If you are having trouble getting your head into your “happy place” try this video from Dylan Winter. The music is good and the boats and scenery will hit you right where a sailor lives. Of course you can find more of his journey around Britain in a 19 foot sailboat at http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/.
From the Merriam-Webster free online dictionary comes this succinct gem of the English language:
There are not enough hours in the day for all the activities we love. Some of us deal with this by focusing on the particular passions that dwell in our souls and dominate our real estate. Active people can amass a sort of mountain of sports equipment that takes over the garage and many a car (like mine) never sees the inside of an indoor space.
Boats are especially good at taking over garages, second only to woodworking equipment. My garages have always been domintaed by boats and tools. I figure that’s why two-car garages were invented. One side for woodworking, one side for boats. If I were wealthy there would be another bay for an airplane. Why not dream big?
Some space can be saved by combining objects. Don’t be afraid to hang the canoes and kayaks from the ceiling over your sailboat. Install wall racks for oars, paddles, boat hooks or more kayaks. Think outside the garage also. I put a Graber outback bike rack on my car and instantly made more room for boat stuff.
Every now and then the boat stuff can start to expand beyond the limits of the actual garage walls. beware if your otherwise healthy obsession infiltrates areas of open navigation in your driveway. Spousal objections may ensue. At the very least install one those new auto backup camera devices. They are quite reasonably priced now a days and may keep you from backing into those saw horses holding the newly varnished mast and boom you spent so much time and trouble on.
Currently only the canoe in the backyard has escaped the boundaries of my garage. However, there is a building project in the offing. Sixteen feet of boat is likely to displace a mound of stuff currently in “storage”, a.k.a. valuable potential boat space. High level negotiations have been going on for months and there is a glimmer of hope that I can set up a video camera and humiliate myself on You Tube with my mistakes. Stay tuned, film at eleven… or whenever I get the garage cleaned out.
The roadways of America are a virtual boat show. There are interesting watercraft in driveways and backyards everywhere you go. You see so many in the coastal areas that they blend into the scenery like mossy oak camouflage. I keep my eyes open for especially interesting examples as I travel. You can see one of my local favorites in the accompanying video. It is a 24 foot long steel lifeboat hull built in 1945 by the Imperial Lifeboat & Davit Co. of Athens, NY. How it came to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state is a largely untold part of the story.
What I do know is that a retired Coast Guardsman named Ralph Gentry acquired it about a decade ago and altered it according to his own vision. Mr. Gentry had built other boats for himself in the past. His woodworking skills were up to the task and it shows in the details of the added structure. The conversion is complete in most of it’s exterior elements. The interior remains unfinished as it was at the time of the owners death in March of this year. He expected to get the boat in the water this Summer.
I first noticed the boat when I moved to the area about eight years ago. It was easy to notice. The boat sits near the road inside the fence that encloses a well cared for yard and house. At the time the mast, which is on a tabernacle, was stepped. The raised sheer aft and the curved scuttle on the foredeck caught my eye. Deadeyes on the stays gave the boat a salty look like only deadeyes and lanyards can. I didn’t know anything about her history and could not fit her into any particular designers mold. She was a pleasant mystery by the side of the road.
A first glance gave the impression that she was ready to cast off and go to sea. She had a look of being actively cared for. Those would have been the years when Ralph was in better health and moving his vision along. That was how she looked for a long time. One day last year I drove past on the way to a garage sale. The mast was down and the blue tarp covered the boat’s deck. Something had changed in the situation.
Several months ago I met some nice folks at the Port Angeles Boat Haven who are involved in a boat restoration. We got to talking about boats and the need to have one. They mentioned a boat for sale that I should check out. They had posted an ad on Craig’s list as a favor to Mrs. Gentry. I was provided with some good basic information and also learned the reason the boat was for sale.
Although this vessel interests me I don’t see myself as it’s new owner. However, I am a nosy cuss and had to go check it out up close. I stood by the fence with my camera examining the hull from six feet away. What I could see under the tarp looked promising. Things were a bit jumbled but everything looked well built and properly proportioned. The cabin was a small structure built in raised panel style with chamfered corner posts. On the foredeck is a curved scuttle type hatch. The mast had her standing rigging attached and lashed down for stowage.
As I strained to see more detail I was greeted by a large black dog who peered through the fence with an earnest desire to take this intruder and lick him to death. I was soon greeted by Mrs. Gentry who introduced me to Yogi who spent the remainder of my visit chewing on large chunks of wood. She also told me about her husband’s wish to have put the boat in the water this summer. He still harbored the notion while in the hospital. As she talked her fond memories seemed mixed with the practical realities of selling an unconventional type of boat in today’s depressed yacht market.
I was given permission to enter the yard and see the vessel up close. Beside the boat is a large trailer that Ralph had intended to modify for hauling the boat to the water. A handy ladder gave me access to deck level were I was able to crawl under the tarp. The spars were serving as a ridgepole and I could see that whereas the mast and gaff were in good shape what appeared to be a boom looked like an unfinished project. the wood was devoid of any finish and was checking badly.
