Volta Mallorca

A brief interruption in our story to catch up on some important news.....

While your friend Doryman has been out of touch with the technical world, great events are happening. No, you will not be hearing about some pointless election or an even more pointless war - we have more poignant things to think about.


You remember our good friend and environmental campaigner Giacomo de Stefano? He, of the voyage by sail and oar from London to Istanbul? Well, after a winter of skiing (no, he was not on vacation, Giacomo is no tourist) he has teamed up with none other than our friend David Oliver, the  owner of the New Catalina, a llaüt, in Mallorca. The llaüt is a beautiful traditional sailing vessel once used in the fishing industry, now all but extinct, due to to the proliferation of industrial fishing and a popular boating culture focused more on how much money can be spent than on true interaction with nature.

Well, you all know my prejudices about the abuse of nature. And, if you don't already know, Giacomo and David share my views. They are currently on a voyage circumnavigating the beautiful, but exploited, island of Mallorca. As you might imagine, their vessel is David's gorgeous, motor-less llaüt.

No need for me to go to length, explaining this project any further. Please visit Giacomo and David on their voyage around Mallorca and their effort to promote more with less.

This is no anachronism, or gimmick. The intention is to demonstrate a future in concert with nature, using the best technology humans have ever conceived.

Many thanks to project photographer, Dragan Miletic for bringing this effort to my attention. The following photos are courtesy of Dragan and the Volta Mallorca project. The photo at the top of this post is courtesy of David Oliver.

Be Water My Friends!

Ness Yawl, Otter

By now it must be apparent that Doryman loves a double-ended sea boat. Then, it comes as no surprise that at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival last month, a particular boat stood out. Now, to claim you have a favorite boat at such an event is very hard to say. Impossible, in fact.

So, let's just say that Dan and Mette's Ness Yawl Otter was one of the finalists on Doryman's list. Iain Oughtred designed this fine sea boat on the lines of the Shetland Yoals. In days of yore, these boats were imported to the Shetland Islands from Norway, and then assembled by local builders. They were of lapstrake construction dating to the Vikings.

In the years since the development of the Ness Yawl, many similar boats have been built to it's capable sea qualities, including several new designs by Iain himself.

The popularity of the open double-ender was apparent at the PT Festival, with several examples tied along the same dock, all rigged for open water sail-and-oar gunkholing.

Otter was moored at the end of the dock, amid a jumble of small boats and the activity of a cul-de-sac, but Doryman has a discerning eye for a well crafted boat.

Dan confessed he was not a professional boat builder though he's a fine woodworker, there is no doubt.
His new Ness Yawl is beautiful.

Congratulations Dan and Mette! A fine vessel. May she provide you with many pleasant hours on the water.

The proud builder. He looks mighty pleased, and well he should.

Doesn't get better than this.

If you would like to see what a Ness Yawl can do, please visit the Man on the River, for Giacomo de Stefano's fabulous trip across Europe in Clodia.

For a very good example of how a Viking might build a boat like this, visit Adrian Morgan.

Giacomo is in Istanbul!

Our good friend and fellow voyager, Giacomo de Stefano has arrived in Istanbul. After three years of planning, setbacks from sickness, waiting and effort, the journey is complete.

I doubt the man can believe it himself. I'm sure when he conceived this trip, he had no idea how much an epic it would become. 5400 kilometers across Europe by sail and oar, building community all along the way.

We applaud the Man on the River. Congratulations Giacomo, you have made us all stronger.

You can read all about this fabulous journey on Man on the River - London to Istanbul .

Man on the River, Voyaging with the Ness Yawl Clodia

Speaking of travelers, Giacomo De Stefano has resumed his journey from North Sea to Black Sea.
As winter set in on the Danube last year, Giacomo was obliged to put his Ness Yawl, Clodia up in storage in Budapest, Hungary.
Giacomo is committed to life as a nomad, drawing together people of like mind to create a new paradigm - life more in harmony with our water planet. This is not just an eco-vacation. Giacomo delves deep into the culture of the river communities he visits.

I doubt that Giacomo realized how much of his life would be consumed by this venture. Three years ago he attempted to launch from London only to be stymied by pneumonia, the silent thief.

Last year he fared better, rowing and sailing along the canals of Europe, making his way uphill through lock after lock on the Rhine. Along the way, he has met and introduced us to many people and multiple cultures. You could spend a lifetime making a journey such as this!







