Shavings Volume 8 Number 4 (July-August 1986) by The Center for Wooden Boats

2/SHAVINGS/July-August

1986

New Maritime Books from Documentary Book Publishers PASSAGE from Sail to Steam By Captain L. R. W. Beavis â&#x20AC;˘ Edited by M. S. Kline

h e B r i t i s h t r a i n i n g ship C O N W A Y i n 1876 creates the o p e n i n g scenes for this adventuresome autobiography of a nineteenth century s a i l i n g ship c a p t a i n who

traveled to p o r t s a r o u n d the world. He witnessed the final passage of s a i l i n g ships from trade on the h i g h seas. Halfway t h r o u g h his 50-year career, C a p t a i n Beavis g r u d g i n g l y t o o k c o m m a n d o f o c e a n steamers. Never before p u b l i s h e d , this d e t a i l e d chronicle of a sailor's life was written over 40 years ago from the descriptive j o u r n a l s the C a p t a i n h a d k e p t while at sea. A p h o tographer a n d collector, illustrations were d r a w n from his private collection of nearly 2 0 0 0 images. PASSAGE from Sail to Steam has b e e n r e c o g n i z e d as a V a n c o u v e r , B . C . 1986

C e n t e n n i a l publication. 2 2 4 p p . , 120 illus., 9" x 1 2 " . H a r d c o v e r . $ 3 2 . 9 5 . Extensive index a n d definitive footnotes. ( D o c u m e n t a r y B o o k Publishers i n cooperation with Vancouver M a r i t i m e M u s e u m ) F i r s t E d i t i o n , A p r i l 1,1986.

FERRYBOATS A Legend on Puget Sound By M. S. Kline and G. A. Bayless T h i s i n t r i g u i n g story i s the carefully r e s e a r c h e d a n d richly illustrated history o f one 1

of the world's greatest ferry fleets, the pioneers w h o built it a n d the origins of its

c u r r e n t routes. P e r s o n a l recollections are woven w i t h d o c u m e n t s a n d p h o t o g r a p h y into a scholarly a n d e n t e r t a i n i n g a c c o u n t that traces the earliest steamboats, passenger liners, automobile carriers, the world's finest s t r e a m l i n e d super ferry, K A L A K A L A , a n d m o d e r n steel-electrics into the confluence of the m o d e r n ferry systems that now serve Puget S o u n d a n d B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a . 4 0 0 p p . , 5 0 0 illus., 9 " x 1 0 " . H a r d c o v e r $ 3 9 . 9 5 . Includes index a n d extensive bibliography. (Bayless B o o k s ) F i r s t E d i t i o n , 1983.

STEAMBOAT Virginia V By M. S. Kline

Pacific Schooner WAWONA by Harriet Tracy DeLong

m a r i t i m e events is c a p t u r e d in the story of the m o s q u i t o fleet's sole survivor,

V I R G I N I A V . W h e r e once steamboats f l i t t e d f r o m p o r t t o p o r t c a r r y i n g m a i l ,

f r o m N o r t h w e s t forests t o b u r g e o n i n g settlements a r o u n d the Pacific R i m .

passengers a n d p r o d u c t s , today automobiles, t r u c k s a n d buses c r o w d ferries

E x c e r p t e d j o u r n a l s tell the story of a s a i l i n g fleet that was r e p l a c e d by steam.

s e r v i n g Puget S o u n d p o r t s in this s a m e trade. T h e story of the V I R G I N I A V is

Later, a s codfishers, s c h o o n e r s sailed n o r t h t o A l a s k a a n d the B e r i n g S e a .

he e r a of boatbuilder-captains a n d steamboat races is a p a r t of A m e r i c a n heritage well t o l d on the waters of the Pacific N o r t h w e s t T h i s chapter in

a glimpse b a c k w a r d at a b u s t l i n g

ith a well-researched text a n d vintage p h o t o s of the ships, builders,

owners, captains, crews a n d cargoes, this b o o k illustrates the d y n a m i c

e r a o f the West C o a s t schooners. C o a s t i n g ships u n d e r sail c a r r i e d l u m b e r

A r a d i o m a n ' s diary of s h i p b o a r d life

e r a of g r o w t h â&#x20AC;&#x201D; t h e people, the

a n d p h o t o a l b u m s k e p t by the crew

places a n d the p r o d u c t s a l o n g

convey the s e c o n d career of the

Pacific N o r t h w e s t shores.

w o o d e n schooners.

L i n e d r a w i n g s o f the V I R G I N I A

W A W O N A , largest three-masted

V are i n c l u d e d .

schooner built in North America,

Profits benefit the preservation and continued operation of the VIRGINIA V at Seattle, WA.

awaits h e r destiny a n d plans for total

100 p p . , 80 illus. H a r d c o v e r :

restoration a t Seattle, W A .

Profits benefit the preservation of the WAWONA at Seattle, WA.

$ 2 9 . 9 5 ; S o f t c o v e r $14.95. Includes

158pp., 150 illus., 9 " x 1 2 " , h a r d -

index, bibliography a n d a p p e n d i x .

c o v e r $ 2 9 . 9 5 ; softcover $19.95.

( D o c u m e n t a r y B o o k Publishers

Includes index, bibliography. (Doc-

C o r p o r a t i o n , 1985) F i r s t E d i t i o n .

u m e n t a r y B o o k Publishers C o r p o -

S i g n e d , n u m b e r e d , collector's

ration) S i g n e d , deluxe, collector's

e d i t i o n : $100.

e d i t i o n : $100.00.

July-August 1986/SHAVINGS/3

PROGRAM OF EVENTS

Greetings! Greetings and welcome to the 10th annual summertime celebration of wooden boats and the skills that keep them afloat. For ten summers now, the Center For W o o d e n Boats has been hosting a sort of open-air, open-house that gets people who love all aspects of traditional small craft, from history a n d design to construction a n d maintenance, together to share their love, skills, passion, interest. We at the Center For W o o d e n Boats consider this tenth annual get-together a cause for real celebration. It is an occasion to pull out all the stops and share with everyone who is interested in on-the-water skills the competence, talent, finesse, romance, confidence, resourcefulness, beauty, and pleasure that comes from spending time at what we consider to be a most worthwhile pursuit. W h i l e you are at the festival we invite you to board the many exquisite exhibit boats w h i c h will be afloat. Share the excitement with our "quick and daring" boatbuilders as they race the clock and each other (in a rowing and sailing race) for the coveted "Lake U n i o n Challenge C u p . " Use our water taxi to travel the boat shop to the exhibit site and see Lake U n i o n from a whole new perspective. T u r n your children loose at the toy boatbuilding center and let them try their hand at designing and constructing a prize-winning craft (everyone wins). Spend a rewarding hour or so learning about native canoe construction and use. Music? Food? Films? Crafts? Maritime skills? Y o u bet! We have it all! We are delighted that you have chosen to help us celebrate our tenth F o u r t h of July weekend of maritime merrymaking. We want to share as much as we can w i t h you with the hope that you'll choose to visit us again. T h e Center For Wooden Boats is a non-profit living museum with the goal of preserving and passing on our small-craft heritage. We offer public-participation programs, where visitors put their hands on history. We sponsor an ongoing series of seminars w h i c h teach the old maritime skills, from lofting and planking to actually building a boat. A good portion of what you w i l l see at the festival and the Center site is made possible through the efforts of our valued volunteers. Since the Center is a non-profit organization, the base u p o n w h i c h we have built is the generous donation of talent, labor, b l o o d , sweat, and tears made by our stalwart volunteers. Y o u , too, can sand off your fingerprints, r u i n your favorite sweater with paint, mash your t h u m b with a hammer, fall in the lake trying to catch a returning rental boat. Where else can you have fun like this and see the results in the form of a V i c t o r i a n boat shop, oar house, picnic and viewing pavilion on a park-like setting, docks "bedecked" with cunning little boats for rent? A unique opportunity, to say the least. While you are at the festival, please visit our information booth and chat with one our volunteers if you have any questions regarding our organization. W e ' d love to have you aboard. In the meantime, enjoy your visit with us during this milestone in C W B history. A n d please do come and visit us any time on Waterway 4. —Faye K e n d a l l , C h a i r Boat S h o w Committee

CWB President Mary Robello CWB Director Dick Wagner CWB Assistant Director Caren Crandall Editor Henry G o r d o n Design Jennifer Gordon Illustrator Kelly Mulford Staff Writers Chas. Dowd, Christopher Cunningham, Paul Ford, Brion Toss, Simon Watts, John Elliott, Biorn Sundt, Faye Kendall, Eric Hvalsoe, Gordon Ruby, Dick Wagner Advertising Inquiries 382-2628 This special edition of Shavings was published for the 10th annual Wooden Boat Festival, July 4, 5, 6. The festival brings scores of traditional wooden boats to Lake Union's south shore for three days of demonstrations, contests and play. Shavings is part of the public education arm of the Center for Wooden Boats and was published with the editorial assistance of Fremont Press. The Center For Wooden Boats is located at 1010 Valley Street, Seattle, WA 98109. Phone: 382-BOAT. Fremont Press is at 633-3472.

July 4, 5, 6 — 10 am to 6 pm Naval Reserve Center & Center For Wooden Boats at the south end of Lake U n i o n

Friday, July 4 11:00 12:00 12:30 1:00 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00

R o w i n g race, slow boats Q u i c k and D a r i n g boatbuilding contest Steve Philipp gives a talk &. demo on Puget S o u n d Indian maritime crafts R o w i n g race, fast boats El T o r o sailing race C a u l k i n g demonstration by T i m Reagan M a r i t i m e films Sailing races, two classes — fast and half fast Sawmill demonstration Slide talk on cruising sails by C a r o l Hasse in in D r i l l H a l l Judging, toy boatbuilding

Saturday, July 5 11:00 12:00 12:30

R o w i n g race, slow boats Q u i c k and D a r i n g boatbuilding contest Steve Philipp gives a talk a n d demonstration on Puget S o u n d Indian M a r i t i m e crafts in the Drill Hall Sawmill demonstration 12 Meter sailing race & C W B El T o r o sailing race C a u l k i n g demonstration by T i m Reagan Maritime films in D r i l l H a l l Sailing races, two classes — fast and half-fast Sawmill demonstration Slide talk on cruising sails by C a r o l Hasse in the D r i l l H a l l Judging, toy boatbuilding

1:00 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00

Sunday, July 6 11:00 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00

R o w i n g race, slow boats* Dixieland jazz concert in Pavilion Steve Philipp gives a talk and demonstration on Puget S o u n d Indian maritime crafts in the D r i l l H a l l Sawmill demonstration R o w i n g Race, fast boats A u c t i o n of boat gear &. other interesting goodies, D r i l l H a l l Radio controlled powerboat demonstration at C W B El T o r o sailing race* Slide talk on cruising sails by C a r o l Hasse in D r i l l H a l l Sailing races, two classes — fast and half-fast* Sawmill demonstration Maritime films Lake U n i o n Challenge C u p Judging, toy boatbuilding A w a r d s — rowing, sailing and Lake U n i o n Challenge C u p A n n o u n c e m e n t of winner — boat drawing

* Winners of Friday and Saturday races There will be demonstrations every day of traditional boatbuilding, half models, knots, carving, oarmaking, tool sharpening and sail making. On July 4, the 65' sail training brigantine, Spirit of Chemainus, will be open to the public. On July 4 & 5, the 100' sail training schooner Adventuress will be open to the public. The 1897 schooner Wawona will be open every day, with a special stage performance on her history on July 5 & 6th. On July 6, the Seattle Public Library will have its boat file available to the public in the Drill Hall. At the CWB you can have a water taxi ride around the show. You can also view our facilities and exhibits.

You're invited: boatshow potluck C W B members, boat-festival exhibitors and volunteers are invited to eat, drink, laugh, cry, dance and sing at our potluck dinner on July 4 at 7 p . m . , aboard the schooner Wawona on Waterway 4. We furnish everything but the food and drink. Surprise and delight us with your culinary imagination. For hot dishes, please bring a camping stove or hot plate. C W B has a small refrigerator. Please plan to j o i n in self-congratulations on producing our 10th wooden boat extravaganza. It's a tradition!

Planks to go O u r earth is a mysterious planet. We humans have achieved a precarious sense of balance and order because we have found some rock-hard certainties: the sun rises in the east, Santa C l a u s lives at the N o r t h Pole, appliances stop functioning the day after their warranty expires, vertical grain cedar comes from a mill r u n by Hobbits in the depths of the O l y m p i c N a t i o n a l Forest. Brace yourselves, but a corollary to the last infallible truth has just been discovered: when Halley's comet appears in our skies, the Hobbits let R o u n d e r Bay Lumber set up their mill at C W B ' s wooden boat festival. Yes, this is the special year! C e d a r will be sawn to boat-planking

stock at the show. Flounder Bay will saw to your specifications, before your very eyes, at considerable savings. Halley's comet comes once in a lifetime. A lumber mill makes a house call once in a lifetime. If you are planning a boat, don't miss this opportunity to see the b i r t h of your planks.

Music at the show Weather permitting, the entertainment will be centered on the afterdeck of the Arro, a classic cruiser, for all three days of the show. In addition, the Pavilion will feature the C o a l Creek Jazz B a n d on Sunday, 12:00-2:00. C h e c k the following schedule for times and entertainers: Friday, 12:00 12:30 2:00 2:30 4:00 4:30

July 4 K.W.Todd W i l l Peoples Leslie M c K a y Silkie M i l l e r T i m Grady M i k e James

Saturday, July 5 12:00 C a r l M c F a r l a n d 12:30 Bill Davie 2:00 L i n d y R e i n m u t h 2:30 J o h n Nestor

3:00 4:00 4:30 Sunday, 12:00 12:30 1:00 2:00 2:30 3:00 4:00 4:30

K.W.Todd Peter Blake Francois A r a m b e l July 6 B o b DeJong Doug Maroney Sherry Flanagan Tania Opland Seth Blair Heidi Muller Neil Woodall To Be Scheduled

4/SHAVINGS/July-August

1986

Memories from the first 10 years

The endless coffee pot We're ten years old, and while we spend most of our time looking ahead to our education center, to more boats in our fleet, to grass and landscaping on our upland site, to more members and more workshops, we thought it might be fun to call some current members and ask what their best memory of the first ten years was.

I had recently retired and was taking a class in small boat design at the University. I had been working as a wooden boatbuilder for Blanchards, V i c Franck, and then Washington Boatworks during the war, but when the plastic boats came out I didn't want any of them, so I went into house construction.

H o r a c e Ingram: I dropped over to see a friend at the Northwest Seaport office next to the Center. T h e Seaport's office is in that green cinderblock building next door. It is very modest. A n d my friend said, "Let's go over to the Center." I thought I was at the Center, but he said n o , and we started to walk over.

So I was in this class and we had been taking a tour of various places and we came to Dick's houseboat at the n o r t h end of the lake. W h e n I saw those boats and heard about his idea of starting a wooden boat museum, it was like meeting an o l d friend.

whole concept.

the ones who believed in an idea and cared enough to see it through.

