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.
July 10-13 was yet another great gathering of small gunkholing boats in Fossil Bay, Sucia Island, one of the wonderful Washington State marine parks in the San Juan Islands. It's hard to beat the camaraderie of good friends in a beautiful spot aboard some of the most seaworthy small vessels around.
This year there were nine boats carrying eleven sailors. A small but tenacious group, all with credentials as able seamen and women.
Jamie came from Victoria BC in his Phil Bolger Chebacco, Wayward Lass, fresh from the R2AK, where he made it to Johnstone Strait before succumbing to intense headwinds.
This is the view we usually have of Jamie.
Bob sailed Sally Forth, his beloved Drascome Longboat. It's easy to see why he loves this boat so much. He uses a very well designed cockpit tent for sleeping aboard. Additional photos can be found on the Doryman Flickr site.
Paul navigated from Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, in his Jay Benford Friendship. He recently upgraded his rigging by moving the headstay to the masthead and installing a roller furling genoa. Sadly the winds were very light, so he couldn't show us how pleased he is with his new wings.
Claire and John came from Whidbey Island in their new Night Bird. A lot of boat in a compact package. Please note the pop-top deck.
Joel and his son Tim winged from Edmonds in their John Welsford Navigator, Ellie. Navigator Joel employs a tidy clothesline anchoring system to keep Ellie close to camp.
Randy arrived in his new Belhaven 19, Clementine. I sailed with Randy in our annual "race" around Sucia. The winds and currents are fickle around this island of many faces and we have yet to complete a single race, in many years of trying. This year may have been the shortest race of all.
Joe trailered from Texas with his wood runabout. He didn't know he came to see us, it was serendipity. I met Joe four years ago while cruising around the Canadian Gulf Islands after this same rendezvous. It was good to see him again, he's a sailor's sailor, with a fruitful life and many interesting stories to tell.
Ron motored in with his efficient outboard driven catamaran, Just Enuf, a plywood EcoCat from Bernard Kohler. Ron really gets around with this little cat. You may have seen his distinctive vessel around the Salish Sea.
I sailed the forty five nautical miles from Port Townsend in Belle Starr. That's her in the photo near the top of the post. She always gets me there and back, safely and in style.
A small but fun group. The Sucia Island Rendezvous was lovely as ever, a tradition well worth keeping.
Sailing to Desolation Sound is a great experience. The trip we took involved a full range of conditions and challenges. But the area has it's limitations for a keel boat. We saw many kayaks, often lurking in the lee, watching for a weather opening.
Some coves and inlets were very deep - too deep for safe anchorage. Signs were evident that previous visitors had stern-tied to a rock or tree, since the cove might not have enough room to swing on the scope necessary for a single anchor.
Being avid rowers, we often discussed the possibility (probability?) of making a similar voyage in a rowboat designed for use at sea.
Back in Port Townsend, with Belle Starr at anchor (she makes a wonderful condo), I had the opportunity to assist (compulsive boatbuilder) Marty Loken, in the construction of the new Angus Cruising Rowboat, from Julie and Colin Angus. Plans for this boat were completed at the end of last year. A prototype was built for a client, who took off for places unknown and hasn't been heard from since...
So, Marty's RowCruiser is the first boat of this design, made from a kit. He is working under a schedule, with the intention of having the boat ready to display at the upcoming Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, the first weekend in September.
Those who know me will not be surprised to learn that I have never built a boat from a kit. This was my first go. A neighbor of Marty's had been by the day before to help stitch the planks and bulkheads together. Our task on the second day was to true-up the hull shape, taking out any twist or lack of symmetry. It was a pleasure to see how well the planks fit and how simple it was to see a truly beautiful design emerge. The boat is essentially a
canoe, with an efficient double-ended waterline.
For a burdensome 18.5 foot boat, this is going to be a fast, quick, rowing machine. The Angus Cruising Rowboat is designed for an owner-built sliding seat, though it would be easy and effective to simply use a fixed seat.
Marty has initiated a website for this design, which will feature his own experience building the Cruiser. There will be a workshop in February of 2015, for those interested in building this boat, with coaching from the Angus team. You can visit his new site at RowCruiser!
