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SHAVINGS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER•2004
School Year Partner Programs After School Sailing Program
Students from TOPS Middle School came down for after school sailing classes this Fall.
With smiling faces, the graduates of our after school middle school sailing program received the testament to their graduation: the coveted “Certified Bull Rider” t-shirt. Over the six week course these middle-schoolers had braved the cold and rain, milling crowds of motor craft, and landing sea planes in their seven-and-a-half foot El Toro sailing dinghies. Plus, in the middle of all of that mayhem, they turned into some pretty good sailors. From showing up with no knowledge of sailing, in six lessons they learned the language of sailing, how to rig their boats, and how to sail them on and off of the dock. Congratulations! November/December 2004
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Youth Maritime Campus
For the past 5 years CWB volunteers and the students of Alternative School #1 have constructed sailing pond boat models of the classic racing sailboat Pirate. The actual boat is currently under restoration at the CWB. This year we are integrating CWB into the classroom as part of a larger effort to use maritime experiences as the vehicle for academic lessons, including mathematics, science, social studies, history and physical education. Following AS#1’s mantra “through adventure to the mind,” this program uses real life activities to reinforce the need and usefulness of existing curriculum requirements. The ubiquitous protest “why do we have to do this” will have self-evident answers. One full class day a week is spent at The Center for Wooden Boats involving the students in the following program areas. • Longboat Seamanship • Small Boat Sailing • Pond Boat Construction • Community Service See Page 5 for more information.
Inside This Issue:
FOUNDER’S REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 AUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 NEWS FROM SOUTH LAKE UNION . . . . . . . . 3 NEWS FROM CAMA BEACH. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 YOUTH PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 MARITIME SKILLS WORKSHOPS . . . . . . . . . 6 BOATS, BOOKS & GIFTS . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-11 UPCOMING EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Shavings 1
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Volume XXV Number 5 ISSN 0734-0680 1992 CWB
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Founder’s Report B o a r d N o t e s
The Center for Wooden Boats
Shavings is published bimonthly by The Center for Wooden Boats, 1010 Valley Street, Seattle, WA 98109 phone 206.382.2628 fax 206.382.2699
To learn more about CWB, please visit our Web site at www.cwb.org
Our Mission
To provide a community center where maritime history comes alive and our small craft heritage is preserved and passed along to future generations.
CWB Staff
Betsy Davis Executive Director Dick Wagner Founding Director Jake Beattie Waterfront Program Director Nita Chambers Facility Rental Coordinator Patrick Gould Instructor and Boat Sales Manager Lauren Kuehne Volunteer Coordinator & Office Manager Laurie Leak Bookkeeper Edel O’Connor Boatwright & Workshop Coordinator Jean Scarboro Visitor Services Manager & Registrar Heron Scott Lead Boatwright Doug Weeks Steamboat Program
Board of Mindy Trustees Koblenzer
Alex Bennett Caren Crandell David Dolson Brandt Faatz George Galpin Ken Greff Gary Hammons David Kennedy Andrea Kinnaman Stephen Kinnaman
Lori O’Tool Pike Powers Barbara Sacerdote Denise Snow Eric Sorensen Bill Van Vlack Trip Zabriskie Joe Spengler, Intern
Design and production of Shavings by CWB volunteer Heidi Hackler of Dolphin Design, www.dolphindesignstudio.com. Printed by Olympus Press, www.olypress.com.
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There are almost 200 historical organizations in King County, Washington, and 90 in Seattle. Amongst them are several maritime heritage organizations. Almost all the historical organizations in King County and absolutely all those involved with maritime history began as community efforts. Private donations of funds, artifacts, archives and squadrons of volunteers were freely given. Within our communities was an unquenchable urge to establish places to preserve our maritime past for future generations. Many vessels of historic significance, both large and small, have been acquired, restored and maintained. They provide outings, dockside tours, onboard educational activities, talks, concerts, publications and videos. Many have produced oral histories. They are basic sources for academic research. Most of the National Historic Structures in King County (the last of their kind) are vessels. Historic museums are now having either tough times or tougher. It’s especially true for those with vessels to maintain. Our maritime organizations have contributed greatly to the quality of life of our community. They have been visited by thousands of children on school tours. They add financial support (we do pay for our overhead, including salaries, materials, utilities and taxes). They attract tourists who rate historical museums and sites as second only to wilderness parks in importance. It is time for members of the boat and water cult to work together to show that we have earned the right for sustained support.
CWB Trustee Denise Snow going through locks in France this September.
Nearly a year ago, as I was starting my stint as a CWB Board member, I was rapidly drawn into the spirit of the 2004 auction. As it turned out, it was a great time to become involved as a board member, especially with such a successful auction and with so many exciting changes as the center grows, and looks to new horizons. The success of the 2004 auction spurred continued energy toward the 2004 Auction, Pearls of Puget Sound, and the planning phases were off to a quick start, with the confidence that we will cross the finish line with even greater success than last year. Recently, as the auction committee planned for the gala event, attention was drawn to the lunar eclipse that evening. The plan to shoot for the moon took shape, with inspiration from this celestial event. Mark your calendars now, for the auction which will outshine, and eclipse all auctions that have come before. February 26, 2005 at the Armory will be the place to be. Reserve your seats today! Procurement is underway for fabulous vacation packages, tickets to exciting events, outstanding dinner arrangements and so much more. If you have a donation, or a lead on a great donation, please let us know. Call or e-mail our auction coordinator Nita Chambers (nita@cwb.org) and reserve your seats today. Your contribution and participation in this year’s auction will help make CWB shine even brighter on Lake Union! Denise Snow Board of Trustees Member
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We are in the midst of an urban design rumble. Issues are being dissected and tossed around, including street widths, streetcars, street character, water taxis, wharf activities, cultural interpretation, and a power station. These are the final (from the view point of an eternal optimist) details of our neighborhood makeover. It will involve new zoning, new businesses, new residences, and a waterfront park that will be the icon our neighborhood never had; and a park with more cultural emphasis than any other in our mid-sound region. Mithun Architects, designer of the REI flagship building in South Lake Union and partners of Hargreaves on the South Lake Union Park design, have contracted with CWB. Together we will create a master plan for added facilities and expanded programs. Mithun and CWB are gathering the information needed on our functional and site needs through field trips, workshops and charettes*. Our goal is to complete this plan by year’s end. The master plan will be our springboard to design and fund our new structures which we need to implement our future programs.
