Of the Laser Borg

Many years ago; my one and only Laser - sail no. 549.

Photo: Ellie Martin

Read More..

Sailboat Racing Fails of 2015

An excellent compilation of some of the more memorable screw-ups of 2015, capturing a wide range of eff-ups. I especially like the ones where the skipper walks off boat, leaving the crew to fend for him/herself (49 seconds and 3.15 into the video), having done that myself several times on the International Canoe. (Alas, a singlehander, where I couldnt enjoy messing with the mind of a crew when he/she realized this bus is trucking down the road with no-one at the wheel - tiller.)

Read More..

End of 2015 Season Blooper Highlight Reels

Its getting chilly in the Northern Hemisphere. Time to sit at the computer (or tablet, or smart phone for those more technically advanced than the blogmeister) and watch several videos of dinghy sailing fails from 2015.

The International 14 will humble anyone, anytime, talent or no talent.


A Dazzling Display of Talent: Pt. 1 from mothra64 on Vimeo.

Training in a singlehander when we are that one step behind all day. Glug! Glug! All good in the end.


AnotherDayAtTheOffice from #1710 on Vimeo.

Ive seen lots of Opti videos but not one that shows them filling their ballast tanks (and then emptying them). Well this one does.



The baby 49er, the 29er, can be just as squirrely as its bigger brethren.


November Sailing from Samuel Bonin on Vimeo.

Other bloopers, fails, capsizes from Earwigoagin can be viewed here.

Read More..

Looking for Duck boats plan of attack

Hot Duck boats plan of attack

We have information useful for you yes this for Duck boats plan of attack this is a little from other blog Duck boats, duck blinds sneak boats, pit blinds, final, Duck boats, pit blinds, final attack.the final attack functions as a sneak boat and as a pit or field blind. by beavertail!. Beavertail duck boats - cabelas official website, The portability and flexibility you need to enjoy a successful waterfowl hunt. these rugged boats keep you concealed and protect you while you recline in a shooting. Beavertail.custom aluminum boats, duck boats, hunting, Beavertailcustom aluminum flat bottom boats, duck boats, hunting blinds, mud motors. live the legend of beavertail!. Dukw - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, The dukw (colloquially known as duck) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the 2-ton capacity cckw trucks used by the u.s. military in world war ii.. My boat plans 518 boat plans - youtube, Http://b3460opq7q3r7l1e70v51a03p4.hop - access boat boats bonus bonuses build builder builders building canoe collection complete construction easy. Waterfowl boats, motors, & boat blinds - duck hunting chat, A duck boat forum to discuss duck hunting boats, mud motors, and everything related..

Sunken Cities Discovered around the Globe

Sunken Cities Discovered around the Globe

Wooden Boat Building Plans

Small Pontoon Boats

Duck Boats

handbook Duck boats plan of attack

This topic might be if you choose learn Duck boats plan of attack This information extremely popular a great deal they will find this. in this time frame I actually promote articles through subject Duck boats plan of attack i hope this will help you in locating the knowledge you may need is still a long because the only review I just picked it up a little

this issue contemplating Duck boats plan of attack

Read More..

Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors

A great video of San Francisco disabled sailors and their organization, a story told through their own words.


Storytellers for Good: Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors (updated version) from josh maddox on Vimeo.


More posts about disabled sailing.

Read More..

Band of Brothers

I received a kind e-mail yesterday from a fellow Passagemaker builder. This has happened occasionally, and with increasing frequency. Whether nearly finished, just starting, or merely considering a Passagemaker building project, I enjoy hearing from all Passagemaker builder/owners out there, and trading information with them. I have begun to toy with the idea of setting up an internet forum devoted to Passagemaker dinghy owners. My model would be something like this forum devoted to owners of the Skerry, another of Chesapeake Light Crafts products. Being a curious scientific type, Id like to know a little more about the Passagemaker owners out there. So Ive designed a quick, 10-question survey to gain some insight on what I assume is a growing band of Passagemaker brothers. And sisters. Please take a brief moment to answer the survey. If there is enough interest, perhaps I can set up the forum in the near future. . Click here to take survey Once a useful number of responses are collected, Ill report back with some data.

Read More..

Zen of Daysailing A Dutch Valk and Jolle Segeln

Every once in a while I intersperse all my posts about planing boats, or racing, or boatbuilding with videos of people just enjoying a daysail and a day on the water. The wind is perfect, not too strong, not too light, the sun is out, the water temperatures are good for swimming. Sailing is best done with the feet up and a smile on the face.

The Dutch Valk klasse is similar size and original concept to the U.S.A.s Lightning class though with a squat traditional gunter rig. It appears the Dutch build them in fiberglass for recreational sailing - the PolyValken. (I think they reserve the wood ones for racing.) By the looks of this video, the Valk fits the recreational role superbly. (I like the cross thwart at the aft end of the cockpit allowing the skipper to recline and steer at the same time.)


