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Portsoy's Scottish Traditional Boat Festival

Craig o' Kinaird, Anstruther Coigach Lass, Achilitibuie Icebreaker, Portobello

Though not really apparent in this photo, Lass is here pulling ahead of North Berwick's St Baldred

The 'buieites hard at work on their re-hydration scheme

Lassies, currach, Lass et al

Coigach Lass and Icebreaker hauled out in Portsoy's inner harbour, with a backdrop of what appears to be an enchanting village.

Adrian Morgan of Viking Boats with Leslie Muir, author of Coigach Lass. Adrian has stated elsewhere that he is doing penance as a boatbuilder for his years spent as a sailing journalist, but he doesn't appear too penitential here.

I wrote to Chris Perkin's (see below) to inquire about this rather interesting little boat, and was surprised and delighted with his response:

Thomas,

I like your eye!

That's 'Jig', my friend Ken Lowndes, from Polbain, home made dinghy. She is a fibreglass lay-up over an old working boat ( IIRC from an Orkney builder) that was dead on the beach, She isn't the most highly polished of boats, has a long keel so in theory didn't ought to do as well a modern stuff with high aspect foils etc. - but Ken still sails rings round the opposition each Portsoy. The rig is home made as well - a Tyveck paper sail painted with fence paint to give the Tan effect, alu mast with carpet roll bamboo canes as spars.
Ken was in large part responsible for the excellent finish on 'Coigach Lass', painting in very warm conditions in the old Hydroponicum in 'buie - really a giant greenhouse which was great in the winter but once solar gain became significant became a tad tropical.
Have attached a few more of Jig at Portsoy in June for interest. The three mast behind is 'Bien Trouve' a Bantry Bay Gig built for the Atlantic Challenge programme. She took best at show - deservedly. I spent a bit of chip space snapping her.

Cheers
Chris

Loch Broom Sailing Club Regatta

Chris Perkin's lovely Oughtred McGregor sailing canoe Scotch Mist. Chris, a veteran builder of Oughtred designs is an ardent supporter of the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project. He's known around the world to fan's of his weblog,... as strathanchris. Chris is a hydrophobe who rarely sails his own creations, but for all that a very accomplished boatbuilder and a keen observer of the UK mall boating scene. He's responsible for all the photos here and I owe him a deep debt of gratitude.

Loch Broom hosted a 'Try the skiff' evening on Friday before the hoopla. Here are some folks trying out Ulla.

Here, the crew from Coigach give Ulla a try.

Reciprocated with a turn in the Lass try by Ulla crew.

I'd forgotten how majestic Loch Broom can be. Here's Ulla and tender at the boat ramp.

And finally, Lass pulling away from Ulla in one of the races to take the win.


All photos courtesy Chris Perkins, aka strathkanchris, thanks Chris

It seems the crews from my beloved Coigach penninsula are proving hard to beat in the Coastal rowing matches. At least, they've come home with a win both at Portsoy and Loch Broom (Ullapool). Fantastic! I've lost count a little, whether it was the men's crew here, the women's crew there, the mixed crew anywhere. No matter, you can sort it out for yourselves at the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project's website. While their wins are warming to me, what is more warming is seeing how these Scot's communities are embracing the project. It seems the events are rapidly escalating into mini festivals on their own, with great community backing and interest. Of course this is what the organizers of the project were trying to engender, but I'm betting the enthusiasm displayed is a surprise even to them. The project is building momentum. It's a great way to promote community and awareness of traditional boat culture. As I said at the commencement of the project, I think it has global implications for any local culture where boats were a part of the local economy. Witness Jonny Nance in St. Ives, who has completed his second Jumbo replica for racing. Whether taking sail or oar as the paradigm, this is an achievable idea for most communities, though rowing is likely more accessible. Certainly almost all coastal communities worldwide, and many inland communities as well, have traditional boat models which could be revived for such a project, and converted to modern techniques for easier construction, by a competent designer.

While I'm sure these races are hard fought and narrowly won, I think the real message here is not who wins, who loses, but the bigger picture of communities coming together, sharing traditional cultures and knowing each other a bit better for the experience. My ope would be to see this idea snowball globally, engendering a respect for bringing tradition forward by respecting the genius of the past and creating new connections and new traditions.

That said, my real and fervent hope would be that awareness of traditional boats could lead to the possibility of a return to fishing under sail and oar, which could be an immense boon to struggling fish populations by limiting catch without artificial limits being imposed. It may sound whacky, but it's more sustainable, and we desperately need sustainable fishing.

OK that's my rant for the day. Thanks to Chris Perkins and to Leslie Muir, and thanks to all those, each and every one, involved in the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project, and in particular, Iain Oughtred for designing the St. Ayles and Alec Jordan for producing affordable kits.

Mystic Miscellany

Harpoon points in the window at the Ironmongers Shop, Mystic Seaport.

The centerpiece of Mystic's restoration projects, the Charles W Morgan. Billed as the last (traditional) whaling ship in the world, the Morgan is projected to be on the water by 2012. Ambitious.