preschool, an art school, a Russian bath, a construction company, an architectural firm, the United Indians of All Tribes, an Irish pub, new residential buildings, Surguard Storage headquarters, several stylish restaurants and about ten maritime heritage organizations. The old guard included the Seattle Times and South Lake Union’s own international airportthe seaplane base of Kenmore Air. Seven of the nine city council members, Richard Conlin, David Della, Jan Drago, Jean Gooden, Richard McIver, Tom Rasmussen and Peter Steinbrueck, came to talk to the gathering, as well as Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis and State Representative Ed Murray. None promised a turkey on every table and a new Lexus in every garage, but they all strongly supported completing the park and drastically improving the means to get to it. Barring a pyroclastic geologic or economic eruption, we should expect the South Lake Union dream we share with our neighbors to be implemented in the next 3 years. If it includes a classic soup and sandwich shop and a hardware store, all the better.
The Center for Wooden Boats has hired Mithun Architects to lead staff, volunteers and the Board in developing a Master Plan for our facilities in the South Lake Union Park. Photo by Mithun.
On October 19th there was a blow-out event in the parks’ Armory, called Experience South Lake Union. It was a gathering of the old and new stakeholders, a combination class reunion and freshman mixer. The new class has several bio-med research institutions including Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research, Merck and University of Washington, a new bank, a dentist, 3 elementary schools, one November/December 2004
*Charettes (French for little cart or wagon) were used in the old days of architecture apprenticeships, when the students were given a few hours or a day to design a site plan or structure as a test of intuitive design. At the end of the design period, a bell would ring and a cart would be pushed past all the drawing boards so the students could turn in their work. It was still the same procedure when I took the State Architecture Boards in 1968.
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Houseboats, Seattle style, are floating homes, built traditionally on cedar log floats. Our Boatshop has cedar logs as its foundation (easily seen by peering over the north end of the float). Our Boathouse is floating on Styrofoam logs, tied together with timber stringers. These Styrofoam logs are historic. They supported the moorage floats at Apple Tree Cove, built in the early 1960’s. Houseboats are a metaphor of Seattle. They have been here since the first lumber mills came. They were cheap homes for the laborers on Lake Union, and summer homes on Lake Washington for the business owners and managers. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, several boat liveries appeared in Seattle. They were larger and more fancifully detailed house boats where the boats were rented, restored and built. They were called Boat Houses. Typically there was a band stand on shore for Sunday afternoon concerts. People could lounge and listen to the oompa music in the shore-side park or in an elegant little rowboat, canoe or sailboat they had rented. Our architecture, landscaping and layout are reminiscent of a 1900’s Seattle Boat House, or livery. Liveries were popular for the working class in every city at that time. It was a golden age for classic small boats. Builders were flooded with orders for the gem-like little rowing, paddling or sailing boats that could be rented for affordable prices. The boats and the boat liveries were means of escaping the drab living and working conditions of urban centers. CWB tries to capture those magic moments of fun and fantasy in its layout, landscaping, architecture, and, of course, the elegant, affordable small boats.
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News from Cama Beach B
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I arrived a bit early in the morning of our monthly Cama Beach Volunteers meeting. The gate was kindly left open by the rangers or park hosts. I drove down the original dirt and rock one lane road to the meadow above high tide. I’ve driven or walked that road more than a hundred times since my first visit to Cama Beach in 1991, and it is still breath-taking. Especially today with bits of mist clinging to the trees. The forest was muted by the mist into infinite shades of gray, giving a sense of primal wilderness without a frame of time or space. Then the last tight turn and a glimpse through the thinning trees of the white flecked Saratoga Passage. Another sharp turn and I’m on the meadow with the water and wind right in my face. There was no sound but the wash of gravel on the beach. The camp hosts’ dog must still be asleep. The only company I had were two bald eagles swooping and soaring above the ridge line to the east. Construction workers will begin the rehabilitation and new construction on the meadow in a few months. Cama will never again be a lost paradise. It will ring with voices lively involved in maritime skills workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, reunions, field trips, campfire storytelling. The visitors to Cama Beach State Park will find an environment of natural beauty and cultural education. It will be popular because of its wonderful resources. But it will never be like it was on October 30, 2004.
Photo from Cama Beach State Park archives. 4 Shavings
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Family Boatbuilding at Camano Island State Park
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Camano Island State Park was the site for Family Boatbuilding (FBB) the last two weekends in October. It took place in a picnic shelter just steps away from the beach with spectacular views of Saratoga Passage, Whidbey Island and the Olympic mountains gleaming in the distance. Nice boatshop! We warmed up around the woodstove and talked about the strategy for the upcoming days. The three teams had heard about the program at the Stanwood fair and eagerly started laying out the panels and stitching the hulls together, including a crew of volunteers from Cama Beach who wanted their very own Union Bay Skiff to take to the fair next year. Alastair Stone, a participant in the very first FBB, brought along his boat as a demo of the finished model and spent time helping out with the building and answering the endless questions of eight year old Andrew. Thanks Alastair! All three boats were stitched and glued together after the first weekend, skegs and seats installed and fiberglass tape applied to the seams on the outside. The second weekend was sunny and stormy, white caps on the passage called for an alternate launching plan, at a sheltered lake on the island. Families finished up the boats on
The Christianson Family stands with their finished boat.Photo by CWB at Camano Island State Park, a mile south of Cama Beach.
schedule, eagerly sealed them with teak oil and assembled the sailing rigs. Volunteer Tom Eisenberg organized a barbeque to celebrate the launching-very much appreciated after a hard days work! Mother and son duo, Betsy and Andrew Christianson, were the first to set sail, much encouraged by granddad Bill, dad Mark and little sister Grace. A visiting reporter from the Skagit Valley Herald had this to say…www.skagitvalleyherald.com/articles/2004/11/04/recreation/ rec01.txt
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CWB Youth Programs! Youth Maritime Campus
On Fridays at The Center for Wooden Boats you will find a classroom of middle schoolers from Alternative School #1 participating in a variety of maritime activites.
