Confessions of a Disabled Sailor

The world pandemic has found me under my own forced convalescence. As some of you know, I was near fatally injured in a car accident forty years ago. Prosthetics and orthotics have made it possible for me to live a full, eventful life regardless, some of which we've all shared here in these pages for almost thirteen years(!).

Two years ago I suffered a stoke, which impaired my balance enough that eventually a dramatic fall last October began an extended period of convalescence, from then until now. Growing old is not for the faint of heart.

But, determined to carry on, I fully intend to come out the other side stronger, despite being the target age of this debilitating world disease. With that in mind, I'd like to share with you some projects underway in the Doryman boatyard.

The last post found Doryman floundering under a capsize in the worthy faering, Saga. Although she saw service through the rest of last summer, she'd been abused and misused, much the same as her skipper. Some parts and pieces were lost in the capsize and her finishes suffered. Though no lasting damage resulted, she is in need of love, which comes apace. I love this little boat. We've been through a lot together, most of which was pure joy. She's a challenge to sail, the older I get, but I'm not ready to give up yet, we have more time to share.

Here's a shot of a debilitated Doryman at the helm, after the capsize last summer. That timid posture is the result of doing more than I should with a recent spinal injury from the fall I mentioned earlier. Hurts my back just to look at it.

 Ouch.

Right now, there are no restrictions on sailing from the marina I live in so the plan is to launch Saga by May Day, in the Puget Sound, Salish Sea.

Travel is pretty restricted here, since the Canadian border to the north is closed to boaters and most marinas are closed. But for me it's all one ocean, as my friend Webb is wont to point out from time to time.

Restrictions imply impermanence, which brings us to some exciting news;

 Chebacco. 

Back in 2009 I had the pleasure of a cruise in Chuck's self-built Chebacco Full Gallop. Nice boat.

About that time, I came upon the same design, but with lapstake planking. Unfortunately the price was too steep for me, which was a shame, since I'd come to love the boat by then.

Fast forward to last month. The same boat is still for sale. Well, no longer, because my friend, Doug and I went and picked it up. 

The Chebacco is a Phil Bolger design in a minimalist shallow water cruiser. Repairs are underway as we speak. When the Canadian border opens up, I know where I'm going. 

Disabilities be damned.

More anon...

Capsize

I capsized last week for the first time. Ever. 

Those who have been here for a while will recognize the eighteen foot long Saga, a design based on the Norwegian faering. She has taken me hundreds of nautical miles and though she's a vulnerable open vessel, I have complete confidence in her.

We had some lively seas that day and had weathered them fine for several hours. The journey nearly at an end, we found ourselves in a protected bight with no breeze, sitting very still.

A surprise gust of wind hit and before I could release the mainsheet, water was cascading over the coaming . I forgot how fluky the South Puget Sound winds can be. A fellow named Dave up on the bank heard me from where he was working in his garage and came out in his skiff. (I'd lost both cell phone and VHF radio, was cursing my predicament and yelling for help. I have very healthy lungs.).

In the meantime, a Coast Guard helicopter, two fire departments, a local first-responder group on jet skis and a fire-boat showed up. I was in the water about an hour and had hypothermia.

When Dave showed up, I was focused solely on getting Saga righted, and bless him, against his better judgment, tried to help. We did get the boat upright but she was awash and we had to abandon her to get me to shore. He was shocked that I could pull myself up on his swim platform, but that's what adrenaline is for.

A fire department first aid truck group brought my body temperature back up, blood pressure down, so there was no trip to the hospital. The fire-boat brought Saga into Boston Harbor and pumped her out. Lost some stuff, but got my boat back. And lived to tell the story.

I am in debt to a small army of highly trained people and one savvy local mariner. That's what this epistle is about. A big shout-out to all those who protect us against ourselves.

Sucia Rendezvous, Countdown

I won't bore you with details about itinerary or course because I haven't a clue. But a cruise of any kind requires much the same preparation.

Is the boat seaworthy? Saga has been completely re-caulked and painted. She's a boat of a certain age who holds her years well.

Last season suggested some changes and the first is, lighten your load. I'll be on the water approximately two weeks, no need to take two months worth of food, as happened last year. Perhaps the extra provisions were simply wishful thinking.
Because the truth is, I could spend the rest of my life living from anchorage to anchorage. Two weeks is just not enough.

This year Saga will sport a jib. The theoretical implications might be endless, though I am willing to just see what happens. Though a designer by training, I prefer to learn by educated trial, with intuition as the impetus. There is an element of art in boat building which beguiles the scientific and mathematical.

You might also know that I support recycling and repurposing. There was this old wood box full of junk in the shed that once belonged to a shipwright from the steel yards after the last world war. He was a simple old man who lived close to the earth and saved everything. When he passed, imagine the cornucopia of hardware he left behind. This box probably has a history beyond my years. Never, in  the thirty years I've had it has the old wood box had a lid, but now it does. (made from leftover scrap).

The green bag holds the head.

 As the more astute will note, the top of the box is the perfect size for my old Salish Sea cruising atlas, which predates the Salish Sea by more than twenty years (1980). New technology has it's place, but much of the datum on these charts is close to a hundred years old, so a chart from 1980 is just as helpful as your newest GPS. Please note that the lid is reversible and upside-down it will make a fine dining tray (the mess kit is inside)..






Next to the old/new box is 200 feet of new anchor rode on the spare, collapsible anchor. I had to use this backup anchor last year and the old rode was simply unacceptable.

To the rear of the cockpit is Saga's new sign board. Beautifully done by Brandon Ford.

You've all heard about the new deadeyes. This photo is included here because it's incredible.

The cockpit tent we threw together last year was a failure. It leaked. This time there will be a new tent. Possibly a bit of over-kill, this new design is made from 10oz. vinyl coated nylon. The material must have been weighed before coating, because it's heavy as a truck tarp. A 20# (total weight) tarp is much more than enough. At any rate, it's not done yet but I'll post a picture as soon as it is.




Only a few days left until Sucia Island Rendezvous 2012. It's going to be great.

Deadeyes Installed

Upgrading to deadeye purchase blocks on your shrouds carries no guarantee of improved performance. But on the scale of "how cool is that?", the ranking is very high.



The Doryman Valgerda, Saga, is a very cool boat.







Thanks go out to Paul Miller who suggested this upgrade and made a substantial effort to make it happen.




If you ever wonder how much exertion it takes to post a simple missive such as this - consider that this small project has been actively on the burner for over four months. I could give you all the details but who, honestly, wants to know?

Never a dull moment...

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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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.

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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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 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!

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.

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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