Published bi-monthly by The Center for Wooden Boats Seattle, WA
V o l u m e XIX Number 5 October. 1998 ISSN 0734-0680 1992, C W B
DON'T MISS THIS ONE!
TRADEWINDS AUCTION '99 If you heard all the chatter after last y e a r ' s exciting C W B Annual Fund-raising Auction and thought to yourself. "I can't miss the next one." now is the time to mark your calendar for the 1999 Auction.
anything: classic and unique boating experiences, nautical gear and services, exotic getaways, beautiful art and collectibles, dining opportunities, handmade items, services (consulting on anything from computers to cars to closet space, land-
The auction, one of C W B ' s biggest fund-raisers of the year, will be held from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday. February 20. 1999. at the Bell Harbor Conference Center at Bell Street Pier in the heart of Seattle's busy Elliott Bay waterfront. There will be both live and silent auctions filled with an array of tantalizing donations. Tickets are $45 per person or $40 each for purchases of four or more together. Parking in the convenient attached garage is included in the ticket price. In keeping with C W B ' s tradition, the mood will be festive but casual. Invitations will be mailed out in early January; be quick as only 260 tickets will be available and there was a full house last year. Amazing donations are already rolling in and more are expected in the next few weeks. For the second year in a row. our Lake Union neighbor, Dale Chihuly, has supported our auction with a donation of extraordinary glass art. We hope to have the art on display soon in the library so do drop in to check it out. There will be an abundance of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to bid on: a ride in the Boeing Simulator, a behind-thescenes day with John Curley and his crew as they put t o g e t h e r K I N G - TV's Evening Magazine. travel to Hawaii for a week-long stay in a private residence, ridealongs with the Seattle Harbor Patrol or with the Husky Crew coaches and excursions on N O A A ships. There will be plenty of exciting items in all price ranges and for all tastes. C o m e see for yourself! The Auction Committee is hard at work, building on the momentum of last y e a r ' s event. Auction C h a i r S u e S c h a e f f e r has set a goal of $50,000, up f r o m the $33,000 raised at the 1998 auction through the auction and sponsorships. You can help! We are seeking both large and small items to be auctioned o f f Ideal auction items can be nearly
It must have been a choice item that had Dennis Palmer bidding so intently at the 1998 Tradewinds Auction. Wait 'til he sees what's up for bid at the 1999 Auction on February 20! - Patrick McKenna photo
scaping, catering, massage; use your imagination). theme baskets, tickets to the theatre, concerts. sporting events or fairs, and gift certificates. You can donate items directly or solicit them from friends, neighbors and business associates. The easiest donations to get are from the people or businesses that you personally patronize; they will be happy to have the chance to support the things you are interested in. Donation forms are available at C W B or we'd be glad to mail them to you. While everyone gets the special feeling of satisfaction from supporting the Center in this way, extra effort will bring in special rewards. Prizes are being offered to the folks who meet the following three categories: highest dollar amount procured, highest n u m b e r of items procured (regardless of dollar value) and highest number of Auction ticket sales. The winners can chose either a SailNOW! class or a weekend workshop, The business making the highest value donation will be awarded the full-page ad on the back page of the Auction catalog. Don't miss C W B ' s best auction ever! It promises to be a n i g h t to r e m e m b e r . - K a r e n Braitmayer
THERE'VE BEEN SOME CHANGES MADE One of the simultaneously sad and exciting events at C W B is saying goodbye to valuable staff members and welcoming new ones. After having worked at C W B just long enough for all of us to realize that she was irreplaceable, our volunteer coordinator Sue Schaeffer has left us. doggone it! Sue has gone back to teaching in California where she will job-share a position. The job-share part is important in that it will give her the opportunity to come back to C W B in the spring. In the meantime, she will continue to manage our Annual Fundraising Auction through the efforts of our never-say-die Auction Committee (Be there or be square! See story above for details.) The exciting part of the equation is that we get to welcome Diane G o w m a n to our stall. Diane
was the best of the best of a host of way-overqualified applicants. W e ' r e lucky to get her. Prior to finding paradise at C W B . Diane spent most of her time in the entertainment industry, managing artists and producing events. We figure if she can handle cranky artists she can certainly organize our angelic volunteers. And Dick Wagner is giddy with the thought of gossip sessions around the coffeepot involving glitterati that Diane has known. Make sure to make a point of meeting Diane when next you visit. But don't expect to leave without having found yourself neatly corralled into helping us out by Diane's deft maneuvers! W e ' v e made some changes in staff duties loo. When we added Dan Potenza to the staff as Assistant Livery Manager last summer, we knew
he was a keeper. So w e ' r e keeping him on as Dockmaster. D a n ' s a Long Island boy whose family has a charter sailing business in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands. He's been everything from a boatyard manager to a soccer team operations d i r e c t o r - and if we ever have a hurricane. D a n ' s experience in marine salvage after Hurricanes Andrew. Bertha and I ran will get us going again. D a n ' s new duties free up M e g Trzaskoma, Livery Manager since April. 1996. to concentrate on two of her favorite areas. M e g ' s new multi-syllabic title is Youth Program Facilitator and SailNOW! Administrator. No more pumping boats in the rain for Meg. Now. working with Youth Program Coordinator Tom Powers, she gets to paddle Umiak-loads of kids in the rain. Not to mention leading tours, teachingschoolkids about navigation and charts and how boats are built and. of course, building our famous toy boats. S h e ' s also c o n t i n u i n g to fine tune our award-winning sailing instruction program and recruit new instructors. As long as I 'm talking about youth programs . . . the word is: exciting! We are focusing energy
on developing youth programs in ways that we've been dreaming of for some time. This past summer saw a revitalization of our Summer in the City sailing camp, where we filled three oneweek sessions. We also began a new program called Adventure Bound with the schooner Adventuress. AB (which, neatly enough, is also the designation for Able Bodied seaman) is a oneweek sailing program that focuses on seamanship skills. It was a tremendous success. This fall and winter Tom. Meg and Sven Holch will be developing new curricula for maritime education. A major piece will be creating a curriculum that can be carried off-site to area schools.
structor for the Sail Away Challenge, our program for the physically disabled. R y a n ' s insatiable curiosity led him to master all our various hull types and rigs, both for knowledge and for fun. Romantic and technical in one cheerful package. Ryan left us too soon. But while he was here, he touched many through their hands and hearts. - Dick W a g n e r
BRING T H E KIDS! There are a host of educational, interesting and rewarding events and classes listed in our Calendar of Events, but we want to call special attention to two first-time events for kids.
