Red Jacket, Trailerable Yacht

October 23, 2009

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When we bought our trailer sailer about a year ago there was little information available on the internet about her sister ships. Pretty much all I could gather was what I heard from people at the sailing club, and I wasn’t sure I could trust half of what I heard. Someone even told me she had sailed in the Sydney to Hobart in the 70’s! After some more digging I have been able to ascertain some facts about the boat and to make it easier for others looking for the same thing I am writing this article to bring it all together. If you have more information please do post a comment.

Design and build
The Red Jackets were designed and built in Perth in the 70’s. They were designed for racing on the Swan River with a mast height that would be able to clear the bridges. The manufacturer of the Red Jacket was Ken & Hill Cameron of 103 Archdeacon Road, Nedlands, Perth. Apparently the manufacturing process was so smooth that it only took one week from them receiving the order for “Golden Screw” until it was on the water sailing!

The Red Jackets were the first of a series of small Yachts built by the Cameron’s. The Red Witch, Red Baron and Red Eagle are later developments from the same people.

Specifications
The information I have on her specifications are lacking but I can share with you the measurements I have taken my self.

* LOA 17.6ft (Length OverAll)
* Width 5.5ft
* Draft 2.5ft
* Mast height 6m
* Main; Luff 5.30m Foot 2.70m

Known boats
There are still a lot of Red Jackets scattered around Australia. I know of at least 5 in Melbourne, two of which are actively sailed. Below I intend to keep a running list of known boats. Who knows, perhaps we might end up organising a RJ Rendezvous on Port Phillip Bay.

* Carbon Offset, EG 605, Navy, Valberg Larusson, Williamstown Sailing Club
* –, GK 648, Orange, –, Williamstown Sailing Club
* –, –, Yellow, –, Williamstown Sailing Club

Web References
* http://en.allexperts.com/q/Yachting-2264/f/info-red-jacket-sloop.htm

Publications
Some of the best knowledge I have found so far is contained between the pages of published material, notably the Seacraft Magazine from 1970 and 1971. Below is a republication of an article published in the October 1971 edition of Seacraft Magazine.

read more »

Posted in: Sailing – No Comments

A new sailing website by Valberg Lárusson

October 1, 2009

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This Sunday the sailing season formally opens at my sailing club, the Williamstown Sailing Club, and this year I am doing my bit to contribute to the running of the club. Today we launched a brand new website for the club witch we hope will bring people together online. The new website is: http://www.williamstownsailingclub.org.au/. Do take a look at the website and then come join us on Sunday for a social sail and BBQ at the club.

Posted in: IT, Sailing – 2 Comments

My computer rebuild, proposed specs

September 28, 2009

dsc_0338This morning I woke up thinking “I need to upgrade my computer!”. Of course I don’t really need to upgrade, the applications I use don’t require a high spec machine and I haven’t played games for over a year, but there is something about being in the geeky arena that requires a certain level of excitement over your hardware. My current desktop was the product of me wanting a faster machine when I moved to Australia and having too much time on my hand not to make it happen. This time, I would only upgrade the CPU, motherboard and memory, all the other stuff is quite reasonable for my purpose.

Another reason for looking into this was that I don’t tend to follow what’s happening in the hardware world that closely and every now and then you need to upgrade your knowledge in that arena. The main reason for my antipathy is probably that desktops are not that sexy any more. The clunky workhorse, sitting on or under your desktop is just a bulky, noisy, wire infested box that you cant seem to get rid of. Despite 20 years of exciting hardware development, when it comes to the crunch, the cheapest way to get good computing grunt into your hands, is to buy one of these boxes.

And so the saga continues. Every three years or so you upgrade the big black box to get the power processing happening. Not that you really need it or even give it any heavy work to do that often, but you still just have to have it available, or else risk your general interest in the geeky side of life.

At any rate, after looking at some reviews and prices I came up with the following combo:

  • Intel Core i7-860 with P55 Express Chipset; $375-
  • Gygabyte GA-P55-UD4, $219
  • Patriot 4GB 1600, $175

This would come to $774 and its probably not a bad combo. But to be honest, I think I’m going to wait for a bit and buy new sails for my boat rather than do an upgrade at this time.