But the goal is Istanbul and Giacomo, with renewed energy, is on the downhill leg. We'll follow him as he makes his way downriver on the Danube over the next few months because we are part of the community that is the Man on the River.



Fair winds, Giacomo!

This voyage can also be followed on Facebook.

Brancaleon

Our friend Giacomo De Stefano, most recently known as the Man on the River is preparing to continue his journey to the Black Sea, on the Danube River, after a seasonal hiatus. It's a good thing he took a break, I hear the weather was most severe on the Danube this winter.
He has plans for a new project already in the works, of which we will hear more, anon.








In the meantime, he is selling his home on the water, the fine old ketch, Brancaleon. This classic Alan Buchanan design, built in 1965, has been lovingly maintained and has a royal pedigree. She currently lies in the Mediterranean on a secure transferable mooring in Mallorca. Does it get better than that?!









She has recently undergone a thorough professional haul-out. Someone (it might be you...) is going to get a beautiful classic for a very reasonable price.








Interested parties should contact Giacomo:

Giacomo De Stefano
gi.des@me.com
www.manontheriver.com
























Some specifications and particulars:

Length overall: 43'
Length waterline: 38'
Beam: 12'
Draught: 6'

Iroko below the WL
Honduras Mahogany above the WL
Slavonian Oak frames
Teak deck 1" 2 (32 mm)

Motor: BMC Commodore 3400 cc, 56HP, Hydraulic gearbox Borg Velvet, 1964 (original engine and perfectly running) Approx. 2000 hours. Cruise speed 6 kt at 900 rpm.

Lying Mallorca, Puerto Pollenca, Spain, available with free buoy in a very protected and wonderful bay, surrounded by mountains and all facilities for yacht care (a very rare thing in the Med, with a local mariner who lives aboard 50 yards away and who can take care of her).

More photos can be found here.

A video of Brancaleon underway, made by Mario Di Filippo on a passage from Kos, Greece to Siracuse in Sicily.
Skipper; the esteemed Stefano Cordova, AKA Stefano Leon Rodrigues.

The Pirate's Apprentice from Mario Di Filippo on Vimeo.

North Sea to Black Sea

Giacomo de Stefano began his journey of conscience in London and so far, the trip has been all uphill.
The most recent section, before entering the Danube and the down current leg, was the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal.

The Rhine-Main-Danube Canal joins the Danube at Kelheim. The canal is 171 km long, 55m wide and 4m deep. It has 16 locks and upon completion, in 1992, created a constantly navigable connection from the North Sea to the Black Sea.



This is where we find Giacomo today. 1500 kilometers and three months in a Ness Yawl. Up stream against the current and through hundreds of locks.

Whew!

Now to the Black Sea on the mighty Danube. It's all downhill from now on, Giacomo!

Standard Quay on Faversham Creek

It appears that the shipwrights of Standard Quay will soon be out of work. Many people in Faversham think the old trades are worth saving but progress (if it can be called that) has an opposing view.
From this distance it appears that the recent development on the waterfront in Faversham considers the old Quay an eyesore. The developers see an opportunity to replace the dry docks and workshops with boutiques and restaurants.





I am not an opponent of change, nor do I revere tradition for it's own sake. But to abolish and destroy a way of life in the name of commerce is criminal. We have witnessed this transition the world over. The new bulldozes the old. If humans had always thought this way we would have no history, no culture. And if this sort of thinking continues our history and our culture will be soon buried in the dust.



I've said it before - surely the developers could have made an effort to find a way to rejuvenate the old Quay, keep it's history intact and still line their pockets!

There is still time to voice your opinion but time is running out for Standard Quay.

The Quay (work in progress) from Richard Fleury on Vimeo.

The end is approaching rapidly for many of those who have built their working lives around Standard Quay. Meanwhile Swale Borough Council is seeking public opinions on its latest consultant’s report which recommends:
1. Allowing developers to turn quay buildings currently occupied by maritime industries to be turned into shops, restaurants and potentially housing.
2. Downgrading flood designation to make Creekside land more attractive to developers.
3. Ruling out the use of a Compulsory Purchase Order to put quayside land into community or trust ownership.
4. Writing off any chance of reopening the creek sluice gates and making the Creek Basin accessible for large vessels.

