Knockabout Sloops

Knockabout Sloops Blog, The End

2011-03-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

With my dwindling blog posts, it will come as no surprise that I am ending my KnockaboutSloops blog. All along this blog has been a personal resource that I have used to journal and organize my thoughts during the design and construction of Bolero, our custom engineless Knockabout Sloop.

I typically live a quiet private life that rarely draws attention to myself. On rare occasions one of my passions will draw me out a bit into the limelight. Such has been the case with long skinny sailboats and engineless sailing.

But in the end my real passion is sailing, not writing about sailing. And no amount of rants, or examples of engineless sailing will alter the conventional wisdom that sailboats need engines to be safe.

And no matter how many photos of gorgeous sailboats I post, and I have posted many, modern sailboats get beamier, the freeboard higher and the cabin taller and boxier. We are more and more a culture of convenience and luxury where beauty isn't valued.

So rather that try to convince others that sailboats sail just fine without engines, I will just go sailing.

And rather than post photos of long, sleek, gorgeous boats sailing, I will take ours out sailing.

For me it has always been about the sailing. Which is why we I envisioned this crazy project in the first place.

This blog has been a labor of love and I have enjoy the feedback and comments that I have received from the 90,000 or so visitors who have meandered in. I will leave this content up to provide whatever resource it may contain and I will also continue to moderate comments. Perhaps there are other "crazies" out there who will look at all this and see opportunity and not a bunch of sacrifices.

Cheers and Happy Sailing,
Bill

A Little Something for the Light Stuff

2010-10-23T17:41:00.001-07:00

Since we sail Bolero engineless the most import feature of our modified Shields is her sail plan and our ability to alter the amount of sail that we have up as the conditions warrant. In fact one of the main reasons we selected the Shields as our conversion candidate was her fractional rig and her abundant sail area.

Even though the standard sail plan for the Shields class sailboats has a exceptional SA/D ratio of 21, I have been on the lookout for a way to add additional sail area for really light air. So when I stumbled on a new free flying drifter/Code 0 headsail on eBay last winter for less than $300 I took a chance and snapped it up.

Prior to purchasing it, I quickly drew it up to make sure it would fit and to check the location of the sheet leads.

For this sail it looked like the proper lead location would intersect our oar lock sockets and my hope was to find a way to use these hard points as an attach point for the turning blocks. In addition, with an area of 210 sq ft and an overlap of 180%, this looks to be a very nice increase in sail area for Bolero bring her SA/D ratio to 25.
Unfortunately, I decided to over think the installation. I figured that it would be sweet if the drifter was on a furler in front of the headstay. So I picked up all the necessary hardware only to figure out after stepping the mast that there just wasn't enough room between the spinnaker halyard the forestay for the drifter to furl. At least I didn't drill any holes

As it turns out this mis-step was a blessing. I ended up flying the drifter on the jib halyard with a small pennant so it would clear the jib. This allowed us to tack which we ended up doing quite often and made this sail much versatile.

This free flying drifter quickly became my favorite sail. It was quick and easy to launch and stow from its turtle bag without any need of a furler or spinnaker sock and it made sailing in really light air very delightful. And even though we are quite spoiled short tacking into our channel with our non-overlapping working jib, It was still pretty easy to short tack with this 180% drifter.

To my way of thinking sail area is safety and piece of mind for the engineless sailor. Often the engineless sailor is presented with all the things that they can't safely do without an engine. But I feel that each boats "safe" sailing envelope is dependent on how much speed and maneuverability they can generate from their sail plan in a given wind. Obviously if you don't have enough sail area with respect to your boat's displacement then you have transition to a motorboat. And in that event your motor is your only form of propulsion and is required for safety.

My goal has always been to outfit my boats so they sail in the widest possible wind range. And with the addition of this drifter the term "no wind" has a whole new meaning.

Some Long Overdue Eye Candy

2010-10-09T19:10:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of Cliff. First a what is it request.

Do you know what this knockabout is? It was labelled as a Tumlaren, but I believe that is incorrect. I thought they all had canoe sterns...

Anyone know this sweet little boat? She looks familiar but I can't place her.

Cliff also sent along some extra pics. First a nice shot of a Concordia Yawl.

And some pics of the recently restored R Class "Aloha".

That Quiet Still in the Air

2010-10-09T10:26:00.001-07:00

It has been a very quiet summer here at Knockabout Sloops and a number of folks, okay maybe three, have wondered where I got off to. I am still here, still sailing and still loving long, skinny boat with graceful overhangs.

First off, it is never really a bad thing when I go quiet. Just ask the friends and family. But the quiet here has been a result of a number of occurrences.

First it has been a pretty ordinary summer season of sailing for us here on Lopez Island. Summer was sort of a yawner. When the weather was good the wind wasn't, or other things were pressing, or it was a supper low tide, or it was a busy boats coming into the bay day. And there didn't seem like a lot of great days this year compared to last. And last year was so good that I have gotten a bit picky on when I choose to go out.

We hauled last week so Bolero is neat and tidy and stored snuggly in her Clearspan shelter. I have a few posts, with pictures, in me summarizing my experiences with our new electrical system, a pretty good failure, and our new light air drifter, which was a roaring success, although I did take the long way to get there.

In addition to a average summer sailing season this summer brought about a complete upheaval in my computer hardware. I transitioned from a Tablet PC, which I have used in one form or another since their inception, to an iPad and an old Apple Power Mac G5. I have used many, many computer systems in my life, including Apple and find them pretty much interchangeable. But I am working toward replacing my old tablet PC with the iPad and using it for most everything I do and only falling back on the "boat anchor" G5 for the really heavy lifting. Blogging on the iPad has not yet overwhelmed me and this is my first iPad blog post. But I expect it to get better and better and with the winter dark time approaching I will keep at it.

In the end, Knockabout Sloops was always my way of organizing my thoughts on Bolero's conversion and in that capacity this blog has served me well. I am sure that there will always be an occasional post of some gorgeous slinky boat that I will need to pass along, a rant or two about sailing without an engine and of course every photo of Bolero sailing that kind folks send my way.

Bolero Sailing into Fisherman's Bay, Lopez Island Washington

2010-06-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Turns out Skip, the brother of one of our mooring neighbors, took a sweet little video of Bolero sailing back into Fisherman's Bay last season, 17 September 2009.

Fun to see the ole girl under sail. It was blowing pretty nice outside so we took our customary second reef prior to reentering the bay.

1949 Sparkman & Stephens Yawl Bolero

2010-05-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

BOLERO, 1949

Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection

Perhaps because we share a name and a common designer, I have always had an affinity for Bolero. But she is truly in a class of her own.

BOLERO, auxiliary yawl underway, 1954

Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection

I find that I like to compare boats to classics such as Bolero even though most fall horribly short by comparison. I have always been more comfortable looking towards greatness, and failing, than looking towards mediocrity and succeeding. Just my odd way I guess. In any event the view is better. Much, much better.

Heading East, 1954

Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection

Bolero was built for ocean racing and I am still quite in awe of the time in history where racing boats were also works of art.

BOLERO – Large Modern Ocean Racer

Sparkman and Stephens Design No. 711

LOA 73’6’’, LWL 51’, beam 15’1’’, draught 9’6’’, sail area 2,480 sq.ft.

Designed in 1946 for John N Brown. Launched by Nevens in 1949.

This boat represented the new technology of the post war era and in many ways in size and scope was the prototype of the modern maxi yacht. It was considered by many to be the most beautiful S&S boat ever designed (a claim shared with her near sister, BARUNA).

Her interior is laid out for 8 guests and a crew of 4. It makes an interesting comparison with modern boats of similar size, allowing for spacious accommodations.

Her design plans are revealing for they show a quality of construction which would probably be impossible to match today. Of composite construction, double planked mahogany 1 ¾ inches thick on metal lightened web frames, she was extremely strongly built. The construction sections show the extensive use of metal reinforcement allied to wooden blocking, spruce beams, white oak partners round the openings, extensive use of metal tie rods and a Douglas Fir clamp 7 ¼ x 2 ½ inches thick. The metal work was entirely in Monel or Everdur Bronze, materials which would be prohibitive today, if at all available.

She was fitted with coal galley stoves, early forms of refrigeration and very extensive interior furnishings. The extreme elegance of her double-headed rig belies the amount of physical manpower needed to sheet a 170 % overlapping genoa measuring 1500 sq. ft. A coffee grinder winch is mounted amidships in the most stable area in order to sheet the jib sheets via turning blocks; the double runners would necessitate extensive manpower requirements during tacking; again the mainsheet is led downwards at mid-boom to control lift and back to the cockpit winch mounted on the cabin roof. The small looking mizzen stay sail is nevertheless 540 sq. ft., the size of many smaller boat’s genoa jibs. Both BOLERO and her earlier sister BARUNA were built to the maximum size allowed under the CCA (Cruising Club of America) racing rule for the Bermuda Race which worked out at approximately 72 feet overall.

In the 1951 Bermuda Race BARUNA and BOLERO found themselves racing against each other. Despite the almost 10 years that had elapsed between the two designs, the two boats both fought it out neck and neck arriving at the finishing line 466 miles later, only 24 seconds apart (the older boat winning on corrected time by 15 minutes).

COPYRIGHT 1999 PATRICK MATTHIESEN

Well apparently, thanks to Cliff for the heads up, Bolero got a make over at Rockport Marine. So she's good to go for another 60 years.

And she looks almost as gorgeous in color as she does in black and white.

1986 Mini 12 Metre J Boat

2010-05-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

So perhaps the Rhodes Evergreen in the post below is bit more boat than you are looking for. But you still want you some long and skinny. How about this.

She is a 21 ft long mini 12 metre. You are going to have to act fast on this one as she is on the auction blocks of ebay. Her location is Pocasset, Massachusetts.

Check the full listing for more photos, but here are some teases.

Now I do think Bolero is looking a bit pudgy.

1947 Rhodes Evergreen Class Sloop

2010-05-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

Bolero's spring launch, various projects and the weather has seriously dampened my postings on long skinny boats. But that hasn't kept Cliff, down in Oregon, for lighting up my inbox with leads and photos. So time for me to catch up.

First is a sweet 1947 modified Rhodes Evergreen Class Sloop.

She is for sale by the way and located in Seattle, WA

We have one up here that sails out of Friday Harbor and they are sweet, sweet boats.

Okay, more photos from the listing.

And I have to include a copy of the sail plan since I just love the plans found on older boats.

Occasionally folks ask me about ways to get into a "Knockabout" type sloop in a less expensive way than a full out conversion, or buying a new expensive Daysailor. Well I think this Evergreen might fit the bill.

She is a woody.

But boy howdy. Look at those lines. Someone go have a look at her and report back.

Or better yet buy her and sail her up to the San Juan's so I can have a look.

Faux Wood Transom on a Plastic Boat?

2010-05-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been pondering the aesthetic challenges of including Bolero's registration info and name on her hull. I am just not a big fan of stickers no matter how nice. One morning over coffee my buddy Craig and I were discussing the merits of adding a faux wood stern with an engraved and painted name to the stern of a plastic boat. At the time it didn't seem right for Bolero.

A few days later Craig found this picture which I sure liked.

I still don't know if I see this on Bolero, or how one might get it to look right on a plastic boat, but it sure looks fine on this sexy daysailor.

Safe and Sound

2010-05-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

I headed out first thing this morning to check out Bolero and everything looks fine. I will row out later today to retrieve the anchor and restore her to proper sailing trim.

Really Starting to Blow Now

2010-05-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

The Smith Island station south of Lopez Island is recording SSE wind at 39 kts with gust to 45 kts.

But it is still relatively calm in Fishbay.

Although the worst is still likely ahead as this low pressure moves north, or worse, northeast.

6 Bells and All is Well

2010-05-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

The trees behind my house were creaking and groaning as they do when they resist strong winds so I thought I would go have a look at Bolero.

I knew as soon as I reached the village that this trip was going to be benign since there was a significant easterly component in the southerly wind. Bolero was tugging gently on her mooring with her anchor rode slightly longer than the mooring pendant.

Even with Smith Island reading a steady winds of 33 kts with gusts as high as 37, FishBay was relatively calm.

This is pretty typical when the wind is from the SE or SSE as there is a nice hill that shields Fishbay, and our boats, from the strong SE winds. You can see it pretty clearly from the contour lines on the chart.

The bay general is aligned along a bearing of 205 magnetic. We really get hit when the wind clocks around and becomes S to SW. Which it is forecasted to do later on this evening.

No way this storm hits during the light of day.

Storm Prep

2010-05-19T17:30:00.000-07:00

I have been keeping abreast of the upcoming serious storm by regularly checking in on Cliff Mass's blog. This morning it looked like the San Juan Islands might not get hit has hard as I had thought. Cliff mentioned:

Residents of the San Juans and northern Whidbey Island should be ready for a modest blow.

Looking like something in the 30 to 40 kt range.

But I decided that I would sleep better if I at least prepped Bolero the best I could. So this morning Laura and I headed out to the boat and I rowed out the main bow anchor, 20 ft of chain and 150 ft of rode due south of our mooring. I set our 22# Bruce anchor by tensioning it up against our mooring and ran the rode through a shackle attached to our mooring ring. We removed the jib from the foredeck to reduce windage, tightened up the cockpit cover and secured the aft hatch with its locking pin.

I rowed back out to the boat this afternoon to check everything over one more time and adjust anything if needed. The wind had clocked around to the South and when I arrived at the boat our anchor was taking all of the freshing breeze. So I let out a bit of rode so the anchor and mooring were taking equal loads.

I think that I have done all I can. Bolero is on her own.

Once back home I immediately surfed over to check Cliff's site for a storm update and, off course, things have gotten worse.

The latest satellite pictures shows a profound enhancement of the high clouds around this system (see above). The latest forecast models are even more threatening that last night...this is going to be a major coastal wind event, with damage and power outages. NW Washington will be hit harder than expected last night. And another issue...when the low is offshore, winds will accelerate to the west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The National Weather Service has now put storm warnings for the entire coast and the western Strait of Juan de Fuca.

And here is the new wind forecast for 5 pm (from Cliff's site)

I will drive by and check on Bolero one last time before dark. But unless something really looks amiss I won't row out.

Oddly, at 17:30, the winds still seem quite calm. But they are picking up at the Hein Bank and Smith Island stations to the south of Lopez.

Hein Bank

Smith Island

A Successful Launch

2010-05-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

The morning was rainy and overcast so no pictures of the actual launch, but Bolero is safe and sound on her mooring.

The whole fix the keel plan was a total dud, however. What with the wet keel and very short time limit. I have been promised another chance during the fall haul out.

I guess I will just have to sail in a manner that keep the nasty bottom of our keel hidden from view.

