22nd annual WoodenBoat Festival at Mystic Seaport .3

Around the Seaport

The 28' sandbagger 'Annie' was built by D. O. Richmond about a half mile downriver from the Seaport in 1880 and came to Mystic in 1931 as the first boat in a collection that now numbers over 500 craft. Much more of her story here.

'Aida' is a 33' keel/centerboard yawl built in 1926 by the Herreschoff Mfg. Co., designed by N. G. Herreschoff.
 

Recently restored by Doug Hylan in Brooklin, ME. More about 'Aida' here.

'Aida' is the most recent addition to the Seaport's fleet. There's a beautiful book about 'Aida' written by Maynard Bray available in the Seaport's bookstore.

The 'CW Morgan' in the water, on her cradle, "taking up" ie swelling her planks to a tight fit before her launch this Sunday, July 21, 2013.

A view to give a taste of the immensity of this ship.

Continuing the theme of immensity, here are some of the spars waiting in the wings for rigging the ship. She'll be rigged after the launch.

By way of supreme contrast, here's the microcruiser Scamp, a joint project of The Small Craft Advisor and noted NZ boat designer John Welsford.

? Found art
 

Higher ups aboard the 'Joseph Conrad'

Jon Wilson, the creator of WoodenBoat Magazine. We had a short chat and Jon informed me that while he's still at WoodenBoat almost daily, he is also deeply involved as director of a non-profit called JUST Alternatives which mediates victim/offender dialogue. There is an in depth article about this man with a foot in two worlds from Yankee Magazine, well worth your time.

Ben Fuller, "Living National Treasure" ( he'll no doubt hate that). Ben's an avid small boat advocate and member of the TSCA. Ben is the Curator at Penobscot Marine Museum (look into their extensive photo archives) and a former Curator at Mystic. He's also the owner of 'Ran Tan', more of which later. Here he's chatting with John Harris of CLC.

Coasting Schoooner 'Austraila' was built in 1862 on Long Island. She served as a blockade runner based in the Bahamas during the Cival War, and consequentially spent over 60 years in the Chesapeake hauling goods.

Later she was acquired by the DuPont family as their yacht, and was donated to Mystic in 1951. In 1961 she was hauled for refit but the damage at that time was too great, she was retired to a shed on campus as an educational exhibit. Read more..,

'Breck Marshall' is a reproduction Cape Cod catboat c.1900, built at  Mystic in 1987 and  in use today as an excursion boat for museum visitors. More...

The John Gardner Small Craft Workshop is held most years at Mystic as part of the WoodenBoat Festival. It is situated on Australia beach, adjacent to the 'Australia's shed and directly in front of the John Gardner Small Craft workshop, still in use, building small craft in the Gardner tradition. John was a visionary historian and teacher. He is credited with saving many American small craft from obscurity and as a key figure in the wooden boat revival. He served as Associate Curator of Small Craft at Mystic Seaport from 1969 to 1995. The workshop is held as a collaboration between Mystic Seaport, WoodenBoat Magazine and The Traditional Small Craft Association.

Good night, Mystic Seaport
 

A quick sail aboard 'Ran Tan'

'Ran Tan' is a modified wherry, drawn by Antonio Dias. imagined and owned by Ben Fuller.
 

Ben brought 'Ran Tan' down for the John Gardner Small Craft Workshop, which operates a livery under the auspices of the TSCA. Here you can try any of the offered boats, no charge.

Ran Tan is Irish slang for a sort of walkabout, according to Tony.

Tony is a friend and invited myself and brother John for a sail.
 

John's duty was to watch for other craft, especially where the sail blocked Tony's view. I, being considerably heftier, was assigned to be moving ballast. The boat is very light (200lbs.), and lively, so I was moving around quite a bit trying to keep her on the flat.

Antoino at the helm.
 

Sailing past the 'Morgan'

Tony and John back at the dock after a fun sail. I do not have lot's of experience in small craft and it was enlightening. Antonio Dias is a truly multifaceted man, artist, talented designer and writer, take a look at his website. Thanks, Tony. You can read an earlier post on this blog about Tony and his boat designs here.


Text and photos copyright Thomas Armstrong, first posted on 70.8%

22nd annual WoodenBoat Festival at Mystic Seaport .2

St. Ayles Skiffs and 'Sephira'

Just below the far shoreline are two horizontal dashes, above the green buoy. That's a pair of St. Ayles skiffs having at it.

Here they are again, the nearer skiff is Canada's 'Sea Shadow' and an American boat, the 'William H Shipp' is just passing those pillings. At this point the crews have switched boats, I believe.  'The Joseph Conrad' in the background.

The crews gathered on the docks after racing, with the Apprenticeshop's whaleboat in the foreground.

A boat of a different color, the Sephira is a modified St Ayles. Also called the Musical Ark, she is rigged to be played like a harp and sing to whales. Interesting project, to say the least! 