+ ARS Technica, the guide http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/2009/04/ars-technica-system-guide-april-2009-edition.ars
+ My supplier http://www.cpl.net.au/
+ The CPU http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/chipsets/p55/p55-overview.htm
+ The mobo http://www.gigabyte.com.au/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=3161

Posted in: IT – 3 Comments

A great web design resource

September 25, 2009

Six Revisions

It is only fair to give credit where credit is due. Recently I came a cross this elegant tutorial to create a slideshow using jQuery which I found very usefull during my current web project. The author, Jacob Gube deserves praise for the effort he’s put into writing the code for this slideshow and its presentation on the Six Revisions website. There are lots of people who provide assistance like that to others and sometimes I feel guilty that I dont do more of it my self. At any rate, thank you Jacob and Six Revisions for your great articles and tutorials.

Posted in: IT – No Comments

Computer #4 in the world: CSIRAC

September 24, 2009

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Recently I found out that the fourth computer in the world to be built was designed and built in Australia. In 1949 a young scientist at CISRO proposed and got funding for a project to build a computer. The project was successful and the computer was built. It took about a year and soon after it was complete it was donated to Melbourne University where it was used to execute programs and calculations for about a decade. The computer is now at the Museum of Melbourne where it can be seen in its reassembled state. As I walked through the room hosting the computer I could not help but think back to Reiknistofnun and the old geeks I used to work with over there. They would have fitted perfectly in these settings as young men, with hair. There are even pictures at Reiknistofnun where it looks like they are in that very room. In fact, I think that might be Maríus’s chair in the picture!

Posted in: Australia, IT – No Comments

A day in Pompei, at the Melbourne Museum

September 20, 2009

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This weekend we went to see the exhibition ‘A day in Pompei’ at the Melbourne Museum. Suzy was very impressed with the whole exhibition and I enjoyed parts of it. The casts of the people who died are surely the most powerful part of the exhibition, they really take you back to the very moment when the blast hit the city and people were engulfed by the ash. It is very moving to see the people in the very position they were in when it all happened. The other parts of the exhibit showed items from the city of Pompei recovered by archaeologists. It struck me how their implements are much like ours. I should have found that amazing but I just found it boring; 2000 year old household items that look just like what you see at any old market today. Suzy was a bit more sensible though and enjoyed how the exhibition brought live in the city right before your very eyes. The exhibition also depicted the story and timeline of the actual event but there were such a huge crowd that we could not really be bothered discovering more than we already knew about the event. The 3D animation was probably pretty good though.

Posted in: Australia, Cooking, General – No Comments

Spring arrives on a stormy afternoon

September 13, 2009

Spring

It keeps taking us by surprise how quickly the seasons can change here in Melbourne. Two days ago I took a look at the tree outside our window to see if there were any signs of new leafs but there were none. Spring officially starts on September the 1st and admittedly we have had some nice warm days since then, but nothing like yesterday. The temp rose to 29 degrees and when I looked back at the trees this morning there were new leafs already forming. It only took one warm spring day to trigger the trees into action. The weather is still not consistently warm but each day the temperature is slowly rising towards summertime.

Posted in: Australia – No Comments

You got mail!

August 11, 2009

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Happy birthday Auðunn, this one is for you.

Some time ago now we were doing voice recordings for an email system with a personal email notification. My mother gave us a few goes but this one was a winner:

Posted in: General – 1 Comment

Winter

May 21, 2009
Winter in Melbourne

Winter in Melbourne

It is now winter in Melbourne. Leaves are falling off the trees and the sun hangs low in the sky. Temperatures which a few months ago were in their upper 30’s have now plummeted to single digits and strong winds sweep the streets. This is no time to go sailing but I am hoping that this weekend the promised 20 degrees will provide a reasonable day on the water. For the last few months our boat has been sitting in the water providing a platform for seagulls to meet and greet and seaweed to hang out. But no longer; the scrub is coming out and the boat will be cleaned. The best thing about Melbourne winter is winter food. Warm casseroles, stews and red wine. This winter we are having Winter Christmas at our house with friends. I think we might even bring out the Christmas carols along with some traditional Icelandic Christmas food; roasted lamb, rauðkál, caramelized potatoes, home made ice cream and hopefully Malt og appelsín.

Posted in: General – No Comments

Long time no blog

February 28, 2009

Pabbi með Sóley í garðinum

It has now been almost three months since my last confession, erhm blog I mean. Lots has happened in that space of time, our daughter Sóley was born on December the 20th and hence began our family saga. Sóley is doing really well and growing fast. I will be putting up a page with pictures and video for family and friends so watch that space. Currently I am upgrading the Wordpress blog system and making a few changes. The old look and feel will be back but right now the templates need amending.

Posted in: General – No Comments
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