The Hardangersjekte on the Water

The Valgerda by William Atkin that recently found it's way into Doryman's boatyard is back on the water.












The sail rig had not arrived, but the Valgerda was launched to attend the Toledo Wooden Boat Show.










It's nine miles from the marina with the sling to the site of the boat show. I had intended to row but a new friend, Bill came by the dock while I was still examining the boat for leaks (there where none) and offered to tow me up river. I threw him my painter and we were off.








Bill was piloting his new motor dory skiff. What a beauty! Hopefully he will share something about the build of this fine skiff with us in the near future. He towed the Valgerda for more than half the distance and I rowed the rest, anxious to feel how the boat handled.








Even without her motor, the Valgerda is stoutly built, a heavy little boat. With a good bit of effort I could row her at 2.5 knots in calm water, but a little opposing current slows her a bit. A headwind is much worse. Gusting winds on the bow slowed my progress at one point to 1.5 knots or less. The boat and I got into a rhythm of pulling hard when the wind slacked to build speed to coast though the puffs, just the opposite of what we would have done had we been sailing. I used a pair of twelve foot sweeps I made a couple years ago for the Thistle, which worked very well.


I resolved then to make use of a strong ebb tide for the return trip, as any prudent mariner would do. As it turned out, the next powerful ebb was after midnight and the story of that trip is in the post that follows, by the light of the sturgeon moon.




The design sail area for this boat is 72 sq.ft. in a low aspect ratio lug sail. The shoal fin keel is fitted with lead ballast of approximately 106 pounds, and as I said, the boat is built heavy. The new sail will be 110 sq.ft. and after spending a few hours rowing her, I'm convinced the larger sail will be very handy.




The next installment of this story will be the fitting of a new tanbark lug sail, along with new mast, yard and boom.

Please stay tuned!

Hardangersjekte Valgerda Lug Sail

Last spring when I purchased the William Atkin Valgerda known as Reinsdyr she had been stripped of her inboard motor, sail and rigging. After some repair and extensive caulking and refinishing she debuted at the Toledo Wooden Boat Show, but as a rowing craft.

Meanwhile, back in May, I had ordered a new sail that has just now arrived.






The plans for the Hardangersjekte Valgerda as William Atkin drew them show a fixed lug sail with a moderate peak. The design sail area is 72 square feet. This seemed a bit small to me, probably as an auxiliary to a primarily motor driven vessel.

We all know how Doryman feels about that! For a boat of this size and weight I thought that the sail area should be no less than 100 square feet, but not much more since the rounded hull and dramatic rise would result in a boat that sailed hard-over. I also wanted a balanced lug with a higher peak in an effort to pinch to windward more efficiently. Damn the motors, full sail ahead!







Paul Gartside designed a beautiful balanced lug option for his Skylark that I like very much and it just so happened that my friend Lynne Fabricant of Sailmakers Art had just made that sail for a customer. She agreed to size the plan up from 88 square feet, sent me a drawing for a 119 square foot lug sail and contracted to make it up in tanbark.


The sail is one more example of Lynne's quality work. Regular readers will remember she made the mainsail for Mistral and it is also perfect.





I hoped to make up the rigging from the plethora of salvaged gear stored out in the boatyard and it looks like it's going to work out fine. The mast is nearly fifteen feet long, made of old growth spruce. It has been with me a long time. A good friend salvaged it years ago and traded it to me (thirty years or more, no kidding!), but until now it has not found a home. It's been used for different applications which are evident in many old mounting holes for cleats. They've all been plugged meticulously though I never quite trust a plugged hole to be as strong as original so hopefully this will work out. The mast is a true collector's item with tight grain like you've never seen.






The yard is also spruce. Much newer stuff, though I've carried this around for thirty years too. Also salvaged from an old mast.
I pieced it together with two long scarps so was able to pre-load it with a bit of a curve to resist the tension that a yard like this is susceptible to. For the same reason, a bit of an upward curve is cut into a sail with an upper yard to help keep the sail from sagging as wind increases and sail tension pulls the yard down.

In this way I could keep the size and weight of the yard to a minimum.



The sail will be loose footed with a boom. I have an old spinnaker pole that will work beautifully. You've heard of the fellow who built a boat to match a nice pair of oarlocks he had?........