Even though launching in the rain and drizzle isn't much fun, I do love how the Northwest looks during the sun breaks that manage to break through.

I won't get much time to enjoy the serenity as this rain was the precursor of a nasty unseasonable 991 mb low that is headed our way (the full story is over at Cliff Mass's site).

The storm is forecast to roll in Wednesday late afternoon and hit us with sustained winds in the 40 to 50 kt range with higher gust.

5:00 pm Wednesday Forecast

8:00 pm Wednesday Forecast

Why do all these high wind storms have to roll in at night? I feel much better when I can either check the webcam to see that Bolero is safe or go check her out in person.

I will definitely go out tomorrow to double up the mooring pennant and tighten everything down.

This is suppose to be a fall thing.

Pre-Launch Update

2010-05-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

Well we are pretty much ready for our launch on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately we heard at the last moment that the marina won't be allowing us to hang from the travel lift so any repairs and touch up painting that I want to do to the keel gets to happen at 7am right before our launch. I guess it will be what it will be.

In any event prepping, rigging and transporting Bolero to the marina progressed without a hitch. I used the same technique to load the mast as I did last fall to remove it.

And it sure beats Craig and I walking each end up a ladder while trying not to ding anything. I am planing to sort through my old blocks and lines to see if I can't make the process even easier.

Raising the mast was quick and simple and it was great fun to hook up the new anemometer, which thankfully worked.

On Saturday San Juan Canvas came by with our new cabin cushions and they looked great.

It is hard to convey what a change the new cushions make to the interior. And although still small it is now an inviting place you would actually what spend time in.

There were a few periods of light wind so I played with the drifter to see if I could located the padeye on the foredeck. This new drifter idea has been a challenge from the very start. And as soon as I hoisted it I knew the journey was not to get any easier. Even though I was temporarily mounting it to the bow chock, it was very, very close to the headstay. I didn't realize just how close until we went out early yesterday morning in very light wind to check the hoist again.

Obviously I still have much work to do on this system and I have set it aside for now. Eventually I will need some sort of spinnaker crane. Which will entail working up the mast if I want it this season. I think the first thing I will do is fly the drifter inside the headstay to see how I like it and go from there.

Engineless Sailing Safety Poll

2010-05-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, during the epic engineless sailing thread over at the Wooden Boat Forum, I created a poll to see what folks thought about the safety of engineless sailing. Results trickled in little by little but today we reached 100 votes. So I thought I would pass along the results.

The results of this poll ended up being quite a surprise to me. Granted, my little blog is a very small and unique subset of the general sailing public, but having read all the safety concerns and fears about sailing without an engine, I thought the results would have been more much tilted towards engineless sailing being unsafe. In the end, only 9% of the visitors, and voters, from Knockabout Sloops thought engineless sailing was unsafe.

Cool.

Rub-a-Dub

2010-05-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

Today I moved Bolero out into a gorgeous Pacific Northwest day for a washing and scrubbing. Thus marking the end of our Spring refit. Tomorrow I will winch the mast onto the deck and Thursday it's down to the marina for an afternoon mast raising. This leaves me ample time to rig and organize the boat before Saturday when I have arranged to have Bolero hung from the travel over their weekend (Sunday & Monday) so I can finish the keel repair.

On a side note, having Bolero out in the open gave me a chance to see the new navigation lights that I installed. I searched for quite a while trying to find a set that would look right on Bolero. Now that I see them from a distance my choice doesn't seem quite as good as I thought.

Almost Ready to Launch

2010-05-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

We are looking good to go for our planned launch on the 18th. I have wrapped up, or will wrap up all my remaining tasks with the goal of pulling Bolero out of the boat shed for a good cleaning and prepping for the short ride to the marina on Wednesday the 12th.

Here is some of what I have been up to, in no particular order.

Bow Damage Repair

The most disappointing damage resulting from last summer's grounding was a nasty ding in the bow that resulted from a collision with the "rescue" vessel.

I have been procrastinating this repair a bit since I was quite worried about making a mess of things but in the end I needed to get it done.

First I worked to clean up and sand fair the ding so I could more easily fill the missing material.

Then I tried my hand at filling the damaged area without increasing the size of the damage too much.

I let the repair cure while I waited for Tim's two part primer repair kit to arrive.

Armed with Tim's great little kit and his "Dummies Guide to Two Part Paint Touch Up" instructions I dove in like I knew what I was doing and laid down multiple coats of the gray primer.

After another day or two of drying time I carefully sanded the primer and applied the flag blue touch up paint (which Tim had sent me last summer).

And all in all it didn't turn out to bad.

That said, I definitely don't want to become proficient at this task.

Electrical Panel

I have also been working on adding a small electrical service to Bolero. Nothing to grand, just power for a depth transducer and backup power for our battery powered gps and handheld VHS radio.

I pretty much have it done, although I have decided to add navigation lights so I have the panel cracked open for some mods.

Varnish Maintenance

The varnish gods, which smiled down on my novice skills as I varnished the boat (toe rails, coaming and cabin sides) where apparently angered by my lack of offerings and my efforts to lay down a nice finish on the hatches failed. I even sanded off my failures and tried again with similar, although slightly better result.

Ultimately I decided that I would contimplate these flaws all summer while studying up to try and figure out my faults and give it another go next spring.

Funny, with a nice controlled and convient shop setting I thought the hatches would be the easy job.

The Siren's Song

2010-04-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

On this blog this title could mean just about anything but in this case it means varnish.

I have always loved boats with lots of brightwork so it was a foregone conclusion that Bolero would essestially become a wooden boat in a fiberglass hull. All along Tim warned me that I had better like varnishing and I replied that it was one of my favorite boat tasks. But truth be told, I hadn't done much varnishing before Bolero. And even though Bolero doesn't have has much brightwork as Cotton Blossom II, shown above, there is a bunch.

And this is the first year that I have been responsible for Bolero's varnish upkeep. Well the bulk of the refreshing on the hull is almost complete. And all in all I very much enjoyed the process. Varnishing requires a fair amount of work, and I have a great deal more to learn, but I just love the look of fresh varnish on wood.

I have to confess that I was a bit anxious about all this varnish work. After all I received Bolero from Tim freshly varnish by hands much more skilled then my own. But the only way to get experience was by doing it and the "nice" thing about varnishing is that there is always next year.

I still want another coat on the toe rails and the hatches are waiting their turn in my shop but we are one giant step closer to launching. What with all this shiny wood looking for water.

Some Forward Progress

2010-04-24T10:10:00.000-07:00

This has been an unusually frustrating spring refit. It seem like I have been taking two steps back for every step forward. But little by little it seems that I am starting to make some headway.

Light Air Drifter
I am working to set up a drifter on a free furler just in front of the headstay and behind the bow chock. The general idea was a furler that can snap shackle to a padey with furling line blocks on the bow cleat and shroud base. From the very start this this has been painful a project. First I couldn't find a way to mount a structural padeye. Then I couldn't find a way to mount the Harken free furler such that the lead would clear the anchor locker. In the end the Harken furler went back to MauriPro (great service by the way) and I am waiting on a replacement Schaefer 550 furler. I still don't know if I will get this to work but at least I have a few new "good" ideas.

Toe Rail Break
The shift in my spring refit frustration was definitely a result of fixing the break in the port toe rail splice that occurred last summer.

As I mentioned previously, I tried and failed repairing this split with West Systems 105 epoxy. I prepped the split as much as I dared and injected thickened epoxy into the joint. Clamped it up for two days and it stayed together for about a minute. Having quickly surpassed my limited, okay nonexistent, skills I consulted a professional and asked Stephen Brouwer of Hunter Bay Woodworking to come over and take a look. He suggested I take another shot with West Systems G/flex epoxy. He has had some success with this product on teak and he had some material that I could barrow. If this failed it was probably fill and fair time.

I did a much more aggressive prep job this time. I worked a piece of 220 grit sand paper into the crack cleaning and sanding both edges. Then I solvent washed the joint and let it dry. Then I injected the G/flex, clamped up the joint and waited through two rainy spring days.

When the clamp came off I got this.

Okay, not the prettiest joint in the world but it was holding. So I sanded it and prepped it for the varnishing that was in its near future.

And after one coat it ain't looking to shabby.

Time will tell if this repair will hold up but I am cautiously optimistic.

Wood Movement
Wood movement on the parts of Bolero constructed of wood, and there are a lot, has been a continuing problem. Currently the forward bulkhead, the sliding companionway hatch, the aft deck hatch and the cabin floor access board have warped or twisted enough to affect their function. Most are just a little annoying but the sliding companionway hatch had become almost unusable as it was binding on the aluminum rails.

While Stephen Brouwer was over advising me on the toe rail break repair we spoke at length about these issues but unfortunately their really isn't a cure or a fix. The long term plan is to remake the hatches allowing for better movement of the wood.

For the short term I need to find a way to get them functional for this season. And as I mentioned it is really only the sliding companionway hatch that is truly problematic. All of these parts are back in my small shop getting ready for varnish. Since I know that the problem was less when the wood dries out during the summer I decided to see if lowering the moisture content and raising the heat in my shop would help. Can't really hurt but it isn't a solution either.

Electrical System and Instrumentation
I decided last season that I wanted to add some additional instrumentation to Bolero. After some research I discovered that I could add a NMEA depth transducer that would send depth readings directly to my Garmin 276C gps. But that transducer needed a power supply. So I decided that it was time to add an electrical system to Bolero.

The first problem was were to put a panel. Space is always tight and finding an adequate space that is also usable adds to the dilemma. Somehow I came up with the idea to use the chainplate box that Tim had built to cover up the chainplate knees.

In a way this idea seemed a bit crazy with my first thought being that moisture could be a big issue. So I took the cover off the starboard chainplate box and found it to be dry and very well sealed. I will definitely keep my eye on this to make sure nothing changes.

Here is the current state of my electric panel construction. The solar panel charge controller and the switch panel have been mounted and I am waiting for one more part before I mount the voltage and amperage gauges and their control switches.

And here is a view of the backside showing the battery mounting location.

I plan to have mount points for two of my small batteries so I can add extra capacity as needed.

Obviously from the size of my battery I am not running very much load. Currently all I will be running is power to the gps and to the depth sender unit. Although future plans may include a set of LED navigation lights and interior lights.

In addition to depth I also wanted to add a wind strength indicator. And what I really, really wanted was a wireless Tacktick system. But its cost just wasn't it the cards for this season. So with a bit of research I discovered the Inspeed Vortex Anemometer. It is a simple winds speed only anemometer that uses a bike computer for its display.

So know our mast head looks like this.

Cabin Cushions
Having done such a great job on the exterior canvas, Laura thought she would build the cabin cushions as well. Problem was that her other passions weren't cooperating. So I decided to send the local canvas shop an email asking for a quote. A few emails later and a trip to Friday Harbor and next thing we knew Derek from San Juan Canvas was over measure Bolero for cushions.

We will now have new cabin cushions prior to launch day. And I (Laura was out of town ) choose to add a touch of color to Bolero's interior.

Varnishing
And last, but certainly not least, we come to varnishing. Having removed all the parts I could remove, to varnish separately in the shop, I needed to decided what got varnished this year. So I started taping. In the end I decided to varnish all of the exterior varnish except the cockpit seats as they are fully covered when not in use and they still look good. In addition I didn't refresh the interior varnish, which we really haven't used much.

Currently I am done with the first of two refresher coats.

The Smell of Anti-Fouling Paint in the Morning

2010-04-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

A combination of other projects and some late winter weather has helped me procrastinate really starting Bolero's Spring refit. But over the last couple of weeks I dove in and repaired the keel damage from last year's grounding and today I painted the bottom.

This is the best way for me to start the Spring refit since I now have the worst job out of the way. Well mostly out of the way since I still need to repair the underside of the keel while we are hanging from the travel lift the weekend before our launch (May 18th).

I also pulled Bolero out of the shed for a thorough cleaning.

Varnishing is next and all the removable pieces are at home in my small shop. I do however have a couple of wood issues to deal with prior to varnishing. Last summer the splice joint in the toe rail cracked. I have tried to re-bond it but I was unsuccessful. It is a pretty small crack so I am leaning towards filling it and then fairing l as needed.

The other problem I am having is warping and twisting of Bolero's hatches. The sliding companionway hatch now binds enough that I can't easily open and close it.

In addition to maintanence and repairs, Bolero is getting a fair number of upgrades.

A simple electrical system to power a NMEA depth transducer, our Garmin 276C GPS, and perhaps a few other luxuries
A larger drifter on a roller furler
Cabin cushions (I hope)
A masthead anemometer
And hopefully a mounting system for our Sea-Swing stove

I am have a few compatibility issues with my drifter and the Harken Screecher Furler that I want to use. But I am starting to layout the padeye and backing plates. I won't start the installation until I know everything works.

Olin Stephens, Simply Brilliant

2010-03-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

I stumbled onto this Mystic Seaport video on Olin Stephens while I was digging for info on the Knickerbocker Class.

Which of course lead me from one sailing video to another.

North American 8 Metre Racing.

And Gerdny. A 95 Square Meter.

Knickerbocker One Design

2010-03-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

One of the things I just love about have this blog is that out of the blue I get an email from someone showing me another great old Knockabout type boat that I had never seen before.

In this case Bob wrote in to introduce me to the Knickerbocker One Design.

Pretty funny that I never stumbled across these sweet little boats. First off, as Bob observed, they really look like a larger version of my old Bluenose Sloop. And second they are a Sparkman & Stephens design.

Here is what little history I could scour of the web:

The Knickerbocker One Design (KOD) class was designed and built for members of the Knickerbocker Yacht Club in 1965. 18 KODs were constructed. The KOD is a comfortable one design racer with very nice daysailer comforts with a large cockpit with full seating. The interior has two berths for possible short overnight hops.

The KOD has a very powerful sail plan with a large mainsail, marginally overlapping jib with adjustable leads and a large spinnaker with full spinnaker gear. It moves along nicely in the lightest breezes and can really get up and go in stronger winds

The KOD is very seaworthy being able to sail and race in strong winds. One of the KODS was singlehanded from Port Washington, NY to Mystic Seaport.

And as always, a quick check on how the specs compare to my old Bluenose Sloop and our new Shields conversion.

The feature that I like most about these old designs is the substantial fractional rig. By that I mean a small percentage of jib area per total sail area. All three of these sailboats put up a huge amount of sail area on a working sail plan without needing a large overlapping headsail. That's my idea of sailing fun.

Another Etchell's Conversion

2010-03-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

I recieved a comment or two from Sam, who along with his brother Nick, are planning to restore and convert an old Etchells.