While working, Marty and I daydreamed about the potential of gunkholing with a flotilla of RowCruisers next summer. And there is a good chance for a Desolation Sound rowing voyage. The British Columbia Kayak Parks found on the Sunshine Coast are wonderful, but imagine being able to anchor in a remote cove, with not another soul and sleep comfortably aboard your own rowboat.
Angus RowCruiser:
Length: 18'-8.5" (570 cm)
Beam: 46" (117cm)
Waterline: 17'-9" (541 cm)
WL Beam: 33.4" (85 cm)
Draft: 3.6" (9.1 cm)
Weight: 148# (67 kg)
Volume:147.6 cu ft (4.2 cu m.)
As was reported earlier, the Stone Horse, Belle Starr has proven to be an exceptional boat. And as documentation, I was recently gifted some photos taken by my good friend, John Kohnen of the Oregon Coots.
Here comes John with a boat-full of Coots now...
On Sunday, the last day of the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, tradition finds the participants on the water for a "sail-by". This year was the first time I've joined the parade in my own boat.
Here she is, all dressed up in tanbark, overtaking the MerrieEllen.
For her first weekend out in several years, Belle Starr looked pretty good. At the helm is Kirk Gresham (AKA Captain Kirk) and his crew is Doryman, shooting photos left and right.
With John's permission, I offer you a sailor's view of the worthy cutter.
People often ask me why I find a strenuous, dangerous and difficult activity like sailing so rewarding. These photos tell it all.
Not looking too bad for an old horse.
After the morning fog lifted, it was another beautiful day on Admiralty Inlet.
Thank you John!
This week will be the last of the season for Belle Starr. The storms that have pummeled the west coast are abating, so hopefully the cutter will get a few more miles under her keel, before she is hauled out for the winter. Please stay tuned!
At the end of a very productive week, we find the sloop-rigged cutter Belle Starr in the water for the first time in many years.
Belle Starr, as you know, is a Stone Horse, built in wood, as originally designed by Sam Crocker. This classic was designed in 1931. Less than forty were
built before production was interrupted by WWII. Some of the original
wood models are still sailing.
An additional 150 fiberglass Stone Horse models were built by Edey and Duff between 1969 and the early 1990s.
The defining feature of the Stone Horse 23 is her raised, flush
foredeck and integral coamings. Twenty three feet on deck, the overall
length of the Stone Horse is 28’-3” with a bowsprit and boomkin. The
hull has a full keel with hard-chined sections and a transom-hung rudder.
After a year and a half in the shop, Belle Starr touched water this week at family-owned Zittle's Marina, outside Olympia, Washington. The launch was flawless, stepping the mast went smoothly and the boat sat pretty on her lines. It's fair to say, this deserves a celebration.
With an enormous amount of help from friends and the professionals at Zittle's, this project has reached a milestone. My very good friends, Doug Follet of Olympia, his brother Steve, from Vermont, and Doug's son, Ian, of Seattle, all chipped in to make two days of rigging and outfitting go smoothly. My heart-felt thanks to these generous men!
The four of us took the cutter out for a trial sail and wouldn't you know, a calm day of 3-4 knot breezes suddenly built to 15 knots. We turned around and headed back but there was enough time to see what could be done to finish the rigging.
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.
Fossil Bay, Sucia Island, near the Canadian Border in the San Juan Islands is the scene for a gathering of small boat enthusiasts the second weekend in July.
This year was a quiet one. The weather was postcard perfect, unless you're a sailor. Boats came and went in an erratic schedule, so it was hard to tell how many attended. A couple big production boats were in the line-up, which was a new twist.
For the sailors, the week was a tease. When a breeze came up we were all seduced but most often, once out of the harbor, boats drifted on the tides while skippers and crew baked in the sun.
Please make no mistake - getting up to a brilliant sunrise every morning is a wonderful thing! I suppose it would be brash to take credit, though I'm convinced the weather was so fine because I made up a heavy-duty boom tent that could stand torrential rains for weeks (nay years) on end. That tent became my penance. It is so heavy and ungainly (and I must say unattractive) it took an hour to set up and an equal amount of time to strike. If it weren't for the heavy dew fall, I might have abandoned it altogether.