As I write this the Skiffie Worlds are in full swing in Ullapool, on the northwest coast of Scotland. The St Ayles skiffs are an Iain Oughtred design, lapstrake ply rowing boats, expressly conceived for the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project. The initial idea was for communities to build their boats and compete with other communities. It took off like wildfire. There are now over 50 boats in Scotland and the project has spread to North America, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. The boats are built from cnc kits which interested groups purchase and the build themselves. For those who would like to dig a little deeper, there's loads of info here.

The sole competitor at the worlds from North America is an entry from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. But she's not the only St Ayles from the US in Ullapool. Also attending, but not competing, is 'Sephira', aka the Musical Ark. I was informed about this project by Alec Jordan, whose company Jordan Boats supplies the kits in the UK. Alec was in Mystic for the show, and though I'd corresponded with him in the past when writing about the project, we'd never met. I also met Gardner Pickering of Hewes & Company, the kit suppliers for North America.  Alec was very keen for me to write about the Ark, as it was defaying some of the expense involved in traveling to Ullapool with a kickstarter. I'm pleased to say that they reached their goal Friday afternoon but are still open for business into tomorrow if you'd like to get involved. This is an "insanely great" project and must see.
Also must see is Alec's report on the North American St Ayles Championship, the pair of boats pictured above, one from Picton, Ontario and the other from the Renbrook School near Mystic.





I Built It Myself

 Scott Matthews brought his lovely Arctic Tern.

 

This Oughtred design is a bit slimmer and lighter than a Ness, and a bit faster as well.

Phil Bacon lounging in his Caledonia Yawl

Rudder detail

Phil is pleased with the workboat finish, and I agree, better to sail than sand and varnish.

  Leonard  Rollins brought his restored Old town square stern lake canoe.

1940 Johnson power

Big Green dates from 1928 and was a total restoration

Another Oughtred design, this Ness Yawl was built by Walt Kangas

great attention to detail

Tulli

'The Cat'

Piero Biancani built a lovely power catamaran.

 Yet another Oughtred design, this one a Whilly Boat.

 Again we see a sensible workboat finish, this by Aaron Ward who trailed his boat all the way from east Texas.

All photos and text copyright Thomas Armstrong, with the exception of the Musical Ark

Always a favorite of mine at the Festival is the I Built it Myself green. The boats are invariably immaculate and finely detailed. This year seemed to be dominated by Iain Oughtred designs and it's a pleasure to see some of the less built boats such as the Arctic Tern and the Whilly Boat. I've included four Oughtred boats here but there were two or three more. A highlight of this exhibit is the chance to chat with the owner/builders, a pleasure. I'm already curious as to what will show up next year. 

 

originally posted by Thomas Armstrong on 70.8%

21st WoodenBoat Show @ Mystic Seaport_Family Boatbuilding et al.

Concours d'elegance 

 

Willow ribbed skin on frame,

skillfully wrought with exquisite detail.

Hillary Russell is the coordinator at the Berkshire Boat Building School. His willow ribbed skin on frame double paddle canoe (his design) took top honors in the professional class.

John Gardner Small Craft Workshop

Lots of activity, and lots of boats, at the reinstated workshop!

Clint Chase docking a Ducker.

A welcome surprise was this proa by Paul Soban.

Finely kitted out

Looks a bit like a Gary Dierking T2

I built it myself  

Nesting boats!

The skin on frame above, a Monfort design, fits nicely into this ply boat. Both are beautifully constructed. Now where's that brochure?!

Michael Shari brought this captivating little Firefly.

The National Firefly is an Uffa Fox design, originally built by Fairey Marine.

Family Boatbuilding

Chesapeake Light Craft offered the elegant Sassafras canoe.

B&B Yacht Designs brought the sprightly Mandy

Graham Byrnes, owner of B&B, with accomplice.

A lot of boats, and a lot of activity.

Teamwork!

A rather large toolbox

Carl Cramer distributing varnish

Planing

As of Sunday afternoon, all had finished hulls.

Sanding,

and more sanding.




And a little more...

Ed Greiner and Bud McIntire were down from the upper peninsula, Michigan, representing the Great Lakes Boat Building School. They were also our dinner companions at the tribute dinner and added to our enjoyment of the evening.

They trailered this stunning inboard launch, built entirely by students at the school. It's a Paul Gartside design, #117, carvel construction. 

These two St Ayles skiffs were built, and are being raced, as part of WoodenBoats' BARC program.The program involves high school students in building and racing this Iain Oughtred design and was inspired by the example of the 
Scottish Coastal Rowing Project.

My third year at this show and it's always a treat! The Family Boatbuilding program seems to increase exponentially every year. Next year they will likely need a larger large tent.

Seeing the incredible work being done vis a vis the Morgan restoration is inspiring. I met up with Graham McKay of Lowell's Boat Shop and he's planning to begin a whaleboat for the Morgan in October. As of the show he said he was 70% funded, but has a little more to go, help if you can.

A big round of thanks to Mystic Seaport, WoodenBoat and all the participants for another great show.

Originally posted on 70.8% by Thomas Armstrong