The idea, in their own words:

The idea is to change this racing sailboat into a comfortable day cruiser and so cruise her around Bantry Bay. Blazers and pipes will replace Mustos and wraparound shades and nettle ale shall be sipped from clay tankards…

Sam thought that my adding his blog to my reading list would help motivate him keep the blog up to date.

I hate to say it Sam, but I need more pictures and an update or two. How about a quick sketch of the new cabin design. Heck maybe just a nice photo of you guys throwing down a few pints at the local pub.

I hope this is what you meant by providing you a little incentive to keep us posted on your project? Not to subtle I hope.

Cheers, Bill

Anchoring Under Sail

2010-01-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

As this is one of the sailing skills that I have chosen to enhance and seeing as my past experiences have been lacking I thought I would add some thoughts on anchoring under sail from Jay FitzGerald's book Wind and Tide. Jay generously granted me permission to reprint some of his writing and as I reread his thoughts on anchoring under sail I realize that I am not stealing from him nearly often enough (you can read his take on sculling oars here).

I think it is also good to set a hook at some speed of travel. Mostly you see people motor up, plop the thing, and back up. You've read about boats doing that sort of thing under sail---but there are many books like that where guys gas about traditional sailing techniques and (they read them somewhere) don't know beans about it. While on a large vessel of say 60 feet or so might be able to drop a hook and back under sail reasonably, or a square rigger might---a small sailing yacht isn't likely to generate enough power backing to even pull the chain shot straight let alone set the hook. I like to set the hook sailing at a a couple of knots and surge the thing in good and hard. Often times, under the main alone I'll come into a harbor with the rode flaked out on the foredeck ready to run. If it's tight or tricky, I'll lead the chain shot back to the cockpit, but not too often does this prove necessary. If I'm going to anchor, in say, 30 feet, I'll have that ready to go and as I approach where I want to set I'll drop the hook over the side and hold it at about 6 fathoms---keep sailing; as soon as I feel it bump the first time I'll let the whole works go. It pays out with alacrity, I head to the foredeck and as I reach that 4 to 1, I'll take a turn around the bow cleat and surge the boat to a stop. That rode will go taut, the boat will spin around and there I be, set and head to wind. Very slick and fast, and unnerving to everyone else in the anchorage. Don't be panicky about this---three knots is fast but not too fast, as long as one knows how to handle lines there shouldn't be a problem. Likely, even if the hook fouls or fails to set it will still pretty much stop the boat, but not with a surge, so take note, haul the hook aboard, sail out to weather and give it another go. No big deal, you likely just got a big haul of kelp---still, that will spin the boat around. You won't make the beach in any event.

You can do this to weather, as well, if you feel the need. When the rode fetches up you can spin around and try to screw it in the other direction as well. I think a Bruce sets easier with a semi-rotary pull that a straight linear pull anyhow. I can't really validate that but if you look at the flukes you can see why it might. Not a big problem, again, as long as the hook is reasonable heavy.

It is hard to get the feel for a set hook until one has done a bit of anchoring---so I usually suggest a different technique for a novice or myself if I'm expecting a heck of a blow and really want to be certain about my holding.

Sail up to where you want to swing from and drop your primary hook. Do this under the main alone, especially if by oneself, to keep the foredeck clear and so when you let go of the tiller and have the mainsheet sheeted in as far as it will go, your boat will round up and stall nice and easy. Your boat won't do that? Sell it; it's a dog.

Make sure the anchor hits the bottom first and you pay the chain back in a straight line as the boat starts to get sternway. This is the trick, making sure you haven't go wraps around things. If you just dump it in a pile it is quite likely that things will foul up. Better let things tug a bit, You'll start wiggling the hook in. If the wind is really roaring you might just go ahead and accidentally set it. That's OK. We'll confirm the set.

Let's say you feel it starting to grab. Go ahead and pay our a lot of rode in highly antisocial fashion. You aren't going to swing like this so don't sweat it. Pay out to about an 8 to 1. You'll see why in a moment. Don't know how much rode you've paid out? A clever hint---stitch roman numerals on your rode at one fathom intervals. then your' know.

At an 8 to 1? Drop the little kedge over the stern, and haul on the bow. Bring our self back up to a 4 to 1. Now you've go a 4 to 1 on both, right?

Take the kedge rode to a sheet winch and haul it bar taut.

Have a beer and watch it for about 15 minutes. Does it stay taut?

Does it slowly, slowly go slack? You're dragging, and if you would have tried this with an engine you never would have known, would you? Feel smug. If you need to , haul the kedge and try again. You'll get a bottom sample when you do; if all you get is a big blob of kelp you'll learn something as well. Move.

Now you've got options. Put the main away while you think about it, as you're going nowhere.

I do, a lot of times, leave both of them down, and I take care to set myself pointing into the direction of wave or wind action. A boat rides very nice like this, but if I've likely go a pretty good current running at some point I might not. Depends. It is often a good idea to keep the bow pointed into the direction of incoming powerboat wakes. Sometimes it's since to pull the kedge and get a couple of chowder clams. At any rate, this technique allows a sailor to really feel a set, and he will sleep better for it. I really recommend making a habit of it, at least until one is comfortable with the anchoring game.

Again, an anchor's hold is primarily determined by its angle of bite to the bottom. This of course is the purpose of scope but can be greatly increased by a heavy chain rode. As I said, if one seldom needs a heavy chain rode but on occasion needs that short scope, a 20 pound or so mushroom anchor can be shackled to the head of the chain rode to act as a sentinel and will greatly increase the holding power of the ground tackle. This is especially useful in and anchorage that is experiencing a good deal of surge, or if one is anchored on a weather shore being set into deeper water.

Rereading Jay's writing is a good shove to get me past the complacency that has set in during the past 5 or so years that I have been reaquainting myself with sailing. Hopefully this time next year I can discuss this topic with some experiences of my own.

A Sweet Little Bluenose Sloop (Sold)

2010-01-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

Long time readers of this blog will know that I quite like these little boats. The Bluenose Sloop was my first real sailboat and I reacquainted myself with sailing in it after a long hiatus. So when I received an email from the Bluenose Sloop digest mentioning that one was for sale, I decided to pass along the info.

Especially since the one for sale, Alure, is so choice.

These are sweet little sailboats that sail like dinghies but with a 44% ballast ratio they feel quite solid. They have a fabulously high SA/D ratio so they make excellent engineless sailboats. I single handed mine without an engine using 150% genoa and no winch handles.

Here are the specs.

There was also a pretty detailed forum thread about the Bluenose Sloop on the Sailnet forums.

John, the owner, spent a few years restoring this ole girl and I think she looks pretty sweet. Here is the description of his work that he sent along.

1977 Bluenose 24, hull number ZMBB1318076. Three year restoration, launched May 2008. Deck raised, cleaned and resealed with 3M 5200 and SS screws and bolts. Hull faired and professionally painted with awlgrip top sides jet black deck, mast and boom oyster white.

All New: 2008

Teak toe-rail, faintail and louver hatch board
SS Standing rigging,
Running rigging,
Harken blocks (all)
Harken traveler system
Harken roller furling 00AL
Jib track with Schaefer stand up blocks.
Minn Kota 80 lb thrust electric trolling motor.
Guest 3 bank battery charger with two group 27 AMG batteries.
New anchor light, deck/stemming light, navigation lights
All wiring (marine grade)
Sunbrella sail and tiller cover (toast color)
Tolly Tasker main and Jib. (linen color) coastal curising level 2009
In boom internal outhaul
Single axel trailer

And more pictures.

She is located in Dallas, TX and if anyone wants more info just shoot me an email (the little envelope icon in the top menu) and I will pass along your message to John.

Is Engineless Sailing Safe?

2010-01-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

There is a pretty lively discussion going on over at the Wooden Boat forum on Engineless sailing and cruising in the thread Sailing With No Engine?. These types of discussions come up occasionally on various forums but this one has stayed pretty focused on choosing whether or not to have an engine on a sailboat on why or why not.

Some threads on other forums have quickly diverged into discussions on auxiliary propulsion systems, outboards etc. But this Wooden Boat forum thread has pretty much come down to safety with some seemingly believing that it is unsafe and discourteous to sail engineless and other believing that with proper skill, patience and seamanship it is completely safe.

Having read through and participated in the 200 plus post Wooden Boat forum thread I am curious what others think. So I added a poll concerning the safety of sailing engineless to the sidebar of this blog.

I would greatly appreciate it y'all would take the time to vote.

Happy New Year Ye Olde Skinny Boat Fans

2010-01-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

A bit of the old stuff to go with the new year.

Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta 2006

J-Class - Shamrock

Classic Yacht Gerdny

Engineless Sailing & Knockabout Sloops (Repost)

2009-12-31T15:00:00.000-08:00

This is a repost of a post that I made just over two years ago. I reviewed it again as I was rereading old posts. My inspiration for digging through the archives was an engineless sailing thread (Sailing With No Engine?) that had come up over on the Wooden Boat forum.

As I reread this post and the Wooded Boat forum thread I found that virtually nothing has change with respect to why I sail without an engine. And even though I can pretty easily get drawn into the engine vs no engine debate my heart really isn't in it as I have no real interest in "converting" anyone to sail engineless. It is just a choice and just as viable as any other.

My only wish is that every boater, no matter how they chose to boat, was so delighted and at ease with their own choice that they didn't need to denigrate other choices to justify their own.

Engineless Sailing & Knockabout Sloops

I have mentioned many reasons behind my quest for a modern Knockabout Sloop. But I have not talked about the most import one and the main reason that I have gone to such an effort to create such a unique sailboat. This reason is that I choose to sail without the aid of an auxiliary engine. Modifying an old race boat to use as a daysailor / weekender meets my needs for aesthetic beauty and sailing performance.

The purpose of this post is to explain why this choice is important to me, what it has got to do with Knockabout Sloops and to provide some information and inspiration for others who might desire to make a similar choice.

My passion for sailboats is all about sailing. I admit that the destination is not nearly as important to me as being out on the water sailing. So I guess it was natural that I choose to own sailboats without engines.

I would say that if one wants to sail an engineless sail boat you need three thing.

Attitude

A Thick Skin

An Excellent Sailing Craft

Why these three things you ask. Well let's go down the list one at a time.

Attitude - You will definitely need an attitude that you can sail engineless. You will be trading the convenience of motor sailing for the challenge of honing your sailing skills. You and your sailing skills will be completely responsible for where you can go and when you get there. It will be your sailing skill that gets you back to your mooring or into your slip. There will never be a guarantees that you will arrive home the same day you set out even for a day sail. Mostly you will succeed but again there is no guarantee. So you need an attitude that relishes challenge and an attitude that is flexible.

I feel that the rewards are immense. One of the things that I hear occasionally from other boaters is "I could sail up to my mooring if I wanted to, I just motor because I am in a hurry". I won't argue that point one way or another. What I know from personal experience is that when all you have is your sails, unless your are rowing, you always sail up to your mooring. And surprisingly enough, not matter how many times I do it, there are times when it is not as simple as I expected. Each time is a new learning experience. By sailing you will always "get" to take advantage of these learning experiences.

A Thick Skin - Other boaters will present you with countless reasons why you can't possibly sail without an engine. Or they will tell you that it is unsafe. You will be "offered" suggestions about how much better your sailboat would be if you added an engine. Or how you could fit and outboard or a small electric on that transom.

All of these arguments are just about choice. All of the challenges can be overcome with skill, preparation and thoughtful sailing. So you will need a thick skin and a strong ideal around some other boaters. Don't get me wrong, most other boaters have been very supportive of my engineless sailing. But some get defensive and feel that I am just showing off or trying to prove something. I am not and you won't be either. There was a time when sailing without an engine wasn't proving anything, it was just sailing. So my advise is to keep a low profile. One of my early mistakes was that I got too excited. So, of course, I wanted to tell anyone who would listen or not how wonderful and possible it was to sail engineless. This was a mistake. What I know now is that if someone is interested they will seek the information they need.

An Excellent Sailing Craft - In our modern world this may be the most difficult part of sailing engineless. Modern sailboats are rightfully called "Auxiliary Sailboats". This means that they need their auxiliary engines some of the time. Many need them most of the time. My goal for an engineless sailboat is to maximize the conditions in which I can sail. For me this means a smart sailing boat with plenty of sail area. I feel that most modern cruising sailboats just don't have enough sail area. Often times they also have a great deal of added windage in the form of radars, mast steps, roller furling, high cabin tops etc. What this means for engineless sailing is this: In light wind they are woefully under canvased and in heavy wind they have too much windage. This makes sailing in really light air almost impossible and makes it more difficult to fight off a lee shore in the heavy stuff. So what this does is minimized the wind range that they can sail in. Just the opposite of what I am looking for in a sailboat.

So if you truly want to sail engineless remember that everything is a compromise. You have to ask yourself what you are willing to do to sail more. That is the question. Since I don't have an engine I row when there isn't enough wind. So while I am rowing I get lots of chances to think about what I could give up or add so I can sail instead.

Arthur Beiser's take on performance in his book “The Proper Yacht"

Resources - The following resource have greatly helped me developed the confidence and skills that have served me in my pursuit of engineless sailing.

Lin and Larry Pardey - Lin and Larry planted the original seed of sailing without an engine. They simply sailed around the world for years without an engine. They help me see that it was and is possible and also rewarding.

They have documented much of their journey in their many books. Two in particular I reference often "The Capable Cruiser" and "The Self-Sufficient Sailor". Combine this with "Cruising in Seraffyn" for inspiration and you will be all set.

Lin and Larry Pardey

The Capable Cruiser

Classic manual for hands-on sailors. Discusses what every cruising sailor needs to know: preparation, maintenance at sea, safety aloft, seamanship, staying healthy. Lots of clear photos, illustrations.

1995, 400 pages

Self-Sufficient Sailor

Full of ideas and wisdom on how to sail in comfort and safety without large cash outlays. Every sailor, whether or not they plan to sail over the horizon, should read the Pardeys.

1997, 320 pages

Jay Fitzgerald

Jerome (Jay) Fitzgerald started the Oar Club out Bellingham, Washington with the follow mission:

The Oar Club is dedicated to those who sail and appreciate the beauty inherent in sailing. The oar Club is dedicated as well to promoting the skill, character, and seamanship displayed by those who sail in its traditional fashion--without the aid of engines. The Oar club affirms the rigors of true sailing--the attentiveness they demand and the strength they contest--as rewards: This is what makes the experience meaningful. We cannot imagine demeaning our experience by making it trivial or common. That does not mean that we demand that we cross oceans (though some do) or rashly brave storms (though some have) bur rather that we do what we do, in a manner real and meaningful, and eschew that which is not. Perhaps fifty percent of seamanship occurs within fifty feet of a dock...

