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safety at sea for solo sailors

Barring a miracle, we can assime that Duncan Lougee of the Folkboat "Minke" has drowned at sea. He was participating in last week's Jester Challenge, a solo adventure for boats leaving the south of England and sailing to  Baltimore, Ireland. Sea conditions were light to moderate and fellow competitors were at a loss to explain his disappearance, until Minke was found laying abandoned. We can assume that Duncan, an experienced solo sailor, had fallen overboard. This is of course, extremely sad and distressing for his loved ones and fellow sailors.  There is a common practice among solo offshore sailors to sail without a life jacket but with a harness. The belief is that the harness will prevent a fall overboard or keep you by the ship so you can climb aboard. Though there is some conjecture as to how straightforward it is to get back on board a moving yacht at sea.  Life jackets are not worn because if you do enter the sea and watch your boat sailing away, you have no chan
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notes on the previous owner

Retired army pretty officer, and self reported adrenaline junkie.   Reported having not had RE rego'd for "two years" but some old rego papers found in a jacket sold with the bike indicated that it had not been registered for three years.  Rather than expire and lapse,  the registration was stopped perhaps the result of a near miss or bout of our mental health,  though i am only guessing.   The RE was bought new and without a pillion seat due to The Wife's demand that he not double with their children on the back. The RE was only ridden in fine weather on more scenic routes and occasionally to work.   The decision to sell was in response to The Wife's Ultimatum: " too sell my truck or the bike and i love my truck".  He spoke freely of service in the army as a special force in Kandahar. He told stories of drones and how in armed conflict it was only legal to shoot the enemy as they were in the process of throwing a grenade,  having removed the pin and the
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RE: pillion seat

after doing online research i was confused about RE pillion seats.  some fitted the 350 and 500 models,  some didn't;  some fitted only late models,  some didn't; some needed to be bolted through the rear mudguard, some didn't; some needed a separate rack and some didn't.  => I needed to handle one in real life. Ordering online seemed to fall into two categories too. One was the expensive British option ( this applied to ordering locally too), or offer from India which was a cheaper lucky dip. The Indian ads are more about garnering positive feedback than describing the hardware ie: please leaving a positive feedback. We are being best experience off you are having problem please call us too resolve.  With my heart in my wallet,  I plumped up to my local RE dealer.  I was prepared to pay about $100 extra to get the right pillion seat system, and one of known quality.   At the shop, near a dusty box of Butt Plugs, which the heavily tattooed attendant informed me were
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Motorcycle riding theory

Reading "scraping pegs" is kind of enjoyable but mostly confusing.  the author, a self described lounge long rider has (over) thought what it means.  Places too much credence in brands,  engine sizes and bike style and tries to slam The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and "Oddballs" thus who ride with poorly trimmed beards and don't care what others think of them.  I could dwell quite easily in either of those camps.   At one point The Author strikes a deer which apparently leapt at him from behind a bush,  ambushed him even.  Well,  that's bad for anyone to endure life threatening injuries,  it's not something I've had experience with,  but I do wonder whether he was blinded by mental distractions that he entertains at every bend in the road.  
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classical progress

Fortunately today there was rain,  so i wasn't required to work for money.  Mind you,  hanging with Ch. on holidays feels like work sometimes.   Today's "work" on my bike began modestly,  with during the replacement battery.  Being the correct model battery,  fitting was enjoyable and straight forward.  It required no bodging up, no creative engineering.   But starting was a bit piggish. Too piggish, to the point it had me concerned.  Earlier,  I'd made a failed attempt at taking the handlebars,  but these electric controls were too complicated to budge enough to properly reset the levers.  I had to return it all to factory settings.  I thought I'd upset something along the way. I removed the spark plug and air filter,  finding both soiled in their own peculiar ways.  Soon after she fired up, but reluctantly.  A run up V Rd reinforced my concern; she was running like a headless chook!  In the afternoon I took hey out again.  This time heavy handed on the throt
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rewilding

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that's a little interesting. when i typed "rewilding" my phone corrected it to "rebuilding". there are some parallels for making life changes, you hear all the time of people rebuilding their lives after a loss or relationship breakdown.  they get a new job,  house or partner. kind of like getting back on the horse on that narrow trail of consumerist dreams, including the white pickett fence i suppose.    what I've been doing steadily over the six years since my dreadful marriage broke down is getting back to my "wilder" roots. before taking vows I'd been a surfer and sailor, having thrown in my trade for an uncomfortable life on the ocean's waves. So in recent years i've been collecting boats and sailing.  some surfing too, but less often because the beaches nearby are so populated.   in my past there had been motorcycles as well. about a dozen or so.  and even during my marriage i managed to get a few more. as usual for me the pursuit
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leatherman blade from ukraine

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my friday has begun on a very sombre note.  the leatherman blade that i ordered on Amazon some time ago had arrived from lviv, ukraine. this is 14,906klm away.   Seeing the sender's details and the colorful postage stamps had cast my mind to those poor souls under invasion from the madman of Russia.   Take care friends.  
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