Mingming's Return...Roger Taylor makes it to 80° N

At Whitehills harbour prior to leaving

Lashed battens

Approaching southern Jan Mayen

Morning mist at Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen's southern cape

The headland Eggoya, central Jan Mayen

Fulmars at the base of Mt Beerenberg

Looking back along the east coast of Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen's North-east cape

Landfall at Spitsbergen!

Becalmed off Prinz Karls Forland

Midnight sky over Spitsbergen

Glassy calm off Spitsbergen

Brunnich's guillemots off Spitsbergen

The mother of all noon positions

2AM calm in the high Arctic

Hitch-hiker 150 miles west of Norway "juvenile white wagtail"

The entrance to Whitehills Harbour 24 hours after our arrival


all photos and captions courtesy Roger Taylor

Roger Taylor aka The Simple Sailor and his lovely little Mingming have returned from yet another summer cruise. This year Roger acheived a long standing goal, reaching a position of 80° North. Bear in mind as you read Roger's comments below that Mingming is a 21' Coribee with bilge keels and a junk rig. She has been heavily modified by Roger for singlehand sailing.
Here's Roger's synopsis of the voyage:



Left Whitehills harbour on the Moray Firth at 1700H on Thursday 23rd June. Sailed north through the Fair Isle Channel, heading first for Jan Mayen. We crossed the Arctic Circle a week later. A few hours after crossing into the Arctic the stitching in two seams on the third panel started to fail, no doubt as a result of chafe against the topping lifts. One of the seams was in a very difficult position to repair so I dispensed with that panel entirely, lashing two battens together. We had covered c.550 nautical miles at the time and so sailed the remainder of the 3000 mile voyage minus one panel. This probably
disadvantaged us a little in the extremely light airs we were to encounter further north.
We met our first period of very calm weather about 80 miles south of Jan Mayen, with six days of virtually no wind. On Monday July 4th, just after midday, 65 miles south-south-east of the South Cape of Jan Mayen, a yacht, motor sailing, overtook us about a mile on our starboard beam. We reached Jan Mayen on July 7th, after two weeks at sea. As last time, had a fantastic day sailing up the east coast. I had a proper chart of the island this time, so was able to go in a lot closer. Unfortunately Mt Beerenberg, the 7000’ volcano, was once again under cloud cover, so I did not see the summit.
Headed north-east from Jan Mayen, bound for Spitsbergen. Two days later a northerly gale knocked us down quite badly. I was in my bunk at the time and felt the mast go way beyond the horizontal. A lot of chaos inside, but the only damage was bent framing on the spray hood.
We made our landfall at Spitsbergen, at Prinz Karls Forland on the
north-west coast, on Wednesday 20th July, after 26 days at sea. Sailed north up the coast, making sure to keep beyond the 12-mile limit (the regulations for yachts sailing in Svalbard waters are draconian).
Fantastic views of the Spitsbergen mountains, stretching to Albert 1 Land in the north. At one point I counted 73 peaks. Several times encountered relatively (for these days) large concentrations of whales along the continental shelf, mainly fin, with some humpback, minke and at least one sei whale. This surfaced very close and I was able to identify it from the photos I took.
I carried on north, hoping for the right wind to make a dart for 80°N. Had to be careful here, as there would have been ice to the west and north, and land and ice to the east: a potentially awkward trap. After some concernwith a hard blow from the south-west, the wind settled at west-north-west, giving me the perfect angle to sail quickly north, then south again.
Reached 80°N at midday on Sunday July 24th, after just less than 31 days at sea and nearly 1600 miles of sailing. Turned immediately south and began the long haul home. I had intended to sail a westerly route, using the East Greenland current, and giving us another look at Jan Mayen. However a week of south-westerly headwind out paid to that, forcing me to sail the direct route home, and putting us into the north-going North Atlantic current. Eleven days of strong northerlies helped break the back of the return leg, bringing us to within striking distance of Viking. The weather turned very sour, with a constant mix of calms and headwinds. As we approached the Shetlands the weather systems became increasingly unstable, with depressions springing up all round and following unusual tracks. Finally got to within 20-30 miles of Whitehills and were once more becalmed. I was very concerned,
as the forecast was for extremely strong northerly winds – not what you want when approaching the south coast of the Moray Firth. A fortuitous mix of a light easterly followed by a moderate north-westerly enabled us to cover the last few miles and get safely into harbour before the storm struck. Within less than a day of tying up in Whitehills it was blowing Force 9 to 10 straight onshore.
The voyage took 65 days (31 days out, 34 days back) and we logged just over 3000 nautical miles. This was an interesting contrast to last year’s voyage to west Greenland, in which we covered over 4000 miles in about the same time. Mingming has now sailed nearly 20,000 miles in six years, mainly in high latitudes. I am now thinking seriously about giving her a well-earned rest!

