Last sail of the year

Took advantage of a break in the weather today to get in one last sail this year. Overcast and about 50 or so with a light southeasterly. Cool enough for a fire and a sizzle. Had the Bay to myself so sitting below was no problem while actually hove to off Swan Point.

Here are a few pics from today and the last few weeks.


Manto to weather
Reaching along the Mantoloking Shore this morning. Hope they all enjoyed it.


Ready to go
Earlier this month waiting for crew. Best late fall/ early Winter sailing yet. Keep it coming.


Reedy Creek
Beating up to Reedy Creek on a very warm December 10th.

Close encounters
Close enough. The Bay was up about a foot or so and fairly clear. Clear enough to get within inches of the marsh edge.


Here’s a new video of sailing along the all too near edge of the marsh on December 10th.


Foggy
Foggy morning in early December. No wind and little water. A watch below was called for.


Happy Shipper
Your very happy and grateful Skipper.

Well this has certainly been an eventful year with the return of Sjogin sailing in her home waters and her face all over the cover of WoodenBoat.

Thanks all for following along and here’s our best wishes to you gentle reader for a fine New Year.

Back to normal… almost

What joy to be able to say “…going down to Sjogin for a quick visit/pump out/sail.” There have been a number of them since early July, most just sails of an hour or so, running the same old upper Bay circuit. What a lucky so and so.

Paul has installed the the new seats and they are just as I imagined. Next is the cabin sole, battery and bilge pump, limited furnishings and most importantly, the Sardine wood stove.

Here are a few pics from the last few weeks or so:

Have a seat!
Do sit down. The bespoke Paul Smith seats are very comfortable and sturdy, matching Sjogin’s robust proportions and just what I had in mind. The cedar slats and teak trim will turn silver with age.

What a treat to be able to step down on a solid surface rather than a loose milk crate with a teak lid. Sorry about all those bruises and such over the years.


Same as it ever was
The classic “last look before you leave the boat” image. Not so very different from the photo taken on October 28, 2012.


Fine view
At ease this morning during a quick visit and pump. In a perfect world Ed Lowe should be in the opposite slip in a similar comfortable position. He passed peacefully this year at age 98 after a full life, well sailed.


Ready
Ready to go. Or just back and ready to go again. It’s an embarrassment of riches to be able to lose track how many times I’ve gone sailing since Sjogin’s commissioning in early July.


Ghosting
Ghosting out of Beaton’s, Witch to leeward.


At ease again
Here we are hove to off Sloop Point for a change. Do you see a pattern here?


New coat!
Thanks to the lessons learned from Hervey Garrett Smith’s The Arts of the Sailor
we have a new mast coat. Please don’t look too closely at the cave man stitching.

Beaton’s and other pics to follow. (ed: We’ve all heard that before.)

Recent Beaton’s Pics

I hope this Post makes you happy Peter. Lot’s of activity at Beaton’s this off season from rehabbing a pair of Elco electric launches to a new mast for Ghost.

Little recent work on Sjogin by the yard other than Paul working on her new hatch. When we get near a launch date they’ll finish some details like installing the bow vent and round deck light/prism. The later will make the forward section a lot brighter. Look’s like painting season is upon us.


New Duck
Here’s Tom a few months ago with the new Duckboat. Most of the planking’s on and the deck beams are being fit.


All that glitters
All that glitters is in fact, occasionally, Gold. A few microns of plating make this boat a true “Gold Plater”. The dozen or so coats of varnish show it off nicely.

Lightning
Lightning in for a bit of paint and varnish. The 100th BBYRA Season starts on June 21st. I plan on seeing a few of them from the comfort of Sjogin’s new cockpit. Maybe even down Bay!


Mystery Tool
Shop made tools like this show up now and then. I think it was used to form a Penguin or Duckboat fitting.


Eight sided
New mast for Ghost by Pete Schell. There are eight sides after glueing up the birdsmouth staves. Astonishing progress. Pete’s made about ten A-Cat masts to date so that should be no surprise.


Old mast end
Here’s the lower end of the old mast. Note how the eight pieces are glued together. A lot more efficient way then in my days at Beaton’s.


16 sided
Here’s Pete planing the mast to sixteen sides.


And then round
And here it is fair and almost ready for varnish.


Landscaping!
Landscaping in progress. When done there’ll be picnic tables and enough room to fold sails and such.

Back to Sjogin progress next. Enough Beaton’s pics Peter?