Marty

Loken:

came

back

from A l a s k a in 1981. I'd been gone for two years and was quite excited about getting involved again. A l m o s t the first place I went was the W o o d e n Boat Shop to catch George Corley: I've expanded up on the gossip. W h e n I walked my scope of friends by being i n - in another customer said to me, volved at the Center. I'm a guy " D i d you hear that the Center is w h o knows a lot of people, but my Center friendships have added to my perspective. They are people w h o filter in and out of my life, and whatever contribution I have been able to make, I always feel I am clearly the winner: I've met people I clearly could not have met elsewhere.

That's my strongest memory. A little more upbeat was the rowing race during the Fall Regatta in 1981 when I beat Dave LeFevbre. I was rowing a 14' Whitebear skiff and he was in Pooh. I never dreamed I'd beat h i m . We started at Gasworks and went to the buoy off Triples, then back into the w i n d . I w o n , but it almost killed both of us.

My work was as a boatT o m Parker: builder...so when 1 saw favorite M y r o n Richards: I wasn't those boats and heard about the museum, it Colleen W a g n e r : M y was like meeting an old friend.

I went to the very first meeting there was, and was active for the W e l l , I thought we were maybe first few years. But I haven't been going to Abigails, but we got to the getting around there m u c h lately. ramp and I looked d o w n and for the very first time I saw the Mary Robello: M y Center. T h e boats were in looking time was doing the Indian canoe all new, clean. M a r y Robello was exhibit with C o l l e e n Wagner for doing some refinishing on the the 6th boatshow. We received a Chesapeake Sharpie. It was just a grant and got artifacts and canoes nice, clean, clear day with a bit of a f r o m private collections a n d breeze. People were checking boats museums. B i l l H o l m brought his out, people in the shop were talk- canoe; we had another one from ing, all the Center things were A s t o r i a . It was a lot of work, but h a p p e n i n g a n d I just went when it was all done and there on 'Haaaahhh." display in the N a v a l Reserve hall it l b o k e d wonderful. A n d I stayed.

Charlie Olsheski:

would then glue onto b r o w n posterboard. T h e only trouble was there was no correction ink to match the paper, so everyone had to be done perfectly. I kept making mistakes and throwing away these little itty bitty pieces of paper and of course it was the night before, but everything turned out well.

dead?" T h i s was at a time when there was no money, or organization, no site. E v e n the membership numbers weren't great. There was just Wagner and his dream. Was it just his toy? Was this all part of a scheme no one else understood? It was a time when a lot of people wondered things like that, in part because people have always underestimated D i c k Wagner's tenacity.

there to see it, but having the Center's boatbuilding shop towed to Waterway 4 site is my big memory. I was president at the time, so I feel proud that it happened under my regime.

memory has to be of the people w h o passed through my kitchen at our houseboat, talked about the To label the various artifacts creation of the Center and drank I liked the someone h a d donated a ream of millions of cups of coffee. They are this very beautiful paper w h i c h we the ones w h o made the Center â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

I was working with A n d y Wichert at the time that D i c k and others were starting what is now the Center, though then it was called the Traditional W o o d e n Boat Society. A n d y and I would alternate between thinking that the Center was too thick or too t h i n , but at any rate, we stayed back. But, we had this shop and by and by became Dick's slaves. M o s t l y we d i d boats, though we d i d do o d d jobs, too. O n e job was to fix Colleen's rocking chair, a job we haven't finished yet.

It has proven to be true beyond question that the Center has helped wooden boatbuilders, but back then it wasn't so clear as to

July-August 1 9 8 6 / S H A V I N G S / 5 which way the helping was going. So D i c k would ask and as we liked h i m a lot, we would do whatever he asked. He asked me if I would be in the first show, so I borrowed a 2 X 4 street fair stand I had made for a friend and set up my wood carving bench. I knew it would rain, and the weather proved me right. A n y h o w , I was right in front of the big white building and, plum of plums! I was next to this hotdog stand. T h e stand looked like a humbow. I set up my booth and went exploring. W h e n I got back the owner was visibly moved by the excitement at the show and began playing this oompah music over his PA system. T h e music was OK for the stand, but it certainly didn't fit with the show, so I found D i c k and registered my protest. D i c k went to talk with h i m , and he d i d seem apologetic and agreed to change the music. W h a t came on next was this H a w a i i a n music which as W o o d y A l l e n said, all sounds like it was written on the same day. A n d it was being sung in G e r m a n ! I had complained once, so I let it go. T h e other memory is of the very first regatta at the Center. A n d y came d o w n to the shop and said, " M y G o d , the Center is having a regatta." I had never been to a regatta, but even still the idea seemed too too. We both expected Dick's Yale training was peeking out. But the Saturday came and we went down. N o w , Evergreen had a boatbuilding program then and to the regatta, w h i c h was a potluck, came

a group of Evergreen students. They were all wearing C o w i c h a n sweaters and Birkenstocks and looked like this replica of Jacques from the n o r t h woods or some Jack L o n d o n fantasy. I had to leave, but afterwards I asked A n d y how things went and he said it was great, except that the Evergreen contingent had descended on the food table and had eaten every morsel within the first 15 minutes.

ned by how different the boat handled. I went to be checked out a n d was o v e r w h e l m e d , b u t somehow got checked out a n d managed to get the boat back i n . I took a series of lessons from

ed watching the look on peoples' anything like that before. So I faces as they came onto the ramp. worked with h i m for about an hour They all smiled. and a half and when he was done Later that Fall I was scrubbing he had a boat and a big smile. the teak on one of the catboats. It was a cool, early Fall day, too cold Dave Cox: Best m e m o r y ?

Kelly Mulford: T h e Beetle cat. 1 really learned how to sail in the Beetle cat, and part of the education was all the work I d i d in refurbishing her. I began by taking lessons across the lake on a J-24, basically because I was too frightened of D i c k and felt a little more in conD i c k to ask h i m . He always seemed trol. I'd still only take the boat out so busy. on light days, until I realized that it A n y h o w , I thought I knew how was harder to control than w i t h a to sail because I had graduated fuller w i n d . from this other school, and they So I finally got to the point told me I knew how to sail, so I where I was very comfortable w i t h went to the Center and I was stun- the boat to the extent that I could

to fall into the lake really. As it was cat-rigged the mast is very far forward a n d as I got to the b o w , I stood h o l d i n g onto the mast. T h e mast hit the water with me h o l d i n g onto it. I really thought I was going to die, the water was so cold. It had been a beautiful summer; I imagine the mast as being an ex- c o u l d have chosen countless other days. tension of my arm. C o u r t n e y S m i t h pulled me out, W o r k i n g on the boat amplified all that. We took out the o l d ribs, and by the time we got on the then recanvassed it. A n d it was in dock a whole crowd was watching. crawling around up inside that I W h e n I came to the Center I was got a real feel for the shape of the a real novice. I had nothing to do h u l l . W h e n I sit in the boat now I but learn. That's one thing I've feel more and more at home in it. learned â&#x20AC;&#x201D; you don't stand on the I'm still not an expert, I'm just to bow of one of these catboats. the point where I know how much I don't know. John Gruenwald: T h e most

What came on next was this Hawaiian music, and it was being sung Faye in German!

Kendall: It's all a real

blur. I spent a lot of time d o w n there a few summers ago, and lov-

Meeting Deb H a r r i n g t o n and D a n Dygert. I met them b o t h at seminars. W i t h D e b , it was one on the performance of traditional boats that D i c k was giving. D e b , his real n a m e was A C H a r r i n g t o n , but I never found out what the A C was for o r how the D e b stuck, was sitting in the back, adding comments. Pretty soon D i c k and everyone else started turning to h i m . D e b never lived further than 75 yards from the home he was b o r n in and he had this amazing well of knowledge he drew u p o n . I doubt he had much formal education, but what he hadn't done basically wasn't worth doing. He made tools, built boats... I wish he were still around.

fun for me is working with the little kids at the show at the toy boatI met D a n at one of the Friday building booth. Last year I had a night social meetings we used to k i d come w h o had never done have at D i c k and Colleen's

6/SHAVINGS/July-August

1986

ed a satellite before he read about the Sputnik in the papers, about the day he scorned his fan club because he wanted to take his new sweetheart out in a boat, about dozens of other things.

houseboat. D a n was sitting in the back making these comments, o d d comments actually, and at first I thought he might be one of those garrulous types w h o came around then.

" Y o u have no idea what that smells l i k e . " D a n was like that; he never said anything that he didn't know everything about.

But then someone started talking about sailing on the Wawona and he was talking about the smell of the fo'c'sle of a cod fishing schooner after three months at sea. A n d D a n said in a low voice so most people couldn't hear h i m ,

Judy Mezzano: T h i s isn't very specific, but what I like is just sitting around the shop and watching what goes o n , the people using the boats. There was one summer afternoon right after the shop opened, and the sun was warm.

I had always liked coming to the Center for the usual reasons. But it wasn't until that night that I had There was a slight breeze and 1 this strong feeling that this isn't remember being just delighted that just a museum, but a terrifically i n the C e n t e r wasn't a dream teresting community. anymore. It was actually happening. Land Washburn: T h e C e n t e r was very new at the time. T h i s was Henry Gordon: I went to the probably in 1977 or 1978 and I memorial service at the Center for decided to do my part for what D a n Dygert. We all sat around tell- was then called the Traditional ing D a n stories: about the time he W o o d e n Boat Society. It was openwas out in a boat with a friend for ing day and I was to be part of the most of the night and realized that procession in the Rushton Princess someone had successfully launch- canoe Pat Ford had built. D i c k let

me dock it at the O l d Boathouse. I decided to dress appropriately formal and arrived in this dark blue, three-piece pinstriped suit. We all drank the obligatory cup of coffee and when we were ready to go, I stepped into the canoe and immediately swamped. I was soaking wet, the suit was getting tighter each second and was choking off muscles, air, thought processes. There was glory to defend, so I jumped back in and proceeded to the staging area. N o w the Princess is a two-masted sailing canoe. I knew about boats then from a strictly academic perspective. It is a lug-rigged sail, and as we approached the viewing stand, the breeze was strong and dead aft. I had been hoping to reach or beat, but that was not to

July-August 1986/SHAVINGS/7 be. So there I was, bedraggled and soaked, wildly out of control and sure that at any moment I would round u p and broach. M y teeth were chattering uncontrollably, but it somehow looked like a smile, and on the shore people were cheering wildly.

the Center logo on one side and on the other it said: "Rent boats or die."

1 decided to dress appropriately formal and arrived in this dark blue pinstriped suit. We all drank the obligatory cup of coffee and when we Caren were ready to go, I stepped into the canoe and immediately swamped.

I remember the first day I saw Horace Ingram sailing by himself. T h e C e n t e r couldn't operate without Horace. He checks boats out, answers phones, does countless odds and ends and so it was a thrill to give something back to someone w h o has done so much. T h e final thing is I remember taking a boat out sailing one m o r n ing and having it be the first time I felt I could get away without worrying about w h o was going to come d o w n , or what they might ask when they got there.

I was passing everyone in the parade, and somehow made it through.

A p r i l , and really thought the day would be a bust. W h e n I arrived at 10 am, I was engulfed in a c r o w d of kids. T h e boatbuilding shop was Crandall: As part of filled, as was the area under the K i d s ' D a y we offered two hours of pavilion. T h e day started out bad, free rowing to any c h i l d w h o came and as n o o n approached it was getd o w n . T h i r t y nine families went ting colder and rainier. But even out that day, and we didn't make a still, everyone was having a great time. single penny.

I hadn't seen any publicity about the day or about what we would be doing, so I wasn't sure about how the turnout would be. O u r program is pretty m u c h structured for adults, but we d i d have the toy boatbuilding planned, like we do at the July show. I woke up to a gray, cold yucky Seattle M a r c h day, though it was

W h a t made the day for me was a mother and her c h i l d who had been up in the pavilion making a boat, then came d o w n and chose our pram to row i n . T h e y b o t h looked quite awkward in it, and while I suggested a few other boats w h i c h might have been easier to handle, that was the boat they wanted.

She was just getting ready to leave and she said: "We're one of those people w h o wouldn't be able to take out a boat like this if it weren't free." I was so happy I thought my heart w o u l d explode. Dick W a g n e r : I'm l i k e everybody else. T h e things that excite me are what's new: the surprises. So my big memories aren't having the shop floated onto the site or seeing the first boat go out because I had already visualized it. These aren't in order o f magnitude, but they were thrills. I was given a surprise party on my birthday a few years ago, and for a present, I got a construction hat with a pennant on it that had

I really learned how to sail in the Beetle Cat, and part of that education was all the work I did refurbishing her.

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1986

TEACHING THE SKILLS repairs. Often we do all three in the course of the workshop. O n e also has to gauge an individual's frustration level and not leave a student floundering until he or she gives up in disgust. A vital ingredient to the success of a concentrated workshop such as this is preparat i o n . I now make a full-size mock-up of the boat (minus the planking) before the class begins. T h e n , when the students walk in on M o n d a y m o r n i n g they see the b a c k b o n e transom, keel, sternpost, etc. — with all the parts fitted and labelled. After studying this they can take it apart and use it as full-size patterns for the actual boat. By this strategy, an average class can make the backbone and often get a garboard h u n g on the first day. Second and third days are spent learning to plank and the morning of the fourth day usually sees the sheer strake in place. T h e timbering is done that afternoon which still leaves two full days to cut and fit risers, inwales, thwarts, quarter knees and do all the interior finishing. T h e launching is on the final day of class — usually a Sunday — even if the paint is a little tacky.

How I teach

some tricks — clenching copper nails, for example — and then have the student show the class. This saves interrupting the group for constant explanations and the person ver the years I've tried a number of w h o has just mastered a skill is its best different ways to teach woodwork- teacher. Pairing the more experienced with ing: formal apprenticeships, day classes, evening classes, bench demonstrations and project -centered workshops. T h e past three years I've been taking groups of seven or eight students through all the steps in the building of a wooden, lapstrake boat — a By John Elliott fairly complex piece of joinery. Its true that

by S i m o n Watts

the less, usually the older with the younger, is also an effective teaching tool. As orchestrator of the group — ringmaster might be a better w o r d — I often find myself treading a t h i n line between looking the other way when a mistake is imminent and stepping in too briskly to avert one. An essential part of learning is making mistakes and knowing what to do about them: ignore them, start over or make

T h i s must sound like a lunatic and even dangerous pace to those used to a more leisurely approach. However, keeping the workshop to six or seven days is important. People work with an intensity that cannot be sustained over longer periods and for working people one week is often as much time as they can afford. Two-week classes are best held in the summer months so people can combine a workshop with their summer vacations.