All three of our youth program staff come with loads of skill and experience. Tom has taught for some time, trained as a boatwright, managed youth volunteer projects and is pursuing a Ph.D. The first is the arrival of Capt. Christmas. C W B ' s own holiday seafarer, at 1 p.m. Sunday, in educational psychology. Unfortunately. Tom December 13 (replacing the toy boat workshop will be leaving us in January, due to his schoolformerly scheduled). Our jolly mariner, poring needs. Meg has developed curricula and led trayed by Sven Holch. will arrive at the Center's programs on two educational/sail-training schoodocks aboard the 23' yawl Blue Moon with a ners. the Inland Seas and Clearwater, studied crew of holiday helpers. The Blue Moon's cargo boatbuilding at Seattle Central Community Colwill include a seafaring gift for each child. Once lege and taught in a variety of settings. Sven. who the Captain and his crew are ashore, they'll help came to us as a volunteer sailing instructor, will kids build toy boats (until 5 p.m.). There will be replace Tom when he leaves, He is a certified refreshments and music too and the fee per child elementary teacher, created a shipboard curricuis just $5. lum in connection with his M.Ed., currently substitutes in local school systems and has extensive sailing experience. An impressive crew that will, no doubt, lead C W B ' s youth education to exciting new places. If you thought we sit on our laurels around here, think again! - Bob P e r k i n s
FAIR WINDS TO G O O D FRIENDS Rolly Messer and Ryan Kuehn died in October. Each contributed enormously to C W B . In the beginning came Roily. Just retired University of Washington engineering professor. Wiry as a whip, casually elegant, quiet and courteous. He came to help in the birth of C W B and we immediately recruited him as a Trustee. And he did his duties as a model volunteer, quick to pitch in on any job, any place, any time. Look around the site - the picnic table and benches, shingling on the Oarhouse, the copper oar wind-vane- Roily had a hand in making them. He got things built but perhaps his greatest contribution was his unfailing quiet grace and composure, the oil on a stormy sea in any tense situation. Roily was of small stature but he left a big hole to fill. Ryan was a C W B sailing instructor. A Boeing engineer with a range of interests f r o m cooking to cosmography. Ryan gave his sailing students his skills, patience, exuberance, humor and caring support. He volunteered extra time as an in2
And when the novelty of a vacation from school begins to wear o f f and your kids get restless for something fun to do. haul them away for a day of fun at C W B Wednesday, December 30. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.. C W B ' s intrepid volunteers will be hosting all sorts of activities. Kids can build a toy boat (and take it home), learn how to fold paper boats, find out how to tie knots or even make a sailor's bracelet, listen to sea stories and sea music or learn about lots of other maritime skills. G r o w n - u p s can help their child work or just enjoy looking at C W B ' s historic boats. Refreshments will be available too. The fee is $4 for the first child and $3 for each additional kid. If y o u ' d rather tackle more grown-up pursuits, check out the Calendar of Events on page 6 for all the latest on workshops and classes, special events and continuing activities.
when we arrived on the scene it appeared as it both the whales and the whale-watching boats were looking for us. People aboard the tour and private vessels snapped photos of Adventuress tide did not cause Adventuress to drag anchor. as orcas swam on either side of us. As the maThe next day we began the transformation into jority of the pod departed the area, two orcas a well-coordinated crew. As one watch group of swam directly toward the Adventuress, breached seven students sailed the vessel, another attended the w a t e r 20 feet f r o m the stern and then workshops on topics such as knots, sail theory, skimmed just below the surface as if they were and marine ecology. The third group worked on going to collide with the boat. Five feet from the keeping us well-fed. Within the sailing watch stern they submerged slightly to gracefully duck group, further organization emerged. O n e youth under us and continued s w i m m i n g off was at the helm while another on bow watch vigi"How can the trip get any better than this." lantly scanned for logs, boats and other potential our crew exclaimed. As the voyage was quick IN hazards. T w o others pored over the charts and drawing to a close, a finer finale did seem difficompass to provide navigational fixes. At the cult to picture - but our captain had one more captain's command. "Prepare to come about." the surprise opportunity in store for us. crew of teenagers snapped to their stations. It was
21 TEENS AND A SCHOONER Last summer, CWB held its first large vessel program for teenagers: "Adventure Bound." The instructors for this voyage were the captain and crew of the sail training vessel Adventuress and three CWBers: Meg Trzaskoma and Tom Powers. CWB youth program leaders, and Sean Kennedy, CWB sailing instructor and Board member. The week definitely lived up to its name. "Heave away. Haul away. Ship rolls along. Give a sailor some grog and there's nothing goes wrong." sang the crew as the foresail, mainsail, staysail and jib of the 101' schooner Adventuress were hauled aloft by our hearty crew of 21 teenagers. Departing the Port Ludlow dock under full sail, we began our week-long j o u r n e y into the San Juan Islands. Though neither staff nor students could anticipate what lay ahead, all were excited to be underway. Questions such as " W h e r e are we going? Will we see whales? Why are w e towing those boats? H o w will we get there?" did not even enter our minds at departure. Rather we occupied ourselves with the crisp exchanges of: " R e a d y on the m a i n s h e e t ? R e a d y on mainsheet!" "Ready on the staysail? Ready the staysail!" ''Ready on the foresail? Ready the foresail!" "Ready on the jib? Ready on jib!"