Very minor progress

Beaton’s moved the mast into the shed next to Sjogin and I actually put tool to wood. A few feet of very old varnish was scraped off before your frozen fingered friend was sent running to the wood stove. The varnish is very old; it seems to leap off the mast when touched by a reasonably sharp scraper. Very satisfying work. After scraping, a bit of planning will be done to try and fair up the lumps. Then it’s through the grits with a final 120 grit sanding. Then as many coats of varnish as I can manage. Same for the boom. Scraping lessons freely given.


Progress....
Slow and steady and it’s down to bare wood. It will take time for the deep color return but well worth it. No signs of rot or punkiness yet. (Types with fingers crossed.)


It's a start
It’s a start. Taken in early January, before the current bout of freezing weather. There’s something to be said for having one’s boat ashore and in a shed in Winters like this one.


Cockpit work!
This is a bit more recent. I figured out the length of the cockpit sole beams and had Paul mill some from his private stock. A needed step in the right direction.

Here are a few more pics to fill out this Post. When the weather turns there’ll be more about Sjogin’s finishing touches and eventual Launch Party.


E-Scow half hulls
Beaton’s made a half dozen new E-Scow half hulls and backboards for club trophies.


Winter fresh marsh
Fresh snow on the marsh behind Beaton’s. There needs to be a bench of some kind at this spot.


Spartina patens
Speaking of marshes, here’s a pic from our own tiny bit of salt water heaven. It’s Spartina patens, common marsh hay, taken in late fall when it turns color a bit.


It's a Nor'estr
This was taken from our beach when one of the recent Northeasters was brewing.

Paul Smith’s quietly efficient magic

There has been terrific progress on Sjogin’s restoration over the last few weeks. Paul has been hard at work with deck repairs, installing the ply deck cover, applying the Xynole and epoxy fabric, laminating and fitting three new floors, extending the upper frames past the nasty bits, setting up the old and installing new rivets below the waterline, steaming and installing the rubrail and more. The mind boggles.

It looks more and more likely that we’ll have a Spring launch. I hope it will still be cool enough for fire down below and the scent of sizzling Joe Leone Bread.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since Sandy passed through. Every time I drive down Route 35 to go to the Beaton’s, the evidence of the storms destruction is all too evident. There are and will be for a while, acres of nothing but hastily pushed up dunes where there used to be dozens of homes. The scary thing is that it could happen again. All we need is a nasty, slow moving Northeaster during a full or new moon.

We’re back to normal. The floors that were wet from the surge eventually laid back down and seem fine. We were so very lucky. Here’s a link to my post Sandy Post.


Post Sandy
This was recently sent to me by Suzanne Beaton. It’s from a aerial photo taken the day after Sandy. Sjogin’s visible on the left, laying on her starboard side and awash. The piling on her Port side is the one that pierced her planking. You can see the Starboard dock line was still attached. I can only assume that after the Port dock lines failed she laid against the piling for a while until the surge lifted her high enough to allow the piling to break the plank. I think she was full of water when it happened for she was a leaker in the calmest conditions and banging against the piling and tossing about would have opened up her already iffy seams. The more I think about it it was the remaining dock line that kept her from going into the debris pile and turned into kindling. Lucky boat.

Photo by Andrew Mills of the Star Ledger


Smooth
Here the plywood has been glued and fastened to the existing deck and the screw holes filled. Should be almost bullet proof.


Rails backed out
The rub rails were set up in a jig and run across the table saw at an angle. The groove created will be filled with bedding compound and will lie evenly on the sheer strake. The dark coloring is two coats of sealer. I hope to never see this side again.


Toe rails
Paul set up what look like shelf supports to bend the ends of the toe rails. They’re Mahogany for ease of milling and for cutting the spaces as in the original rails.


Hot steam
Paul bending White Oak strips fresh out of the steam box. When cool and dry the will be glued together and then fashioned to replace the old floor.


New Floors
And here’s the almost finished set of new floors. The upper frame ends will have the ends cut back to good wood and have laminated extensions added.


Rails On!
New rub rails. After I did some preliminary shaping, Paul and Jeff installed the rails. Now that they’re on, I’ll finish the fairing. When done I’ll prime and paint them the usual Malachy Green. When done, 3/4 inch Bronze half oval will be installed.


Rail work
Paul and Jeff fastening the new rub rail. Very solid.

Once again, sorry for the delay between posts.

