YouTube Channels: a few observations…

Both the woman who will willingly get up in the middle of the night and stand anchor watch, and I try to keep up with our connections in the maritime world.  We subscribe to at least six maritime oriented magazines, talk with and socialize with a fairly wide circle of other sailors, and even read something called newspapers. I should say that I spend almost no time on social media and rely on the woman who will willingly get up in the middle of the night and stand anchor watch to let me know if something interesting in the marine world pops up on facebook. It has only been in the last few years that I have become at least peripherally aware of YouTube channels on sailing and boating. I have not spent a great deal of time looking at these channels, nor, based on what I have seen, do I intend to in the future. Now, before anyone takes offense, just realize that I would rather be doing than watching anyway; so vicarious sailing is not really my thing.

I am not hear to bash anybody and your tastes may be very different than my own when it comes to YouTube videos, so let me just say that a number of channels are either about sailing in the tropics: been there, don’t like the heat and humidity, or crossing oceans, and my personal feeling is that leaving is great and arriving is great, the middle, not so much. So that rules out a lot of channels for me. Secondly, a number of channels that are truly about sailing tend to be almost exclusively about sailing modern cruising boats, which means they spend a significant amount of time explaining how they maintain the multiple systems on the boat, or how they can’t get parts for the systems on their boat, which doesn’t particularly interest me either. There also seem to be a number of channels that are more about the relationships between members of the crew as they sail to wherever, which frankly turns my stomach. However, if any of that stuff sounds fun to you it looks like there is a lot to watch, and that’s fine too. Just because it is not my thing does not mean it isn’t interesting, it’s just not interesting to me.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, there are four channels that have caught my interest. I think each is unique and each has something to offer. Two are truly sailing related and then two are strictly speaking about boat building (in wood).

First on my list is Dylan Winter’s Keep Turning Left. Dylan’s goal was to inexpensively circumnavigate the British Isles. I have not watched all of his work, or even the majority of it, nor do I realistically think I am going to get around to binge watching his episodes (or anything else for that matter, I have wooden boats remember) but I will say his posts are extremely well made, and quite captivating.  He has been at this since 2008 and before that he worked professionally in video so the quality is outstanding. His most recent videos are just short sailing shots, but his longer episodes are worth watching. Full of current impressions, observations of nature, and historical narrative, Dylan is an incredibly well spoken narrator, capable of exploiting the richness of the English language, not above expressing a personal opinion, and brings a knowledge of craft to his posts that put his work firmly in the realm of professional film worth watching, head and shoulders above everything else I have seen. So that’s my recommendation for you armchair sailors, check out Keep Turning Left.

Next on the list is Tom Cunliffe. If you don’t know who Tom is, you are probably not familiar with the gaff rig. Tom has sailed the world’s oceans, mostly on traditional rigs, writes for Classic Boat magazine, has written a number of books, and is both knowledgeable and witty. It is true that many of his videos are short and he just speaks to the camera from an interesting location, but his use of language and his definitive statements are both educational and entertaining. I am biased since most of what Tom espouses are opinions that I share, that said, there are very few sailors who have had the experiences that Tom has lived through and he is worth listening to for that reason alone.

Third on my list is Acorn to Arabella. This is two guys, Alex and Steve, who have taken on the task of building a wooden boat starting with cutting down the trees and going from there. They are not professional boat builders, are learning as they go, and are trying to document their learning curve mistakes and all. What started as documentation of building a boat has taken on a bit of a cult following. They are now pretty well supported on Patreon and have some support from Jamestown Distributors as well. I have certainly not watched all their videos since some of it is pretty basic stuff filmed in detail, but parts are quite engaging and the editing of their videos is quite good.

The last, but arguably best on my list is Sampson Boat Co.