the on on the
At the cry of " H e l m ' s a l e e " Adventuress moved from this poised position as if in a choreographed routine. "Haul away mainsheet!" set in motion seven pairs of hands tugging at a line which prompted Adventuress to carve a graceful! turn into the wind. " D r o p the sheet!" was answered with a clap of the same seven pairs of hands as the cleated line fell to the deck. Other commands soon followed. "Sheet in the foresail." "Sheet in the staysail." "Haul away j i b . " T h o u g h many of us couldn't tell the difference between a peak halyard and a port lift, these commands, actions and the response of the ship made it clear to us that in some fashion this maze of lines used in the proper sequence really did hold the key to maneuvering 80 tons of national historical landmark through the water. During the week we would learn the tricks of the trade. At the end of the first day of seafaring, w e slid into a different age as we anchored off Point Wilson in Port T o w n s e n d . Not only did the ship, lighthouse and unpopulated landscape recall an earlier era, but the weather also stripped us of the sense of security associated with the present day. As night fell, the temperature dropped and the wind brought a d a m p mist as it whistled through the rigging. Throughout the night watch groups bundled in long underwear, hats and foulweather gear remained on deck, huddled over steaming mugs of tea or taking bearings off distant points of light to verify that the wind and
clear to any observer that the calls of "hands to the mainsheet. haul away mainsheet. pass the jib. take up starboard lift and slack port lift" had taken on meaning for what had the day before been a completely untrained crew. Sailing in this fashion we made our way to our anchorage at Swifts Bay on Lopez Island. Once Adventuress anchored, many of the youth jumped at the chance to sail the ship's dinghy. Nina. Less than one-tenth the size of Adventuress. Nina conveyed the image of a remora circling a sleepy whale. She would sail away from Adventuress, dart along the cove and then make her way back to the ship, only to sail off again with a new crew. The third day of the trip marked the first dor) exploration. As two groups prepared the Adventuress for sail, a third loaded the 15' dory we had been towing behind Adventuress. Stocked with sandwiches, water, cookies, charts and compass we plied our six oars to explore bays and islands unknown to us. All we had was a place and a time to meet up with Adventuress: Blind Bay at 1800. For the next seven hours we were on our own to navigate passages, explore secluded coves and walk about uninhabited islands. At the end of the day we met up with the ship, arriving tired, happy and full of stories about learning to row together, dodging ships and the new places we had explored. T w o more dory excursions went out in the days to follow. One group rowed to Orcas Knob (a.k.a. Turtle Head on Orcas Island) and hiked to the top. This peak revealed a panoramic view of the San Juan Islands. Another g r o u p spied a minke whale 100 yards from the dory. That same day striking parallels emerged between the Adventuress and the Captain A h a b ' s Pequod. As we sailed along, another vessel approached us. Their captain recognized our captain and they exchanged greetings: "Ahoy, captain. Have you seen the white whale?" "Aye." Or more accurately recorded: " H e y Wayne, you know there's a pod of orcas off Cattle Point?" Based on rumors from passing ships, we pursued the pod of black and white whales. Oddly enough. 3
The morning of our return the Adventuress was anchored half a mile away from the dock at Port Ludlow. Captain Wayne questioned us at our final morning muster: "In the old days how would we get this boat to the dock?" The crew presented two answers: sail it in or row it in. Wayne put the options to a vote. We could sail in, tow the Adventuress in with the dory or use our modernday motor. The group chose the improbable Six youth at the oars of a 15" dory would tow the 80-ton schooner to the dock. Immediately. we had more volunteers than we had spaces. Our six heartiest rowers boarded the dory and tethered it to the Adventuress. The anchor was raised and the rowers strained the line taut. With the next few strokes the dory pulled against the Adventuress and sprang back toward the schooner as a chained dog is drawn back toward its post after attempting to charge away. But time and tenacity yielded results. Adventuress' bow swung around and she was coaxed toward the dock an inch at a time. An hour of sweating and straining brought the 101' ship parallel to and lowering over the dock. From this position the crew twirled heaving lines over their heads and flung them toward the docks. The lines fell short and the wind picked up. Adventuress began to drift away from the dock. The crew rapidly recoiled the lines and heaved them again. But now the distance was even greater. The lines floated in the water, again short of the dock. Then our dinghy, Nina, came on the scene. Rowed by a crew member, she picked up the lines and rowed them to shore. Once the lines were cleated. those on board the Adventuress began to haul away and bring the ship closer to the dock. Working together they broke into song - "Heave away, haul away"- and our ship eased along. With the strength of many backs and shoulders we could finally make our ship fast and unload. Working and singing as a unit we closed our adventure. - Tom Powers The first Adventure Bound" program was so successful, we're doing it again in July, 1999. Call Tom or Meg at CWB, (206) 382-2628, for details.
Traditional Boatbuilding Netherlands Style In the spring of 1997 Kees Prins asked me to come to Holland to teach lapstrake boatbuilding. His offer was generous, providing transportation, lodging and teaching fee. Kees had lived in the N o r t h w e s t for several years. Inspired by The Center for Wooden Boats and by conversations with Dick Wagner and Lance Lee. a m o n g others. he moved back to Holland with his family, determined to begin a boatbuilding school. By the spring of 1997 Kees was ready to start and asked m e to lead the inaugural class of the Zuiderzee Boat Workshop. The trick was finding 10 or 12 students in Holland to pay for the workshop. What do you do with 10 or 12 students? The answer, we decided, was to build two boats. With 12 students, we would build two Acme skiffs - complex round bottom pulling boats - side bv side. Kees would be my assistant/interpreter. I would bring the Acme loft on mylar to Holland. We would build two jigs, two sets of molds and two boats in the standard workshop lime frame of nine days. Kees found the students and I bought the plane ticket. I had never been overseas. My traveling had been in Central America, across the United States and in the mountains and waters of the Northwest and Alaska. It was time to renew my passport and visit Europe for the first time. My flight to Amsterdam had a changeover in Washington D.C., providing a quick visit with one of my sisters. Susan w a s just happy that somebody had finally gotten me across the pond. After some traveling tips and sundry items added to the baggage, I boarded the c o n n e c t i o n to Amsterdam. I boarded and we waited. Eventually the plane pulled away from the terminal and stopped. The captain informed us that they were burning extra fuel because the plane was too heavy to fly. Does this happen often? The plane taxied to the opposite end of Dulles Airport and waited for a "disabled" 737 to be cleared from the runway. After waiting for some time in futility the crew decided to return to the other end of the airport. While we taxied the "disabled" was cleared: we returned to the original designated runway and finally took off. This was the beginning of a 10-hour flight in the cheap seats, with airline food and no sleep, halfway around the world.
