Just for FUN. There is absolutely nothing official about this but if you want to post your answers to the questionnaire for your opinions to be ignored please do the doodle:
http://doodle.com/e2nzrfa43eia6tqf
To get your opinions taken seriously you need to be a member of the IMCA and should contact your president. See your national committee here.
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Friday, 22 October 2010
Android Business Application Mashup.
Mobile applications are an increasing theme at work where our SAP customers have lots of Data and Logic in there ERP systems that they want to make available to their employees on the road. The new smart phones are a great user experience platform for displaying and doing simple interaction with this data.
I did a quick example application for a service technician that mixes data from the ERP system with the functionality of the phone. This was so much fun and quick to program once I got the hang of the Android platform. My company even did a video of it which has come out great.
I am tempted to do an IMCA application but I can not think of anything that would be useful. Maybe a measurement form, regatta manager, boat info lookup.. however it seams better to do this stuff in a web application which will then run on all devices. I started this with the mobile news and blogs page. The stats say that 7.24% of the visitors are mobile devices but the mobile page only get 1.50% of the views. I would be interested to know what you users think of this? Are you interested in more Mobile initiatives or is the site OK as it is?
I did a quick example application for a service technician that mixes data from the ERP system with the functionality of the phone. This was so much fun and quick to program once I got the hang of the Android platform. My company even did a video of it which has come out great.
I am tempted to do an IMCA application but I can not think of anything that would be useful. Maybe a measurement form, regatta manager, boat info lookup.. however it seams better to do this stuff in a web application which will then run on all devices. I started this with the mobile news and blogs page. The stats say that 7.24% of the visitors are mobile devices but the mobile page only get 1.50% of the views. I would be interested to know what you users think of this? Are you interested in more Mobile initiatives or is the site OK as it is?
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Wings rant.
After my therapeutic rant yesterday on the Mach 2 forum I will try to be a bit more pragmatic and respectful today. I guess that Internet forums are a poor mans shrink.
I think that solid wings are in the spirit of the class that has been around since 1928. They are potentially the next step of the change. A lot of people are tempted to build them and they look awesome. The class has been around since 1928 because it has been open to evolution. The concept of a development boat is far more important to preserve than current commercial interests. Wing sails, like foils, like racks, like carbon, like plywood... are not going to change the world overnight they are all part of an evolution.
What I do not think is in the spirit of the class is the multi element rigs. Does Adam have a 2 sail boat? This is a gray area as each element consists of structural solid bits and soft membrane bits. 2 sleeve luff sails are not OK so why are 2 solid sails. Is Adams rig the same as a wing mast and a soft sail or is it the same as 2 sleeve luff sails? This I think is an interesting issue.
Will solid sails be so much better than soft sails that it is no longer fun to race moths without one? I think it will be more fun to race soft sails because you avoid a lot of hassle. It may reduce numbers if people perversive it as an excuse to exit out of a competition that they are not capable of wining anyway. Look at the current commitment levels of the top sailors, who the hell can I afford to compete at that level (pretty much full time) without making dramatic compromises in their normal life?
The Moth class does not need protection from itself but the concept of choice to innovate is far more fragile. Please think about who is getting hurt if you ban innovation, and who is profiting from status quo. If people want to build solid wings then they should be allowed to choose to do that in the Moth class, where it belongs.
If you like your current boat as it is then go sail it as it is. This is what I plan to do and my huge ego will just have to get over the fact that Bora or Adam have put a lot of hard work in and are potentially faster than me. I was never going to beat them anyway, where you?
Mach 2 do not need to worry about there business model as they have shown that they are capable of producing great quality products that people want. Restricting evolution has nothing to do with the good of the class it has to do with fear of change.
I think that solid wings are in the spirit of the class that has been around since 1928. They are potentially the next step of the change. A lot of people are tempted to build them and they look awesome. The class has been around since 1928 because it has been open to evolution. The concept of a development boat is far more important to preserve than current commercial interests. Wing sails, like foils, like racks, like carbon, like plywood... are not going to change the world overnight they are all part of an evolution.
What I do not think is in the spirit of the class is the multi element rigs. Does Adam have a 2 sail boat? This is a gray area as each element consists of structural solid bits and soft membrane bits. 2 sleeve luff sails are not OK so why are 2 solid sails. Is Adams rig the same as a wing mast and a soft sail or is it the same as 2 sleeve luff sails? This I think is an interesting issue.
