Russ – Page 20 – Hove to off Swan Point

Back from vacation

We spent a great 10 days in the Virgins with our cruising pals, Dave and Cheryl. We spent most of the time in waters around St John and in Fish Bay, the site of their new home. We managed to get up to North Sound again in Virgin Gorda, staying in Leverick Bay. For the first time in ten years we slipped through the narrow (and shallow) passage between Virgin Gorda and Mosquito island, saving a few miles off the trip. A wonderful time with great friends. We are indeed blessed.

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Cheryl and Julia at Cinnamon Bay on the north side of St. John.

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At Butterfly Beach, Dave and Cheryl’s slice of paradise on Fish bay. We’re standing on a bridge through the mangroves. They expect to be done this summer.

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Wow
Dave amid the final bits. Our future room is on the upper left. All very amazing.

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Sonny
Sonny, waiting for a crew. Julia and I sailed on her last Summer in Maine. She’s moored in Soper’s Hole on Tortola.

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Motoring to windward
Dave and I driving up to Coral Bay. We spent two days there, going to the St. John Blues Festival last Saturday night. Cool tunes under the stars. And Dancing!

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Soper's Hole sunset
Classic sunset view at Soper’s Hole. one of our favorite stops. More pics on Flickr.

And more Sjogin news this weekend. One of my readers has expressed an interest in Sjogin plans. I hope to take some measurements this weekend for Mr. Vivier.

More news from France

There’s a new boat on Francois Vivier’s web site. She’s called the Norzh 22 and is based on Sjogin as mentioned below. Details here.

This is the PDF available from the Norzh 22 page:

PDF

Pretty close. As you’ll see in a bit, the Garvey is ready for service. I’ll ask Tom to use it to help take some measurements of Sjogin’s sheer and other reference points so Mr. Vivier can refine his first drafts.

I hope that he can keep her low topsides. It always seems your going fast when the quarter wave is close at hand.

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Busy shop
A full shop at Beaton’s. A Blackjack Skiff awaits attention while a pair of rowboats are nearing completion. Great smell of fresh Atlantic White Cedar. The trimmings make for great kindling.

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Prime Cedar
First class cedar being put to good use. Beaton’s is building three of these this Winter.

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Garvey time
A sure sign of Spring as the Garvey gets a fresh coat of bottom paint. It will be easier to use the Garvey to measure the sheer heights on Sjogin than from a dinghy.

A new/old design!

As mentioned below, there’s interest in having a set of plans made for Sjogin. People have asked for plans showing her just as she is for traditional construction but also re-designed for construction in glued lap plywood.

Rod Brink, the gentlemen from Texas who started the quest on the WoodenBoat Forum, has contacted several designers to see if any were interested in designing a boat similar in appearance to Sjogin but to be built in the modern way. He/we have had positive responses from several and one in particular.

Francois’ Vivier is a noted Naval Architect, designing ships and boats over a long career from Supertankers to the traditional boats of his native Brittany. He played a key role in bringing out the best characteristics of the local fishing boats in designs that helped preserve the area’s marine traditions but allowed modern building techniques. Also see the January/February issue of the new WoodenBoat for a full profile of Mr. Vivier.

Here is the latest sketch Mr. Vivier did in response to Rod’s request.

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Close cousin

Pretty close. I need scrounge up a dinghy to measure her topsides in a few places and take other measurements to pin down her sheer at least and the position of the cabin and such. The above was done from photos and tweaked through CAD magic.

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Evolving
The Nordic design that evolves from Francois’ craft will have modest accommodations and concessions to modern needs. I’ll make an effort to have a traditional set of plans available for those who want to dream of building her just as she is.

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She flies
Photo editing by Rod Blank. Simple lines that will need a lot of work to render in two dimensions.

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Arty
Rod took one of my photos and turned it into the essential lines. Great fun.

A visit from a long absent friend

Our good friend Paul was able to fold his frame into Sjogin today for the first time in a while after having both knees replaced. A sail is allegedly in the cards.

No further signs of ice in the basin or down Bay. The bilge has been ice free as well. This cold weather will continue for a while so I’ll keep the float switch off for now. She only makes a dozen or so strokes a day.

Progress ground to a halt on Speedwell. Paul’s done with his bit and is in the sunny Keys as a reward. When the weather allows I’m going to start a sanding/priming program. Still need to have Tom find some spruce for a Sprit rig.

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Paul
Despite the lack of a smile, Paul enjoyed his visit.

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Ready to refinish
Bring on the 80 grit.

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Mid week pump out
Mid-week visit to pump the bilge. Enjoying the later and later sunsets.

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Last of the sun highlighting the new blocks. The varnish is holding up fine.

The seizing on the main sheet is to prevent the boom from moving back and forth. It also keeps the boom to one side to make getting in and out of the cabin easier.