Sailor and professionally trained boat builder, Leo Gooden has taken on the restoration, really the complete rebuild, of a century old famous Albert Strange sailing yacht, Tally Ho.  He started financing the project himself and now he too is supported through Patreon and donations. He has a huge following, partly because the skill set and craftsmanship filmed is outstanding and a bit mesmerizing to watch, but I think principally because his ability as a boat builder is matched by his ability as a filmmaker. The videos are beautifully shot, well narrated, and most significantly, extremely well edited. They are both entertaining and enlightening, most of all, the vessel is magnificent and the work being done, superb.

In my humble opinion I think his videos are more watchable than anything on television.

The COVID Cruise

One of the events we look forward to every year is a two-week cruise down east. The planning for this starts soon after the winter holidays and is part of the fun. This year with the arrival of the pandemic, we went ahead and made the best plans we could with the limited knowledge available regarding travel across state lines and restrictions that may, or may not be in place when summer rolled around.

We made two assumptions that proved false. One was that there would be fewer boats in the water and the other was that we would not be socializing with friends on the water.

The first assumption was partly true in that there were some familiar boats that simply never appeared this year. It was also true that we saw more empty moorings in some places, but we also saw many boats that we had never seen before that appeared and took up a summer, or partial-summer residence in the part of central Maine where we normally sail. Some of these were mega yachts from away and from what we could see, they were being used as places to escape the pandemic. Some might have even been used as “home offices”. The result was a combination of empty moorings in places we did not expect and full anchorages in places that are rarely occupied. The other area where we saw more boats were in politically motivated boat parades.

While I understand that too many Americans have chosen to define themselves (and limit themselves) by who they voted for or who they are going to vote for; a sad state of affairs in and of itself, but for individuals to join in a political boat parade waving flags is an even sadder statement. I say this for two reasons; one is that I personally believe politics should stop at the water’s edge, something I always thought was a more metaphorical than literal expression until this COVID summer, and secondly we observed that when political parades reach the water’s edge, rules of the road, no wake areas, and basic courtesy to other boaters apparently no longer apply.

When the woman who will willingly get up in the middle of the night and stand an anchor watch and I meet other boaters, what we have always talked about, what has always drawn us together, is boats. We talk about cruising areas, moorings, boatyards, fog, storms, and maintenance issues, seamanship, local history, boaters we know in common, and of course yarns and tall tales; we are sailors after all. This has allowed us to make friends with all kinds of boaters in all kinds of watercraft.

The point is that we have made friends and stayed friends with many wonderful people who might not agree with our political views on a single issue. Our shared love of the water and being on it is the bond of our friendships and I would hate to see that lost. Part of what we love about being on the water is that it is an escape from the toxic divisiveness that has become so much worse in the last few years. I recognize that it is an escape and I choose the word deliberately, what I am saying is that the waterborne political parades of this summer made it harder to escape.

The second assumption, the one where we thought we would not be able to socialize on the water proved completely groundless. We assumed, wrongly, that because we could not have guests aboard there would be extremely limited opportunities to socialize with other boaters. What we found in our home harbor, and particularly on our cruise is that, if anything, we socialized more; we just did it from a distance. Our cruise was a case in point. Since all of the scheduled summer boating events we had planned to attend were cancelled and we were no longer bound to those schedules we decided to set out on a slightly shorter cruise later in the season than we normally do. Part of our thinking was based on the fact that much of July the weather had been fairly unstable and we hoped early August might provide us with a more stable weather pattern. It didn’t.

The middle of our eight-day cruise collided with a tropical storm, and we headed for a hurricane hole that we knew would provide shelter but where we might just be sitting on the boat for three days out of the eight of our intended cruise. It was a disappointing prospect but you can’t change the weather.

We had some great sailing getting to the hurricane hole and worked our way in carefully since the approach is a bit tricky and someone directed us to an empty mooring owned by people we know. At least we were safe. Soon other boats came in looking for shelter from the storm. The first one in was a beautiful classic that picked up the mooring next to us and we quickly struck up a conversation across the water based on the beauty and the uniqueness of our two sailing vessels, and of course it turned out we knew people in common.

Here we are in our hurricane hole waiting for the storm.

