Woohoo! Mast is stepped, standing rigging is up! Still in a pretty rough state of tune, but i’ve left the tails long on the lanyards to allow easy adjustment. still much work to be done on the running rigging, though; i got in the main halyards, mainsheet, jib halyard, and running backstay tails before pretty much running out of line. Still have to make up the fores’l sheet, jib sheets, and tops’l lines (sheet, halyard, and tackline). A small snafu with the length of the forestay came up; i’ve changed a few things to compensate, and ditched the inner bobstay, which (given the diminutive scale) was probably entirely unneccesary anyways.
With everything else up and in place, the only thing that looks at first odd is the 3′ of unsupported topmast above the upper shrouds, but in practice, the tiny tops’l ought not to deflect it much. Just playing with the two runners and mainsheet, i’ve found i can easily pull the truck 6-8″ inches (loads for a 14′ mast) aft or to either side without much effort; this bodes well both for support against the forward/leeward pull of the jibstay/halyard, and for tuning “on the fly”.
The sailmaker is scheduled to take measurements this week! Yay!
September 13, 2005
stepped
September 9, 2005
sailing rattitude?
Paul M. and i got into a hotrod/custom motorcycle discussion a couple days back, and he ended up dropping off a pile of chopper mags here at the shop for me to look through. i’m into most anything that is simultaneously technical and creative/artistic, so cars/bikes/trucks have nearly as much appeal to my eye as boats. i got to thinking (and later talking) about so-called “rat-rods“, and the parallels to some (few) boats.
It seems these days that modern boats are thouroughly “bolt-together” and pre-fab. Does that “custom” piece of hardware from Harken really count? Classic and traditional boats have a bit more attitude, as more things are actually hand-crafted just for a specific application on a specific boat. Still, those who can typically afford such custom work certianly don’t care to see cobbled-together bits, no matter how functional.
In my eye, functional is beautiful. Take a look at this example, and this one here. Here we have a few uses of not-made-for-this-boat sails, and while neither example fits into what most folks think a set of sails is supposed to look like, both are great, beautiful examples of creative use of resources at hand.
No great hardware picture examples handy (anyone with one?), but i can certianly say that there’s a few creative uses of hardware on my new dinghy. i can afford “proper” hardware, but it’s so much more satisfying to see what one can come up with out of spare bits of bronze plate, stainless rod, etc, in a well-equipped shop. Hell, with a good supply of bronze, and nothing more than a tap & die, a hacksaw, and a few files, it’s amazing what you can come up with!
i see these “Loups” getting more and more use on modern boats. Shucks, anyone with a little skill and patience can pull off a similar thing, albeit in lower-load applications. Look at a lot of real salty traditional boats, and you’ll be hard pressed to find too many shackles; everything is a lashing or a seizing. A decent lashing in Spectra or Vectran smallstuff has got to be just as strong (or stronger) than a shackle, and certianly more flexible; don’t even get me started about weight! Most importantly, it’s not something you have to buy, but rather just sit down and do yourself.
i’d like to see more examples of “sailing rattitude”, fun little hotrod/cruiser/custom sailboats that rely on owner ingenuity, skill, and patience rather than just falling out of the pages of the West catalogue. i’d like to see more people actually out sailing, in whatever they can find, rather than agonizing over getting just the right hardware installed. One fellow in our boatyard has a natty little (twice, yet managed to sink over $5000 into it. Frankly, the boat was ready to head back across the pond when he got it, but i guess it just wasn’t ready enough for him.
i’m all for preparation and prudence on the water, but sometimes enough is enough, and you just have to throw down and get out there. i guess that’s what i admire about “rat rods”, with their primer paintjobs and minimal interiors, yet well-tuned mechanical systems, served up hot out of backyard garages; just doing what needs to be done, enjoying the hell outta it, and leaving off all the excess trappings.
o happy progress!
Really made progress on the dinghy these past couple days. It really got into gear whn we moved the boat inside the shop, taking advantage of all the new space we have after the monster clean-out of the last few weeks. Under cover, i could really get moving on the paint!