Will solid sails be so much better than soft sails that it is no longer fun to race moths without one? I think it will be more fun to race soft sails because you avoid a lot of hassle. It may reduce numbers if people perversive it as an excuse to exit out of a competition that they are not capable of wining anyway. Look at the current commitment levels of the top sailors, who the hell can I afford to compete at that level (pretty much full time) without making dramatic compromises in their normal life?
The Moth class does not need protection from itself but the concept of choice to innovate is far more fragile. Please think about who is getting hurt if you ban innovation, and who is profiting from status quo. If people want to build solid wings then they should be allowed to choose to do that in the Moth class, where it belongs.
If you like your current boat as it is then go sail it as it is. This is what I plan to do and my huge ego will just have to get over the fact that Bora or Adam have put a lot of hard work in and are potentially faster than me. I was never going to beat them anyway, where you?
Mach 2 do not need to worry about there business model as they have shown that they are capable of producing great quality products that people want. Restricting evolution has nothing to do with the good of the class it has to do with fear of change.
Friday, 1 October 2010
New IMCA Mobile Home Page
With the growing number of smart phones and mobile devices out there I though it was time to do a version of the IMCA site for mobiles. I have designed a one page view to be an easy fast access to the last 14 days of News and Blogs.
Check it out here:
http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/mobile.jsp
Here is the URL encoded in a 3D BarCode.
Please let me have your feedback in the comments section below.
I have not been sailing or bloging since the Euros. It is a bit late to do a Euros review now but I had some of the best racing ever. Flat water and a big Moth fleet with good thermal winds made some excellent racing. I was pleased retain my middle of the fleet status as my new boat is now one of the oldest out there. Maybe it is time to think about building another...
Moth sailing is really taking off in Austria. There was a well researched 2 page spread in the big sailing magazine here about the Moths at the Euros. I say it was well researched because the author was not fooled into thinking I was Austrian. I hope that tomorrow the wind Gods will smile on the now 5 moths we have on the lake, and we will get our "fleet" in the air!
Check it out here:
http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/mobile.jsp
Here is the URL encoded in a 3D BarCode.
Please let me have your feedback in the comments section below.
I have not been sailing or bloging since the Euros. It is a bit late to do a Euros review now but I had some of the best racing ever. Flat water and a big Moth fleet with good thermal winds made some excellent racing. I was pleased retain my middle of the fleet status as my new boat is now one of the oldest out there. Maybe it is time to think about building another...
Moth sailing is really taking off in Austria. There was a well researched 2 page spread in the big sailing magazine here about the Moths at the Euros. I say it was well researched because the author was not fooled into thinking I was Austrian. I hope that tomorrow the wind Gods will smile on the now 5 moths we have on the lake, and we will get our "fleet" in the air!
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Inspired
Well Adam has done it and the eagle has landed. Please lets not ban this because it is just so very cool. It is exactly the sort of thing I want to get beaten by. I want to build one but not until I have built my new deck (in the garden (next project in the pad...)). Still it gets the old engineering brain working and it also connects me with my previous life. (I used to be part of the Boatyard in Beer when it was called something more unprofessional). The thing just looks so right. So next boat should have a wing mast and tramp that seals the gap and lets you run around behind it. That and the split flat anhedral foil... Maybe I will just blog about it and read others blogs that have actually done it, but you never know what inspiration can do.
After the IT nationals I realised it was about time I learnt to sail. So I was happy to get invited by Walter to to a race at his club. This was a good opportunity to practice not crashing to things like camera boats, capsized boats and basically anything that does not move. However the fleet of Yachts decided to to a long distance race. So Walter and I looked good off the line starting down by the pin to avoid the bumper tubs at the start boat. We cleared out to the first Island and Walter was a bit to fast for my liking. Luckily he hit submarines made of weed twice and then had to raise his foils to get round the shallow bit of the Island. I flew round without hitting anything (probably because it was under the muddy water so I did not know where it was) which left me with a hero's lead heading for the tree island on my own. I say heading, but I was heading for a small bed of reeds with a tree on it on a background reeds and trees. This Island was about 3 kilometres away as the Moth flies so naturally I made a mess of it and became a zero as fast as you can say "were da fukawii"*. Anyway that was it for training the next sail will be at the Euros, which I am really looking forward to.