I crawled aft to the cockpit which was rather small and found the open main hatch. Inside the cabin was quite cozy. There was a vintage Sabb Lifeboat engine behind the companionway ladder. I had been told that it was in the Gentry’s former boat and ran strongly. The rest of the cabin appeared to be the future galley. Unlike the exterior of the craft which looked largely ready to go to sea the interior had a decidedly in progress look. Immediately forward of the cabin was a space with very low headroom. The area was taken up with bunks port and starboard. There was also a solid bulkhead with no access farther forward.
Back on deck I went forward to peer into the forecastle. It looked to be nothing but an empty space waiting for a plan to form. It was easy to see where Ralph’s efforts slowed down. Mrs. Gentry said that her husband came out to work on the boat almost everyday. I imagine him on chilly days snugged down in the cabin sipping hot coffee. Maybe on some days not much would be done towards getting the vessel ready but day dreams of future voyages would come one by one. Perhaps that was all the progress he needed.
Something had been nagging at me. There was something missing from the boat. As I was about to leave I asked Mrs. Gentry if the boat had a name. There was none painted on the hull. She said that Ralph had never got around to giving it a name. She had suggested he name it Miss Twinkie, after a small female cat who had devotedly stayed at Ralph’s side as he worked on the conversion. Apparently it did not fit his vision.
The boat still had a for sale sing on it last time I drove by. The price is a very firm $2500.00. Mrs. Gentry had indicated that there were several interested parties. Maybe interest is hard to sustain in this economy. The ad on Craig’s list has expired but if a reader is interested in buying this very interesting project they can email me and I will be sure to pass the message along to Mrs. Gentry.
Boats by the side of the road are often beacons of hope. Testaments to someone’s imagination. Sometimes they languish on dry land, far away from their natural medium. It always strikes me as sad. Boats are made to be active. They last longer that way. And throughout an active life they bring joy to their owners and beautify or waterways. A well found vessel is a stroke of artistic genius on the canvas of the sea.
The 2010 Wooden Boat Festival did Port Townsend proud. It had more caulked seams per square foot than any harbor within the watery boundaries of the United States of America. A visitor could hear the boatyard cognoscenti gibbering in their nautical patois. It was music to my ears. I spent all of Saturday roaming around with a video camera and a notebook. I hope to share the results with you in the coming week.
Sunday was devoted to a different kind of boat show experience. My four year old grandson, Asher, accompanied me for a guy’s day out. It was his first of hopefully many boat shows. It is my Grandfatherly duty to see the boy raised as a sailor. I am pleased to report that he took to the boating scene like an old hand. His first delight of the day was in fact the Jefferson Transit shuttle bus ticket. He certainly enjoyed the ride, thinking every red light and stop sign meant we had arrived at the festival.
We started right in on a tour of the docks and then proceeded to the Maritime Center where all the little pirates were being dressed up for the much advertised treasure hunt. Once you put yourself in way of this sort of activity it becomes apparent that pirates have hijacked a sizable portion of the nautical ambiance at the wooden Boat Festival. I suspect Kaci Cronkhite must have a bit of the pirate persuasion in her psyche to allow these sorts of goings on.
We were shepherded by various buccaneers-at-large toward the Cupola House for the promised hunt for treasure. There we met up with one Captain Blackheart who was about to raise the Jolly Roger on the flag pole. Asher presented himself for inspection as can be seen in the following video.
This hunt was no quick dash around the tropics race to an X marking the spot. It involved a scenario that involved the delivery of the treasure map by a band of surly brigands rowing a longboat into the harbor with black powder guns a-blazing. This spectacle was followed by a meandering course about the festival grounds which took us to the beach much to the delight of Asher who likes nothing better than spending time filling his shoes with sand.
As the children gamboled along the beach with Captain Blackheart’s merry crew. Another longboat approached. This one displayed an evil intent backed up with black powder. The Captain and crew returned fire while children hurled rocks. One of the longboats crew fell in a mortal swoon and the brigands decided to leave such an inhospitable coast at once. The hunt resumed and soon the treasure was found and retrieved from beneath the sand. The chest was opened and loot was distributed to all the young pirates who eagerly lined up to take their share.
All in all it was quite a spectacle and a challenge to film as part of a moving crowd of kids and their parents wielding cameras like cutlasses. I was happy to take a rest at the Children’s stage where we viewed a totally silly but completely enjoyable play featuring even more pirates. The pirate portion of the day was ended so we patrolled the docks a bit more and examined the Chesapeake Light Craft Booth among others.
The day was topped off by another fine bus ride, much to Asher’s approval. Having secured him in the child seat in my car, the small pirate was asleep by the time we left the city limits. This years Wooden Boat festival offered many enjoyable moments especially the treasure that was to be found through a grandson’s eyes.