To our great surprise and delight, the next boat in was that of a good friend of ours and he took the mooring ahead of us. Two more boats came in owned by people we are at least acquainted with, or whom we had met before. Before you knew it we were rowing around talking to people from our tender and many of the other boaters did the same. No one boarded another boat unless they were family members or had been through quarantine, we certainly never boarded anyone else’s boat, nor did anyone board ours, but the ship visiting was extensive. We ended up visiting some of the few boats we did not know either because they had beautiful and interesting boats or because it felt rude to be visiting every boat around them and not at least introduce ourselves. 

The storm blew through and the most we saw in our sheltered spot was a brief period of thirty-mile-an-hour gusts but the weather remained unsettled and the seas high for the next several days. One boat left early but ran into seven-foot head seas and returned with a torn mainsail. Meanwhile, we sailed our tender in the protected waters of the cove when the winds dropped enough to make that a safe activity, and continued to visit with and be visited by the other sailors who shared our sheltered spot. When the weather finally abated to a more predictable pattern, we cast off and were frankly worn out with socializing.

The common themes of conversations were boating and how the pandemic had affected everyone’s plans. There were those, like us who had curtailed their plans, there were those who extended their cruises since they could not do the things that usually occupy much of their summers on land. Some worried about even being allowed to return to their home harbors. There was disappointment expressed certainly, and even some exasperation and frustration, but sailors tend to be a somewhat fatalistic lot, accepting of what is beyond their control, and thankfully not one person brought up politics.

At the time I was prepared to chalk our social experience during the tropical storm to the drawing together of sailors in a storm, but the weekends that we anchored away or went for three and four-day cruises, we found ourselves repeatedly in situations where we met old friends or made new ones in shared anchorages. It was as if the deprivation of social activity on land made it safer or more desirable to approach other boaters and strike up a conversation.

So something good and unexpected came out of our summer, cruising proved to be the one time we actually got a chance to talk to real people…from a safe distance.

Winterizing

When I was a kid a lot of the boat owners I knew winterized their own boats. It did not seem to be a money saving move in most cases but rather a case of wanting to oversee the process and make sure it was done right. I am not sure what percentage of boat owners winterize their own boats now, but we do and I apply many of the tricks that I learned as a kid and some that were learned through experience.

            While going through these seasonal chores a few weeks ago, the woman who will willingly get up in the middle of the night and stand anchor watch asked me if I had ever written down all the steps we go through to make the boat safe and snug for the winter months (she likes lists) I realized that I never had.

Before I list everything we do, I need to say that since we haul the boat home each year and park her in her shed, we un-rig the boat and un-step the mast each fall. That means before the boat even makes it home, we have gone over all the spars and all the rigging and made notes as to what might need work or to be replaced before spring. This list, then leads to a second list of materials that we will need to purchase over the fall and winter. The other step that is part of this process is that every piece of rigging gets a label. The rigging and blocks are then hung up on the walls of the boat shed where they can be easily accessed during the winter months.

Once all that is done and the boat delivered home we can start the winterizing process.

So, for what it is worth here is the basic list:

-The sails are taken off the boat and, depending on the weather when they were struck, they are checked over, note taken of any tears or wear to be repaired, then they are refolded and stowed in their bags which are then moved to the sail loft.

-Next, all food and drink is removed from the boat.

-Clothing and slickers from the season are removed and stored.

-All the cushions, pillows, bedding, and towels are packed up in designated storage bags and moved into the sail loft which is bug-proof and rodent proof, but well ventilated.

-Charts, cruising guides, log books, and all reading material are taken off and stored in a dry place.

-Oil lamps, the alcohol stove and the fuel for these are also removed to dry storage.

-The china, glassware, pots and pans, are all removed and stored in sealed Tupperware tubs.

-We empty out the bosun’s locker and all other lockers and store the contents in dry storage.

-First aid supplies, sun block, and cleaning supplies all get removed and put in heated dry storage.

-Cupboard doors are removed or opened, portlights are opened, but screens left in place.

