Rick's Blog

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I am going to go out on a date with a beautiful and elegant woman, and I had to consider which of the cars in my collection would be the best one to use. I decided on my classic Lotus Esquire because I’m sure it’s good looks, luxury, and high performance will impress her. It’s a bit tight inside but this is a date so...lol. Also I have a long drive and this car gets good mileage and will get me to my destination fast.

Now a bit about the car: the Lotus Esquire looks a lot like the Esprit because the Esquire was built in the early 80′s and the first Esprit s to hit the showroom were based on the Esquire. The body of the Esquire is basically a copy of  a car designed in the early 70′s. You’ve probably seen pics of Esprits that don’t have the louvers, that’s because they are either Esprits from the 90′s or their louvers were removed. The Esprit was made famous by James Bond in the mid 80′s with the Turbo Esprit, the Esquire was not so lucky, but it shares the same Rover built 4 cylinder in the first Esprits.  Lotus is a small company like Sunbeam or Morgan so they couldn’t build their own engines, all their Formula One cars used the Cosworth V-8. The funny thing is Ford bought Cosworth and later they bought Lotus, too, Lotus and Cosworth being a non-public companies. I’m not even sure the Rover built engines were ever even built by Rover for that matter lol. If you know anything about Lotus you can see the difference between the Esquire and Esprit by the exhaust system, suspension and tires, stuff like that.

The cool thing about this Esquire is that it is the prototype, car numero zero, which incidentally caused some headaches at the DMV: this car has no VINs lol! The DMV had to assign me a VIN, and being such a regular customer lol, they gave me the choice of numbers and naturally I picked numero zero lol. I’m required to have the plates installed, but I don’t want to ruin this baby, so don’t tell anyone lol. I’m not worried about theft, I’ve got an assault rifle you know lol, and if I get in an accident...well, I’m sure something can be worked out lol. There’s no way I’m getting in an accident though, maybe this car isn’t the most valuable one in my collection but it’s still a classic lol.

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After all that shopping, we were like so hungry LOL! so like we went back to the mall where most of the boutiques were and had a bite to eat in this cool looking establishment plus the waiters were like really cute LOL!

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I cook too lol.

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Almost there lol

My boats almost ready for launch. That’s about it for now lol.

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Right now we’re partying with a designer at his atelier backstage. We got backstage passes and he invited us over, which of course we accepted LOL! He’s actually kinda short LOL!, but… LOL! he has a lot of exciting new ideas and it’s been really fun to meet him. Afterwards we’re gonna go shopping and get a bite to eat.

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Cool! lol

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Frustrating Delays

I didn’t get my boat in as planned. Some of the deck hardware arrived late and the guys at Luxe Marine couldn’t install it on time. I’m very worried about the delay, I don’t want to miss beating Jeff in this season’s first race lol Also if I keep threatening to sue these idiots no one will want to work with me again lol - unless I threaten to sue them lol.

That’s a pic of the boat before the keel was installed. It looks about the same ‘cause the coffee grinders and spinnaker/genoa winches aren’t on deck yet.

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Grand Prix season is just around the corner!

Gonna launch my new maxi this week, provided all goes well. Got a pic of the guys putting the finishing touches on the mast. Check it out:

I’m not worried about Jeff’s threats. I’ve got an assault rifle too lol.

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O.M.G! THESE. GUYS. ARE. LIKE. SO. CUTE! OMG! Maybe I could like pretend I was drowning and one of those cute lifeguards could like save me, or like I could rescue like one of those cute guys if he was like in trouble or something but…LOL! like I don’t know like where I would give CPR to him LOL! If I went in the water I bet my makeup would run and that would be uncool. And like I couldn’t leave my bag and shoes alone on the beach LOL! and they couldn’t like get wet either.LOL!

I was thinking about wearing boots with my swimsuit but like I think it would be a little too like you know LOL! So I wore these shoes instead. LOL!

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Help! I’m drowning lol.

