Jim Dabrowski

As a bit of a retrospective, here are a variety of picture of my Bluenose model over time. 

This is the hull as I was finishing up planking it. This picture is from 2012. 

This is the deck before it was planked. The hull is finished, now it was time to do the deck. 

This is how the deck was planked. Unlike the hull where it was a bunch of shorter pieces, the deck planking I did in long strips about half the length of the boat. 

All the decking is finished and stained. 

Here is the hull in the process of being painted. As you’ve seen elsewhere, it was black on the bottom, red on top, with a yellow stripe between the two, topped by white rails. 

Making more progress. This is from 2020 - 8 years after I finished the deck After the deck was done, I had to do all the stanchions (the little bits of wood sticking up from the deck holding up the rails) and then reshape and install the rails along the top. Was quite tedious. Then I finally got started on building all the deck housing stuff. Each of those things, hatches, entry ways, etc. are all fashioned from scratch. 

A couple of close ups of some of the stuff I had to build on the deck. Up top is the winch for hoisting the anchors and the gaffs. Below are the four Dorys I had to make from scratch. Yep, each one is individually crafted with ribs and planked. I made those little tiny oars myself too. Each one is about 1.5” long. 

After all the deck stuff was done it was time to get started on the masts. This is the bowsprit. 

And here we see both the fore mast and main mast with their mast hoops in place. 

After the masts were completed and installed, it was time to start rigging. 

And here I’m working on the ratlines that both help to stabilize the masts and allow a way for the sailors to climb up them to get to the sails on the top. This here is from 2023. 

Finally getting to the sails. 

And finally it is finished. 

That’s a brief summary. If you go to my archive page, you should be able to  see all my boat-related posts from over the years. I haven’t been very consistent about documenting my progress and there are lots of gaps. But you can see a lot more of my early work on the ship. I hope you enjoy looking at all this. 

Take care, 

JIm

It’s finally finished.

It’s actually been done for a while. I finished it up just before Christmas and never posted about it. I’m really happy with how it turned out. It’s been a long, long time in the making. Actually a bit proud of myself that I stuck with it and completed it. Feels good.

It’s proudly on display in our hallway beneath a picture of the current Bluenose II that resides in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. My wife got me that picture for Christmas of 2022 for exactly this purpose. I enjoy walking down the hallway and saying, “Hi boat!” on a fairly regular basis. 

We went up to see the Bluenose II in September. Looks like I never posted about that. It’s a fairly close replica of the original that is still functioning. We got to sail on it on a harbor cruise. It was pretty darn amazing to see in real life things I’ve been working on for years in miniature. 

That’s all for now. 

JIm

Been a bit. Finished up the topping lift and topping lift tackle several days ago. 

Today I just finished up the mast mast hoops on the main sail. 

All that’s left are the quarter lifts and the flag halyards and then the ship is finished!

JIm

I’ll start by saying I don’t think Justin Fields will ever be a top-tier quarterback. I think he lacks the anticipation and instincts necessary to be in that top tier. He’ll forever be in Sando’s second-tier of quarterbacks—someone you can win “with", but not very often win "because of”. 

That said, I find myself wondering, what some other coaches could do if they had Fields on their team? What would he look like with McVay in LA, Shanahan in SF, Sirianni in Philly or even with LaFleur in Green Bay? Those coaches have shown they can get the most out of whoever they have quarterbacking for them. I know the conventional wisdom is Fields should or will go to Atlanta, but I still wonder just how great he’d be if he was on any of those other teams? If, like me, you think that would be pretty amazing to see, you really have to wonder about the coaching staff currently employed by the Chicago Bears. 

JIm

Main throat halyard and main peak halyard rigged. 

Also rigged up the main boom sheet (the triple block in the middle), and boom crutch tackle (the two on the sides). 

Just need the boom lift, and the quarter lifts and the rigging is complete. Getting closer. 

Hoisting the main sail in progress.

Reef bands and points completed on the main sail and sail attached to the main boom. getting closer!

Fore sail is finally finished!

Three down, one to go. 

Mast Hoops!

Got all the mast hoops on the fore mast tied to the fore sail. 

I made a giant hoho for dessert. Its very yummy.

Started reading this the other day: Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson 📚. Interesting so far.

