Hove to off Swan Point – Page 18 – and sailing as slow as I can….

Back from Maine

and making progress on Sjogin’s Summer refit. I’m getting the offsets ready to send to the designers for their pending Sjogin plans work as well as doing the usual painting.

Julia and I spent last week in Maine on Eggomoggin Reach at the usual spot. Mostly fine weather with a day or so of fog and showers. We planned our visit so we could watch the Eggomoggin Reach Regatta (ERR) last Saturday. The weather and racing were spectacular. Not a word I use often but truly so.

Our “own” Silent Maid won all three of her races. She’s now heading back home and should be in Cape Cod waters this weekend.

…
Matt Billey and Jette
Matt Billey and his dream made flesh. Jette is a 25 foot Danish fishing boat from the Bornholm area. I wrote about this project earlier this year. Here’s the Link. We stopped in Gloucester on the way to Maine.

…
Tendress at rest
Queen of the Reach.

…
Reaching home
Tendress on a close reach. We had just one sail on her but did have the thrill of seeing Sea Harmony under sail.

…
Sea Harmony
She’s up from Marblehead to race in the ERR. She’s an Albert Strange canoe yawl. Details here. This was taken last Wednesday. Perfect late afternoon SW breeze. Perfect for reaching up and down the….Reach.

…
At WoodenBoat
At anchor in the harbor by WoodenBoat in Brooklin. The folks on the sloop chattin’ with the kayaker are Forum friends. It was nice to meet Willin’

…

Here’s Sea Harmony at anchor at WB. Sorry we didn’t have time to chat with Dick Wynne and Thad Danielson. Dick is in from the UK for a cruise with Thad. Here’s a link to Thad’s web page. He’s a very accomplished builder.

…

Calm morning at the Landing.

More tomorrow…

…
Maid getting rolled
Even with her 1,000 square feet of sail, Silent Maid is no match for Joyant.

As Thomas Armstrong has so eloquently described it, Sjogin had her lines recorded this week with the able help of Steve Martinsen. Steve is one of the parties that will receive a set of the Paul Gartside plans. It is his dream to build a copy of Sjogin for himself. Just typing that makes me very happy.

Thomas came by late Wednesday afternoon and took some pics which are shown below. Here’s a link to the post on his always interesting 70.8% Blog.

…
Fingering Sjogin
Here I am applying one of the fingers to mark the location of the lower edge of the keel. This will define her profile.

…

Moving right along, more fingers are added, each pointing to the lap joints where the planks are joined.

…
Laying out the marks
Here the fingers are laid on the laydown, where each point is marked. Then a hopefully fair line is drawn between the points. At each crossing of the waterline and buttock lines, the distance from the centerline and the above the baseline respectively are recorded, resulting in a table of offsets. That table lists all the points that define the hull shape. It’s the essential information that allows the boat to be built.

…
Fairing lines
Here Steve and I are setting up a batten to draw a line through all the recorded points. In practice not all points lined up in a smooth curve. Paul Gartside and Francois Vivier will take the measurements and fair them as they see fit.

…
Recording the offsets
After the lines are drawn, each height and half-breadth is recorded in the table. Since the whole boat is drawn here on only one side of the centerline, it was a challenge to make sure the offsets were measured properly.

…

The almost completed Table of Offsets. The first step in developing plans for Sjogin. The next steps involve measuring all of her construction details, the shape and size of the cabin, spars and everything else that the designers will need as a starting point for their own idea of what makes Sjogin, well Sjogin.

Thanks again to Steve for his able assistance and to Thomas for documenting the documentation.

Measurement progress

Just about all of the preparation work has been done for taking off Sjogin’s lines. It was a busy week getting into the swing of the usual scraping, sanding and priming along with construction of the lines recording tools.

Today was supposed to see the start of the process with some help from a couple of WoodenBoat Forum friends but this recent heat slowed my usual deliberate pace. I’m hoping to try for Wednesday.

…
Progress
The hull’s had the loose paint scraped, sanded and spot primed. The 24′ floor joists have been delivered; ready to be made into the measurement platform.

…
Big square
This is the square that will be set up on each section. Pine fingers will be attached to record the lap locations.

…
Ready to level
The chain hoists are ready to lift Sjogin and set her up dead level. (Hopefully.)

…
Coming together
The measuring platform and square have been assembled. Getting closer. She’s been leveled at this point.

…
Lots of fingers
Milled the pine “fingers” this morning. They will be attached to the square with the points marking the lap joints. I also managed to putty the chips and dings in the hull with epoxy fairing compound. Progress on a very hot day.

Sjogin’s hauled

and ready for her refit and and having her lines recorded. She’s back in the Big Shed, near the covered slip and the usual breeze. Yesterday had a SW wind, blowing right through the shed. Quite nice on an otherwise steamy day.

…

Mast pulled and ready to be hauled. Not too many bad spots on the mast though it needs to be stripped “one of these years”.

…
She's out
Here she comes. This is the 50 year old lift built by Beaton’s. It’s a hybrid travel lift, running on railroad tracks. There used to be a traditional railway here.

…
Foul!
Not too bad for ten months in the water though most of those months featured cold water.

…

She’s back in her usual spot. I’ll need to level her before the lines are recorded. There are two beams that run on tracks the length of the shed. Each beam has a pair of moveable chain hoists that will allow Sjogin to be lifted and set down level.

This week will see the measuring platform set up and the hull scrapped, sanded and primed so we have a clean surface on which to measure.

