link here

Portsoy Scottish Traditional Boat Festival

Though not really apparent in this photo, Lass is here pulling ahead of North Berwick’s St Baldred

The ‘buieites hard at work on their re-hydration scheme

Lassies, currach, Lass et al

Coigach Lass and Icebreaker hauled out in Portsoy’s inner harbour, with a backdrop of what appears to be an enchanting village.

Adrian Morgan of Viking Boats with Leslie Muir, author of Coigach Lass. Adrian has stated elsewhere that he is doing penance as a boatbuilder for his years spent as a sailing journalist, but he doesn’t appear too penitential here.

What is this little boat? I’m working on it.

Loch Broom Sailing Club Regatta

Chris Perkin’s lovely Oughtred McGregor sailing canoe Scotch Mist. Chris, a veteran builder of Oughtred designs is an ardent supporter of the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project. He’s known around the world to fan’s of his weblog,… as strathanchris. Chris is a hydrophobe who rarely sails his own creations, but for all that a very accomplished boatbuilder and a keen observer of the UK mall boating scene. He’s responsible for all the photos here and I owe him a deep debt of gratitude.

Loch Broom hosted a ‘Try the skiff’ evening on Friday before the hoopla. Here are some folks trying out Ulla.

Here, the crew from Coigach give Ulla a try.

Reciprocated with a turn in the Lass try by Ulla crew.

I’d forgotten how majestic Loch Broom can be. Here’s Ulla and tender at the boat ramp.

And finally, Lass pulling away from Ulla in one of the races to take the win.

All photos courtesy Chris Perkins, aka strathkanchris, thanks Chris

While I’m sure these races are hard fought and narrowly won, I think the real message here is not who wins, who loses, but the bigger picture of communities coming together, sharing traditional cultures and knowing each other a bit better for the experience. My ope would be to see this idea snowball globally, engendering a respect for bringing tradition forward by respecting the genius of the past and creating new connections and new traditions.

That said, my real and fervent hope would be that awareness of traditional boats could lead to the possibility of a return to fishing under sail and oar, which could be an immense boon to struggling overfished populations by limiting catch without artificial limits being imposed. It may sound whacky, but it’s more sustainable, and we desperately need sustainable fishing.

OK that’s my rant for the day. Thanks to Chris Perkins and to Leslie Muir, and thanks to all those, each and every one, involved in the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project, and in particular, Iain Oughtred for designing the St. Ayles and Alec Jordan for producing affordable kits.

Harpoon points in the window at the Ironmongers Shop, Mystic Seaport.

The centerpiece of Mystic’s restoration projects, the Charles W Morgan. Billed as the last (traditional) whaling ship in the world, the Morgan is projected to be on the water by 2012. Ambitious.

Seeing the boat from the ground up, she appears enormous, immense.

In fact, she is large, though once you’ve climbed the stairs to her deck, she’s not quite so overwhelming. LOA 133′, LOD 105′. Her beam is 27.7′ and her draft (depth) is 12.6 feet, although fully loaded she could draw as much as 17.6′, her registered depth. Her displacement (weight) is 313.75 tons.

The F0c’sle

Stores at Mystic

At the show John and I met vendor Met Chandler, well really his wife Mo, Met does some interesting maritime blacksmithing. Located in West Chester PA, about 20 minutes from my home, I’m sorry to say they are in the process of moving to NH, though that probably makes sense for them. Met offer’s hand forged sail hanks, caulking irons, marlinspikes and rigging knives, among other items. Nice work. Web presence here.

Rigging knives,sail hanks and marlinspikes, all hand forged.

Someone from Beaton’s Boatyard, Tom or Suzanne, took this wonderful photo of Silent Maid.

Kingston Lobster Boat built by David McCullouh. David
allows he’s built 13 or 14 boats. You can view several of them here.

Apparently there are plans available both from Mystic and the Smithsonian under the name Annie B Fuller
I think this photo is of the fish well, probably filled with lobster in the working boat.

This rather compelling canoe yawl was there on Saturday, gone on
Sunday.

Named Kit, there was no info and I never found the owner. Here brother John inspects the rudder.

Working our way through the IBIM display ( I built it myself ), John and I chanced upon Brooke Hayward and his Delaware Ducker Wooduck.

John and I had met Brooke at last autumn’s MASCF, held in
St Michaels Md, at the Chesapeake Bay Mariime Museum.

At that time, Brooke was planking the boat in the museum’s boatyard. See that here. You’ll need to scroll down a bit. As opposed to many of the boats we saw at the WBS,Brooke, very sensibly decided to finish his traditionally planked lapstrake Ducker with ply decks covered withe painted canvas which give a non skid surface at lower cost. This is the approach I would take for any boat I might build.

