It's a full days journey to reach Fort Worden, at the confluence of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet, from the mid-Oregon coast. It may seem a long haul for a one day event, but I try to make it every year because the sailing, camaraderie and potluck are superlative.
This year was no exception. There were quite a few new faces and new boats on the beach, as you will see from the photos. Unfortunately I didn't make the rounds as well as I'd like, to get everyone's story, because the Navy was on maneuvers with an aircraft carrier and it's accompanying flotilla. You might wonder how ships two or three miles away could impact a bunch of boats on the beach, so I'll tell you...
One minute it's a calm sunny day on the beach at Fort Worden. Then two miles away, in Admiralty Inlet, an aircraft carrier goes by. It's so far away, you hardly notice until it's wake hits the beach fifteen minutes later. Look closely in the distance of this photo and you'll see the culprit, seemingly drifting by harmlessly.
I grab the painter as the surf takes control of the beached Good Little Skiff, Paku and watch helplessly as the swell increases for an indeterminable time. At last, she is pooped and sinks on the sand with a hundred gallons of water and sand holding her to the bottom.
A sinking feeling.
The breezes were light and provided some comfortable sailing. The best way to avoid being pooped and sunk on the beach is to cast off for deep water and set sail! Every sailor knows the dangers of a lee shore and the relief of finding clear, open water.
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!
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.
Back on Sucia Island the Concordia Sloop Feather caught my eye. There is no mistaking a Culler boat. Capt’ Pete could inspire people to take up sailing, just to be in one of his lovely creations. One day I hope to sail (or row) Feather. I have high expectations and don’t expect to be disappointed.
Glenn is skipper of this little sloop and obviously loves his boat, so I’ll ask him to tell us about it.
“Feather is a Concordia Sloop Boat, designed in 1964 by R.D. "Pete" Culler, for the Concordia Company of Dartmouth, Massachusetts. John Graham in Sausalito, California built ours in 1983. We purchased it from him in Sequim, Washington in June of 1994.”
“She is 17' 8" long, 5' wide, and draws 18" with the centerboard up and 3' with it down. She is rigged as a gaff knockabout sloop with 172 square feet of sail, 127 in the main and 45 feet in the jib. There is no standing rigging and the jib is set flying. She displaces 1240 pounds with rig and anchor and carries as many as six adults. She has two sets of reef cringles in the mainsail, allowing her to sail to weather in 35 knots of wind with both reefs in and the jib set”
“Most of the work we’ve done on the boat is more in the nature of maintenance and repair, keeping up brightwork and spars. There have been a few modifications and some repairs of the inevitable sailing damage.”
“In the summer of 1999, when our daughter was five weeks old we took her across San Francisco Bay and back in Feather. Even an infant’s life jacket was too big."
“Last year I used her for winter crabbing season from late October to the end of December. On December 20 I pulled my pots out for the year under sail, the air temperature was 20 degrees. I was glad the wind was light -- it was a wonderful last sail of the year.”
That’s what that boat was build for, Glenn!
Thank you for taking us with you….
Photos of Feather under sail by John Kohnen, taken at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Show.
Glenn has a great story of struggling to attend the 2007 Sucia Island Rendezvous in Feather:
Northbound
Crossing the Straits of Juan de Fuca
"The beginning was a fiasco."
"Feather had been out of the water for a couple of years after a mooring parted and she went on the beach in the winter of 2004, tearing off her skeg. I recovered all the bits at low tide, including the keel band, rudder and attendant hardware. I spent the month before Sucia Island Rendezvous 2007 with a good deal of help from my brother Alan, building a new skeg and performing various other repairs. Alan also built a rowing seat to mount on the aft end of the centerboard case."
"Our plan was to launch Wednesday afternoon, load up and let the boat soak overnight (I'd been soaking the bilge with a hose for 3 days), then leave on the dawn ebb Thursday morning. Wednesday evening found me frantically varnishing spars and oars and leathering the oars."
"We launched at dawn Thursday. By the time we loaded and cleared the dock at Fort Flagler at the north end of Marrowstone Island, it was almost the end of the ebb... We tried anyway and sailed across to Keystone on Whidbey Island. It was obvious we had totally blown the tide. If it weren’t for the back eddy in Admiralty Bay we'd have wound up in Seattle!"
"We worked the back eddy as far West as Admiralty Head, where it peters out against the Whidbey shore and spent the rest of the flood tacking on and off the head until it eased enough to reach off to the State Park moorings at Ft. Worden in Port Townsend. Feather was making more water than was comfortable, but hourly pumping kept up with it. Never hazardous, but a worry for the whole cruise."