A student's perspective

the students are not complete novices, they must have basic woodworking skills, but even so I'm astonished by how m u c h they can learn in a week. M o s t of them are even quite capable of going home and building a similar type of boat for themselves, and doing it with style. H o w does this come about? They certainly don't get it all from me because there simply isn't time to explain everything and still come out with a usable boat. Part of the answer lies in the intensity of the experience. People become so focused and so committed to completing the project that they work with a speed and assurance they_ didn't know themselves capable of. A l s o , having a focus for the group effort, in this case a boat, encourages people to cooperate in a way they wouldn't if they all had their o w n individual projects. W o r k i n g so closely together means constant interaction and exchange of ideas and techniques w i t h i n the group. I've found it most effective to take one of the more experienced students aside and demonstrate

ur boat-building class was a wonder-full experience. Early one cold m o r n i n g on Lake U n i o n , eight strangers huddled around the woodb u r n i n g stove in C W B ' s floating boatshop, wondering if we would ever warm up and wondering what the next week would be like. Seven of us wondered w h o the others were, and wondered w h i c h one was our instructor, S i m o n Watts. M o s t l y , we seven students wondered how m u c h more expert our fellows were than we, wondered h o w in the w o r l d we were going to decipher the hieroglyphics masquerading as a boat plan, and wondered how we could possibly transform the pile of lumber i n to a replica of the sleek recreational rowing boat in the photographs on the wall. S i m o n , of course, had a slight advantage, although he looked like any other student, at least he knew w h o he was, a n d had successfully turned other piles of

lumber into boats. However, he too was wondering exactly how it would be done in this case, because the boat we were going to b u i l d hadn't been built by anyone since the t u r n of the century. He knew we w o u l d all have to improvise at various points to resolve unanticipated construct i o n problems.

learned, however, that we really did have enough knowledge, if we worked together as a team, to figure out what to do. We also learned that lapstrake boat b u i l d i n g was a surprisingly intuitive craft, with many opportunities to apply "mid-course corrections" if things went a little bit askew.

By the end of the class, all this fearful wondering would be replaced by wonder of a more enjoyable sort. We would then be wondering how we could have built such a fine boat, how close we strangers had become, and how we were going to re-enter the larger w o r l d and leave the circle of good fellowship we had so quickly developed.

Early in the class, we learned that the confusing hieroglyphics were actually an elegant, practical way to overlay different full-scale patterns on the same baseline to minimize the possibility of error. W h e n the drawings were transferred to fullscale patterns on the assembly frame, we learned how to detect the correct alignment problems before those problems were built into the completed boat. We also learned that b u i l d i n g a boat with fair lines involves equal measures of technical skill and visual aesthetics, plus close attention to detail.

S i m o n Watts teaches a class of discovery. He explains what has to be accomplished, discusses approaches to the tasks, and invites the students to begin work. T h e n he answers questions and demonstrates u n f a m i l i a r s k i l l s to facilitate the student's discovery process. At first, we tended to hesitate, waiting for more direction, before we took the risk of doing the w r o n g thing. We soon

These lessons were absorbed through doing, rather than memorized from lecture. Lapstrake boat b u i l d i n g is a happily adaptive task; one in w h i c h the novice builder quickly realizes that detailed con-

July-August 1986/SHAVINGS/9

Not for the novice. I try not to exclude anyone because of inexperience but this type of workshop is not for the novice woodworker. I remember once suggesting on the first day of class that someone use a spokeshave to shape the transoms and the student asking hopefully: "Is that the one with two handles?" From then on 1 had the class bring their o w n h a n d struction drawings are more a crutch for beginners than a higher level of perfection for experts. We demonstrated to ourselves what S i m o n encouraged us to believe, that we truly c o u l d observe w i t h our eyes subtle deviations and flaws in design dimensions, and correct the flaws with simple re-alignments until the whole frame took on a pleasing appearance. O u r initial woodworking skills turned out to be almost wholly unimportant to our success and enjoyment of the class. We learned what was needful on the job; S i m o n or another classmate always seemed to be available to demonstrate an unfamiliar skill, and we all seemed to

tools so they could be taught to use, sharpen and adjust them during the session. It still astonishes me that so many people â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including even some w h o make a living woodworking â&#x20AC;&#x201D; don't know how to get a good edge on their chisels and planes. I like to watch the look on people's faces when they get to try out a sharp, finely-tuned tool for the first time. They soon realise that find ourselves demonstrating some u n i que skill to another student. T h i s form of boatbuilding seemed to have so happily evolved from the natural properties of the materials that techniques are able to be readily learned, a n d infinitely perfected. T h e format of Simon's class promoted teamwork, and the pace of work encouraged purposeful progress without i n d u c i n g stress o v e r u n r e a l i s t i c deadlines. We found ourselves staying later to finish tasks we were keenly i n terested i n , and S i m o n would step in to speed things along when we were stymied. We found we enjoyed each other's company at the end of the day, and a local tavern frequently found us hoisting a mug of beer and m u n c h i n g on a b o w l of nachos, mixing boat talk with our life histories, not to mention a few ribald tales and the occasional fish story.

We learned that lapstrake boatbuilding was a surprisingly intuitive craft...

At the end, we finished in time for a sunny Sunday launching, the craft actually proved seaworthy, and we all went away with new skills, the confidence that we could b u i l d another boat ourselves, good memories of great fellowship, and several new friends. A n d that was truly wonderful.

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1986

h a n d tools ace fast, accurate, versatile, quiet, dust-free and relatively safe. They also last a lifetime when properly cared for. I am not anti-machine — I've used them all my professional life — but when I see an amateur woodworker spending hundreds of dollars on a dovetailing machine I wonder what k i n d of satisfaction he is looking for. O n e class in Los Angeles was so addicted to power tools that one m o r n i n g I told them I was shutting off the electricity for an hour to see what would happen. T h e result, predictably, was a total paralysis and it turned out that there was not one handsaw among eight students. A n o t h e r time, in E l k , C a l i f o r n i a , a tree fell on the line and we were without power for half a day, however, these were people whose creed was selfsufficiency and work proceeded practically without a pause. There is a tendency to regard a wooden boat as a W o r k of A r t . Something rare and precious, the result of months or even years of painstaking work. I'm very grateful to the o l d N o v a Scotian, Jim S m i t h , with w h o m I worked on various boats during the last few years of his life. He built boats the way other artisans made shoes or wagons. A l r e a d y in his sixties when I first met h i m ,

he would routinely b u i l d a lapstrake boat — a 10-ft. ' d i n k y ' — in a week with one elderly helper. W h e n I was privileged to be that helper, I soon realized that Jim was simply not interested in discussing what he was doing and w h y . D o i n g it was enough so I shut up and used my eyes. "Never b u i l d a boat I wouldn't go to sea in m y s e l f was one of his

Knowing how to splice a line or hang a garboard plank gives you the confidence to get out of a jam if you're in one, or into a jam if you're just sitting on the shore getting old. few sayings and he stuck to that all through his life. He used no glue, a little sand paper and when he needed a carriage bolt he would usually just thread the end of a large, galvanized spike of w h i c h he kept a variety on h a n d . He would make his o w n drill bits out of umbrella spokes or pieces of fence wire and was quite likely to touch up his plane irons with a file. W o r k i n g with Jim Smith was one of the pivotal experiences of my life. 1 found out that handsome, durable lapstrake boats can be built fast with minimal equipment. T h a t by combining a keen eye, experience and sharp hand tools one has no need of routers, sanders and most of the 'indispensible' equipment of a modern woodworking shop. Since then I look first to do things by h a n d . If its too tedious and time-consuming then I look around for a machine. A boat is an excellent project to begin wooing people away from excessive dependence on powered machinery because its often just not worth the time to set up a jig to make some curved, winding surface that can be done with a few swipes of a spokeshave. T h e Center's recent class on building a 19 ft. shell — the recreational rowing craft 'Petaluma' — used practically no power tools at all, mostly a bandsaw and with planking only 5/16 ins. thick that too could easily have been ripped out by hand. I think there is a great thirst for this k i n d of capability especially as fewer and fewer people have jobs involving manual skills and even fewer get to create anything worthwhile. If small wood boats have a future its in the hands of the amateurs: the people who do it for the love of the craft and not with an eye on the clock to see if they are making or losing money. T h e skills learned and the self-confidence gained are readily transferable and inform and enrich other areas of life. I'd like to quote something Lance Lee, founder and director of the Rockport (Maine) Apprentice Shop, said to me years ago that made a great impression. "I find small boats absolutely compelling. K n o w i n g how to splice a line or hang a garboard plank gives you the confidence to get out of a jam if you're in one or into a jam if you're just sitting on the shore getting o l d . " Simon Watts will be teaching his next boat building class — another Petaluma — at the Center from Oct. 31 to November 9. For information call 382-2628.

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1 6 / S H A V I N I G S / J u l y - A u g u s t 1986

by Christopher Cunningham

oke to the sheetmetal crash of thunder at 4 a.m. R a i n rattled the decks and hatchcover like buckshot pouring d o w n a wooden staircase. I peeked out to check the level of the river. It had risen almost a foot since I had dragged the boat ashore last night. If I floated before daybreak, the painter, tied to a post, would keep me from drifting away. I closed my eyes and worked at getting back to sleep, but lightning flashing through my eyelids and the d i n of rain and thunder made sleep impossible. I waited for d a w n .

At six, a blue tint of m o r n i n g light separated the sky from the silhouette of Wheeling, West V i r g i n i a , on the opposite bank of the river. It was time to get dressed. There is headroom aboard this boat as long as I am not standing or sitting. There is only room to lie d o w n , scarcely enough in w h i c h to get dressed. Like a m o t h larva spinning its cocoon I writhed into my clothes. W i t h each layer my o w n dimensions swelled w i t h i n the confines of the foot-locker-sized cockpit u n t i l , stuffed into my boots and foul-weather gear, I could scarcely move at all. I crawled out over the afterdeck and, standing in a shin deep paste of river m u d , cleared the cockpit for rowing. I pushed off from the bank and threaded through a flooded grove of trees and out into the river. T h e current caught the bow and pulled it downstream. R a i n rebounded off the surface of the river on stalks of water that flashed white with a crystalline light. T h e rain quickened and the stalks crowded together until their flashes fused, turning the water brilliant with light. Water fell from the Wheeling bridge in t w i n veils that billowed with the w i n d . Everything touched by the rain glowed, as if light were carried in raindrops and released upon impact. In 1875, a m a n named Nathaniel Bishop rowed here before me. Passing under the Wheeling bridge he looked up from the waters of the O h i o river: " A b o v e masses of brick walls hung a dense cloud of smoke i n to w h i c h shot the flames emitted from numerous chimneys of forges, glass-works and factories...all' d i n and dirt, this everpresent cloud of blackness settled d o w n each hour u p o n clean and unclean in a sooty coating. I brushed off the t h i n layer of soot with w h i c h the Wheeling cloud of enterprise had discolored the pure white

deck of my little craft." T h i s was not the first time I had followed in Bishop's wake. In 1983, in a canoe I made from paper and glue in the manner of a long forgotten method of boatbuilding, I paddled 2500 miles along a route he described in his book Voyage of the Paper Canoe. T h i s time I was rowing through his book Four Months in a Sneak Box. Sneak boxes are a peculiar type of rowing and sailing craft designed in 1836 for h u n ting geese and ducks in the marshes of N e w Jersey. They are usually twelve feet long and four feet wide: small enough to be managed single-handedly both on and off the water, big enough to carry plenty of equipment and still have room to sleep aboard, stable enough to shoot from; and, w i t h their broad decks and canvas dodgers, seaworthy enough to be safe in a bit of rough weather. As Bishop discovered, they are perfect solo cruisers for inland and coastal waterways. In 1875 Bishop commissioned the building oh his sneak box the Centennial Republic for seventy-five dollars, and prepared for a row that would carry h i m 2600 miles from Pittsburgh to Florida along the O h i o and Mississippi River and the G u l f of M e x i c o . I chose to b u i l d a sneak box along the lines of a slightly sleeker model favored by the professional hunters of Bishop's era, and documented in H . I . Chapelle's American Small Sailing Craft. I stretched the length from twelve to 13 feet for a h u l l that w o u l d carry a little faster under oars and move more smoothly under sail. T h e modern boatbuilding method of cold molding would keep the weight of a larger boat well under that of its plank-on-frame predecessors. W o r k i n g in my shop at M o n t e C r i s t o , snug in the middle of the Cascade M o u n tains, I milled one-eighth inch thick planking from a cedar log that had drifted ashore on a beach n o r t h of Edmonds. My " m i l l " was a ten-inch circular saw blade and its arbor mounted on a heavy wooden plank that sat across the handle bars of an o l d trail scooter. A V-belt and pulley applied the scooter's four horsepower to the blade. In the process of cold molding the planks were bent over the building form at a 45 degree angle aft from keelson to gunwale. Staples held the planks in place as they were fitted. W h e n the first layer was complete a second layer went d o w n over it, laid forward from the keelson to the gunwale. Epoxy was applied between the layers by removing the second layer one plank at a time, trowelling on the glue, and restapling the plank to h o l d in place while the glue cured. Three layers of planking were laid for the h u l l and two for the deck. W h e n the glue was cured all of the staples were removed and planking sanded fair. It was the dullest k i n d of work — fitting over four hundred planks, shooting and pulling fifteen thousand staples — but the boat it produced was stiff and very light.

Put in a flooded river. Bishop took to the waters of the O h i o on December 4, 1875, only two weeks after he took delivery of the Centennial Republic. To the ice actually. A freeze upstream on the Allegheny — the river that joins with the Monongahela at Pittsburgh to form the O h i o — had clogged the river with drifts of ice. I put in on the n i n t h of November to avoid the risk if being frozen i n . T h e " M o n " had flooded three days earlier. T h e quick ten-foot rise and fall of the river left the banks of O h i o covered with m u d for 700

There are a few good reasons for starting so late in the year. Traveling earlier, in warm weather, is to go in the company of people, bugs and snakes...

