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Thursday, June 9, 2016

Every picture in this blog

Posted by friont at 8:23 AM

Stoke

Since we are in the depths of winter, some of you may be building your own Goat Island Skiff and dreaming big dreams of open water and fair winds. Of salt on your lips, sun in your eyes, trailing a wake of phosphorescence through the seas of summer. Fear not intrepid reader and intrepid builder-- our rock hurtles forward to the coming warm season. Your sawdust on the floor will tomorrow be the dust of yesterday and you too will be sailing!

In the meantime, I have just realized I have quite a library of pictures that document the building of the Goat Island Skiff and my own subsequent adventures. If you would like to peruse my photobank please see my Goat Island Skiff Amateur Style Gallery hosted on Picasa.

I hope it helps you, intrepid reader, to stave off the dark and the cold, and offers guidance for those first time boatbuilders.

Onwards!

Happy New Year to all

Posted by friont at 2:59 PM

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As I write, sitting in my bunk watching the sun set over the estuary, its 8 15 pm on New Years Eve. Traditionally a time of good wishes to all, a time for making resolutions about what will or will not be happening next year, a time for family and friends and a time for reflection.

To be sure its only another marker on an artificial calendar, but it’s a useful marker, one that is close to the longest day of the year where I live and the shortest where a lot of my friends live. It’s a time when we get holiday breaks, some of which have theist backgrounds, some that are pagan but its still the end of year break.

Its also a time when advice tends to be handed out, much of which causes me to look at the advisor and think, you should take your own advice buddy and if you did you’d be better off than you are, but occasionally there is a gem.

Heres one that I heard yesterday.

“When making New Years Resolutions, don’t make ones you know damn well you wont keep, don’t make ones that you know are beyond your ability, but try making one, and ones enough, that is well within your capacity to achieve, and work on it until its done. You’ll get a lot of satisfaction from that, whereas to vow and fail just reinforces a defeatist position.”

That’s good advice, a bit wordy though. I’d put it thus--- “Get yourself a mouthful of lifes good things, but don’t bite off more than you can chew”.

All the very best to everyone for 2016.

John Welsford.

Second sailing solo this time

Posted by friont at 7:21 AM

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No pictures today folks. I was too busy swimming or trying to stay dry. What follows below I also posted at the Woodwork forum for Storer boat designs. It sums up my second sail rather well. A very interesting conversation is ensuing for those that are interested in handling the Goat Island Skiff.

**********

I have extensive racing experience in Blue Jays, Lasers, 420s, FJs, and recreational experience in Beverly dinghies and Beetle Cats. All marconi rigs except for the gaff Beetle Cat. I am an athletic 30yr old and weigh 150lbs.

The first time I went sailing in my GIS it was in a force 2- light breeze with my wife. The boat handled superbly.

I went sailing today for the second time in my boat, and I was by myself, and it was force 3- gentle breeze with some higher gusts. I got spanked by my GIS in ways I didnt even see coming, and Im surprised and a little humbled. I went sailing planning on a picnic as I cruised up and down the lake tweaking the rig. Instead, I went swimming.

So, as I headed out things were looking good. Its 65F (18C) and overcast, with a good breeze and slightly chopped water. I was un-reefed full sail, sitting on the rail and humming along, with a little bit of heal. A gust came up that I saw coming and I let out the sail a bit. This did not stop the boat from going over. I completely let go of the main and dumped it, but she still went over. Water poured over the gunwale, and that was it, I was in the drink and my flip-flops were floating away. That was fast. I swam around and clambered up on the daggerboard, no problems there, she came right up but obviously swamped. Balancing the boat was precarious. The nose was down, and I feared a breach in the forward compartment. I bailed her out with my 5 gallon bucket, and checked the forward compartment, it was dry.

I decided to reef. My sails are the stock Duckworks sails, with no reef points except the grommets along the luff and leach, its the full-batten idea.

In my personal opinion, the full batten idea is not conducive to reefing underway, especially with a sail this large. I was skeptical when I ordered it but decided to go with it anyways since it came with Miks recommendation and he looks so comfortable on his beautiful Beth. I found that that when situated in the bow of the boat the GIS is highly unstable due to its narrow beam in this area, and this was in only lightly chopped water. I tied off the "new" tack of the sail and then tied off the clew and re-hoisted the sail.

The full-batten sail with two reefing points cannot exert enough pressure along the boom to keep the sail folded up. Despite repeated attempts at re-tensioning the clew and tack and "new" outhauls I was not able to get enough tension along the "new" foot of the sail to keep it under the batten. As the chop increased, it became a more precarious situation to sit up in the bow fiddling with the tack. I attempted to keep the boat pointing in the wind, but with the large windage in the bow, it kept falling off the wind. A mizzen in this case would have helped immensely. Kudos to Clint and John.

Sailing a half-way reefed sail with a large pregnant foot billowing out I sailed close to shore and dropped anchor.

Dropping the rig I sat up in the bow to re-tension the new tack and clew, and found myself back in the water, as I capsized again, quite unexpectedly. As said before, the boat is unstable with no one else on board and the sole occupant up on the forward seat. This happened really quick.