And finally, here’s Steven Bauer’s little IO designed HumbleBee, lauchned at the boat show and undergoing her sea trials in the Connecticut River. She’ll serve as tender to Steve and his lovely wife Mary’s
 Al Mason designed Ostkust, sailing out of Portland, ME. Steve and Mary, friends of Russ and Julia Mannheimer, were at my table for the Iain Oughtred Tribute and it was a pleasure meeting and talking with them.

photo courtesy Steven Bauer

That’s all folks, pretty much a wrap on my weekend at the WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport for this year, stay tuned for next. I was enthralled by my weekend in Mystic. This is a great boat show, and some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Kudos to WoodenBoat for sponsering and Mystic Seaport for hosting this event. I got my money’s worth and a lot more. Please, if it’s relevant to you, support WB with a subscription and Mystic Seaport with a membership. I plan to be there next year and I hope to meet you there.

An aside here. My fellow blogger and good e-friend Michael Bogogger has been elected or appointed president of the National TSCA, the Traditional Small Craft Association. This is a rewarding group to be a member of. I’m not a joiner or club type, but the TSCA is unlike any ‘club’ I’ve ever run across. For the small boat enthusiast in the US, there is no parallel. If you are resident in the US, and you like small boats, please join.

Sam getting things fired up.

He’s always moving, constantly explaining.

His little furnace is homemade, a five gallon metal bucket modified for the purpose and lined with refactory material, fueled by a propane jet.

Sam explaining the two part flask, a container for the sand mold. In the corner looking on is Tom Jackson, senior editor @ WB publications.
Today I read Tom’s article in the 2009 Small Boats by WB about the Frederickssund Jolle collected by Christian Nielsen. This boat is featured in the out of print Wooden Boat Designs (english version) which had an introduction by Jon Wilson, founder of WoodenBoat. Tom’s article is right on point, she’s a wonderful boat, among many in the collection of drawings at the Danish Maritime Museum. There is a cantankerous CD offered by the Museum which has all the boats surveyed by Nielsen. My favorite is an18′ ish sailing pram, but if you go to the trouble to find the book or buy the CD, I’m sure you’ll find your own favorite among these incredible Danish boats.

Here he’s fitting the cope to the drag, upper and lower pieces of the flask.

The mold is executed using oiled sand tamped in aroung the dersired object. I was so taken with the pentimento effect of this stage heightened by the white powder that is a parting compound, that I forgot to take a photo, this was generously supplied by fellow blogger John Almberg who writes The Unlikely Boatbuilder. John must have been standing next to me during a portion of the demo, but we didn’t recognize each other as fellow bloggers.

More of the process for preparing the mold here,

Here,

And here.

Mold done and in place, Sam checks the color of the molten bronze, not using a thermometer, but his knowledge and experience, his eye.

He’s using an iron rod to skim debris from the surface of the melted bronze which is in a small crucible.

The pour!

The molten bronze is filling the cavity in the mold.

After letting it cool a bit, Sam separates cope and drag…

…and extracts the still hot piece from the mold.

Cope and drag with the casting removed. I find these very compelling images, a result of the process but to me they read as wonderful drawings.

Viola, the newly minted silicon bronze oarlock!

In a matter of minutes Sam is on to the next casting, here sprueing a mold for the sockets the oarlocks will fit into.

all photos Thomas Armstrong except where noted

First thing Sunday last at the WoodenBoat show was a demonstration of backyard bronze casting techniques by Sam Johnson. Sam has worn many hats in his lifetime, he’s a boatbuilder, a foundryman, a teacher. He currently maintains a shop in Seattle, but is also the director of the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, OR. He also teaches workshops on bronze casting for boatbuilders at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle and at the WoodenBoat School. Sam’s teaching style is energetic and informative. He neatly demystified the previously esoteric process of sand casting mold making and pouring in his hour long demo. Having long stood on the fringes, this demo reignited my interest in this craft and empowered me to believe it would be within my grasp. That’s what good teaching is all about.
While it’s a little hard to imagine the affable and voluble Sam Johnson in business attire attending a board meeting, I’d be willing to bet he’s no less formidable in the board room than he is engaging and didactic in the the teaching environment. It was a pleasure to meet you Sam, and thanks for some insight and inspiration.
I’d like to say that a far more coherent, instructive and lucid account of this demo can be found at John Alberg’s The Unlikely Boatbuilder.

(Inspired by the Carrie Underwood song Lessons Learned)

I’ve been going to school now for 44 years.