July-August 1 9 8 6 / S H A V I N G S / 1 7

away from the revetments on gentle slopes miles of its length. There are a few good reasons for starting of clean white sand. so late in the year. Traveling earlier, in South of M e m p h i s I was to meet with a warm weather is to go in the company of friend at Star L a n d i n g . T h e sun had set as I people, bugs and snakes, and in the S o u t h , came w i t h i n two miles of the landing and it sharks and alligators. It is also slow. In late was nearly dark when I reached it. It was a Fall rain fills the rivers and quickens them. I landing in name only. Between the road had started out rowing sensibly easy days to and the river was a revetment of broken allow time for my hands to toughen without boulders. I kept moving with the river; the blistering. But after a week the fingers of my sharp-edged shore continued for as long as right h a n d started to go n u m b . I had guess- there was light to see it by. W i t h the dark ed that the tendons in my wrist were inflamed and that theaswelling had pinched came cold fifteen degreesthe below freezing. nerves to my fingers. I found out later that Spray b l o w n by a breeze coming over the the ailment was k n o w n as carpal tunnel bow gelled in a lumpy sheet of ice upon the syndrome. At the time I was not sure that I deck and glazed the canvas dodger. Beads of wasn't doing irreparable damage to my ice stuck to my back and arms; icicles grew hands. For two days I taped my h a n d to the from the oars. A waning m o o n rose over oar in such a way that the pull of rowing the bank where I searched for a landing of was taken above the wrist. Afterwards, I sand. Below its glow, the shore and river smoothed out my rowing technique and merged in black. Tugs working their way avoided rowing long and hard. upriver swept the mile long blue-white beams of their search lights along the shore. I hoped that they would not see for if they focused their lights u p o n me I w o u l d be blinded by the glare. T h e current carried me over submerged islands of brush. storm near U n i o n t o w n , Kentucky Leafless stalks came quietly out of the dark kept me off the water for two days. and whipped against the h u l l and oars. My It was the only break in four weeks of row- face was raw with the ice-edged w i n d ; my ing. At the end of the O h i o , 980 miles from feet had been n u m b for hours. Pittsburgh I stopped in at C a i r o , Illinois to fill my water jug before entering the Nearly three hours into the night the Mississippi River. A few blocks from the silhouette of trees along the bank thinned floodwall that separates the t o w n from the and lowered. I crept in close where the river I walked into a tavern. W h i l e the beam of my flashlight could distinguish bebartender filled my jug, the men at the bar, tween the river's r i m of ice and patches of many of them dressed in h u n t i n g camos, sand. T h e grass, frozen solid, d i d not give looked me over. I was in the habit of wear- way when I ran the bow into it. I backed up wales with a long gravelly roar. I kept my and turns south along the great peninsula of ing my life vest into t o w n . It was warm, but and rammed it a second and a third time weight aft by riding the afterdeck like a lug Florida. T h e bay is lined with uninhabited I really kept it on as a badge: I have come before I scraped through and beached. I tied racer, looking over my chest at the course marsh and wooded swamps. On a low tide from the river. It excused, I thought, my ap- the painter to a branch and immediately ahead. F r o t h streaking past the transom the water draws back from the land a mile pearance — I had not washed my clothes in gathered w o o d for a fire. I kept my mouth heaped up white seven feet astern. I clipped or more. nineteen days — and perhaps my fragrance open to keep my teeth from chattering. by C o b b ' s Point and watched the amber I was up well before the sun and at the — I had not been out of them in a week. I A p i s h grunts came up from my belly as water brighten over sandy shoal. T h e dagoars when a northerly darkened the waters still had the outline of a h u m a n being, spasms of cold gripped my midsection. gerboard, only half-way d o w n to dampen of the bay. I set sail and headed for the farw h i c h people could see in a glance, but I Other camps came easier along the lonely the roll, hissed as it met the gentle slope of thest point of coastline 1 could see. To keep was a palimpsest of river life recorded in woods of the Mississippi between wide the sand. I pulled it up in its trunk and enough water below the daggerboard I held m u d , grease, sweat, mustard, tomato seeds beaches of squeaking sand and broadly skimmed through eight inches of water. T h e my course almost two miles offshore. I made and peanut butter. elaborate sunsets. boat slowed w i t h the drag of water pinched good speed and soon more points of land " Y o u come off some k i n d of boat?" beneath the h u l l . T h e sheets strained appeared on the horizon. I steered east by "Yes, a rowboat." and the stern wake shortened and crested, degrees, raising more land, bringing it Entering Choctawhatchie Bay "Where you headed?" At N e w Orleans I left the Mississippi and milky with the sand stirred up by the rud- abeam, and losing it below the horizon "Florida." astern, hour by hour. T h e w i n d came rowed the canals and bayous of the L o u i - der, siana marsh to the open waters of the G u l f As I crossed the widest part of the bay, around behind me and I set the tarp¬ "Lotta people die on that d a m n Mississipof M e x i c o . For four days I rowed into the the sun touched the horizon and melted i n - spinnaker with an improvised pole and toppi." ping lift. As the breeze came out of the west I crept along the Kentucky shore and eas- w i n d and pounded against the waves. My to it. I had sailed 37 miles since morning and as my course turned from east to south ed into the Mississippi curdled with an- right h a n d went n u m b again. T h e w i n d and had eight miles to cover before coming slowly backed around. W h e n it passed | ashore at a point that stuck out into the I shifted the spinnaker pole forward and set ticipation. There was an ominous roar of n o r t h on its way towards west I raised sail. bay. I kept the masthead in O r i o n as I surf- the tarp to pull on a broad reach. In late water over the dikes that funnel the water T h o u g h the Centennial Republic was designed d o w n waves I could not see. After three afternoon the breeze stiffened and came into the channel to keep it free of silt. I over the starboard beam. I dropped the crossed the river away from the sound of ed and built to sail, there is no indication hours on the afterdeck I was straining to "chute" and reached along at good speed turbulence and picked my way along the that Bishop even carried a sailing rig w i t h keep my head u p . My hands ached from J h i m . T h e spars certainly would have been a gripping the tiller lines while steering a until the sun dropped b e h i n d the curve of barges rafted on the M i s s o u r i side. T h e noteworthy nuisance carried on deck. straight course, surfing before the w i n d . I the G u l f . After a sixty-two mile sail I headed Mississippi was noticeably faster than the W i t h a watertight access port in the tranglanced at the chart by flashlight while the toward shore on the reflected light of the O h i o and demanded that I read the water t o w n of Keaton Beach. up ahead before it was too late to row out of som I stowed the Luna's spars below decks boat paused at the crest of a wave, checking trouble. T h o u g h the course of the Mississip- out of the way rowing. Sneak boxes usually my position before throwing my weight aft W h e n I reached the mouth of the pi is serpentine its behavior is not. If it carried only a sprit-rigged mainsail. I had against the fall of the bow into a trough. I Suwanee river two days later on the 22nd of devoured me it would be through my o w n added a jib to mine to improve its balance dropped the "spinnaker" as I approached January, the w i n d had backed until the sky carelessness. By its o w n writhing and at the and handling. In a following breeze I usually Four M i l e Point and turned into its shallow was clear and faded into calm. T h e water goad of the A r m y C o r p s of Engineers the laced one edge of a n y l o n tarp along a line lee. I poled ashore with the butt of an oar and sky were at rest and unmarked reflecMississippi has shortened its course by two to gather its " h e a d " to be hoisted aloft as a and camped in the boat beneath the tions of each other. T h e last twelve miles whisper of w i n d in the tall pines above me. from the Suwanee to C e d a r Key were as hundred miles since Bishop rowed it. M a n y spinnaker.

of the places he saw along the river are now miles away from the water, stranded by the flood of the river cutting across its o w n meanders. T h e distance between the tip of C a i r o and the foot of Jefferson A v e n u e in N e w Orleans is now fixed at 853.8 miles. The C o r p s of Engineers intends to keep it that way. Where the river might gouge out a new course the C o r p s has lined the banks with revetments of stone and concrete. At the end of a day's row I looked to put ashore

There are many bays and sounds w i t h i n the G u l f s coastline where there is room to sail in protected water. I entered the thirtymile-long Choctawhatchie Bay with the w i n d behind me. If the sneak box has one shortcoming it is that its bow tends to nose under when running before a stiff breeze. It was blowing over fifteen knots out in the bay. T h e bow cut into the backs of the waves it ran into and the water coming cleanly over the foredeck tore at the gun-

W h e n Bishop reached the east end of this bay he hired an ox-cart to carry his boat across the swamp and woodlands into the next bay. There is now a twenty-two mile long canal that joins the bays flanked with tall white sand walls in the west, a n d , in the east hemmed in with swamp cypress as dense as fence pickets. T h e intracoastal waterway of bays, creeks and canals ends just east of Apalachicola. There the coastline arches up around Apalachee Bay

quiet as they were two years earlier when I had paddled my work-weary paper canoe among the oyster shell rees of Suwanee S o u n d . T h e water tower of C e d a r Key marked the last horizon I would row to. In the cool of the afternoon, the m o o n and sun balanced in the east and west, the sneak box Luna came to rest after 2400 miles. I stepped ashore quietly, not elated to have achieved my goal but grateful to have lived my dream.

18/SHAVINGS/July-August

1986

NORTHWEST SCHOONER

Sailing on Sophia By Chas Dowd

ome people take long trips in small boats. I specialize in short trips in large boats. Originally I had no boat and the only way to get out on the water was as a deck ape in Seattle's racing fleets. Nowadays I o w n a small boat, but I still hunt out short trips in large boats for u n diluted jolts of excitement that just aren't found anywhere else. A psychotherapist friend calls it "feeding the c h i l d w i t h i n us a l l . " My all-time favorite food source is Freya Marine's Sophia Christina, a fortyseven foot schooner designed by T e d Brewer and built by D a v i d Jackson. Usually short trips in Sophia are not taken as ends in themselves but as part of a shift from one cruising ground to another. U n l i k e a race or a charter where the boat returns to her starting point, such cruises mean getting to a remote starting point or getting home from a remote destination. Occasionally it means getting to a remote starting point and getting home from an even remoter destination. T h i s weeds out all but fanatic sailors w h o will go to all sorts of inconvenience for a brief sail of certain quality. D a v i d doesn't need to say m u c h to this type of crew, in the big things or the little. W h e n he says "Let's get the jib and the stays'l on her" someone is quick to locate the halliards, someone else clears the sail covers and casts off the gaskets, and a third crewman frees the sheets. A m o n g such sailors and away from people unfamiliar to them, the old words begin to reappear. They're really the only right words. T h e fore fisherman stays'l halliard is the proper name of something very specific; so is the m a i n fisherman stays'l halliard. C a l l i n g them by name instead of describing them reduces what must be shouted across thirty feet of open, windy deck, and eliminates a lot of pointing and gesturing. It makes sailing as ordered and quiet as it can be but seldom is.

moves with oars, so it's easy to assume that the comfort of big boats is part of their appeal. I'll admit that getting up and walking around is nifty. H a v i n g a boat with an i n doors is nice too. H a v i n g a head with a door on it is pretty close to the peace that passeth understanding. On one memorable cruise, a chef from a gourmet restaurant used the fully-equipped galley to create a strawberry I can't remember if it was a skipper or a chocolate ganache pie. That's a far cry from boatwright who once told me that there was the P B & J I usually eat while rowing, but it's only one right way to do anything aboard a not why we short cruise specialists are here. ship. "If you're not too bright or just bonelazy, learn the one right w a y , " he used to One of life's supreme joys. say. " T h a t way you don't have to wear out We're here because Steering a damn-nighyour brain or your back t r y i n ' to figger out unto-fifty-foot schooner is one of life's the millions of wrong ways to do a t h i n g . " supreme unalloyed joys. C l i m b i n g over There's certainly only one right way to coil wave after wave working to w i n d w a r d or a line and hang it on a p i n . S h o w i n g some- swooping along on a reach with the rail in one how is f u n , but it separates the crew the water, steering a schooner is Big C a s i n o . into students and teachers. On Sophia, the I don't k n o w why. Sophia doesn't go very crew quickly settles into an affable classless fast by today's standards. A good jogger society where the captain is only slightly could keep up. If I was driving to the more equal. grocery, the car w o u l d be going three times W h e n you're a devoted short cruise fan, many of the features of a large boat essential to long cruises aren't part of what you're there for. My boat is only 18 feet long and

as fast, at least. It's a mystery why schooners seem to crash along at such a rate. It could be that people weren't created to understand 60 miles an hour. C h a r g i n g d o w n the

freeway at that rate doesn't teach our primate-based nervous system to understand high speed. It just desensitizes us, like rats in a Skinner B o x . By contrast, a schooner's speed is w i t h i n the h u m a n comprehension range, and we can appreciate just how fast eight or ten miles an hour can be. Some of the thrill is the feeling of the power it takes to move such a big structure t h r o u g h s u c h a resistant m e d i u m . Everything proclaims it: the slant of the deck, the incredible curve of the sails, the surge of the waves, the spray. T h e telltale on the masthead streams out like the speed line from the crown of D o n a l d Duck's hat. A few weeks ago, my wife and I were rowing in Case Inlet, involved w i t h a following w i n d we would have avoided, given the chance. Surfing along on the tops of the whitecaps trying not to broach, we realized the tremendous amount of energy — raw, u n controlled energy — out there. W i n d that had come from hundreds of miles just to pile up the waves. Waves crammed with energy that wears away sand cliffs or concrete bulkheads with O l y m p i a n detachment. Energy just walking around at ran-

d o m , looking for something to smash into, not because it's hostile, but because that's just the way energy is. Being at the helm of a big schooner imbeds you in the middle of all that energy. N o b o d y w h o has seen the sea, or even sheltered Puget S o u n d , at work, ever thinks in terms of harnessing or controlling it. Steering a schooner, we just steal a little of it and try very carefully not to get more of it than we can handle.

A matter of scale.

Part of it is a matter of scale: ten miles an hour isn't very fast in your car, but imagine going d o w n suburban streets at ten miles an hour in your house. Or just the living room, d i n i n g r o o m , and kitchen. Beyond size, schooners like Sophia feel more like real seagoing ships that any other rig. H e r wheel isn't a varnished mahogany marvel, but a p r i m , almost severe brass version like a Banker would have. Those two big masts say codfisherman, pilot boat, lumber drougher, or coaster with clear and vibrant • voices. Sometimes when there's enough sun, they can even see A d a m T r o y trading d o w n the Borneo coast in T i k i . There's a sea-going d e l i b e r a t i o n in the wheel response, as if Sophia is asking whether

July-August 1986/SHAVINGS/19

ing. It's creaking. C.S. Forester's Hornblower novels continually refer to the d i n 'tween decks caused by the working of the ship in a seaway. D u r i n g a storm, passing orders below was as difficult as getting them heard on deck. Part of the reason Sophia is so quiet is that she's new, part of it's that her modern fasteners make her tighter than the wooden trunnels that pegged together Atropos, but most of it is that even though large by today's sailboat standards, she shrinks to shoreboat size compared with Sea Witch, or Sovereign of the Seas. A real G r a n d Banks schooner like the Gertrude Thebaud would be three times as long. A l l of the really big windships are gone, so part of the reason for short cruises is to strive for a scale model appreciation of what it must have been like to run the easting d o w n in Cutty Sark.

Sophia doesn't go very fast by today's standards. A good jogger could keep up. But steering a damn-nigh-untofifty-foot schooner is one of life's supreme unalloyed joys. you'd like to reconsider that last move. In a tack, she sails around, never just flopping over on the opposite tack like a 21-foot 'round-the-buoys racer. She is, in a w o r d , stately, and you must steer her that way. In martial arts, students begin with kata, slowmotion versions of combat w h i c h allow the disciples to refine their form. M a r t i a l arts masters continue with the kata, relaxing and meditating w i t h i n their pattern of slow, controlled motion. Steering Sophia is like doing kata. I wonder what D a v i d feels, sailing in a boat he built. Imagine being on something as complicated as a schooner and being able to fix anything from the fiddly rails around the galley table to the entire h u l l . O n e thing for sure: he's not afraid to carry sail. C o u l d that be because he knows just how m u c h she can handle or is it because if the mast carries away, he can make another? Part of his on-deck confidence and agility comes from clambering around Sophia while he was building her, but some of it came from building her to his o w n scale. T e d Brewer drew the plans, but the exact size of a grab rail was probably left up to the builder. What would feel r i g h t . . . to the builder? Enough small detail of that sort, and a boat begins to fit like a glove. For the full experience of a big boat, I like to leave the deck and go forward, right d o w n into the fo'c'sle and listen to the boat work. There is a very different sound d o w n there from the hollow thumps of the fiberglass bows I remember from the racing fleet. It may be the stempiece separating the waves before the bows start wedging them apart that gives the water a gushing noise as it scampers along the planking. It may be solidity, the difference between slamming a H o n d a door as compared to a Rolls Royce. Or maybe the whole fabric of the boat resonates like a Stradivarius. It is wood, after all. Whatever the reasons, the Sophia marching along through a series of head seas sounds as solid and stately as she steers. A n d to a connoisseur of short sails in large schooners, that's exciting too. To be honest, there is a sound that's miss-

Laying in the foreberth listening to the water is a good place to think about why people still seem to need sailboats. A marketing survey recently showed that to sell to women, an ad should show a beach at sunset with a couple walking h a n d in h a n d . If the target is men, it should show a boat under sail. M a y b e it's because sailboats represent a fantasy alternative to the daily r o u n d . Or it could be that they give us a chance to be totally absorbed by the immediate here and now. In a w o r l d that seems to be always going on to the next thing, a short trip on a big schooner is a block of time that's totally here. I once heard a boatshow visitor ask V a n H o p e , who lives aboard his 30-foot Pacific Trader, how fast she was. " N o t very," said V a n , "but then, I'm not going anywhere particular. W h e n I'm aboard the Trader, I'm already where I want to be."

