May 29, 2010

John Bertrand Challenge Update

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Intrepid ocean sailor Edward, who is training hard for the John Bertrand Challenge by sailing the 90-mile overnight Spinnaker Cup race from San Francisco to Monterey, California was very near the finish at 4:00 am, local time.

Valis, which had been steaming along at 8-9 knots most of the day was on track to finish around 2:00 am, but ran into very light winds (and probably some adverse currents) just short of the finish. In the wee hours of the morning, they were virtually parked off Lighthouse Point, in Pacific Grove, some five miles from the finish.

I'm going to bed now.



Edward is the little pink dot near the top of the photo, and Pacific Grove's Lighthouse Point is at bottom, in this Google Map/AIS plot of his position at 4:00 am. It wasn't clear why Edward was showing up pink in the photo. He usually wears red foulies.


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10 comments:

  1. Edward wears pink foulies? Bertrand must be quaking in his sea boots.

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  2. I wasn't going to comment, but the verification word is too good to pass up:

    beerif

    That maybe sums up my attitude upon hearing about a new shop in Albuquerque that sells supplies for home-brewers.

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  3. His fickleness has returned you to his top ten. Baydog is back below decks.

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  4. Let us know how the home brewing works out, Carol Anne.

    Sounds like you've got beerif you do, beerif you don't.

    Joe, I don't know what's brewing. If Edward wins the Bertrand Challenge, I could be crying in my beer again.


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  5. Joe is correct. The selection of blogs for Tillerman's Top Ten is now a dynamic, ongoing, real-time process managed by a Totally Integrated Leading-edge Leveraged Environment on a Right-sized Multi-tasking Algorithmic Network. Expect frequent surprising updates to the list at random intervals.

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  6. This sounds like another devious ploy to get people to check your blog every day, even if you haven't posted any new content.

    Another shameless tactic to drive up hits and advance your dreams of world domination.

    Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

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  7. Actually I did discover this week the secret to driving traffic to blogs. Watch any popular American TV program on a Sunday night, choose a line at random from that show, and then write a post before 9 am on Monday morning using a phrase from that line.

    Apparently, the first thing that 27.8% of Americans do at work on Monday morning is Googling phrases from the previous evening's TV programs.

    I call this discovery the "Duct Tape" method.

    PS. Anyone who writes a post discussing the brilliance of my discovery and linking to last Sunday's duct tape post will receive favorable consideration for selection to the top ten list.

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  8. Now, that is where you and I differ.

    I am not seeking great hordes of the unwashed, television-watching public.

    My readers sit far above the fat part of the bell-shaped curve. They are sharp-witted and discerning. They know what they are about and what they seek in life.

    They have experienced both the common and the rare. They recognize fine gradations and subtleties that would be lost on the passive, Barcaloungered masses.

    My numbers may be modest, but they are comprised of the finest stuff on earth.

    I cherish their intellectual acuity, and will send any of them a free O Dock hat, if they simply drop me an e-mail and forward $24.99 to cover postage and handling.

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  9. Can I at least see a picture of that hat before I blow my allowance
    on shipping and handling?

    And who was it, Carol Anne or Joe, who completely veered from the subject of this post and plunged it into total silliness? I love it when that happens.

    It almost makes the author think that he or she could have left the entire space intentionally blank. Oh no, I need to go to bed now.

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  10. Baydog, I spent so much time consigned to the comments pages of other people's blogs, that I still feel more comfortable here than writing the actual posts.

    The main reason I do this is to trade ideas with blogging friends, and not so much to expound. God knows, we already have enough expounding in this world.

    I have been very lucky to attract a few loyal readers who take the time to leave comments. That's really what makes it fun for me.

    I look at the post as just a starting point, a sort of conversation starter, and sometimes, the farther the comments wander, the better.

    What was this post about, anyway?

    ReplyDelete