my host talked his way out of a ticket. We are now in the land of Dutch and I couldn't understand a thing. The drive to Enkhuizen reminded me of I-5 through the Skagit Valley - without the mountains. Superhighway rising gently above flat farm and dairy land, with canals and dikes. But that world changed as soon as we drove under the stone arch of Enkhuizen and onto the cobbled streets. Centuries ago Enkhuizen was a bustling inland commercial seaport, when the Zuiderzee was a free body of saltwater. N o w that water is called the Ijsselmeer and Enkhuizen is a freshwater port and a yachting and charter center for the Dutch schooner fleet. It is laced with canals, paved with cobblestones and dominated by centuries-old churches, homes and shops. The home of Kees' new enterprise, the Zuiderzee Boat Workshop, is a former government trade school now renting out space to individual tradespeople and businesses. Kees has what was formerly the carpentry shop, a large space with high ceilings, good natural light and some heavy-duty woodworking machinery. When that first S a t u r d a y m o r n i n g rolled around I certainly was nervous. Twelve students ambled in. They were exited, enthusiastic, engaging and polite, disarming in the best possible way. We sat in the lunchroom and passed around introductions. Most of the fellows were conversational in English, a couple leaned on Kees for translation. They were professionals, contractors and carpenters, computer programmers and an engineer for the European space agency. We had a Belgian and a transplanted Dane (who was actually a transplanted Swede); the rest were from the Netherlands. As the moment approached for me to actually start directing, I had the distinct sensation of standing on the precipice. The organizing strate-
gies seemed to melt away. T w o boats in a week with 12 strangers in a strange land. I looked down the table and felt only air under my feet. For lack of any other idea. I simply started assigning jobs. The class jumped out of the gates. Before you could count 1-2-3. the din f r o m handsaws, circular saws, jigsaws, planers and hammers was deafening. Two strongbacks. two sets of plywood molds, two of everything, the boats began taking shape side by side. The class fell into teams and the typical timeline evolved: about three days for set-up. three-plus days planking and the rest of the time doing everything else. The chaos of the second-to-last day, as a myriad of parts were made arid details executed, compared favorably with the cacophony of the first day. We had the best of materials, outstanding Western Red cedar stock (yes, our red cedar), African mahogany, and European oak. We finished the boats on Sunday and launched them in a canal nearby,. Two students drew the short straws, paid for the materials and happily took the boats home. During the week I often thought it an advantage not to understand Dutch. I would give my instruction and let them have at it. which often meant several more minutes of debate amongst themselves. I suspect it was easier on my nerves to simply wait and watch, rather than follow the debate. As always, I learned a few tricks from these fellows. They got a great kick from the expression "close enough, but no cigar." This soon became the watch phrase of the class and was conveniently shortened to "cigar" or "no cigar" The days were extraordinarily clear with a chill east wind that seemed to blow from the vaults of Siberia itself. Almost every evening some of us went out together for dinner and drinks, to me they spoke E n g l i s h : a m o n g t h e m s e l v e s they spoke Dutch, always filling me in on the conversation before too long an interval. Rommet. Beno, Per, Peter and the rest could not have been kinder as hosts and drinking buddies. Peter is a dentist
Schiphol is the modern international airport o u t s i d e of A m s t e r d a m . I arrived on a clear Wednesday morning and m a d e the long walk from the boarding gate to baggage claim, mylar in hand. Everything seemed open, bright and clean. I followed the arrows and guessed at the Dutch directions. Bags in hand. I walked through the security station to the lobby and met Kees. W e had a cup of coffee together, returning to Kees' car just as it was about to be towed away for overtime parking. Interesting, I thought, as
Proud students 4
carry the Hvalsoe I3 to its launching.
- Eric Hvalsoe
photo
from Belgian who had bought a small shipyard in Antwerp for a song and a prayer. After the class we drove across the Ijsselmeer to see the Batavia. The wreck of the original Batavia (a 17th century Dutch East Indiamen) was located a few years ago. providing much documentation, if not actual parts and hardware. Thus, it was decided to build a new ship. The new Batavia was built in Lilystad. newest of H o l l a n d ' s reclaimed landmass. T h e shipyard might have dropped from the sky on this flat table of land, with nothing else near it but a sprinkling of modern industrial facilities. Now two ships dominate the inner yard, which is ringed by the entrance lobby, a cafe, and the various specialty sheds, including carpentry, rigging and carving. There is the Batavia in the water with her soaring rig and superstructure and, on the stocks in the middle of the yard, another ship, the Seven Provinces. Last fall the planking of the Seven Provinces was approaching the turn of the bilge. T h e t w o s h i p s are c o n t e m p o r a r y in d e s i g n ; whereas the Batavia was a merchant vessel, the Seven Provinces is modeled as a fighting ship. Standing on the multi-story scaffolding at either end. she seemed to be as long and broad as a f o o t b a l l field. W h i l e the Batavia w a s built double-sawn frames first and then planked, the Seven Provinces was being planked first, with sawn frames following along (both techniques were employed in the 17th century). The bottom planking of the Seven Provinces was being held together by hundreds of temporary cleats and some floors were fitted. She was shaped with a few shadow molds or patterns (about three) along her great length. Spiling and planking the 3" oak skin proceeds by simply extending the shape one strake at a time with sturdy cleats - and a good eye.