With the epoxy still curing on the sticks, I was compelled to set the new rig up and see how all of the calculations worked out. It's very cold and wet outside, so setting up on the boat was out of the question. What you see is the best I could do. Sorry if you were expecting photos of a Hardangersjekte under full sail, pushing a bow wake.





That will have to wait but I promise,
Soon.




The dog is trying to tell me she can't reach her bed which is the blue rug under the head of the sail.
She wasn't anywhere around when this project started.

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The Hardangersjekte by William Atkin

Reinsdyr, a new addition to the DoryMan boatyard.

This design historically originated in Hardangerfjord, Norway. Thus, she is a Hardangersjekte, "jekte" meaning boat. These extemly seaworthy boats were used for fishing and other practical work. They were designed for rowing and rigged with a tall, narrow sail plan with light, unstayed spars.



The Norwegian working boats were fitted with an old-fashioned standing lug and they depended on the reserve stability created by a cargo of fish. The original boats had a long, shallow keel approximately 4" deep. When loaded, they had sufficient lateral plane to hold the little craft on the wind. In many respects, the Hardangersjekte has the same basic characteristics as a Bank dory, the Maine peapod and similar work boats and are excellent sea boats.








William Atkin's design, designated Valgerda, incorporates a standing lug rig with solid spruce mast, yard and boom. Design sail area is 72 sq.ft., in a low aspect ratio lug sail. The shoal fin keel is fitted with lead ballast of approximately 106 pounds to supplant the cargo of fish.






The Valgerda is 18'-7" overall with 14'-9" on her waterline, a 5'-8" beam and 1'-6" draft. She has a double chine hull and weighs about 600 pounds. Reinsdyr has partial decks which add a few more pounds. Because of the added weight, the designed 72 sq.ft. sail will be increased to 110 sq.ft. with a new sail made of Tanbark cloth.



Her original construction incorporated 1/2" Scandinavian pine laid in three strakes. This boat is planked with 3/8" plywood. The Atkin plans specify two chines with backing stringers. In Reinsdyr, the planks are lapped, clinker style and retain the stringers. Very stout and attractive construction.




Reinsdyr was designed in 1946 and built by Keeler Boat Building; Portland, Oregon in 1966 for the Weyerhaeuser family. She has been stripped of her original 8hp Palmer engine and auxiliary sail rig, but she will soon be refitted with a new sail (forget the engine!).
Thank you, John Kohnen for this fine boat!



More photos of Reinsdyr on Flickr.




If you'd like to witness the construction of a modern Valgerda, visit the Ravn.
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Sailing a Valgerda

Brandon Ford lives just a few miles north of here, so when he calls and says he's in the mood to go sailing, what can a Doryman do? Just down the road from his house is Devils Lake. This is a natural lake formed when the D River, flowing west into the Pacific Ocean silted over at it's mouth. The distance to the ocean from the foot of the lake is just 120 feet due west, so the seasonal Pacific westerlies blow onto the lake with a vengeance.







Arriving about mid-day yesterday, with our little wherry yawlboat, it was obvious that there was too much wind for a 10.5 foot tender, so we rowed out to take some pictures of Brandon in his Valgerda faering, Ravn. He was having way too much fun!

Rowing in the chop was not much fun, so when Brandon asked me if I wanted to join him, I was delighted. We headed back to the launch ramp. Mary said she wasn't too excited about going sailing and would stay on the beach with Brandon's little dog, Trouble.






Good thing she did.

Ravn uses a lug rig, which is not the best for sailing to windward. We had some difficulty tacking, which I think will be easy enough to remedy with some fine tuning. But after missing a tack (with Doryman on the tiller) I called for a jibe to wear around. With just the right combination of errors, we broached in a dramatic way. As the boat filled with hundreds of gallons of cold water, she lay gently over on her side and spilled us into the lake.

We righted the boat, but she floated too low to bail her out. Fortunately there was a fishing skiff close by who came and picked us up and towed the boat back. Those guys are saints! We hope to meet them again someday because we could not thank them enough.

I hope Brandon is busy today, designing some floatation for Ravn.



As usual, you will find photos uploaded to Flickr.

Sailing the Valgerda

Been anticipating this for a long time, it seems. A little over a year.

The Valgerda, Saga, restored to more than her former self proudly spreads her wings. (Follow the previous link to see the development of this project and more.)