Longboat Seamanship _________
The first European boats to chart the waters of the Puget sound were longboats. Since then these 26 foot rowing and sailing boats have been used by sail training organizations such as Outward Bound to teach the rudimentary skills of the sea. In the program with AS#1 the longboat will be used to exercise the minds and bodies of these future seamen in the following activities: • Marlinspike seamanship • Navigation • Boat handling • Teamwork • Leadership & shipboard command • Rules of the road • Rowing • Sailing
buoys is the character development that occurs while sailing. Most of our students start the program with no sailing knowledge and a little bit of fear of the water. When they leave they are able to move their boat around the lake with confidence and without instruction. Their first command!
Pond Boat Construction _______
Building on the successes of previous years, this element mentors the students through the process of construction a functioning sailing pond boat model of the classic racer Pirate. Throughout the process the students practice vocational skills such as: • Basic woodworking • Power and hand tool use • Lay up and clamping • Boat design
Small Boat Sailing ____________
Many people’s first taste of the sea comes in small boats. This summer the Center for Wooden Boats began a dinghy sailing program to help promote youth on the water experiences. Our proven curriculum, developed along US Sailing guidelines, includes the following: • The language of sailing • Weather awareness • Tacking/Jibing • Sail trim • Points of sail • Docking under sail • Right of way While the curriculum revolves around sailing, CWB believes that more important than learning how to sail an 8 foot boat around November/December 2004
The completion of the boat is a source of pride in personal accomplishment. Because the boats will be used in the new boat pond slated for construction in the South Lake Union Park, students will be contributing to the vibrant new culture of the South Lake Union neighborhood. When taught in a coordinated effort, these three program elements put students inside of the mathematical explanations of navigation, the forces on sails, and boat design as well as teaching the nautical history of the area and showing new eyes the path to a life on the sea.
This program is being funded through some of CWB’s best friends. We received grants from the Enersen Foundation and Cape Flattery Foundation who have been supporting the Pirate pond program since it began five years ago. Edensaw is contributing the pond model wood and Youth Maritime Training Association (YMTA), has provided a grant to help pay for the pond model and sailing instructors. Part of the letter sent by YMTA President Nom Manley says: “The partnership between The Center for Wooden Boats and Seattle Alternative School #1 offers students an opportunity to learn about the sea and the maritime industry. The Executive Board of YMTA has voted unanimously to enter into this partnership by providing the requested funding. The YMTA seek sources of funding for not only Alternative #1 but for additional schools that wish to partner with The Center for Wooden Boats in similar projects. Over the past eight years the Youth Maritime Training Association has grown from a dream into a viable force, promoting maritime industry in a positive light in the Puget Sound region. We have opened doors for many students to consider the maritime industry as a possible career and then provided the students with a pathway to that career. We feel your efforts at The Center for Wooden Boats parallel ours in many ways. We enter this partnership with optimism and look forward to working with The Center for Wooden Boats for years to come.”
Community Service ____________
Between other activities, students help with tasks around CWB, including pumping rainwater out of boats, sanding, refinishing, or working with staff to help on boat repairs.
Middle school students spending Fridays at CWB. building pond boat. Photos by CWB. Shavings 5
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Maritime Skills Workshops This is a listing of workshops scheduled in the next few months. We are constantly adding new workshops to our program. Please check our website at www.cwb.org for the latest workshop listings and information, or call us at 206.382.2628 to request a printed copy. NOTE: A $200 non-refundable
deposit is required to register for all boatbuilding workshops; the balance is due no later than two weeks prior to the workshop. For all other workshops, pre-payment in full reserves your place. Classes may be cancelled or postponed due to low enrollment.
Nameboard Carving
(Nameboards, Banners & Nautical Details) CWB, South Lake Union December 4 - 6, 2004 (Saturday - Monday) or January 15-17, 2005 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Fee: $210 members, $235 nonmembers Instructor: Rich Kolin
Students will learn to design, layout, and carve name-boards, banners or seat rests for a boat or home. Limit: 8 students.
KNOT 8: Chest Beckets
CWB, South Lake Union December 11, 2004 (Saturday) 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Fee: If not pre paid for the series of 7, $40 member, $50 nonmembers Instructor: Dennis Armstrong
Students will make a pair of traditional chest beckets. The class will be 4 hours, but the beckets will be completed in added sessions as needed. Limited to 5.
Family Boatbuilding: Build a Boat and Sail Away!
Qwest Field Event Center; Seattle Boat Show January 14-18, 2005 or January 19-23, 2005 12 p.m.- 6 p.m. everyday Fee: $1100 per family for members, $1325 nonmembers
There will be two Family Boat Building workshops, during the January Seattle Boat Show at the Qwest Field Event Center. Free admission and parking are included in the price of the workshop. Under the guidance of a boatwright and CWB’s volunteers, families will build the Union Bay Skiff, a great plywood sail boat designed by local boatwright Brad Rice. We’ll launch all the boats at the end of the event! The boat is capable of carrying two people. Families will take their boats home for painting and miscellaneous finish work. Each session limited to 2 families. We will be offering 4 more Family Boat Building courses during 2005.
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Oar Making Workshop
CWB, South Lake Union January 22, 23 & 25 (Saturday - Monday) 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Fee: $275 members, $330 nonmembers Instructor: Rich Kolin
Students will learn the design elements of good oars and will lay out and build oars for our new Cama Beach campus on Camano Island. This course teaches the sharpening and use of planes, spokeshaves, and draw knives. The skills used here are basic to all boat building, and this is the recommended course for those considering taking a boat building class. Limit: 6 students.