-Any ventilators that do not have screens have screens placed in them to keep out unwelcome winter visitors.

-Small vents that wasps might nest in are plugged.

-The bilge is mopped out. There is always a pocket of water there and you don’t want it to freeze and possibly damage seams.

-We will already have pumped out the holding tank while the boat was in the water and flushed four gallons of environmentally safe antifreeze through the system, now, with the boat in the shed it is time to disconnect the saltwater intake to the toilet pump from the through hull, stick the end of that hose into another gallon of antifreeze and using the toilet pump, empty that gallon of antifreeze through the toilet and into the holding tank. This keeps the pump from freezing. When finished we reconnect the hose to the through-hull and close the through-hull.

-Close all through-hulls and tape off any deck drains.

Drains taped off for winter

-Give the bottom of the boat a coat of bottom paint. This keeps the moisture in the wood of the hull and keeps the wood from shrinking over the winter. We have done this every year for twenty years and have very little leaking when we launch in the spring.

-Make sure that the diesel tank is toped up to prevent condensation.

-Any anchor rode that had been in salt water is taken off the boat and stacked on a wooden pallet to dry and to keep the rode locker from developing mildew.

-All life jackets and dock lines are taken off the boat and dried. Life jackets then get stored in the sail loft.

-Fire extinguishers are removed from the boat and stored in a dry place to be taken in for service in early spring.

-We place several containers of Kanberra gel in the boat, which helps to prevent mold and mildew.

-Towards the end of October we hook up a freshwater reservoir to the engine coolant intake and start the diesel. We then run the diesel while flushing fresh water through the cooling system for fifteen to twenty minutes. When we have done this we then flush two gallons of environmentally friendly antifreeze through the engine cooling system. This process flushes a lot of the salt out of the cooling system, leaves the cooling system with antifreeze in it and tops up the batteries for winter.

-The date and the time the engine was run are noted in the engine log along with any filters or fluids that were changed as recommended by the engine manual. Also noted is the total number of hours that the engine has been run. Comparing the current total number of hours to the total recorded last fall allows me to note and compare how much we used the engine this season and if any additional maintenance will be required.

-Mist the diesel with some light oil to prevent rust.

-Make sure all hatches are closed when we leave the boat.

While taking care of these tasks the clipboard is never far away. Come spring I can guarantee you I won’t remember what I noticed needed attention in the fall, so we write it down.

When we leave the boat we do a check to make sure that other than the boat-stands and the blocks she is sitting on, nothing is touching the boat, or even too close to the boat. All it takes is one item touching the hull and you have an invitation to a rodent to move aboard. One mouse can do a lot of damage. The local shop cat is quite possessive of what she considers to be her boat, so she too keeps an eye out for rodents through the winter.

Shop cat and her boat

One last note: the boat shed is quite deliberately built in a location where the ground tends to be a bit soggy except in the driest months of summer. This helps keep her tight but it also means that when the ground starts to freeze in the fall or begins to thaw in the spring I need to check the boat stands every two days and adjust them as needed. This keeps the boat stable and prevents any one spot from taking too much weight.

Last Sail of the Season

The summer of COVID has been extremely strange but at the same time we feel incredibly grateful that we have still been able to put our boats in the water and enjoy them. We decided back in March that if there was any way to put the Friendship into the water, we would. Wooden boats need to spend part of each year in the water to stay healthy and that was what we were committed to, we did not know back in March if we would even be allowed to go spend time on her, but we felt we needed to work towards getting her launched for whatever the season might bring.

As May and June came around we found we would be able to launch the boat with some restrictions on how that procedure would go and in what ways we could, and could not participate (for the first time in twenty years I was not there when they stepped the mast). At about the same time the state of Maine relaxed some restrictions on visitors from other states so that we could get to the boat and spend time using her. We spent every weekend on her and got in a week of cruising in August as well, and as I say, we are profoundly grateful for the good fortune to be able to enjoy a pastime and a vessel that has been central to our lives for decades. Socializing with sailing friends is typically a big part of our summer but we were sure that was not something we would enjoy this year. We were surprised to discover that although we never boarded their boats and they never boarded ours, conversations were held from one boat to another, from dinghy’s and tenders and we not only saw and spoke with many friends, but made some new one’s too. How very strange to be sitting in a tender an oar’s length away from friends chatting away about our sailing adventures, our boats, and our lives.

