HYC Cruise Day 6 July 30 Lay Day in Block Island

Blasts crew rented a car to tour the Island, by day, dined at the National on a gift certificate and reported that it was excellent.

True North remained aboard during the day to make sure their anchor was holding in the big winds and came in for dinner at The Oar. 

Everyone from Ohana and ILENE (except Ilene) rented bikes from Aldos at the Boat Basin for the big loop of the southern half of the island. First major stop was at the beach at the foot of Mohegan Bluffs. 

There the younger generation went for a swim while Bennett and Roger took a long walk west along the beach. I dont think I have ever been there at low tide before. It reveals where one can swim without fear of being crushed against submerged rocks by the breakers. Then a brief stop at the lighthouse for liquid refreshments as defense against dehydration. There we learned of the imminent plan to build a "U" shaped cup of windmill generators around the southern end of the island a mile or two off shore. We had lunch at Finns, where Bennett satisfied his craving for whole fried clams and Roger ordered this new (for me) treat too. Then marketing at the very pricey local market before returning the bikes -- 1.5 hours late for a half day (4 hour) rental but they did not charge us the extra ten bucks -- and we dinked back, except for Rolo and Chris, who went to the beach and returned by launch later

Dinner on ILENE for eight: from Ohana, ILENE and Shanghai. A weird assortment of foods that somehow came together magically.  A rain shower required us to migrate from the cockpit to the cabin. CJ enthralled us with stories from his interesting life. We eight were from China, the U.S., Guatemala and Denmark, and included speakers of about ten different languages.  Most of our dinner table pics are after the meal; eating seems to always take precedence over photography until plates are empty.

Rolo, Christian, Laura and Bennett

Jenny, CJ, Lene and Roger

Shanghais dink motor failed on the way over so they came in tow. And I towed them back. Maybe we can create one fully operative dink between Shanghais inflatable and Ohanas outboard. But, in fact, it appears that all of the places both boats intend to visit on their ways back -- yes we are at our furthest point away from City Island -- have either docks or launch service. The other alternatives are the blissful solitude of staying aboard a well provisioned boat or getting a lift from strangers.

Stay tuned.

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Header Photo Balmain Bug Aussie Historical 6 Foot Skiff

Australian Historical Skiff

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The previous header photo was of the "Balmain Bug" a 1994 reproduction of the Aussie 6-Footer Historical Skiff Class. Aussie Ian Smith built her and she is shown on the dock sporting her light-air rig with a boom at least over 2 times the length of the boat and a bowsprit approximately 10 feet long (3.19 meter). Talk about being over-canvassed. The 6-footer class takes the cake for being the craziest of the crazies!

Quoting from the seminal book on the history of the Aussie skiffs, Bluewater Bushman by Bruce Stannard [1981];

"It is believed they were first built at Balmain in the 1890s and although they were first conceived as childrens boats, there is no doubt that they demanded the strength of three men who were courageous, good swimmers and had the strength and agility of circus acrobats...They carried a staggering 1000 square feet of sail including a main, jib, topsail, spinnaker, ringtail, and even a watersail. [Mike Scott, over in comments, defines watersail as..."hung below the main boom to catch that extra drop of wind.....almost drooping in the water....hence the name....!] With so much sail up and so little to support it, it is hardly surprising that the 6-footers spent a lot of time "in the gutter"....

The class peaked during the early 1900s, attracting numbers because it was the cheapest way to go racing. Here are some photos of the early 6-footers sailing around 100 years ago. [Found on the Net]

The original crews sailed the 6-footers upwind with the bowsprit plowing a furrow in the water; probably the only way they could balance the whole package upwind.

Now for photos of the modern 1994 Smith reproduction 6-footer. A picture of the "Bug" off-the-wind in a fresh breeze, shortly after being launched. Looks like the crew is trying to get to the back of the bus when reaching but, alas, there is no back of the bus.

