EDITORIAL.... Well it's really more a blog [I originally thought blog was the description of a mess of resin and filler given by somebody with a head cold].
Back in late May a good man who has helped a lot of people into their wooden boats passed away suddenly at home. Gordon of North Shore Marine and Plywood Supplies always had a happy face and a cheery hullo and could be counted upon to come up with goods you needed for your boat. It seems Gordon had been around plywood since they invented the product and in my time had worked for Sterlings in Devonport and been in business on his own as well. |
And at about the same time Babe, my best mate and Keeper of the Yard did not wake up one morning. Until I started night shift we had rarely been apart. I introduced her to trips away on Blue Jacket early last year and she became a fully qualified sea dog real quick. Over the years we travelled from North Cape to the Bluff and life is quite emply without her around. |
14th January 2006
The so called miracle breakthrough cascading style sheets which were going to allow me to create wonderful three column pages have proven to be a bloody headache. So back a step or two again. This page is created using some of the old and some of the new and I will be interested to know if they are coming through ok on your screens.
The problem with the 'new' Adobe handout was the way the columns collapsed if viewed on a small screen with the browser window narrowed down. If you have done that and all the graphics went south for the summer you will know what I meant. If you have never experienced the problem and am wondering why I bother its all about the lowest common denominator. I struggle to make these pages work for everybody.
I NOW HAVE TO GO BACK AND CHANGE ALL OF THE PAGES I HAD ALREADY CONVERTED. BUGGER. It may just be that my desire to make the webpages look like magazine pages e.g. photographs with text alongside them, may be the problem.
9th December 2005
The weather has taken a drastic change for the good which must mean it is time for everybody to go back to work. And bugger me, so it is.
Not that it mattered much to me. I seem to be getting wiser in some respects and for the past five or so years the conditions for holiday cruising have not been good.
Instead this year I have been working with the volunteer radio operators at Coastguard and Joan and I have been preparing the ground for a replacement deck on the front of the house.
If anybody out there wants a product comparison between a hand auger, a two person petrol driven posthole drill and a one man hydraulic posthole drill call me. In short if you are into self mutilation and sore muscles go for the hand driven job, if you really like to have all of the above with domestic disputes thrown in the two person drill is your choice. If you want to quickly knock the job over and put ten 600mm deep 350mm holes into clay in a couple of hours........
GO HYDRAULIC. I could have had a couple of days out in the boat had I not been so stupid and worked my may through all the options to get to the one that counted.
A 20hp 4 stroke engine on gimbles at left drives the wheels and a powerhead and the operator end. You have a forward and reverse gear for the wheels and a down and back throttle for the auger. The whole assembly can be tilted right or left to compensate for a slope. To operate you fit the drill of choice into the power head. Use forward and reverse to get the drill centred on your chosen spot and lean on the boom while operating the throtte for the power head. By variously angling the drill back and fro and lifting the drill out to clear spoil you can go down 600mm into solid clay in just 8 minutes. I got mine from Hire Pool and it cost $75.00 for a day. We needed it for just a few hours in the end. More time for boating.
13th November 2005
Blue Jacket returning from Sail Inn.This photograph by Jason Prew shows many of the changes I have made over the last year or so to make this boat mine. Please no emails about the shape of the main..... I am onto that and had the boom up to far and the mainsheet in too tight. We have the first reef in the main. You will note I am standing in the cockpit sailing and the tiller comes easy to hand. Feels really good to be able to sail like this. I have the space of a boat that seems to be 30 feet in length in one just 24 feet long. Joan is in the crew seat and behind me my jump seat is folded against the cockpit side. The black square on the cockpit face is a Garmin GPS172Chart and inside the hatch a Garmin depth sounder and my VHF radio. The outboard is a Yamaha 4 stroke 9.9 in its own well with remotes and electric start. There are two sheet winches on a sponson and just to the side of the cockpit three small winches. These control all the main halyards plus the topping lift.
Jasper
30th October 2005
Set out at dawn yesterday [we creek dwellers have to do our boating based on the tide tables] determined to spend a whole day just sailing in BJ. Yep right! Five hours of sweet bugger all wind so I motored over to Motutapu to look at an anchorage that had attracted my attention on the chart. It is not the sort of place you would ever expct the fleet to frequent but for all that it is going to be a nice place to return to when the wind is the the North East. There are still private places to go if you look for them.
Eventually the wind filled in and I set out to do some testiing on what was the America's Cup course area. But soon the sight of Billy Goat Point, Motutapu reminded me of the great battle I had fought in Naval Whalers trying to make this mark on the annual Diomede Cup races. Lots of tide to beat and a terrain that sort of melds into the background of the other islands.
Always better to learn about a boat's sailing peformance if you have a realistic challenge to face.
And we went quite well. You get frustrated in a cutter of this size as it is almost impossible to see how the jib is working. You have to come to grips with the fact that there is a sail setting that works over a fairly wide range of pointing angles, relax yourself and focus on boat speed.