Lets look at the line-up...
Katie Mae belongs to Lynn Watson of Port Townsend. She was built by the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, under the supervision of Ray Speck She is a modified 21 foot Drascombe PeterBoat. Well sailed and an exceptional design, she is hard to keep up with. I include this photo to demonstrate the contrast of vessels found in Fossil Bay.
Here's Joel and Tim Bergen in their Welsford Navigator, Ellie. Joel has some more details about this gathering on his website.
Paul and Arnie sailed in from Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, BC.
Paul's boat is a Friendship Sloop designed by Jay Benford, named Friendship. We've talked about Paul and his fine boat before.
Arnie is a former bosun in the Canadian Navy and an accomplished sailor. It was a pleasure to make his acquaintance.
Marty Loken, from Marrowstone Island brought his newest acquisition, a Iain Oughtred Willyboat.
Marty is as bad as I am about boats - if he loves 'um he has to bring 'em home.
Marty runs the Island Boatshop on Mystery Bay, Marrowstone Island, east of Port Townsend.
Ron Mueller cruises the San Juan and Gulf Islands every year in his power cat, Just Enuf.
This plywood EcoCat from Bernard Kohler has a king sized berth, standing
headroom galley, and a private head. Ron stores two inflatable kayaks
and two folding bikes in the starboard ama. Cruising speed is 10 knots
with a top speed of 15 knots, using a 20hp outboard motor.
Bob Ennenberg hails from Vancouver, BC, where he built this Jim Michalak pram, Duck. It's Bob's first build and I was impressed how well it sails. He has no permanent furniture inside and it's a regular ballroom down below.
Bob is a grade school teacher with perpetual good humor. Hope he comes back next year.
These folks were not here to join us, but what a happy coincidence!
Their beautiful vessel is a Connecticut River Shad Boat.
James McMullen showed up from Anacortes, WA in his sail-and-oar boat Rowan.
James had places to see, so he was there only one night. He told me later that he covered over 60 nautical miles in four days under sail and oar alone. The man has ambition!
And here we have Jamie Orr of Victoria, BC in his Phil Bolger Chebacco, Wayward Lass.
I've had the pleasure of sailing with Jamie quite a few times, though I'm a bit tired of looking at his transom. The Chebacco is an amazing little boat and Jamie handles her well.
Thanks to Jamie for all his organizational efforts concerning this rendezvous!
He has a website to keep us updated and is one of the best cat-herders I know.
You recognize this guy. It's Doryman in Saga. Jamie was gracious enough to circle around and take my picture before he took off for the horizon.
The jib was an experiment and we'll come back to that later. Saga is a modified William Atkin Valgerda faering.
I call this the Mother Ship. Chuck Gottfried, his wife Shay and good friend Dean chartered a Baba 30 for the week. Not my cuppa tea, but what luxury!
Here we see Dean firing up some Super Tramp on his digital music player just before breakfast. Not my cuppa either, but the man is happy and that's all that counts.
They sailed in company with some old friends in a C&C 35 and I'm sorry to have not gotten a photo of them.
Martin Schneider came from Port Townsend in his Allegra 24 cutter, Clover
That's a lot of boat in a tidy package. I hope to sail with Martin someday.
Doryman didn't make it, but Marty Loken did and took a few photos for our amusement...
"After Friday's torrential downpour, yesterday was mostly dry and warm--T-shirt
weather at Rat Island for much of the time, in fact. It rained early, but we
stayed dry until later in the afternoon, when the monsoons returned...just as
the last two boats were sailing over from Port Townsend. (Sorry, I didn't get
photos of the late-arriving boats--it was pouring by then and the camera was
stashed in a dry bag.) - Also accidentally erased a few other photos, including
one of Glenn Woodbury's Beach Pea...but yesterday's collection offered a wide
variety of boats, including two Rangers (12 and 20); two Oughtreds (Calendonia
Yawl and Whilly Boat), two Welsfords, a Whitehall, Core Sound 17 and others."
