Sjogin – Page 18 – Hove to off Swan Point

Quick sail Saturday morning

Out and back before the breeze picked up. About 4 to 8 from the NNW which allowed me to raise the sails in the slip, then pull her out and fall off to starboard. Fire was stoked, tea brewing and breakfast in the skillet as I left. Turned into a beautiful day, bright sun and a productive afternoon in the garden.

Ready to go
Perfect breeze for leaving the slip with the sails up. Plenty of water today.

Barge still there
Still no attempt to remove this derelict.

Swan Point to leeward.

Happy Skipper; reaching home.

Porch view
Inviting spring in.

Library window view
View out our rear window. Nice and lush after a soaking rain.

Not much new

as evidenced by the moss growing on Sjogin’s jib halyard. Under the weather last weekend so little new “content”.

Moss!
Need to air things out. Maybe this week after work; Tuesday sounds good.

Last sip warming up yesterday morning. Quick visit and then edging and such in the garden.

H-15 back in shape
Progress on the H-15 with the framing done and a new mahogany sheer strake. As you can see her sweet sheer line has been restored. Planking next.

Finally, here’s a pic of the back steps at Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan. I was in the city for a business lunch and retraced my 9/11 steps. I’m working on a narrative about that day and will post same here.

Steps

Jett came for a visit Friday

along with Bob and Amy, a friend from NY. Dinner at the Shipwreck and a lovely Saturday morning in the garden.

Thee ball Jett
Jett’s new trick; hoovering tennis balls.

Julia and Jett on a lovely Spring morning.

A chat
Inter species communication.

___________________________

Went for a damp and chilly sail this morning. Wind out of the N to NNE, about 5 to 10

Barge

Derelict barge still abandoned at Swan Point. Please call the NJDEP to complain at 877-WARNDEP.

Hot tea
Hot tea, hove to on Port tack south of Swan Point, near the Mantoloking shore. Good April sail.

Downwind landing with the breeze out of the NE.

Tempted

to go out yesterday morning but garden duties prevailed as we had three Blueberry shrubs to plant. (two Low, one High bush.) Which involves moving some roses and so on. Hope to go far a sail this week after work.

Settled for a quick fire and the usual. Nice day with occasional showers and a bit of thunder.

Sjogin
Tempting as the breeze wasn’t yet up to the forecast 10 to 15 but I had unplanted Blueberry bushes to plant.

Happy Skipper; bright sun, cool breeze , full of tea and toast.

_______________________

Floors and frames; all riveted joints
Lots of progress on the H-15 in the shop. Just about all of the new frames are in and riveted to the floors. The plywood form is temporary; it’s used to get her shape back. The form is from a laydown taken from handwritted offsets from the Herreshoff shop.

Quest bow
The backbone’s been trued and fastened together. Note the forward planking and sawn frames are in good shape. That’s because Tom Beaton replaced the stem, planks and ribs after Quest was hit by a jet ski at speed. That must have been 20 years ago.

More later. Today’s the 100th Birthday of Olin Stephens, one of this country’s finest yacht designers. WBF Thread here.

Welcome spring

Had my first Osprey sighting yesterday. Looking out the bathroom window post business wondering when the Osprey’s would return when poof; a young one hovering at tree top height. Very weird.

Saw another pair hanging out at the Beatons platform. Here’s a shot of the platform a few years ago.

Osprey family

Stockton Lake, first light of Spring 2008.

Sjogin
Late Thursday afternoon, March 20th

More later….

Bill Buckley’s definition of heaving to

as taken from a 2004 Atlantic piece on selling his boat of many years. Classic Buckley prose, evident in the following description of dealing with an hurricane near Bermuda:

“Cruising in October to Bermuda*, we had to make our way through the eastern end of a hurricane. After a very hard day’s combat using only the storm jib and trysail, I finally hove to for a long night of furious wind. This capitulation at sea is achieved by adjusting the reduced sails to vie against one another in such a fashion as to induce relative immobility.”

My sentiments exactly! Though in Sjogin most heaving to is done with full sails as I try to avoid heavy winds. Sjogin’s getting on in years and I try not to push her too hard.

