219 – Page 3 – Hove to off Swan Point

More from Maine

along with recent pics of Speedwell and Sjogin.

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Quite calm
Typical morning conditions on the Reach. Julia rowed me around the cove that morning but no pics.

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John Brooks and one of his Sommes Sound 12 1/2 designs.

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Neat old Lobster boat in Center Harbor. We were returning on Malabar II, a beautiful boat in a harbor full of them. (Mostly.)

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Jett and Bob enjoying a Martini.

More Maine pics on Flickr.

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Happy Skipper
Running home today in Speedwell. Rising breeze, several gybes and still dry! Duckboat Worlds on Friday.

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Rudderless
Without direction. Â Sjogin awaits the passing of Irene and several months in the shed.

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More this weekend….

The change of the coming season is visible at Beaton’s: the bubbler system has been put away, signs of owners can be seen around the yard and the Ospreys are back. The Silent Maid and the A-Cats are being prepped for the coming battles with lots of varnishing in evidence. Here are a few pics from the last few weeks:

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John Haas and Spyder
Here’s John Haas, up from SP for a visit and Spyder’s freshly varnished transom. Even the wood shop’s being used for paint work.

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Glowing!
Here’s the Silent Maid’s freshly varnished transom and newly painted and gold leafed name. The painter is a gentleman who’s been painting names at Beaton’s for decades. Fine hand.

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The Shadow knows
Speaking of transoms, here’s Shadow, looking Beaton’s Fresh.

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Ingrid Ann getting ready for the dock building season.

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And we have signs of Spring at Ourhouse. Everything seems to have survived the Winter with the bulbs thriving. Bring it on.

Old plank, new leak

There’s been a split in the broad-strake, the plank above the garboard, for as long as I can remember. The split runs from just inside the cabin to the cockpit, passing under two frames. While cleaning out ice last week and wondering why she was making more water than usual, I saw water seeping out of the split. I imagine years of freezing had taken their toll. It needs a permanent repair but a session of caulking cotton and screwdriver work slowed it down considerably.

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Leak!
The area above the split is dry (relatively). This is before the cotton was forced into the seam. When we get a spell of ice free weather I’ll have the yard pull her and do something permanent.

All the wires you see are for the bilge pump, the sole bit of electrical gear on Sjogin.

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Fire in the hole
Warming the cabin while I caulked the leak. Necessary part of any off-season Sjogin work.

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At the sizzle
Post caulking brunch.

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Foggy
Foggy with floating ice yesterday. The photo is via Instagram, a site I use to post pics on Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

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Shadow progress
Progress on the Blackjack Shadow. The windscreen’s been rebuilt and painted. Cockpit work continues.

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Icebreaker
Local dock builder doing some icebreaking last week. The basin and upper Bay were ice free this morning.

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Yet more snow
Last weeks storm brought about six inches of wet snow. I think we’re working on a record for continuous snow cover. Very unusual.

More Snow

And more ice. It’s looking more and more like it will be a Winter of much discontent. We’ve had a series of classic coastal storms leaving us snow covered for the last few weeks. The ice in Jones Tide Pond at Beaton’s has been variable, but solid lately. Open water is about fifty yards away.

The water levels have dropped to their usual winter depth, but later than usual this year. One of the very few benefits (if any) to our coastal Northeasters is the raising of the water level in the upper Bay. This kept the level a bit higher over the last few weeks.

All in all no sailing yet this year.

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Streamlined
No sailing but plenty of visits to pump her out and warm up the cabin with a quick fire and fixins’. Lots of slush in the bilges lately but the pump still works.

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Taken Tuesday. Nice conditions for a sail; about 35, Westerly breeze at 5 or so, scattered high clouds but still ice bound. And plenty of water. There’s about 20 yards of thickish ice between the dock and the upper bay.

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Lumpy water
Still pretty solid. Seems it will spread with the coming chill this weekend.

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New on old
Paul Smith building a new windshield frame for Shadow, a well used Hubert? Johnson Blackjack.

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Laying down on the job
One of the joys of boat work. Jeff laying down a bead of caulk in seemingly endless seams.

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New plank ready to be set in place. This is high boatwright art; dealing with the twist and matching the existing, often dodgy, bevels.

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A bit of local color last week in the backyard. Our feeder’s been getting a workout with the lingering snow cover.

Storm of the Century!

So far. We had about 30″ along the coast, the most snow I’ve ever seen here. We were snowed in until today. Tom Beaton was able to get down to the Yard yesterday and pump out Sjogin. Thanks Tom.

When I finally got down today I was surprised to see her decks swept clean from the gale force winds we had during this very nasty Northeaster. The cockpit was full of snow and it took a while to clear it out. Luckily no water in the cabin. It’s supposed to be in the mid 40’s this weekend so she should have ice free bilges for a while.

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It starts
This was from Sunday morning, the start of the storm. Very cozy below with the howling wind and blowing snow.

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What snow?
With the wind out of the NNW, the decks were swept clean. Note the clear dock. And the ice is back but not too thick. With the warming trend it may be gone by Friday allowing a chance for a last sail for 2010.

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Drifts!
Not all the docks were clear. This is in front of the Mast Shed.