Congratlations to Roger and Mingming on another fantastic voyage, a great achievement.

Original post Thomas Armstrong @ 70.8%

Roger Taylor and Mingming prepare for their summer cruise

Mingming and Roger

Approaching Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen Island

Whales!

Roger and Mingming arrive at Praia da Vitoria, Azores, in the 2008 Jester Challenge


all photos courtesy Roger Taylor

Those of you familiar with this blog will recognize Roger and Mingming. For those new to70.8%, you'll find some background here and here. I knew Roger would be preparing for his annual cruise and hoped I hadn't waited to long to write. I wrote him a couple of days to ask what he's planning for this summer and here's his reply:

"Hi Thomas
Just caught me in time! I leave with Mingming for Scotland, by road, on Sunday, bound once more for Whitehills on the Moray Firth. Another northern voyage this year, the target being 80°N, to the north-west of Spitsbergen. On the way I intend to visit Jan Mayen once again, with the hope that I might be able to catch the island in clear weather and get a proper view of the 7000’ volcano Mt Beerenberg. If things go well I should have plenty of time in hand, and may also nose around the islands of south-east Svalbard and stick my nose into the Barents Sea.

The other main news is that both my books are coming out soon in Russian. Voyages of a Simple Sailor is now at the printers, and the Russian translation of the second book is almost complete. I’ve had great fun working with the translator, a retired Russian merchant master mariner (fortunately I am reasonably fluent in Russian). Looks too as if both books will be published in French before long.

Have a good summer (I should be back mid-August)."

Roger's boat, Mingming is a tiny vessel for the enormously ambitious cruises he undertakes. His ability to cruise to such destinations and come back safely is a testament both to the seaworthiness of Mingming as he has modified her and his consummate seamanship, won at great cost. Look for a lengthy report on this summer's cruise around the end of August.

Luck be with him.

Roger's website is here.

Sprouting Seeds...

Mike Wick

Mike Wick's Melonseed, aptly named Pepita, scandalising sail at the basin of the ISM, during the 2009 Wooden Boat Festival in Philly

Mike is building another Melonseed, this one with some design modifications he wanted to implement after his experieince with Pepita.

above photos thomas armstrong

Mike is introducing camber to the deck, visible here in the model, hoping to achieve a drier sail.

The new boat is a Cortez Melonseed, I think drawn by Roger Allen of the Florida Maritime Museum at Cortez, FL, with the hull built from a kit by the FMM by Ted Cook.

Mike is finishing the boat himself.

these photos courtesy John Guidera via Mike Wick

Barry Long

scribing the skeg

one of the completed hulls

both boats half stripped

Set up, keelson, stem and transom in place, twelve strips on each boat

Two at once.

Steam bent stems cooling.

And set up.

Two full sets of molds laid out.

Setting up the strongbacks for the work to proceed upon.

Barry first saw a Melonseed in an historic photo, and the boat grabbed his imagination, but it wasn't until years later that he saw this boat in MD and began his research in earnest. A year later he'd finally identified the Melonseed.

