Category: Sjogin

Surprise visit

last weekend from Steven Bauer and Family. He’s a fellow participant in the WoodenBoat Forum from Portland, Maine. They were on their way to Ocean City, NJ for a family reunion and stopped overnight at a friends house near by. Steven was able to find Beaton’s and showed up just as I was ready to make sail. Went for a quick sail and then had a tour of Beaton’s. We’re going to try to go sailing together later this week if the weather gods allow.

Here are some pics including one from our garden:


Steven and Mary Bauer


Gavin and the girls.


Wet sanding Ghost’s bottom in preparation for the first race of the season. The Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association (BBYRA) represents the 10 yacht clubs on the bay and organizes the weekly regattas. The first race was held last Saturday but abandoned due to severe weather. The A Cats don’t race if the winds are over 18kts. Check the Link on the right under “Boats” for race results.


Our shade garden and porch. The damn ferns are starting to flop.

Russ

Two sails this weekend

along with some hedge trimming. Took off Friday and got underway before 8:00am. Light and variable Westerly but enough for a pleasant four hour sail. Went down to Hankin’s Island Friday and hove to for a bit. Nice to have plenty of room to relax and let Sjogin take care of herself. Long beat back in a rising Northwest wind. Gusty and shifting but not too much velocity. Short sail today in light Southerlies. Managed to cause two speedboats to wait for me to sail across the channel up by the club.

Pics follow:

Hankins
Hankin’s Island, about 2 miles or so south of Beaton’s. Named for the surf boat building family of Lavallette.

Red Sails
Red sails in the sunrise. Just after starting out Friday morning.

Marsh edge
Tacking along the marsh edge. The bottoms just a foot or so under Sjogin’s keel

Mary Ann
One of the original A Cats, Mary Ann. She was completely rebuilt in the late 80’s by Benjamin River Marine in Brooklin, Maine

Ed Lowe
The figure you can just make out on the Sea Sprite is Ed Lowe. He just turned 89 and sails stretched out on the leeward cockpit seat, propped up with cushions.

Osprey
Osprey and young; Great White Egret working the shoreline

”Garden"
The yellow flowers are a plant we thought was Evening Primrose but is probably just an attractive weed.

Julia
Julia, roses, clematis and a glass of Sancerre. A perfect early Summer combination.

The Bay was empty this morning,

absent a few fishermen. Threat of rain and fog kept most sensibly at the dock. I went out anyway, going no further than the yacht club, but mostly to leeward of Swan Point. The northerly current and a S to SSW breeze of 6 to 10 kept Sjogin comfortably hove to on either tack.

Cool and damp enough for a brew up. Had a fire and tea late this past Wednesday afternoon as well. Went out in the fog and sailed the same course, same tacks. It’s like going for a stroll around your block.

Pics, garden and such as well, follow:

Brew up
Cool and damp enough for tea.

Hove to
Beaton’s Osprey Platform out of focus but with apparently with child! Much fussing with the nest today.

tiller line
New tiller lines and blocks. Easier to hold and the blocks help as well. The tiller responds more quickly now when the line’s eased. I’ll add a pad eye inside the toe rail and lash the blocks to them.

Iron Line
Sjogin’s lead (iron actually) line. It’s only 9 feet long; a knot at three and six feet. Sjogin draws three feet or so; if it’s more that that, it’s all I need to know.

Most of my end of Barnegat Bay is about 5′ to 8′ deep, favoring the western shore. Where there are salt marshes you ususally have 4′ of so right up to most of the marsh. When the wind’s out of the SW or W you can sail up to it, jump off and anchor.

Fog
Hove to in the fog this past Wednesday.

Raven and Lightning
Raven and Lightning rigged and ready to go. If there are any tune up races next week, I’ll try to get some pics.

Ghost
Ghost, the Beaton A-Cat I had the privilege to work on in the early 90’s. The Ogee at the end of the coaming, tiller and seats are my work.

Poppy
Stranger Poppy. Six spots instead of the usual four. Hmmmmn, an omen?

A perfect Memorial Day Weekend sail

and finally warm enough to make a cuppa out of the question. Left the dock at 9:30 or so; the last of the land breeze served well enough. Started in the WSW about 4 to 6; veering to the NNE about 10. I was off the bay before our “summer visitors” showed up. A couple of dawn patrol jet skis and that was about it.

Also some garden pics soon. Our Poppies are popping. We have an odd one that shows six black spots instead of the usual four.

Pics follow:

Randi
Another Shanghaied sailor. Randy joins me for a “harbor burn”.

