New Boat 4 Sled

[BobJ]

Hmm, I go out of town and things get puzzling around here, with polars and Spam.

We had lunch yesterday in Southwest Haba. Sadly, Hinckley and Morris, which we visited here 29 years ago, are gone. Hinckley bought Morris and moved inland, and now builds mostly picnic boats. Ralph Stanley, a wooden boat builder we’d visited, is also gone. The property has become too valuable to use for boat yards. We’re told that high-season labor is nearly all visitors from Europe on work visas, with larger employers owning rentals converted to dormitories.

Out in Brooklin we visited the HQ of WoodenBoat magazine, where they have a boat building school and large store. I bought their book about painting and varnishing, since Surprise! has a bit of brightwork. Few pleasure boats are in the water after the long Winter here. Funny that the first sailboat we saw was a flag blue Alerion Express!
.

 

[Philpott]

Nice to hear from you, Bob. Yesterday Surprise!'s cover was off, leaving the brightwork exposed to the peripatetic elements. And what was this? A mizzen mast lying on its side on the starboard side of the boat. So you couldn't bear to watch, and made arrangements for the dismasting to be done while you were away? Well, the deed is done. You can come home now. And here's your Eastern Seaboard Alerion, floating west instead of south.

 

[sleddog]

Here's a polar expedition I find fascinating on all sorts of levels.
https://www.saildrone.com/antarctica
It's a far cry from getting out and seeing it with your own eyes, but the science is solid and important... and I find it intriguing that an autonomous unmanned wind powered craft has now made it 1/2 way round a continent.

DH

Just Wow! Thanks, David for this info. Sail Drone 1020 is over halfway around Antarctica, having passed Cape Horn with some damage after hitting a berg. 1020 is currently south of the Horn of Africa, averaging a little over 3 knots by my calcs.



It will be interesting to watch to see if Richard Jenkins and crew can get 1020 back to Bluff, NZ for completion of its circumnavigation.



Great stuff for the classroom...sure beats "My Weekly Reader" of grade school back in the Middle Ages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wJaBrl61ss

 

[WBChristie]

Winner gets the chicken dinner WBChristie won a week ago but likely won't be collecting unless he drives 9 hours south from Brookings, Oregon.

Hmmmm. Another forum member “in the know” says the chicken dinner is actually a McDonald’s tenders meal. Are these the “Ultimate Buttermilk Crispi Tenders”? If so, I’m strongly tempted.

 

[sleddog]

Whether you've done or are considering a Singlehanded Transpac, or are just interested in ocean weather between the West Coast and Hawaii, it is a treat to watch one us, Stan Honey, give his Transpac Race Tactics and Strategy Presentation. Stan is the best and a true professional at what he does: navigate offshore using the best seamanship and weather resources and practices available. The below presentation was given by Stan a week ago. There are 4 sections. Even the first section relates to the SHTP, if you substitute Farallones for Catalina and Southerly Surge for Catalina Eddy.

There are 4 videos, each about 21-32 minutes long, discussing the sections of racing to Hawaii. It's best to watch them one or two at a time. Even for myself, I take notes and learn something new each time I watch Stan's analysis. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here and I will attempt an answer.

https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/...48e82b38b97b61b16&utm_source=Email Newsletter


ILLUSION finishing 2003 Transpac. 1st in class, 3rd in fleet. Crew: Sally Honey, Stan Honey, Skip Allan, Jon Andron

 

[sleddog]

Usually when a boom gooseneck breaks on an antique, 72 foot, wooden ketch, it's an expensive, time consuming, and laborious repair.

But as curator to the Capitola Boat Club Maritime Museum, there is sometimes more than just dusting. This afternoon, about the same time the Cal Maritime GOLDEN BEAR was being dismasted in Barbados (https://www.instagram.com/p/BxvUY5QgnXy/), there was a crash in the vicinity of the ship's model TICONDEROGA on a CBC display shelf. It seems a 6"x 8" night photo of TI breaking the Honolulu Race record in 1965 had come adrift of its moorings and fallen 18" onto the mizzen boom below, breaking the gooseneck, two mizzen sheet blocks, and the mizzen sheet, which was really nothing more than an 8" length of white thread.





Damn! Delicate repairs are not my strong point. I retrieved my headlamp and tweezers to see what could be salvaged. The model's boom, the length and diameter of a child's chopstick, was split at its forward end. The wooden sheet blocks the size of a #6 screw head were likely history. And to splice and relead the broken mizzen sheet with a needle would probably exceed my eyesight, skill, and patience.