20/SHAVINGS/July-August

1986

TALL SHIPS A letter from Maine

Converging On New York Harbor by B r i o n Toss

t a skippers' meeting in New Y o r k C i t y last autumn, 18 men got together at the Coast G u a r d station on Governor's Island to discuss the usual: rules of the road, mooring assignments, how to deal with 50,000 spectator craft, when the President of the U n i t e d States would show up. . . As you might have guessed, this wasn't a b u n c h of J-24 sailors getting ready for a beercan regatta. In charge of the world's largest square-rigged sailing ships, these captains had met to see about getting their vessels together in N e w Y o r k harbor on the 4th of July. T h e Governor's Island meeting was the first public evidence of planning w h i c h had begun shortly after the last square-rigger convention, O p S a i l 7 6 , the hugely successful multi-city tour w h i c h stole the show during the A m e r i c a n b i centennial celebration. For O p S a i l '86, this time scheduled to coincide with the Statue of Liberty's centennial party, N e w Y o r k is to be the sole host of the world's grandest sailing vessels. It will be a greater concentration of ships — and public attention — than has ever been seen in the modern era — upwards of 300 vessels of all sizes and description parading in from their anchorage off Sandy H o o k in a stately, unlikely procession. T h e average L O A of participants is more than 86', with the largest being well over 300' and smallest under 10'. M o s t of the larger craft will be steel, but at least 100 will be wooden.

c h a i c monsters s u r v i v e o n enginedominated seas because extremely hard work, a team spirit and adventure with an element of danger result in a better grade of merchants and naval officer than can be gained from book learning and modern craft experience alone. These vessels are also tremendously effective symbols of prestige, w h i c h explains the recent wave of city and state-run craft w h i c h travel the world promoting their home ports. T h e majority of O p S a i l participants stay afloat without government bankrolling. These are mostly "small craft" of 100' or less owned either by private individuals or sailtraining institutions. There will be about 170 of these vessels in N e w Y o r k , and considering what a tremendous investment in labor, cash, and skill they represent, one gets an idea of how compelling the virtues of tradition are in the modern world. Aside from the very few craft based in the area, OpSailors w i l l have to travel many ocean miles to reach the rendezvous. T h e two longest voyages will be made by the Shabab Oman, which left its sultanate at the end of M a r c h and the 191' barkentine Kri Dewa Ruci which left its Indonesian homeport i n A p r i l . M a n y of the school sailing ships travel 10 to 15,000 miles a year, so a little side-trip to New Y o r k is easy to schedule. But think of the crews: picture the globe and scatter 300 noteworthy craft unto the surface of its seas' millions of square miles. In that scale the vessels practically vanish. Y o u ' l l rarely find more than one in any port. A meeting — even if it is only a crossing of courses at sea — is a cause for celebration.

T h e largest wooden boat is Shabab Oman, a 170' Scottish built barkentine — larch on oak — that is the training ship for the Sultanate of O m a n , a tiny, oil-rich country i n the A r a b i a n Sea. T h e Shabab is almost certainly the largest wooden sailing vessel being actively sailed today. Other wooden notables include:

T h i s imminent, massive convergence has even the most jaded crews tense and excited. Those on smaller, less-heavily-sailed craft are practically hysterical. That's why several of Maine's charter schooners had a more than usually intense fitting out this year, why the ship-rigged Denmark will be getting a pre-parade spruce-up in Baltimore * Liberie and Egalite, two matched 38' this June, why the Texas bark Elissa 18th century design French officer's barges mounted a major fundraising campaign for built at the Rockport Apprenticeshop. a new engine and traveling funds, why the There will be an A m e r i c a n vs. French row- Gazella of Philadelphia had new copper bottom put o n : they're all going to New Y o r k . ing race in these boats on July 5 and 6; * American Eagle, one of the last of the Gloucester fishing schooners, w h i c h has just been rebuilt by N o r t h E n d Shipyard of R o c k l a n d , M a i n e . T h e 92' o.d. vessel, built in 1935 for swordfishing, has been converted to a passenger carrier. * Bowudoin, the H a n d designed A r c t i c exploration schooner w h i c h recently became the first vessel to be licensed under the Coast Guard's N W sail training category, * When and If, considered by many to be the prettiest and all-around ablest schooner in C a m d e n , M a i n e . Built for General George Patton at the end of W W I I , this A l d e n masterpiece is owned and actively sailed by L a n d m a r k School of Manchester, Mass.; and * Fri, a ketch-rigged Baltic Trader w h i c h has put in tens of thousands of sea miles in aid of environmental causes, beginning in the 1960s w h e n Fri and her crew risked vaporization by sailing into a nuclear bombtest zone in the South Pacific to protest French testing.

Tall ships will be the stars. But even for wooden boat fans, the stars of the N e w Y o r k show will likely be the socalled tall ships — the big, governmentowned and r u n training vessels. These ar-

This imminent, massive convergence has even the most jaded crews tense and excited. Those on smaller, less heavily-sailed craft are practically hysterical.

July-August 1 9 8 6 / S H A V I N G S / 2 1

Friday, June 20 CWB MONTHLY MEETING 8 p m , C W B Boatshop T o m Wells, marine artist a n d exLabrador, G r e e n l a n d a n d C a p e H o r n sailor, will show the film he made during his voyage on the ship Passat from England to Australia a n d back. T h i s is a rare chance to view life aboard a working square-rigger. Friday, Saturday and Sunday; June 27, 28 29 WEEKEND WITH THE CLASSICS Friday Harbor First annual wooden boat, vintage car and antique automobile show. R o w i n g and sailing races, classic sailing film, dance. Free admission. For more information contact D o u g Bison, P . O . Box 1275, Friday Harbor, W A 98250; 206-378-2101 or 378-4179. M o n d a y , June 30 FUNDRAISING DINNER A l l evening, Casa Lupita, 1823 Eastlake Avenue East A n opportunity t o have a n excellent M e x i c a n meal and raise money for the Center. H a l f the dinner proceeds w i l l be donated to C W B . For more details, see story in this issue or call 3 8 2 - B O A T . Friday, Saturday a n d Sunday; July 4, 5 &. 6 C W B ' s 10th A N N U A L L A K E U N I O N W O O D B O A T FESTIVAL C W B and the Lake U n i o n N a v a l Reserve Center A b o u t 150 boats, boatbuilding contest, rowing and sailing races, water taxi, toy boatbuilding, food, films, music, antique tools and engines, demonstrations, sawmill and more. Free admission. For more information, call 3 8 2 - B O A T . Friday, July 4 P O T L U C K DINNER 7 p m , Schooner Wawona, Waterway 4 A get-together for the wooden boat festival exhibitors, volunteers and all C W B members. M u s i c and dancing. Saturday and Sunday; July 12 & 13 BASIC B O A T REPAIR G o r d o n R u b y w i l l teach a hands-on workshop in methods and procedures for repairing wooden boats. T h i s session will include surveying and replacing planks and frames. C o s t : $85 for C W B members; $100 for non-members. Limited to 10 students.

Friday, July 18 CWB MONTHLY MEETING 8 p m , C W B Boatshop L e o n .Mclntyre, sailor of classic cruising yachts, yacht delivery skipper, builder and surveyor, will talk on "Dreams vs. Realities of B u y i n g a C r u i s i n g Y a c h t . " M o n d a y through Saturday; July 21-26 LAPSTRAKE WORKSHOP 8:30 am - 5 p m , C W B Boatshop Eric Hvalsoe will instruct the building of a 9-1/2' Norwegian Lapstrake p r a m . C o s t : $275 for C W B members; $300 for n o n members. Limited to 7 students. Tuesdays and Thursdays; July 29 & 30 August 5 & 7 H A N D T O O L JOINERY 7-9 p m , C W B Boatshop C h a r l i e M a s t r o w i l l instruct the class in h a n d tool use, maintenance and wood joinery. Students will make as many joints as they can master. C o s t : $30 for C W B members; $40 for non-members; Limited to 10 students Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; August 12, 13 & 14 PLANE-MAKING WORKSHOP 7-9 p m . C W B Boatshop Students will make a w o r k i n g plane. A l l materials will be furnished. C h a r l i e M a s t r o , professional woodworker and teacher, w i l l instruct. C o s t : $40 for C W B members; $50 for non-members. Limited to 10 students. Friday, August 15 CWB M O N T H L Y MEETING 8 p m , C W B Boatshop N i l s Lucander, naval architect, will talk on "It Costs M o n e y and T i m e to M a k e Waves." Displacement boats designed by N i l s have proved to m u c h more efficient than the o l d theories of hull speed and prismatic co-efficient say they should be. Nils will explain w h y . Wednesday, August 20 MARLINSPIKE WORKSHOP 7-10 p m , C W B Boatshop Dennis A r m s t r o n g will give instruction in sailor's basic knots, splices and whippings. C o s t : $15 for C W B members; $20 for non-members. Limited to 12 students. N O T E : W o r k s h o p sessions are limited in enrollment. To reserve your place, please send payment in full. For the boatbuilding workshop, a $100 deposit is required. Questions? C a l l 3 8 2 - B O A T .

22/SHAVINGS/July-August

1986

BUILDER'S FATE

Pursuing an archaic craft by D i c k Wagner In 1792, when C a p t . George Vancouver surveyed the convoluted strip of Pacific Coast between Puget S o u n d and A l a s k a , he found rocky beaches, along vertical-sided fjords, overhung with glaciers. Between beach and cloud-scraping mountains were forests and barbed-wire underbrush too dense to penetrate. He commented that this was "useless l a n d . " O n e area, now considered a calendar-art paradise and preserved as a park, Vancouver named Desolation Sound. Vancouver was right about the lack of fertile flatlands, but people came anyway. They clung to beach-heads along the endless shoreline, and stubbornly hacked out hardscrabble stump farms. T h e water was their highway between lonely outposts. Boats were the means of exploration, trade, communication, fishing and recreation. Because of the convenience of the water routes and the difficulty of leveling the corrugated land, roads were a late development in the Northwest. In 1920, 85% of the Seattle Fire Department rigs were horse d r a w n . T h e internal-combustion-powered fire-trucks couldn't manage the narrow, switch-back trails and skid roads of Seattle. T h e prohibition years brought a flurry of activity to the Northwest boatshops. Often shops were building, side by side, a fast boat for a whiskey smuggler and a Coast G u a r d cutter designed to catch the rascal. N e w designs were developed in the 1930's for the thriving liveries of Puget S o u n d . Some of these types: Poulsbo and M u k i l t e o boats; Point Defiance, Reinell and H A . L o n g skiffs. A l l were builder designed. Large crews were busy every winter and spring, building and repairing trollers, seiners, gillnetters and halibut schooners for the fishing season. T h e three- and four-masted schooner fleet sailed to the Bering Sea for cod through 1950. These big Douglas Fir-planked vessels were overhauled every year in Lake U n i o n . In 1937, the Seattle public school system established a boat-building school in order to help provide a steady supply of skilled craftsmen for the bustling yards. T h i s school still continues as part of the community college system. D u r i n g W o r l d W a r II, shops in the N o r t h west were working around the clock building a variety of wooden craft for the armed services. T h e big local pool of boatbuilders produced superior work in doublequick time. T h u s , the yards and boatbuilders continued to survive in a pocket of our continent where the technical-industrial clock ran slowly. T h e o l d shops were often family dynasties. Teen-aged, or younger, boys began by sweeping and fetching. Usually three generations were working side by side. Instruction was by watching and helping the old timers. It was a slow, unstructured educational process of learning boatbuilding. Those shops are now gone. Today's builders have begun their career in a different manner. A typical example is the Seattle C o m m u n i t y College boatbuilding program. T h e students' average age is 30. O v e r 4 0 % have attended four or more years of college a n d graduate school. T e n percent are women. They attend a down-to-earth, nofrills, 8 a.m. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 4 p . m . , two-year trade school. There is no landscaped campus, football team or cheerleaders. A n y o n e w h o walks through the door and wants to work

in the industry meets the entrance requirements. M o s t of these students have willingly set aside university dreams and years of boring work in offices with high salaries and low self-esteem. These are people who are disillusioned by the quality of design and construction of manufactured goods and have a persistent itch to do skilled work with their hands for discriminating clients. Some use the time-tested plank-on-frame techiques; others specialize in plywood or laminated boats. A l l are following the heritage of boatbuilding: analyzing and perfecting ways to make boats stronger, more seaworthy and easier to b u i l d . Otherwise, we would still be paddling log rafts. T h a t is part of the attraction to boatbuilding â&#x20AC;&#x201D; there are endless problems to solve involving wood-joining, mechanical and electrical engineering, forging, casting, sheet-metal work. A day might begin by bending an oak coaming, and end by making a pattern for a bronze floor-strap. Builders are inventive, flexible, curious.

They all share a reverence for wood, respect for integrity of design and structure, obsession for perfect work, and endurance to work impossible hours. It is simply not possible to become rich building or rebuilding wooden boats. T h e process of doing a job right takes a long time, and boatbuilders only do a job right. They survive through modest requirements for material possessions, low shop-rent, and efficient work habits. They are versatile. M a n y design boats, teach boatbuilding, survey boats, are charter skippers, and deliver yachts. They carry on as best they can because they love it. There is excitement in planning a new project, satisfaction in handling the wood and tools, pride in completing a challenging job and eager anticipation of the next boat. In the past, boatbuilders couldn't do anything but b u i l d boats. Today's builders have a wider spectrum of options, but pursue an outdated, archaic craft because they chose to follow the message that comes from their hands and their heart.

Often, shops were building side-byside a fast boat for a whiskey smuggler and a Coast Guard cutter designed to catch the rascal.