The result was actually quite good. Today when I looked at the snail trail the very intelligent Garmin GPSChart 172 provided the tacking angles and VMG's looked good.
Once around the point it then became the enternal triangle of best wind angle against best tide flow and putting yourself in the right place to get the optimum tide flow to the point where an eventual gybe has given you a quick passge clear of interference from the land and a good shot at your next mark.
While the intention was to return to Milford Creek it became obvious that I would be luck to make it to the creek under sail alone. Islington Bay was beckoning again and it did not take too much thinking before the tiller went over and I was heading to 'my' anchorage. Drawing only 2'6" I get way further up the bay and well away from the 30 or 40 other craft that can be expected here at nights in summer time. They are way out there watching their TV and listening to their steros while I am in with Mother Nature.
Had a bit of a kip. Bit out of condition for working this boat for 10 hours straight on my own. On popping my head out of the hatch later in the afternoon I was greated with the sight of David Perillo [www.openboat.co.nz] in Jaunty, foredeck piled up with firewood and looking like one of those fireships that stood Lord Nelson so well. David was heading for the BBQ at the head of the bay [venue for our SAIL IN on the 12th November]. After dropping off the firewood Dave came alongside and we had a natter about things Woodenboat. Seems Paul was out there somewhere in Varuna and sure enough I soon spotted him out by Browns Island.
In time Dave headed out to meet him in Jaunty and I was given the opportunty to compare a Navigator with a Pathfinder. And I will bring you more on that subject.
Needless to say we gave the BBQ a test run and with an impending 4:30am wake up call to get back to the creek I had an early night.
This morning came on a sheet of glass that was mirror perfect. It was a real shame to rough it up with my motor but such had to be. An hour and a half later I was on the leads for Milford Creek and the completion of another month's sailing.
Certainly it has been a month with a lot more activity than there has been for years. I have been to Islington Bay for 4 of the weekends and according to the GPS I have travelled 186.7 nm. Think I put the new 172 in quite late in the month to.
I love this boat.
Jasper
Monday 25th October.
Back on terra firma after a great three day break. Well two and a half anyway.
Saturday dawned really shitty and out motor sail over to Waikalabubu was a quick one. As usual it was very quiet in there although the bay did fill up in the evening.
Spent a few hours stowing the boat. Always better to finish the job off away from home when coming out of a refit. Anything you have left behind becomes more obvious and can go into the notebook without any distractions.
Sunday dawned fine and warm but with no wind. Joan and I pottered along the coast line exploring all the nooks and crannies I became so familiar with during my sea kayaking days. We stopped off at Emu Cove which is only ever visited by kayakers these days. The old campsite I named Paradise is as wonderful as ever. But now the enjoyment police have erected a no camping sign which is a greater blot on the landscape than a small tent hidden out of sight under the trees ever was.
It was time for the first swim of the season following which I put in a call to the Vienna Boys Choir to see if there were any vacancies. Call us again in a couple of hours if you still qualify they said.
With plans on some walking and exploring around Rangitoto we motored around to the top end of Islington Bay. There were a few yachts and lauches over by the Yankee Wharf but at 'our end' just a few fizz boats which always have to be home for Romper Room.
Photo Not a lot of breeze yet... but nobody really wanted to go home anyway.
Loloma is a very tidy craft and Jason sails her well.
On with the tramping boots and a very refreshing 4 hours was spent on various tracks around Rangitoto.
While we were having a post walk kip, Jason Prew arrrived in his JJ O'Rouke 1909 built gaff cutter LOLOMA which is in pristine condition.
There was time for inspection of each others boats before tea time.
Monday dawned still and a bit chilly. There was a land breeze funnelling down the bay but it looked pretty flat outside.
A late breakfast saw both boats heading out around 1100 with a period spent motoring from patch of breeze to patch of breeze.
Jason had dragged something light out of his armoury and Blue Jacket which does not like anything under 1.5 knots of breeze struggled. Now and again the breeze filled in and we had a bit of boat speed on him.
It has been more than a few months since I had all the sails up and certain the first with a decently cut staysail on the furlers [thanks Lidgard Sails]. Had creases running in all directions in the main which always frustrates me.
All too soon Illoma and BJ parted company on different breezes and of course different destinations. Jason was heading over towards the city shore looking for the breeze which would take him home to the top of the harbour. We on the other hand were going in the other direction looking for the breeze in Rangitoto Channel which would get us to Milford Creek before we ran out of tide.
Jasper
Chemotherapy for Rot Check it out via the Workshop index That article was published on site earlier this year and has generated many favourable comments and has also generated the following:
I noticed you posted an American article on Rot in Wooden boats using Boron/Glycol formulas. We actually sell these products in liquid and paste form, have attached some info on our range. Can be bought from national distributors, eventually most hardware stores will carry the line. Kind Regards, ROD SIMMONDS Business Development Hometeam NZ Ltd