His two books, "Wind and Tide, An Introduction to Cruising in Pure Sailing Craft" and "Sailing with Purpose, The Pursuit of the Dream" were my first introduction to engineless sailing. At the time I didn't know of anyone sailing engineless in the Pacific Northwest so in that respect his books were invaluable.

Wind and Tide: An Introduction to Cruising in Pure Sailing Craft

A sort of sailing book that is seldom seen anymore, Wind and Tideis more concerned with the necessary skills and techniques involved in sailing than the gear. A must have for any that desire to voyage under sail.

Paperback
6 x 9
168 Pages

Sailing with Purpose: The pursuit of the dream

A quirky philosophical work written with the express intent of encouraging men to go to sea to seek their fortune. A sailing book, blending philosophy, archetype, crude irreverance, and the need to sail. . .

Paperback
6 x 9
148 Pages

Neither of these books are professionally edited and they both contain grammatical and typographic errors. Many readers offend by Jay's passion, strong opinions and judgments use these errors to dismiss his books. I say give one of them a read. If Jay's message appeals to you, you will see past the writing flaws and take what knowledge and inspiration you need to become an engineless sailor.

One last thing I often here is that it might be okay to sail engineless where you sail but in our area (name your area) we have a lot of calm days. I bring this up again because I live in one of those areas, the Puget Sound. And again, it is all about choice. Choose a great sailing boat and set it up with a flexible sail plan. Focus more on you light air sails than on your storm canvas as we are talking coastal sailing here. Rather than give up and say there isn't enough wind use the opportunity to challenge yourself to find a way to get more out of the wind that is around you. Sure there will be calm days. But change your own definition of what constitutes a calm. For some boats a calm is 5-7-10 kts other boats, hopefully yours, can be doing 5 kts at 6 kts true wind and still be sailing with even less.

Like the Aphrodite 101

Bolero's Specifications

2009-12-31T04:20:00.000-08:00

This page represent most of the pertinent design data, specifications and some of the philosophy for Bolero, our modified Shields One Design. It is a combination of data from the current configuration as well as historical data on the Shields class. I have already posted much of the data elsewhere, but I wanted to summarize it one location.

History

Our Custom Knockabout Sloop, Bolero, was converted from Shields #9 which was one of the first 20 Shields built by Cape Cod Shipbuilding during the 1960s.

The class was conceived in 1965 by Cornelius “Cory” Shields of Larchmont, New York and designed by Olin Stephens (Design Number 1720) as a replacement for the International One Design class, IOD.

The Shields have an impeccable pedigree and the result is a beautiful boat that can sail in any weather and is easily steered and driven. It is easy to see why she has been called "A Mini Twelve Meter".

About 257 Shields have been built by three builders.

Boats 1 - 20 (Cape Code Shipbuilding)
Boats 21 - 190 (Chris Craft)
Boats 191 - 199 (Hinkley)
Boats 200 - 257 and counting (Cape Code Shipbuilding)

Shields Principal Dimensions

LOA = 30 ft - 2 1/2 in
LWL = 20 ft

Bow Over-Hang = 4 ft
Stern Over-Hang = 6 ft - 2 1/2 in
Bow Entry Angle = 25 deg

Maximum Beam = 6 ft - 5 1/4 in
Waterline Beam = 5 ft - 8 1/4 in
LWL / Max Beam = 3.1

Draft = 4 ft - 9 in
LWL / Draft = 4.2

Displacement = 4672 Lbs
Displacement = 73 cu ft

Displacement to Length Ratio = 262

Ballast = 3080 Lbs
Ballast / Displacement Ratio = 67%

Center of Buoyancy = 54.3%
Center of Flotation = 54.4%

Center of Buoy from DWL = -0.945 ft

Prismatic Coefficient = 48.75%

Wetted Surface Area = 150.8 sq ft

Pounds per Inch Immersion = 435.2 lb/in

Sail Plan

One of the main draw for using the Shields as the candidate for a modern Knockabout Sloop conversion was her sail plan and ballast ratio. I was looking for a boat that I could easily single hand and for me that meant a fractional rigged boat with a large SA/D ratio.The following is a summary of Bolero's (almost completely unaltered from the original Shields) sail plan and rig data.

I = 29.8 ft
J = 9.3 ft
Jib Area = 139 sq ft

P = 33.3 ft
E = 13.3 ft
Mainsail Area = 221 sq ft

Mainsail Aspect Ratio = 2.5

Working Sail Plan 100%

100% Sail Area = 360 sq ft
Sail Area / Displacement = 20.8
Sail Area / Wetted Surface Area = 2.4
Sail Area / Ton = 157 sq ft / ton

Light Air - Spinnaker

Sail Area = 644 sq ft
Sail Area / Displacement =37
Sail Area / Wetted Surface Area =4.3
Sail Area / Ton = 280 sq ft / ton

Moderate Air - 1st Reef

Sail Area = 324 sq ft
Sail Area / Displacement =18.7
Sail Area / Wetted Surface Area = 2.1
Sail Area / Ton = 141 sq ft / ton

Moderate Air - 2nd Reef

100% Sail Area = 276 sq ft
Sail Area / Displacement =16
Sail Area / Wetted Surface Area = 1.8
Sail Area / Ton = 120 sq ft / ton

Heavy Air - 2nd Reef & no Jib

100% Sail Area = 137 sq ft
Sail Area / Displacement =7.9
Sail Area / Wetted Surface Area =0.9
Sail Area / Ton = 60 sq ft / ton

Deck Layout

Maintaining the functionality of the original Shields Deck Plan was quite difficult due to the addition of the cabin and the aft deck access hatch. The cabin extends over the location of the original jib fairlead tracks and the aft hatch cut through the structure that supported the under deck back tension system.

The jib leads turned okay mounting them all the way forward on the top of the cabintop. For optimum jib trim they would still be a bit further forward or lower (like the original).

The backstay tension system is currently above deck but needs to find a way back under the deck and routed around the aft locker hatch.

Misc Empirical Values

I calculated a few other of the well know, although some have highly debated merit, empirical ratios just for the heck of it. The values for the Shields are compare to the Bluenose Sloop (my last sailboat) and the Atlantic Class (which was on my short list for this conversion).

Links & Resources

Tim Lackey (Northern Yacht Restoration) - What more can I say about Tim Lackey. He was the heart and sole of our Shields Knockabout conversion project. I innocently stumbled unto his site with a vague idea of a future boat and dropped him an email. The rest as they say became history. His vision, discipline and work ethic are completely responsible for the artwork that we now sail.

Kristian Martincic (Chicago Yacht Rigging) -Kristian is a Shields racer and a professional rigger who bought his own Shields and was restoring around the same time as Tim was doing Bolero. He gratefully took us under his wing and corrected some of the larger flaws in my novice rigging choices. His web site is full of great ideas even if one choose not to races.

The Salvage of Shields 231 -Proof that there is a sailing god and karma. Somehow the gods decided that old Shields #231 should be raised from the depths of the Long Island Sound and they seemed to direct H.L. DeVore and friends to get her done. This feet and the brilliant restoration makes our own efforts seem just a little easier. And in a proper dose of karma Mr DeVore took his beautiful Shields to Chicago and won the 2009 Shields Nationals.

Shields National Class Association - The governing body of the Shields One Design Class.

Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship -This is a sweet sailing school down in Southern California which operates a fleet of Shield for their Keel Boat classes. I cleverly enrolled my soon to be new wife in a beginning Shields sailing class. Luckily for me she greatly enjoyed it since the first year of our marriage was all about Tim Lackey and Shields sailboats.

Bolero Initial Inspection Report (Tim Lackey) - This is the initial inspection that Tim performed on Bolero

Bolero Construction Log (Tim Lackey) -Tim's daily work logs during construction.

Shields Brochure - Vintage Cape Cod Shipbuilding (pdf link)

Shields Brochure - Vintage Chris Craft (pdf link)

Shields Brochure - Current Cape Cod Shipbuilding (pdf link)

Bolero

Shields # 9: 1967 - 2008

Modified Custom Knockabout: 2008 -

2009 Sailing Report Card

2009-12-30T08:24:00.000-08:00

Way back in April I came up with a list of goals with the intent to improve my sailing skills. They looked something like this:

Sail Trim - The straight skinny is that I know the basics of sail trim and on a scale of 1 to 10 might give myself a 6. My old boat didn't have much in the way of sail trim controls but Bolero has almost all of them. And my lack of knowledge of these new tools is readily apparent. My improvement plan consists of two parts. First study like hell. There is no shortage of great info on sail trim and I have more than enough references. But second I am thinking about getting some on the water training. For some reason, Lopez Island island is a mecca for great sailors. World champion in this class. Or an America's Cup sailor, or North Sails guru. The list is quite long. So I am hopefull that after a bunch of studying I can coerce, pay or kidnap someone to come on the water with me and set me straight.

Casting off the Mooring - There is almost nothing that I really like about my casting off procedure. Neither Bolero or my old Bluenose really liked to point into the wind and they will try to start sailing when the mainsail is about half way up. Currently it is a bit of a circus of raising the main and going aft to untangle the main sheet or correct the tiller to keep the boat into the wind all the while trying not to run over the mooring and then back to the mast to finish raising the mainsail. Then I quickly raise the jib, back wind it to fall off away from the mooring and cast off. Okay it isn't always bad. Sometimes it goes very smooth. But I want a better more controlled procedure. One that works in really light air (which is often worse) and heavy air.

Picking up a Mooring - Not surprisingly, I do this as much or more than casting off my mooring (I actually practice this one). I am pretty good at it. But still there are times when I suck at it. And there really is no excuse for doing something so often and doing it poorly. No matter what my success ratio is. So I am going to try to find out why it can get messy and fix my procedure. I am also going to really, really learn about the amount of way Bolero makes under various speeds. Which means I need to learn, without electronics, how fast she is going.

Reefing - I think it was Rod Stephens who said something to the effect "that if you can't reef in less than a minute either your system is wrong or your skills are poor". Enough said. My goal is to really streamline my reefing system and skills.

Docking - The further down this list we get the worse my skills. I dock three or four times per year. Mostly as a result of launching and hauling out. I have, knock on wood, been pretty successful with this. But there is not way I can attribute this to skill. All of my docking has been into the wind or a beam wind coming off the dock without much boat traffic. So this will also be the year of docking practice. We have plenty of docks situated in every possible orientation to the wind. This will really be boring.

Anchoring Under Sail - I have done this twice. There, I said it. No experience at all. Plenty of reading and my plan will be completely stolen from Jay's books. Bolero is really my first boat with a permanent anchor system and the ability to spend the night away from the mooring.

I thought that it might be beneficial to have a post season look back at this list to see how I did. Maybe grade my efforts.

Sail Trim - Grade C

I did spend a fair bit of time this winter and spring honing up on my sail trim theory. In addition I actually tuned Bolero's rig to the class specifications. And once we were launched I used her sail and rigging trim systems far more often and with better results than I ever have on any boat that I have owned. I particularly used the backstay, outhaul, halyards to power and depower the rig with fine results. But I never did manage to get one of our local sailing experts on board to school me and I still feel like I don't know squat about sailing a Shields or the nuances of sail trim.

Casting off the Mooring - Grade B

This simple and often occurring task went very well this season. I kind of laugh just thinking it is on this list. I mean just how hard can it be to cast off of a mooring? Boats do it all the time without any help at all. But Bolero, and my Bluenose before, love to sail and they point well. So pretty much as soon as the main goes up they want to sail. And since I like to have a balanced sail plan prior to casting off I need to hang out on the mooring long enough to get the main and the jib up. This had been quite problematic in the past. But this year we pretty much licked it by using the topping lift to depower the main and keeping the main sheeted in. This way Bolero stayed pointed into the wind until we back winded the jib and cast off. Pretty easy.

Picking up a Mooring - Grade - C

Picking up the mooring continued to challenge me all through the season. It started off pretty bad and got consistently better but with some nagging relapses about every time I thought I had it nailed. I still need to get a better handle on sailing slow and how much way Bolero will carry at various speeds and wind conditions.

Reefing - Grade - B

Reefing was definitely our best effort of the season. I installed and tweaked a reefing system that I quite liked and that worked very well. In addition the wind almost always seems stronger as it funnels through the anchorage so I decided to always tuck in a reef prior to sailing into the bay unless the wind is very light. This means we reefed a bunch. I can reef quickly and easily single handed. And I have a slight additional tweak for next season that should make reefing even a bit quicker.

Docking - Grade - Incomplete

We docked under sail exactly one this season. Just a practice run, docking in light air and we still manage a poor attempt.

Anchoring Under Sail - Grade - Incomplete

Another lack luster attempt as we didn't work on this skill at all.

Navigation & Situational Awareness - Grade - F

Okay, I know this wasn't on my list but since I cleverly managed to run Bolero up on the Yellow Island Reef at 4 kts it definitely should have been.

Overall pretty poor marks for a summer where I spent the better part of 125 hours at the helm. Especially since I sail engineless and I am committed to sail and maneuver every where that I want to go. So it looks like I have to continue to force myself to enhance my skills in addition to going out for lovely daysails.

Cover Girl

2009-12-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

It is impossible to convey just how much research I did prior to and during Bolero's conversion project. I looked at countless old photos of Knockabout type sloops, read old articles, studied line drawings and sail plans, created comparison spreadsheets, constructed numerous drawings and color mockups etc. etc. etc.

So I was quite surprised to find, while summarizing some of this old data, Shields # 9 proudly displayed on the front cover of an old Chris Craft Shields Brochure.

Somehow I never noticed. Obviously a case of hiding in plain sight. That is if this is the same #9 that eventually became Bolero.

Heaven

2009-12-22T01:06:00.000-08:00

If there was a heaven for long, sleek and gorgous sailboats it might just have to be Scandinavia. What with the Square Meters, Skerry Cruiser and the like.

I stumbled onto this little bit of boat heaven on the boatdesign.net forum. And the photo above was just the beginning.

But it just kept getting better and better.

We are not worthy.

IOD Temptation

2009-12-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not tempted but someone should be tempted by Sagara an International One Design that is for sale

Okay, I know, at $72,000 she is a bit spendy. But just look at her...

She wouldn't quite fit under most trees, so maybe just wrap the tiller and park her with a big bow in the driveway.

Cheers and Happy Holidays

Kindred Spirits

2009-12-18T15:36:00.000-08:00

I have no delusions that my desire to daysail and weekend a long, skinny and engineless Knockabout type Sloop is way outside the norm. It is so far out there that sometimes it is quite difficult to explain my choice to other boaters. Which is just fine as I don't really need anyone else to understand. But one of the nice benefits of this blog is that there are other kindred spirits out there with a love of similar type boats. And every now and again I wake up with a great message in my inbox filled with photos of beautiful boats.

This has happen a couple of time in the last few weeks and I thought I would pass them along. First from Andrew the new owner of an Alden Triangle.