There is a good bit of serendipity in the recreation of this design by William Atkin. A former owner added an extension to the design keel and Doryman redesigned the sail rig, so successful engineering was potentially compromised by too many cooks in the broth.





But I'm happy to report that Saga sails all points with grace. The balanced lug is new for me, so I'm still struggling with it's vagaries. Each tack has it's unique quirks. The boat has a sensitive and responsive helm, even in light airs and points much higher to windward than I expected, a fact I attribute to my friend Lynne Fabricant and her exceptional sail-making skills. The helm is in perfect balance on 8-12 knot breeze. What more could a Doryman ask?








My good friend John Kohnen, who sold me this fine old boat, is appalled at the keel extension and even calls it an "abomination". Sorry John, the keel stays as it is. Couldn't be happier.

Why mess with perfection?







There are still some details to adjust but that is half the fun. The Norse faering, Saga, promises to feature in many future adventures here on DoryMan.

Saga under Sail from doryman on Vimeo.

Photos on Flickr.
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The Hardangersjekte in Doryman's boatyard

The Valgerda by William Atkin that recently found it's way into Doryman's boatyard is getting a make-over.

This boat was built in 1966 for the Weyerhaeuser family by Keeler Boat Building in Portland, Oregon and through a series of owners, subsequently spent three decades on the Puget Sound.








As anyone who has restored a boat of this vintage knows, the years spent in harsh salt water climates take a toll. In fact, it is a testament to the builder when a wood boat approaches it's fiftieth year.

Here we find Doryman uncovering years of layers and layers of paint to assess the Valgerda's condition. He must be a sick man, to find this type of work rewarding!




The long term goal is to re-rig this boat as Atkin specified, but the immediate goal is to have her in the water for the upcoming Toledo Wooden Boat Show this August. Toledo, Oregon is home port for Doryman and it's not unusual to see four boats from the fleet in attendance. For those who live locally, please look him up. He'll be the one with the glassy-eyed, exhausted visage and a patina of bottom paint dust in his collar.

Gone Sailing

Doryman is heading out.

It's time for the annual Sucia Island Rendezvous, in the Sucia Island group in the San Juan Islands, US. I expect to be seeing many of you there. Looking forward to it, the weather is superlative.

This year, the very worthy Atkin Valgerda faering, Saga is the vessel of choice. It's been a few years since the last cruise in this very seaworthy open boat. She's a strong little cruiser, perhaps more so than her skipper.

Salish Sea, here we come.......

Doryman's Melonseed

In the upper left corner of this page is a search window. If you type in Doryman's Melonseed design, you will find, as I did, that this project started in December of 2011. How could that be? Four and a half years. Well, I guess you know how fate has befallen this sailor.
Take heart my patient reader, for the long awaited sail-rig has evolved to the test stage. We already know how Aria rows. Like a song.





Martin and I chose a calm day for our first sail. Turned out to be breathless, but we had enough puffs to get a feel for how this 'seed flies.

It was apparent from the first, the free-footed sail needs a boom for windward work. The fixed keel shape, taken from Atkin's Valgerda allowed quite a bit of leeway, but I think that will improve with a boom as well. I intend to leave the foot loose, lash the sail to the boom at the tack and clew and use a downhaul from the clew to the base of the mast.

 

If this sounds confusing, we'll come back soon with photos and an updated report.

Please stay tuned.

Hardangersjekte Valgerda Lug Sail

There has been rain non-stop for weeks and I've been reluctant to uncover the faering and set up the new mast, but we've had a welcome respite and a bit of clear weather so this is the result.

The mast is set up with guy ropes in place of standing rigging and the lines marked for future reference (shrouds and stays forthwith...). The mast and yard have never been tried, yet they work together nicely - meaning the math worked out - which is always rewarding.









It appears that the stays, which are included in the original design, will interfere with the free run of the yard. In fact, on a downwind run, the yard will bind between the stay and the mast in an alarming fashion. Does anyone out there have experience with running stays? I think I will need to devise a method of relieving the leeward stay, much the same as one would with a running back-stay.

I can see from this mock-up where the halyard cleat needs to lead and where to place the downhaul, though it would have been more informative to rig the boom. All of the boats in Doryman's boatyard are sequestered away under tarps for the winter and in this case there are a few tree branches that interfere with everything, but no matter, enough information was gathered from this experiment to move forward.