with government and commercial sponsorship (Makita and other c o m p a n y ' s banners are prominently displayed inside the yard). We wandered about the yard for some time, among the piles of seasoning oak. examining the Batavia above and below decks and other boats in the yard, watching a new figurehead being carved and gazing in awe at the outline of the Seven Provinces. T h e next day K e e s and I visited a small boatshop near Amsterdam. It lay in back of the builder's home in a village strung along the North Sea Channel, dairy farms out back, the rushes and long grasses of the channel visible out the living room window. In this shop I saw the prettiest double-ender ever, about 20 feet, and a Folkboat of exquisite detail. Later this builder taught a lapstrake pram workshop in Enkhuizen. Kees drove home but I lingered for awhile, reveling in my freedom and the fact that I had absolutely no plans, except to take a bus into Amsterdam and board a plane home in a few days.
I
to teach another lapstrake workshop. We would built one boat, the Hvalsoe 13, complete with the sailing rig. again with 12 students. I was Amsterdam is, of course, a city of canals, conhappy to bring my own design to Europe and centric rings with smaller canals shooting through looked forward to some family vacation time. like the spokes of a wheel. It is a city of people T h i s t i m e I f l e w n o n - s t o p f r o m S e a t t l e to and not of automobiles. Its pulse is that of peAmsterdam, a great improvement. When I arrived destrians. bicycles, m o p e d s and trolley cars, at Schiphol. Holland was turning the corner of a there are shops and restaurants around every heat wave: the wettest month in 10 years lay just corner, with a multitude of "districts." each ahead. In the middle of the week I came down unique. It is a clean, happy city with a fascinatwith a fever and had no choice but to stay in bed ing variety of people. The architecture and soarone day. Kees picked up the slack and I returned ing spaces of Amsterdam provide extraordinary with a normal temperature after some extra sleep. homes for many museums. I enjoyed the Van Gogh and the Stedilick modern art museums but My midweek collapse aside, this was another the National Maritime M u s e u m , while impresgreat class, a very happy and harmonious group. sive. gave me that dull and sleepy feeling. I wanThe students were extraordinarily patient in shardered d o w n the street and s t u m b l e d a c r o s s ing tasks, helping each out and. when there was Kromhout's. not enough work for everybody, simply relaxing. They did a splendid j o b of building the Hvalsoe 13. including all of the parts - rudder, rig. centerboard, floorboards, etc.
S o m e p l a n k i n g in the e n d s is pre-bent or twisted on an elaborate rack system with dry heat (fire or a torch). A spiling pattern is m a d e which gives the shipwright a sense of the shape, twist and bend of the plank. Using adjustable horizontal bars, the rack is set up. providing the correct curve and twist over the length of the plank. The spiled, cut, and beveled plank is bent over the bars of the rack. In Holland, where oak is the traditional building material and the scantlings very heavy, fire rather than steam is used to shape these timbers. In the past that meant literally lighting a fire under the plank and allowing it to sag of its own w e i g h t , m a n i p u l a t i n g the oak to achieve the required bend and twist, perhaps over an entire day for a thick plank. Many Dutch shipwrights still use dry heat, applying a propane torch to the surface of the wood, heating and bending as they go. In Lilystad much of this information was conveyed to us by the crew, healthy looking young men and women, teenagers and 2()-somethings, w h o have in fact been the work force building these ships with a core of experienced shipwrights. What began as one m a n ' s obsession has become a youth employment program complete
The nearly 200 years old. It has a huge open shed with wrought iron f r a m e w o r k and marine railway. Another large shed has been enclosed and now functions as a museum with a fascinating variety of early engines, drawings, tools and several small boats. Part of the property, including the slipway, is still a working yard. In the shop a couple of fellows were finishing a "whaler." The yard has built a number of these double-ended pulling boats for clients, often corporations, who race the b o a t s on a r e g u l a r b a s i s . S e v e r a l Kromhout whalers were moored out front, along with a sundry collection of working and pleasure craft. A half-sunk schooner along one of the longer piers looked nearly as old as the boatyard itself. It was a warm and comfortable place and I felt I had made a great discovery.