Bill:

I may be mistaken, but I believe that you are the same person that developed the knockabout sloop blog. I have recently concluded a long search for a new boat and entered into a contract to purchase a 1927 Alden Triangle. Anyway, I wanted to email you to say what a wonderful resource your blog was to me. I actually reached out to Tim Lackey at one point as I considered pursuing a course similar to yours with Bolero, which I found to be an inspired concept and looked to be wonderfully executed by Tim. As it turns out, Tim keeps his boat in Buck's Harbor, which is my home port as well, so we have emailed and I hope to take him out on the Triangle next summer. If you make it out our way, drop me a note I'd love to show you the boat. best regards, Andrew

Here is the accompanying photo of Andrew's Triangle. She was rebuilt by IYRS in 2001 and looks to be in fine shape.

Anyone who has followed my blog at all knows that I really love this old boat. The Triangle was one of the three boats (along with the IOD, Dark Harbor 20 & Gimcrack) that heavily influenced the concept that became Bolero. Perhaps I can make up some warranty issue problem that only Tim can solve as a excuse to take Andrew up on his offer.

Following on the heels of Andrew's great message was Tom from Annapolis.

Bill,

I just stumbled onto you blog site and thought I’d give you a shout. I’m on the other side of the continent (Annapolis, Md.) and similarly, am taken by long skinny keelboats (what would DR. Freud say!) I had a lovely IOD, the original #5 “Flicker”, built in 1936. We sold her some years ago and she went to the Fishers Island fleet where after a restoration, she broke away from her mooring and went on the rocks and was a complete wreck. Her keel and rudder live on, below a new glass IOD.

I have had a number of keelboats. A Quincy Adams 17, Columbia Sabre 5.5 meter, although my real love was the International Fourteen class. I raced that for years, winning the US Nationals in the ‘80s and sailing the POW several times in the UK.

Now I am way to old and slow to race the 14 so I got a Star and find it a great race boat. I enjoy daysailing too so have a lovely BB 10 meter, which you may not have heard of. It’s basically an enlarged cruising Soling. Made by Borresen in Denmark. Many similarities to the Dragon above the water. I’ll attach few pictures.

The main reason I am writing is to tell you about the International 210 class fleet we started at my club (Gibson Island Yacht Squadron). We were looking for a one design keelboat class to purchase as a fleet for our club and came across these lovely Ray Hunt designed boats. They still are active around Boston and in Michigan but are a bit anachronistic in many ways. Perfect for our fleet as there were some used boats available for not a whole lot of money. They are attractive, easily launched from our hoists, shallow draft and have a nice cockpit with seats. Their only flaw is their huge genoa. We restored 7 boats, all rigged identically, slightly bumped out the mainsail roach and sail with a blade jib. We recently bought asymmetrical spinnakers for them but haven’t sailed them much yet with that spinnaker. They sail from moorings and we mostly sail them in the Fall and Winter. Members sign up and pay a fee to join our fleet and we draw straws for boats and pick crews “sandlot” style. We don’t keep score and have no trophies (except for one 210 Class event we host each year.

This is our 5th season sailing the 210s and we find them perfect for our purposes. The 210 class wishes we would carry genoas and come up to race them but our boats are not nearly as nice as theirs and we prefer to do our own thing. When they come here to race we require blade jibs only. We use class spinnakers for that event.

I hope you find all this interesting. You seem a kindred spirit in your fondness for keelboats so I wanted to pass this all along. I will attach some pictures. A whole other story is my father’s 6 meter that he owned at the same time I had my IOD. He sold her in 1992 but I have just come across her again, out of the water, sad looking though still intact.

Regards, Tom

The first thing that I have to say is: Damn Tom, just how many sweet boats does a guy get to own and sail in his life. One sweeter than the next. Tom sent me so many great photos that I better get busy loading um up.

First his BB-10 (Tom is right that I don't know anything about this boat)

And the International 210 Class sailboat (which I have always liked)

And last but not least Tom's dad proudly standing before his Six meter "Lark" built in 1928 in Finland by Abo Boatworks.

Thanks to Andrew and Tom for the great emails, gorgeous photos and permission to pass along them along.

A Little Housekeeping

2009-12-18T14:29:00.000-08:00

Things have been quite slow here at Knockabout Sloops but hopefully that will change as we push through the Holiday Season. There are a few small changes coming to this blog that I wanted to mention.

First, due to an excessive, to me anyway, number of anonymous spam messages left as comments to various posts I have slightly changed the comment process. Now, in order to leave an anonymous comment, you must type in one of those little hard to read words. I know, I hate them as well.

And second, I have decided to scuttle my plans for blogs about my small shop (The Not So Big Shop) and my dinghy project (The Mighty Auk). Therefor I may occasionally stray off topic to include posts that have almost nothing to do with Knockabout Sloops. Well expect for the fact that the workshop supports Bolero's projects and the future dinghy building will be Bolero's new tender.

My goal has always been to use Bolero, my Knockabout Sloop, to her fullest extent so future post will detail improvements to that end, and more extensive sailing experiences.

And, as always, I will post as many beautiful boat photos as I can get my hands on.

Cheers and Happy Holidays,

Bill

A Few Holiday Photos

2009-11-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

Bolero is high and dry in the boat shed and the Northwest is getting pounded by one Pacific storm after another. So there there won't be many Bolero related post till Spring. But I have recently received a few photos from readers of some pretty sweet boats. So I thought I would pass them along. Some holiday cheer as it were.

First from Cliff in Oregon. He passed along this great old 70s vintage photo of Cotton Blossom II, before here restoration by Dennis Conner.

And then Soren from Denmark pass along a link to a new Knarr. These have always been one of my favorite boats and this one is a beauty.

Nothing like some photos of beautiful boats under sail to help warm up the stormy Northwest.

Bolero's Fall Haul Out - 24 October 2009

2009-10-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

It has been a pretty quite fall sailing season. We seemed to be paying the piper for the the absolutely stunning weather that we had in May and June. September and October seemed to be a cycle of light and variable winds with interludes of strong stormy winds. After a nice 40 kt storm blew through the anchorage it became readily apparent that the fall haul out was well past due.

With a Saturday afternoon haul out appointment the weather was, of course, gorgeous. But since we were between storms I elected to get out to the boat around 8 am and we had a quite, gentle row to the haul out dock.

But it was very tempting to go sailing on such a great fall day.

But today was a preview of what, hopefully, all fall haul out days will look like in the future. We arrived at the haul out dock 4 hours before our appointment. This left plenty of time to take everything off the boat and clean and prep it for haul out. Which I think saves us money in the long run since we use less of the lift operators time.

The haul out went flawlessly as usual. Mitch, our lift guy, was his usual professional self and made quick work of our small, light boat. He did however elect to drop our mast in the water which we hadn't done before. Still quick and easy.

There were two thing that I was anxious to see as we were lifted from the water. The condition of the ePaint EP-ZO bottom paint after a full season. And a clearer view (you can read about my underwater inspection here) of the keel damage from my encounter with the Yellow Island reef.

Here are the photos of the bottom paint as we were lifted clear of the water.

I won't go into great detail on the bottom paint since already posted a bit about it on Tim's Plastic Classic forum here, but I was hoping for a bit cleaner bottom than this after a full season of sailing.

The very good news was getting to see the keel damage (or incredible lack of) after Mitch pressure washed the slime away.

I know that I have said it before, but we were very, very lucky to get off this easy after hitting a nasty reef at 4 kts. Tough old boat.

And one last picture with Bolero ready to strap down and drive home.

All in all it was a great season of sailing with Bolero. Unfortunately it was also a bit hard on the ole girl. But she is tucked into her boat shed for the winter and come March or April I plan to go at it hard to repair and refresh as needed.

Now I just need to finish cleaning and storing the piles of gear.

Etchells 22

2009-09-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

We have a new long, skinny, tall masted sailboat in the bay. Four friends pickup an Etchells 22.

I don't yet have any pictures of their new boat. But she is docked on my dinghy dock so they are forth comming. It will be great fun seeing this boat out on the water. There are a few in the San Juan Islands and I occasionally try to sail near them. Although keeping up with them is completely out of the question.

With their light weight, split under body hull, and large sail area I doubt that thier is any combination of wind or point of sail that I could keep up. I will try of course. And it will be fun.

Interestingly, this week I also stumble across a custom daysailor conversion of the Etchells 22.

This seems similar to the type of conversion that Tim perform for Bolero although the result is completely unique. I would love to find some more info on this project.

Shields Nationals - Final Results

2009-09-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

Here are the final results for the Shields Nationals. Kristian blogged a bit more but all in all there wasn't much info online to follow.There are, however, some pretty sweet photo over at 1974photo.

Edit: Kristian added a nice morning after recap of the National on his blog.

**Chicago Yacht Club 2009 Shields Nationals September 17-19, 2009 Final Results Series Summary**
Pl	S#	Skipper	From	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	T
1	231	HL Devore	Larchmont	2	3	1	5	3	3	(7)	17
2	150	Kevin Teborek	Chicago	(7)	1	3	3	4	6	1	18
3	160	Robin Monk	Ida Lewis	(11)	7	4	1	1	4	4	21
4	239	Bill Berry	Beverly	5	5	(8)	2	8	1	2	23
5	71	John Shannanhan	Tred Avon	1	(12)	5	6	7	7	6	32
6	23	C. Crocker D. Macintyre	Larchmont	9	4	2	10	(11)	8	3	36
7	88	Kristian Martincic	Chicago	(13)	6	6	8	6	2	9	37
8	255	Peter Bailey	Tred Avon	3	9	11	4	2	11	(13)	40
9	245	C. Shoemaker C. Aumann	Ida Lewis	10	2	10	(11)	10	5	5	42
10	39	Skip Schink	Chicago	6	11	7	9	5	14	(16)	52
11	90	B. Lingle S. Schwartz	Chicago	14	10	9	7	9	(19\DSQ)	11	60
12	63	Mark Passis	Chicago	8	8	12	14	12	(19\DSQ)	14	68
13	130	Mike/Jon Schwartz	Chicago	12	(17)	14	16	13	10	10	75
14	225	Harry Seemans	Tred Avon	4	15	13	(17)	16	16	12	76
15	196	Gary Ropski	Chicago	16	13	17	15	(18)	13	8	82
16	45	Sam Veilleux	Chicago	(18)	18	16	13	17	9	15	88
17	67	Chris Economos	Chicago	15	16	(18)	12	14	15	18	90
18	238	Richard Robbins	Beverly	17	14	15	(18)	15	12	17	90

Shields Nationals - Day Two

2009-09-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Day two results for the 2009 Shields Nationals are up as well as Kristian's blog post.

**Chicago Yacht Club2009 Shields NationalsSeptember 17-19, 2009Series Summary, Preliminary**
Pl	Sail	Skipper	From	1	2	3	4	5	T
1	231	HL Devore	Larchmont	2	3	1	(5)	3	9
2	150	Kevin Teborek	Chicago	(7)	1	3	3	4	11
3	160	Robin Monk	Ida Lewis	(11)	7	4	1	1	13
4	255	Peter Bailey	Tred Avon	3	9	(11)	4	2	18
5	71	John Shannanhan	Tred Avon	1	(12)	5	6	7	19
6	239	Bill Berry	Beverly	5	5	(8)	2	8	20
7	23	C. Crocker D. Macintyre	Larchmont	9	4	2	10	(11)	25
8	88	Kristian Martincic	Chicago	(13)	6	6	8	6	26
9	39	Skip Schink	Chicago	6	(11)	7	9	5	27
10	245	C. Shoemaker C. Aumann	Ida Lewis	10	2	10	(11)	10	32
11	90	B. Lingle S. Schwartz	Chicago	(14)	10	9	7	9	35
12	63	Mark Passis	Chicago	8	8	12	(14)	12	40
13	225	Harry Seemans	Tred Avon	4	15	13	(17)	16	48
14	130	Mike/Jon Schwartz	Chicago	12	(17)	14	16	13	55
15	67	Chris Economos	Chicago	15	16	(18)	12	14	57
16	196	Gary Ropski	Chicago	16	13	17	15	(18)	61
17	238	Richard Robbins	Beverly	17	14	15	(18)	15	61
18	45	Sam Veilleux	Chicago	(18)	18	16	13	17	64

Shields Nationals - First Day Results

2009-09-18T07:31:00.000-07:00

Well the first day results of the 2009 Shields Class National Championship Regatta are in and I wanted to repost them here. Kristian also blogged about day 1 over on his site.

**Chicago Yacht Club 2009 Shields Nationals September 17-19, 2009 Series Summary, Preliminary**
Pl	Sail	Skipper	From	1	2	3	T
1	231	HL Devore	Larchmont	2	3	1	6
2	150	Kevin Teborek	Chicago	7	1	3	11
3	23	C. Crocker D. Macintyre	Larchmont	9	4	2	15
4	71	John Shannanhan	Tred Avon	1	12	5	18
5	239	Bill Berry	Beverly	5	5	8	18
6	245	C. Shoemaker C. Aumann	Ida Lewis	10	2	10	22
7	160	Robin Monk	Ida Lewis	11	7	4	22
8	255	Peter Bailey	Tred Avon	3	9	11	23
9	39	Skip Schink	Chicago	6	11	7	24
10	88	Kristian Martincic	Chicago	13	6	6	25
11	63	Mark Passis	Chicago	8	8	12	28
12	225	Harry Seemans	Tred Avon	4	15	13	32
13	90	B. Lingle S. Schwartz	Chicago	14	10	9	33
14	130	Mike/Jon Schwartz	Chicago	12	17	14	43
15	196	Gary Ropski	Chicago	16	13	17	46
16	238	Richard Robbins	Beverly	17	14	15	46
17	67	Chris Economos	Chicago	15	16	18	49
18	45	Sam Veilleux	Chicago	18	18	16	52

I also created a little cheat sheet so I could see which are the hot boats and skippers from the past nationals.

A Little Slow Around Here

2009-09-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

My rampant sailing has slowed quite a bit recently, just a few short daysails. A combination of a number of things. First the weather has sort of gone into a funk with the beginning of the fall storm season. We either have rain and high winds or nice high pressure and still air.

And I have been knocking off some projects at home, new decks, workshop projects etc.

In additional something has come up that has caused me to shift my priorities a bit. So the end of the season is getting very close. I figure haul out is maybe a few weeks away.

Manchester 17

2009-08-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

Tim Lackey was out sailing on Friday and caught these great shots of a Manchester 17 sailing briskly through the mooring field. What a gem of an old boat.

It was this type of of old Knockabout Sloop that started me down the crazy path that resulted in Tim creating Bolero. I bet these old Manchester 17s were screamers. Long, narrow with plenty of sail area (SA/D = 22).

