New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

A fun (and educational) aspect of the SSS community is everyone's whereabouts, and what they are doing.



After driving 900 miles over two days, at midnight last night, Robert and Jeanne Crawford, owners of the Cal-20 BLACK FEATHERS (SHTP 2008), arrived at New Dungeness Light Station, 13 miles east of Port Angeles, near Sequim ("squim"), WA. Midnight was the time for movement, as the lighthouse is only accessible at low tide along the beach of a long and narrow (5 mile) sandspit.



For the next week, the Crawfords will be guest lightkeepers at New Dungeness, the oldest lighthouse on the Straits of Juan De Fuca, built in 1857, and once the location of a 3rd order Fresnel Lens.

New Dungeness light, visible 22 miles, is now automated, so they won't be lighting the candles ......however the last lens before automation remains on display at the light station for Robert to keep polished.

Although Robert and Jeanne arrived at the lighthouse in the dark in the back of a pickup loaded with their gear and food, other visitors to the National Historic Place and Wildlife Refuge can only arrive by hiking a low tide beach for the 10 mile roundtrip. The beach disappears at high tide, and sometimes at spring high tides the lighthouse appears to be an island.



New Dungeness Light Station has a "forest" consisting of one hardy tree. There's a well, electricity, flagpole, lawns to be mowed, and likely much to be polished. Jeanne has brought several bundles of pine needles to continue her pine needle basket weaving, of which she is most expert and teaches classes in their hometown of Forest Hill, CA.

I don't know how many visitors Robert and Jeanne will be giving guided tours. Pacific NW weather looks decidedly wet this coming week. But if you want to check in, there are two webcams on the grounds of New Dungeness Light, and you might catch a glimpse of our friends. http://newdungenesslighthouse.com/webcams/

Two arms raised vertically by Robert signals "send more chocolate."

 

[sleddog]

OK, it's time to play "Win an Overnight at the Capitola Boating Club and Maritime Museum." This is a two part question, and both parts must be answered correctly at the same time to receive a "Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!" acknowledgement.

First question: LORD JACK, foreground in the below photo, was sighted this morning refitting at the Santa Cruz Harbor boatyard. Who was the designer and what handicap rule was the boat designed to; additionally what familiar SSS of SF Bay sailing personage sails a near (not identical) sistership, and/or what is the sistership's name?



Second Question: Nearby to the above mentioned LORD JACK was moored this pretty, blue hulled, design, also owned locally. She is a past and present entrant in the Baja Ha Ha. What is the design, who is the designer, and what famous SSS boat did he (she) also design?

 

[H Spruit]

Lord Jack is a T/2 designed by Bill Lapworth to the IOR (Invest Or Retire) 1/2 TON rule
Lapworth also is given credit for all the Jensen Marine boats including the Cal 20,24, 2-24, T24, T/2, 27,28,30,33,34,36, and who could forget the Cal 40.
There was also the L 36.
The Little blue boat is an Offshore Mirror designed by E.G. Van De Stadt and owned by Tom Carr, Tom has owned 3 of these boats and sailed them extensively.
Van De Stadt also designed Black Sue ( Willowa?) that was the incentive for Grendel and Prince Charming.
When I first started sailing I remember George Olson coming back from a race in the City and reporting that there was a 30 ft hard chine plywood boat up on the bay that would plane past Cal 40s. Then the Ultralight thing started and the IOR rule faded away.

 

[Philpott]

So who's cooking the chicken?

 

[sleddog]

So who's cooking the chicken?

Nice try, "H Spruit," but both parts of the question are answered incompletely, and possibly incorrectly. No winner/chicken dinner for you, at least not yet.

 

[Dazzler]

Howard filled in most (but not all) of the answers, and of course Jackie knows the answer to that near sistership Lapworth design. The IOR 1/2 Ton rule required "standing head room," hence some really odd looking cabins on some of the half-tonners.
The E.G. Van De Stadt design (Black Soo) that George Olson came home to talk about was STARBUCK, then owned by sailmaker Don Goring and later sailed to great success in the SSS by "solosailor." It should also be noted that Ben Mewes also successfully campaigned another Black Soo, MIRAGE in the SSS and now cruises with Lucy on another Van De Stadt design: GEORGIA.