Sometimes I’m an “A” student. Sometimes I’ve fallen flat on my face. I’ve made those that love me extremely proud, and other times extremely sad. Both outcomes were of my own doing and I will live with the happiness, pride, bitterness and sorrow each one of my decisions has brought. I have made decisions that have made me friendships that I cherish. I have made decisions that have completely isolated me from my family. Regardless of the outcome, each decision has played its part in shaping my life as I know it today. Each decision was a lesson. 

Early on I found sailing and it filled a void for me, an escape, a place where I was in control. A place where I could make decisions on my own and I controlled my own destiny. A place where I could experience a full range of emotions on my own terms, devoid of anyone else’s prejudices, policies, or perversions. Sailing carried me through some tough times that I had to work through. Driving down the highway of life, it offered a rest stop when it was so desperately needed. It became the friend that was always there. It carried me through until I made the other discovery in my life that saved me. Her name is ‘Jo but I just call her Pepper.

Sailing was the main focus in my life. In some ways it was my savior; in other ways it held me back. The desire to “just sail” was overwhelming. I wanted to be on the water, whether it be a windsurfer, catamaran, monohull—whatever. Just let me sail. Everything else was inconsequential. Sailing was Priority 1. Everything else (job, family, friends, bills, etc.) was just muddy water I had to wade through to enable me to sail…just motions that had to be gone through in order to get myself on the water. Once I would leave the troubled shores everything made sense. All those issues other people had were bound to the land. I could push off and feel the weight of the world lift off my shoulders as I became one with whatever boat I was sailing. Every thought, movement, and emotion used to achieve that feeling when you hit the groove, when you harness the wind, when you feel the boat settle-in to that old familiar angle of heel and sense the acceleration, absent of any man made sound. The knowledge that you’re in charge of your own destiny, the pride taken in the self reliance of being a sailor, that’s what lets you know you are alive and I love it.  

She walked into my life totally unexpected. I was careless with her at first. Sailing was Priority 1. Conflict was inevitable. Something would have to give. No one had ever been able to see or understand how important my sailing was to me. Not until her. How time on the water allows me to clear my mind.  How that time, to me, is so pure.  How awesome I feel when I can go out and enjoy myself without disturbing another person on this earth. How memories of the past and worries of the future all melt away into nothing but the present. How the experience can be so all encompassing, physically, emotionally, and even spiritually.

Over the course of a lifetime one gathers a book of images in their mind. Some are good, some are great, and some are terrible. Some you can turn on and off at will, while others will queue themselves up and play autonomously whenever specific circumstances occur.  Some are relentless. Some are full of so much joy while others will torment, causing you to question yourself for an eternity. Even when you know that finding the answer to resolve the issue is an impossibility. Like everyone else I am both blessed and cursed with these images. Fortunately for me I have found the “reset” button…. and it’s sailing.  

I was very fortunate to be led to a career path that has bought me great personal rewards. That same career path has shown me how absolutely sudden and brutal life can be. At times I find myself very cynical of this world, governments,  people, their motivation, values, morals,  and ethics….even my own. How I can accept $60,000.00 per year compensation for the privilege of helping people 10 days a month while I am fully aware others are watching their children die for lack of food or health care in far off places?  I know that the day will come when I will have to answer to my creator for my every action as well as my inaction during my brief stay on this earth.  I have yet to figure out how I should expect him to welcome me with open arms.  Knowing that he only requires me to accept him as my savior in order for me to be saved is of little consolation to those that are suffering for the duration of their time here. How can that be? In this age of instant communication and limitless information few people will be able to claim ignorance, myself included. Without my “reset” I can feel these thoughts and emotions build up and begin to bring me down.

I am so fortunate in so many ways. She saw something in me that kept her around long enough for me to come to my senses. To learn the most important lesson I’ve ever learned. She knows my faults and she knows my needs. She knows when I need a “reset” and never keeps me from it. Over the years we’ve expended untold dollars and vacation time in order for me to be able to keep my head on straight.  We’ve sailed many places and for weeks at a time. She goes with me. She makes that trip with me to the “now”, leaving the past in our wake and the  future to fend for itself for a while. I still have more questions than answers. I find myself worrying endlessly about where we go from here. How will our country pull itself together? How can we continue to abuse our environment and expect it to keep recovering from our neglect? What kind of world will the children of today inherit? What have I done to make the situation better….or worse? When will we learn to value the work that a teacher, doctor, nurse, soldier, or policeman does as much as a basketball player? I don’t know the answers and I fear what some of them may be. I am just so glad that I found my escape. I found what I need to make it through and what is so important to me. What allows me to get through the bad days and to enjoy untold happiness on the good ones.  Not only did I find it, I was smart enough to make  it her Priority 1.  Did I mention…she’s a pretty good sailor too.
Lesson Learned

I Love you Pepper……if you’ll cast off the bow line I’ll get the stern. We’re outa here.

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