Each morning started with a cup of coffee and a few minutes on the chalkboard discussing what we had done and what was to come. Those first days of the class I exhorted the crew to "think like a plank." This they found very amusing, adopting the phrase with variety of permutations and great enthusiasm. The class included one women, an expert in restoration for a museum in Amsterdam. Hennie explained that she was going to keep a sketchbook journal. A copy of this class journal with its drawings is one of my prized possessions. The cover page shows a bespectacled, ill-shaven, but content looking instructor with dreams of the HV13 and a plank growing out of his head. Hennie left some personal touches on the boat, including an elaborately carved tiller and a star under the stern seat support beam. No one could begrudge her for winning the draw and taking the boat home
Six pairs of hands fit a plank onto an Acme. 5
My wife. Diane, flew over soon after the class We had decided to visit Denmark, from where (continued on page 8)
CALENDAR OF EVENTS Every 3rd Friday C W B THIRD FRIDAY SPEAKER SERIES 8 p.m. CWB Boathouse Each month C W B finds a speaker of wit and experience to talk about his or her special knowledge. It is also an opportunity for C W B members to meet one another and the staff. Admission is free. Refreshments served (donations to cover costs are appreciated). Every Sunday (weather permitting) "FUN RUN" BOAT RIDES 2 p.m. CWB north dock Come on aboard for a one-hour sail on C W B ' s 35' New Haven Sharpie, a type of boat originally developed for oystering on the East Coast, or on one of our other larger boats. Your skipper will be one of C W B ' s ace sailing instructors. We provide the life jackets; you come dressed for the weather. THE O C C A S I O N A L C A F E 7:30 p.m. every other Thursday CWB Boathouse Now in its third season, the Occasional Cafe is a concert series in association with the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop and features some of the Northwest's best, most in-demand performers. The "cafe" of the series title is the C W B Boathouse with casual seating and an array of cafe-style refreshments. Admission is $8. under 14 or over 65, $6 (tickets at the door). The concerts continue every other Thursday (except Christmas Eve) through May. Scheduled performers through December are: December 3: Burning Plough, hillbilly, pop and gypsy twang, and Smoke Creek, new and old-timey string band; December 17: Molly Tenenbaum and Peter L a n g s t o n . old-timey duets, and Thomas Corlett. country blues and rags: December 31: William Pint and Felicia Dale, traditional maritime. Celtic and French songs, and The Pilots of Tiger Bay. humorous and bawdy maritime and music hall songs. The rest of the season's schedule will be announced later. Decembers, 1998 (Saturday) N O R T H W E S T INDIAN C A N O E M O D E L S EXHIBIT & LECTURE 2 p.m. CWB Boathouse Free (donations welcome) Steve Philipp is well known throughout the Northwest for his know ledge and expertise in the creation and history of cedar canoes. His finelydetailed to-scale models of canoes made and used by various Northwest tribes will be on display a treat usually reserved for our annual Wooden Boat Festival. Steve, who has spent most of his life among Native American peoples, will describe how. over thousands of years of evolution, these hand-carved cedar dugout canoes ar-
known name in Northwest racing circles), twice rived at a perfection of function, beauty and seawon the 215-mile Huron-double-handed Chalworthiness. This special presentation is sponsored lenge. Year-round she races her Thistle, TTFN. by the Puget Sound Maritime Museum with supon Lake Washington. port from the King County Landmarks and Heritage Commission hotel/motel tax revenues. February 5, 1999 (Friday) December 13 (Sunday) SAILMAKING SLIDE SHOW MEET CAPT. CHRISTMAS 7:30 p.m CWB Boathouse 1 p.m - 5 p.m As a prelude to the sailmaking class she will he conducting at C W B the next two weekends Fee:$5per child (includes toy boat materials) (see Maritime Skills Workshops listings for deCapt. Christmas is C W B ' s own holiday seafarer. Kids of all ages are invited to come on down tails). Ellen Falconer of Sound Sails will present and meet Capt. Christmas: they get to build a a slide show on the creation of a new spritsail for boat too. The Captain will arrive at the Center at C W B ' s Bristol Bay Gillnetter. The black-andthe south end of Lake Union at 1 p.m. aboard the white slides were taken bv Linda Townsend of 23" yawl Blue Moon with a crew of holiday helpPort Townsend last year. The presentation, which ers. The Blue Moon's cargo will include a seawill last about an hour, is open to all. faring gift for each child. Once the Captain and his crew are ashore, they'll help the kids each February 19, 1999 (Friday) build their own toy boat. There will be refreshTHIRD FRIDAY SPEAKER SERIES ments and music too. 8 p.m CWB Boathouse For thousands of years, the people of the ArcDecember 27 (Sunday) tic conceived and evolved the most efficient selfFROSTBITE POTLATCH propelled crafts ever in the history of man. Corey Freedman. who has probably forgotten more This is one of our four annual membership about kayaks that we will ever know, will take gatherings, but open to guests of members too. The purpose is to show off our collections, give us on a unique cultural journey of umiaks and kayaks, from Siberia to Greenland, in "The Hisa rundown on our plans and have some recretory of the Skin Boat (4.000 B.C. - The Present)." ational sailing. Registration for the Beetle Cat It will be an in-depth look into the evolution, Team Championships begins at noon and the racapplication, form and function of Arctic skin ing at 1 p.m. There will be four teams of four boats. Through slides and on-site replicas, he'll skippers participating in relay races and two explore these truly remarkable construction methrounds of racing. The entry fee is $5 per person. Teams will have costume themes, with an award ods and how they are applicable in today's world. for most original costume. We'll wind up the day with another of our famous potluck suppers, February 20, 1999 (Saturday) music and dancing if anyone has any energy left. TRADEWINDS - THE AUCTION!!! December 30 (Wednesday) AVAST. ALL KIDS! 11 a.m. - 4 p.m Fee: $4 for the first child, $3 for each additional kid Now that all the holiday presents have been tried out and tossed aside, set sail for a day of fun at CWB. Kids can build a toy boat (and take it home), learn how to fold paper boats, find out how to tie knots or even make a sailor's bracelet, listen to sea stories and sea music or learn about lots of other maritime skills. Grown-ups can help their child work or just enjoy looking at C W B ' s historic boats. Refreshments will be available too. January 15, 1999 (Friday) THIRD FRIDAY SPEAKER SERIES 8 p.m. CWB Boathouse Seattle's Ann Christiansen will speak about the world of sailboat racing from her perspective which is quite varied. Ann is a lifelong sailor, an avid racer and the co-owner (with husband. Jack) - N o r t h Sails S e a t t l e . She w a s the 1997 of Women's Thistle Champion and crewed on the boat that took third place in the 1998 Thistle Nationals. A n n ' s been on three winning crews in the .1-24 District 19 Championships and she and her dad. Richard Lootens (another well6
Bell Harbor Conference C enter It's back to Bell Harbor for another spectacular C W B Fundraising Auction, which promises to outdo even the outstanding 1997 Auction. The Auction Procurement Committee is already hard at work lining up an amazing array of items for bid. All sorts of things are needed: nautical and non-nautical goods, services of every kind, vacation getaways, sports equipment, theater and sports event tickets or unique or hard-to-find items. Particularly sought are unique items that will provoke spirited bidding. And we're also recruiting volunteers for the myriad jobs it takes to make the Auction a success. If you have an item to donate or would like to sign on as a member of the Auction crew, call Sue Schaeffer. Auction Chair, at CWB: (206) 382-2628. July 3-4, 1999 (Saturday-Monday) LAKE UNION W O O D E N BOAT FESTIVAL 10 a.m.-6 p.m. each day. It's never too early to start getting ready for the way C W B celebrates the 4th of July - The Festival! More than 100 wooden boats from dinghies to 100-ton schooners. Lots of hands-on activities, including toy building, maritime skills demonstrations, knotwork and rides in classic boats of all types. Plus, the wacky Quick & Daring Boatbuilding Contest, historical exhibits, a
silent auction, music, food. P e o p l e ' s Choice awards and more. Reserve the date now.
