If you're so damn smart - why aren't you rich?
This is an excellent question and could even, in my case, be rephrased as follows:
"If you're so damn smart - why are you so damn poor?" My question, in return, might be: "If you're so damn rich - why are you so damn stupid?" From my perspective, my proposals and design concepts are so obvious and simple, that an enterprising chimpanzee should be able to "get it". In regard to my design concepts, consider these concepts - as applied to a house.
Clearly, the above structure would (at a modest cost) achieve the "performance requirements" for a house. Equally obviously, it does not require rocket scientists to design and build this structure - as evidenced by similar houses having been designed and built -hundreds of years before there were rocket scientists.
Similarly, it does not require rocket scientists to design and build a boat which, at a modest cost, would comfortably accommodate a small group of persons and (as stated on the web page <keystone>) "Within reason, enable those aboard to travel where they choose, when they choose - without being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment".
Anyone, with any significant experience at sea and an iota or two of imagination, should be able to see that the first requirement for such a boat is a decent length - with 100 ft or so being the minimum length, which I have come up with. The design goal then becomes: designing a boat with a minimum legth of 100 ft. - with good overall sea keeping qualities, minimal propulsion requirements, etc. etc. - which can be constructed at a modest cost
Seeing as I have pursued this goal, to the virtual exclusion of all others, for some 50 years
now, one would expect that the product of my efforts would be somewhat serviceable. Indeed, I believe this to be the case - and, as it happens, there appear to be very few other boats around with this degree of serviceability.
However, it does not mean that I am so damn smart. It just means that, for whatever reason, no one else seems to have been pursuing this goal. Some thoughts on possible reasons for this lapse may be found on various pages of this web site and other associated sites.
The main problem, which I have been faced with, is that, for the better part of the last 50 years, most people have considered the idea of building a 100 ft catamaran totally crazy and I have found no one willing to come up with the required capital. Remember, this all started a long time ago. The only people, back then, who would have anything to do with a multihull of any kind were "a bunch of long haired hippies who had probably smoked too much dope - and would surely end up killing themselves in their crazy plywood contraptions."
I was indeed one of those crazies and my talk of 100 ft catamarans was considered pretty "far out" even by that group. Naturally, to the yachting establishment, any catamaran was a crazy, "sacrilegious" concept and the idea of a 100 ft catamaran was way beyond crazy.
It would be thirty years or so, before there were such things as 300 ft. catamaran fast ferries or mega sailing catamarans - doing 35 knots around cape horn. Nowadays, of course, every over-paid, over-dressed, "Yacht Broker" and the pompous, arrogant, "YACHTING ESTABLISHMENT" as a whole, are happily reaping the financial benefits, provided by this ragged bunch of hippies - while extolling the virtues of the latest over-engineered, over-sylized, over-priced, over-weight, over-powered "Catamaran Motor Yacht"
Unfortunately, by the time these changes came along, the word had already got around about this crazy boat designer and, obviously, nothing has changed in regard to my success with finding investors. I can only guess at other reasons for my lack of success, with attracting potential investors - seeing as no one has ever been kind enough to enlighten me - as to why they chose not to invest in any of my projects.
The prime reason, I would hazard a guess, is that, just as most people's choice in boats is largely determined by "image", their choices in investments are also very much influenced by this factor. No matter how often they pay the price for this irrationality, with investments in the "Enrons" of the market place, most would never, for one moment, consider investing with anyone who wasn't sporting a gold Rolex. This is perhaps the reason that Rolex has turned out to be one of the top brands in the world.
This whole matter of image and "the question of aesthetics" are discussed at length on another web page. I also have a sneaking suspicion, however, that my insinuating that the design and construction of a 100 ft catamaran , which achieves a COMPARITIVELY high level of performance, is a simple "piece of cake" (which any idiot could accomplish - albeit a very conscientious and meticulous idiot) may give rise to some doubts as to my mental state.
I don't quite know how to deal with that. The simple fact is that not one of the boats, which I have designed and constructed (including Grand Illusion), required any thing, which could remotely be described as a working drawing or a construction blueprint - nor do I expect Grand Illusion XL to be any different. As I have said repeatedly, this is not rocket science. For more on this, check out: <Spirit of the Bahamas - Recipe>
Besides admitting to not being a rocket scientist, I also plead guilty to a million stupid decisions which have, no doubt, played a large part, in determining my current financial status - or lack thereof. In my humble opinion, however (and mustering all the impartiality I can) the answer to the original question is as follows: The main reason, I am so damn poor, is that the majority of people, whom I have approached about this venture, have been so damn stupid. This is one, of many reasons, why I have this "thing" about rationality - and irrationality really pisses me off.
Magic Carpet House
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If you're so damn smart - why aren't you rich?
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Stretch your horizons!
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Magic Carpet Catamarans
