Yotty Snobbery

[Twister_Ken]

washing oop

It may go from strength to Steradent, but will it beat the recipes thread of a month or so ago?

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[Metabarca]

Diplomacy

I note that Robin in defending or explaining his position spells offence once with a 'c' and once with an 's', for our US cousins, presumably. In case he be accused of being a PC snob and looking down at those who do not mix'n'match their spelling, I suggest that henceforth he spells it 'oh fence'. Which is probably where he wishes he had remained sitting!

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html</A>

 

[Mirelle]

All right, now I really hate you....

"...in another hour I'm off to the boat!"

Some of us have to wait a few hours longer!

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[Mirelle]

Leaping to the defence of the indefensible....

Hello Jeremy,

Old Gaffers certainly are a friendly bunch, but we have had our collective legs pulled for the past forty years (its our anniversary year just now) by all sorts of sailing luminaries from the late and much revered JDS, with his remarks about boats that never leave the mud berth as the owner tinkers whilst "Mrs Old Gaffer" knits another wooly cardigan, on down.

We do indeed tend to inhabit a subculture in which beer, in the form of real ale rather than lager,
folk songs, tar and ingenious things done with bits of string feature prominently, whilst an unusually high proportion of male Old Gaffers have beards.

As such, we are an easy group to mock, and what makes it a great deal worse is that very many of us come from Essex, which is indeed a bastion of Old Gafferdom, whilst the demands of running an old boat are such that many of us are often skint!

So far as proper snobbery is concerned, we could not even get to the start line, let alone the outer gate of the RYS at sacred Cowes, but circumstances have conspired to make us very much inclined to the inverted sort, as a necessary way to whistle in the dark and keep our spirits up.

Our very name is a recognition that we are seen as a laughing stock by mainstream yotties, so when two or three, or thirty or forty of us are gathered together we do indeed occasionally sing songs about things made of ticky tacky that all look just the same!

We all live with questions like "How much does she leak?" - "I suppose you don't actually go to sea in that?" and so on and we have all experienced the extraordinary conviction, on the part of other boat owners, that a wooden gaff rigged boat is actually a part of the quay that she is moored to and can be treated as such.

We need to whistle in the dark from time to time to keep our spirits up!

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[tcm]

Hm, sounds quite snobby

oh mirelle, you are such a snob about the unsnobbiness of old gaffer types. I expect there is slight snobbiness about whether the old gaffer is very old, or very very old, and a good deal of beard envy too! Especially amongst the wives.

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[DeeGee]

Re: Can\'t help wondering, Mirelle..

Twas not Robin, and it did not include the word 'unmanageable'. I did refer to Black Sugar as a 'bitch', a term I will infinitely regret.. especially if she heard it...

This forum would be sooooooooooooooo boring if it weren't for the super wind-ups which people like Robin start. It is not his fault he has an AWB, probably nobody was around to tell him any better? Maybe when he grows up... ?

<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all

 

[Mirelle]

Re: Hm, sounds quite snobby

Some old gaffers are quite young! Quite a few are actually made of GRP, and as a working rule, the older the Very Very Old Gaffer, the younger she looks, the more canvas she carries, and the faster she goes, as she will have been totally rebuilt! The Very Oldest Gaffer, Boadicea, a hale and hearty 195 year-old, is reputed to have an original timber in her deadwood, however!

For the record, I can't sing, I don't have a beard and my wife does'nt knit!

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[Mirelle]

REAL feeling, REALLY offended, REAL boat rage?

You sound as if you really mean that!

Most of us have our tongues firmly in our cheeks.

Since it has been proposed that BTW be used in place of AWB (see above) we will need an alternative term for "plastic". "GRP" is not much of an improvement, and "fibreglass" is, or was, a trade name. Wooden boat owners talking amongst themselves speak of The Other Material, but presumably this would not suit you.

Would "oleo-silicaceous" do? ;-)





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[ecudc]

Thats just plain rude. I wouldn't have given him back his wallet and claimed salvage.