After ten years out of the water, the "Bug" was relaunched in October for this years Balmain Regatta.

A quote from crew Campbell Reid:

"Even though she is based on a design close to a century old you can see how for their time these boats were pretty high tech...She will bury her bow in the blink of an eye but we were impressed at how seaworthy she was and were really happy that we could get upwind pretty well. In the six foot division of the historic skiff fleet at the regatta we think we are a serious threat.

 The precarious crew position Campbell Reid finds himself on the foredeck/bow may be the most comfortable one in drifting conditions. [The next two photos pulled from the Balmain Sailing Club website.]

Stick two grown men into a 6-footer and the scale becomes obvious. A 6-footer becomes a true "micro" dinghy.

The obligatory GoPro video shoot from this years relaunch. The bowsprit is so long it gives a perspective of a much larger dinghy. The 6-footers, like her bigger historical cousins, sported canvas lee cloths in a vain attempt to keep the water on the outside




A more recent 2015 video of the Bug including flying a good size spinnaker without driving her under. (Came pretty darn close though!)

• Click here for other posts on Australian Historical skiffs.
• For a sketch on a possible rig if you wanted to make the 6-Footer a classic singlehander, click here.

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October 6 Oriental to Morehead City 19 5 Nautical Miles

We had to get our sea legs back. But while it was calm in Whittaker Creek, it was blowing hard, though probably not as hard as our new wind measuring instrument shows -- calibration needed -- once we left its shelter.  We could have beat the first five miles crossing the Neuse River, but after that is was mostly canal-like waterways with the wind strong in our faces from the southwest and we motored all the way and did not set a sail.  Approaching Morehead City/Beaufort a pod of perhaps 20 dolphins passed us, going upstream, in groups of two or three at a time, their black fins, and later their backs revealing them. Sorry I could not catch a picture; I was at the helm. This military assault landing vessel was going out Beaufort Inlet to the sea while we were approaching it from the north.

Our first stop was a fuel dock, which was tricky getting into, and back off from with all that wind, but we took on 45.8 gallons, our first refueling since Annapolis. I figure that since Yorktown, we have been burning .66 gallons per hour.
We had several choice anchorages picked out but with all this wind we took a spot on the dock of Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant for $25 if you eat here.
We were joined for dinner there by Deb and Terry of "Island Time," a 42 foot Brewer cutter-rigged cruiser, the boat that is tied up behind us and enjoyed good conversation but sadly, very mediocre food.

They are from Midland Michigan and plan a five winter campaign to cover the Caribbean, all the way to Panama and the Central American coastal nations, leaving the boat for the summers. He was an engineer for a chemical company and she retired as a professor of biology.
           For tomorrow I planned two options. The first is to go out of Beaufort Inlet and back in at the Masonboro inlet near Wrightsville Beach. This is about 75 miles, but 69 of them a straight shot in the ocean, where we can go straight and fast. They predict 20 to 25 miles of wind from the NW, so it would be a speedy beam reach and close to shore so that the big seas will not have had a chance to build up and winds diminishing by five knots in the afternoon.  The alternative is a two day passage to Wrightsville Beach via the Intercoastal. The problem with this second alternative is the midpoint anchorage -- Mile Hammock Bay located in Camp Lejeune. Specifically, the Coast Guard is advising that the ICW will be closed tomorrow for military exercises involving firing live ammunition in the direction of Mile Hammock Bay. So the inside route may require us to spend another day here. A variation on plan B, mentioned by our new friends during dinner, would be to anchor at Swansboro, about ten miles short of Camp Lejeune with a rather longish run in the ICW the next day.  After dinner, while we walked four blocks to the postoffice and back Lene prevailed upon me to forego plan A for fear that even if we left at first light, we would have only 11.5 hours before it got dark, meaning that we would have to make 6.5 knots to get there before dark. Plan for the worst is her mantra. And Lene did not relish rising before daybreak and a rough passage and I like a happy crew. Lets check the weather again in the morning.