Tool Making Workshop
CWB, South Lake Union February 5 & 6, 2005 (Saturday & Sunday) 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Fee: $175 members, $210 nonmembers Instructor: Rich Kolin
Students will build their own smoothing plane and a carving knife that will provide a lifetime of use. Students will shape & heat-treat a piece of tool steel into a blade that will hold a razor edge. They also will learn to sharpen, use and maintain their masterpieces. Limit: 6 students.
Half Model Workshop
CWB, South Lake Union February 12 & 13, 2005 (Saturday & Sunday) 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Fee: $175 members, $210 nonmembers Instructor: Rich Kolin
The old way of designing a boat or ship was to shape a half model of a hull and, from those lines, scale up and build a boat. Countless schooners, skiffs, smacks and others were thus crafted. For this class the students will take the lines off of a plan and carve a half model which will be mounted on a board ready to hang on your wall. This class is important to new boat builders as it teaches how a two dimensional plan can be converted into a three dimensional boat. Students will learn how to read a boat plan. In addition the students will learn to sharpen and use chisels, knives, spokeshaves and small planes. This is a good introduction to the lofting and marine carving classes. Limit: 6 students.
Discovery Modelers
All classes are held at Discovery Modelers Education Center, Room 239, Armory Bldg., South Lake Union Maritime Heritage Center (860 Terry Ave. N., Seattle 98109). Reservations are suggested for all classes. For more info or to register, call Colleen Wagner, 206 282-0985, or e-mail discoverymodelers@yahoo.com
Holiday Ship Ornaments
December 4 (Saturday) 10 am – Noon
Whether they “sail” from your Christmas tree, anchor a wreath or moor on your mantle, these ship ornaments will be a welcome addition to your holiday décor. We supply the pre-cut hulls and masts, you supply the imagination that makes your ornaments uniquely your own. Fee of $20 includes all materials. Limited to 12. Note: This class may be scheduled for groups of 6-12 on other days in December with four days notice.
Models for Kids of All Ages
December 18 (Saturday) 9 am – noon
Chose your model from a great selection of kits, including a tugboat, fishing boats, sailboats and more. Then build and paint your boat (kids under 7 should be accompanied by an adult to assist them) and take it home. Fee, including model kit and all supplies, is $15. Limited to 10.
Building Plastic Models
January 8 and 22 (Saturdays) 9 am – noon
Instructor Dave Clute will present the unique assembly tricks that make plastic models fun and interesting to build. Bring your own plastic model kit or pick out one of ours. Our collection has both simple and complex kits, including a tugboat, submarine, steamship and a lightship. Bring your own tools if you have some. Fee: $25 if you bring your own kit; $45 if you build one of ours (which then becomes yours). Limited to 10.
Chesapeake Bay Flattie/ Swift Pilot Boat Workshop
January 22 (Saturday) 12:30 – 3:30 pm
The Swift and Flattie modelers meet monthly to share problems and solutions and show off their progress on Chesapeake Bay Flatties and Swift Virginia Pilot Boats. Instructor Harvey Nobe welcomes newcomers to the workshop at any time. Flattie model kits are available for purchase or we can help you find a Swift.
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Carving Cultural Connections at CWB and Alternative School #1 B
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Four years ago Ron Snyder, then principal of Alternate School #1 (AS #1), met Saaduuts at CWB. He invited Saaduuts to carve a canoe with the students at AS #1. The canoe-carving journey began with the arrival of a 700 year-old red cedar log. With the guidance and dedication
Steaming the Spirit of Peace open on Labor Day at CWB. Photo by Lori O’Tool.
of Saaduuts, the school community worked in harmony and cooperation to raise funds for the project, then to carve, steam and decorate the 40 foot-long Haida canoe. In April 2004, the canoe was gifted to the Haida people on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. It had been decades since the village had a traditional Haida canoe. A great celebration and Potlatch was held in Hydaburg and was attended by 35 members of the AS #1 community. It was the goal of the project to build bridges of understanding between the children of Seattle’s Alternative School #1 and the native children and people of the village of Hydaburg, AK. The connections between the two communities continue to grow. The spring of 2005 marks the beginning of an exchange program between Seattle students and students from Hydaburg. During the month of April, AS #1 families will host several Haida students. The students will attend school at AS #1. In
May, AS #1 students will travel north to attend school in Hydaburg. The canoe journey continues with the 35 foot Haida canoe Spirit of Peace which Saaduuts is currently working on in a log post and beam carving house built by Seattle Parks, adjacent to CWB. With the help of CWB volunteers and AS #1 volunteers, the canoe is near completion. The canoe has been spread 12” through steaming. Final preparations are being made for steaming the canoe about 8” more. Then the canoe will be sealed and painted and the carving and woodworking will be finished. It is projected that during the spring of 2005, the canoe will be delivered to a Tlingit Village on Prince of Wales Island. This gift will further strengthen the Seattle / Klawock Prince of Wales Island connection. Preparations are underway for the carving of two more canoes at CWB. One will remain on site for public use and teaching.
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In 1879 a magnificent 65 foot long, 12 foot wide ocean going Haida canoe was purchased by the Museum of Natural History in New York City, where it has been on display ever since. It was carved in the village of Massett on the Queen Charlotte Islands. The carver was a member of Saaduuts’ family. 125 years later, Saaduuts and I had the opportunity to visit New York City and see this canoe. We were greeted by the information clerk with great enthusiasm. He could not believe his luck, meeting a descendent of the canoe carver. “This is why I work in the museum” he proclaimed, “so I might one day have an opportunity such as this one.” We were not only gifted with two complimentary entry tickets, but he arranged for Saaduuts to be Tour Guide for the afternoon. We entered the hall of Northwest Coastal carvings, filled with masks, house posts, fish hooks, regalia, baskets and other beautiful artifacts, all November/December 2004
familiar to Saaduuts, many of them coming from his homeland and carrying Haida family crests. Saaduuts explained their significance and uses and talked about the importance of cedar to his people. The Cedar tree, to the Northwest’s natives is considered “the tree of life”. “We did not abandon these objects, they were taken from us and it is important for all to hear our side of the story.” Off in the distance was the canoe which got bigger and bigger as we got closer. Saaduuts’ silence said it all: PURE AMAZEMENT. The vastness of the canoe, the ancientness of the tree, the details of the carvings and his direct link to this canoe were very powerful. As he burst out singing Haida songs of his people, the room filled with more and more visitors, many moved to tears. Our entire trip to New York was filled with wonderful encounters of people, all touched by the canoe projects being created here in Seattle, at The Center for Wooden Boats. We made sure to bring postcards, flyers and other information about the Carving Cultural
Connections project which we handed out to everyone we met including: cab drivers, museum guides and school children. Before returning to Seattle we made sure to take a handful of cedar shavings from the Spirit of Peace canoe to Ground 0, where we left them in Saint Paul’s Church, where many firmen, police and other rescue workers sought refuge on September 11th.