"We spent the night at Alan's and left, rowing on the dawn ebb Friday. We hit the tide perfectly, but cut too close to Pt. Wilson, actually passing inside the buoy. It was a miserable time trying to row in the rips, so rough that I was afraid we'd lose the boat. Thank Pete Culler for a seaworthy design! The water would just come to the deck edge, and that beautiful bow would rise over the sea. It was all I could do to keep one end to the seas (I swear they were 6 feet high and 3 feet apart!), either bow or stern first, like a MacKenzie River drift boat. Between rips we tried for all the northing we could. Somewhere around the "SA" buoy we got enough wind to set sail, which steadied us out a lot, and relieved us of rowing."
"We learned to check our charts for topography liable to cause rips or overfalls. Bad ones are usually labeled as such on the chart. It's obvious that ebb coming around Pt. Wilson will be forced up by the rapid shoaling there and raise a huge rip. We should have headed well east from Ft. Worden and not gone north until we had enough offing to keep the ebb from setting us through the shoals."
"We went east of Smith Island, which was a mistake. The tide turns in Admiralty Inlet an hour before it does in Rosario Strait. So when the wind died, we had the remains of the ebb setting us south again. We were afraid if we got too far south, we wouldn't make the flood up Rosario. So we rowed for three hours and actually lost ground from being just at the north end of Smith Island, to a little south of Smith before the tide turned."
"Around the south end of Flounder Bay we got a little breeze and were able to sail north through the bay, into the marina. We arranged to spend the night with some of Alan's friends in Anacortes."
"Saturday morning, the tide didn't flood until afternoon. We were underway on the first of the flood, sailing for less than an hour until the wind dropped and it was back to rowing! Up Rosario Straight a little wind off the east corner of Orcas Island allowed us to lay one long tack with the tide holding us to the wind. Then, back to rowing off Barnes and Clark. Near dark, we found a counter current against us on the south side of Matia Island, which wasn't shown on the current print out Alan had downloaded. With diligent pulling, we made it into Fossil Bay just after dark, and a day late, to the music of Jamie's bagpipes."
Homeward
"Southbound down President's Channel to Jones Island, the wind was light."
"Everyone else was being sporting, using sails only, and edging towards Waldron Island to get a little more wind. We edged closer to Orcas Island to get a better current; whenever the boom swung inboard we'd top it up and row. We were first to Jones Island, beating in on the last mile against a brisk southerly."
"We parted from the flotilla the following morning at Spencer Spit with a light southeast wind and drizzle, rowing most of the day, with no problems with tides or rips this time. Going through the channel to the west of James Island we had enough wind to sail as the following current pushed us south. By now the drizzle had soaked us thoroughly. Whoever had the helm was hypothermic. Rowing kept the other one warm."
"Lousy visibility with drizzle -mist and fog off Smith Island, with no steering compass. We used my hockey puck hand-bearing compass, sighting on our bow and periodically wiping off the rain while we rowed. Southbound, past Smith the current change worked in our favor, so passing east of Smith again worked best. Hugging the Whidbey Island shore would have worked too. South of the "SA" buoy we got enough wind to sail, but with a headwind from the southeast. We made one long tack from there to Point Wilson, the flood being strong enough to lay the Point. We encountered some light rips, but not so bad on the flood and we stayed outside the buoy. Feather lost the wind again off Fort Worden and we had to row up Port Townsend Bay."
"Just before we got to Point Hudson the long forecasted westerly wind finally kicked up, so we sailed the last quarter mile, after rowing most of the day."
"The next day I took Feather home, across the bay to Marrowstone Island. We’d rowed three fourths of the trip!"
Glenn Woodbury
PKA Black Douglas,
Master of the Sloop-Boat Feather
And the Terror of Scow Bay
For those not familiar with the San Juan Islands, that would have been over 100 nautical miles! Doryman.
Don't miss the second annual Pocket Yacht Palooza, the largest gathering
of small-craft gunkholing designs held in the Northwest, scheduled for
July 20-21 at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend, WA.
The
main focus of this event is on design...not on who has the most coats
of varnish. While wooden boats tend to dominate the Palooza, fiberglass
hulls are welcome and the whole idea is to share information, as well as
time on the water, so that participants come away with a deeper
understanding of different pocket-cruising designs, whether rowboats,
sailboats or traditional motorboats.
The Palooza is organized by the Port Townsend Pocket Yachters group,
a loose-knit club with "no officers, no dues, no bylaws or other signs
of organization." In other words, they just like to have fun on the
water together. Co-sponsors of the Pocket Yacht Palooza include the
Northwest Maritime Center, Small Craft Advisor magazine, Sage Marine,
the Port Townsend School of Wooden Boatbuilding, the Puget Sound chapter
of the Traditional Small Craft Association and the Port Townsend Marine
Trades Association.
