Beaton’s – Page 11 – Hove to off Swan Point

New blocks for Sjogin.

Her new Ording main and jib sheet blocks arrived this week and now are the brightest things aboard. They’re Elm and Stainless with copper drifts. Hand made by a Dutch master blockmaker. Available from Gordon Laco at Traditional Rigging and Outfitting . I won’t need my arm and leg I guess.

Had the first fire of the new season today, complete with tea and a bit of sausage bread. Just cool enough.

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New jewels
Just a touch on the big side but close enough. They’ll look fine with new sheets.

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Main Sheet blocks
Main sheet all rigged. Waiting for Beaton’s to order a spool of 7/16ths Dacron to make new sheets and halyards.

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Jib blocks
Jib sheet eye bolts need to be moved outboard a bit so the blocks clear the house. Or not. I’ll see how they lay when the jib’s backed.

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The Fall migration out of the water is in full swing. Regular readers will recognize Go Y’all, a classic Chris Craft Skiff.

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Joe driving
Went out for a run down to Reedy Creek on The Gale with Joe. Beautiful last Saturday of Summer. Sailing tomorrow with Julia on Sjogin.

She flys….

Sort of. Rigged Sjogin yesterday and had my first sail of the 2009-2010 Season. The first trip lived up to my tag line as I sailed as slow as I could. Barely a breath, with the occasional puff of 3 kts.

Quite different from the conditions a day earlier. We had gusts to 45 with the wind out of the NNE for three days. Classic Northeaster.

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Ready to rig
Set up under the junior rigging ladder. Sjogin’s mast is light enough to be stepped with a simple watch tackle.

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Mast ready
Randy, Saturday Rigger, ready to step the mast. Doesn’t look too bad for just having the bad bits refreshed.

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Ready to go
All rigged, sails bent and ready for a new off-season.

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Randy
Randy, sailing as slow as he can.

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Irene Tansy
Very light air. Almost nothing at deck level, a knot or two aloft.

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Beaton’s to leeward. One happy Skipper.

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Looks the same
Same as she ever was. Shortest turn-around ever: about five weeks from haul to rigged, with a lot of help from the Yard.

Progress on Sjogin

Look’s like she’ll be rigged this week. Yesterday I managed to paint the house, coamings and the long neglected bridgedeck bulkhead with the usual Kirby white semi-gloss. The Kirby family’s been making boat paint in New Bedford since 1846. A Mr. Kirby still answers the phone.

No need to do the boom as it’s still in good shape. Just fixed the blisters and such on the mast, putting the third coat on those spots today.

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Fresh
Decks and house painted. Hope to get the cabin top, trim and handrails done before she’s rigged.

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Beckoning Bay
The Bay beckons. I really need to get the cabin top painted.

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Speedwell waits for her turn after Sjogin’s back in commision.

Duckboat Worlds tomorrow.

Received a call from Peter Kellogg this evening reminding me of the need for our Duckboat to show up for the Worlds. Sadly, another year must go by with Speedwell on the hard. She’s our Clarke Duckboat, built in the early 50’s by Phillip C. Clarke of West Mantoloking. He built the first batch of Duckboats for the local Yacht Clubs. After 14 were built he sold the plans and molds to David Beaton, who’s yard went on to build hundreds of these able little boats. Generation’s of Barnegat Bay sailors learned their craft racing Duckboats with some gone on to Olympic glory.

Though Speedwell’s showed up for the World’s before, she needs attention to the centerboard case and garboards. I’ll do some prep work this fall, with the yard doing most of the work. I’m going to use a lug rig from the Joel White Shellback design in place of the regular leg-o-mutton rig, It’s great for eight year olds but a little low for senior sailors. I’ll keep the standard rig for the annual Duckboat World Championship’s. Didn’t I say this last year? Oh well, making haste as slow as I can.

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Beaton built Duckboats ready to mix it up.

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Here’s Speedwell, dusty from several years in storage.

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Sunset glow
Last light earlier this week. Deck work this weekend and sailing by Labor Day. Bring on September and the start of the Quiet Season.

Recent bits

First off, I heard from the daughter of Sjogin’s second owner. Her note to me from the Contact page spoke of her “many fond memories of sailing on it in 60’s. laying on stomach in bow, with torso leaning over water, ala titanic.” I tried a response but had an e-mail failure. She also spoke of a “swedish captain who got parkinsosn and had to sell.” That would be Mr. Gullberg. When Jon and I bought Sjogin in 1985, the then owner told us she had been built by a Swedish Captain who had sailed Square Riggers ’round the Horn. When he settled in South Jersey he built a small boat in the traditional style to remind him of home.

Melissa, if you read this, please know that I tried to respond to your gracious note but the e-mail address you gave didn’t work. I’d love to hear more about your childhood with Sjogin.

And Mr. Gullberg’s progeny is now hauled, having her Summer refit. She’s almost 50 and still going strong. I hope Mr. Gullberg would approve of her current state.

Regular maintenance this year. The bottom paint just needs a new coat and the deck has a only couple of spots to fix. The Kirby paints are holding up well.

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Evening light
Last week near Sunset. Freshly hauled and ready to have her age spots tended to.

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Gin
Gin! Every year the letters are removed and polished. Makes painting easier.

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My view
The view from the deck looking toward the Bay. The wet slip is where I hope to keep Sjogin for a bit and finish her painting.

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Fresh varnish
Here’s a freshly varnished Silent Maid, ready for the anchor start race at Ocean Gate Yacht Club.

More Maid pics at Flickr.