Looks like the Austrian fleet may grow by 50% after the Euros which is fantastic news. I hope we will be in position to apply for official IMCA status at the Worlds so that next year we have another official National Association. There is certainly growing enthusiasm and I think we are close to critical mass. I am aware that the format of racing is all wrong here and we need to come up with some kind of better structure if we are to do more than look for trees and things to crash into. The Commodore of my Club Helmet is a top bloke and will be race officer at the Euros but to run an official race in Austria you need someone of his qualification. Therefore a light weight format need to evolve for training and fun racing. I and Niki are working on it but I need bigger plastic bottles for buoys than the 1.5 litre ice tee ones that you can not see until you crash into them. Niki thinks we should team up with the Cats which may work better.
Tomahawk has found a new home and it is great to see someone having fun in her again:
I have also become a measurer so that the Austrian team we can turn up to the Euros all fully raced prepared...
When I think back to the IT Nationals I am no longer surprised that we Austrians did not get on the podium as there were 6 of the top 10 world competitors there. This just goes to show how competitive the SEX (Southern Europe granpriX) fleet is. (ITA 9, 6, 11, SUI 3, SUI 9). Maybe Sail numbers and the new rules and flag/name stickers are rubbish.
I am reading a book called The Art of Unix Programming
which is truly inspiring stuff, and makes me want to program something that is worth while. I had a brief flirt with an Android Contact Provider for the IMCA site but decided to not be responsible to corrupting mobile phones an personal data. However 5% of the hits on the IMCA site are now mobile devices, so I think it is time for a mobile version of the site. So please fire your thoughts/ideas/requests/complaints at me, so that I can think about building something useful.
See you up the hill.
After the IT nationals I realised it was about time I learnt to sail. So I was happy to get invited by Walter to to a race at his club. This was a good opportunity to practice not crashing to things like camera boats, capsized boats and basically anything that does not move. However the fleet of Yachts decided to to a long distance race. So Walter and I looked good off the line starting down by the pin to avoid the bumper tubs at the start boat. We cleared out to the first Island and Walter was a bit to fast for my liking. Luckily he hit submarines made of weed twice and then had to raise his foils to get round the shallow bit of the Island. I flew round without hitting anything (probably because it was under the muddy water so I did not know where it was) which left me with a hero's lead heading for the tree island on my own. I say heading, but I was heading for a small bed of reeds with a tree on it on a background reeds and trees. This Island was about 3 kilometres away as the Moth flies so naturally I made a mess of it and became a zero as fast as you can say "were da fukawii"*. Anyway that was it for training the next sail will be at the Euros, which I am really looking forward to.
Looks like the Austrian fleet may grow by 50% after the Euros which is fantastic news. I hope we will be in position to apply for official IMCA status at the Worlds so that next year we have another official National Association. There is certainly growing enthusiasm and I think we are close to critical mass. I am aware that the format of racing is all wrong here and we need to come up with some kind of better structure if we are to do more than look for trees and things to crash into. The Commodore of my Club Helmet is a top bloke and will be race officer at the Euros but to run an official race in Austria you need someone of his qualification. Therefore a light weight format need to evolve for training and fun racing. I and Niki are working on it but I need bigger plastic bottles for buoys than the 1.5 litre ice tee ones that you can not see until you crash into them. Niki thinks we should team up with the Cats which may work better.
Tomahawk has found a new home and it is great to see someone having fun in her again:
I have also become a measurer so that the Austrian team we can turn up to the Euros all fully raced prepared...
When I think back to the IT Nationals I am no longer surprised that we Austrians did not get on the podium as there were 6 of the top 10 world competitors there. This just goes to show how competitive the SEX (Southern Europe granpriX) fleet is. (ITA 9, 6, 11, SUI 3, SUI 9). Maybe Sail numbers and the new rules and flag/name stickers are rubbish.
I am reading a book called The Art of Unix Programming
which is truly inspiring stuff, and makes me want to program something that is worth while. I had a brief flirt with an Android Contact Provider for the IMCA site but decided to not be responsible to corrupting mobile phones an personal data. However 5% of the hits on the IMCA site are now mobile devices, so I think it is time for a mobile version of the site. So please fire your thoughts/ideas/requests/complaints at me, so that I can think about building something useful.
See you up the hill.
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