Saaduuts stands with the canoe carved by his family which stands in the Museum of Natural History in New York City. Photo by Melissa Koch. Shavings 7
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Two Nootka Canoes for Jerry Jones, Master Canoe Carver of the Tulalip Tribes BY RICHARD S. KOLIN One of the most interesting and dynamic movements taking place in the Northwest is the revival of traditional canoe building among the Native American tribes and the yearly canoe journeys they take. These voyages, some covering hundreds of miles, help recreate the ancient cultural contacts between the many tribes of this region. They build a newfound feeling of power, pride, and connectedness within the people. This helps to fill a void in cultures long decimated by the larger cultures of the United States and Canada. The tribes who join these voyages range from the Puyallups of south Puget Sound to the Tlingits of the Alaskan panhandle.
The revival of interest in the canoe and its accompanying culture was supported by the Washington State Centennial (1889-1989) Native Canoe Project which was originated to recognize the part that native cultures play in the history of the State and the surrounding region. With State sponsorship, over 17 tribes started canoe carving projects. The canoes became the focal points of tribal efforts to revive the traditional rituals, dances, and songs, associated with the tribal canoe voyages. The Washington State Centennial celebration culminated in the “Paddle to Seattle” in 1989. Seattle hosted the first gathering of all of the tribes in many years. This celebration gave birth to a yearly canoe journey by a growing number of canoes and sponsoring tribes. Each year a different village hosts the event and welcomes each canoe and tribe in a centuries old ceremony. 8 Shavings
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In 2003 over 60 canoes and 600 paddlers, watched by an estimated 10,000 people, came to Tulalip, Washington. They came to celebrate the new power of the canoe as a cultural icon and its ability to bring the people of many tribes together to celebrate their common heritage. I have the good fortune to live on the reservation of the Tulalip Tribes. The Tulalip Tribes were formed from six local tribes and assigned a reservation just north of the city of Everett, Washington by the Treaty of Point Elliot of 1855. Like the other tribes of the area, they were subjected to a government policy of neglect and cultural suppression. This led to a loss of linguistic and cultural knowledge by many members of the tribe by the middle of the 20th Century. In the revival of ethnic
pride of the 1960s, this cultural desert began to bloom. Tribal governments and cultural organizations began to listen to the “old ones” who had clung to their culture and language and encouraged cultural education for their youth. Scholars and artists from the larger community began to show an increasing interest in researching and recreating the history and arts of lost culture. Some made connections with native leaders and shared their information and their access to the resources of the academic community. In response to the invitation of the Washington State Centennial Native Canoe Project, The Tulalip Tribes commissioned boat builder Jerry Jones to carve their first canoe. Jerry carved the 38 foot Big Sister from an old growth cedar log in time for the “Paddle
to Seattle.” Within a few years Jerry carved a second canoe which he called Little Sister. Jerry’s boat building background was gained by working in a local shipyard building steel fishing vessels. His new responsibility demanded a dedicated search for traditional skills that had long vanished from this region. Jerry created one of the most interesting canoes of this new Puget Sound fleet with the help of local artists with experience with traditional tools and the growing community of Indian canoe carvers. Bill Holm of the University of Washington, a leading expert in Northwest Indian canoes mentored the project. Jerry’s craftsmanship and attention to detail, including the carefully laid out adzed finish, make his canoes stand out from the others. Jerry chose the Nootka Canoe model for the design of his canoe as this was the most common design used in the Puget Sound in the late 19th and early 20th Century. It was a valued trade item and was traded throughout the Puget Sound region. The design is characterized by a flat bottom and flaring sides. A concave hollow runs along the sheer and up the soaring stem which culminates in a generic animal head shaped prow. A small protuberance below the head is called the gullet. A cove is carved at the top of the stem ending in a wedge shaped angle (see the drawing for these details). The stern ends in a short tower capped by a forward raked square. In an era when the most practical transportation was by water, the canoes were as much a part of the Native American family as the automobile is today.
Additional reading: Leslie Lincoln, Coast Salish Canoes, The Center for Wooden Boats, 1991. Bill Durham, Canoes and Kayaks of Western America, Copper Canoe Press, 1960.
The design of all of Jerry’s canoes were derived from a set of lines that were published in Coast Salish Canoes by the Center for Wooden Boats in 1991. The lines were of a 25 foot
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sealing canoe that historian and boat builder, Bill Durham had measured in 1965. When I met Jerry in 2003, he was beginning to build the strip built canoe, Big Brother, in his shop on the Tulalip reservation. Jerry showed me how he expanded the lines for his canoes by projecting them on screen and then tracing the image after he had developed the dimensions he desired. I observed that when he set up the molds for this canoe that they were not fair
(an even curve without lumps) and required a lot of effort to get them right. I suggested that lofting might help the project and a set of fair lines to begin with might also help as well. The original Durham lines were probably distorted by copying, cutting and pasting over the years until they had lost their fair. I offered to draw up some lines of a few of the sizes of canoes and we had long discussions on the virtues of various design elements. In early 2004, Jerry was tragically killed in an auto accident. The whole tribe mourned his loss in a memorable ceremony highlighted by traditional songs and dances performed by the Tulalip Canoe Family. Jerry’s canoes were prominently displayed. At about the same time, I received a Gardner grant from the Traditional Small Craft Association (TSCA) to draw up the lines for two canoes that would be suitable for strip planking. One is a 40 foot voyaging canoe and the other a 25 footer that could be built by the Center for Wooden Boats to use in their youth education programs. The timing of the award of the grant could not have been better as an additional memorial to Jerry. In that spirit, I offer these designs in the memory of Jerry Jones (1940 - 2004) who left a living legacy for his people. For further information about the plans contact: Dick Wagner, the Center for Wooden Boats, 1010 Valley Street, Seattle WA 98109, 206-382-BOAT, cwb.org.