July-August 1986/SHAVINGS/23

Boatbuilding school in Norway By B i o r n Sundt Rognan is a town of 3,000 people in Saltdal C o u n t y at the end of the Saltfjord in N o r t h e r n N o r w a y . V i k i n g ships were said to have been built there 1000 years ago. U n t i l recently, some 30 wooden boatbuilding yards lined the small town's shoreline. N o w only two are left, but they still actively b u i l d fishing boats and an occasional V i k i n g ship. Rognan's overwhelming scenery and ancient architecture are intermingled with a modern city center and high-tech industries. O n e of only two wooden boatbuilding schools in N o r w a y is located here, a very modern facility teaching an ageless craft. T h e traditional methods are taught with a fresh updated approach. In 1981, I spent a year at their school. It was a year I will never forget in a place where wooden boats outnumber the plastic fantastic by 10 to 1. It is a natural wonderland where the trees are small and knotty and planking is often the full width of them, yet the harsh climate has added life-extending resins that can keep the planking fresh hundreds of years. Fresh, that is, unless they split in the first few years. T h e knots are considered an important structural part, as well as an aesthetic plus. T h e finish is always bright, traditional pine tar, though " O w a t r o l " and " K l a k s " are now popular. Paint is a sin. What they build is simple and lasts i n definitely. For example: the slate and sod roofs on the stout, square houses are timeless. It is not o d d to live in a 400 year

old house and o w n a 100 year old boat. Intricate plans, precision accuracy and trendy pinstripes are not the prerequisites for house or boatbuilding. T h e simple plans have developed intuitively over 1000 years, and actually have hardly changed at all. If you were to ask a boatbuilder for a set of plans, there may well be none. A little experience is what counts. I am building a 23' wooden Norwegian motorsnekke with their models: no plans. Accuracy develops with experience in training the eye and trusting your use of hand and power tools. Y o u draw a line to get close, but your final plane strokes will be fairer than your line eventually. T h e methods they used in boatbuilding were intriguing. T h e boats are built right side up without lofting or molds. W i t h a few tricks the planking creates the hull's shape. Frames are i n stalled later. Few and simple tools are necessary. T h e system is speedy and the result is a beautiful boat that is truly seaworthy. O d d l y enough, when plans are used, each boat will be different anyway. T h e plans serve only as a guide. Each builder will interpret each plank personally. T h e boats will not be right or wrong, just u n i que. Finally, the care and maintenance of these brightly finished beauties is considered a joy to the Scandinavians, not a grudging duty. It is as much a part of life as any tradition. It is a family affair that has lasted 10 centuries. They love their wooden boats, as I do, and it is no wonder why.

Outline of a love affair By Eric Hvalsoe I come from the sort of family w h i c h offered to its sons a n d daughters at some point between high school and college graduation a trip to Europe or an automobile of modest proportions. My two elder sisters took the trip. I traveled through the U n i t e d States and Central A m e r i c a , to everyone's consternation. I was layed up ill in Guatemala for a week and returned, some said, "a bit t h i n . " No matter, I was a stubborn fellow: I still am.

boatbuilding school i n Tacoma, L . H . Bates V o c a t i o n a l Technical Institute. In this fall of my lackluster academic performance Bates was ready for me. I finished the quarter and moved to Tacoma, possessing zero carpentry skills, but a desire to dig i n . I carried with me a daily struggle and spite against mediocrity.

because it was the only Pacemaker of its size with a flying bridge. W e l l , as it turns out, the flying bridge was just big enough that the boat could no longer fit into his slip. So I made for h i m a collapsible flying bridge, h a d a little cushion from the l o n g job, and went back to my cold garage and the V a l s o 13.

Trade school was really my college exW a n t to hear the story of being a wooden perience. T h e camaraderie, the d r i n k i n g , boatbuilder? W h i l e fixing that Pacemaker, a the Craziness, and the work. I worked on guy came by w h o wanted a 15 footer. So I boats in and after school, I read books drew a 15 foot boat w h i c h he liked alot, about boats. I began working as a ship- then decided to buy a fiberglass boat i n wright on my own and never stopped. stead. So you think: I quit. But then you see I grew up on a beautiful piece of waterT h e first boat I built was a drift boat for someone in another boat of yours and you front property in the country-turning my instructor in trade school. He said it stay. suburbia. Early summer years were spent on leaked. In the second year I designed and W h e n asking me to write this piece , the small boats in the S a n Juan and G u l f built the V a l s o 13 for a tugboat skipper. I've editor claimed that "I must love my w o r k . " Islands. Those boats were usually fiberglass, built three of them â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one of w h i c h is on W e l l , I don't breath the stuff, I just eat "and and I could not have cared less how they, loan at the Center. d r i n k it. Building includes a fair share of or anything else, was built. Instead I drew, T h e last 18 months of school was spent drudgery w h i c h I accept in order to see an my c h i l d h o o d aspirations fixed in the design doing outside work on a Richardson cruiser object created and completed by my o w n sections of boating periodicals. for a m a n in Des M o i n e s . I d i d everything hands, like a camera lens focusing in i n But in high school neo-60's radicalism, on the boat, and really for the first time felt crements over a long period of time. Jack Kerouac, jazz, journalism, and the N o r t h west fishing wars arrested my energies. Physics and calculus were relegated to the trunk next to the tire jack and diploma. I hitchhiked to N e w Orleans and Key West, t h r o u g h the N o r t h e a s t ' a n d C e n t r a l A m e r i c a . I attended two universities, developing a thirst for history from captivating professors, but never earned a degree.

confident as a builder.

Being a builder is completely against the odds. B u i l d i n g boats, as opposed to producing them, goes completely against the economic reality of society. To b u i l d a wooden boat means to enter another dimension of time. Y o u can't begin to charge for the time spent, you w i l l never approach the earning power you will have in another field and yet you work and stay because wooden boats are special. Their In 1979, at the University of Washington, I worked with a buddy for seven months glamour and charm persist. Throughout my grades had the appearance of an ir- on the boat. It needed a new keelson, lots of their lives, from construction to ownership regular heartbeat in the emergency room. new planking, a completely new transom, to maintenance wooden boats take a piece T w o years earlier and almost forgotten, I new decking and cabin side. He apparently from us. T h a t is why some of us love and had placed my name on the waiting list for didn't m i n d . He had bought the boat hate them â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and cannot do without them. W h e n I got out, 1 took a boat up to A l a s k a , then came d o w n with no real idea as to what would follow. T h e m a n in Des M o i n e s was interested in b u y i n g a Pacemaker 40. It was offered for a great price, though, there was rot in the keelson. He was not sure how much work it would take, but at the last minute went ahead. He bought the boat.

24/SHAVINGS/July-August

1986

WHY WOOD? Medici on a budget

On being a patron by Chas D o w d Some people around here will tell you that the reason to b u i l d boats out of wood is so that you can b u i l d the boat of your dreams. That's about half true. Boat dreams are pretty personal stuff and people dream them for a lot of different reasons. Unless they have the same dream as Bayliner or Tollycraft, any mass-production boat will be something of a compromise. But a dreamer with some wood, a handful of nails, a vacant lot, and some courage can have any k i n d of boat they want. A craftsman can have a boat that displays his craftsmanship, a traditionalist can use it to recapture the past, a tinkerer can tinker with it endlessly.

their shops on the waterfront any more because the property is too expensive for anything but fern bars, condos, and marinas. Instead, we visited a rural village a n d found two bearded pipesmokers in longhandles and C a n ' t Bust ' E m overalls working out of a failed hardware store. We

design ran from $2000 to $5000, bids on the builder designs ran from $4000 to $6000. T h e n I walked into a shop with a humungous schooner under construction in the sideyard. T h e Builder and his assistant were over in the corner, making sawdust. I made a pitch. T h e Builder puffed on his pipe and

went into the woods and found one m a n with a shipsaw building a forty-foot schooner in a shed made of two-by-fours and clear plastic tarps. We found the back door of a commercial drycleaner in the m i d dle of an industrial wasteland to talk w i t h a builder so shy he just handed us a scrapbook filled with photos of his finished work.

looked at the plans. H i s assistant said, "Gee, that looks fun to b u i l d . Y e a h , I'd like to b u i l d that. A r e we gonna b u i l d that one, Chief?" T h e Builder said, "$3500."

want to d o , " he said. " A l l we need to do is find a rationale that supports it. T r y the Italian system. W h e n they ask for bids, they automatically throw out the highest and the lowest. They assume that the low bidder is desperate for the money and will end up with an overrun or go broke before the job is done. T h e high bidder is trying to retire to the Riviera with a single contract. T h e n they average the rest and pick the bidder closest to that figure." So I ended up with the boatbuilder I wanted. I'd advise anyone looking for a builder to follow the same technique: find a

But, says this group of owner-builders, you have to build the boat. My wife and I live in an apartment. We have no saws, planes or chisels, no space to work i n , no innate or educated skill with woodworking tools. I k n o w too m u c h about history and the way most people live to work up m u c h enthusiasm about tradition for its o w n sake. As far as tinkering goes, I'm the only k i d on the block to knock a set of T i n k e r Toys out of adjustment. I didn't break them exactly, but once I got done playing with them, nobody could b u i l d anything with them afterwards. Yet my boat dreams were as personal as any home craftsman's. We had to hire a boatbuilder. I felt awfully bad about it. T h e ownerbuilders all said I was cutting myself off from one of the major joys of wooden boats, that of watching my boat come into shape under my hands. In fact, they talked about it so much and in such metaphysical terms that I began to be a tad curious about their motives. Besides, I discovered that finding a boatbuilder had its o w n rewards. O n e of them is that you're not going to end up with the first boat somebody built, but the tenth or twelfth or fifteenth. But first, you get to talk to lots and lots of boatbuilders. Y o u don't find them in the Yellow Pages or by driving around the waterfront. For one thing, no builders have

I'd planned a very scientific approach. I showed each builder a set of lines for my dream boat and asked for an estimate. T h e n I explained how we planned to use our boat and asked the builder to suggest a design that might meet our needs and give us an estimate on that design too. Bids on my

I was in a frenzy. Here was the right man to turn my dream into wood. He had all the credentials, i n c l u d i n g that humungous schooner abuilding. He had scads of tools, most of them looking nicely w o r n . He didn't have any B a n d - A d s on his fingers. But he wasn't a low bidder. I took my problem to a senior manager, a famous decision-maker whose yea or nay determined how the corporation spent millions of dollars. " Y o u know what you

builder you like and then juggle the figures until you can figure out a way to justify hiring h i m . Considering the thundering impracticality of owning a boat in the first place, this is no time for displays of good sense. Just be sure that you can come to look at the boat's progress whenever you wish. If you're not interested in watching the boat under construction, I suggest you take up golf. O n c e the boat is successfully launched, you can do your best to forget somebody else built it for you. Or you can do what we did and become patrons. Patronage had its o w n delights and rewards, well k n o w n to

July-August 1986/SHAVINGS/25

"You know what you want to do>" the famous decision-maker said. "All we need to do is find a rationale that supports it. Try the Italian system." Popes and princes but usually out of reach of wage earners. For example, when our boat was launched, I made arrangements to have it televised. T h e sequence was shown twice during that year's O p e n i n g D a y , probably he most publicity ever given the christening of an 18-foot rowboat. I got to sail on the schooner, I wrote an article on the wooden boat renaissance and talked about, among other things, T h e Builder. I got another, longer sail on the schooner. T w o years ago, I decided that I needed a flag on my boat. N o w normally y o u wouldn't bother a boatbuilder w i t h a small job like that, but I wanted to see what he would d o . W h e n the M e d i c i didn't have any tombs or jewelry for C e l l i n i to create, they had h i m cast medallions. For me the result was a jackstaff with just the right tapers, just the right proportions, and made out of just the right wood to harmonize with the rest of our boat. E x a m i n i n g it I remarked that the cleat that the signal lanyard made off to was at a slight angle to the staff itself. "Shouldn't it be straight up and d o w n , " I asked? " Y o u never put a straight pull on a cleat," said T h e Builder. "We're looking at maybe 18 ounces of strain m a x i m u m , " I replied. " Y o u never put a straight pull on a cleat," he said again, retreating into a cloud of pipe smoke like an air-breathing cuttlefish, " N e v e r . " Last year I decided that trailering was putting strain on the sheerstrake. Every time the trailer bounced, the strap I passed around the boat turned the bounce into a squeeze. I decided that T h e Builder should add an inwale to stiffen things up. He wanted to put standing knees on the seats, turning them into a truss that would give additional support to the sheer. I stood firm on an inwale. T w o days later, I got a call from the shop. "I just can't bring myself to do i t , " wailed The Builder. "I've always thought of your boat as one of those English Gentleman's R o w i n g Boats they use on the more civilized parts of the A v o n or the Thames. T h e y don't have inwales. L o o k , you want the boat to trailer better. If I can accomplish that, w i l l y o u forgo the inwales?" Outgeneraled, I acquiesced. Y o u see, having returned recently from England, I was telling everyone (including T h e Builder) about the 130-year old Gentleman's R o w i n g Boat we'd rented on the A v o n , a boat w h i c h I had to admit I found handsome largely due to the lack of inwales. Oh well, when Pope Leo conferred with Michelangelo about i n -

terior decoration for the Sistine C h a p e l I suppose he expected h i m to show up with a book of wallpaper samples. W h e n we went to pick up our boat, there were the standing knees. But for trailering, T h e Builder had created a removable strongback. Its ends were designed to fit the angle of the sheer between two ribs and it supported the sides at exactly the place where the strap passed over. It had a straight top, but the underside had a graceful arch. It was of yellow cedar, bright with varnish. It was secured by a lanyard spliced into a hole in one side w h i c h ran under the portside sea riser, across and up b e h i n d the starboard riser to a hole on the other side where it tied with some k i n d of tricky knot I'd never seen before. I drove the boat all the way to the highway before I got out and very carefully, step by step, untied the knot and figured out how it worked. I'd be damned if I was going to ask for advice on that. So don't let these owner-builder types fool you into t h i n k i n g that the only way to get the boat of your dreams is to b u i l d it yourself. A n d don't think that you are missing out. G e t a builder and enjoy. By the way, have you heard about the boat I'm going to b u i l d one of these days?

26/SHAVINGS/July-August

1986

D R Y ROT by Gordon Ruby

hat keeps a wooden boat alive? U s i n g good quality wood during construction and paying attention to craftsmanship are essential. But by far the greatest elixir for wooden boats is good care. Proper maintenance can make a boat last a long time. Neglect, on the other h a n d , can effectively destroy a boat. T h e necessity for maintenance can be best understood by considering what happens to w o o d in its natural state. Being organic, trees must be recycled when they die. T h e bulk of the tree must be disposed of so that the nutrients trapped there may be made available for new growth.

Nature provides an array of insects, plants and microbes w h i c h combine w i t h the elements to present a relentless attack on fallen w o o d . A m o n g the m a i n recyclers of wood are the parasitic plants of fungi. C o m monly k n o w n as mushrooms, these plants are capable of destroying wood at an alarming rate. There are two closely related species w h i c h will attack a wooden boat, dry rot and wet rot. It is maintenance of a wooden boat w h i c h provides the protection from these and other elements w h i c h would otherwise destroy the wood. T h e yearly maintenance schedule is aimed at preventing the establishment of conditions w h i c h would foster the growth of these organisms. T h r o u g h surface coatings, bedding compounds and various sheathings the wood is protected from the elements. If left u n protected, sun and w i n d will combine to dry out the wood, opening small cracks and checks which will allow the entry of rain water into the members of the h u l l . Here is where the problems start. Let's look more closely at the habitat and life history of the rots. If you've ever walked through a forest, you may have noticed that there is always a thick layer of humus underfoot â&#x20AC;&#x201D; dead leaves, rotting w o o d and other organic matter. It is here most wood decomposition takes place. T h i s layer retains moisture from rain and mist during most of the year and remains damp, providing water for the decay organisms. It is also important to note that decomposition activity is highest during warm weather and that the process itself will create its o w n heat w h i c h helps fuel continued decay. T h e main requirements for fungal growth to occur on a wooden boat are the presence of fresh water in the wood and a warmish temperature range, that is, conditions similar to those found in the humus layer. T h e o p t i m u m temperature range for the dry rot fungus is between 24 and 30 degrees C. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a temperature not u n c o m m o n on a closed up, poorly ventilated boat. As oxygen is required, the fungus will not grow on submerged wood. T h e fungus reproduces by means of spores. Each plant is extremely productive, releasing hundreds of thousands of spores into the air. It is safe to assume that the air inside any boat contains many fungal spores, and that at any time the source of infection exists. O n c e an infection occurs unchecked in one part of the boat, any other area of dampness will be infected in short order. W h e n the right conditions exist, the fungus can destroy w o o d at an alarming rate, as m u c h as 3/4 c m . (more than 1/4 in.) per day! A l t h o u g h this type of progress in a boat is rare, once the rot is established, it will grow unceasingly if its source of fresh water is undisturbed. T h e reason for this is

that the fungus produces rhizomorphs, r u n ners of fungal tissue w h i c h act as conduits for moisture. These rhizomorphs can grow to a length of several yards, thus advancing the infection away from its source of water.