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More Aluminum Sailing Dinghies

In response to my post about the aluminum Gouget Moth, several readers sent in some aluminum sailing dinghies they have come across.

Australian "R.L". sent two photos of a welded aluminum version of the Australian 11 Aquanaut Dinghy, masterfully crafted.

Mike Scott owned a prototype De Havilland 12 aluminum dinghy during his time in Australia. His story:

"Im not sure who designed that alum dinghy I had, could well have been built as a prototype for the Vagabond, and therefore designed by Alan Payne. They maybe figured that alum was not the best way to go and so built the 3 class boats in glass. The 16ft Corsair is still going strong all over Oz, but the 12ft Vagabond and 10ft Gipsy seem to have faded. When I worked at Miller and Whitworth (Bob Miller and Craig Whitworth, sailmakers, Flying Dutchmen champs, and of course the legendary Bob Miller (aka Ben Lexcen). They became the agents for the 3 classes, and we would place an advertisement in the local paper for Free Sailboat rides, and we would take out prospective customers and then try to sell them a boat....was a fun job, but didnt get to see my kids much....that was 1966. Check out De Havilland Marine. I also worked there - that was where this boat came from. I bought it for scrap value, one of the perks of the job, I guess. In those days I was an accountant - ha...!

In the U.S, Grumman remains the most famous firm for their line of aluminum small boats and canoes but their most enduring aluminum sailboat is their dink, much sought after by the cruising crowd.

Tom Price pointed out that Grumman, in the late 1960s, built a 15 racing dinghy, called the "Flyer." Tom came across it at a Baltimore Boat Show. It doesnt appear many were made as this is the only image I could dig up about this dinghy on the InterWebs.

And finally, the aluminum sailboat I came across at Bobby Mullers yard? After digging around it appears it was the Pelican class, a 12 footer design by Philip Rhodes, of which over a thousand were built by the Aluminum Company of Canada - Alcan. More info about the Pelican can be found at this blog post here.

A nice roomy 12 footer.

A video walk-around of a Pelican.

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Pug Ugly The Scow Mini Transat 6 5

Dave Raison, in his latest scow Mini Transat 6.5, won the Mini Fastnet this past June. There are now other scow Mini 6.5s appearing. Swiss Simon Koster put one together he has named eight Cubed after the number he sails under. Included below are some photos of his new creation.

Make no bones about, these sailboats are Uglee.....High freeboard on a scow shape is not pretty. Simon Koster waved the ugly stick even more by making his cabin top very blocky.

From the The Simpsons, a quote by bartender Moe before he underwent plastic surgery.

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Moe

"Ive been called ugly, pug-ugly, fugly, pug-fugly, but never ugly-ugly."

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Ill go with pug ugly. I like scows. I like different. I like that, with these shapes, form follows function. Some would call these Mini 6.5 scows cute. (Can you call a sailboat cute?).

From this bottom-up, bow-on angle, combined with the paint scheme, eight Cubed appears to have the bottom of a rubber ducky bathroom toy.

Ah! Thats more like it. The familiar wide arse of a Mini-Transat 6.5.

You can see the odd split, blocky looking, almost comical cabin house with forward facing window in this photo of eight Cubed hanging in the shop before the initial launch.

A video of the start of the Mini-Fastnet. Winner David Raison in #865 with the distinctive blue jib can be seen starting about 56 seconds into the video and then at 2:20. 8-Cubed shows up at the 1:43 mark.

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Geezer Racing The Gentlemans Way

The formula:

1. Get a small two-man dinghy with, and this is important, NO SPINNAKER!
2. Make sure the wind is light so NO HIKING! (Well, maybe some leaning out is OK.)
3. Assign one geezer as PORT helmsman and the other as STARBOARD helmsman which eliminates any one person actually crossing the entire boat on tacks
4. Enjoy whatever the competition brings!

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