"My, That's a big one!"

Hello folks. This page has been blank for too long! Now that I'm back in the "Commander's Chair", here is a photo my fellow knapper friend, Perry Wilbur, took of me when he stopped in for a chat. It was worth his time 'cause I had something to show him. This 13 1/2 inch Pedernales Type V dagger I had just finished was the biggest one of that type I have ever made. Years ago I made a Type IV that same size which has remained, to this day, a personal best. Let's see if I can beat it this year. If so, it will be here in all it's glory!

"Any direction, for as long as it is FORWARD!"

This is the picture I see as a screen saver on the computer I use every day. It is one of my model ships that I converted to radio control just before the wife's passing and she took this wonderful photo of it under full sail with a fair wind just too the port-stern quarter. Square-riggers are at their best with the wind coming from this direction but they can't sail directly into it. Some are efficient enough that they might go as high as 70 degrees. "On the wind" my little Thermopylae can do about 60. In order to get somewhere against  the wind the ship is forced to sail a zigzag course. It is called tacking and is hard work for the crew and so it is with me. I sail with the wind when I can and tack when I must, just for as long as I am making "headway!"