Factors having to do with the structure of w o o d also aid in the growth of the fungus. T h e water transport mechanisms of living trees are passive. Leaves evaporate moisture, creating a siphon effect and pulling a long c o l u m n of water from the roots up the length of the tree. T h e cell structure of the wood enables the tree to do this. W o o d cells are arranged in long t h i n tubes. On the boards w h i c h make up the structure of a boat these tubes exit at the ends. If you look at the end of a piece of w o o d , you can see them. T h e wood here is k n o w n as end grain and is noted for its ability to absorb moisture.

End grain attacked first W h e n end grain becomes saturated with water it will draw moisture up the length of the board, and it always takes m u c h longer for the moisture to evaporate back out through the end and sides. T h u s with the board holding moisture for extended periods the situation is right for the establishment of the fungus. T h i s is the reason that rot is always found first in the ends of boards. T h i s is important to understand, for in typical wooden boat construction the pieces of w o o d are put together with woodworking joints. These joints w i l l almost always contain the end grain of two or more pieces, thus an infection will usually spread out from a joint in different directions making repairs arduous and infecting different parts of the boat. Leaking is best controlled by the upkeep of surface coatings; paints, varnishes and oils and the maintenance of bedding compounds under moldings, cleats, and other deck hardware. Canvas and other types of deck coverings must be well cared for and replaced when necessary. To best understand how leaks get started it is valuable to look at the processes w h i c h affect a boat over time. It is our friend the sun w h i c h is one of the main culprits here. Ultraviolet rays will break d o w n paints and varnishes. In the period of one year a significant deterioration will occur in a varnished surface, two years will take a serious toll on a painted surface. W h e n these coatings become t h i n , they begin to separate from the w o o d allowing water to penetrate underneath. T h i s has the effect of further lifting the coatings and exposing the wood to the elements. Of course during the normal course of use the coatings can become abraded and create the same situation. T h u s , a yearly recoating is always the best thing. We have seen that wood has the ability to actively absorb water. It also has the ability to absorb moisture from the air. Relative humidity has the effect of shrinking and swelling wood, although the amount of moisture absorbed is small. T h e wood in a structural joint or seam will swell against its neighbor when humidity is high and shrink away when sun and w i n d dry the wood. T h i s has the effect of opening a crack where water can penetrate. Intact surface coatings will greatly reduce the shrinking and swelling on a boat by minimizing the drying-out effect. Unprotected w o o d will shrink and swell considerably. Bedding compounds will also wear out eventually. Bedding compounds are used between two parts of a boat to effect a seal. T h e y are mostly used on deck hardware,

July-August 1986/SHAVINGS/27

blems. Of note here is a recent development in this area. Because of the work involved in the periodic replacement of deck coverings, a longer lasting material was sought. U p o n the advent of modern plastics, fiberglass of course seemed a sensible alternative.

If left unprotected, sun and wind will combine to dry out the wood opening small cracks and checks which will allow the entry of rain water into the members of the hull, and here is where the problem starts. }

cabin trunks, moldings, and any exterior part subject to rain water. O v e r a period of time bedding compounds become brittle, losing their oils and drying out thus allowing the ingress of water between the two parts. A proper maintenance schedule will allow for the periodic removal and rebedding of these parts. Usually between 10 and 15 years is necessary for bedding compounds to wear out, although it is much faster if surface coatings have been allowed to dry out. C a u l k i n g is integral to the water tight integrity of a wooden boat. T h i s material is used to seal the edges of two adjacent planks. A seam is created between the two planks and caulking is driven in thus creating a seal. T h e caulking used on wooden boats is also organic in nature, usually cotton or hemp and is subject to decay. Its lifetime varies greatly with care and use, and should be periodically inspected for leakage. O n c e caulking cotton becomes rotten, its effective life is over and should be replaced. It is possible to stop a leak in a caulked seam by resetting the cotton. That is hammering it in again, but only if no decay is present. A l s o needing periodic replacement are deck and cabin top coverings. These are usually canvas or burlap, again materials subject to organic decay. Unprotected edges and abrasions are the main areas of infection and once begun it can eat up the canvas in a hurry, allowing water into the structure below and creating many more pro-

Fiberglass a bad choice M a n y a worn out canvas deck has been covered with a thin layer of fiberglass, hoping for longer durability. But mostly the opposite becomes true. Fiberglass is a rigid, non-moving material. It will break instead of stretch. T h e traditional canvas covered deck was made of laid tongue and groove planking, or something similar, which will of course expand and contract a fair amount with changes in relative humidity. Canvas could accomodate the movement. But the polyester resin used in fiberglass is brittle and only moderately adhesive to wood. In a relatively short period of time the wood moving underneath the fiberglass would pull open cracks in the covering. C o n t i n u e d movement will de-laminate the fiberglass from the wood and freshwater has ready access to a large area. T h e environment in this situation becomes particularly suited for the growth of fungus. T h e fiberglass very effectively traps the water, and large areas remain wet.

Fiberglass overlayments of wood are always to be suspect. Plywood, because of its dimensional stability is better suited for the task. O t h e r places to be held suspect for the development of problems are the areas w h i c h receive stress during the use of the vessel. Of particular note are butt joints in planking and decking, joints along the sheer, stem rabbet and transom and a n y w h e r e t h a t stress is l o c a l i z e d , Mechanical attachments are noteworthy in this respect, chainplates on a sailing vessel, oarlocks, fishboat rigging etc. A l l these types of things tend to work against the adjoining pieces to create cracks and openings through which fresh water can get into the boat. Other types of stress tend to break frames and other members, weakening the structure in the area and opening seams. Fastening wear out and need replacement, otherwise the parts are sure to loosen and work, again opening areas to the possibility of attack. A l l of the previous discussion has been concerned with preventing fresh water from entering through the h u l l . But there is another manner in which fresh water may be introduced into a boat in quantities large enough to do damage. Condensation of moist air on the inner surfaces of the hull can be quite considerable at certain times. T h e usual cause is poorly ventilated boat.

There is one final source for fresh water leakage and that is the boats o w n water tanks and fresh water system. Periodic i n spection of the plumbing and fittings is called for; most especially the draining system. G r a y water tends to rot wood faster probably because of its organic content. Showers on wooden boats are especially prone to cause problems. Use of them should be avoided if there is any question of their watertight integrity.

2 8 / S H A V I N G S / J u l y - A u g u s t 1986

Kayaking on Barkley Sound By Paul Ford We had heard about Barkley S o u n d on the west coast of V a n c o u v e r Island — glowing reports about cruising Broken Island G r o u p by canoe or kayak, a real wilderness experience, golden eagles, camping on remote beaches, coves and caves to explore, and beautiful sunsets. So we went last August — two families of three in their three canoes and me in my kayak — and came back with our o w n glowing reports. In our case we also added "beautiful warm weather, no rough water, watching sea otters and m i n k , no crowds, and swimming every day." Thanks to the C a n a d i a n government, this group o f islands, r o u g h l y 4 x 6 miles i n area, has been set aside as part of the Pacific R i m National Park. It is located about a t h i r d of the way up the west coast of V a n c o u v e r Island, B . C . , tucked just inside the north side of Barkley S o u n d near Ucluelet, just west of the entrance to A l b e r n i Inlet, a narrow fiord that winds 30 miles into the m i d dle of V a n c o u v e r Island, ending at the bustling town of Port A l b e r n i . West of these islands is absolutely nothing but ocean until you reach Siberia. Park rules are few: camp only in the seven designated areas, use the pit toilets, build campfires only on the beach below high tide line, and boil the water from island springs. Shellfish on the whole coast were banned because of a red tide alert. O n e park ranger oversees the whole area, buzzing around in his inflatable outboard. No buildings, no stores, no picnic tables, no "Private — No Trespassing" signs, no entry fee. O u r crew was definitely not what you would call dyed-in-the-wool wilderness paddlers. M y neighbors, T o m and E l i Davis, had acquired their canoe only a couple of years ago and had done some river floating and paddling around Puget S o u n d . Their good friends, G l e n n and Sharon Schmidt, also hadn't done a lot of canoe tripping, but G l e n n is a wood worker by trade and had just finished his second strip-built canoe, a beautiful sitka spruce, Hazen design " M i c mac." Both families have sons, Jason Davis and K a r l Schmidt, starting high school together and ready for adventure in a borrowed canoe. Meanwhile I had made a strip-built cedar kayak of my o w n design, launched soon after retirement, and have covered quite a few happy miles in it, mostly around Puget S o u n d . Port A l b e r n i has a nice campground just a few blocks from the dock, so we spent Sunday night there, along with many sport fishermen, and managed to get d o w n to the dock next morning by 7 am to start loading. Each party has to pile all its gear on one or two 4' x 5' pallets so they can be swung aboard and lowered into the h o l d . People w h o didn't have their gear in a few big bags tended to lose little items on the aerial flight

to the hatch. T h e n all the canoes, followed by the kayaks, were hand-loaded d o w n through the deck hatch and stacked in the h o l d . G l e n n had to shut his eyes as his beautiful shiny new unscratched canoe disappeared d o w n the hole. It's a three hour trip d o w n the Inlet at 11 knots. T h e most noteworthy sights are the wall-to-wall salmon fishermen near Port A l b e r n i , and then less and less and less signs of civilization. If you haven't acquired a proper chart of the area by now, buy one on the boat. A road map won't do, and neither w i l l the sea-kayaking guide book maps. W i t h o u t a chart, getting lost would be easy.

T h e L a d y Rose As the Inlet widens into Barkley S o u n d , the Lady Rose threads its way among several islands before reaching the Park float at Gibralter Island. We were eagerly trying to spot the float when the captain called all Park visitors below. He needed help unloading boats and gear to the float, so it was a case of " y o u , y o u , y o u , a n d y o u t w o . " T h u s my first view of the float was through the unloading port just above waterline as we pulled up, and I must admit my heart skipped a couple of beats. " W e can't possibly all fit on that little t h i n g " was my first thought, but unload we d i d ! By the time all 23 or 24 people got off and all their gear was piled on the float and all 10 canoes and 2 kayaks were slid across the float into the water, it looked even more impossible! Before we had time to think about it, the Lady Rose took off a n d there we were. It took a lot of milling around and climbing over things, but people eventually found found their o w n gear, loaded their boats, and took off in all directions. O u r party, for some u n k n o w n reason, was last to leave the float, and by that time there was only one other canoe in sight. We really started to get that "alone in the wilderness" feeling. We had tried to pump others on the Lady Rose about the "best" campsite, but there was no consensus, so we picked Willis Island because it was only about three miles away, near the northwest park boundary, but was fairly centrally located for general sightseeing touring. As we left the float there were a few arguments about where we were and w h i c h island was which — they do tend to blend together — but we finally agreed and started enjoying the scenery and bright sunny weather. O u r boats were pretty heavily loaded and we weren't breaking any speed limits, mostly because in addition to camp gear and an ample supply of food, we were, hauling about 350 pounds of d r i n k i n g water. That's about 5 gallons per person for seven days, w h i c h proved to be about right. There aren't any gushing sparkling streams on these small islands, just a few small springs or seeps, so we were playing it safe and were glad we d i d . After the first couple of hours we were

July-August 1986/SHAVINGS/29

beginning to feel like we were really into it, and also feeling it was time for lunch, not to mention time for a " b u n break." So we picked a tiny cove on Walsh Island and set foot on our first solid ground in the Park. There is a very narrow channel between our Willis Island and the next one to the north, D o d d Island, w h i c h we finally found, and then it was a short sprint to the camping area. As we approached, we found two nice bays with coarse sandy beaches, and beyond to the west the channel opened into a large open body of water called L o u d o u n C h a n n e l . O u t there the afternoon breeze was working up a sizeable chop, but at the camp area all was calm and peaceful. We also found 5 other boats on the beach and soon realized the four good campsites were already occupied. So we settled for one of the remaining less desirable spots just above the drift logs under the solid wall of big trees. L o o k i n g back, I wonder how we managed to spread camp gear a hundred yards each way on the logs! We did notice some little critters running around so we hung our food bags from tree branches and had no problems. A n o t h e r nice thing we suddenly realized: there weren't any bugs! I squinted out the door of my tent about sunrise next morning, clear sky, miles of forested islands and high mountains in the distance, very calm water, but not m u c h of it. It looked like someone had pulled the plug during the night! O u r coarse sandy beach was a long way above the water and the channel between us and the next island had shrunk to hardly 300 yards wide. A l s o , after looking around a bit, I noticed the tide had come clear up to the drift logs during the night and even drowned our fire spit. T h a n k goodness we had pulled the boats up on top of the drift logs and tied them there, remembering one of the cardinal rules of the game. We had arrived about mid-tide and were seeing some extremes of the spring tides. Fortunately these don't create much tidal current, w h i c h is always a concern to paddlers, because there are no long, narrow channels to restrict water flow, the islands are right at the edge of the ocean.

It was easier to load the boats on the beach, but then they were too heavy to slide into the water without scratching up those beautiful stripÂŹ builts. Shores, but nice, neat little ones. O n e of the best was on Lovett Island about a mile SW from camp. A n d to make things even better, I was delighted to find that the water was warm enough for swimming â&#x20AC;&#x201D; cool and refreshing, but much warmer than Puget Sound. On the far side of H a n k i n Island about a mile west of camp out in the open water of L o u d o u n C h a n n e l , we discovered caves in the rocky shore d o w n at tide level. Some were too small to paddle into, but one was a good 50 yards deep. It starts as a tunnel, then the roof opens up and you're in a p o n d about 30 feet across with a rock beach, high steep walls, and daylight filtering d o w n through the trees at the top. A l l is quiet except for the gentle surge of ocean swells in and out of the narrow tunnel. It's pretty exciting, but I wouldn't go in just before high tide if your suffer from claustrophobia.