Sled appeared to throw in a red herring with: "...what famous SSS boat did he (she) also design?" Full name: Ericus (Ricus) Gerhardus van de Stadt (1910–1999). Read more about him and his interesting family on Wikipedia.

P.S. SLED, we returned on Tuesday from a fabulous trip to the White Mountains and the Bristlecone Pines. With no moon on Saturday night the dark sky provided fantastic views of the Milky Way and deep space from Grandview Campground. For Sled's pictures of the Bristlecone Pines, see post 1113 in this thread.

 

[BobJ]

(I had to find another post to delete so I could chip in on this one.)

I'm thinking the Cal T2 was designed to the MORC rule, and if you put a stickie over the house and substitute colours, you might see Jackie's Cal 2/27 DURA MATER sitting in those stands.

 

[Philpott]

(I had to find another post to delete so I could chip in on this one.)

I'm thinking the Cal T2 was designed to the MORC rule, and if you put a stickie over the house and substitute colours, you might see Jackie's Cal 2/27 DURA MATER sitting in those stands.

"Oh, good." DM says.
"You haven't forgotten me down here. Haaaalllloooo! I've never spent so many days un sailed! What's going on? Stop talking, get in the car, come down here and sail me!"

 

[sleddog]

Congratulations for a group effort (H.Spruit, DAZZLER, and RAGTIME) in answering the design trivia quiz, above.

The correct answers are: LORD JACK is a Cal T/2 Half Tonner, designed by Bill Lapworth in 1971 to the IOR Rule, The T/2 is similar in design to the original Cal 27, which had a pop-top house rather than the fixed house and 5' 8" standing headroom mandated by the IOR Half Ton rule.

Jackie's DURA MATER, a Cal 2/27 designed in 1973, is closely related to the Cal T/2, but has 4" more beam, 5" less waterline, and weighs about 1,300 pounds more.

The pretty little blue boat is Tom Carr's Mirror Offshore 17 BLUEBIRD, designed by van de Standt, designer of STARBUCK and MIRAGE. Tom sailed BLUEBIRD in the 2015 Baja Ha Ha, then trailed north from Cabo San Lucas. He will do the trip again this year, as the Baja Ha Ha committee has again given Tom's well prepared BLUEBIRD an exception to their minimum 27 foot overall length requirement.



DAZZLER, (Tom and Sue) win the guest cabin overnight at the Capitola Boating Club and Maritime Museum, with honorable mention to RAGTIME, who wins a personally conducted tour of H.Spruit's historical workshop, canvas loft, and auto repair.

 

[Dazzler]

Sled, Thank you! We will have to coordinate calendars. And with your recovery from surgery, maybe we can bring dinner, and some probably much needed distraction.
Related to your quiz, I must point out that there is another E.G. Van De Stadt connection for both of us. We both sailed in the 1967 Transpac. As I'm sure you recall, it was the year that the Van de Stadt designed STORMVOGEL won the Barn Door Trophy for the fastest elapsed time. It was also that same year that a rather young Skip Allan skippered the Cal40 HOLIDAY TOO to first in class and first overall. Congratulations!
I don't know about you, but STORMVOGEL really got my attention. I had long been interested in yacht design and there were big changes happening, and more to come. Those were exciting times.

Tom

 

[H Spruit]

"with honorable mention to RAGTIME, who wins a personally conducted tour of H.Spruit's historical workshop, canvas loft, and auto repair.[/QUOTE]

For that personally conducted tour please bring a broom and be prepared to use it:}
<H>

 

[sleddog]

It was December when friends Bruce, Gregg, and Roy were delivering a Valiant 40 sloop from Newport Beach to St.Thomas, BVI via the Panama Canal. They were about 80 miles north of the Mexican/Guatemalan border, close in to the beach, when Gregg called out to his brother below, "Hey Bruce, you've got to come up on deck, there's a whale out here!"

Bruce picks up the story: "The next thing I heard was a whale blow, close! Like right next to the boat. It's dark, 8 pm at night, and this thing is rolling and blowing right next to the boat. We thought this was pretty neat."

They cruised along for a while with the whale alongside when, of a sudden, the whale tried to clasp the boat with his pectoral fins. It was a 40 foot humpback, with 6-7 foot long pectoral fins, and the contact was pushing the boat up to 90 degrees off course.