"Lose not a minute!", as Captain Jack Aubrey would say.
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Sucia Island Rendezvous 2017

Just back from the Sucia Island group, in the northern San Juan Islands. This was the sixteenth annual gathering in Fossil Bay on one of the northern most islands in the western contiguous US.
A great time on the water, shared with some very talented sailors, on beautiful small craft.

Photo of Doryman in Saga, by Joe Fernandez

People we meet are often fascinated with the attractive boats all gathered in one spot, but mostly amazed that small boats like ours can be safe and seaworthy. Make no mistake, there are decades, nay centuries, of cumulative experience anchored in the shallow end of the bay this weekend, every year. Stories abound, of trials and daring-do. Places visited and the pleasure (and effort) of getting there and back.

Hot on Joe's tail.
Thanks for the photo, Joe Fernandez.

This year was one for the books. Though the weather was brilliantly sunny and warm, the breezes and tidal currents were fierce. Sailors from all points of the compass had tales of battles with the elements - what one might expect during a full moon with dramatic diurnal tides. In the San Juan Islands, the currents don't always follow intuitively with the tides.

Photo of Kees Prins in Dunlin. by Marty Loken

The prudent mariner will consult current charts, yet expect the unpredictable. In a narrow channel four miles wide, the current may run up to three knots and believe me, if the wind opposes such a flow, the result will challenge even the most experienced, in a small, low-power sailing vessel.


Dale and Chris' Scamp, from Canada, photo by Marty Loken.

This year, Doryman sailed his well-founded 18' faering Valgerda, designed by John Atkin. This open design was fashioned after the Viking faerings of old and for it's size is an exceptional sea boat. The first challenge came within moments of departure. Crossing the east end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, from Port Townsend to the Islands always has something new to offer. A glassy sea twenty nautical miles across can turn fierce within minutes.

 Soon after departure, rounding Wilson Point into the commercial shipping lane, one of the all-too-frequent container ships showed up on the horizon. These behemoths clock fifteen knots or more, of speed, and are just plain scary. A breeze had just come up from the west, which opposing the tidal current created an instant boil. After the ship had passed, at close quarters, I swear it's wake kicked the wave action to a frenzy. Soon we were engulfed in standing waves well over our heads, with breaking tops and spumes of spray flying.



Kleppers and folding boats at play in the Bay.

Worthy Saga rode the maelstrom with dedication. For the next two challenging hours, only one small wave found it's way over the coaming, but unfortunately most of three gallons of seawater shot straight up and landed directly in Doryman's lap.


Photo of Bob Miller at the helm of his Drascome Longboat, Sally Forth. by Marty Loken.

Fortunately the day was warm, though, as many of you know - saltwater is very slow to dry. Despite being uncomfortably wet for awhile, the rest of the day was glorious, running north in Rosario Strait with a strong flood tide current running in our direction and a breeze on the beam.

Joe Fernandez brought his popular Cape Dory 22, Philly Girl, all the way from Texas.
Marty Loken photo.

Many mariners in attendance at Sucia had similar tales to tell. Great weather, yet challenging conditions, sometimes in your favor, others not so much. Welcome to small boat cruising in one of the premiere inland waters of the world.

Full moon over Kirk Gresham's Flicka, Koan. 

Even a long weekend, in such august company, is never enough. Many thanks to all my good friends, old and new, for a memorable time in such a beautiful spot. Already looking forward to next year - this gathering gets continually better and better, like fine whiskey in a barrel.

Joel Bergen's Navigator, Ellie drying out on the beach.

 Martin Schneider's Allegra 24, Clover.

 Paul Miller's Friendship.
Photo by Marty Loken.

One of my favorites. Janet and Bruce Ward's Clarity.
A Montgomery 23, from the British Canadian interior.

 Jamie Orr's new (old) Atkin schooner, Orkney Lass.

There's more, much more...
For the diehard, more photos can be found on Doryman's Flickr site.  Some photos courtesy of Marty Loken. Thank you, Marty!

And yet more photos, courtesy of Dale Simonson, the first Scamp to join us in Fossil Bay. Thank you, Dale, it was a pleasure to meet you.