…
Here’s a couple of pics for Peter S. Julia and I were guests of John and Debbie H at Seaside Park YC last night and ran into Peter, one of my regular readers. He asked for more Beaton pics.

…
Suzzane
This is Suzanne, the Beaton family boat. She’s a Maine built boat, in these waters for a few year’s now.

…

This is Cats Whiskers, a Bunker and Ellis picnic boat long maintained by Beatons.

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.

…
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

…

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

…

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.

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

…

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.

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

…

Jeff and Sasha watching the tide change.

…
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.

…

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.

WoodenBoat Show in Mystic

Our annual pilgrimage to Mystic and the Wooden Boat show was last weekend. Some virtual friends were rendered analog but a few were missing. A little less bling this year but good weather and the usual great time at our friends in Guilford. Several new Forum members showed up; one family coming from Sitka, Alaska.

Clint Chase from Portland, ME had a booth displaying photos of Sjogin and early plans for the Norzh 22 and other Francois Vivier designs.

Speaking of news from France, I received help in how to take off Sjogin’s lines by way of an e-mail and drawings from Francois Vivier. They will be reviewed along with the pages of notes received from Paul Gartside. Somehow I’ll try to put together a usable set of lines.

…
The Maid arrives
Julia and I were having dinner at the S & P Oyster House in Mystic when the 7:15 bridge opening revealed a gaggle of fine boats waiting for entrance to Valhalla. The Silent Maid brought up the rear with her varnish glowing in the twilight. That’s her Beaton built tender Maid Service towing on her hip.

…
Spartan
This is the bow of Spartan with any early 20th century launch chugging along in the stream.

…
Spartan
Spartan is a Herreshoff 50, built in the 20’s. The 50 refers to her waterline length; she’s 72′ overall.

…

The perfect cushion. One of the perfect details to be found on Spartan. We last saw her in 2008 with the deck being installed and the spars roughed out. Craftsmanship lives and is the equal of the glory days.

…
The Maid
Silent Maid in all her glory. Had a nice chat with Wendy Byar and John Brady, some true Maid Servants. Also met Stan Grayson, he of the book Catboats. A long time ago he took some photos of the Silent Maid under sail with Julia and I aboard.

I’ll post some more later. Here’s the link to the Flickr Set

Rare photos of Sjogin under sail

Thanks to Capt’n Charley we now have some pics of Sjogin tacking out of the basin last Friday. He keeps an interesting Flickr page going. Check out the winter sailing pics in Florida Bay.

…

And ready to go. With the tiller tied to starboard, a push off the pilings will see her through on the starboard tack.

…
Falling off
Easing sheets to see what Charley wants.

…
Shallow!
Only about 3 feet inside the barge wreck. She’s kissing the bottom here.

…
Too fast?
An even rarer pic of landing Sjogin. When the winds out of the ENE, there’s barely enough room to come head to (mostly) wind. This approach was a bit brisk but just a slight bump. With the wind in the NE through W by N I land downwind.

BP Spill and 9/11

Off the usual topic but I thought I should share this:

One of our digital (and binary) friends from the WoodenBoat Forum who sails in Mobile Bay was supposed to join us all at the WoodenBoat Show in Mystic next weekend. He posted the following today:

“I will not make it afterall. It is hard to explain and maybe you guys won’t understand, but my wife and I are going to go stay at the beach for a few days, eat in local restaurants, and do the stuff that our tourists around here do. Probably somewhere in the Florida panhandle.

I am disappointed about missing the trip up north, but we both feel that it is important to support our friends and neighbors right now during this tough time. It won’t be a lot of money that gets spent, but I am pretty sure that they can use every penny of it.

Just the fact that my wife feels that she can get away for a couple of days in the middle of the season speaks volumes. And I am going to go down and spend a day tinkering on the Dragon. I miss my boat so much it hurts, so this will give me a little time with her, and I will also probably go speak with my boatbuilder buddy about my next boat.

Sorry guys. I look forward to the stories.

Here was my response:

“Sorry to hear you won’t be joining us. We truly understand and weep with your neighbors. Julia and I went in to Lower Manhattan as soon as we could after 9/11 and tried to help support the local business people. We stayed at the Regency, a luxury hotel a few blocks away from Ground Zero, where I sought refuge that awful day.

Apart from the death of the eleven workers on the rig there is not the horror of 9/11; but there is certainly a loss of a way of life.

…
Maybe we can all try to throw a few dollars their way. Let’s go visit Mobile.

Next year in Mystic, ML.

Russ

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:

…
Sjogin awaits....

A Cats at Beaton’s

Here are a few pics from the last few weeks at Beaton’s. The racing season on Barnegat Bay begins in two weeks and the A Cat fleet is getting ready for battle.

…
A Cats
Three in a row. Closest is Ghost, then Lotus and Mary Ann. Ghost is from the Francis Sweisguth* design, The other two are by Charles Mower. Note the different bow profiles.

*Edited to correct spelling. Thanks Charlie.

…

Nice view from Sjogin’s slip. They’ll be gone soon, off to the the A Cat wars.

…
Ghost cockpit
Here’s Ghost’s cockpit showing some of my now 17 year old handiwork. When I worked at Beaton’s and helped build Ghost, I made the seats, tiller, cleats and coaming. (Proud of the ogee.)

…
Raven
Raven about to be rigged. The masts are about 50′ long.

…

Mary Ann, one of the originals from 1926, and her “tennis racquet” tiller.

…
Spyder
Spyder, heading down Bay. The “Y” is there referencing her home base, Seaside Park Yacht Club. One of the other originals, Spy, was named for that club.

…

Empty shop except for the moaning chairs.