The whale continued to get more aggressive, hitting the rudder and smacking the side of the boat really hard. This behavior continued until about midnight, when the boys could see he was an excited male whale.

The next morning the amorous whale continued his affections. Gregg had the bright idea of standing on the Valiant 40's rubstrake, and as the whale rolled next to the boat, stepping off and standing on the back of the whale. Pretty soon all the crew were doing it, one at a time.

After a while they stopped the boat, dropping the main, and just sitting, to see if the whale would leave. No such luck. The whale sat there too, sticking six feet of his head out of water, and eyeing the crew with a big golden eye as he scraped his barnacled hide down the rubrail.

The crew was now seriously wondering what to do to get rid of the whale. Loud rap music on the deck speakers didn't seem to work, so they started up the engine and attempted to motor away. But the whale continued his affections.

Bruce contacted Scripps Institute, then Sea World on the radio for advice. They agreed the best tactic was to go into shallow water, so in they went. The whale didn't seem pleased and rammed the rudder, spinning the wheel out of the helmsman's hands. They could hear the prop cutting into the whale, so they threw the engine into neutral and loafed along.

Presently, a Westsail 32 from Vancouver happened along, wondering what all the radical course alterations were about. The Valiant crew hailed the Westsail 32 on VHF 16, asking if they'd standby should the whale take off the rudder.

An unexpected development was, in the hot climate, the hatches on the Valiant had to be left open for down below ventilation. The continuous stinky whale mist below swelled up the floorboards, preventing checking for water in the bilge.

Evidently, the whale was not getting the hint that the "lady" in his life was not a lady, and was spending his amorous affections on a tease of a boat. The crew wondered if the whale stuck with them, would he try to transit the Panama Canal alongside? That would be a first.

That's when they decided to go swimming., to inspect the rudder and windvane, and see what kind of damage had been done. Fortunately no damage to the hull, except barnacle scratches. The back corner of the rudder had been knocked off. They didn't find out until Key West that the rudder had been cracked from top to bottom right in front of the rudder stock.

The wind began to fill along the coast, and the crew set the spinnaker, hoping to maybe outrun the whale. The whale figured he was racing too, and luffed the Valiant up, hitting the boat hard enough to spin them in a circle, spinnaker and all. The spinnaker refilled, the boat took off, and that was the last they saw of the whale. I'm guessing it had a headache. Valiants are pretty tough boats!

Apologies, the photos are not of sufficient quality to publish. And sorry if this whale tale is similar to what I wrote 3 years ago, page 62, post 578. I guess you could say it made an "impression."

 

[sleddog]

Last evening, as the sun set into a thick fog, Bill and Lu Lee's iconic 'Fast is Fun" MERLIN was lowered into the Pacific at Santa Cruz Harbor after an absence of many years in Great Lakes waters.



Bill Lee spent recent months removing the dysfunctional canting keel, daggerboard, and massive internal structure, and installing a new, modern torpedo type keel. Bill had a broad smile last evening when he saw MERLIN floating evenly and exactly on her original, 1977, designed lines, indicating a displacement of 25,000 pounds had been met.

MERLIN will be raced in next summer's Transpac, 40 years after breaking the Transpac elapsed time record.



MERLIN's first race ever was the inaugural Singlehanded Farallones in 1977.

Welcome Home, MERLIN! A re-christening ceremony will be held February 26, all invited

 

[H Spruit]

It is GOOD That Bill and LU have brought Merlin Home.
Shortly after her arrival, Bill gave some of us a tour.
My experience with MERLIN dates back to conception.
The boat has been totally changed, bigger rig, longer LOA, new aerodynamic house, different cockpit,
AND the interior that I liked a lot was TOTALLY GONE!
So as I rode my bike home, I had the sad realization that the only thing I recognized about my old flame was her name.......

I sincerely hope that Bill and LU are successful in resurrecting her soul!

 

[sleddog]

Likely the most valuable and utilitarian tool in the sailor's toolbox are Vise Grip pliers.



Vice Grips are one of many useful products to come out of World War II. They were first manufactured by a Danish blacksmith and inventor named William Petersen in the small town of Dewitt, Nebraska. It was Petersen who, in the 1920's, figured out that a screw mechanism in the handle could adjust the opening of the pliers and later improved his pliers by adding another other handle to lock it in place. Petersen built several prototypes, first out of cardboard and then wood. Finally, he hammered one out of metal on his forge and the rest is history.