And a wet snow at that

Went down to clean off Sjogin on Thursday and found a streamlined boat. Unlike the last few storms, this one was full of heavy snow. While we didn’t get as much as places farther inland, it did a bit of damage.

We lost one of the few remaining branches of our native Dogwood. I’ll try to force one last bloom but the poor thing needs to be put out of its misery. Anthracnose claims another victim.

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Down on her lines
The weight of the snow pressed her down by four inches or so. I thought she might be full of water but, bless her heart, only a few inches of slush in the bilge.

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Heavy snow
Heaviest snow I’ve seen in a while. Sjogin looks like she’s been sculpted by old man Winter.

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All better
Back on her lines after a bit of cleaning and bailing. This is becoming an all too common chore this winter. More snow predicted tonight.

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Warm below
Before I started to clean off the snow I made a fire to warm my soon to be frozen fingers. Good exercise with a bit of the sauna feel at the end.

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Our Winter Palace once again covered with a Northeaster’s leavings.

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And congratulations to Larry Ellison and his team, regardless of how you feel about Billionaires racing in exotic yachts, for bringing the America’s Cup back to America. Word on the street has the next Defense being held in Newport. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

And still it snows

Time to pull out Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale. A classic for a classic Winter. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more “Blizzards of the Decade” pass through.

Here are a few pics from the last week or so.

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Windswept decks and the usual cockpit full of snow. Last Sunday after the first “Blizzard of the Decade”.

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Still shiney
The blocks are holding up well. We’ll see how they look next Winter.

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Surprise
As I walked out on the dock last Sunday I rudely interrupted Elevenses for the local Merganser family.

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Progress
Now that Speedwell’s out of the Duckboat room, rowboat building begins.

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And off the jig
Off the jig and in the main shop for finishing while the second one is started.

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And yet it snows
And finally, here’s a scene from today’s Blizzard of the Decade. Our offices were closed today and tomorrow looks iffy as well. Sjogin will need to be bailed in any event.

PDF of the Sardine Review in WoodenBoat

I just realized I never managed to post a PDF of my Sardine review. (Could have sworn I did but here it is.) The January/February 2008 issue of WoodenBoat magazine published my review of Sjogin’s Sardine wood stove. It also appeared in a recent issue of Messing About in Boats.

Here’s the link: Sardine Review.

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Ice returns
The ice is back. Thin but back. Taken by iPhone this past Wednesday. I’m posting during our current blizzard and will not get down to clean off Sjogin till tomorrow.

Interest is building in having a full set of Sjogin plans available for either traditional or glued ply construction. Watch this space.

Sjogin thread on the WoodenBoat Forum

As many of you know I participate in the forum hosted by WoodenBoat Magazine. One of the folks there is a fan of Sjogin and has started a thread looking to record her lines and construction details. Link to the WBF Thread here.

Rod Brink is the forum member and reader of this Blog who started the thread. He’s a professional photographer and as such he took several of my pics and gave them a little TLC. Check out Rod’s efforts on the Forum Thread. Worthy of some Note Cards?

Looks like there may be interest in building a sister or two….. I’ll keep you all posted of course. This may also lead to determining Sjogin’s provenance as word gets around.

The Iceman returneth

The current cold snap has brought ice back to Jones Tide Pond this weekend. Nothing too serious and open from the end of the dock out to the bay. Water down after the fierce Northwesterlies this week.

Very chilly this morning, about 20 on deck and lot’s of frost below. Started reading a new book on designs of traditional Danish sailing craft. It was referenced in a post on 70.8% by Thomas Armstrong. Thomas recently featured Matt Billey’s project that was the subject of a Post here. Matt was inspired by the Haabet boat found in Bornholm.

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Ice!
The ice returns. With February around the corner and longer, warmer days we should be OK this winter.

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New read
New breakfast read. A lot of cousins but nothing that say’s Sjogin

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Paul with small boats
Paul Smith with a shop full of small boats. Speedwell’s been moved out of the Duckboat Room to make way for a new set of rowboats.

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Here’s the Beaton Rowboat jig ready to start building. Dave Beaton would be proud.

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Plank stock
And here are a set of planks cut out from patterns and ready to use.

Keel’s in and the ice is out

Paul installed the new keel and centerboard trunk this week along with a new skeg and sternpost. Speedwell also had the bottom sanded and a bit of filling of the dents. She’ll also need to have a few seams tended to but all in all she looks fine for sixty years old.

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Installed
The keel’s fastened in place along with a new skeg and sternpost. The trunk was fit and fastened to the keel first.

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Trunk's in
The joy of a brand new centerboard trunk. If the light looks odd it’s because the boat’s still upside down.

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Paul replaced the old centerboard hole with a new hole. The original notch allowed the board to jump off the pin when in shallow water. (And when least expected.)

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Pleasant day
Ice free and a nice breeze from the ENE about 6 to 10 with gusts to 12 or so. It’s supposed to lay down later but home for chores and another fire. There might be a window for a sail tomorrow morning.