There are days, few in number, sometimes only once a year, where all the cards fall just right and you have spectacular day on the water that makes up for every day that fog holds you to your mooring, or storms change your plans. Our last sail of the season was one of those days. A crystal clear September day with perfect steady wind that allowed us to set our topsails as well as our lowers, few power boat wakes, and a perfect temperature. This short video clip gives just a taste of that sail:

A couple of modifications to the Penny Fee:

We are into our seventh full season with our Penny Fee design, Fee-Fi. In that time we have made some adjustments and improvements, most of which happened years ago but I just never got around to writing about them.

First off we made some adjustments to the rudder.

The bottom of the rudder, the part that kicks up, is aluminum and even though it has been painted with aluminum paint and bottom paint on top of that it was still showing too much corrosion at the end of each season. It looked like the main reason for this was that even when the bottom part of the rudder was pulled up it was right at the water level with very little clearance. We had to replace the aluminum once and at that time redesigned the upper part of the rudder so that when the kick-up part was in the “up” position it completely clears the water and is higher off the water.

New rudder design with the traveler and sliding block for the main sheet

We have stayed with the push-pull, or Scandinavian, tiller system but have made both the cross piece and tiller longer and out of nicer materials. Aside from the aesthetic qualities this has done two things for us; the longer tiller means that it is easier to steer from the center of the boat when sailing solo, and the longer cross piece has made room for the addition of a traveler for the main sheet.

The bilge.

Another change that we made during our second season was something I had never originally considered and that was the addition of a bilge pump. Now the reason that I never considered this in the first place is that glued lap-strake and epoxy boats are basically leak proof, however, I forgot about rain. After a rainy week it sometimes took twenty minutes to bail the boat. After working so hard to make a leak-less boat, the idea of drilling a hole in the boat for a thru-valve fitting for the bilge pump to empty water out of the boat was one I could not face. Along the same lines, having a hose draped over the side seemed both cumbersome and something that would have to be taken apart and set back up again each time we wanted to use the boat. What we did instead was to mount the pump on one side of the centerboard well and a float switch on the other. Both pump and switch are wired to a motorcycle battery mounted in a box up under the underside of the mid-ships thwart seat. The pump is plumbed not to the outside of the boat but instead to the side of the centerboard well right at the top of the well. Water exits the boat through the centerboard well. This has been a good solution for us since most of the time we just forget the pump is there.

The bilge pump

The float switch with battery box just above it

Summary:

We love our big Friendship sloop, she is our summer home, a place to recharge, entertain, and this year at least, to quarantine. But the addition of our sailing tender has brought so much more fun to cruising. There have been so many times where taking out the Friendship would have been a lot like work, especially if you only have an hour or two to go for a sail, but we can jump into the tender, have the sail rigged in minutes and be off on a short adventure, gunk-holing, exploring the shallows, and of course moving people and gear to and from the boat. When cruising we sometimes get to a secluded anchorage a bit early so that we can get a good spot to anchor, then go for a sail in Fee-Fi. It’s a double sailing day, two kinds of sailing on two different boats in the same day. What could be better?

Hatches and Hardware

When we took over the stewardship of our Friendship sloop the forward hatch was a problem. First and foremost it was not watertight. If a sea came over the bow the hatch let the water run into the forepeak, it did slow the water down a bit, but basically it was only good for keeping the rain out. Secondly it was made of wood with no form of deadlight or port, which meant that the forepeak was a dark cave.

When we redesigned the interior of the boat we put two bunks up in the forepeak and wanted that space to be well lit. The solution we came up with was to build a new hatch that was watertight when closed and dogged down and let in light as well.

