Dave Lucas and Bill Whalen sent us an update to this story along with a video. The soundtrack is a song written for the scow by a band calling themselves "7 lbs of Bacon". Even if you're not impressed by sea chanties, you'll have to admit this big scow (36 feet) moves along nicely.
The CRBB have named their scow Spirit and that's what the song is about. Be sure to follow the link above for the back-story.
Happy sailing, SV Spirit! Thanks to Dave, Bill and the Crystal River Boat Builders for the photos and video.
And thanks to 7 lbs of Bacon. Too much fun!
Remember those boat builders in Florida who are building an American Civil War scow using period tools? They've turned the hull over and finished the planking.
The scale of this vessel is impressive. You can see, it's difficult to get the whole boat framed in a single shot. Not hard to imagine it full of precious cargo, trying to run a blockade.
Saturday last, we headed north to the confluence of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet. Port Townsend, Washington is on the northeastern corner of the Olympic Peninsula, in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. If it's wet all over the rest of the northwest Pacific rain forest, it will most likely not be raining in Port Townsend.
Last weekend was no exception. Alas, whistle though we may, it was in vain, there was no wind. Some of the rowing or paddle boats left on an excursion and the sailboats stayed close to shore.
The annual meeting of the Puget Sound TSCA occurred on peaceful shores. Good company, good food and a beautiful beach in any weather.
Thank you to our good friends in the PSTSCA!
And now to the slideshow:
This video gives some indication of wind(?) vs tidal current:
Thank you, Marty Loken and Mary McCall for all the great photos (and for covering my back while I was out having too much fun.) .
If you didn't make it to the Great Florida Gulf Coast Small Craft Festival last weekend, here is a taste of what you missed. Click here to start a photo slide show.
Isn't this skipjack a beauty? I have to know more about this boat and when I do, I'll let you know.
Looks like everyone had a great time in Florida! The pelicans are not impressed.
Nor the heron.
Photos courtesy of Simon Lewandowski via Dave Lucas. Thank you, Simon and Dave.
From April 15th through 17th you will find a lot of fun in Cortez, Florida. This time of year the weather is perfect in Florida for sailing small boats, or any boats for that matter. The water can be a bit skinny, so stay away from the mangroves!
This Festival is the venue for the Traditional Small Craft Association annual membership meeting. It's mostly an excuse to meet friends and play in and on the water, but they throw in the business meeting so you can write it off on your taxes. Just kidding. Since when do you get a tax break for joining the TSCA?
The TSCA is a non-profit organization so in fact, donations to the Association can be deducted. But that is not the intent of this message.
The real message is get out and have some fun on the water and what better place than Florida in spring?
Please enjoy this slide show from last year's Festival race. The best part is the "standing start" where skippers and crew can be seen actually standing in the water next to their boats. I said the water was shallow, didn't I? Must be warm, too.
Apparently a contestant within 100 feet of the finish bell (which a finisher had to ring themselves) could jump ship and run for the finish. Any boat attempting to interfere with this maneuver could be thwarted without penalty.
The warmest boat festival of the new season, both in temperature and spirit.
FGCSCF is affiliated with the Florida Maritime Museum at Cortez, Florida Institute of Saltwater Heritage (F.I.S.H.), and Manatee County, FL. Located on the sunny shores of Southwest Florida on Sarasota Bay just west of Bradenton where soft southern breezes will give your boat a gentle ride.
Photos by Ellen Thayer via Dave Lucas. Thank you, Ellen! . .
As you all know, I promote the Traditional Small Craft Association at the drop of a hat. This time it's the Crystal River Boat Builders Chapter. These folks are very seriously recreating the documented history of locally built boats of Crystal River in western Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico. Their signature boats are completely handmade, with no power tools.
Their current project, the USS WARTAPPO was used by the East Gulf Coast Blockading Squadron along the Crystal River shore during the US Civil War. Its history is documented in the correspondence of the squadron.
