Thanks, that was my question. I use betterbird and wasn’t sure if this had anything to do with it.

Just my husband, but not sure he counts as he doesn’t have an account. I did meet one of my closest friends on Reddit though.

I’ve not used it but I see people recommending Mullvad (sp?) a lot.

I’m honestly thinking about trying a modified sleep schedule like that. No matter what at around 7pm I absolutely can’t keep my eyes open, and then get super awake between 9-10. So maybe I nap from 7-10 ish, then putter around from 10-4 or 5am, and then sleep from then till 10am. It works with my work schedule for the most part. Be an interesting experiment in any case.

My buddy uses one of these for his work on boats. Doesn’t matter if you’ve got it wedged between an engine and a rough fiberglass bulkhead, can handle being dropped in the bilge.

Way back Storm cases warranty said they would warranty anything except shark attack and children under the age of three. I should have taken a pic, looks like that doesn’t exist anymore.

I use Reeder classic for iOS. Plain and simple and easy to add feeds to. It works with my old reader account so that was a win for me.

I want to set up hoarder once all my components arrive for the home server. Soon I hope!

Years ago my father in law gave me a Costco sized flat of Nanaimo bars. Like just wrapped it and that was that. I was so bummed as I thought it was a big coffee table book. I ended up cutting them all in half and freezing them, so we had treats through the year. My husband and I still joke about it. As we passed them in Costco last week he suggested I return the favour.

Judging from the answers, it seems like no. And really, most people I know that live up north go somewhere warm in January or February, so get the escape then. I’m 45 and two winters ago I had my first white Christmas. And let me tell you, it was freaking MAGIC. We got like a foot to two feet depending where you were on the property. We were exposed to someone with Covid on Christmas Eve so for the next week we were sequestered away, with food and drinks and a beautiful winter wonderland. None of us ended up with covid but my daughters best friends grandfather is immunocompromised so we’re extra careful. We made a slide off the deck, walked in the woods behind the house, lounged around, did puzzles and read books, and just generally had the most peaceful and relaxed time.

I’ve always lived in warm places, and the Pacific Northwest now, so for me, snow is the most magic thing in the world.

Last year. We all got Covid when we were doing our shopping the week before and basically cancelled Xmas. Luckily we didn’t have lots of family or friends visiting but the three of us spent the whole time on various couches and beds either in a daze of fever or lethargy. I was the last to go down (and thankfully was the least hit) so managed to get the tree decorated and presents wrapped before the couch became my home. We managed to open presents on Boxing Day, for a hour, and then back to bed. The prime rib roast got chucked in the freezer, I honestly don’t remember what we ate during that time. It took the two weeks we had off to recover so the whole holiday was a bust.

This year we will be wearing masks EVERYWHERE we go next week.

I use trunks and like it quite a bit!

One of my favourites! My husband and I say this to each other a lot.

I used to do sail washing and we would store the sails in this giant wooden rack. All the spinnakers went in a big pile on the top. Me and my buds would take turns having naps up there while we waited for the sails to dry. That was the best winter job.

Well, kinda. Imagine there’s a tear in the sail, you’d put a patch on it. And on a laminate, or plastic, sail it would be like a big sticker. Or if there is a place where you know something is going to rub constantly, you’d put a chafe patch. And as laminates aren’t very strong when they’re punctured, like with a sewing needle, you’d put reinforcing patches under whatever you want to sew down.

Tbh, I haven’t worked with laminate sails in a long time. I did service and repair work in my shop mostly, for regular sailors. Honestly I used to get a fair bit of work from the bigger lofts where small repair work wasn’t worth it for them to do. And really, these sails aren’t just for big fancy race boats, any sailing club with racers (which is pretty much all of them) will have people with laminate sails. The general public only sees the big races, like the americas cup or vendee globe, but every Wednesday night around the world, there’s regular people out racing.

Haha, my brain does the same thing all the time.

Kevlar is a funny one for me as I’m now allergic to it. Yay occupational disease! If I have to use it for a quick job it’s fine, but anything longer than an hour I get what feels like a sunburn. Usually on my arms and cheeks, basically where I touch when I push up my sleeves or whatnot. Doesn’t get red, just feels like a bad sunburn. One of the ways it’s used is in big rolls with an adhesive backing, for patches. So we’re not really sure if it’s the Kevlar or the adhesive, but I can use any other product with an adhesive back and it doesn’t happen.