We cannibalized an old hatch that we were not going to use and took the large sheet of lexan from the old hatch for the top surface of the new forward hatch.

The first hatch we made

This solution worked well but despite that I was never really happy with it. The lexan that we recycled was already old and pretty scratched but I think what really irked me was that the new hatch while functional, looked really out of place on a traditional boat, sort of like putting a gun-rack in a Prius.

Anyway, a few years ago I decided to build a new hatch that was both functional and more in keeping with the rest of the sloop. I wanted to create a round deadlight in the hatch to let in light but I also wanted the deadlight to be fairly large so that we kept the same sense of light in the forepeak. I ended up with a design that I thought fit the boat aesthetically and allowed plenty of light; I even bought brand new lexan. The problem I ran into was that I could not find a trim ring to fit the size deadlight we had built. For several seasons we used the hatch without a trim ring but it looked unfinished and occasionally the seal between the lexan and the wood part of the hatch would get broken if someone tried to open the hatch from below by pushing up on the lexan.

We had discovered a company called Classic Boat Supplies when we were looking for small oval hawsepipes for our Penny Fee tender. We had tried to find what we needed in the states, but could not. I contacted two of the very few foundries in the states that custom cast bronze but the prices were ridiculous and there would be a six to eight month wait time. I was not going to pay almost $300 plus shipping and wait eight months for a 1inch hawsepipe.

Then I discovered that Classic boat Supplies had a stock pipe that was exactly what we were looking for that cost less than $100 dollars. The drawback was that Classic Boat Supplies is in Australia. To our surprise, they shipped fast and economically provided excellent service. They also seemed to have hardware that we could not find anywhere else. That was certainly the case with the hawsepipes for our tender.

The bow of our Penny Fee showing one of the hawsepipes

I looked through their website for trim rings hoping that they might carry a stock size that matched our new deadlight.

They didn’t.

Sigh…

Then I noticed in the description of the trim rings that they do carry, fine print that said they also will cast trim rings to your specifications. While I figured that it would be way too expensive to have them custom produce what we needed and take too long, I still thought it was worth a shot to contact them. To my surprise, the price was very reasonable and to make a long story short, we had the new custom cast ring within a month of placing the order. I was, and still am, very impressed.

The new hatch with trim ring

The new hatch opened

Our new forward hatch is a better fit all the way around for a traditional boat and once again I was very impressed with the service and quality provided by Classic Boat Supplies, I just wish I did not have to go halfway around the world to find what we needed.

Late Summer sail

It is a snowy February afternoon and I thought I would post this video of one of our last sails of 2018 taken by the woman who will willingly get up in the middle of the night and stand an anchor watch.

When she is trimmed properly, the boat pretty much sails herself, as is perhaps obvious since I am clearly more interested in the gaffer I have spotted in the distance than where we are going.

You can see the moment when we are hit by the wake of a powerboat by the shaking of the video. The filming was done with a basic iPad, and I have since bought the woman who will willingly get up in the middle of the night and stand an anchor watch a waterproof GoPro.

Summer 2017

Yes another boating season has come and gone. The spring prep season went by too fast with a lot of painting and varnishing on the Friendship sloop and an new rudder for the sailing-launch, Fee-Fi. We also managed to do some long overdue work on the dinghy, Fo-Fum, including replacing the oak bench that was fast rotting out with a new bench of Spanish cedar (interestingly Spanish cedar is not actually cedar, nor does it come from Spain).

The spring launch went about as smoothly as it ever does with perfect weather and we had two whole weekends to bend on the sails and remember which end of the boat is the front bit before setting sail for our two weeks cruise to MDI (Mount Desert Island). We were supposed to be cruising with a small fleet of Friendships, but since everyone on the other boats is now retired, they no longer look at calendars, and so missed us by a week. We did our best to catch up, putting in 35-mile days despite very unstable winds and weather. We were just entering the Fox Island Thoroughfare when we identified a good friend taking our picture from an immaculate classic powerboat. We waved and continued on, perhaps a mistake (the continuing on part, not the waving) since we got overpowered by strong winds just off Isle Au Haut and had to run for cover in Merchants Row. Once we were safely anchored, the weather lightened up and turned into a perfect Maine evening.