Reading
Reading about sealing in the Kerguelen Islands while HTOSP*.

Myth and Peter
Myth and Peter heading for Bay Head for the season.

A=Cats
Lightning and Raven waiting for their sticks.

Russ

*of course…hove to off Swan Point.

Finally,

a dry Northeaster and a Saturday morning sail. Around here when there’s a Low over the Great Lakes we occasionally get a clear day with the wind at 8 to 12 out of the ENE. Great sailing, a steady breeze off the still cool (50’s) ocean. Plenty cool enough for a fire and brewing up a cuppa.

Here are some pics along with a Flatfish progess report.

reaching
Reaching back to Beaton’s where I was able to Shanghi some crew.

Kent
And here he is, my good friend Kent who made a pier head leap to join me for a lap around the harbor.

Lasers
Here are a couple of locals tuning up for the coming season.

At rest
And here’s Sjogin, ready for tomorrow.

Flatfish
Planking progress on the new Flatfish. The stock is in the foreground; Atlantic white cedar from the South.

Russ

Here are some recent photos

taken over the last few weeks in no particular order. Some progress on the new Flatfish at Beatons, some garden pics and whatever. Still haven’t gone for a sail since April 19th.
Also received several e-mails from folks in Finland, Belgium and Washington state. Nice to know someone’s reading this.


Still cool enough for a fire and a cup of hot chocolate. This was from April 30th, blowing about 18 to 20kts from the SE…..


and spitting rain.


Here is a nice pile of Atlantic white cedar getting ready to be used as planking stock for the new Flatfish. The keel and centerboard are in place and the rabate has been cut. The builders have plank patterns taken from the first Flatfish they produced.


The boat on the right is my Son’s C&C 24 Claire. She was just launched and is getting ready for the Spring racing season.


This is how we grow money! The pink plants are Lunaria or Money plant. They are biennial and spread willingly.


Sunrise on May 1st.


Things are starting to fill in. Soon there won’t be a need for mulch.

Russ

A quick sunset sail

accompanied by a fire in the woodstove and a cup of tea. Was out for an hour or so, cool enough on the water to have a small fire and brew some tea.


Jib backed to Starboard, ready to ease the topping lift and cast off.


Port tack, Swan Point ahead.


Ain’t it the truth… The book is Voyage of the Damn Foole, a hand lettered and illustrated collection of stories about cruising in a Town Class sloop in southern New England. The stories originally appeared in Messing About in Boats.


The new Mantoloking bridge, just to the north of Beaton’s.


Drifting up to the dock at a half knot or so. Classic dying sea breeze.


End of a fine sail. More pics at my Flickr site

Russ

Not much to report

and I haven’t gone for a sail since returning. Usual Saturday and Sunday morning visits and still cool enough for a fire and cup of tea. Also started on the perennial beds in earnest. Garden pics next week.
Here are some recent pics:


Nothing like shop dried Jersey White Cedar to start a fire.


Progress on the new Flatfish. Here the pattern for the sheer strake is being fitted. Note the glued on batten that mimics the shape of the molded Herreshoff sheer strake. This is done so the pattern bends in the same fashion as the actual sheer strake.


The Ospreys have returned. You can just make out one on the platform Tom Beaton, myself and other erected about 20 years ago. Although not a high as they prefer, good nesting sites are at a premium so we’ve had nesting pairs for the past few years.


Spring has sprung. Julia collecting Daffodils.

Back on the Bay

after a week plus sailing in the BVI. Julia and I went on a charter with our friends, Dave and Cheryl. We sailed a 47′ Beneteau out of Horizon Charters in Nany Cay, Tortola. This was our first experience with them and we were generally pleased.

Here are some pics from the trip as well as some shots of Sjogin and progress on the new Flatfish. More BVI pics can be found at our Flickr site.

Russ
Driving with my feet. Peter Island under our lee.

Sandy Sprit
Sandy Spit, a classic desert Island. Just off Little Jost van Dyke. We went over in the dinghy from our mooring at Foxy’s Taboo.

Tilman
Reading Tilman on the beach in Cane Garden Bay. The closest I was to ice was in my Painkiller.

Julia
Julia driving

Bubbly Pool
Bubbly Bath on the North shore of Jost van Dyke. The gap in the cliffs allows the surf to surge through and create a whirl pool. Truly bubbly. Best followed with a cheesburger at Foxy’s Taboo.

Tea
Tea and Tilman last Sunday. We returned from the BVI at 4:30am.

Sunset
Sunset at Beaton’s on the first day of Spring.

Flatfish
Floors being fitted on the new Flatfish.