_______________

Here’s a pic from this morning; foggy and waiting on the next front to come through. Plenty of water and a light breeze at 10:00. Tempting…
Fog

*William F. Buckley: wrong on McCarthy and wrong on the time of year to cruise to Bermuda.

A few pics

from this weekend. March came in decidedly lamb like. Managed to do some bed cleaning and early pruning. Bulbs all showing promise and fecundity.

Jeff
Son Jeff home for an all to quick visit.

Finally installed a strap eye under the main deck beam from which to hang the oil lamp.

Yachting clothes
Illustration from a 1954 British learn-to-sail book.

Puffin
From a photo of Puffin, the 15′ Hankins beach skiff Jon Walters and I converted to sail in 1977. Jeffrey and David are on board, waiting for Dad. Photo taken at my first Winter rental in Manasquan in 1981.

Progress at Beatons

on the Lucas boat, a 1932? Herreshoff 15. The transom and framing have been removed and the new keel and deadwood is nearly done.

H-15 deconstruction
Say Ahhhh…. Note the plum bob to keep everything in line. Suspended from an overhead wire.

Old bits
Original transom, grown knees and transom frame.

New bits
New white oak knees and frames.

Keel and deadwood. Piece on top is upside down; it matches the keel profile from the plans. The straight side is mated to the lead ballast. The ‘L’ shaped piece is the aft end of the deadwood.

Tom Beaton
Tom came below for a visit today. Discussed space for Sjogin’s mast in one of the shops this Spring. It’s long overdue for a refinishing.

Breezy on deck, warm enough below.

Enough water for a March sail but gusty from the NNW, up to 20 kts or so. Home for some Spring clean-up work. Bulbs are busting out all over.

Snow day!

In their infinite wisdom my employer declared a Snow Day. The office, at least the analog one, is closed while half an eye is kept on the virtual office. No too much actual snow here, about three inches – enough to please the eye but not enough to strain the back.

Ourhouse
Cottage sur la mer. Occasionally a dark and stormy mer.

Brant
Brant on dawn patrol.

Library view this morning
Snow still fluffy. Rain later will dispose of most of it. First significant snow this season.

Sunset; northeaster on the way.
Sunset yesterday. Going over the Mantoloking Bridge to pump Sjogin. Swan Point just left of center.

Sjogin, sunset on Jones Tide Pond
Finally another ‘last look’ shot in calm conditions last evening. Pumped her dry and had a token fire. Very pleasant.

Success

Managed to figure out how to change the banner photo. All without the help of son Jeffrey I might add. There are additional minor changes to come (Jeff?) but I think I’ll stick with the new format for now. Comments?

Back to regular fare:

Considerable progress on the Herreshoff 15 being rebuilt at Beatons. The new keel has been scarfed and the rabbet cut. The bed logs for the centerboard case have been fashioned and installed.

New keel
New and old keel. Seems Quest was held together with tradition! As if I don’t know the words to that tune. Phil Bolger had an observation that I like: ‘there’s a lot to be said for overbuilding; when it’s half-rotten it’s still usable.’ There are parts of Sjogin that are….we’ll, never mind.

Also, Beatons has started on a new A-Cat mast. For the first time they will be using the birds-mouth technique. This involves milling a dozen or so 50 foot staves that have a rabbet on one side that matches the edge on the other and gluing them all together.

Birds-mouth spar test
Here’s a test spar Beatons built to try the birds-mouth technique.

Scarfing
Spruce planks being scarfed prior to gluing together to make a 50′ by 12″ by 1 1/2″ planks. In the background you can see the planks being glued with WEST Epoxy. After gluing they will be milled into the individual staves.

Spruce spar stock, fresh from a very old planer.

Finally a view of the marshes next to Beatons. The little lump just to the right of center is Hankin’s Island.

Hope you like the new format. A little more tinkering to follow. Still the same old heaving to, same old stove stuff, same old Sjogin. Ain’t it wonderful. Thanks for joining me here.

Russ