all photos in this segment courtesy Barry Long

Melonseeds evolved in the Mid Atlantic region and there's been a revival of interest in these boats in recent years. Howard Chapelle wrote about and surveyed these boats and they are included in American Small Sailing Craft, the bible for those interested in traditional American small craft. Although this revival is mainly centered in the home waters of this boat type, the popularity of the Melonseed has spread to other areas, the Midwest, the Deep South and the Northeast, at least.
Two friends of mine are currently building or finishing Melonseeds and I wanted to write about these elegant small sailboats. There's a Melonseed Yahoo group and I wrote to them inviting members to submit their build photos and text, more of that later.
Mike Wick is a fellow member of the Delaware River TSCA group and is a Melonseed devotee. Mike is a prolific boatbuilder and collecter, and has a livery of around 13 boats. He recently sold his lovely Oughtred McGregor sailing canoe to a friend up in the Thousand Island area, in an attempt to lighten his load. He's currently finishing out his second Melonseed. This one is to a design by Roger Allen, head of the Florida Maritime Museum in Cortez, Florida. Dubbed the Cortez Melonseed, an original strip planked hull was built by Mike Lucas, which he gave to Mike, who used it as a male mold for a cold molded hull, seen in the photos.That done, Mike pooped off his hull and passed it on to Roland Anderson who took over the original hull to build another melonseed. The model Mike is using to work out his deck modifications is a lazer-cut kit made by Ted Cook and are available from the Florida Maritime Museum. As seen in the photos of the model, above, Mike is making some modifications, mainly building in a camber to the deck to make his boat a drier sail. Mike's other seed Pepita was designed by John Brady and built by Carl Weissenger, and is a gem of a small boat.

Barry Long set himself an ambitious project. The Virginia based graphic designer and photographer decided, after falling in love with the Melonseed, to build a brace of seeds, one for himself and one for his better half. He's basically done that, but is still adding the finishing touches. He's also chronicled his build on a weblog, which has to be the most detailed, erudite, well written and photographed build blog I have ever encountered. Build blogs can get a little dry, but not so with Barry's, which is interspersed with amusing and enlightening asides, a host of informative comments from his followers and witty, introspective, informative and insightful commentary on the building process. Not to be missed! Barry seems to be completing the dual project and I've pushed him to get the pair done for the October MASCF in St, Michaels this year, owing to my completely selfish desire to sail one, or both of his sprouts this Autumn. I anyone reading this can make this annual celebration, I highly recommend you do so! Also, Barry's photos here will be best read from he bottom up. There are tons more photos at Barry's website.

Two Arrivals

Alessandro was towed into harbor, his engine disabled for the record attempt.

Ebullience!

Alessandro looks happy to be home!

Plastiki in Sydney Harbor with the iconic Opera Hall in the background

David de Rothschild

Plastiki crew, seemingly also ebullient.

the escort

my apologies to the photographers whose images are represented here for my failure to credit

Two arrivals, two goals accomplished. I'd like to congratulate each of these dreamer/doers.

First, Alessandro di Benedetto completed his circumnavigation, smallest boat around nonstop and unassisted, recognized by the powers that be of such things. An impressive, possibly amazing achievement, aboard his Mini 6.50. Dismasted during his initial attempt at Cape Horn, and expected by all watchers to retire, Alessandro persevered, jury rigged, and got on round.
Time taken by Alessandro Di Benedetto to make his trip around the world in the Mini 6.50 sailboat: 268 days 19 hours 36 minutes and 12 seconds. Applaud. He returned to Les Sable d' Olonne to fanfare, with his mom Anne Marie Di Benedetto there on the docks for his arrival. Anne Marie handled much of the logistics for the attempt, and was the email liaison which allowed me, and others, to communicate with Alessandro in the midst of his journey. See my initial post here.
Alessandro made it back to Les Sables on 7/22/2010. My personal congrats to Alessandro and Anne Marie

Brad Hampton of Yacht Pals wrote about the journey, here's an excerpt from after the dismasting:

On April 2, after receiving word from his team, YachtPals reported that Alessandro would have to make for land in Chile. And then a few hours later, we had to retract that statement. Alessandro had notified shore support that he was going to try to jury rig his boat, AND SAIL AROUND CAPE HORN! We double- and triple-checked. Was he serious? Was he crazy? Cape Horn is the nastiest patch of water on the planet, and most sailors wouldn't round it on a perfectly sound boat. Yes, he was serious, and maybe crazy too! But ever-so-slowly, Di Benedetto approached and then rounded Cape Horn, after which he pointed his bow for home.