Zeilen op de Kagerplassen from Muxio on Vimeo.

Jolle segeln is German for dinghy sailing. Here is a daysail in a true classic German dinghy, wood with traditional fittings. (Video settings doesnt allow me to embed.) Im not sure what the class is, maybe a reader can help out.

Read More..

Short Video of a Galway Hooker

Mesmerizing "rockin and rollin" downwind in some breeze off the coast of Ireland. I like how the skipper steers from a relaxed, sprawled position (which probably isnt relaxing given the pull on the rudder... just looks that way).



An Faoilean from Pat Tanner on Vimeo.

Read More..

Drone Video of the A Scows Racing

For some reason my favorite drone sailing videos are the ones filming the American scows - (there is more Over here ). This video features fleet racing in the big monster ILYA scow, the As.

Read More..

Dinghy Cruising Around the Eye of Quebec

This is a good video if you can block out the time - 40 minutes. A duo spend two weeks going around a natural circular body of water in central Quebec, formed by the impact of an asteroid.

From the blurb accompanying the video:

"The Eye of Quebec (Lac Manicouagan) is visible from space as a perfectly ring-shaped lake. Its center island is far larger than the water that surrounds it. 100km in diameter, it is the fourth largest meteor impact site on earth. We sailed around it and think that was the first ever circumnavigation of the reservoir under sail and oar. (We can find record of two other sailboats that have attempted the trip. While were not sure of their success, both appeared to carry auxiliary engines. If it wasnt the wind pulling us it was our backs.)

Three years ago, when John and I drove the Trans-Labrador highway, we camped one night on the shores of the great Manicouaga and it captured our imaginations. Finally, this year, aboard the expedition re-fitted Wayfarer 4610, we made the voyage. We were on the water for about twelve days after a two day drive north. It is an astronomically great lake.

We camped ashore every night, and packed nearly 100 Ibs of dried food for the journey. We wore drysuits most of the time, cause the weather was typically cold and wet!

Circumanic Higher Res from Scott McDougall on Vimeo.

More information on the "Eye of Quebec" from Wikipedia.

Read More..

One Hundred Years The Boys of the Genesee Dinghy Club

One hundred years ago, on this day, May 30, Decoration Day in the United States (the precursor to Memorial Day), the racers of the Genesee Dinghy Club started their 1915 season in new digs. They had moved east across the Genesee River to Summerville, a lakefront suburb of Rochester, New York. Their little club of dinghy lockers was now sandwiched between Popps Inn and the U.S LifeSaving Station, just off the beach.

It would be a good move. Launching from the beach was now mostly protected by the jetty that extended out from the Genesee River. If Lake Ontario turned too gnarly, racing could be pulled under the jetty as well. The club would grow their fleet of Genesee Dinghies over the next five years to about twenty with ten to fourteen making it to the starting line on any one day.

The Genesee Dinghy was twelve feet long, about five feet wide, a cat boat, with a low aspect gunter rig of around 90 square feet. It originally started off as a copy of Torontos 1898 Morse dinghy but, as a development class, it quickly morphed into a different craft. The Genesee Dinghy was raced singlehanded, a true novelty in the early 1900s, and they raced on open water, another novelty, but also considered extremely foolhardy for the dinghy racer of the early 1900s.

By 1915 Canada was already enmeshed in the Great War and America was two years away from joining the fight. At least two of the Genesee Dinghy Club members were to fight on the Western front.

From the Emerson collection, here is a photo montage of some sailors from the Genesee Dinghy Club - Americas first die-hard dinghy racers.

Read More..

State of the Dinghy

My fellow boat enthusiasts: tonight I can report that the state of the dinghy is good. With Kathys help, the boat was flipped back over. The stitches holding the bulkheads in place were removed. Then the bulkheads were removed. Eventually. Despite my best efforts and care to wipe up drips of epoxy that worked their way through the lapstrake joints, one drip managed to wick its way through right at the location of the forward bulkhead. This one required a bit of "persuasion" to remove even after the stitches were snipped. This left a small chip that snapped out of the top layer of the plywood of one of the strakes. It can be epoxied back in place, and will be hidden in the forward buoyancy air chamber, so not too much damage was done, I think. The rest of my time was spent test fitting and planning out my next step. The glassing of the interior must be done in one continuous job that includes laying a fillet along the bottom joint, then laying the layer of glass as before. This is a long enough job for me to keep until the weekend when I have enough time to not rush it. For the rest of this week, there are little jobs of assembling various parts. For instance, I will epoxy the daggerboard trunk together, handles on the daggerboard, mainsail boom, etc. Over on the CLC Builders Forum, it was suggested that I glass the interior of the daggerboard trunk. This will be a wood surface in contact with water whenever the boat is in the water, yet once assembled it will be inaccessible. I think its an excellent idea to make it as durable as possible, so I will go ahead and glass the trunk interior. All the parts are laid out and waiting for assembly tomorrow. Total hours 41.75.