Duckboat Worlds and and a leaking Sjogin

The Duckboat Worlds were held at Mantoloking Yacht Club last Friday. Our Speedwell was in commission again with her sprit rig. Conditions were less than ideal with a light, flukey NE breeze. Not only that, but an unusually strong Northerly current played havoc with the start and weather mark rounding. I managed to get around the leeward mark in the bottom 20% of the fleet and then headed back to Beaton’s. The thought of another run and long beat back was just too much.

Pre race party
Julia sitting on Speedwell at the Duckboat party the night before the race. There were 74 boats participating this year.


Heading out
Leaving MYC. If it wasn’t for the northerly current the fleet would have never reached the course. The forecasted NE to SE 5 to 10 kt breeze never materialized.


Beaton's rule
The two Beaton boats heading out. Tom is in B-9. Beaton’s built hundreds of these boats over the years. There are several generations of sailors that learned to sail in these boats.


Barely moving
Arriving at the start. Just enough room to fit this Happy Skipper. Let’s hope for a bit more breeze next year.


Not good
Do I need a clam license? Do you think Sjogin’s been taking on more water than usual? Enough to grow clams!  Usually bilge water won’t support such growth.


Leak search
Time for a quick haul to find out why she’s leaking so much.


Quick fix
When hauled, we found the garboard plank split with bilge water draining out. A lead tingle stopped most of it. After launch we found another split and leak above the repair. An inside caulking job slowed that one down too.

Usually Sjogin is hauled this time of year for her annual maintenance. Since the aft garboard planks need to be replaced, along with several other long deferred items, she’ll stay in till November or so. Then she’ll come out, set up outside for a bit of drying out and then into the shop for a few months this winter. I’ll miss the heart of the hot stove season this year, but at sixty or so years old, Sjogin needs some TLC from Beaton’s.

Enough for now. I’ll catch up on a few other items this week. I promise.

Small Sjogin plans now available

The indefatigable Rod Brink has brought forth another version of Sjogin. After Paul Gartside did a fine job with the building (and dreaming) plans for a replica of Sjogin, Rod convinced him there was a market for a smaller, trailerable version. So here we have Sjogin III, as published in the current issue of Watercraft Magazine. She’s 19′ LOA, with a hefty 8′ Beam. Very shallow draft at 1′ with a Centerboard draft of 4′ 2″. There’s an ingenious outboard bracket tucked away for a clean look under sail. Plans are $50 from the Gartside Sjogin III page.


We're famous!
Hopefully the new version won’t need a pump.


Sjogin III Sailplan
Here’s an image of the Sail plan. What joy. Let a thousand Sjogins sail.


Very Happy Skipper
Here’s a pic of your Very Happy Skipper at Brunch on Friday. A nice SE breeze and a northerly current allowed a very slow sail over the bottom off Mantoloking


Deck work of Myth
The deck work continues on Myth. Paul Smith is doing this exacting job. The seams will be caulked with a decidedly not sticky compound.


Silent Maid bling
The Maid’s back in and looking especially fine this year. Note the fore hatch that matches the deck crown in both directions.

No April foolin’ here

Managed to take my first sail of 2012 on Sunday, April Fools Day. The tiller is still rough but enough fitting to work as planned. Still not sure why it took so long but here we are, finally hove to off Swan Point.


Ready to cast off
Sails raised for the first time in many months. Let’s hope I make up for lost time. Who wants to go for a sail?


Brunch on deck
Brunch under way. A treat a long time coming.


It works!
Lots of shaping to do but it works fine. The aft end needs to be trimmed and faired but the forward end is now high enough to clear the blocks. When I laid out the new rudder I made the tiller slot parallel to the water line. I think the original rudder had the slot angled up slightly so the tiller started out at a bit of an angle, thus the current kink. Oh well, it and the rudder itself works fine.


Open Bay
Beating into a rising Southwesterly on a mostly empty Bay. It seems I still remember how to sail. I poked around south of Swan Point hoping to catch a glimpse of the lost rudder as the water’s still clear but no luck. By now, if it’s still on the bottom, it’s covered in growth and mud and invisible.


Pics from St. John later this week.

First iPad Post

Sitting down below with a warm fire and an about to be removed wisdom tooth. Figured I’d chew on a well toasted sausage bread before days of mush.

This is also my first iPad post.

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The view yesterday under the dock at Beaton’s. I knew as soon as I shipped the rudder, the sailing conditions would revert to mean.