T&T: $100 + a barrel!

[Carl H. Martin]

> With 2,452 million people in India and China about to become consumer 
> nations.
> Spending the money we have been sending them for manufacturing the cheap 
> goods
> we so dearly love ... just those two nations alone are 8 times the 
> population
> of the US ....

Investors purchasing oil futures is as big a problem as demand.  In fact 
they help create demand.  It's estimated that if all the pension funds who 
have invested billions in oil futures walked away we would see a $20 drop in 
the barrel price of crude.

Regarding sailboats, if a 50hp motor can push a 37ft sailboat it can push a 
37ft trawler.  My 30', 5 ton, soft chined full displacement trawler has a 
40hp diesel that averages 3/4 of a gallon an hour.  She has a 30' LWL (7.34 
knot hull speed) & I typically cruise at about 7 knots.  That's 9.33 miles 
per gallon.  And if I slowed to 6 knots I could do even better.

Wow!  I finally get to brag about my small slow boat!

Carl Martin
Scout 30
Hudson Beach, FL