Nelligen Yacht Clubhouse

 

With the help of the very much alive Troy of Nelligen and the long-dead Pythagoras of Samos, I've laid out the foundation of the club house for the Nelligen Yacht Club.

The foundations are 6 x 6 metres, and rather than buying a giant carpenter's square, I fell back on Pythagoras' 3:4:5 triangle to ensure all four corners are an exact 90°:

First measure along one edge 3 feet. Then measure along the adjacent edge 4 ft. If the diagonal is 5 feet, then the triangle is a 3:4:5 right triangle and, by definition, the corner is square. Of course, any multiples of 3,4,5 can be used, for example 6,8,10, whatever is convenient at the time.

Strange how some simple rules stay with you for the rest of your life! The Rule of 72, for example, by which you determine how long it takes to double your money at compound interest: simply divide 72 by the rate of interest to give you the number of years. Or when your accounts don't balance: if the difference is divisible by 9, it's almost certain to be a transposition of figures. Or π being the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. And the ratio of 3:4:5.

Anyway, the work will continue after Christmas. Watch this space!