Sailing with Phil Heffernan

As mentioned below, our now analog friend Phil was down for the weekend. After a blissful evening and longish morning we bestirred our selves and went for a sail on Sjogin. Usual short sail; over to the club and hove to on starboard for half an hour, just yammering away in the steady southwesterly, watching the traffic go by. Wing and wing, we ran home and just managed a one shot landing with some deft boat hook work. Sorry ’bout the MOVE order Phil.

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HTw/Phil
Hove to with Phil a fifty yards off the Mantoloking waterfront. Slight ebb tide so the scenery moved by quite slowly.

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Russ, Phil and Walker
Your host, Phil and Walker, quite the sailor.

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Ready to haul
Sails off, halyards pulled, Sjogin’s ready to be hauled for her late Summer refit.

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Here’s the new Silent Maid, all sanded and ready for a fresh coat of varnish. She’s racing with the A-Cats this Saturday at Ocean Gate. The race is the sixth in the BBYRA season. For this race only, the A-Cats start in a line at anchor with the crew in the cockpit. At the gun the anchors are brought home as fast as possible while the boat falls off (hopefully) on Starboard tack at the last minute. Exciting stuff.

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Our favorite day lilies, drunk with the late afternoon sun. Another iPhone pic.

And yet another CoC* weekend

Perfect summer weather, as if the Great Balancer decided to reward us for a far too wet June. Julia got in two good beach days and I went down and gave Sjogin a good scrubbing. And now some mid-week rain. Quite Camelot like.

Also started to take stuff off the boat in preparation for her late summer haul and refit. One of these years I’ll break the cycle and haul Sjogin for the winter with some shop time for new rails and wooding the topsides. She also needs attention paid to her backbone joints. While the planks are copper riveted, her keel and stems are iron fastened. Maybe in time for her 50th anniversary in 2012?

Any way, here are some odds and ends from the last few weeks.

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Pair of Blackjacks
A pair of Hubert Johnson Blackjacks. Classic Jersey skiffs.

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Maid Servant with Dave and Tom
Ready for service. Dave Onley and Tom Beaton about to deliver Maid Servant to Toms River. The Silent Maid was the belle of the Toms River Seaport Society gala this past weekend.

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Jack's old skiff
Jack’s old skiff. He used to be a Beaton’s regular; doing some gentleman’s crabbing out of this old skiff.

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Torch
Torch, out for a little mid season primping. Another neat iPhone pic.

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Under the rainbow
That’s us, under the double rainbow. Cue the gull. Another iPhone shot.

Hi Jake!

*Chamber of commerce

Sailing with the Dingo

Lived up to my tag line this past Saturday morning as Shane and I sailed truly as slow as we could. Steady half knot breeze, gusting to 1. Dry to start, then a light drizzle. All in all a useful way to spend a few hours.

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My one-armed helmsman, Shane Eyre. Out sailing in a VERY light breeze along with a touch of drizzle for atmosphere. Dressed for the occasion but still a bit damp.

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Caught fondling the varnish.

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Still fondling the varnish. It was great to have him on board, we had a nice little sail in spite of the conditions. I gave him the grand tour of Beaton’s, pointing out the various Herreshoff’s scattered around the yard.

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Running home in the rain. Almost missed the landing; needed a bit of rudder sculling to finish the job.

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What a treat to have his Dingoness on board. I think he makes the seventh WoodenBoat Forumite to sail on Sjogin

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On the porch, in the Cloud. Our correspondent keeping up with his public. I may have done a terrible thing and pushed him to start a blog. The world will never be the same.

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of Springsteen fame.
Channeling his inner Bruce: “… the cops finally busted Madame Marie for tellin’ fortunes better than they do.”

Bruce Springsteen: 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) 1973

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Lust
You can just make out the drool on the edge of Shane’s beard. He’s watching the uh….keel of our fine young waitress, Miss Mary Margaret.

He’s now had a sail on Tidbit with Forum friend Joe Foster and is in Guilford, CT with “mum and dad”. We’ll see him at the WoodenBoat Show this weekend.

See the thread linked to below for his continuing hi jinks. He’ll be here another few weeks before returning to Oz. Based on what we’ve seen, Shane should be a regular visitor to our shores.

More pics on Flickr.

E-Scow action

The local fleet was out this morning for some tune up racing just south of Swan Point. Nice breeze out of the ENE about 4 to 8. Reached out and eventually hove to off Sloop Point, just SW of Swan Point. Managed to be near the weather mark for some close up viewing.

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ENE wind
With the wind out of the ENE, it was easy to turn her around, pin her to the piling, raise sail and pull her out. The jib’s backed and the helm’s up so she falls off after a bit of pulley-hauley.

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Trim...TRIM
Trim…TRIM…TRIM!!! On the way to the start.

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All the E’s on the Bay now use asymmetrical spinnakers. Neat drag race.

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Bill and his Sea Sprite. There are several of these practical and handsome boats around this end of the Bay.

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Ghost and her cousins. The last of the new rowboats has been sold. Stay tuned for rowboat races this Summer.

Off to the Silent Maid launching in Philadelphia tomorrow afternoon; pics to follow.

Another Chamber of Commerce weekend.

After a week of seemingly endless rain and gloom, the local Chamber of Commerce has again arranged for beautiful pair of days. Managed my usual short sails Saturday and Sunday. A lot more traffic yesterday but had a nice building sea breeze.

Finally started to hack back the holly hedge. It seems to thrive in damp cool conditions. All of the perennial’s are competing for bed space which is as it should be. Unfortunately the Bindweed seems to like these conditions as well and needs attention. All in all a nice Spring; not to hot (sorry Julia) and just enough rain.

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What may be the last fire of the season as it was cool and damp enough Saturday morning.

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At rest
After Saturdays sail. The jib’s backed so it doesn’t flog and the topping lift’s set up to take the drive out of the main. She lays quietly against the dock this way and won’t bang about.