Anyhoo, Kevlar is really tough, so it can be a pain to cut. That toughness makes it great for backing patches or chafe patches. On Genoas we’d use it to make spreader patches. It’s really only used like that on laminate sails. Though I’ve seen Kevlar leech line used on Dacron sails. Another common use is in kayak hulls along the keel for abrasion resistance. It also has a very high melting point and will char more than melt, which also helps with chafe. Its UV resistance isn’t the best so it will deteriorate over time. But racing sails don’t last as long as cruising sails so it evens out. You can recognize it on a sail as it’s a golden yellow.

Edit: I think it’s fallen out of favour over fibers like dyneema and carbon. I haven’t been in that part of the industry in a long time.

The fibers and technology in racing sails are pretty crazy. There’s some neat videos online if you want to dive a bit deeper into it.

Great questions!

I kinda fell into it tbh. My buddy worked at the local sailmakers and got me the job when I was 16. Never looked back. A lot of people will start because they race or sail but there’s an equal amount that just do it as a job and don’t sail at all. I did grow up sailing but it wasn’t on my radar for a career. I still talk with my buddy every now and then, I credit him with a long a varied career!

Quick edit: They are made on sewing machines, but you still need humans to do the work.

The biggest sail I’ve ever worked on was the spinnaker for the HMCS Oriole. It was 6000 sq/ft if I remember correctly. Freaking massive. We never saw it fully open until it got raised on the boat as we were in a very small shop! My coworker sewed all the panels together and I did all the rest, my boss painted the oriole on it and did a fantastic job. We were very proud of ourselves. I was so worried there was going to be a tub of pins somewhere in it and they would rain death down on the deck when they raised it!!

Hmmm, that really depends on what you like to do best. My specialty was racing sails, so I guess I’d have to say laminates were my favourites. Though if you were a traditional sailmaker than you’d like the heavier and softer fabrics and ropes. My coworker likes the spinnakers best as all she did was sew so getting those under the machines is much nicer. Being a shop with big sewing machines you end up sewing things other than sails and the job I hated was the boat house curtains. So big and heavy. The material wasn’t terrible it was just a crap job lol. And they were usually filthy.

You do need some specialized equipment, but it’s all the different parts on the sails that really make it niche. So there’s the obvious sewing machines, and you’ll need at least 3 different ones to cover what you might come across. The main one being a long arm walking foot. Then a straight stitch for canvas, a lighter zigzag for dinghy sails and sail bags, and a triple stitch for seams and resewing. But you can resew with the zigzag so that one is optional for a small repair loft. Hand tools like a hot knife, grommet punches and dies, palm for hand sewing, big hand sewing needles. Big rulers, carpenter squares, and lofting battens. I know I’m forgetting stuff but that’s what’s jumping out at me. The stuff that adds up though is all the things you need to repair or make sails. Different sizes and types of webbing, slugs, slides, rings, batten hardware, batten material! Oof, you end up collecting a lot of random stuff. I had a small repair loft and I couldn’t keep every little bit in stock so would save what was still good for that random sail that would come in.

Another edit: Pins and awls!! That’s how you flatten the sail on the floor to work. And I forgot the most specialized piece of equipment of all! The shop. That one can be hard. You need a space that’s big and open that you can pin into the floor and lay out as much of the sail as possible. Also the ideal is to have the machines in pits that are flush with the floor so you don’t have to lift the sails up to the table, and instead just slid them along. But that’s a hard one. My shop didn’t have that and the pinched nerve in my shoulder can attest to that.

I’m not sure about the knife you mention? Did I say that? We would use a hot knife for melting and sealing all the time.

Let me know if you have any other questions! That was fun.

Of course! That’s during the offering to the wind gods.

Hi! I didn’t at all tbh, but your question just made me go on a deep dive looking at the boats. So crazy! I’d seen pics of them but hadn’t looked real close. I have to say, it makes sense for the racing they are doing to have that boomless shape. You’re getting every bit of wind with no waste. Those boats are engineered to the hilt, I can’t wait to see what they do next year. I’m going to watch some videos later, thanks for the rabbit hole!

The race I have been following is the Vendee Globe. The website is so good. I highly recommend!

For sure! Though I apologize if I don’t answer right away! I will answer though.

Yup. I hired an apprentice once, and the first few days every time I’d come into the shop my pouch would be either missing or emptied and I’d have to run around finding my tools. Did that twice and was like your first job is to make your own pouch and then got him his own tools. My fault really, I should have done that right off the bat.

Oh man, that drives me nuts when I see that! I always try to find someone to give it to, you can’t put that back, you never know how long it’s been sitting there! Some people are so dense.

I’ve not worked in a grocery store but I did work at a butcher/deli. It was really fun, lovely people. Luckily it was small enough we didn’t have to deal with that!