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Jeff’s boat: is he a weirdo? lol

I took a snapshot of another boat in Jeff’s collection with my cell. It looks like a study plan, couldn’t check out it’s folder cuz Jeff was returning with the cocktails. I’m starting to feel like a secret agent cuz of this spying lol.

It looks to small to be a maxi boat, maybe one of the smaller Grand Prix classes? Maybe Jeff needs a small boat because he’s retiring soon and is getting decrepit lol the reason he’s retiring is cuz I keep beating him lol

I don’t know why he’s wasting his money on plans for a loser like this one.

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Dorade, scrap or sell?

I was looking at this picture of my friend John’s old wooden boat the other day, and it got me thinking about another old wooden boat that’s been in the news lately.

When I was a kid I wanted an S&S so badly, but now that I’m grown up I realize my childhood fantasies weren’t on the right track. I’m talking about the Dorade and it’s victory at last year’s Bermuda race. How that was possible I don’t know.

Whenever either Sparkman or Stephens is interviewed - I can’t remember which lol - he always tells the story of how they won the cross Atlantic race in the Dorade and the race organizers signaled them “you are the first” kind of like the America winning the 1st America’s cup and Queen Victoria being told “there is no second.” I’m still trying to figure out how that thing won anything lol. Typical S&S ego - they insult the Herreshoff designs, yet most of the S&S boats are blatant copies. When S&S launched their first boat, a six meter, they were proud that it was only 1/8″ off the waterline. Come on guys, get with the program, I’d sue my designer if my boat was 1/100″ off lol. Of course their 12 meters won a couple America’s Cup’s - and lost just as many lol.

I liked S&S so much as a kid that my dad bought the original plans for the Dorade and gave them to me as a present, a scan of the plans is below:

So why the change of heart after all these years? Look at that thing, it’s basically a fishing boat, and not one of those Grand Bankers either, not that they were all that fast lol, it’s like a sardine trawler lol. And you’ve got to remember Crowinshield, getting served at the America’s Cup trials, it just shows that commercial fishing boats are losers, and the number of boats lost on the Grand Banks isn’t very encouraging either, makes me wonder if Loyd’s has it’s head screwed on right.

The Dorade sure as hell wouldn’t have won on corrected time or anything if I’d been in the Bermuda race lol.

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Jeff’s new boat?

Jeff invited me over for what I suppose was a sort of truce and while he was fixing us a couple of cocktails, I took the opportunity to jimmie the lock on his file cabinet and look through his files. And guess what I found?

I took a snapshot of this plan with my cell, and I can’t figure out if this is Jeff’s old boat or a new one he has in the works. Either way, it looks like he has a loser lol.

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We had meetings all morning and during the break I went down to the beach at our new resort ‘cause like these guys I met wanted to talk to me. Everybody is REALLY cranky about this place,. It is such a dump! Plus I found it to be really hard LOL! to walk in the sand in these 8 inch heel boots! LOL! I usually avoid red, especially for business functions, but I thought they would be really cute with this dress and since everybody was so cranky and depressed I knew a little color brightens everyone’s perspective on things. When I packed for this trip I always had the beach and the warm tropical climate in mind.

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That’s a cute hat lol.

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Yeh, I had some trouble getting my hair in it LOL!

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Yeh, no lol I meant the one the guy’s wearing lol I might like to get one like that lol

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LOL! He’s a little, you know LOL!

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lol Did you ask him where he bought it? lol

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LOL! NO! LOL! ‘cause like, you know, LOL! but….LOL! I should have LOL! ‘cause like I don’t wear hats good LOL!

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lol

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We had meetings all morning and during the break I went down to the beach at our new resort ‘cause like these guys I met wanted to talk to me. Everybody is REALLY cranky about this place,. It is such a dump! Plus I found it to be really hard LOL! to walk in the sand in these 8 inch heel boots! LOL! I usually avoid red, especially for business functions, but I thought they would be really cute with this dress and since everybody was so cranky and depressed I knew a little color brightens everyone’s perspective on things. When I packed for this trip I always had the beach and the warm tropical climate in mind.