Read More..

2015 Fall Season A List of Free for alls

Over the years this blog has featured some of the oddball regattas/sailing races where you take your oddball small sailboat and compete against a bunch of other oddball small sailboats. During the fall season there is enough of these events you could, if so inclined, hop-scotch up and down the East Coast of the United States.

They are (in roughly chronological order):

Sebago Cup - mid-September at the Sebago Canoe Club, Brooklyn N.Y.

A one race jaunt around Jamaica Bay. Im sure they would be delighted to see some out-of-town visitors and been told, even though this is Brooklyn, there is plenty of parking around the club. See comments for more info from SCC members.

---

SEBAGO CUP ----- September 19, 2015
Our annual cruising race!
This is an open class cruising race open to non-members. Fleets will be created upon the participation of at least two boats of the same class. Contact sailing@sebagocanoeclub.org for more information.
Skippers meeting - 11:30 am
Starting gun - 12:30 pm
Notice of Race
Sailing Instructions 

---

NSHOF Classic Wooden Sailboat Rendezvous- mid-September, Annapolis Maryland.

A one-or-two lap race around the Annapolis Harbor. The majority of entrants are classic cruising keelboats but there is always a smattering of small boats. This year John Z is entering his Classic Moth.

---

CLASSIC WOODEN SAILBOAT RACE, Sunday ---- September 27, 2015
NOR

---

MASCF (Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival) - First weekend in October, St. Michaels Maryland.

This is more of an event than sailing race but there is, on Saturday, a one-lap sailing race in the river starting around noon that is quite a hoot. I have done it twice in my Classic Moth Tweezer where I was racing in a division featuring a motley assortment of larger craft including Thistles, Core Sound 17s, Blue Jays, Celebritys, log canoes.

---

MASCF ---- October, 2, 3, 4, 2015

Registration

---

Tweezer trying to stay ahead of a log canoe - MASCF sailing race

Pollys Folly - mid-October, Megunticook Lake, Camden, Maine.

Hosted by John and Polly Hanson. This is a small affair, hosted out of their lake-front cabin around the time of Maines fall foilage.

Archipelago Rally - early-November - Somewhere in the state of Rhode Island.

In a twist on normal advanced scheduling, the organizers wait until about two weeks before the event before announcing the location. A one lap race, usually going around something.

Read More..

Boatbuilding A Piece of Furniture

"A piece of furniture" we would often say as we eyeballed those McCutcheon or Souter built Classic International 14 dinghies, cold-molded in mahogany, glowing with multi-coats of varnish, all joints carefully crafted, beautiful wood everywhere. I was reminded of superior dinghy craftsmanship when I came across this stunning photo of  the interior of the most recent addition to the historical Australian 18 foot skiff fleet, the reproduction Myra Too.

Myra Too was built in 2013 by Bob McLeod to reconstructed lines (by Australian National Maritime Museum curator, David Payne) of the 1951 championship winner. Myra Too was originally built and raced by Aussie legend, Billy Barnett. To build the reproduction hull, Bob McLeod used silver ash and, in the inner and outer layers of the hull, Queensland red cedar (the outer layers used rare, full-length pieces estimated to be between 400 to 600 years old).

Here is the original post on Myra Toos construction from the Australian National Maritime Museum blog.

From YouTube comes what, at first view, looks to be a typical mast-head GoPro video -- this of the historical 18 footer Yendys going around the course, However, with the historical 18 footers nothing is typical. Of interest to me was the spinnaker set starting at about 1:50 into the video. It takes four crew members to get the mammoth spinnaker pole out onto the mast, three of them heave-ho pushing and a fourth slotting the multi-piece pole together as it goes out. Once out, this long, long spinnaker pole then wags all over the place as they go downwind. These pre WWII 18s were heavy dinghies with lots of crew and this video shows that they pushed a lot of water around as they bashed around the race-course.

The history of Yendys from the Australian National Maritime Museum blog.

"A rival of Britannia, Yendys was built in 1925 by Charlie Hayes for Norm Blackman. This big hull is also built in the traditional heavy scantlings, but it illustrates an early piece of innovation, its transom bow. Hayes had another legend working for him at the time, Charlie Peel, who had been successful with transom bows on 14-foot skiffs in Victoria. As well, the 1920s was the time when the Restricted 21s showed how fast a lighter-keel boat could go, and Hayes and Peel were in the thick of this class too. Out comes Yendys, with its sawn-off profile and veed bow shapes, a sort of restricted-class yacht crossed with a skiff and with the bow overhang squared off. Despite the odd mix it went pretty well too, but although another two snub-nosers were built in that time, the idea did not catch on. It did show there was room to move in the rules, though, and the Queenslanders took on both innovation and the establishment at the same time."