Petersen received a patent for his "vise-grip" pliers in 1921 and began selling them from the trunk of his car to farmers and mechanics in nearby Nebraska towns. In spite of the Great Depression and hard times, Petersen's invention became a popular tool. A big break came in 1941 with a government contract: builders of Liberty Ships found Vise Grips so useful that welders simply welded the pliers in place rather than removing them from the pieces they were holding together. At the time, Vise Grips sold for $1.25 a piece.

Though Liberty Ships are no more, boat builders like good friend H. Spruit use Vise Grips nearly everyday. Howard owns 19 Vise Grips, and keeps at least two within reach at all times. Why so many? When working singlehanded, for example installing jib tracks on deck, one Vise Grip/nut below means Howard can complete the installation alone without needing an assistant to hold a wrench below while he tightens screws from above.

Solo sailors like myself have used Vise Grips in many situations. Back when propeller shaft locks were required for the SHTP, an easy solution was Vise Grips sealed in place by the RC. Another quick and dirty use is to grasp a untied sail leech line and secure it with Vise Grips.

As a result of my recent foot reconstruction, I currently have two small diameter metal rods in toes 2 & 3. When I asked my surgeon how she intended to remove the rods, she smiling replied, "Vise Grip pliers!" "Needle nose Vise Grips are my favorite handy tool and used regularly by orthopedic surgeons."

I guess it should be no surprise that William Petersen's Vise Grip manufacturing company has closed, and our handy dandy tool is now made it China. reportedly of inferior metal and parts.

Vise Grip's William Petersen did not have a monopoly on interesting inventions in the state of Nebraska. Which of the following was also invented in the 1920's in Nebraska? 1) Kool Aid 2) Raisin Bran 3) Reuben Sandwich 4) Mouse Trap

 

[BobJ]

Kool Aid and (disputably) the Reuben. Also frozen TV dinners, Eskimo Pie and Butter Brickle ice cream.

 

[Philpott]

Kool Aid and (disputably) the Reuben. Also frozen TV dinners, Eskimo Pie and Butter Brickle ice cream.

Shouldn't you recuse yourself? How many times can you drive Highway 17?

http://abc7news.com/traffic/highway-17-named-one-of-californias-most-dangerous-roads/1256523/

 

[H Spruit]

I decided that driving 17 was a bad idea long before I was able to quit.
I did quit totally for 8 years starting in 1987, I am back up to 2 or 3 times a year, and that is TOO much!

 

[sleddog]

Long before there was a Highway 17 to drive, or a Santa Cruz Harbor, young Ernie Rideout of San Jose would throw a sailbag over his shoulder and walk 30 miles of trails over the Santa Cruz mountains to go for a sail.

Ernie lived a full life of boats, more than 90 years worth, and taught more than 3,500 to sail. At age 88 and 90, Ernie won the Santana 22 National Championships and was a force to be reckoned with right to the end.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/santacruzsentinel/obituary.aspx?pid=175059229

 

[sleddog]

It isn't everyday one comes across a deployed liferaft well offshore.



The attached photos show an overturned liferaft observed by Matson container ship MV MOKIHANA yesterday at position Lat 22-46.4N Long 154-21.2W, 225 miles northeast of Honolulu.



MOKIHANA made three passes of the liferaft, sighting no people onboard or nearby, and no name on the raft except for "Boarding" near the entrance. USCG Sector Honolulu was contacted when the raft was first observed and observations communicated during the 3 passes of the raft.



With no missing vessels reported in the vicinity, MOKIHANA was released, and resumed passage to Hono.

Further east, Commodore Tompkins' Wylie-39 FLASHGIRL passed the halfway point yesterday on her return passage from Oahu to SF. As may be remembered, FLASHGIRL was recently sunk by a lightning strike at Kaneohe. Heroic efforts by Tompkins and friends have made her seaworthy. But Commodore and crew Robert Flowerman are sailing home without electrics, auto-pilot, or engine. Their goal is to be at Spaulding Boat Works in Sausalito for a restoration fundraiser concert on Nov.5.