The final trip across the Atlantic was slow, and held many challenges, but Alessandro crept along, persistently making headway while many YachtPals members watched his progress via his route tracker, fingers crossed for his success. We are now happy to report that Alessandro Di Benedetto has arrived back at his starting point after nearly nine months at sea. Pending WSSRC ratification, he will hold the official world record for a non-stop circumnavigation aboard the smallest boat in history. Bravo Alessandro! When sailors tuck their children into bed at night, they will tell your story, using words like bravery, persistence, and hero.

by Brad Hampton for YachtPals.com

David de Rothschild had a very different dream, and project. He set out to raise awareness of our degredation of the oceans, to see and document the almost mythical swirl of detritus forming an 'island' in the Pacific, and to do this with a boat built almost entirely of recycled material. To sail across the Pacific from the US to Australia. He managed the crossing, despite some harsh weather, and judging from the media attention to his landfall in Sydney, he'll certainly achieve his goal of consciousness raising. Whether it will have any real impact on how we treat our oceans is impossible to judge today, one can only hope. His catamaran, Plastiki, incorporated tens of thousands of plastic bottles built into the hull as structural and flotation elements. The boat has many other environmentally friendly adaptations, to wit, in the words of her creator:

"The Plastiki was nothing if not ambitious. We wanted bicycles that would generate electricity, a hydroponic garden, water stills, vacuum de-salinators, a composting toilet, solar panels, wind turbines, regenerative electric propulsion, satellite communications and pretty much anything else that constituted an innovative sustainable “system”. She was to be a floating showroom of non-emitting futurist ideas that were simple, elegant and wholly attainable."

Plastiki arrived in Sydney harbor on the 26th of July to great fanfare and media attention. Hopefully David will be able to leverage his success into increased awareness and eventual action. It's really nice to see someone who knows how to use wealth, bravo David, we expect to hear more from you.

Now where's that plastic bag?

Frank Dye passes

Frank Dye 1964

courtesy United States Wayfarer Association

Frank Dye, Toronto 1999

courtesy Wayfarer International Committee

June 2008

courtesy
wayfarerjoller.dk

© Frank Dye
courtesy National Maritime Museum, Cornwall

'This is Frank and Margaret Dye with their tent equipped Wayfarer at Beale Park. Frank was about the first person to have the idea of using a Wayfarer dinghy for long distance cruising and over the years has made amazing trips to Norway and Iceland and also in Canada. Margaret is also a keen sailor and has made done some pretty adventurous sailing on her own account.'


courtesy Hostellers Sailing Club

Wayfarers with Dye style tents, Suffolk, UK
unattributed

Frank Dye passed away, peacefully it is said, May 16, 2010, at the age of 82. He had a rich and rewarding life, at least looking from here. He is survived by his wife, Margaret, who shared many of his adventures. The Dyes are legendary sailors. Their collective contribution to small boat cruising is immense. Frank and Margaret's contribution, though in many ways practical, is in my opinion mostly conceptual in that it redefined the possible. Frank's cruises to Iceland and Norway, documented in Ocean Crossing Wayfarer, written by Margaret working from Frank's logs, is a seminal piece of work which has inspired and opened the imaginations of small boat sailors worldwide. Another, ater book, Sailing at the Edge of Fear, recounts the couples adventure sailing from Florida to Maine, over several seasons, surviving a hurricane and eventually sailing into the Great Lakes. Margaret has also written an instructive and insightful guide/treatise on small open boat cruising titled Dingy Cruising, informative and exhaustive, very detailed, if a little dated.
All this was accomplished in the 15ft 10in Wayfarer dinghy, designed by Ian Proctor. Some eulogists have equated Frank's epic journeys to those of Shackleton and Bligh. In fact, the Dye's original wooden Wayfarer is housed in Britain's National Maritime Museum bracketed by exhibits on Dame Ellen McCarthur and Shackleton.

The first book I ever read on sailing adventure was the Dye's 'Ocean Crossing Wayfarer'. I found it provacative and astonishing. I think their legacy is that together and alone, they have reimagined the posssible for what one could accomplish in a small open sailboat and have provided guidance to anyone seeking to cruise, at any level, in such boats. Considered together, Frank and Margaret have produced a sort of small boat sailing genius. On a hunch I wrote Webb Chiles to inquire whether he had been influenced by Frank's exploits when setting out to circumnavigate in his 19' open Drascombe Lugger Chidiock Tichborne. His reply:

"Of Frank Dye, although we never met, I was of course aware of him, and his voyage was one of those that did lead my thoughts toward my open boat voyage. Some others were TINKERBELL, and the voyage in a wooden Drascombe Lugger by two men, whose names escape me, from the U.K. to Australia, although I seem to recall they shipped it from the Med to somewhere in India because of problems in the Middle East. Such voyages made me consider how to expand the limits of what is possible. I think that Frank Dye made a great and original voyage."

Bravo, Frank, thanks, and ...congratulations on a life well lived!