A sailing scow was captured by the ships of the Union squadron. The scow and it's "contraband" were taken as a prize of war.
Amazing what the articles of war entitle you to!
The scow, as it was originally built, was probably used to transport goods; cotton, lumber, turpentine, etc. from the local rivers down to waiting ships anchored at sea. The contraband was likely privately owned goods intended for sale, but trade was forbidden under blockade.
The CRBB are interpreting the building process of this historic scow and exploring the historical aspects of the craft from the eastern Florida region. To kick off the project, raise awareness and solicit funds, they are building a 1/6th scale model of the USS WARTAPPO before building a full scale replica. Everything on the model will be built exactly as it will be on the full size scow; the hull, the deck, the masts and rigging, the sails. The workshop will have period tools and many member-built items such as a workbench, shaving horse, joining bench, sail sewing bench, sawhorses and toolboxes.
They have nearly finished the scale model and I urge you to support this project and visit Crystal River TSCA. Crystal River Boat Builders are also on Facebook.
USS WARTAPPO: Length 36ft. Beam 12ft.
MODEL: Length 6ft. Beam 2ft.
Doryman is the national President of the TSCA and enthusiastically endorses this effort! .
The Puget Sound Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association hosts a messabout in October as a final farewell to the summer sailing season.
Port Townsend, on the Salish Sea and the east coast of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State is on the verge of an ancient rain forest. The east shore of the Pacific ocean is rugged and weather beaten, the bane of mariners since humans have sailed these seas. But Port Townsend has the happy circumstance to be in the lee of the Olympic Mountain range and thus in a rain shadow. Even in tempestuous weather the waters of Admiralty Inlet can be balmy. (But don't be deceived. The mixture of currents and unpredictable winds challenge the best sailors.)
October is a perfect month to experience this area. The sailing is often excellent as it was last Saturday when a few friends gathered to share sunny weather, light steady winds and a potluck lunch.
It's a long seven hour trip from the mid-Oregon coast where Doryman lives to the convergence of the Straight of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet but as the photo slide show will attest, it's worth it!
The old Fort Worden is the scene. My grandfather was stationed at this fort in WWI. His job was to log ships as they passed the fort to and from the Pacific. He often told of logging ships going one way then logging the same ship as it drifted back the other direction on the tide a couple hours later. Those were the days of the transition from sailing vessels to engine driven ships and this story illustrates the reason that the diesel engine was so important to the development of commerce in these waters.
I have lived to rue the day... the beach you see in these photos is often exposed to the ravages of surging waves from passing tanker ships and tugs with ocean-going barges. Long after the ship has passed from sight or sound, the waves will crash on a tranquil beach, seemingly without warning.
I had my Pete Culler Good Little Skiff pulled up on the beach when a set of waves began to build and crash at my feet. The sheer of the skiff is low to the water, which is one reason she is such a pretty little boat.
As I watched the waves build against the low riding transom of the beached boat it did not occur to me at first to be concerned. By the time the waves were breaching the transom it was too late. In a few short moments so much water had washed into the boat that it sat sunk at the water's edge.
Next time I'll anchor out!
There will be a next time, I assure you...
Thanks to my friends on the northern Puget Sound for a great day of sailing and camaraderie!
With a particular aversion to the Personal Pronoun, it's taken me a week to get around to this... On the 30th of June Doryman became the presiding president of the Traditional Small Craft Society.
No silly, the fine folks of the prestigious Society did not vote for Doryman. Little do they know!
As my regular readers already know I believe in passing on tradition especially when it comes to wood boats. I spend nearly every waking moment either restoring an old classic, building a replica, or advocating the virtues of those worthy avocations to someone. So it seems right that I become a chief advocate, though it's hard for me to understand why anyone would need encouragement to do something so fun and enriching.