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Wow!
Most snow ever at our house. It was about 30″ in the back yard but felt like more when shoveling the path to the street. Thankfully we don’t have any sidewalks to clear. Hope it melts before the daffodils are due.

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Happy tree, happy Julia
Here’s part of our Christmas Tree with a Happy Julia. Note the snow free patio.

Happy New Year all!

Sent the latest numbers off to Canada

All of the latest measurements have been sent of to Mr. Gartside. Added to the list was a set of offsets so the deck and house crown will be similar. I still need to make some minor changes to his first construction plan draft and mail that off.

If I haven’t before, here’s a link to his website. Some serious boat-flesh there.

Nothing else new, just the regular “boat check” routine. Starting to think about more frequent visits as the prospect of frozen bilges looms. No sailing this week.

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Still floating
Last Monday’s check up. The usual butt blocks are still leaking. Probably time for some sawdust.

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Ahhhhh.....
Ever the creature of habit. Chilly on deck.

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My current read on board. More pottering about the Thames Estuary in small boats. One of these days I’d like to sail there and channel my inner Griffiths.

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Draft measurement
It seems that Sjogin draws less than the three feet I always thought. Curious.

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Instagram!
Sent via the Instagram App which allows a few effects.

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Mary and Julia on Thanksgiving.

Almost ready

The 2010 Duckboat Worlds are this Friday at Mantoloking. Details here. Speedwell lacks a coat of Maynard Bray White on her bottom, a bit of soaking and rigging to be ready. Found out most folks now lash the stays rather than using turnbuckles. I think it has something to do with causing less damage in collisions. Duckboat racing IS a contact sport.

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White!
White for now. I had planned to paint the bottom the same as the green trim on Sjogin but ran out. I have an order in with Kirby but it won’t be here on time. I’ll use the MB White for now.

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My so called Bench
The usual found plank workbench full of this seasons work.

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Sulking Sjogin
Sjogin waiting for her work to resume. I’m shooting for the week after Labor Day to put her back in commission.

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One more from Maine. This fine pic of Tendress was taken by Dick Wynne from Sea Harmony on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon a few weeks ago.

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Lamb's Ears
What time is it? Time to trim the Lamb’s Ears.

This and that and Gartside news

Here are some pics from the last few weeks. A mix of sailing and garden and family stuff.

I asked Paul Gartside if he would mind If I shared his instructions for taking the lines off Sjogin and he graciously agreed. If any one is interested, drop me a note and I’ll send you the PDF. Sjogin’s scheduled to be pulled on Wednesday for her annual refit. The lining off will take pace on the 24th.

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How to measure the hull
This is one of the pages from the Gartside instructions. The boat as drawn looks just like Sjogin. Here’s a link to the PDF

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Hove to off Swan Point last week. Just remove the tiller and relax. Note the nice slick to starboard.

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Sjogin’s sculling oar. Last week the wind was out of the NNW and rather than do a down-wind landing, I sailed up to the south end of the T dock. After stowing the sails and such I set up the sculling rig and sculled around to her slip. No real need but needed the practice.

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Sold!
The last of this years Beaton’s rowboats is spoken for. Call Tom to get on this Winter’s list.

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The Big Shed awaits. Sjogin will be hauled this week and placed in this shed near the open door for her refit. She’ll be moved in the the Wood Shop for her measuring on the 24th.

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Jeff
Jeff down below. He and Sasha are here for an all too brief visit.

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Jeff and Sasha watching the tide change.

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Color waves
The upper garden in it’s pre-drought glory. Still doesn’t look too bad. We haven’t had any serious rain in weeks.

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My all too infrequently used Mill Creek 15 double paddle canoe. I figured if I cleaned her up I’d be more likely to use her. We’ll see.

Thanks

Just wanted to take a moment to thank my readers for their comments and e-mails. I’m so very pleased to be able to share Sjogin and such with you all. Hard to believe it’s been almost five years.

I heard from a reader in South America the other day and wanted to share this. He was interested in plans for Sjogin so he could build a detailed half model. He added:

“And thanks again for sharing, your site is one of those little gems which make our lives and this world better.”

Thanks, E.

Fair winds all,

Russ

And I wouldn’t leave you without a pic:

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Sjogin awaits....

Sailed on an empty Bay yesterday

Went out for a bit in the morning; nice NE breeze about 6 to 10 kts, bright sun but chilly as the wind off the ocean is blowing across mid 50’s water. Went down to Sloop Point and hove to on the Port tack for a good draw on the stove. A cup of tea and another chapter in Seven Sisters took care of the tack back to Mantoloking.

Semi-retirement has arrived so I hope you’ll look forward to more sailing pics, checking up on the Osprey families, reports on what’s new at Beaton’s, yet more garden pics and such.

Progress on the Sjogin sister-ship program. Paul Gartside has agreed to produce a set of plans for a Sjogin replica; both for traditional construction and for the modern glued lap method. Perhaps there’ll be a plan for a gaff yawl. I’ve mentioned here and on the Forum that Sjogin would look good with such a rig. And here’s a vote for jack yard topsail!

I sent my deposit in yesterday. I’ll let you know how you can buy a set. Suitable for framing and dreaming.

New garden pics as well. Happy Almost Summer.

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Nice breeze
Nice classic dry Northeaster.