As professional software engineers working on large code bases, there are always things that are wrong, small bugs to fix, code that can be improved, etc. When working on some issue or bug fix, it's tempting to just fix these other little things to clean up the code. This may be the right thing to do, or it may not. As software engineers we sometimes have to be disciplined and focused in our work. Keep our work contained to the specific issue we're addressing, get that fixed and get it out the door. Then, once that's done, come back and fix that other issue you found. Depending on the work environment you're in, that work might need to be documented and accounted for. It may need to be prioritized and scheduled by a product team or by a project manager. Your fingers might be itching to "just fix it since I'm right here" but it's possible that little fix could introduce other, unforeseen side-effects. I'll never advocate for ignoring or not helping fix things in your software that are broken, but it can be a sign of a more mature software engineer to know when to not fix something that's broken.

JIm

I told my wife not to go too close to the edge but she wouldn’t listen. ;-)

I think this is a red Alpine Rose at the Idaho Botanical Gardens in Boise.

Nice language to read.

I don’t really like doing game prediction posts because usually I don’t have any significant thoughts about what will happen. This time, however I do have some things to say and it’s not good.

Let me start with what I want to happen. I want to see Justin Fields sling the ball all over the field to his superstar receiver. I want to see him run the Packers ragged trying to stop him. I want to be saying, “Wow, the offensive and defensive lines might just be good this season.” Unfortunately, I don’t think any of that will actually happen.

Last season the Bears run defense was one of if not the worst in the entire NFL. All off-season I heard again and again that they haven’t done enough to address the line and that they’re going to be bad on run defense again this season. The Packers have one of if not the best offensive lines in the NFL. The Packers have one of if not the best running back tandems in the NFL. The Packers have a QB who is effectively a rookie and an injured and inexperienced WR corps that doesn’t look all that good. What do you think the Packers are going to do? They’re going to run the ball right down the Bears throats all game long. They’ll be ripping off carries of five to seven yards every time. Then, when the Bears start to load the box with eight or nine guys to try to stop the run, we’ll find out Jordan Love actually can throw the ball pretty well. It’s not going to be pretty and by the end the defense will have been on the field for the majority of the game and won’t be able to stop anything.

The only positive in all this is hopefully Fields will have some success, but he’ll still likely be running for his life way too often due to an injured, inexperienced, ineffective line. Hopefully he’ll keep the game close, but won’t be on the field enough to make a difference. I just hope he doesn’t get injured in all this.

This game is going to leave Packers fans delirious with joy when Jordan Love says in his post-game press conference that they still own the Bears, while Bears fans will be shocked into silence wondering if they’re facing another 10-15 years of Packer dominance in what used to be a rivalry but has long since devolved into a regular ass-whooping of no importance.

Wow, that’s depressing. Sorry.

JIm

That’s Clingmans Dome overlook at Great Smoky Mountains National Park over yonder!

View of a cypress forest in Congaree National Park

An orange house in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia CA

What a precious kitten.

#abstract

Training camp is over. Teams have been pared down to 53 and the bottom of the roster shuffling has begun. I’ve listened to way too many podcasts and read way too many articles about how the Bears and other teams have looked. It’s time to update my win prediction ranges for each team in the NFC North.

Lions 9-11 wins I just don’t know what to make of the Lions. Their coach is fun, they still make curious player decisions, but they look to be on the upswing.

Packers 8-10 wins Much to the dismay of Bears fans, Jordan Love will be good and despite some ups and downs due to the team’s overall lack of experience, the Packers will be a team to watch in 2024.

Vikings 7-9 wins Coming down to earth a bit from last year’s over-achieving, they still have talent and will look OK but their future is uncertain.

Bears 6-8 wins Six to eight wins is a dramatic improvement over last season’s 3 wins but they’re still going to need more help on their lines, both offense and defense.

Unfortunately for me, this is how I see the division playing out. I think my beloved Bears wind up in last place again, but with 2 first round picks next year—theirs and the Panther’s—they should be in a good place to add even more talent to the team.

Wait til next year! (said every year)

Go Bears!

JIm

Running Lights The ship gets red and green running lights on the sides. I ended up losing the die cast ones that came with the kit so I bought the little brass ones and stuck a red and green glass bead in them. Then I built the little platforms they rest on and finally got them mounted.

Third Time’s a Charm

Once again the jib is done and rigged! My wife and sailmaker was unhappy with the previous one. The sewing of the lines stretched the fabric out of shape and she was really unhappy with it. So, cut it off and re-do it! We think we’re happy with this one.