More than half of my readers are from the far reaches of the world - a fact I am very proud of - and for them there might not be much the TSCA can offer except camaraderie. But for those of you who reside in the US, there are very few acceptable reasons for postponing membership in the TSCA. It's easy, cheap and in just a few minutes you can join a national group with your interests in mind. Many of the events you are familiar with are affiliated with the TSCA. You might be surprised to find that many of your friends and neighbors already participate.
What better way to share your interest in traditionally influenced vessels than to join the TSCA? Visit the newly vamped website today for events, membership and news from individual Chapters. You may even qualify for a John Gardner Grant, if you promote traditional small craft heritage. Membership also includes the quarterly Ash Breeze with articles of interest, submitted by people like you.
I would like to extend a personal invitation to all of you to participate in the TSCA on-line forum. Sign up soon and let me know what I can do to help promote an organization that meets the needs of everyone who loves wood boats. .
Doryman has promoted the TSCA many times in the past. Now it is time to see just how commited he is to perpetuating the building, restoration, and use of classic boats and small craft.
To help promote the rich maritime heritage passed on to us by countless generations, Doryman has been voted to the Council of the TSCA and subsequently to serve as President for the coming twelve months.
The TSCA is an international organization. Some have questioned the value of such an organization for the individual. The sense of history and tradition that surrounds our boats is certainly one of the attractions. The average member of the TSCA enjoys the thrill of passage-making under oars, a sedate cruise around the harbor, a voyage under sail, or a quiet paddle up a tidal estuary.
If the kind of boating found here at Doryman appeals to you, please find some like-minded souls and a chance to enjoy boating at it's finest. Join the TSCA!
Featuring the Canoe Yawls; Selta and Nord Vinden It's that time again. The Winter issue of the Ash Breeze has arrived. If you've been meaning to join the Traditional Small Craft Association, there is no time like now. If you've never heard of the TSCA, please check it out. If you are already a member, you know what it means when the lastest edition of the Ash Breeze is in the mailbox.
Member volunteers submit articles of interest to the quarterly newsletter along with photos. These are real stories written by people like you, indeed you may find yourself compelled to submit an article of your own about an event, or a boat, or a trip you took.
If you enjoy good stories about boats, sailing, rowing and much more (not to mention the many interesting advertisements for boat related services), then why not join the TSCA today and support the low impact boating community in your area and across the US? The Ash Breeze is worth the cost of membership alone.
Laingdon Schmitt and Tom Regan organized an end of the season gathering in Port Townsend, Washington last Saturday and Doryman drove 400 miles to attend.
It was worth it!
The clouds parted for one day and left us with glorious sailing weather. Everyone brought food and beautiful boats to historic Fort Worden at the confluence of the Straight of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet.
TSCA on-line registration is now available. For a mere twenty dollars a year you can support the Traditional Small Craft Society, a very informal group for owners and enthusiasts of traditional small boats.
The Traditional Small Craft Association, Inc., is a nonprofit, tax-exempt educational organization which works to preserve and continue the living traditions, skills, lore, and legends surrounding working and pleasure watercraft whose origins predate the marine gasoline engine. It encourages the design, construction, and use of these boats, and it embraces contemporary variants and adaptations of traditional designs.
Any and all are welcome! For the price of dues, you get the quarterly publication, The Ash Breeze, a member contribution journal with great stories, events and launchings. Other member benefits are often announced, including discounts.
Also some wonderful digital illustrations drawn for the Florida Maritime Museum at Cortez documenting samples of shallow draft boats historically used in the state, like the sharpie Egret and the West Palm Beach Sharpie Schooner. These illustrations are available as note cards and postcards by contacting the artist (Irwin Schuster) at Ahoy@YourBoatArt.com as a fund raiser for the museum.
Another highlight features pictures from the 2009 Petaluma River Row. Some great classic rowing craft!
Articles for the Ash Breeze are submitted by members and feature photos taken by enthusiasts like yourself. Just like getting a report from a friend. I'd recommend joining the TSCA today, if you haven't already, and get your own Ash Breeze with your morning coffee four times a year! .