The photo taken of us by a good friend as we entered the Fox Island passage

Perfect Maine evening

The next day we got underway and saw our friends in the distance heading for Blue Hill. We were about two hours behind them but we needed to get to Southwest Harbor before the forecast poor weather set in. All went well until we made the turn into Western Way and entered into the “washing machine” that can happen when tide and wind are in opposition, the weather is disintegrating, and very large powerboats decide it would be fun to see how closely they can pass the big Friendship sloop. To make matters worse, with a building following sea, Fee-Fi decided this might be a good time to come aboard for a visit. I spent the next forty minutes trying to discourage her attempts to visit us while the woman who will willingly get up in the middle of the night and stand anchor watch clung to the wheel, white knuckled, dodging wave, rock, and incoming and outgoing traffic.

We picked up a mooring at the harbor entranced and were endlessly rolled by harbor traffic. I called friend who has a brokerage in Southwest and asked for advice about a better mooring. Several phone calls later she had arraigned for boats to be moved so she could put us on her guest mooring, a typically gracious act by a truly gracious lady.

Our host’s boat in Southwest Harbor, OLD BALDY

We spent the next day ashore catching up with family and friends and then sailed up Somes Sound for Somesville, where we had a spectacular sail and of course the wind suddenly built with us over-canvassed and having to jibe, not the best jibe, but no one was hurt, and we made it into Somesville without further incident. About two hours later the Friendships that we had been trying to catch up to sailed in and moored nearby. That night we were host boat to cocktails and long tales.

Back to Southwest in the rain to pick up another crewmember who had flown in from South America via Boston and then the next day was the Southwest Harbor Friendship Sloop Rendezvous, a scratch race (I use the term “race” loosely) made up of however many Friendship sloops show up. This year there were sixteen sloops and very light air with some overcast for the start and gradual clearing as the “race” progressed. It was such light air that the course was simply a reach out to a single buoy and back—I think we can do this!

Us getting ready to set the topsails before the “race”. Photo By Paula Dowsland

We made little attempt at getting a good starting position, crossed the line in the middle of the fleet and ended the race in the middle of the fleet and that is the way I like it, too far in front and you have to know where you are going and care about that, too far in the rear and you miss the start of the after-party.

Another great photo by Paula Dowsland. That’s us in the middle, all the kites set.

The day was now clearing and for some reason we all still had a little wind, while the big local fleet of more regular racers were becalmed in the distance. So we all kept sailing in company and had a delightful afternoon. The after-party hosted by a generous local sloop owner was a delight with many old friends and several new ones as well.

There is much more that I could write about Southwest, but it all come down to the triad of summer in Maine, fog, lobster, and good company.

We stopped off in Rockland for a night on our way back west, and once again met up with many Friendship sloop owners, before heading out into some disintegrating weather to make our way back to our home mooring. When we got there we were feeling pretty beat up and spent most of August and early September sailing off the mooring and only doing one overnight away. This was partly weather driven since we too often saw winds build rapidly out of nothing and did not want to be caught on an anchor in a less than perfect spot, and partly because our mooring is in a quiet location that is well protected. We sleep better at night knowing that we are on the home mooring and what to expect for protection from the weather. Despite not cruising, we sailed every weekend save one, and on four occasions saw whales along with the usual harbor porpoise. So all in all, some beautiful sailing this summer and much of it in our own back yard so-to-speak.

The fleet is now put away and ready for winter and work continues on out cottage renovation, a new book is out, (more on that in a future post) and it is time to hunker down for the fall—firewood, winter reading, and planning future sailing adventures.

Marine Paint Part 3

The lead is gone….