Saturday, July 20, everyone is invited to the boat show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with many
boats displayed on trailers at the Northwest Maritime Center, and others
hauled up on the adjoining saltwater beach. At 3:30 p.m. on Saturday,
Peter Guerrero (host of KPTZ-FM's "Boat Talk" program) will lead a
waterside discussion of different traditional small-craft sailing
rigs--their use, advantages and possible shortcomings. Participants with
spritsails, gaff rigs, lugsails, sloop rigs, sliding gunters and others
will pull their boats together on the beach to chat about their rigs
and how they work. At 6 p.m., there will be a potluck on the beach,
followed at 7 p.m. by slide talks in the Maritime Center by Dale
McKinnon (who built her own dory and rowed the Inside Passage from
Ketchikan to Bellingham), and Kirk Gresham (talking about his years of
trailer-sailing a Devlin Eider from California to the Puget Sound
area and into the islands of British Columbia).
Sunday,
July 21, participating boats will hit the water for a day of rowing,
sailing and/or motoring together on Port Townsend Bay, with a picnic
lunch on the beach of Rat Island, next to Fort Flagler State Park. The
main emphasis of the day will be sharing boats--either boat rides or
actual short-term trading of boats so that everyone can experience
different designs and their sailing/rowing characteristics. The day of
boating will begin at 10 a.m. and end in the late afternoon when many
participants will rendezvous on Port Townsend Bay with Native paddlers
as they arrive at Fort Worden State Park, their overnight stop, as
part of their Tribal Canoe Journey to Quinault, on the outer coast of
Washington.
The Palooza is absolutely free to
participants and the public--no registration fees, complicated forms or
other requirements. Just let organizer Marty Loken know you're coming
and include a brief description of your boat when you email him: Norseboater22(at)gmail.com.
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.) .
Simple, Beautiful, Functional, Versatile. While rowing around Fort Worden in Port Townsend last month, suddenly there is a perfectly balanced two masted rig bearing down on the little wherry yawlboat carrying Doryman. In an attempt to remain on friendly terms with the natives, he calls out cheerfully, "What kind of boat is that?".
A gruff and hearty voice says;
"The boat is a Core Sound 17 (hull #157) designed by B&B Yachts and built by Jan Nicolaisen in 2008."
"While the boat may look old fashioned, the hull is rather light and planes easily. It's built of stitch and glue plywood with some custom features providing a more traditional appearance."
"With a very full bow and sitting on the bench seats behind the cockpit combing, the boat feels big for seventeen feet."
"The standard design calls for aluminum masts and sails with battens, but this boat has solid wood masts and sails without battens. I’ve hit 6+ knots reefed and reaching and about 8 knots downwind - all while feeling secure and under control."
"I’m still getting used to the cat ketch rig and like it even more as I learn how to handle it. It is particularly well behaved sailing down wind and easy to tack since there is no jib to handle. I can rig and launch in about 20 minutes which means I often slip out for just a few hours."
"My," thinks Doryman, "this is a friendly fellow - and it's no wonder, to be sailing such a fine vessel in easy weather!"
It turns out the fellow is Randy Jones, and he is indeed a likable guy, with lots of good things to say about his Core Sound cat ketch.
Next time, Doryman will be shamelessly begging for a ride to test the trim of that twin rig for himself...
Core Sound 17 LOA .................. 17' 0" BEAM ................ 5' 10" DRAFT .............. 7.5" & 3' 6" SAIL AREA ....... 119 sq. ft. HULL WEIGHT .. 350 - 400 lbs SAILING WEIGHT 1000 lbs @DWL w/crew and gear
Core Sound 20 LOA ................. 20' 0" BEAM ............... 6' 3" DRAFT ............. 8" & 3' 9" SAIL AREA ....... 155 sq. ft. BOAT WEIGHT .. 500 - 600 lbs SAILING WEIGHT 1300 lbs @DWL w/crew and gear .
News Flash! New Design! Kees Prins, manager of the boat shop at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend, Washington has produced a new design and it's gorgeous!
I saw Kees at a recent messabout at Fort Worden a couple weeks ago where the buzz was all about this new boat. He's an understated guy but it's clear he's excited.
The Townsend Tern is a cruising and gunkholing design featuring high performance and comfortable livability in one package. This is no easy task since one almost always precludes the other.
That's Kees and Chelcie putting her through her paces.
(Photos copyright by Laingdon Schmitt.)
The Tern is a 23.5 ft. electric powered, glued-lapstrake, trailerable cat ketch.
She is a custom build for a specific client with well defined needs. With input from Kees the boat turned out perfect for day sailing or extended cruising.
Kees has this to say:
"I designed her with a lot of input from Chelcie and Kathy Liu. They set all the initial parameters and we kept discussing things along the way."
His assessment?
"The Tern sailed well. She was stable, maneuverable, easily handled and we kept up with two T-birds on her trial run."