I would love a chance to go for a sail on an original Knockabout.

Bolero Under Sail

2009-08-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

Doug, a visitor from Canada, was spending a few nights in Fisherman bay and took these photos. He was nice enough to send them to us.

August 25 - A Short Day Sail with Uncle Dave (9 NM)

2009-08-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

We had been trying to get Laura's Uncle Dave out on the boat for a while so we picked what looked like a good day. It turned out nice enough, we have been incredibly spoiled, but seem quite fallish with cold damp variable winds and clouds.

Getting out of the bay was a bit slow in the light winds but we were rewarded with the site of a friends L.F. Herreshoff Prudence returning. She is quite a beauty, although I wish I could have got a picture with her sails up and pulling.

The wind went from light and frustrating to plenty pretty quick. Dave has sailed extensively and quickly got the feel of our boat and seemed to be enjoying himself. Soon after this photo we tucked in a reef as the wind and wave were continuing to build.

The weather dictated that this was to be a rather short daysail. The wind and waves were continuing to build and what little sun we had was quickly disappearing and it was getting cold. So we decided to head home.

The end of the season is in the air. We still have three or four weeks left, but I want to repair the keel damage from my early summer reef exploration. So I am already starting to think about haul-out oppointments and epoxy

Boy the summers just fly by.

Aug 25 Tides - Friday Harbor

Aug 25 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-34 / 112 (30%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 2:19 hours & 105:38 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 389 NM

An Inspiring Piece of Sailing

2009-08-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

We usually scull using the rudder to move from the travel lift to the dock. Then we rig up the backstay and sail off.

We are definitely not worthy.

Quite a nice piece of seamanship.

August 23 - Philip Rhodes Evergreen Class (16 NM)

2009-08-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

Today was just another ho hum day on the water. The plan was to sail northwest towards Jones Island but the wind lightened as we went north and with the northbound flood kicking in we decided not to chance it. So we chased down nice looking boats under sail and ended up behind Brown Island.

All in all a nice day sail and we decided to start meandering our way home. The wind had picked up a bit so we tucked in a reef to ease the crossing of San Juan channel and our entrance into Fisherman Bay. But off in the distance was a stunning set of sails barely held up by a wisp of a boat so I had to sail over and take a look.

It was the Philip Rhodes designed Evergreen that we had been told lived in Friday Harbor.

She was a thing of beauty and quite fast. As we approached and matched her beam reach she luffed her main to let us catch up, but with a reef in our main we were unable (frustration building). So after a while we decided to tack around and head home.

And they decided to follow us. Now that we were on a starboard tack that was all the incentive that I needed to shake out our reef and put Bolero's best foot forward (although I still had too much jib halyard and backstay tension). A little game of cat and mouse ensued with us being much more competitive but alas their larger size, 36' loa & 24' lwl, and 150% genoa won out. Although I think we pointed a bit higher and as the wind lighted we seemed a bit more competitive. And I think we could wind a tacking dual.

Unfortunately, for the very first time, I had forgoten my camera so I will have to chase down this beauty another time.

Aug 23 Tides - Friday Harbor

Aug 23 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-33 / 110 (30%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 3:42 hours & 103:19 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 380 NM

August 20 - Small Craft Advisory (11 NM)

2009-08-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

We have been blessed, or cursed, with a series of high pressure systems in the Northwest. So sailing has been a bit light. But today's forecast was for 10 to 20 kt winds from the S rising to 15 to 25 kts and a small craft advisory. In other words, sailing weather.

We decided to head out about 3 pm and as usual stopped by the Bay Cafe to check the channel entrance current and wind. The flood current was screaming, but the flags at the mouth of the channel were dead still. Odd considering the forecast but we headed out to the boat just the same.

At the dock the wind had that menacing, shifty and gusty feel that has always caused me some concern. I thought about packing it in but we wanted to get more comfortable handling Bolero in higher winds so we rowed out and prepped the boat for high wind (tight backstay, halyards, cunningham and outhaul).

On of the interesting aspects of sailing out of Fisherman Bay on Lopez Island is that the wind at the mooring and in San Juan Channel can be quite fresh but at the mouth of the channel it can be very light. That combined with the traffic and the downwind exit means that I always carry full sail going out and often immediately wish I had a reef once outside the bay.

Today was actually a little different. We had strong wind in the channel and pesky traffic. I say pesky because we had a power boat who was too impatient to follow us when we were doing 4 kts so he passed us and then immediately slowed down as our speed quickly climbed to 5+ kts. This happens often and I just don't get it. If a power boat is in such hurry and they have all that power why not just speed off. But time and time again we get passed only to struggle to keep from running over the top of the impatient skipper. Fortunately today we had great wind and plenty of water so this was only moderately annoying.

As soon as we started heading up outside of the channel entrance we had way more wind than we needed or wanted carrying full sail with the wind forward of the beam. But the wind eased a little as we sailed towards the center of San Juan Channel so we tacked over onto a starboard tack and tucked in a reef. Now it was just fun sailing.

Of course since there was a small craft advisory Dick was out in his Flicka.

But pretty much no one else.

So we happily sailed around and Laura practiced her sailing skills. A couple of sails ago Laura sailed in and out of the bay for the first time. Everything went fine except for her return when she mistakenly pushed the helm the wrong direction during a tack at the smallest part of the mouth of the bay. Fortunately we had plenty of water but there were some anxious moments waiting for Bolero to come back up and into the wind. The problem for Laura was that she always sits on the high side so tacking had come to mean that you always push the tiller away from you. But sailing back into the channel it is often better to sit on the low side since the visibility is better and that is where she found out that you don't always push the tiller away from you.

So today I threw everything at her; high side, low side, jibes and quick tacks and she did great. In a challenging small craft advisory I might add.

(Hopefully this is the last season with the terrible above deck backstay tension blocks. Back to the old below deck version that I can tension from the cockpit)

But little by little the clouds rolled in and the sun disappeared. It got darker and just generally snotty so we decided to head in.

Off course the wind in the bay was rocking. We sailed smartly through the crowded moorage and up to our mooring at 5 to 6 kts and suck the landing with a perfect mooring pickup. Funny how when I have more time to think and plan the mooring pickup my failure rate goes up.

Go figure.

Aug 20 Tides - Friday Harbor

Aug 20 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-32 / 107 (30%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 2:14 hours & 99:37 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 364 NM

Shields 88 Peanut and the Shields Nationals

2009-08-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

Kristian Martincic over at Shields 88 posted this sweat photo (courtesy of Richard Winters) of his Shields, Peanut, that I just had to steal and repost.

Kristian's blog is one of my must reads and he has graciously contributed a lot of great ideas and hardware to Bolero's rigging (some still waiting to be implemented). His relationship with Bolero has created an additional side benefit. I have someone to route for in this years Shields Nationals.

Which as it turns out is just around the corner. They will be held at the Chicago Yacht Club on September 16th thru the 19th.

And although Bolero isn't really a Shields anymore, I still love seeing this old class race and will be following the races as closely as the flow of information will allow.

Good luck Kristian we'll be rootin fur ya.

August 17th - A Very Light Air Day Sail with Uncle Earl (5 NM)

2009-08-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

Laura's aunt and uncle were up from Phoenix and Uncle Earl was jonesing for a sail. So I picked the best weather day and made plans.

The weather called for 10 to 15 kt winds from the NW and with a bit of a flood at the channel entrance. With guests on board of course the wind didn't fill in. At the mooring the wind was SW and out in San Juan channel it was NW with a perfect convergance zone of zero wind at the Fisherman Bay channel exit. It took us four to five tries to get out of the bay which included using the oar at times.

Once out the wind picked up a little but was still quite light and we rowed a bit to get home.

But we still managed to eek out a little fun.

Aug 16 Tides - Friday Harbor

Aug 16 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-31 / 103 (30%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 3:06 hours & 97:23 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 353 NM

New Old Classic Plastic Coming to Fishbay

2009-08-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Well my buddy Craig has been looking to supersize his Cape Dory Typhoon. For quite a while it looked like a Nonsuch 22 or 26 was going to be his choice. But a Cape Dory 25D became available in Anacortes and a week later Craig and I were motoring her back to Lopez.

It was a grand weekend of boats. It started off on Friday when Craig and I took the ferry over to kick a few tires and have a look at the old girl.

I don't consider myself knowledgeable enough to perform a detailed boat inspection but my take was that this was a pretty nice boat that had been neglected for 4 or 5 years due to the previous owner's health. She was dirty, her sails and running rigging were trash and she smelled bad. But that said, she was very original without a bunch of owner "improvements".

Mostly Craig wanted to check the condition of the bottom (blisters) and the deck (core mush). He was quite happy and soon owned a new boat.

Our plan was to go back over on Sunday and motor the ole girl home (although I am not sure an 80s Cape Dory counts as old).

For some reason, I didn't take any photos but here is our track of the 19 NM voyage from Anacortes to Fisherman Bay.

We did have a chance to sail a bit up the East side of Lopez. As I mentioned, the running rigging is trash and the sails weren't much better. The 100% jib was so bad we couldn't even get it to set. Fortunately the 140% was a bit too much sail for the previous owner and it was in much better shape. So combined with the crappy mainsail we did okay with speeds in the 4 to 5 kt range. But all in all a poor test of the CD 25D's sailing ability. So I will wait till next year to make any judgments.

Eventually we cranked up the old Yanmar and quickly made it home. Craig has a bunch of cleaning and tossing of old junk and then a winter of tinkering ahead of him. But she should come out of winter a whole new boat.

Anyone in the market for a nice Cape Dory Typhoon?

August 4th & 12th - A Couple of Nice Afternoon Day Sails (17 NM)

2009-08-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

A bit of slacking off in sailing. Just got a couple of nice day sails. No photos and nothing much to report. Just more perfect summer sailing.

Update: Turns out I did shoot a few photos. Just more of my typical sailing shots.

Aug 8 Tides - Friday Harbor

Aug 8 GPS Track

Aug 12 Tides - Friday Harbor

Aug 12 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-30 / 99 (30%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 3:59 hours & 94:17 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 348 NM

That Sinking Feeling

2009-08-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

I guess the truth of the matter is that all sailboats can sink. Similar to the line in the Titanic movie:

"She's made of iron, sir. I assure you she can, and she will." -Andrew

The lead in a keel boat will gladly help a sailboat head to the bottom of the sea given a chance.

This came up today because I received this message on positive flotation from Bolero's original builder, Cape Cod Shipbuilding. This guidance was in response to a recent sinking of a Shields class boat during this summer's Edgartown Regatta. Unfortunately this isn't an isolated event.

Cape Cod Shipbuilding would like to take this opportunity to share general air tank information with all Shields owners. Please feel free to share this information with owners who have not received it. The flotation system in the Shields consists of 4 air tanks; one in the bow, one in the stern & 2 in the floor. When the Shields buoyancy was initially tested during design development, a Shields was tied to our dock swamped for 8 hours & never sank. The tanks held air & kept the deck above water level. New Shields are built with the same buoyancy to prevent sinking. However, over time damage can occur to the air tanks that can cause a boat to sink if swamped.

Air tanks in Cape Cod built boats can be easily tested & repaired. An air tank test kit can be purchased through us that includes the tools needed to test, drain & install new tank test plugs. Each floor air tank comes with a threaded tank test plug. To test, find the tank test plug in the bilge, remove it with an allen wrench. If there is a slight inrush or outrush of air, the tank may be tight. If no air exchange is noticed, put pressure in the tank (1 to 2 P.S.I.) by the use of an air compressor, or bicycle pump. Build up pressure in the tank and hold it for 5 to 10 minutes. If there is still pressure, the tank may be tight. It is possible that the pressure is closing a crack shut, so multiple tests may be necessary. If pressure is lost, build back pressure and listen for air escaping to locate the leak. Sometimes the leak is too small to detect by ear and a 50-50 solution of water and a liquid dish detergent can be made to help find the leak. Apply this solution with rag or small disposable paint brush around the areas you suspect are leaking. Large bubbles will indicate the location of the leaks.

A few owners have inquired about buoyancy bags; In order to put enough buoyancy bags in the Shields to keep it floating, they must take up the same amount of space as the 4 existing air tanks. Repairing damaged air tanks as opposed to modifying with air bags is the better solution. Once you have determined there is a leak, it must be properly repaired. Once the leak is repaired, re-test as you may find smaller leaks. Plastic inspection ports are not recommend in any of the air tanks to pump out the water. This adds one more hole in the air tank where leaks could occur & plastic inspection ports fail under pressure. The proper solution is to make the air tank tight. The Chris Craft Shields were never built air tight but they can be repaired to be air tight. Many of the tops of the Chris Craft bulkheads were never fiberglassed to the underside of the decks.

Common causes of air tank failure:
Teak Handrail & Toerail fastenings over time can elongate the hole in the fiberglass, or replacement teak trim was improperly installed/bedded.
The athwartships teak floorboard support that holds the turning button is fastened to the 2 floor air tanks & the fastenings can elongate the hole in the fiberglass over time.
Water if left to freeze in the bilge over the winter can put cracks in the floor air tanks.
Air tank hatches with 2 hook style hatch latches on each hatch. This system does not prevent water from pouring in during a swamping. It is imperative that Shields with the 2 latches per hatch be upgraded with 4 new wing nut style latches per hatch. All hatches need good gaskets in order to create an air tight seal.
Most aft tanks have an adjustable backstay and an ungasketed hole where the backstay lines go through the bulkhead. These holes allow water to enter the aft airtank.
We recommend checking your air tanks each year and always comply with class rules for safety equipment. When installing new hardware keep air tank integrity in mind; use gasketed thru-hulls and properly drill, tap & bed all fastenings. Everyone wants a fast boat but safety should be our number one priority.

The Goodwin's

I believe that this photo (which I have posted many times before) is the test that the Goodwin's are speaking of.

Bolero is no longer representative of the Shields class boat as tested in this photo. During her major redesign and renovation the floor / seat tanks were remove. Therefor, it is my belief that should water get below, into the cabin, she would sink like a stone. In this respect she is very much like any keel boat with a cabin.

But in many ways she is still an old Shields at heart which definitely separates her from a more traditional cruising, weekending or day sailing keel boat.

She doesn't have cockpit drains. So in the event of a knockdown or any event that floods the cockpit she will have to be bailed out by hand and quickly to prevent water from getting down below and sinker her.
She still maintains the low freeboard that I suspect is one of the main culprits of the various Shields sinkings that have occurred over time.
She still carries the large sail plan of a race boat.

I do believe, however, that Bolero is more resistant to sinking than a stock Shields. Although she has lost part of the permanent buoyancy from her original design we have the added benefit of a bridge deck and an enclosed cabin. In addition we have a reef-able sail plan which would never be available to the racing Shields.