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Over the past thirty or so years, many people who were thinking about sailing, or had just bought their first boat, or were beginning to do a bit of cruising, have asked me, “Steve, what books should I read to really understand what this is all about?” My answer has always been, Rudyard Kipling’s Captains Courageous, Joshua Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around the World, and Erskine Childers’ Riddle of the Sands. In my library are hundreds of volumes on sailing, rigging and boatbuilding, cruising stories, etc. Many are of inestimable value, such as Claude Worth’s Yacht Cruising, but when you get to the nub of it, these three titles should be in the bookshelves of every boat. You never get tired of them and you always learn a new insight every time you open them. Also, after they have become old friends, you can open one up at any place and be instantly transported to well known seas. Riddle of the Sands is a mystery that will keep you guessing right up to the end, but it is also the finest treatise on shoal water sailing that has ever been written. Childers sailed every foot of the waters he describes. In his biography, there are photographs of some of the characters met by Davies and Carruthers as they navigate the little yawl, Dulcibella, from Flensburg in the Baltic, through the Kaiser Wilhelm Ship Canal and then west inside the German Frisian Islands. Amongst other things, you learn that running aground is no big thing if you keep your wits about you, and how to use shoals to protect you from a gale in an otherwise open roadstead and, the theory and practice of kedging. Sailing Alone Around the World was Joshua Slocum’s story of his circumnavigation in the Spray. Slocum was a master mariner who had spent most of his life at sea, and owned his own ship. His fortunes reversed when he lost his clipper, Northern Light, in South America. He built and rigged a canoe and brought his family home to New England in it. He wrote a book about it, The Voyage of the Aquidneck. He was in his sixties and on the beach for a while, when a friend gave him an old oyster sloop that “needed some repairs,” as a joke. Spray was close to a century old, and sitting abandoned in an apple orchard. Slocum went to work and restored her, launched her and decided to take up fishing. That didn’t work out so well, so he decided to go for a long cruise. He tied up at the same post he cast off from, three years to the day, after completing the first single-handed circumnavigation. This was by way of the Straits
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of Magellan in a thirty-six foot yawl with only a handspike windlass to handle his ground tackle and of course, no engine. He had a long sweep to get around in a harbor in a calm. Having sailed for a number of years aboard the Spray replica, Joshua, (Bill Harpster, Owner/Master) I can vouch for the sailing qualities of the Spray, Slocum did not exaggerate. In addition to seamanship, you get a picture of a now lost world, before Club Med, the ubiquitous cruise ships and international airports on every island. Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling is one of the first books I ever read, and the one which gave me my unquenchable thirst for the sea. It is a simple tale of a rather spoiled rich boy, washed off the stern of an ocean liner and picked up by Manuel, a doryman from the Grand Banks fishing schooner, We’re Here, of Gloucester. Harvey is put to work and gradually the spoiled brat becomes a competent and useful hand. The schooner continues her quest for the codfish of the Grand Banks until her hold is full of salt cod and she sails to the market at Gloucester. Every detail in the book is perfect, right down to the fine details of handling a dory and underrunning a trawl. Having both commercial fished in my youth and sailed aboard a number of schooners, not to mention seeing many photos of Gloucestermen at work, I have never found a mistake. In later years, as Kipling became more than just a name to me, I assumed that he had made a voyage on a banker, or at least a day trip. When reading a biography of Kipling, I found that he had written the story after spending a day on the docks in Gloucester, looking at the schooners and listening to their crews! I’ve read Captains Courageous probably a hundred or more times and I still find myself transported to the Grand Banks and read the story with the same catch in my throat that I did as a youngster. So, shipmates, those are my three recommendations for the books that ought to be in every mariner’s bookshelf. Riddle of the Sands and Sailing Alone... are available in many printings and bindings, including Dover reprints which are softback and well bound. They’ll stand a bit of wetting. Captains Courageous is a bit harder to find nowadays, but worth the search. I just finished rereading Captains Courageous yesterday, but as it is my watch below, I think I’ll read myself to sleep with Riddle tonight. © Stephen M. Osborn 2004 Shavings 9
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Every wooden boat is a story. A wooden boat is a bunch of sticks and fasteners put together with archaic technology and an eye for esthetic perfection, for someone with strong emotional attachment to heritage. Thus, within every wooden boat is a book waiting to be written: who designed it, built it, where it was used, what it was used for, what characters were involved? The building of a Northwest Native Canoe begins by the carver asking an ancient red cedar tree for permission to remake it as a canoe. Is that not a good beginning for a book about northwest native canoes, whose spiritual integrity is on par with their structural integrity? At CWB we have about 150 stories on hold in our little cove on Lake Union and even more in the Cama Beach Boathouse on Camano Island. Most of the stories begin with the many boats that came from generous donors. Many others are products of our boatbuilding workshops where we can testify we sometimes had to pry the boatbuilding students away from the shop when their project was launched. Some are about boats in the temporary custody of CWB, awaiting a purchaser that will become their new stewards. The following are brief outlines of potential best sellers, T.V. series or featured films. Brad Rice recently gave us a Point Defiance skiff and a Ray’s Boathouse skiff, both northwest classics, both from the Golden Age of Boathouse liveries. The Point Defiance boat was among the best of the Puget Sound rowing boats. Renters would actually fist fight for the last remaining Point Defiance boat in the Boathouse during a salmon run. The customer wanted the easiest rowing, fastest and most seaworthy boat at the livery for a trolling session on the Tacoma Narrows. The boats at Ray’s Boathouse in Seattle were superb rowing and outboard skiffs built by Adams & Reinell Boat Works in Marysville. They were so beloved by the Elliot Bay fisherman they were offered as first prize for Salmon Derbies. The many skiffs, launches, canoes and 10 Shavings