Wow!
I immediately wrote to Kathy and Chelcie for some background information and I'll pass their observations on to you...
"When we approached Kees we were looking for a trailerable sailboat of modern wood construction with the following specifications:"
* Target length: 24 – 25 feet
* Target beam: 7 feet plus or minus 2 inches so that it would fit into a shipping container.
* Target displacement including motor, anchors, batteries, sail rig, etc. (everything but the crew) 2,300 pounds. (Lighter consistent with strength and stability is better.) Ideally the boat would have 2,300 displacement including crew and gear with 1,700 displacement empty.
* Draft, with shallow keel: 18 inches (maybe up to 2 feet)
* Minimal overhangs: LWL approximately 2.5 feet less than LOA.
"After some preliminary design work and discussions with Tim Nolan and Jim Franken it was decided to give up the container shipping concept and go with a wider, heavier, more stable vessel."
"In addition to the above, we wanted a boat that would be stable and easily single-handed with these additional features:"
* Free-standing carbon fiber masts
* Electric outboard propulsion
* No through-hull fittings
* Contemporary construction
* Sleeping arrangements for two
* Comfortable sitting head-room
* A navigation station
* Hand-held rather than fixed electronics
* Space heater (cook stove optional)
* A composting head
* Easy maintenance
* Minimally intrusive centerboard trunk
"The boat is about the target length (23.5 feet) heavier (about 3,500 pounds, all up), wider (7’10”) and more stable.
Kees was able to weave all of our other requests into the final as-built boat."
We have:
* A cat-ketch with free-standing carbon fiber masts
* A Torqeedo Cruise 2.0L outboard “fueled” by (4) Lifeline AGM 6-Volt, 220 Ah batteries connected in series, that fit under the seats in the cabin
* No through-hull fittings
* Glued lapstrake construction
* Comfortable sleeping arrangements for two
* Comfortable sitting head-room, even for tall people
* A navigation station.
* Hand-held rather than fixed electronics
* A Wallas single-burner, paraffin fuel cook-top with heater option
* An Airhead composting head
* Easy maintenance
"Ballast for the boat includes 850 pounds of lead in the stub keel, 330 pounds of batteries and about 65 pounds of lead at the top-aft end of the centerboard. Additional ballast comes from bronze keel bolts and metal in the lifting brackets. She is outfitted with brackets and sling so that she can be lifted by hooking a single ring and launched using a crane."
"The head slides out from under the bridge deck for use then is slipped back out of the way when not in use."
Very impressive!
Those who have read these pages for a while know that Doryman has been researching just such a boat for some time now. We've explored a few similar design parameters and this one just might be the best so far. Traditional good looks coupled with modern building techniques have created a high performance cruiser. No longer an oxymoron.
Congratulations to Kathy and Chelcie Liu and kudos to Kees Prins on a job well done!
Kathy tells me:
"She is on the hard at Boat Haven [Port Townsend boatyard] awaiting a trailer, proper registration papers and some finishing touches.
Once we have the trailer our plan is to move her back into the Northwest Maritime Center boat shop so they can finish the punch list --- then we'll go sailing!"
(I hope they invite Doryman)
Kees Prins is the builder responsible for the Ed Davis Tropic Bird design know as Sparrow, featured on the header of this blog. Truly a gifted and talented builder/ designer.
The Townsend Tern is a special boat and will be featured in WoodenBoat Magazine's "Small Boat" issue in December. Be sure to look for it there!
Please respect the copyright on the information posted here. Do not reproduce in any way.
.
Doryman took a long weekend and visited Port Townsend, Washington for the second annual Pocket Yacht Palooza. The show was scheduled for last Saturday and Sunday, though Saturday was the big event. By Sunday, everyone was restless and on the water to various destinations.
The Port Townsend Pocket Yachters are a relatively new group of seriously fun sail-and-oar affectionatos who are not likely to be found lounging on a beach very long before they are off on a new adventure. The success of this gathering is in the numbers. This year there were at least seventy five boats in attendance. The Commons area at the Northwest Maritime Center was so full, it was difficult to get a clear photo of any one boat.
An added bonus was the Tribal Journey, Paddle to Quinault, which featured 90 US Tribes, Canadian First Nations and New Zealand canoes joining the celebration. Fort Worden was an over night stop on this journey. We watched (from a respectful distance) the welcoming ceremony for the canoes, which stirs the heart.
The canoe takes a counterclockwise turn at the approach to the beach and a warrior stands in the boat and asks permission to land, while a welcoming party responds. There are a handful of photos in the slide show (link below...) and I hope to add more, as my companions send them in.
As always, your correspondent was too busy chatting to get many particulars, so I'll simply give you the photos and if you're interested in a particular boat, will try my best to identify it for you.
