Gone aground - getting off PBO&YM

Parsival... or is it 'Gentleman' JT?

Parsival,that brings back memories for me.
One of Wagners greatest works, in more ways than one, it was my 'punishment' in the 1970's. My then brother-in-law chose to have his stag night at the ROH to see this epic. After some 4 or more hours of sleep I ventured with my younger brother-in-law to escape to Ronnie Scotts for the rest of the night and early hours.

see.....
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210528
The primary purpose of the drama is to convey to the audience the importance of compassion -- which is the only valid basis for morality, according to Schopenhauer. This teaching was accepted by his disciple Richard Wagner. It is through compassion for the suffering of other beings that the fool acquires wisdom and becomes a sage. It is through the perfection of wisdom that he is able to bring salvation.
There is a Schopenhauerean metaphor in the work that is so explicit that anyone who has read Schopenhauer will have no difficulty in detecting it. Her name is Kundry. She represents, on one level, the human predicament in relation to what Buddhists call samsara: the cycle of birth, suffering, death and rebirth. In the first act she is wild and restless, striving for (but unable to find) a balm that will cure suffering; as Kundry confesses, she can help nobody -- not even herself. By the third act, however, Kundry is calm, peaceful, quiet; she has almost escaped from her cyclic existence by the denial of the will. Here is the metaphysical message of Parsifal: stop striving, deny the will, accept that suffering is an inevitable part of life and that desires can never be fully satisfied.
Certain passages in Wagner's text clearly were intended to communicate Schopenhauer's summary of his ethics. This is the ethical message of the work: injure no one; on the contrary, help others as much as possible. This formula becomes, in Parsifal, the teaching of the Grail.

Fair enough, but did he have to make it so dull and soooo long?
 
I've had my boat for three years now, and that's about how long I've been buying PBO/YW. I've noticed articles repeating themselves in that time.

The last issue I picked up had a DIY article on installing a TV. I mean, how many of us are planning that? Most people I know go sailing to get away from it!

I think there is a decline of DIY ideas as less people work on their own boats, or are less inclined to solve problems themselves.

I buy the occasional issue if there is enough in there to warrant buying it, but I would never subscribe to one. The saving over buying it monthly is not enough to justify the crapier issues. In the US, the subscription saving is quite considerable, at least half price, so you don't mind a few duff issues. I like to think that reviewing each issue before I buy it should make the editors and writers work a bit harder to make sure I want it. They don't have to do that if all the readers are subscribers, do they?
 
Not sure if I am allowed to mention this on here, but as I am primarily after more technical articles than that covered by PBO etc, I have subscribed for several years to the digital edition of

http://www.diy-boat.com/

I think it was about £18 for a few years, not checked current prices. The contrat in articles is amazing. PBO seems to me like a mag for newbies, the above often has articles in that still educate me. I wonder if there is room on YBW's stable to keep one mag more beginner oriantated, and move PBO to a higher technical level.

Ants
 
By the time i flick through to see if it's worth buying, i've felt like i've allready read it...

Conviced there's more to it i drag it home and realised I have.

Following on from another thread in MB forum regarding owners experiences only being published if positive to the manufacturer, I wont be going anywhere near the subs form...
 
No, there is no escape!

I liked the http://www.diy-boat.com/ mag - just right for someone with an older boat.

I had a look around the web last night and came across 'The Coastal Passage' http://www.thecoastalpassage.com/

Apparently all of the editorial is written and contributed by fellow boaties down the west coast of Australia and compiled by a guy named Bob Norson. I really liked it.

cheers

andy
 
Quite,
I had a mountain of 70/80s PBOs left with me in the late 90s; Took one for lunch each day and loved it, very practical stuff for DIY types (me) Can't be bothered nowadays with all the gizmos and 30ft 'starter' boats.
A
 
I think there is a decline of DIY ideas as less people work on their own boats, or are less inclined to solve problems themselves.
When I first read PBO, twenty five years or more ago, it was definitely for, well, the practical boat owner. People who worked on their own boats, partly because they liked doing it but mainly because that was how they could afford sailing.

In those days, an "entry level" boat was an old Silhouette, or a Ballerina, or maybe a Corribee. Bought second hand, of course, for the equivalent of a few thousand. Now PBO and YM can unblushingly refer to things costing thirty freaking grand as "entry level" and the cult of doing-it-oneself has almost disappeared.

Has it in real life, though? Are the magazines reflecting amateur sailing life today or are there still other people who come home with Danboline Grey in their hair (it's a sod to get out) and pockets full of odd bronze screws?

I suspect that there still are a fair few of us left, but nothing like the number or proportion of twenty five years ago. Perhaps it's the all-conquering advance of fibreglass - when maintenance is a yearly pressure wash and grease of the seacocks, who nseds to be practical any more?

A final thought. When did you last meet someone building a dinghy from a kit ... yet how many Mirrors came into being that way ... ?
 
I only get YM and after 20 years it can get a bit repetitive, and the confessional at the end is not so amusing as it was with 2 per page. But whatever, it still gives me something to read and as my memory fades with age it doesn't really matter.
In fact in a few years I might be able to just buy the one mag and re-read it every month..........
 
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