I just got back from the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend. My first impression is that i am a little overloaded. The sheer variety of vessels is amazing. It was a splendid oportuninty to see some of the designs I have only seen in pictures. There was a Pacific Pelican which is a stretched version of the San Francisco Pelican. What a difference two feet make. This is a very roomy boat.
There were many large boats such as the schooners Martha, Adventuress and Spike Africa. They made an attractive spectacle racing across the bay. A crowd of sails enhances any landscape.
The demonstrations were very good. I sat in on one about traditional sailmaking techniques and another about timber joinery in ancient ships. I met lots of interesting people and generally had a day to build the spirit.
We are just days away from the Wooden Boat Show in Port Townsend, Washington. I am anticipating a day or two steeped in salty ambiance. The weather forecast is looking like a cloudy but not particularly wet weekend. Hotels are going to be full. there may still be camping spots available. Reserving a spot on the Washington State Ferries would be a real good idea if your route requires it.
There are a lot of activities. I always get conflicted because some things overlap a bit. see the activity guide on the Wooden Boat Foundation website. About 500 boats are expected to show up. That’s almost enough to keep me entertained. I am sure to run out of videotape. If you have not attended this show before you are in for a treat. if you have then you are going to get a repeat of a treat.
The Tall Ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain have been in Port Angeles all week and are scheduled to head for Port Townsend where Lady Washington will be hauled out for a routine inspection. It could be real interesting to get a peek at her lines.
It should be a grand time. See you there. I’ll be the one with a big grin. You will be too.
Back on August the 11th I wrote about Dylan Winter’s rambles around the British coast. If you are interested in Knowing more about him check out Small Craft Advisor magazine, Sept./Oct. issue. They have a very good interview with Dylan. We exchanged some email messages after I published my blog post about him. He is a friendly chap and very accessible. Do get the code for access to the videos on his website, Keep Turning Left. While you are at it I can recommend Small Craft Advisor very highly. Get a subscription today.
The sea can be a boring place to hang out on long passages. Sailors have filled the off-watch hours with their own particular amusements for centuries. Now a days they have television or the Internet. not so long ago amusement was provided by the resources on board ship. The materials on hand in a sailing vessel are basic but can yield some fine results in skilled hands. The sailor’s arts center around rope, canvas, and wood. Bits of string and a little paint blended with imagination can create a nautical novelty fit for the mantel.
I have always been fascinated by the traditional sailor’s arts and have tried my hands at several. I have made up monkey’s fists, and sewn my own ditty bag. I tried scrimshaw. The results pleased me but it was a bit too labor intensive and having a whales tooth about the place can land you in a lot of hot water now a days. Model making is tons of fun and half models and ships in the bottle take less time and yield results that people seem to appreciate.
All over America it’s county fair season. Rural communities entertain the citizenry with carnival rides, rodeos, and appallingly unhealthy food that everyone loves. The county fair is also the seat of judgment over local agricultural products and home-based crafts. I married into a family that has a tradition of striving after blue ribbons. Baked goods are frequent contributions in the fiercely competitive cooking categories. Ribbons for photography are sought after with a sort of creative vigor.
Last year I entered a half model of a catboat. A half model is a representative view of the shape of a vessel’s hull. The beauty of form and symmetry are brought out by a careful craftsman. Wood is a soulful medium that makes wonderful boats. Models of all kinds aid the mind’s melding of form and function.
This year I decided to put forth a ship in the bottle. Actually a schooner in a bottle. The prototype is the great lakes schooner Challenge from one of Howard I. Chappelle’s books. To enjoy this particular craft requires the heart of an illusionist. Children are especially fascinated to see such a large object inside a bottle with a standard size neck. Those who lack imagination or have been jaded by television are certain that the large end was cut and invisibly rejoined. No sir! Everything goes in by the same route the rum came out. Tis’ da law of da sea, Arrgh! Years ago when I attended craft shows with my woodcarvings I could gather a very interested crowd with a demonstration of the installation technique. My audience would be held, if not spellbound then, alertly interested as I folded up a small ship complete with paper sails, hinged masts and slid it through the neck of a bottle to rest on the waves of a previously sculpted and painted sea. The next big moment was when The mast and rigging were raised by drawing on the carefully arranged threads that make up the fore and aft lines of the rig.
A completed illusion is a very satisfying thing not unlike filing your taxes or varnishing brightwork. I was pleased to win another ribbon but there were no other ships either in a bottle or out. I was in the miniatures category which usually features incredibly detailed scale dollhouse furniture. Probably I was cursed as an interloper by somebody who sweated over place settings at a mouse sized table. Next year I’ll go back to woodcarving. I’ve got a sea turtle in teak roughed out and a nice piece of burl to mount it on. Now all I need is some time which is the greatest illusion of all.
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