or, in other words, it was a bad choice all around.
Which is a long introduction to a lie, passing for wisdom, that it’s normal for stuff on boats to break. Properly designed, sized, and maintained gear on sailboats shouldn’t break or fail. If it does break or fail, there’s a reason and, more than likely, it’s the captain who’s at fault.
Seriously, stuff does not break on its own accord and if it breaks there’s a reason.
The trick is to work out all the various reasons something will fail and use gear that has the bare minimum of potential issues. While you’re at it, do yourself a favor and only go with gear that’s user serviceable. Case in point: I have a couple of blocks on the boat that are built like tanks but I can’t replace the sheaves because they are welded together.
Maybe it’s my experience designing mountaineering gear or having built boats that makes me unhappy at what passes for sailing gear. The bottom line is that most gear for sailing is dead simple and, as such, should be as close to trouble free as possible. So, maybe it’s time to sit down and rethink the gear we use and just how we use it.
More on blocks in the near future…