h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Steve,

Just dropped in.

I see you are a sailor. What do you sail?

I also see you are from Houston. I spent an eternity in Stafford one week. I'd never been so hot and uncomfortable. It was July. Then it rained so much the streets were flooded.

Awu

Awu -

Yup, I'm a sailor - but you happen to have hit me at a sore point. My Ericson 27 (feet) small cruising sloop is having engine problems. Its an old Atomic 4 gasoline engine, nearly 30 years old, so its to be expected, plus it got us to Corpus Christi (Texas) and back - round trip about 500 miles. So I'll get it running again - probably.

My wife & I have sailed Sunfish, Lasers, Windsurfers, 470's and a WindMill (a 16 foot planing dinghy). But we've pretty much given up on the racing ... it was fun for a while, but a lot of people are VERY competitive (even me, sometimes).

Yeah, Houston has been described by many as a God forsaken place. But I love it, cold weather makes me miserable. The rain can be a pain, but so far we've escaped any serious problems. The payoff is in the winter, say November thru March - we have nighttime LOWS in the 50's, while most of the USA (and Europe is freezing at noon.

How about you? You're a sailor?

Yes - I sail an even smaller (22') sloop called a Tanzer 22. I'm on Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron) so the season's pretty short. But there's some great sailing none the less. I've owned a Hobie 16 and a Windy (5.30 meter French dinghy, a lot like a 470). I raced the Hobie, but not very successfully. I've even raced the Tanzer on overnight races - just to hone the navigation skills mainly.

I was with Texas Instruments for 20 years. That's what took me to Houston (and Dallas and Austin). Houston wasn't so bad. I was sort of joking. But it was extremely humid when I was there. I really like the four dstinct seasons we have in Canada - although the winters do seem to drag on some times.

Sounds like a good place for sailing, maybe you even have some scenery (other than drilling rigs)

I didn't mean to sound defensive about Houston, it really is miserable on many summer days. We live southeast, nearer the water than Stafford, so it's a LITTLE cooler, but not much. I just paid a $172 electric bill for the air conditioning, so I'm not too supportive of our summers at the moment I doubt you have that up there, maybe fuel bills in the winter ...

I've always enjoyed my visits to Canada (Edmonton for work, Quebec City/Montreal and Vancouver for vacation) and even can enjoy cold weather for a week or so. But my idea of sailing involves shorts, cold beer and bikinis to watch.

We have a long sound to tack out of before we see anything new. But even that is nice. Trees and hills. There are three Islands in the mouth of the sound. That's about as far as I'd get on a weekend. It's a three day sail (for me) to go to Killarney and the north shore. That's a quaint fishing village with quartz "mountains" around. Very popular with American tuourists, There's a conveniently placed basin and an island for achorages on the way. Once on the north shore there's Little Current and the North Channel (between Manitoulin Island and the main land). On the east side there are the 30,000 Islands and the small craft channel. It's a nightmare to navigate - littered with rocks - but very nice. We end up motoring a lot if we're there.

We had a two week heat wave and I used air conditioning during the day. But - yes - heating is generally the bigger expense. I have an airtight woodstove as supplementary heat.