Nothing for it but to set to, same as we did in Tropical Storm Carlotta in the 1965 Transpac when a 40 knot gust ripped the 34 foot, 200 pound spinnaker pole from the mast of TICONDEROGA and sent it like a giant spear through the mainsail, leaving us under bare poles.

Knowing STORMVOGEL was close astern, just out of sight in the dark squall clouds of the gale, we hoisted the mizzen and resumed sailing at 8 knots. Then we got the 300 pound torn main off the boom and down below where Rumsey waited with his hand cranked sewing machine.

It took all night. But at dawn we got the repaired main on deck, rigged, and hoisted, shortly followed by the 4 oz. storm spinnaker on the spare pole, which was shackled to the mast by a giant charm bracelet of galvanized and bronze shackles. And off we went, with STORMVOGEL, under main and mizzen spinnaker, less than 100 yards behind, not flying her main because, as we later were to find out, she had broken her main boom at the vang lug by dipping the boom end with a tightly snugged vang....

To save the trouble of returning to SSS Forum post 566 on October 5, 2013, here is what ultimately happened the next night..."In 1965 we came down the Molokai Channel in the 72' ketch TICONDEROGA. It was blowing the usual 30-35 knots, squally, and we were surfing our 100,000 lb. woodie at speeds over 20 knots.

"Big TI," designed as a family cruising boat by L Francis Herreshoff, was never meant for this. But who cares? We were coming down the Molokai Channel.

What was hair raising was we had to dip pole jibe the spinnaker with a 34 foot, jury rigged, spinnaker pole. Pitch dark. The running lights of STORMVOGEL, surfing 1/4 mile astern, searing into the backs of our heads.

Whoever pulled off their jibe, TI or STORMVOGEL, would be First-To-Finish, win the Barn Door trophy, and most importantly, set a new Transpac elapsed time record.

Our spinny pole, on a reel halyard winch, dropped into the water and smashed back into the weather shrouds. Somehow, it didn't break, and the boys got it out. Our main came across with a thunder clap. The pole was connected. The spinny never collapsed. And Big TI surfed into yachting history."


Big TI Bound for Glory

 

[AZ Sailor]

Whether you've done or are considering a Singlehanded Transpac, or are just interested in ocean weather between the West Coast and Hawaii, it is a treat to watch one us, Stan Honey, give his Transpac Race Tactics and Strategy Presentation.

Great stuff, Skip. Thanks. Here are the slides that go with the video: http://honeynav.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Hawaii-Race-tactics-and-weather.pptx

 

[Daydreamer]

Thank you Skip and Lee !!

What a wealth of information!

 

[jamottep]

Anyone has Bernot on breeze?

 

[sleddog]

Usually when a boom gooseneck breaks on an antique, 72 foot, wooden ketch, it's an expensive, time consuming, and laborious repair. But as curator to the Capitola Boat Club Maritime Museum, there is sometimes more than just dusting.

Today is the Master Mariners Regatta on SF Bay. No better time to complete repairs on my own miniature tall ship, the 1/4":1 foot model of TICONDEROGA. Tweezers, magnifying glass, super glue, and patience were the tools of choice. And after several hours, the mizzen boom gooseneck and various lines and blocks were repaired. The only casualty being the 3:1 mizzen boom topping lift block and tackle is reduced to 1:1.

Ants, Commodore of the Bodfish Cruising Club, kindly offered his tools and skills from making fly rods and tying flies.



Ants and Marsha will be arriving in a week for inspection and review of the grounds and fleet. In anticipation, after making the repairs, I took alcohol, Q-tips, and a #2 water color brush and swabbed the decks of dust, polished the bronze, and faked TI's halyard tails.

The model of TI is good to go now, 20 years after I serendipitously found her at a Capitola Tea House that was closing its doors and had furniture for sale. TI is mounted here on an earthquake proofed shelf. At her helm is a glow-in-the-dark angel that gazes ahead at glow-in-the-dark stars and moon.



A shout out to Capt. Bob of Haleiwa, Hawaii. Bob and I have been long time friends and shipmates. It was Bob who gave me not only the classic book of TICONDEROGA's history by Jack Somer, but also a waterpainting of TICONDEROGA tied up at the head of Transpac Row after her record breaking passage in 1965. Look carefully at Bob's painting. Can you name the 3 other maxis tied up on TICONDEROGA's port side? One is a ketch, one a sloop, and one a schooner.