MARINE SKILLS WORKSHOPS All year 'round (every day in the summer!) LEARN T O "SAIL N O W ! " 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. or 1:30 - 3:30 p.m Saturday Sunday Fee: $150 per person (includes a one-year CWB membership) Instructors: Volunteers Students will learn to sail classic boats in one session of classroom work and as many sessions of hands-on instruction as necessary (within a four-month period) in our small boats, no more than three students per instructor. Students will graduate when able to sail a variety of keel, centerboard. sloop and catboats by instinct, by themselves. You may begin any Saturday, space permitting. Please call for reservations. For the student who is only free on weekdays, or prefers one-on-one instruction, we offer individual lessons ($20/hour for members, $30/hour for nonmembers) on weekdays by appointment. December 5-6, 1998 (Saturday & Sunday) HALF M O D E L W O R K S H O P 9 a.m. - 5 p.m CWB Boatshop Fee: $150 (members)/$I65 (non-members) Instructor: Rich Kolin The old way of a traditional art: shape a half model of a hull and. from those lines, scale up and build a boat. Countless thousands of schooners, skiffs, smacks and others were thus designed. The new way of this traditional art: find a boat whose lines and history are pleasing and capture its grace and essence by scaling down and constructing a half model of the hull. In just two days, Rich Kolin. a boat builder for more than a quarter of a century, will teach students start-to-finish how to bring a favorite boat from plans to the fireplace mantle. Limited to 6. December 12, 1998 (Saturday) PLANE MAKING W O R K S H O P 9 a.m. - 5 p.m CWB Boatshop Fee: $70 (members)/$80 (non-members) Instructor: Charlie Mastro Under the guidance of the tool maestro himself, students each will create their own plane. Charlie will cover the basics of the blade - sharpening and m a i n t e n a n c e - and lead the class through the intricacies of shaping and forming the body of the plane and inserting the blade. Each student will take home a tool that will last a lifetime. Limited to 6. January 9 & 10, 1999 (Saturday & Sunday) BOAT DESIGN ON THE C O M P U T E R 9 a.m - 5 p.m SCCC Boatbuilding School, 2310 S. Lane, Seattle Fee: $100 (members)/$110 (non-members) Instructor: Stewart Hoagland In our first h i g h - t e c h w o r k s h o p . Stewart Hoagland. boatbuilder, designer and boatbuilding
instructor, will decode the mysteries of designing a boat through computer programs, utilizing the c o m p u t e r lab at S C C C ' s B o a t b u i l d i n g School. Students must be computer literate. Limited to 16. January 23 & 24 (Saturday & Sunday) LOFTING W O R K S H O P & Fee: $ 1 1 5 ( m e m b e r s ) / $ l 2 5 (non-members) 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. CWB Boathouse Instructor: Eric Hvalsoe Students will loft a classic boat from a table of offsets. This workshop will enable students to read plans and understand the arcane mysteries of bevels, rabbet lines, deductions and construction drawings. Eric Hvalsoe is an experienced boatbuilder and designer who has conducted workshops for more than 10 years. This class is highly recommended as a prerequisite for our boatbuilding workshops. Limited to 6. February 13-21 (Saturday-Sunday) LAPSTRAKE W O R K S H O P Fee: $550 (members)/$600 (non-members) 8:30 a.m - 5:30 p.m CWB Boatshop Instructor: Eric Hvalsoe Eric has taught several boatbuilding workshops at CWB. at the WoodenBoat magazine school and aboard. He will lead seven students through the secrets of lapstrake construction. The boat will be a classic design, perhaps a Whitehall, perhaps a Rangely, maybe a classic yacht tender. We will leave this choice up to Eric and the first students who sign up. February 6&7, 13&14 (Saturdays & Sundays) SAIL MAKING WORKSHOP 9 a.m - 5 p.m CWB Boathouse Fee: $225 (members)/$250 (non-members) Instructor: Ellen Falconer, Sound Sails Participants will build a mainsail for C W B ' s 2 0 ' sloop. Petrel. During the two-weekends class, the instructor will guide the class through all the steps of constructing a sail, including both machine and hand work. Limited to 6. April 3-11 (Saturday-Sunday) IKYAK (Aleutian-lnuit kayak) W O R K S H O P 9 a.m - 5 p.m CWB Pavilion Fee: $900 (members)/$950 (non-members) Instructor: Corey Freedman This k a y a k , most p o p u l a r l y k n o w n as a baidarka, is a different and more complicated construction than the Greenland Inuit type. Each student will build his or her own boat. Corey Freedman is the owner/operator of Spirit Line Kayaks in Anacortes and is well recognized for both his expertise in native kayak construction and his teaching ability. Limited to 4. June 5-13 (Saturday-Sunday) IKYAK (Aleutian-lnuit kayak) W O R K S H O P 9 a.m. - 5p.m CWB Pavilion Fee: $900 (members)/$950 (non-members) Instructor: Corey Freedman Due to the popularity of this class, w e ' v e scheduled another one. almost back-to-back. The 7
ikyak. most popularly known as a baidarka, is a different and more complicated construction than the Greenland Inuit type. Each student will build his or her own boat. Cores Freedman is the o w n e r / o p e r a t o r of S p i r i t L i n e K a y a k s in Anacortes and is well recognized for both his expertise in native kayak construction and his teaching ability. Limited to 4. N O T E : A $100 non-refundable deposit is required to register for all boatbuilding workshops: the balance is due no later than one week prior to the workshop. For all other workshops, pre-payment in full reserves your place. Classes with fewer than four students will be canceled or postponed.