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[Jacket]

Re: Leaping to the defence of the indefensible....

<We do indeed tend to inhabit a subculture in which beer, in the form of real ale rather than lager,
folk songs, tar and ingenious things done with bits of string feature prominently>

Sounds perfect (well, the real ale bit, anyway). I must get myself a gaffer!

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[Mirelle]

Some motor boats are more equal than others....

A Silver, for example, is a rather superior form of the genus "wooden boat"!

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[Violetta]

I see a few good looking blokes about too

Doesn't mean I want to swap husband for one of them though! ;-)


Strangely enough, what I posted is literally true. Having virtually no experience of AWBs, I hold no special opinion of them, except that I find it hard to tell one from another and I am not greatly attracted by the looks of modern mass produced boats. There are plenty of boats I do admire - but to admire is not necessarily to covet. If pressed, I would say that I would like to own a Twister AS WELL as our current boat (not instead of) and keep that somewhere in the west. But I wouldn't swap.

My all-time favourite boat after ours is the Irina VII - designed by Mylne, built by Fife in 1935. 54 foot. I want her TOO. Not sure if she is still sailing. And the final addition to the fleet of which our current boat remains the flagship would be a new pilot cutter built by "Working Sail".

But, no matter. Our boat suits me just fine.

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[Violetta]

Perhaps you can explain to me

Who exactly is it that HAS suggested that there are superior and inferior boaters? Is any expressed preference for one sort of boat over another to be interpreted as "snobbery?"

You want to restore the camaraderie? It hasn't gone away. Well - not that I've noticed.



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[oldgit]

Re: Peace on Earth and goodwill etc.

Can I just say as a stinky that we are happy to tow any of you in,expect maybe that rather heavy old water logged wooden type thing over there.It might stretch or even break the nice matching dark blue bits of rope stuff that i bought this morning.

<hr width=100% size=1>Two boats please one here n one in the Med

 

[longjohnsilver]

Re: Peace on Earth and goodwill etc.

Back to Mobo with you oldgit, who unlocked the door and let you out? They've got better things to do over here than listen to senile incontinent old stinkies ;-))

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[Birdseye]

Re: Indeed so

"I can honestly say that I have never encountered any behaviour that I would interpret as "snobbery". "

You havent tried a multihull, then. As Jools has said, you (occasionally) get real snobbery / prejudice. For example, I was told by the members of a south coast yacht club thet "we dont want boats of that sort here" when trying to moor in their marina.

And what are blue ensigns about if not a form of snobbery?

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[Violetta]

Tell you what, Mr. Stinky

There's a lovely looking stinky around our neck of the woods - I think it's a Sole Bay. Well, it does have just the teensyweensiest little bit of rag as well, but I'm sure it's a stinky at heart. It's a smasher! I'd be proud to have it tow me in.......;-)

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[Violetta]

No I haven\'t

Tried a multihull, I mean. I've got the promise of a ride in one, though - a very fast one. Looking forward to that. Clearly, your experience and mine differ.

Blue ensigns. Hmmmm. Another hoary old chestnut. So what beliefs and intentions do you attribute to those who wear them? (oh dear - I can probably guess, but better to hear it from the horse's mouth :-(..)

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[Gunfleet]

Don\'t let your prejudices catch you out.

When my boat had broken down in the Rance I was reduced to doing the locks under outboard. In Chatelaine (?) I saw a man with a 40 ft boat with every conceivable mod con, more teak than you could shake a stick at and a blue ensign. I noticed they had a cool bottle of chardonnay open on the cockpit table as they manouevred under thruster.
'Hey you' he yelled.
Here we go, I thought. A bout of condescension coming up, plus a lot of 'mind my boat in the lock'. I tried not to meet his eye.
'I say you.' He called. I had to reply.
'What?'
'Can I do anything to help?'
I felt such a fool, though of course he never knew.

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[duncan]

Re: Don\'t let your prejudices catch you out.

an excellent finish to this thread sir..........

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