Here is our plan to prevent knockdowns and flooding on Bolero.

Sunny and Beautiful - Life vests and throwable cushions handy and the companionway hatch is closed without any hatch boards in place. This is how we spend most of our time under sail.
Pre-Reefing Conditions - Pretty much the same as above except the backstay, outhaul, cunningham and halyard have all been tightened to flatten the sails and reduce heel. This is great fun.
First Reef - When it is time for the first reef the life vests come on and the first hatch board goes in. This effectively doubles the height of the bridge deck.
Second Reef - We haven't experience condition that require this yet. But depending on how it feels either one additional hatch board goes in or we close the cabin up. In addition a locking pin goes in the sealed aft deck hatch.
Drop the Jib -Again no direct experience here. But this will be our last weapon as the condition worsen. The cabin will definitely be completely closed up. In addition I would likely tether myself to the topping lift for work on the foredeck in conditions that require this amount sail reduction.

One frustrating and nice thing about Bolero's cabin is that the hatch boards and sliding companionway have an incredibly tight fit. Certainly they aren't watertight but there won't be water gushing in and they aren't going to float away. Also the addition of Bolero's cabin created a cockpit with less volume. So Bolero will float higher in the water with the cockpit flooded than the Shields did in the above test. Hopefully that would create an easier baling situation.

Not the I have any desire to test this theory.

The Mighty Auk, an Iain Oughtred Dinghy

2009-08-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I want to replace my crappy Livingston dinghy with something more appropriate to use with Bolero. Originally I was thinking of going with a the Chesapeake Light Craft Eastport Pram.

Although I still quite like this design, I have change my mind. I have decide to order the plans, and have a go at building the Auk dinghy designed by Iain Oughtred.

So why the Auk?

First, I am looking for a number of improvements over my current dinghy.

Better Aesthetics - Let's just say much better aesthetics. In my mind the Livingston dinghy is just plain ugly. It would be one thing if they were great dinghies, but I don't think that they are. I found that they are terrible rowers, and mine doesn't carry that much (we have the smallest one I think)
Load Capacity - One of the many downsides to our current dinghy is that it is really only a two person boat. So it is really a quite a challenge to take someone else sailing with us. Our hope is to be able to carry three, or four in calm conditions, so we can can go sailing with friends.
Sea-Worthiness - Often we row out to Bolero against a small westerly chop. Just enough, it seems, to splash over the bow of the Livingston and send water down the continuous center seat into my backside. In addition, with the twin hulls, the Livingston is very prone to steer into the wind. So in stronger winds it is quite difficult to row in a direction off the wind.

In my mind the Auk addresses all of these concerns. I find her quite stunning to gaze at and she is able to haul quite a load for her small size , 7' 10". Her proud bow and high freeboard should allow us to enjoy a comfortable and dry ride in all but the worst conditions.

But an equally important reason for building an Auk is that I have always had a small wooden boat itch. In fact my first boat was a Koralle bilge keeler that I never quite had time for. In addition, now that I have a small shop, I want to learn more about working with wood and boat building. I am, however, a complete novice. So plenty of mistakes and missteps await. I can hardly wait.

The plans are available from the Wooden Boat Store as the 7' 10" Acorn Tender

Or directly from Ian Oughtred as the Auk.

Iain's contact info is:

Iain Oughtred
Struan Cottage
Bernisdale
Isle of Skye
IV51 9NS

Tel: 01470 532732

I think I am inclined to order the plans, via mail, from Iain. Update: I dropped a check in the mail to Iain today (3 August 09).

Being that this is my one stop location for all things Auk, I am adding some some additional design info.

And links to forum posts that have building information.

Iain Oughtred Yahoo Group (Membership Required)
Builder's Blog - Aukie
Duckworks Building Article - Kitsetting Glued Lapstrake Boat Designs
The Wooden Boat Forum - An Oughtred Auk
The Wooden Boat Forum - Oughred Auk
The Wooden Boat Forum - A small light dinghy to be carried on deck
The Wooden Boat Forum - Oughtred's 7'10" Acorn tender
Books - Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual
Books - Ultralight Boatbuilding

And finally a collection of pictures from the net that I wanted to save and have handy.

Blog Comment Feature Restored

2009-08-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

It appears that the ability to leave comments on my blog has been offline for a while, maybe quite a while. I think that I have restored it. Sorry about that.

Cheers, Bill

Update: Apparently the comment feature has been unavailable since maybe early June since none of the follow blog post have received a comment (not in itself unusual). I thought I would post a the list in case anyone had tried to leave a comment but was unable to.

July

Thursday - July 30 - A Little of Everything (10 NM)

Happy Rebirth Day

Tuesday - July 28 - All Dressed Up But Nowhere to Go (2 NM)

Sunday - July 26 - The Worst Day Sailing (11 NM)

A Mid Summer Nights Varnish Repair

My Kind of Craziness - A New Yankee One Design

Thursday - July 23 - I Guess Sailboats Don't Have the Right of Way (9 NM)

Wednesday - July 22 - A Day Out with the Boys (13 NM)

Sunday - July 19 - Cattle Pass (15 NM)

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Thursday - July 16 - Parks Bay (13 NM)

Wednesday - July 15 - More Schooners than You Can Shake a Stick At (13 NM)

Thursday - July 9 - San Juan Channel (9 NM)

A Cruising Boat for a Knockabout Snob

Hawaii ... Again

I know our boat is out there somewhere

June

Super Low Tide = Strong Currents

Bolero Short Sailing Video

Saturday - June 20 - San Juan Channel (9 NM)

Gentlemen Never Sail to Weather

Saturday - June 13 - Brown Island (11 NM)

Friday - June 12 - Cattle Pass (25 NM)

Dinner and a Movie

Wednesday - June 10 - Griffin Bay (10 NM)

Bird's Eye View

OH, NO!

Sunday - June 7 - Engineless Sailors Unite (11 NM)

Friday - June 5 - A Sail Around Our Bay (3 NM)

Bolero's Damage Report

Monday - June 1 - Aground on Yellow Island Reef (23 NM)

Friday - July 31 - Fan Appreciation Day (14 NM)

2009-08-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago someone motored by admiring Bolero and asked for a ride. Today we took Don for his ride. It was a great day of sailing and talking boats.

July 31 Tides - Friday Harbor

July 31 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-28 / 87 (32%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 3:29 hours today & 90:19 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 331 NM

Thursday - July 30 - A Little of Everything (10 NM)

2009-07-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

Thursday was an odd little daysail. First the wind was light and variable from the north which probably only happens a few times a year. And second, we left late in the late afternoon and hit the channel at slack tide with plenty of water. So although it was a bit of a struggle wind wise to get out of the bay, we used parts of the bay we never ever sail in so we weren't in anyone's way.

Once outside the bay the wind pick up so we headed north to go track down the Adventuress Schooner. But than we ran out of wind and bobbed around in the chop wishing for a whisker pole and a preventer. So we headed south until the wind came back. It seemed like a good time for some sailing drills for Laura but after a bit of that we headed home on the dying breeze.

A nice sail but just a little odd.

July 30 Tides - Friday Harbor

July 30 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-27 / 86 (31%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 3:19 hours today & 86:50 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 317 NM

Happy Rebirth Day

2009-07-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

Depending on your point of view, Bolero, our modified Shields Knockabout Sloop is either 42 years old or 1. She was originally built by Cape Cod Shipbuilding in 1967 but her life was renewed about 1 year ago today when Tim Lackey gave her a Hollywood Makeover.

From this:

To this:

The funny thing is that it seems like we have owned her for much longer than a single year. And as is fitting, I guess, for a well used and well loved boat she is no longer the runway model she was when she left the protection of Tim's shop.

But one of the greatest aspects of having Tim rebuild her to such a high standard is that I have no excuses. I know what she should look like. Though I realize that it is unreasonable to think I can maintain her in showroom condition, I do intend to maintain the high bar that was used during her planning and construction. Well that is within the limits of my skills and capabilities. But I try to have a realistic view of what I can and can't do and I am more than willing to seek help or advice or higher expertise as required.

What I already know is that this Fall, Winter and Spring will be a real maintenance year. Not the fiddle around in the boat shed I got to enjoy last Winter.

Tuesday - July 28 - All Dressed Up But Nowhere to Go (2 NM)

2009-07-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

The Pacific Northwest is in an actual good ole fashioned heat wave. Every year we normally get a few weeks in the low to mid 80's. We complain and cry a lot. But this year, as the saying goes, we were given something to cry about. This week the Seattle airport broke the all time record of 103 degrees. And even worse we may have broken the high mark for our low temperature. That is important since without humidity we usuall cool way down at night.

Even on Lopez, where we are surrounded by 50 to 60 degree water, our high temperatures have reached 90. So we decide to try to go sailing to beat the heat. Nothing like a nice sail to cool things off pretty quick.

Except for one thing, there wasn't any wind. But we were so desperate that we tried anyway. We were this desperate.

It will come as no surprise that we never made it out of the bay. In fact we barely made it past the Islands Marine Center dock. Eventually we rowed and sailed back towards our mooring where a very small breeze came up. So we decide to practice sailing Bolero up to the dock.

There was only enough, barely, wind for one attempt and it went pretty well. The most risk was not have enough wind to actually reach the dock. We learned a thing or two and rowed back to the mooring and put Bolero to bed.

We did have a new transient neighbor. A very nice Ericson 41.

July 28 Tides - Friday Harbor

July 28 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-26 / 84 (30%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 2:25 hours today & 83:31 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 307 NM

Sunday - July 26 - The Worst Day Sailing (11 NM)

2009-07-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

is still pretty darn sweat.

Our current weather theme calls for heat and lots of it. And not just hot for the Pacific Northwest. We are in the middle of a real heat wave. And with a high pressure system out over the Pacific and one over Montana our winds have been pretty light. So Saturday, with variable winds to 10 knots, just didn't look like much of a day for sailing. But Laura hadn't been out in a while so what the heck.

In the end the winds did cooperate a bit and reached every bit of ten knots. And in spite of botching the mooring, twice, it was a lovely afternoon on the water.

July 26 Tides - Friday Harbor

July 26 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-25 / 82 (30%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 3:01 hours today & 81:06 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 3:05 NM

A Mid Summer Nights Varnish Repair

2009-07-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

In what certainly is a taste of thing to come, I had some varnish maintenance to perform on Bolero. Specifically a small repair on the varnish on the underside of the aft hatch.

It seems that the underside of the hatch is abrading against the non-skid on the aft deck. I'm not sure whether it has always been this way. It may have been but there has been a lot of wood movement on Bolero's wooden parts since she changed climates from Maine to Washington. In addition, I am no longer using a pin to secure the hatch which may be allowing the hatch to rest on the deck.

In any event the varnish had worn off in spots. Enough to start discoloring the mahogany. So a repair was in order.

My plan was just to repair the varnish on the lower edge that is in contact with the non-skid. So I quickly sanded back to bare wood (no quite there in this photos).

And applied and blended in some maintenance coats (three currently).

This winter the hatch will get a full varnish treatment. I intended to build up the coats on the inside as well. Certainly not to the level of the exterior but just to add a bit more protection. In addition I want to add a bumper of sorts to keep the bottom of the hatch off the deck. Shouldn't be too challenging.

It was also nice to get back into my small wood shop. I have spent a few hours getting some tools online and hooking them up to my vacuum system (with various amounts of success).

One of my "new" additions is an old 4 inch Craftsman jointer that I picked up for less than $50 that I am really beginning to like.

I also finish refurbishing, new motor and spindle bushings, an old Atlas 3500 shaper (also $50).

Although quite small, I really like having this dedicated work space. It really makes a difference in projects like this.

My Kind of Craziness - A New Yankee One Design

2009-07-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

I find it kind of funny that in all this time I have never written one word about the Yankee One Design class. As I have always quite liked them. They are just my kind of sailboats.

Interestedly enough their specs aren't that much different from Bolero's.

The Yankee's are a bit lighter with a bit less sail area. The Shields have a higher ballast ratio but the Yankee has a greater waterline length. Seems it would be quite fun to sail alongside a Yankee One Design.

But back to Venture, the soon to be new Yankee One Design.

Here is a bit of history and current status from her owner, Sarah Howell.

Venture was built by the Stone Boat Yard in San Francisco in 1949.

She had a brilliant racing career in San Franscico Bay during the 50's and 60's. But all her frames were broken, and she sank twice, which led to significant problems later on.

In 1994 she was brought to Seattle along with Tarfon and Yankee Doodle.

For over a decade Venture was at the Center for Wooden Boats where she was a beautiful exhibit, and many people had the opportunity to sail her, but beneath the paint she wasn't doing very well.

As much as we would have liked to save this boat, when we took her to Port Townsend for restoration in 2006, it became clear that the damage incurred during her early years had finally caught up with her.

Despite the extensive work that various owners had put into Venture over the years, the boat was dying. The planks were brittle, the fastenings all looked like they'd evaporated, and even the keel needed to be replaced. It really seemed like caulking and paint and spirit had been holding her together.

It didn't make sense to do a major restoration on a tired backbone, and it was too heartbreaking to cut up this boat. So she's getting a new hull. :)

This marks the first time a Yankee One Design has been lofted and constructed since Flotsam was built in 1963.

This very exciting project is happening at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB). They started lofting in January of 2009, and plan to be completed by 2010.

Here is a slide show of the construction of Vertue's new hull. Wow! a new Yankee One Design plying the waters of Puget Sound. I can't wait.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Thursday - July 23 - I Guess Sailboats Don't Have the Right of Way (9 NM)

2009-07-24T18:13:00.001-07:00

For the very first time in my sailing life I asserted my right of way rules over a power boat. Normally I work very hard to stay clear and give room. But this time I was hemmed in a bit and needed to maintain my course. His response was "why do you have to sail here you dumb ass". Being that his was one of those big multi-story type power boats and that he was coming right at me, I yielded to avoid a possible collision.

At the time I was just inside of the 2 fathom line at a +2.8 ft tide on the West edge of the channel. I had left the entire 140 ft wide deep center portion of the channel open for this large vessel. But for some reason he needed to head straight at me and swear at me for sailing.

Finally I was forced to give way and head into the main part of the channel. This correction put me in exactly the place I was trying to avoid, the crowed center of the channel, so I elected to abort my exit due to an additional two vessel heading in. Both of these vessels would have passed harmlessly by me as I sailed along the 2 fathom line as is the case day in and day out.

I guess in our modern world the nautical right of way rules have reverted to the more time honored rules of:

Sizer matters

and

Those with the gold make the rules

In any event this skippers cursing and swearing at me for sailing pretty much ruined the mood and a nice day. I still worry that a day will come when enough people like this get together and ban sailing in my home bay.