Just in case you are contemplating a similar trip to Barkley S o u n d , a few final details may help. M a k e reservations on the Lady Rose by writing A l b e r n i M a r i n e Transportation, P . O . Box 188, Port A l b e r n i , British C o l u m b i a , V 9 Y 7 M 7 or telephone (604) 723-8313. R o u n d trip cost was $25.00 per person, $15.00 for each T h e general plan was to explore around canoe, and $10.00 for each kayak, and you some of the other camp areas and move if can return any M o n d a y , Wednesday, or something looked better. So we d i d and Friday. Be sure to get a large scale chart of nothing looked better, so we stayed at Willis the area, C a n a d i a n B . C chart N o . 3638, w h i c h you can Xerox in sections to make Island the whole time. It would take too many pages to tell of all copies for each boat. our little trips, circling each local island, checking out camp areas on Turret, C l a r k e , Benson, and H a n d Islands, gathering Q u i c k a n d D a r i n g s p o n s o r s firewood, spotting bald eagles, fishing for A n d now a w o r d for our sponsors: the rock fish for supper, and just plain beach Lake U n i o n Challenge C u p , aka the Q u i c k combing. We usually packed a light lunch, and D a r i n g Boatbuilding Contest, is being bathing suits and sun screen, and headed a sponsored this year by five of our favorite different direction each day. T h e only peo- L a k e Union neighbors. Waterlines ple we saw were at the other camp areas, Magazine, Ivars Salmon House, A Small plus a few big sailboats and fishing boats an- Cafe, Balabuste Catering, and Burger K i n g chored or passing in the distance. N o t what are each providing materials and other supwe considered crowded like the kayaking port for the field of six builders. tour guides would have us believe. O u r thanks!

Water Warm Enough To Swim In M o s t of the island shorelines are very rocky and virtually impossible to land o n , so you tend to look for beaches as special treats. M a n y beaches are coarse sand, gravel, or shells, but there are several really nice white sand beaches. N o t O c e a n

Elections A l l members in good standing are eligible as nominees for the C W B ' s Board of Trustees. A l l those interested, please contact the N o m i n a t i n g Committee, C W B , 1010 V a l l e y Street, Seattle, W A 98109.

30/SHAVINGS/July-August

1986

BOATER'S BOOKSHELF Battling the ultimate redundancy by Fred Stark

f after a mere 50 weeks before someone else's mast you take vigorous c o m m a n d of your vacation, leaving mooring lines on the dock, the deck cleats still attached and stand forth out of Shilshole into the shipping lanes, only to realize that you haven't actually decided to turn n o r t h or south, help is on the way. I refer, of course, to Marge Mueller's The San Juan Islands: Afoot & Afloat, or Marge a n d T e d Mueller's South Puget Sound: Afoot & Afloat. B o t h these handy, wellcrafted books follow the same format, a development of a long line of recreation guides from the Mountaineer Books.

They begin with a general introduction and a Key M a p w h i c h divides the region into several smaller areas, such as island groups or major passages. These become the organizing sections of the book w h i c h then proceeds, area by area, describing each cove, facility, harbor, island or rock in detail. T h e descriptions are accompanied by "maps" w h i c h are d r a w n as aerial sketches giving the sense of the vertical rise of the hills in relation to the shoreline, trails, roads, and other features of interest. I found these maps to be particularly easy to use because the author has been selective of what was included and has presented it clearly. T h e text tells something of the history, the means of access, the available facilities and notes other interesting aspects, such as wildlife, peculiar geology, navigational hazards, environmental concerns. Interspersed with text and maps are numerous photographs, some related to the place described and some of general ambiance. A m o n g them are several excellent pictures of wildlife a n d a few really existential views of flat beaches, of fishing piers and ferry landings obeying the laws of perspective and an occasional generic shot of a marina w i t h its picturesque dockage designed by

committee. At the back of the book are a list of emergency phone numbers, a list of charts and maps of the region and an index, containing mostly place names. Neither of these books is intended as a cruising guide for the exclusive use of boaters. N o r are they tourist guides filled with commercials for restaurants and motels. They are guides to all sorts of public recreation in the area. They can be used like a road log on w h i c h one finds the sites and facilities available along a chosen route or they can be used as a catalogue or encyclopedia in which to look up sites of k n o w n names. A l t h o u g h some of these sites are accessible only by boat, others can be reached by several means. If you are among those who h o l d that this newfangled invention "the wheel" is here to stay, and there are many w h o w i l l put in with you, or if you indulge in the ultimate redundancy, putting your boat on wheels and then putting your wheel on yet a bigger boat, these books will help you find your way back to the water. T h e San Juan Islands book which was published in 1979 and revised in 1983, begins with a rather formidable introduction, w h i c h reads like the " d o n ' t " list posted at the entry to a public park, reminding us that the islands harbor many invaluable natural resources and deserve our respectful care for their preservation. In a state where waterfront is private property we are informed that here there are whole islands reserved for the exclusive use by other than h u m a n species. A tiny toehold for n o n mankind. A couple of examples will serve to show the k i n d of information in the individual place descriptions. B l i n d Island in the mouth of B l i n d Bay on the north side of Shaw Island is a State Park of two acres. Accessible only by boat it has a campsite, picnic table, pit toilet, four mooring buoys and no water. We are told that there are other anchorages in the bay and that offshore rocks and heavy boat traffic in Harney C h a n n e l may present dangers to small boats. T h e location of nearby launching

July-August facilities on Shaw and Orcas are cited. T h e author recommends overnight camping as a place to enjoy the "light show" of passing ferry boats. In contrast to this small island, 37 pages are devoted to Orcas Island with its many parks, towns and varied history. A n o t h e r interesting example is ever-popular Sucia Islands. Sucia, a couple miles n o r t h of Orcas, is mentioned by everyone I've met w h o has boating in the boundary waters. " W i t h nearly 9 miles of waterfront, six bays, and extensive boat and camping accommodations, Sucia Island State Park provides one of the best public marine recreational facilities in the S a n Juans." T h e n follows 3 pages of details on the facilities and the waters of the bays with appropriate cautions of submerged hazards and one page describing hiking trails. H a v i n g again mentioned cautions to navigators, I rem i n d you that though every such bit of local knowledge is welcome, you must inform yourself with charts, current and tide tables and the " p i l o t . " A l l maps in these books carry the "not for navigational use" disclaimer. Before turning south I w i l l pick one small nit so that y o u , my reader, may avoid international conflict while cruising in these boundary waters. There are references in this book to a certain thistle, Cirsium arvense, by an erroneous c o m m o n name that implies citizenship or political affiliation with the country to our north. Like the goose w h i c h graces the foreshore of the Center, this member of the Aster family is correctly called Canada thistle. Be forewarned; there are indignants of English

ancestry lying in wait to lecture you on this all important matter. N o w , if rather than a seafull of islands you'd favor a land laced with inlets, leave this archipelago and come to the S o u t h Puget S o u n d , the best we've saved for last. I prefer both the book and the cruising ground for the following reasons. T h e book, published in 1983, is still practically a secret. Being the more recent issue of a developing series of guidebooks, it is better written and better organized and made more accessible to the user by a better index. T h e S o u t h S o u n d area, as defined by the author, begins in West Seattle,, where it can be accessed by M e t r o bus and extends to no lesser place than Tumwater, home of a famous water-based, Northwest i n stitution. T h e South S o u n d is a more recent concern of recreation planners and enjoys newer facilities, some of w h i c h have not yet been exploited beyond capacity. T h i s year especially, the S o u n d is likely to be under utilized while the S a n Juans become everybody's stopover en route to and from E X P O . M o s t of the facilities described are accessible by land as well as water and though this implies heavier day-use of the beaches, boaters willing to navigate shoal waters, make use of tables and charts, risk a little gunk or possible holing can find plenty of solitude in the reaches and inlets of the the South S o u n d . At the end of this book there is a matrix tabulating activities and facilities against a list of 81 locations. I kept hoping for references to "ice." In my

1986/SHAVINGS/31

reading of the two books I found it only once. I shudder at the implication, but, hope that it's only myopia. Each of these fine guides makes an undeniable case for extended and repeated trips to its subject area, so if they are to help resolve the dilemma of n o r t h or south, choose one. G e t them both, or perhaps worse yet, get the one of your choice and being oblivious, suffer the urchins to gift the other to the mate and you'll more than likely return from your cruise like C a p t a i n Bligh, in command of the dinghy.

3 2 / S H A V I N G S / J u l y - A u g u s t 1986

It was a passage from boy to m a n . Raynaud was paid off with $25 and was on his o w n in rainy He is a bit stooped with Seattle. A pattern for the next 45 age, but he still has a years had been set. p o w e r f u l presence — b r o a d After a few days of luxury in shoulders, deep chest. A face Seattle's Kenneth H o t e l , Raynaud sculpted by w i n d , sun and salt moved into a packing crate on a spray. Close-cropped white hair. pier while he waited for a sailing Hands of a working man — vessel. It was his "box hotel" for 4 t h i c k e n e d f r o m r o p e - h a u l i n g or 5 weeks. E c o n o m y meals could sinews and callouses. be had at Nelson's on 4th and He sits before a casual gathering Pike: donuts and coffee, 5 ¢ beans in the boatshop. Scanning his au- and coffee, 15¢. N e l s o n was an exdience, there's a warm little smile, seaman and always added a little bright searching eyes. "Here we are extra on the plate of a beachin the lee of the longboat. Y o u b o u n d sailor. by D i c k Wagner

look like a good crew." He pauses and his foot unconsciously begins tapping the beat of reef points on a taut sail. That's how 90-year old C a p t a i n A d r i a n Raynaud began an evening of reminiscence at the Center For W o o d e n Boats.

Finally, Raynaud talked himself into a berth on the Bath (Maine)-built four-masted bark Edward Sewall. She left Seattle with 6,000 tons of wheat and a d r u n k e n crew, mainly dumped on board from the T a c o m a boarding house of M o x i e Levy (one month's pay per each warm body delivered). There was good weather, gales, a sleigh ride around the H o r n and a delicate weaving through the mine field off 1914 D u b l i n . Raynaud was paid off for a 135 day passage, a n d the exhausting work was forgotten at Dublin's "Whitehorse Inn, a sailor's paradise — piano, bagpipe, fiddles and girls to dance with."

San Francisco H a r b o r in the early 1900s was the most bustling port on the West Coast. T a l l ships, schooners and sloops swept in a n d out of the G o l d e n Gate. T h e piers were lined with sailing vessels loading and unloading. A large fleet was always at anchor, waiting its turn. Whitehalls glided among the anchored vessels, offering the services of the waterfront boarding houses to the sea-weary sailors, bringing gear from the chandlers. T h e years passed by. Voyages to Maritime reporters used them to a n d f r o m N o r f o l k , Montevideo, get a scoop for their newspapers. Buenos Aires, C a p e t o w n , N e w Swaggering, suntanned sailors Y o r k , Shanghai, Philadelphia, S a n Gray's Harbor, lounging on ships' decks and along F r a n c i s c o , the harbor line were appealing role Australia, Panama, Japan, H a w a i i , | models for the boys of San F r a n - C h i l e , P h i l i p p i n e s , C h i n a and more. At Port Blakely, loading lumber the best vessels ever designed for cisco. for C a p e t o w n : "It was a bustling sail were afloat, fighting for their A d r i a n Raynaud saw all this and crew of eight total.. m i l l , working 24 hours a day. lives, hauling coal, wheat, guano, he was hooked. H i s parents As the years passed, more and couldn't keep h i m away from the There were dozens of ships, i n - lumber. more of the sailing vessels were laid harbor. School was a bore. By age c l u d i n g 10-12 square riggers Raynaud found them and took up. If there was no sail left, 14 he had convinced them it was waiting to l o a d . " his watch on brigantine, ship, Raynaud reluctantly shipped in best if he got a job. T h e parental There was surgery at sea by bark, barkentine a n d schooner. steam (he is now a master of both.) fetters were loosened. Raynaud Mate Raynaud — mostly done He served as cabin boy, able T h e crew of the sailing vessels were became an apprentice at the sail- w i t h a s a i l o r ' s k n i f e a n d seaman, sailmaker, midshipman mostly patched and jury-rigged loft of Haverside, Windsor and Stockholm tar — following the instructor, mate and master in sail. also, unrealistic relics hanging on Davis. He found the loft "seventh guidelines of the ship's handbook, Seaman's pay was p o o r to unrealistic relics. But there was h e a v e n . " It was part of a dated 1861. ($25/month); the work was a spirit, a style to the sailors and chandlery. Captains came by and He ducked gunfire during a unrelenting. T h e food was, at best, the ships. E v e n when the vessel spun yarns. There was a rigging South A m e r i c a n revolution. minimal and consisted mainly of was moored after her last sail, with shop alongside the sail-loft crew. H e dealt w i t h on-the-take beans, peas, potatoes, salt pork, the shipbreakers as next stop, it By the time he was 16, no one customs officers, sleazy crimps, a salt horse, salt fish and ersatz coffee was deemed necessary to swab the captain ( " D o g - f a c e " ("You couldn't tell the difference deck and neatly stow the gear. could keep young Raynaud on g r u m p y between tea and coffee"). There was pride and respect for shore. H i s parents reluctantly slip- Johnson). vessel. Once, Captain ped his lines, and he shipped out T h e work often was on the the There were vessels with a "parish on the leaky t h r e e - m a s t e d r i g " (nothing extra). yards, taking in sail in sleet and Raynaud recalled, a ship caught fire in the Pacific and had to be schooner Bee to the South Seas. Raynaud served in the navy dur- rain, the ship pitching and yawing, No matter that they "pumped the ing W o r l d War I as sailmaker and ice-cold water r u n n i n g d o w n stiff, abandoned. In hurriedly getting the boat off the cabin roof, the galley Pacific Ocean through her." T h e chief bosun's mate on the barken- salt-raw hand to your armpits. chimney was knocked over, spillschooner made it to T a h i t i with a tine Bear. He taught seamanship to W h e n the weather was good, it cargo of h a y , gasoline a n d midshipmen on the barkentine was time to scrape, paint, tar and ing soot on the cabin sides and deck. T h e crew had to "soogee" off dynamite and returned to Seattle Fremont. holystone. the soot before they abandoned in ballast. T h i s period was the last flash of In any case, there was always ship and rowed 700 miles to C h i l e . glory of commercial sail. Some of work on the undermanned vessel. Pride and respect. A three-masted schooner had a D u r i n g W o r l d W a r II, Raynaud -

After a few days of luxury in Seattle, Raynaud moved into a packing crate on a pier...

became port captain of A m e r i c a n M a i l Lines, a distinguished and honorable, if not adventurous conclusion to a long career at sea. But there was yet one more commercial voyage. Raynaud's last comm a n d , in 1957, was the threemasted lumber schooner C . A . Thayer. T h e cargo was deeds and documents found in lumber mill vaults. H e r destination was the San Francisco M a r i t i m e M u s e u m . Fit-, tingly, C a p t a i n Raynaud completed his odyssey back to where it all began on another leaky threemasted schooner. C a p t a i n Raynaud had been yarning for over an hour. He nowpaused and dropped his eyes from the crowd. H i s foot began tapping again. Before leaving ship, he said, when all was stowed and scrubbed, the crew manned the pumps for the last time, and the chantey m a n sang the last tune. A n d then C a p tain Raynaud raised his head a n d , with a voice hoarse from shouting commands to the w i n d , sang "Leave her, Johnny, leave her."