I bailed the boat back out and made the tension along the reefed foot as tight as possible. As I headed back out to sail some more, the boat really moved along with the first reef. Exhilarating! However, the sail pulled back out of the batten, and I got the "pregnant" foot again. This is not conducive to pointing into the wind. At one point, I could not even tack, the boat kept falling off. I was almost forced onto some rocks, so I jibed around to remedy the situation. This was immensely frustrating, as you can imagine. Was it due to the rather flat head on the Duckworks sail?

Needless to say, I found that the GIS exhibits the following attributes:

*Difficult to de-power the sail in gusts. (is this an attribute of the balanced lug? I have zero experience with this)

*Unsteady when sole occupant is in the bow.

*The full-batten two-grommet reefing idea is either frustratingly difficult to accomplish successfully or only viable when launching reefed-- reefing underway with this fashion system is precarious at best.

*Boat has difficulty tacking through the wind when reefed.

Obviously I would like these remedied. My multi-day Maine coast trip is at risk unless I can figure these out. Im happy I didnt finish in March, or it would have been a very cold day indeed. My sail is going to get extra reef grommets immediately prior to any more sailing.

These are my first impressions of the GIS, but I would like to hear yours, or from anyone who can shed some light on this issue. The lug rig, as I understand, is a "reef early, reef often" rig, and I can attest to that. I would also like to know why I wasnt able to depower the sail to stop the capsize.

One thing I would like to emphasize: This boat has 105 square feet of sail area. Most boats this size have anywhere between 65-80 square feet. This boat is overpowered, there is no doubt. This makes it awesome in light airs, and its a necessity to reef when it gets heavy, especially when alone. Just something to keep in mind.

Laser:        76 square feet of sail (crew of 1)
Beverly:       66 square feet of sail (crew of 1)
Walkabout: 80 square feet of sail
Mayfly16 91 square feet of sail
Beetle Cat: 100 square feet of sail (and 450lbs hull weight!)
FJ:               100 square feet of sail (crew of 2)
420:            140 square feet of sail (crew of 2)

Oh, she looks really pretty at anchor as viewed from the shore, and I continue to get "thumbs up

" when driving on the highway.

Small Reach Regatta 2012!

Posted by friont at 8:40 PM

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When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone once more,

they set sail for the main encampment of Achaea.

The Archer sent them a bracing following wind,

they stepped the mast, spread the white sails wide,

the wind hit full and the canvas bellied out

and a dark blue wave, foaming up at the bow,

sang out loud and strong as the ship made way,

skimming the whitecaps, cutting toward her goal. (Illiad I:569-576, Fagles)

Intrepid readers, welcome. This is the Small Reach Regatta 2012

It has been a year since the last Small Reach, and again we met this year at Lamoine State Park in Maine for several days of sailing, rowing, camaraderie, and all out awesome.

Day 1

This Small Reach was a momentous meet-up for Goat Island Skiffs with a total of three (3) boats sailing together simultaneously. This is the first time this has happened, ever! I am proud that I Am Zinea, Pterodactylus was part of this historic moment. It was a damn cool feeling to be sailing with other boats of the same pedigree.

Moments before launch on Day 1 THREE GOATS
From left to right: Bleat, IAZP, Kathleen Marie

Happiness is Goat on water (Courtesy of Capn Jon)

The first day of the SRR was a sail out to Thomas Island, as shown below and marked by an "A". Since this was launching day we spent some time milling around Lamoine (northeast of Thomas, marked in green) until most boats were launched. Then we set off Armada style for Thomas. I ended up leisurely cruising behind Capn Jon in his Pheonix III Two Hearted-- official IAZ,P Partner in Adventure.

This was Capn Jons first SRR and he decided to approach the east beach on Thomas by wrapping around the backside of the island. I thought this was a fine idea since I had never been back there and there appeared to be obstacle strewn shallow waters on the south end. Just as expected we had to beat upwind to the beach in shallow seaweed and rock festooned waters! Several other hapless skippers followed us. Im pretty sure they all had a good time, right? It was a great technical sail complete with the usual rowboat spectators waiting for us on the beach.

Me and my Goat. (Courtesy of Capn Jon)

I got there early and was able to take some pictures of others arriving.

Paul driving Kathleen Marie to Thomas

Kathleen Marie and a Penobscot 14

Bleats first sail! WOOT WOOT

Sea Pearl 21 Velella Velella

Loon, a Devlin Egret
This guy isnt afraid to run her right up onto whatever rocks are in the way. Bulletproof.

First boats are pulling up with most of the fleet downwind of the island. Note Bleat

Andrews Ian Oughtred J2

Bleat

Clint Chase gets to put his cool logo on his sail

Kathleen Marie nestled in for lunch

Brand new Core Sound 17 after first sail EVAR

After lunch the wind had picked up considerably and it was time to sail back to Lamoine. At this point I picked up a crewmember (moveable ballast!) and so I decided to forego reefing and see how fast we could get IAZ,P. We made it back to Lamoine and had no one to greet us as everyone was still behind us. So we turned around and beat back to the fleet. Landing on the shore at Lamoine turned exciting since it was a lee shore at that point.