Classifieds F O R S A L E BY C W B : 16' Cruisers Inc. runabout w/40hp elec. start Evinrude, EZ Loader trailer. 2.000: 15' Olaf lapstrake runabout w/20hp Johnson. Calkins galvanized trailer. $1,500: 14' Hobie C a t . Shoreline trailer, $600. Call Bob Perkins, (206) 382-2628. W A N T E D : 3 pieces. 17' each, 5/32" 1x19 stainless steel wire; 3 turnbuckles. 1/4" bronze; 30' of 5/8" sail track; 2 small snubbing winches; 8 lb. Danforth anchor; 3" or smaller brass ventilator; small, spherical flat card compass. Bob Peterson, (360) 642-3615. Classified Ads are available, free of charge, only to C W B members. Please contact Judie at CWB if you would like an ad to appear in Shavings or Sawdust.
Boatbuilding Abroad (continued from page 5) my grandfather emigrated. We traveled by train (changing four times) to Arhus. the largest city in Jutland. On the train in Germany we were stuck without the proper currency. We had only Dutch guilders and U.S. dollars and the clerk in the dining car would have nothing to do with us. A sympathetic Dane overheard our plight and insisted on buying us lunch, refusing to let us pay him back. " N o . " he said. "America saved my country. Do not think of it." He was typical of our experiences with the kind and courteous Danish people. It is easy to .exchange a friendly glance in Denmark, to extract a smile, to get a helping hand as a disoriented traveler. After a couple days in Arhus we took a bus t h r o u g h the b e a u t i f u l r o l l i n g f a r m l a n d o f Druisland to the seaside town of Ebeltoft, which sits on a crescent beach bay with beautiful clear water. We took a room in a private h o m e and wandered the seaside and shops. There is a fascinating glass museum in Ebeltoft and there is also the three-masted, auxiliary steam frigate Jutland. How the Jutland came to be restored in Ebeltoft I do not know, but restored it was. She sits in a permanent graving dock just below the center of town, surrounded by various shipyard buildings and a pleasant gift and coffee shop. Several interesting craft are tied along a stone quay. The Jutland dates from the transitional period of about 1860. She is of heavy wooden construction with wrought iron straps and knees and has an immense two-bladed prop. One of the shipwrights explained the Jutland was about 6 0 % rebuilt on site. This included removing planking amidships and letting the Jutland settle on her keel blocks, eliminating the hog and restoring the sweetness of her lines. In the graving dock the Jutland is supported by a series of steel pillars to the wales on each side. Hidden in the struc-
ture is trusswork, which connects port and starboard pillars, making the ship absolutely stable while taking nothing away from its visual impact and authenticity. Walking the floor of the dry dock is an unusual opportunity to see a vessel this size from the keel up. The bowels of the ship are open and empty, but the propeller is there in its immense housing aft. This is an extraordinary arrangement. On the poop deck the casual visitor wanders up to an innocuous looking hatch opening. Peer into this opening and you can see clear down to the floor of the graving dock. This is a vertical shaft housing the propeller, built clear through the ship. When under sail the prop was disengaged from the shaft and hoisted up the shaft with block and tackle - and the sweat of 120 cursing crew. While obviously meant to improve sailing performance, the result was ambivalent at best. I suspect some of the beautiful lapstrake ship's boats were built on site in the shop as well. A 28' open boat was just completed, another lay in the water with a two-masted rig. Our friend explained that the shipyard planned to take young people out on the boats. He also said that the Jutland shipyard operated without government f u n d s or commercial sponsorship, depending instead on private and individual support. We returned to Seattle in mid-June, having had another great teaching experience in Enkhuizen and wanting to see more of Denmark. The workshop opportunities that Kees Prins is offering are unusual in Holland - or, for that matter, in Europe. Some of the students had been contemplating trips to England or America before finding out about Enkhuizen. I believe Kees has a reservoir of interest and enthusiasm to tap into for providing an extraordinary, intense boatbuilding experience. I hope to participate again. In my 18-year career as a boatwright and teacher, this odd line of work has taken me to 8
Maine, Canada and now to Europe. Who knew that the "archaic" craft of lapstrake boatbuilding would cause such excitement. Sharing entirely different ideas about building boats has been fascinating and refreshing. Several people in Holland now have plans for the Hvalsoe 13 and the 15. If you are ever in the area, check out the Zuiderzee Boat Workshop. And keep a sharp eye. You might just see a Hvalsoe 13 sailing peacefully along. - Eric H v a l s o e When h e ' s not teaching lapstrake boat building (his next class at CWB is February 13-21, 1999; details are in the Calendar of Events) Eric Hvalsoe builds, repairs and restores wooden boats and does custom woodworking out of his Ballard shop at 4512 14th Ave NW., Seattle, WA 98107; (206) 784-9528. Kees Prins Zuiderzee Boat Workshop is at Kuipersdijk 46, 1601 CM Enkhuizen NE, The Netherlands; Tel/Fax 0228 319290
What's Open & When The advent of winter's shorter days has always meant a change in C W B ' s hours. This year it also means a change in Livery operations. From November through February, the Boathouse. Library, Giftshop. Boatshop and docks will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Monday (closed Tuesdays). On Monday. Wednesday. Thursday and Friday, the Livery will be open from 11 a.m. to dusk for rowboat use only. The full Livery sailboats and rowboats - will be open 11 a.m. to dusk on Saturdays and Sundays. One-on-one sailing lessons will be a v a i l a b l e by a p p o i n t m e n t M o n d a y , Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from noon to dusk. The change in Livery operation is mandated both by the low weekday demand for winter sailing and the need to use staff and volunteer time to maintain and/or refurbish our Livery boats. - Bob Perkins