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That’s a cute hat lol.

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Yeh, I had some trouble getting my hair in it LOL!

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Yeh, no lol I meant the one the guy’s wearing lol I might like to get one like that lol

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LOL! He’s a little, you know LOL!

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lol Did you ask him where he bought it? lol

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LOL! NO! LOL! ‘cause like, you know, LOL! but….LOL! I should have LOL! 'cause like I don’t wear hats good LOL!

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lol

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World Speed Record Sailboat

My company was involved in an exciting project. A few years ago my company sponsored an attempt to break the world's sailboat speed record. Truth be told, I convinced my company to finance the speed record attempt. lol A pic of the boat follows.

We took the boat to Lake ChiChiMowMow for the record attempt because of the high wind conditions and flat water.The guys we were backing are incredible engineers and the boat they designed did achieve a speed of 142.1969 MPH, thus shattering the old, and setting a new record. Two months later another well financed group had topped our record with the speed of 169.699 MPH, check out their boat in the CAD below:

We're not backing down from this challenge, we're coming back with a new boat, but this time we're going to build our own artificial lake in the desert and supply our own wind with artificial blowers, probably like the ones in wind tunnels, powered by turboprops. By controlling the environment, I'm sure we can whip the current record holders and show them who's the real boss lol.

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Grand Prix Update

The ballast bulb for my Grand Prix maxi finally arrived. Here’s a pic of the guys at Custom Composite Yacht Technologies installing the keel with the bulb on the hull:

Almost ready to launch, Grand Prix season awaits!

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Back to Civilization

Haven’t been able to post for a while because I’ve been taking care of business. It’s nice to get back to civilization after spending so much time down under in Kiwivilla. New Zealand is a nice place to visit but no one wants to live there lol. My boat got here safe and sound and the deck is installed and the guys at Luxury Yachts Unlimited are finishing up the interior. Now all I have to do is wait for the bulb to get here. I can’t believe they shipped it after the keel was sent out. So I had to have it returned here, but I’m not paying for the extra cost. People have to take personal responsibility for their actions.

More news about the GrandPrix maxi in later posts, now I want to show this photo of the America’s Cup contender/winner Black Magic II  that I took in a local Kiwivilla yard.

The Black Magic II is completely out of date. It can’t win, place, show or hell even come in 100dth lol in any race currently on yachting circuits. You can see by the photo that the new owners have tried to convert it into an excursion boat by removing the deck hardware and giving it that cute kid’s paintjob. They also tried to improve the sailing performance with a swing rig but it won’t help an old can buoy like the Black Magic II, it was designed to sail in a class that is defunct and it stinks as an excursion boat too lol

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One last thing... Grand Prix Update.

This will be my last post from down under here in Kiwivilla. While I was here, Don dropped by in his maxi and he invited me to visit him in King’s Belief harbor.

That’s his maxi there, the S.S. Goldwater.lol I’m not sore at Don, even though he was rubbing it in about the chopper crash, it was all over the news, maybe not where you are, but down here I felt like hiding under a rock lol. But hey Don, you’re not gonna win what with a sat dish breaking the wind stream on your mast so you can pick up some obscure cable channel nobody’s ever heard of. Look at that thing, do you really think Don has a chance against my beautiful new maxi? Don’s ready to go. He thinks just because of one teensy tiny setback that that gives him a chance. You’re gonna lose Don lol

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Setbacks won’t stop the Grand Prix

Another headache is the range and reliability of these Sikrummy Skyscraps. 8000 miles is a long way but I’d expect a military helicopter that the US spent billions on to develop would be up to snuff.

Seems one of the big old chopper’s engines blew out and she had to limp into Togo Paga island on only one. They fixed the engine, but then there were some structural problems or something, I don’t know lol, with the airframe and the darned thing crashed only feet off the ground. Luckily the masts weren’t busted lol and the transport company were real apologetic and are sending a new chopper pronto, especially after I threatened legal action and to sick the FAA on them lol

So now everythings up to date for now. More news later.