Clint coming in under mizzen alone and Capn Jon in Two Hearted

Scooting along

Clint posing, Ellie shipshaping, and Capn Jon struggling. Its more fun to watch from a distance.

I ended up going back out again with another crewmember. This time we were reefed to the second point. This was a great idea, and the boat performed awesome. Sailing is fun, the wind was up, I couldnt justify not sailing again.

Me storming back to the beach under 2 reefs. Full speed ahead. (Courtesy Capn Jon)

Hand carry parking area. Lots of coolness.

YAY friends!

It was windy enough that Jasmine, a Caledonia Yawl (of which we will see much more of later) ended up blowing out its mast step. At the SRR this is not a problem, because we can wander over to Allens mobile woodshop and fabricate a new one.

Making that new mast step. It doesnt have to be nice, just functional.

Hand carry at dusk

Day 2

On Friday it was off to gorgeous Stave Island, far on the eastern side of Frenchmans Bay. I was able to scoot out relatively quickly in some light air. It was beautiful sailing, though interrupted by some calm. I had some moments of absolute golden sailing in flat glass scooting right along. All in all, a little bit of everything. I was the first sailboat to reach Stave, with the rowboats waiting for me (again... those rowboats).

Three Goats and the Pheonix III

One Goat. Two Goat. Three Goat.

Caledonia Yawl Jasmine on the way to Stave Island with Cadillac Mountain

Beautiful sailing...

...The fleet behind me...

...A nice sail shape...

...BAM! Into a WALL OF CALM. Out came the oars. Row, row, row your boat, fool.

Breeze back up and some nice Maine islands.

The fleet starts to show up. Note Far and Away, a completely unique Nomans Land boat to port of IAZ,P

Nap in the grass

Capn Jon decides to finally show up along with a Bolger Sweet Pea, Better Than Chocolate.
This Pea never gave up and always made it.

On the way out of Stave Island, wind is coming back up and Clint and I start to get into it.

Video from Steve B of Clint and I battling it out

Clint and I fighting to windward. This is happiness.

A very cool Washington County Peapod with a Block Island (RI) rig.
Out of Chapelles American Small Sailing Craft
Nicknamed "stiletto"-- good looking but a pain to use

After a spirited sail out of Stave Island, we ran smack right back into the WALL OF CALM and sat floating in the middle of Frenchman Bay. What to do but rehydrate and while away the hours? And then....

Jasmine gives IAZ,P a tow. This is a GISAmateur first!

Three little ducks all in a row. Look at that sky!

Sam and his CLC Northeaster Dory power-sailing like a champ.

Day 3 and the EPICNESS OF THREE (3) GOATS

The itinerary on the third day was Lamoine to Bean Island, but we did a circumnavigation of Dram Island first off of Sorento since the wind was so so sweet and we were making such great time.

Bean Island lunchtime:

Goats getting cozy

Intrepid reader, I am not going to write much here. I just want you to enjoy what it is like when three Goats get together to terrorize the neighborhood for a bit. All of the below pictures of three Goats are courtesy of Capn Jon. Thank you Capn Jon for turning around and taking notice of this momentous event!

I present to you Goat Island Skiff history:

Clint and myself working west.

Catching up to Paul who slowed up a bit so we could sail together

Terrorizing the Maine coast with smelly Goats! Fast as stink!

Braying loud-mouthed Goats!

Pillaging Goats!

Full on Goat fury!

Capn Jon wisely stayed behind and out of the way of angry Goats!

Well that was fun. I dont think I was able to wipe the smile off my face that day.

Into Lamoine the wind slacked off and I doubled back to do some sailing with Two Hearted.

Shortly after this the wind died off and Capn Jon and I decided to go for a swim. Then Capn Jon got the brilliant idea to pull the boats by ourselves, so we self towed. Jasmine came swinging by like the predator she is and figured she might be able to get salvage rights and gave us yet another tow. Skipper Chris has no fear, and this is why I like him. He sail towed us right into the mooring field. Go Chris, Go!

Swimming. Notice Capn Jon in distance also swimming. We are heroes to the people.

On board and ready to rock! Chris rocked us back and Mary fed us.

Then, it was time to pull the boats. Sadness.

Herreshoff Carpenter

again

Tom Jackons Nomans Land boat, Far and Away

Interior detail of Far and Away

Kathleen Marie at rest with Acadia National Park

Before we knew it, Small Reach Regatta 2012 was over. A giant lobster dinner followed (and I do mean giant-- clams, mussels, sausages, corn, lobsters and more lobsters, etc) along with appropriate after-SRR campfires, story telling, and reminiscing.

And then I woke up the next day.

Boat Plans Download

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Every picture in this blog

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Happy New Year to all

Friday, May 27, 2016

Second sailing solo this time

Monday, May 16, 2016

Small Reach Regatta 2012!

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