If you disagree with these proposals, please write to Swale Borough Council and express your views BEFORE THE 24 JUNE DEADLINE (Coincidentally, this is also the day many of the quay’s maritime businesses leave the site).

Photos courtesy of Giacomo de Stefano
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Man on the River

My compatriot and citizen of the world, Giacomo de Stefano has announced that he will resume the journey he was forced to abandon last year due to ill health.

For those who don't yet know Giacomo, he is the person who rowed and sailed the Po river in Italy as a demonstration of how travel and commerce could be accomplished with minimal impact. Along the way he discovered that cultural exchange was part of the process. He met and shared his passion for protecting the river from the ravages of industry with so many like-minded people that the journey became a cultural event.

I met Giacomo here on DoryMan. His boat for the Po river trip was a Ness Yawl, designed by Iain Oughtred and I was fascinated by the versatility of that seaworthy vessel inspired by the ancient designs from Norway. Giacomo's use of such a design is not far removed from the original. The simple, beautiful and ultimately utilitarian lapstrake double-enders were the sole transportation from one community to another for centuries and Giacomo was determined to show that they could be useful once more, not just an attractive anachronism.



So, I joined the effort to promote Giacomo's new adventure - the ambitious navigation of Europe by rivers and canals that he initially called North Sea to Black Sea. As the project grew, he found sponsors and volunteers to build another Ness Yawl (his first one was borrowed from his friend Roland). Many people in Italy became enamored of the project and as it grew, it became Man on the River, a journey from London to Istanbul by fair means.














But as Giacomo and his friend Jacopo left London and headed down the Thames he began to feel weak and listless. As fate would have it, pneumonia gripped Giacomo in a life struggle and the journey was canceled.





Back in Venice, Giacomo has spent the last year recovering from his illness, but his dream never died. His Ness Yawl, Clodia, moored patiently in Ramsgate, waits for his return.


Once again, like a phoenix, the Man on the River cultural project is underway. I am concerned that Giacomo is not yet well enough to tackle a six month journey of such proportion but he is the judge of that. I do know that he needs our support. The Man on the River is not about just one man, but about the future for all of us. Can we find the courage to live in harmony with our environment and with each other?


















That is the simple, yet intricate message of this endeavor. To build a global community around a paradigm of a world much more loving and supportive than the one we live in today.

You may say this is utopian, but I say it's possible if we want it bad enough.

I invite you to join us as we travel with the Man on the River.
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Rowing in Venice

Our friend Giacomo de Stefano sent me a video link today of a mid-winter row in Venice and on the Lagoon, to Sant'Erasmo Island and back.




The boat we're watching is a Mascareta. The Mascareta, in addition to the Sàndolo was once a common means of family transportation. This boat is lightweight, easy to maneuver, and above all, inexpensive. It weighs as little as 120 kilos and is approximately 6.5 meters in length. It is one of the simplest of the traditional Venetian boats, and thus popular among modern amateur boat builders.






Note the rowing style. The oar never leaves the water and the feathering is very subtle. Stefano's wrists hardly seem to move. The oarlock is called a forcola and has a long history going back to the 1300's. The craftsman's guild (called remèri) who made forcole then are still making oars and forcola today. I highly recommend following the link above to learn more about these lovely, functional works of art.










Thank you once again, Giacomo. You inspire us.

Bach’s Suite for Cello

From the North Sea to the Black Sea, across Europe in a human powered boat. For the last year Giacomo de Stefano has been planning this trip to highlight his concern for the degradation of water. It's not the first time he has made such a statement.

He has told me several times that the message is so important that it will have a life of it's own and a community of concerned citizens will grow from the effort.

And so it seems.

Two nights ago, an event was held at the art house, Antiruggine in Castelfranco, Veneto, where a four hundred year old cello played by Mario Brunello created some incredible music from inside the Ness Yawl, Clodia.



Is it art, or politics? Yes, and yes. Has it caused you to ponder the destiny of this water planet? Certainly hope so...

If all goes well, the Ness Yawl Clodia is scheduled to leave London on the fifteenth of April on it's six month journey to Istanbul.

Will you be on-board?







The Clodia and Giacomo de Stefano will participate in the International Boat Show of Venice from the 18th to the 21st of March.

For more information visit Man on the River.