Yesterday morning, i put the last coat on the decks, and by that afternoon i’d finished off the the whole headrig (bowsprit, gammoning block, whiskerstays, and outer bobstay). Tensioned up, the bowsprit has a perfect(!) bowse to it; set static, the bowsprit angles up about 10 degrees, but is now cinched down a couple inches to nearly level. The resultant curve provides a signifigant amount of “preload”, which will further prevent upward deflection from the jibstay and forestay.
i made the whole headrig as beefy as appropriate for the scale; it’s really important rigging! Mindful of recent events with Pride II’s headrig, as well as past failures aboard the Lady and Elissa, i’ve overbuilt every part of the headrig.
i also got the horse installed on the afterdeck, as well as the ringbolts for the running backstay deck attachments. i started laying out my bag of shackles, sheaves, fairleads, and cleats on the decks, making sure i’d bought or built enough little bits. The self-tending fores’l may give me more trouble than i thought, but i’m sure i can work something out.
The lads around the shop are trying to get me to add a sole grate, but i’m not entirely convinced it would be worth the labour, expense, and weight; we’ll see. Otherwise, the list is down to: sails, shrouds, rudder install, final deck hardware installation, and… well, heck, i can’t recall what else, but there must be something left…
Oh, this is gonna be fun!
September 8, 2005
communities afloat
More ideas and discussions floating around this post in my other blog, which i had not at first thought to post here on this one. My own mind wants to follow the discussion off on a tangent, one of tallships and communities, and it seems like it ought to ultimately come here, to the Sailor Song.
i’ve served as professional or volunteer crew aboard a number of traditional and classic boats; ketches, yawls, schooners, sloops, all wood, most gaffers. i’ve only ever served aboard one “tallship” per se, a brig, The Lady Washington. i had the good fortune to serve with a generally excellent crew, who more than made up in any slight lack of raw skill or actual sailing proficiency with an almost rabid enthusiasm and dedication. i had been pointed towards the Lady by former crew and captains, and had been looking forward to a top-notch boat and program.
In fact, the boat and program are pretty top-notch, and continue to be so. My problem was in my expectations; i expected to working the boat and sailing her, as i had in previous positions on other boats. Instead, i found wyself in the midst of this wild, rolicking, roving museum/ambassador/training boat, and no matter how much i would have preferred otherwise, the focus was on people, comunication, human relations, and community. As one former crewmate spells it out, ” anyway, for me it’s pretty much 40% scenery/natural environment, 40% community, and 20% the boat. but the boat keeps us alive so of course she often comes first!” For me, i had been expecting 80% boat, 20% people, and never really adjusted.
As far as sailing goes, i will always be a traditionalist. i am a craftsman, a woodworker and shipwright by trade, as much as a sailor. i teach sailing to kids, and strongly believe in the sailtraining model. i have, however, come to see that the typical tallship is more about community, relationships, and education than sailing, at least the sort of sailing i was expecting, and that drew me to tallships in the first place.
My friend Tom (currently Second Mate on the R. Tucker Thompson) was an early “in” of mine to the world of sailing, showed me all these great slides, and regaled me with these great stories of fine boats, sailing across the pond, some tales hilarious, others harrowing. He told me too of the parties, the girlfriends, the copious drink, the wild frivolities; these i had far less interest in. When my turn came, i had a go at all that too, but it left me cold; i would rather have just been sailing, or up tending to the rig.
The sailing i prefer these days is mostly a solitary affair. Sometimes there’s a couple other like-minded folks along for the ride, but our common bond is not the comraderie or community itself, but a shared respect and passion, an awe and joy we find only on the water. The boat is not a setting for our relationships, rather, our relationships are first and foremost with the boat itself, the wind, and the water. So it comes that my usual sailing companions are folks who have logged inumerable single- or short-handed miles, and who are quicker to look to the boat than to any other human interaction. Clearly, i am more comfortable in a small boat or boatshop than i ever was (or even wanted to be!) in a crowded fo’c’sle berth.
i learned alot on the Lady, but many were lessons that took hold a year or more later, and few had much to do with sailing as i have now come to see it. i don’t regret my time aboard that tallship, although i found it somewhat disappinting; my disappointment came from the difference between the experience i has hoping for and the experience i received.
The tallship sailors i know are gregarious, personable, outgoing sorts who thrive in such close-knit communual communities. Most of them, i know, would thrive equally well in any such community, afloat or otherwise. i’ve come to see that for myself, i have little interest in such a community; i prefer a quieter, more solitary existance, much as i enjoyed before i started sailing. In sailing, it’s not the community that draws me; it’s just… the sailing: the boat, the wind, the water.