I do need to add that most boaters are very, very respectful of others and of us sailing. It is just ironic that when I needed a right of way I ran into this skipper.

July 23 Tides - Friday Harbor

July 23 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-24 / 79 (29%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 2:10 hours today & 78:05 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 294 NM

Wednesday - July 22 - A Day Out with the Boys (13 NM)

2009-07-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was a rare solo daysail for me. I have notice that I haven't started to really feel comfortable single handing Bolero, probably because I haven't been out alone much. Even today my goal was just to go out to the boat and wash the topsides down. When I rowed out it was a bit cold and there was still some fog from the morning. Nothing that really inspired me to cast of the mooring lines.

But after the wash and scrub the weather had significantly improved and it was definately a sailing day. So I cast off. And today quickly felt like all those comfortable solo daysails that I remember when I own the Bluenose Sloop.

And because of the wash and scrub I was sailing later than I usually do so I ran into Eric in our old Bluenose.

And Dick in his Flicka.

Nothing really eventful other than another great day of sailing.

July 22 Tides - Friday Harbor

July 22 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-23 / 78 (29%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 2:56 hours today & 75:55 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 285 NM

Sunday - July 19 - Cattle Pass (15 NM)

2009-07-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday was another beautiful day on the water. We took our good friends Meg and Craig out and headed south towards Cattle Pass. A bit busy getting in and out but pretty uneventful.

When we returned to the mooring Laura and I installed our new cover that Laura made.

Pretty sweet.

July 19 Tides - Friday Harbor

July 19 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-22 / 75 (29%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 3:26 hours today & 72:59 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 272 NM

Garbage In, Garbage Out

2009-07-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been transferring my from my old gps, a vintage Garmin 76s, to a newer but still vintage 276c.

At the same time I have also upgraded my charts from Garmins BlueChart version 9.0 to version 2008.5. During this process I started to notice some anomalies which brought back some thoughts on how shocked I was when I went aground on Yellow Island in early June.

Now let me restate right from the start that my stupidity and over confidence were the number one and number two reasons why I sailed Bolero up onto the reef. I had cut the corner of Yellow Island way to close. But I made this poor choice using the following information. My tired thoughts at the time was that I had past the outer point of the reef and I could head for the marker southwest of Yellow Island.

Well the rest was history. I accepted my comeuppance with all of the appropriate emotions and swear words.

And everything would have faded into my distance memory until this recent technology upgrade. With pretty color and a relatively large screen, I had to relive my excitement on the 276c. And now things got confusing.

As ugly and stupid as my grounding was on my old 76s with my old electronic charts, it was painfully obvious on the newer 276c and 2008.5 BlueCharts.

Which show clearly show me running right over the top of the reef.

What I found was that the anomalies weren't so much due to the chart upgrade as much as they were to the coverage area. My old charts were for Seattle, US023-Seattle.

Covers from Grays Harbor to Olympia including detailed coverage of Neah Bay, Puget Sound, Victoria Harbour, Port Townsend, Bellingham Bay, San Juan Island, Orcas Island, and Blaine. Detailed coverage of the Canadian portion of the Strait of Georgia including Nanaimo, Vancouver, Gibsons, Galiano Island, and Saltspring Island

My 276c and new charts were more represent of the inside passage, CA001-Inside Passage.

Detailed coverage of Queen Charlotte Strait and the Strait of Georgia from Bull Harbour, BC to Mt. Vernon, WA, including Vancouver, Nanaimo, Powell River, Desolation Sound, the San Juan Islands, and the Fraser River, and Quatsino Sound.

Turns out that I am discovering mapping tiles and the order and priority that they get during map drawing. By digging into the actual charts I discovered that a Canadian chart, CA470366, was overlaying NOAA chart 18434. You can clearly see the differentiation in the third gps screen capture above.

So I removed Canadian chart CA470366 from the 276c and the result returned to what I had seen in my old 76s. Although much cleaner and easier to read. And still stupid.

None of this really changes anything. I was still ridiculously too close to a well marked hazard but the whole event has dragged me into trying to really understand what these electronic tools can and can't do.

In a past life I was an Aerospace Engineer and built Finite Element Models of aircraft structures. It was always assumed that those models were wrong until proven right. The assumption was that they were rife with mistakes and we worked to remove them. All along knowing that some errors would slip through in these complicated models.

That is the relationship I now have with electronic navigation. Still a great tool, but I need to dig a lot deeper and always be just a bit skeptical.

Thursday - July 16 - Parks Bay (13 NM)

2009-07-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

I had grand plans to head northwest today. For some reason I haven't sail northwest up San Juan channel very often in Bolero. In our old Bluenose it was a common destination. Albeit a risky one for a day sail. Our winds are typical from the south and we can usually count on a strong afternoon flood. So as the wind fades in the early evening getting home to Lopez against the current can become quite a challenge.

But today's forecast looked stellar for a trip up San Juan channel. 10 kt SW winds building to 10 to 15 as the afternoon wore on. In addition the tides were pretty much flat for most of the afternoon. So I gathered up snacks and drinks and plan a route to sail northwest and circumnavigate Jones Island.

This was going to be a return to the scene of the crime of my Yellow Island Reef grounding. You can see that I have immortalized this grounding with its own waypoint (GB1). To forever remind me of that fateful day.

We headed out to the boat around 14:00 and quickly prepped the boat and cast off the mooring. The trip out of the bay was uneventful but a little slow. But as soon as we cleared the channel entrance Bolero took off and we headed northwest up San Juan channel. It was a exhilarating ride until we reach Parks Bay on Shaw island. At that point the wind decided we weren't going northwest. Actually we weren't going much of anywhere. So we broke out lunch and enjoyed the hot, downwind coasting up San Juan channel. Our planned trip to Jones island would have to wait for another day.

We enjoy watch other sailboats (the last remnants of the schooners from Wednesday) coast along with us but eventually decide to turn back and head. But not without a quick detour to Parks Bay.

It was as sweet and quite as usual. And we followed, or tried to follow, what looked like an Etchells 22 into the bay. We didn't stay long before we turned around and headed home.

Laura took the helm and I went forward to my favorite lounging spot on Bolero.

It is funny how you don't really appreciate some things until after the fact. Tim and I both strongly adhered to the idea of keeping Bolero's cabin top aft of the mast. Well this long ago choice has produce my favorite place on Boelro (next to hogging the tiller). I sit facing slightly forward wedged against the front of the cabin with my back against the mast and my feet just over the toe rails. With any amount of heel it is like a recliner. I just sat back and took photos and enjoyed the ride home.

As it turns out our timing was perfect. The wind all but died right outside the Lopez channel entrance and we ghosted back to the mooring. I did take three attempt to pick up the mooring. The first was 1 foot short, the second was a bit fast for my liking and the third was perfect.

July 13 Tides - Friday Harbor

July 13 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-21 / 72 (29%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 4:11 hours today & 69:33 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 257 NM

Wednesday - July 15 - More Schooners than You Can Shake a Stick At (13 NM)

2009-07-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Today was a bit unusual. We had a guest aboard. Other than my friend Craig, this was our first. So we headed out to the boat a bit early so I could finish up installing our new gps and prep Bolero and Laura could row back and pick up Fred.

I had created and varnished a mounting pad for the old school West Marine swing arm bracket that I scored on ebay and Tuesday I epoxied it to the inside of port side bulkhead. So today I only needed to attach the arm and gps.

A simple job that even I was able to perform successfully without any additional trips to shore.

I am really happy with the way this little project turned out. It does compromise the interior sitting space a bit. But we won't be below that often. And in a pinch I can just remove and store the the swing arm and gps.

Underway, the improvement over our old handheld was overwhelming. Our current (know old gps) was a Garmin 76s black and white handheld. Typically it sat on the leeward bench and got move from tack to tack. That is unless I forgot and it went crashing to the floor.

For daysailing I mostly just use speed and track data and the detailed coastal charts. The speed I use to help as I tweak the sails and rigging. In addition, I never seem to tire of seeing some "new" highest speed. Today we often saw 7 kts which is always exciting. I find the track course very helpful in combination with our compass course to see the effects of the currents.

The visibility in our fixed, center mounted, installation was excellent. It is also very easy to reach from the tiller and quite protected in its home under the companionway hatch. I mounted it on the port side since the direction of the locking nut threads tighten as the arm is pulled aft. So it is very easy to push the swing arm forward, the locking knob loosens, if we need to get below in a hurry.

Just about the time I finished prepping the boat and admiring my handywork, Fred rowed up with Laura. Since we all set we quickly cast off the mooring and headed out.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with the weather forecast since we had a guest. The forecast was for 10 kts from the SW and at noon not much of that had shown up. I was worried that we would bore Fred with a lackluster sail, although we have never had one.

We sailed very, very slowly out of the bay in light wind and almost no current at all.

Two things quickly put to rest my fears of boring Fred. First the wind outside the bay had come up to promised forecast.

And second, today was apparently the start of the International Schooner Race starting out of Deer Harbor.

And all this time I have been whining and complaining about the lack of gorgeous old boats on the West Coast. Shame on me. We hurried to get in amongst the fleet to sail along side these beautiful and majestic boats. It was a true love fest with everyone taking photos of everyone else's boat.

Our mooring neighbor in the Alberg 35, Ashanti, came out as well and looked grand in the building breeze.

All in all just a spectacular day on the water. And Fred really enjoyed himself. Quite a contrast to his 40 plus foot Cheoy Lee that he sailed to Mexico and winters on. By the end of the day he was talking about buying a small keel boat that he could sail in and out of the bay, which was something that he had never attempted before.

Fred had dinner and Laura had her bridge game so headed back. We reefed prior to sailing in, to tame the experience, and nailed the mooring pickup under sail. Always nice when you have an audience.

As we were putting the boat to bed, at around 4 pm, Eric, in our old Bluenose Sloop, set out to catch the last of this great day. He underestimate the wind in the bay just a bit and we saw him changing jibs and reefing almost immediately after casting off the mooring. Quite a feat while under sail in the anchorage.

The wind was lighter outside the bay and dropping as the afternoon waned. He was nicely captured by one of our web cams on his return. Apparently he reversed his sail changes once outside the bay.

A fitting end to an extraordinary afternoon of sailing.

July 13 Tides - Friday Harbor

July 13 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-20 / 71 (28%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 3:25 hours today & 65:22 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 244 NM

Thursday - July 9 - San Juan Channel (9 NM)

2009-07-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

Back on the water after a long absence, well for us anyway. We were off island traveling for 10 days and then we finally got some of our traditional June gloom weather. Not much, but we have been spoiled by perfect sailing weather so we took a pass. Now it looks like that nonsense is over and I wanted to get out, even if just for a short day sail.

And that is exactly what we got today. A short day sail. Not that there is anything wrong with a beautiful afternoon sail.

Typical summer conditions, wind to 10 kts from the SW and a 12:37 low of -1.3 ft with a strong flood for latter in the afternoon.

As usual, we stopped at the channel entrance before heading to the boat at about 14:30 to check on the conditions. There was one sailboat that appeared to be aground on a 0.3 and rising tide and the current was already kicking.

After rowing out and getting the boat ready we cast off and headed out trying to avoid the worst of the flood current. I elected to tack away near the Islanders' dock and let another boat go ahead of us so we got to the channel entrance at 15:30 and a tide of plus 2.2. It was a down wind exit against the building flood current but we made pretty good speed through the mouth of the channel and then were able to head up and power out past the now free sailboat that was coming in.

We sailed towards Griffin Bay but with the strong current and light and variable wind I wasn't going to chance getting caught up in the north bound current. So we sailed around near the mouth of the Fisherman Bay entrance until we saw this beauty coming over from Shaw Island.

I don't know anything about her, except she is Johanna from Shaw Island. The owner asked about channel depth and decided to wait an hour for deeper water. We didn't stay out very long and ending up leading her into the bay a short while latter.

For some reason our return was pretty average. I think I was a bit too cautious with my short tacking at the channel entrance and they were quite bad. Not really holding a tack long enough to make headway and maintain the agile steerage I prefer. Pretty much just being dragged into the channel by the current. In any case it was uneventful and we quickly sailed back to the mooring.

I took the opportunity to practice mooring pickups again and we did a couple and then picked up on the third attempt.

All in all a nice day on the water after a long absence.

July 9 Tides - Friday Harbor

July 9 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-19 / 65 (29%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 1:47 hours today & 61:57 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 231 NM

A Cruising Boat for a Knockabout Snob

2009-07-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about sailing is the free dreaming. You can always dream about sailing away, where you might go and what boat will take you there. I have had this type of dream for years and I quite enjoy it. Maybe it will happen but likely it won't, but I love the dream anyway.

Several different events conspired to bring this dream back to the front of my imagination recently. The first was an email sent to me with a link to a preview of Lin and Larry Pardey's new documentary "Cruising has no Limits". I have been a fan, like many, of the Pardey's since I started sailing again five or six years ago. They sail in a manner that just makes sense to me and I never seem to tire of hearing them speak about it.

And almost at the same time, I stumbled on a post on Tim's Plastic Classic forum with a link to James Baldwin's new online book "Across Islands and Oceans". I am really enjoying this read and the philosophy James brings to sailing.

Even these two great new resources would probably have just been morning reading except Laura looked over my shoulder while I was watching the Pardey's and casually asked what type of boat would we sail across an ocean. It was a question that I couldn't answer right away even though I have given the idea a great deal of thought over the years.

Before Bolero, I had even seriously inquired about a Pearson Ariel in Florida and a Contessa 26 in Vancouver British Columbia with long range cruising in mind. But something kept me from owning these boats. Certainly it wasn't cost, since for the price of Bolero either of these boats would have been restored and half way around the world if I had wanted. In the end, I think it was my search for extraordinary that prevented me from getting either of these two outstanding sailboats.

When all is said and done, sailing performance and aesthetics are what define sailing for me. I seem to be drawn to as pure a classic sailing machine as I can get. I am stubbornly reluctant to accept the compromises typical of modern boat design. This is the desire that made Bolero possible and makes choosing my ideal cruising boat extremely difficult. Even in my dreams.

But if I had to choose, what would my extraordinary choice look like in a small cruising boat? That was the question of Laura's that I couldn't quite answer. But after reviewing my old info one boat did inspire me a great deal, the Morris Frances 26.

And although I quite like the trunk cabin version,

It is the flush deck version that I find extraordinary.

There is one very nice thing about being stubborn and picky, it is very, very hard to replace your current boat. Bolero is one of kind. I can't even begin to imagine not having her and the idea of owning two boats makes me chuckle. In addition there aren't very many Morris 26's. And just a few of them are flush decks. So this is really the stuff that dreams are made of.

I can live with that.