And a post featuring a photo of a pretty deck on a 505.

Read More..

One Project of the Super Rich

This is one project of the super-rich where the beauty just radiates outward into one colossal superlative and, even if you are to the left of the political spectrum, all you can say is, "Well done, well done!"



LES VOILES DE SAINT-TROPEZ 2015 - DAY 3 : Cest bon ! from GMR+G1 on Vimeo.


My post on the resurgence of the J-class can be found here.

---

An aside

Is it me, but doesnt one of the professional sailors look a lot like Otto (Kevin Kline) from a "Fish called Wanda"

Read More..

Three Photos of Moths Non Foiling

I have lots of sailing photos squirreled away on my computer. Sometimes I get confused as I did when I attached a photo of what I thought was a Fragniere Moth to a previous post. Mike Scott pointed out that it was not a French Fragniere, but himself, sailing a British Moth on the other side of the English channel - a photo he sent to me and then was misfiled. Rather than delete the photo completely, Ill just move it to this post and include two others.

Mike Scott around 1959 in a British Moth at Medway S.C. (I should have realized that this Moth has a centerboard while the Fragniere had a daggerboard.)

Here is a vintage photo of a Czechoslovakian (now Czech Republic) dinghy dock filled with Moths, a Finn, an O-Jolle and the Pirat Dinghy (Pirate in German). The two-man hiking Pirat was extremely popular in Europe in the 1960s and still sports big fleets today in Germany (as well as the singlehanded O-Jolle). It looks like the Race Officer is the one in the cap with all his starting gear on a portable desk, readying for a shore start.

Were in an extended cold snap in the Mid-Atlantic with significant portions of the creeks and tributaries off the Chesapeake Bay frozen. When all this thaws I wonder if we will have some ice floes big enough to support a person, as with this hardy Norwegian women sailor taking a break outside her Europe Dinghy!

Read More..

Drone Video of Supernova Nationals

This video covers this summers Supernova National Championship and is one of the better sailing dinghy drone videos now flooding the Internet. Though the video is a little bit long for my taste (and the music sometime jarring to my old ears), it is a high quality production by Limitless Image Aerial Photography. The Supernova is an English hiking singlehander, one of a plethora of singlehanded dinghies thriving in the English market. It is considered a big guy singlehander sporting a full battened rig on a stayed mast.

The Supernova Facebook page can be found here.

Of a tactical note: Despite the huge onus the new rules put on coming in on port tack at the weather mark, it seems a lot of sailors still do it.

Read More..

Zen and the art of sanding

Today it finally happened: I was able to achieve sort of a zen-like trance while I was sanding. While pressing on with the tedious job, I was able to zone out and think of more pleasant things to pass the time. As a result, work seemed to go a lot faster today. And most importantly, enough parts are now prepared that I am going to start drilling and stitching tomorrow. It will be interesting to see the hull take shape. All this prep work should have its benefits. The instruction book says after the final 220-grit sanding, the parts "should need little or no further finishing" after assembly. And that would be just fine with me! Total hours 19.50.

Read More..

Vintage Photo of a Sneakbox and Catboat

I pulled this vintage photo off the Internet.

The photo is obviously staged but does show a sailing day trip to the New Jersey bays. The growth of the railroads out to the New Jersey shore allowed the Philadelphia and New York crowd to enjoy day trips where local watermen would gladly take them out on "party" catboats, or if you were adventurous, you could rent out the smaller sneakbox for a sail. Date for the photo...my guess is the 1890s. No idea of the actual location.

Read More..

A Piece of Furniture The Woodie Europe Dinghies

The designer of the Europe Dinghy, Belgian Alois Roland, originally built them in wood. When Rolands company went bankrupt, his assistant, Giuseppe Christalli continued building beautiful wood Europe dinghies. When the Europe Dinghy class went Olympic the wood boats were no longer competitive and the class became plastic and has remained one where the new boats are entirely made out of glass.

History of the Europe Dinghy from Classic Classes by Vanessa Bird.

My Dutch friend, René de la Rie, sent along photos of his stunning wooden Europe which is not a Roland or Christalli but a Tebberman. Tebberman was known primarily for his rudders and centerboards, and only built a few Europe Dinghies, but what lookers his Europe Dinghies were! Beautiful deep mahoganies were matched with contrasting lighter inlays to create masterpieces.

George A of Mid-Atlantic Musings also owns a woodie Europe, whilst not as stunning as a Tebberman this hull is very pretty. The lineage of Georges wooden Europe is also open to question. On his blog George A tries to identify the builder of his "woodie" Europe dinghy. George unveiled his woodie with a new Bosquet foredeck at this years Brigantine regatta.

Read More..