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sailboats of Puget Sounds’ Boathouses could be the key element in a multivolume set; a Patrick O’Brien type series about the life and times of Northwest Boathouses. Robert Lamson recently donated his 36’ sloop Shamrock. We will sell it because it doesn’t fit our programs, but it certainly has a story. Robert retired after a 50 year career in aviation, in the Air Corps, as a Boeing test pilot and Boeing technologist (later consultant) in high altitude flights and composite construction. Lamson was deeply involved in building and racing small craft in the 1930s. He built and raced a Flattie (an 18’ centerboard sloop designed by Ted Geary in 1928) and a Star (a 23’ keel sloop). Lamson and his northwest friends, including Bill Boeing, looked for a larger cruising/racing one design class. In 1946 they commissioned Philip Rhodes who designed the group a 36’ sloop with lots of sail area to suit Puget Sounds’ relatively light summer winds. Rhodes called it the Evergreen class. Eleven were built in Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. They raced regularly for 20 years. Robert won 3 fleet championships in Shamrock. When his passion for racing cooled off, Lamson indulged his “why not” brain and in 1972 designed and built the innovative sailplane Alcor, made of foam sandwiched between Sitka spruce veneers. Alcor has a 66’ wingspan, weights 600 pounds empty, has a top speed of 140 mph and a ceiling limit of 25,000 feet. It has a pressurized cockpit, the first for a sailplane, solar heating and flexible wings. Alcor is on display at the Museum of Flight after a 17 year career of collecting environmental data. Never to be caught being bored, Bob Lamson’s next project was to cruiser-ize Shamrock. Using his composite construction expertise he increased the beam 18” and raised the freeboard. These changes gave both more stability and living space without increasing the weight. Put that in your “creations made by mad engineers” book. We recently received a ruggedly handsome vessel that is another donation that doesn’t fit our programs. It is a 24’ St. Pierre sailing dory. The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, off
Newfoundland, Canada, are the last remnants of French Territory in North America. Flat bottom dories were developed for fishing off the islands with the boats launched from the beaches, as the islands have no harbors. The boat has a great pedigree for its seaworthiness, toughness and beachability. The French settlers of what is now the Newfoundland and Nova Scotia region were called Arcadians. Many fled south when the British took over in the 18th century, and settled in the bayous of what was French Louisiana, where now, due to accent Francais, we call the bayou people “Cajuns.” We had a recent visitor from Louisiana. Judging from his drawl, his ancestors may well have been Arcadians. He came because he fell in love with another donated boat, a 24’ carvel plank gaff sloop with a deep keel, saucy sheer and graceful contour. We listed it on E-bay because it was not suited for our sailing activities. Our Louisiana visitor is a woodworking hobbyist, looking for a project worthy of his skills, and this little ship Cecilia Ann fit his dream perfectly. He drove up to CWB, hooked his truck to Cecilia Ann’s trailer and took it home, 2532 miles. Imagine a book on how far boat dreams can carry you.
CWB Wish List Thank you for your recent donations! ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Filing cabinets Clamps Copies of Microsoft Office El Toro Dinghies Assorted boatbuilding lumber Donated boats
However we still need : ❑ Wooden Boat Magazine Issues # 1-12 ❑ Cordless hand drills ❑ Hand tools ❑ Silicon bronze fasteners ❑ Auction Donations ❑ Winter annuals (plants)
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The Center for Wooden Boats Farewell, Trip
William Zabriskie III (a.k.a. Trip) is off to the Sunny Sandwich Islands (a.k.a. Hawaii). Trip has become a synonym at CWB for dedication, ingenuity, caring, geniality, and the finest kind of carpentry. He has been an at-risk youth instructor, adult sailing instructor, volunteer leader (2001 Volunteer of the Year), Trustee and barbeque chef. Trip has been coordinating CWB’s Cama Beach volunteers for 10 years. He hopes to be at the Cama Beach opening in the spring of 2006. Wherever he goes, Trip’s spirit will always be at both Lake Union and Cama Beach. He wrote the following to our Trustees: “With both great joy and some sadness I have decided to relocate with Phoebe to the seaside town of Kailua, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. I have accepted a position as head foreman of the restoration of Phoebe’s 1940’s Hawaiian home, a position I suspect will last me into the next decade, at least. I am very proud to have been a part of CWB for the past twelve years. I look forward to watching its continued growth and success. Both Dick and Colleen have inspired and motivated me to give back to the Center as much as the Center has given to me. This spirit of giving IS the Center for Wooden Boats. Mahalo nui to everyone for everything and I call first dibs on bungalow 3 on opening day. Love to all,
Salute Our Volunteers
“In recognition of the highest quality of volunteers: dedication, enthusiasm, leadership and commitment to the goals of The Center for Wooden Boats.”
These are the words on our Volunteer of the Year permanent trophy, in our library. We couldn’t survive without our volunteers. They contribute to every level of our multidimensional operation. They teach adult and youth sailing, assist in boat restoration and livery, procure auction donations, write and design publications, clean up, fix up and paint up, are top rate ambassadors. Annually we give the Volunteer of the Year award, through nominations by volunteers and staff. The volunteer who has received the most nominations, and all the other nominees, will be announced at our Annual Meeting on Tuesday, January 11th, 5 – 6:30 p.m., room 217 in the Armory building. Nomination forms can be found at our Front Desk or on our website at www.cwb.org. Those who wish to vote via postal mail should ask for a form.