 

[jamottep]

Anyone has Bernot on breeze?

Found it at a reasonable price ...

 

[Tom P.]

Can you name the 3 other maxis tied up on TICONDEROGA's port side? One is a ketch, one a sloop, and one a schooner.

In order: STORMVOGEL (famous ketch from South Africa with distinctive transom); KIALOA II (sloop, owner John Kilroy was the uncle of one of my best friends); SERENA (schooner, owner Ken DeMeuse of Alameda after this race commissioned Bill Tripp to design the ketch BLACKFIN, sister-ship to ONDINE.

Speaking of the MMBA Master Mariners Race, I will always think of it as the “Mustard Mayonnaise Race.” I owned a wooden boat and participated for a few years. There was always a wonderful flurry of activity in May as wooden boats around SF Bay were being prepped, painted and varnished. There was one friend who’s mate was from Japan, and after several weeks of hearing all this talk of the Master Mariners Race, she finely asked, “What’s this Musta’ Mayonnaise Race all about?”

Tom

 

[jamottep]

Huh? You mean Bearnaise on Benedict?

Ah, no. Stan Honey's presentation recommended this book

 

[Gamayun]

“What’s this Musta’ Mayonnaise Race all about?"

I was crew in the Mustard Mayonnaise race yesterday when we crossed the bow of this beast. It was built in 2015 and I think it's the first time in SF Bay. One guy says it's a floating dry dock. I almost believed him it was that weird looking. Close too...

 

[sleddog]

I was crew in the Mustard Mayonnaise race yesterday when we crossed the bow of this beast. It was built in 2015 and I think it's the first time in SF Bay. One guy says it's a floating dry dock. I almost believed him it was that weird looking. Close too...

That's Japanese owned HYPERION HIGHWAY car carrier. Carries more than 7,000 cars and was inbound to Richmond from Mexico. And you thought 880 traffic was bad before that thing unloads?

 

[AntsUiga]

Wow!

If you make stupid decisions on the water you could get run over by one ship or 7,000 vehicles. There is a choice as to which sounds more impressive if you survive.

I am refreshing and adding to my sailing reading by reading sled's posts from number one. Somewhere in there was a post about the ferry out of Pt Townsend that took out one of the participants in the parade at the Wooden Boat Festival.

Memorial Day weekend has more rain on the house and snow in the higher elevations. Typically, this weather would have ended two months ago.

Ants

 

[sleddog]

Sailing TransAtlantic is not a trivial ocean passage. But transporting a yacht by ship is not always fail safe either, especially when the yacht in question is a superyacht bound from the Caribbean to the Med.



Apparently the seaworthiness of the 130', all carbon fiber, Baltic built, MY SONG was in question and the owner said, "let's eliminate worry and send it on a ship to Italy.



What happened was on the last leg of the ship's passage, in the Med, MY SONG fell off the ship... Insured for $70 million, there is sure to be some discussion.

 

[BobJ]

Main halyard needs trimming.

Oh - nevermind.


And thanks, Philpott, for righting my sideways photo. I posted it from my phone while in Maine and it appeared to be upright. I puzzled over the "west instead of south" comment all week!
.

 

[DaveH]

A shout out to Capt. Bob of Haleiwa, Hawaii. Bob and I have been long time friends and shipmates. It was Bob who gave me not only the classic book of TICONDEROGA's history by Jack Somer, but also a waterpainting of TICONDEROGA tied up at the head of Transpac Row after her record breaking passage in 1965. Look carefully at Bob's painting. Can you name the 3 other maxis tied up on TICONDEROGA's port side? One is a ketch, one a sloop, and one a schooner.

View attachment 4350

here's my best guess...
Ketch (immediately to port) - Storm Vogel
Sloop - Kialoa 2 - the cabin is unmistakeable
Schooner - Serena

DH

 

[sleddog]

here's my best guess...
Ketch (immediately to port) - Storm Vogel
Sloop - Kialoa 2 - the cabin is unmistakeable
Schooner - Serena
DH

Good, David! You got them all correct, two days after Tom P (CLOUD) also answered correctly. Congrats to you both.... Good to see you yesterday at CBC. I enjoyed our visit.

If anyone is singlehanded and hungry, the chicken dinner from post 3213 is still available. The correct answer is not Goodyear tires.