It is March, and that means that the process of preparing for the next boating season has already begun. It is in February and March that I start ordering materials and looking at the work that needs to be done before the boat(s) go back into the water. I have written about this before, but I wanted to write an update on this subject of yearly maintenance because I got a nice comment from one of the Kirby’s regarding their paint.

I wrote in Marine paint part 1 about why I like Kirby paint, (you can read more here) but I commented that it contains lead. It turns out that Kirby paint has not contained lead for over twenty years. They still put warnings on the cans because sanding old paint that might have lead in it can still present a health hazard.

It is great to know that there is one less toxic hazard to face when preparing for another season.

One of the things that I like about wooden boats is that when they are looked after and well maintained, they can last and incredibly long time. We have several friends who own Friendship sloops that are over one hundred years old, those boats are still sailing and are still in good shape.

The key phrase there is “looked after and well maintained”, maintenance that is messy, involves dangerous chemicals, or results in cleanup of toxic ingredients are typically the first things to get dropped from a maintenance schedule because they are too much of a pain. And few things are more discouraging than doing all the hard work of sanding, fairing, cleaning and tacking and then applying paint, only to have that paint not hold up to the environment, fade, or peel.

A wooden boat is a living thing, and like all living things they require regular care and when a problem develops that might affect the health of the boat, it needs to be dealt with or the boat will start down the road to the burn pile. But it is getting harder to find good quality wood and good reliable products to care for a wooden boat. Good paint that gives consistent results and that does not change its formula or color chart can be even harder to find, but good quality paint is also critical, it provides an absolutely vital barrier to the elements and contributes to the longevity of a wooden boat.

As I have said before on this blog, I like Kirby’s paint, we have used it on our boat now for sixteen seasons and are pleased with the results, and now that we know that it does not contain lead, we like it even more.

 

Summer 2016

Well Labor Day has come and gone and so has Halloween, we pulled the fleet out of the water and started winter layup in September,  a little early this year so we could continue renovations on the cottage that the two tortoiseshell cats own.

First a word about sailing this summer; wind.

The summer of 2015 was a light air summer, as a result we got very good at setting and striking topsails. By contrast, this year we only set topsails twice all summer. We joined four other Friendships, a Marconi sloop and a lobster yacht for a two week cruise in July and never needed diesel, and never even topped up the main tank from our reserve tanks. It was a fantastic cruise with good company, good cheer, and great sailing.

Sailing in the company of Friendships.

Not only was there wind but also we were incredibly lucky in that we had predominantly fair winds. We had one rough day of high winds and big seas getting into Southwest Harbor on MDI. And there were two days on our cruise when the winds blew 25-30 kts, and not from a favorable direction, but we spent those two days tucked up snugly in a hurricane hole, hiking, reading, and relaxing, and those days proved to be among the most relaxing of the trip.

Moonrise in a hurricane hole.

We spent the last few days of our cruise in Rockland at the annual Friendship Sloop Homecoming and gathering.

Friendship sloops in Rockland 2016

We had a great time gathering with other Friendship sloop owners and fans in Rockland.

At the dock in Rockland, I don’t know why John is staying on the dock…

While we were in Rockland we also had a chance to take some of our extended family sailing. There were so many of them they had to come sailing in shifts.

Sailing with family…do I look worried?

After returning from our cruise we had another six weeks of weekend cruises, some of them extended weekend cruises, and great sailing.

The winds were so consistent and fair, that we did not get out to sail our tender, Fee-Fi nearly as often as last year since we never wanted to miss a chance to take out the Friendship.But even there, when the time came to pull Fee-Fi out of the water, we managed to sail to the take-out ramp in two long tacks, which was a delight since it is usually an hour of hard rowing.

Our lives have been so very full this last year or so that at times we wonder if it makes sense for us to dedicate so much of our time and energy to our wooden classic, but we saw so many beautiful boats, and old and new friends on the water and our summer was so rich an fulfilling that we mostly feel fortunate and grateful for what we have and what we are able to share.