CWB Boat for Sale
— Trip”
In Memoriam
A great fan of CWB, Captain Robert Cook, passed away this past May. Captain Cook was born in 1906 and spent his career in commercial sail and steam, working his way from deck hand to quartermaster, to mate, to captain. His favorite vessels were the steam tug Tacoma and the steam tug Sioux. A donation in memory of Robert Cook and his wife, Louise, was given by their son Robert Cook, to be used for preservation of our working fleet.
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1946 36' Rhodes designed sloop. Updated in the 1980s. $10,000. Clean, well kept classic 1940s boat that has been updated to a more modern appearance. It has a huge cockpit, full headroom, marine toilet, and galley with sink and stove. It also includes VHF radio and depth sounder. Surveyed in September. Contact CWB at 206.382.2628.
Have a boat to donate? Contact Patrick Gould at CWB! 206.382.2628.
Annual Appeal Fundraising is an intimidating word. It is laden with hope, trepidation and guilt. Most people are uncomfortable asking friends and neighbors for charity. Most assume the thing to do is ask governments and foundations. Actually, 95% of charitable contributions come in relatively small amounts from folks, friends and neighbors. America is a nation of charitable donors who give spontaneously and generously to good causes. You recently received our Annual Appeal. It is our humble request to help support CWB. We do good things for a rainbow of people. Every dollar counts.
Holiday Gifts The clock is fast ticking towards that time when we all celebrate peace and goodwill with get-togethers and gift sharing. CWB has a fair stock of great stocking stuffers and more, including: • Note Cards • Holiday Cards • 2005 Tall Ship Calendars • CWB Caps • CWB Fleece Jackets • New stock of CWB Gillnetter T-shirts • CWB Embroidered and Denim Shirts • Festival 2004 T-shirts • A variety of Youth & Adult T-shirts • CWB Burgees • CWB Mugs • Maritime jewelry • Knot Playing Cards • Knot Tying Kits • CWB Videos • And lots of Maritime books for adults and children
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U p c o m i n g Third Friday Speaker Series
Every 3rd Friday 7 p.m. CWB Boathouse
Each month, excepting July and August, CWB finds a speaker of wit and experience to talk about his or her special knowledge. It is also an opportunity for CWB members to meet one another and the staff. Admission is free and refreshments are served (donations to cover costs are appreciated).
November 19, 2004
The Boats & Other Fascinating Stuff of Indonesia 7 p.m. CWB Boathouse
Dr. Albert and Dr. Eve Van Rennen will condense over 6 years of experience in Indonesia as consultants in research and technology into 90 minutes of slides and stories. They will address the varied and colorful sailing vessels, the natural and cultural resources and the geopolitical importance of Indonesia.
January 17, 2005
The Pirate Queen: In Search of Grace O’Malley & Other Legendary Women of the Sea 7 p.m. CWB Boathouse
Join Seattle author Barbara Sjoholm for a reading and slide show from her newly published travel-history book The Pirate Queen. Sjoholm spent several months traveling from Ireland to Iceland collecting stories of sailors, sea witches, fishers, whaling agents, Viking explorers, pirates, and herring lassies. She weaves the unknown tales in with her own journeys by sea to many off-the-beaten-track maritime communities in the North Atlantic.
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Northwest Seaport Concert
William Pint and Felicia Dale November 20, 2004 8 p.m. CWB Boathouse Tickets: $10 general, $7 seniors, youth and members.
William Pint and Felicia Dale, hailing from the Pacific Northwest coast, are outstanding performers of sea songs -- centuries old and modern. Enjoy music along with coffee, tea, baked goods and more. All proceeds support Northwest Seaport and Northwest musicians, celebrating our maritime heritage in song.
Throwbacks To A Golden Age Of Northwest Boats
December 7, 2005 (Tuesday) Naval Reserve Building, South Lake Union Park 7 pm Social Hour 8 pm Feature Presentation 9:15 pm Panel Discussion $5 admission Free Parking in South Lake Union Parking Lot with voucher available at door
Throwbacks is a documentary film by John Sabella and Cary Swasand that profiles the great naval architects of Seattle’s early years, and the famous boatyards and shipwrights that applied worldrenowned craftsmanship to their nautical visions. It follows the classic boats and yachts through the decades, the rowdy 1920s when every man dreamed of owning a boat, the grim Depression years when Hollywood wealth was all that sustained Seattle boatyards, the War-era when even the most lavish pleasure craft were pressed into hard military service, the decades of neglect when signature vessels languished in obscurity and the contemporary fascination with the restoration of these stylish relics of the bygone age.
There is always something new at CWB, so visit our web site at www.cwb.org.
Auction 2005 Pearls Of Puget Sound
February 26, 2005 (Saturday) 6p.m. Naval Reserve Building, South Lake Union Park
Get your tickets today! Come to The CWB Annual Celebration and Fundraising Auction and bring your friends. Our goal is to raise $100K that will help fund our many exciting and growing programs, including those that serve at-risk youth. This year the event will be held at the Naval Reserve Building right in the heard of South Lake Union. It’s going to be a night of great food, music and the best auction items in town! Tickets are $75 per person, which includes dinner. Don’t miss this chance to enjoy an evening of fun in support of CWB’s community programs. To reserve your table call Nita Chambers at 382-2628 or email her at nita@cwb.org.
The Legendary Vessles of a Maritime Genius L.E. “Ted” Geary, Naval Architect April 22nd - May 1 CWB and South Lake Union Park
A first-ever exhibit of the life, times, and work of the Northwest’s premiere Naval Architect Ted Geary.
Quarterly Activity Report available on CWB Website If you’re interested in knowing more about the many activities we’ve been up to at CWB, you can go to the CWB website (www.cwb.org) and follow the link to the Quarterly Activity Report. (Listed on the right side of the Home Page.)
1010 Valley Street Seattle, WA 98109-4468 206.382.2628 • www.cwb.org • shavings@cwb.org
Nov./Dec. Shavings Contributors: Jake Beattie • Susan Hoyt Melissa Koch • Rich Kolin Edel O’Connor • Steve Osborn Denise Snow • Dick Wagner
Has your membership expired? Please renew it today. Call 206.382.BOAT for more information.
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