Category: Uncategorized

Yes, this blog is still active. So much easier to post on the usual public social media sites than here for now. I need to retain a WP guru to have my social media posts appear here.

It’s easy to find far more frequent posts at my Instagram page under the SJOGIN name and less frequently at the SJOGIN Facebook page.

Anyway, the best spot to learn about SJOGIN is the Page here on this blog. Click on SJOGIN on the top of the page or click here. http://www.sjogin.com/?page_id=17

Here’s an old photo for you:

Edited to add that this is the size of the photo served up by WordPress. Any ideas about fixing it? Maybe use a WP Theme that’s newer than 10 years old.

Perfect Sjogin conditions. About four to six knots and often less. Was able to heave to and tend to brunch. If you find yourself in the neighborhood you can add to the list of the digital friends of Sjogin made analog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mp7bBdw0CQ&feature=share

One of the joys of the lap strake (clinker) hull is the various tunes the laps play when down below. Even at the dock, just a bit of a breeze starts the performance. Add a sizzle from the stove and you’re talking happy music.

Enjoy:

It’s been an on and off thing with the ice this Winter. I always prefer to have the ice come and stay until it’s warm enough to be gone for the year. This on and off stuff can lead to drifting ice and scarred planks. So far so good.

Here’s a pic from yesterday:

Happy New Year all.

We’re long back to our regular Summer schedule of at least one sail a week and and a visit every few days just to “check up on Sjogin”. Here are some photos from the last few months or so.

Once again this Blog is languishing compared to my steady stream of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter posts. Still, I like to take time and put together occasional longer posts here.

And to reacquaint you with your writer, here is a pic from early this Summer experimenting with a design for a spot to sit aft with the curve of the coaming just so.

That’s Beaton’s to leeward and hove to of course. The tiller is wrapped in a few turns of the main sheet to keep it out of the way.

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Reading on the proposed stern seat. This is one of those projects that get thought of for years before actually making it so. Just a few boat cushions in place to dial in the exact seat height.

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An early Summer appearance by Julia.

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What’s wrong with this picture? One can only hope that this is the extent of this year’s surprises. Quickly fixed and continued on, hove to on starboard. Astonished that the clevis pin didn’t roll overboard.

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Waiting on crew. Had quite a varied guest list this Summer. And a couple of folks that had never sailed before, always a treat for me.

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Jeffrey, Julia and Action, the One Eyed Wonder out for a great sail two weeks ago watching the Duckboat Worlds.

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Daniel, here from Florida visiting his Grandparents for his annual Sjogin sail. He remembered his prior lessons and drove us around for quite a while.

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I don’t understand why I’m not smiling too. Taking Julia’s niece Kayliegh and friends out on a barely breathless day. Terrible Sjogin conditions with little air out of the East and a building bobble of too many motorboat wakes. The ladies had a great time in spite of it all.

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A Peter Slack photo he snuck in while taking Duckboat World pics.

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Another one from Peter. Just enough air to keep us moving and to allow watching the Ducks go by without too many worries about what’s ahead.

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And finally here she is hauled last week for some paint work and a bit of garboard caulking. She’ll go back in soon for the start of the sizzle season. The next Post will undoubtedly include images of the first fire and sail of the off-season.

Thanks for sticking around and I guess some of you are used to these lapses.

Updates to the Sjogin and Beatons Pages here soon.

Fair winds all.

and keeping to a Winter like schedule…..

Here’s a sure sign of Spring.  The Beaton’s garvey ready for another year of service.  She’s over fifty years old at least. Her fairly flat sheer is due to the keel starting fail when building her. David Beaton said “that’s enough”.

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Taken while underway a few weeks ago.  At least some of the comforts of home.

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The Port tack is the preferred one for a healty draw on the stove with the hatch open.  Hove to yet again.

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After one of the seemingly endless Northeasters we had in March. Very wet snow and had Sjogin down about an inch.

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Kent down for a watch below.

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And finally your Happy Skipper leaning against the backed jib. Sjogin didn’t seem to mind.

I’ve finally straightened out my WordPress protocols so once again, I’m promising more frequent Posts.

Waiting for the usual Goldilocks winter sail where it’s about forty, bright sun and a light easterly breeze. Still, life continues below deck at the dock. Heating conditions now adjustable by way of a damper. Progress indeed.

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Bay down about a foot or so and flat calm.

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Very quiet below absent the usual snap from the stove and sizzle in the skillet. New read on board is the life of Merce Ridgway, Bayman, a look at life on Barnegat Bay sixty years ago. Happy to have the Oyster farmers now but what a loss.

Note the new damper.

Just warm enough below to start defrosting the ports.

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Had a lunch visit from Kent and his very good friend yesterday. Plenty of room for the three of us.

Sailing pics soon.

Thanks to the folks at Beaton’s, the T Dock is ice free using ice eaters and a bit of a thaw. The cold is returning for a while but we hope for a return to more average temps.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks. Fingers crossed for a path to open water. It’s been a while but it’s alway a treat to sail down to the edge of the “pack ice” down Bay. Especially with the stove going.

Thawing out down below. Quite a display of frost in the cabin. Most of it came off the newly painted cabin with a gentle scraping. The rest melted.

The only defroster on Sjogin.

Here’s the ice eater in action. Moving relatively warmer water from the bottom, only a foot or so in this pic, does the trick.

Here we have the T Dock ice free. You can see open water out on the Bay. This may and probably will freeze over again, but the worst should be over.

One of the treats of quiet winter visits is surprising visitors. A Hooded Merganser (I think) can be seen to the left, obviously annoyed he’s been rousted from his ice free feeding grounds.

We’ve had a few light snowfalls over the past few weeks. Looks like I won’t get in a last Fall sail but an early Winter sail is in the offing.

Here are a few pics.

Just enough snow to be photogenic. Sails go back on soon after some TLC from Mark Beaton.

Traditional Christmas Wreath in pride of place. The fresh snow really sets off the varnish.

Under the rigging pole. Note the Malachy Green rub rails. Fine work by Beatons and Paul Smith as always. Sjogin is so lucky to have such stewards.

Thanks all for following along and my best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a fine new year.

Sjogin gets hauled this week for some shop time. Two coats of varnish on the spars, topside paint, paint on the rub rails and such. The plan is to have her back in commission next month.

It’s been over thirty years, absent the Sandy years on the hard, that Sjogin’s been in the water and ready to sail through the winter. One of these years that run will end but not this year.

Here are a few pics and a video from yesterday’s sail:

That was quick. A half hour after finally getting back to the dock (it took three tries), Sjogin’s spars were headed to the shop.

Hove to for lunch.

The classic Sjogin view. Hope to have her back looking Beaton fresh before Christmas.

Here’s the YouTube link: Last sail of 2017?