Seeing the boat from the ground up, she appears enormous, immense.

In fact, she is large, though once you've climbed the stairs to her deck, she's not quite so overwhelming. LOA 133', LOD 105'. Her beam is 27.7' and her draft (depth) is 12.6 feet, although fully loaded she could draw as much as 17.6', her registered depth. Her displacement (weight) is 313.75 tons.

The F0c'sle

Stores at Mystic

At the show John and I met vendor Met Chandler, well really his wife Mo, Met does some interesting maritime blacksmithing. Located in West Chester PA, about 20 minutes from my home, I'm sorry to say they are in the process of moving to NH, though that probably makes sense for them. Met offer's hand forged sail hanks, caulking irons, marlinspikes and rigging knives, among other items. Nice work. Web presence here.

Rigging knives,sail hanks and marlinspikes, all hand forged.

Someone from Beaton's Boatyard, Tom or Suzanne, took this wonderful photo of Silent Maid.

Kingston Lobster Boat built by David McCullouh. David
allows he's built 13 or 14 boats. You can view several of them here.

Apparently there are plans available both from Mystic and the Smithsonian under the name Annie B Fuller
I think this photo is of the fish well, probably filled with lobster in the working boat.

This rather compelling canoe yawl was there on Saturday, gone on
Sunday.

Named Kit, there was no info and I never found the owner. Here brother John inspects the rudder.

Working our way through the IBIM display ( I built it myself ), John and I chanced upon Brooke Hayward and his Delaware Ducker Wooduck.

John and I had met Brooke at last autumn's MASCF, held in
St Michaels Md, at the Chesapeake Bay Mariime Museum.

At that time, Brooke was planking the boat in the museum's boatyard. See that here. You'll need to scroll down a bit. As opposed to many of the boats we saw at the WBS,Brooke, very sensibly decided to finish his traditionally planked lapstrake Ducker with ply decks covered withe painted canvas which give a non skid surface at lower cost. This is the approach I would take for any boat I might build.

And finally, here's Steven Bauer's little IO designed HumbleBee, lauchned at the boat show and undergoing her sea trials in the Connecticut River. She'll serve as tender to Steve and his lovely wife Michelle's Al Mason designed Ostkust, sailing out of Portland, ME. Steve and Mary, friends of Russ and Julia Mannheimer, were at my table for the Iain Oughtred Tribute and it was a pleasure meeting and talking with them.

photo courtesy Steven Bauer

That's all folks, pretty much a wrap on my weekend at the WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport for this year, stay tuned for next. I was enthralled by my weekend in Mystic. This is a great boat show, and some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Kudos to WoodenBoat for sponsering and Mystic Seaport for hosting this event. I got my money's worth and a lot more. Please, if it's relevant to you, support WB with a subscription and Mystic Seaport with a membership. I plan to be there next year and I hope to meet you there.

An aside here. My fellow blogger and good e-friend Michael Bogogger has been elected or appointed president of the National TSCA, the Traditional Small Craft Association. This is a rewarding group to be a member of. I'm not a joiner or club type, but the TSCA is unlike any 'club' I've ever run across. For the small boat enthusiast in the US, there is no parallel. If you are resident in the US, and you like small boats, please join.

Sam Johnson Demonstrates

Sam getting things fired up.

He's always moving, constantly explaining.

His little furnace is homemade, a five gallon metal bucket modified for the purpose and lined with refactory material, fueled by a propane jet.

Sam explaining the two part flask, a container for the sand mold. In the corner looking on is Tom Jackson, senior editor @ WB publications.
Today I read Tom's article in the 2009 Small Boats by WB about the Frederickssund Jolle collected by Christian Nielsen. This boat is featured in the out of print Wooden Boat Designs (english version) which had an introduction by Jon Wilson, founder of WoodenBoat. Tom's article is right on point, she's a wonderful boat, among many in the collection of drawings at the Danish Maritime Museum. There is a cantankerous CD offered by the Museum which has all the boats surveyed by Nielsen. My favorite is an18' ish sailing pram, but if you go to the trouble to find the book or buy the CD, I'm sure you'll find your own favorite among these incredible Danish boats.

Here he's fitting the cope to the drag, upper and lower pieces of the flask.

The mold is executed using oiled sand tamped in aroung the dersired object. I was so taken with the pentimento effect of this stage heightened by the white powder that is a parting compound, that I forgot to take a photo, this was generously supplied by fellow blogger John Almberg who writes The Unlikely Boatbuilder. John must have been standing next to me during a portion of the demo, but we didn't recognize each other as fellow bloggers.

More of the process for preparing the mold here,

Here,

And here.

Mold done and in place, Sam checks the color of the molten bronze, not using a thermometer, but his knowledge and experience, his eye.

He's using an iron rod to skim debris from the surface of the melted bronze which is in a small crucible.

The pour!

The molten bronze is filling the cavity in the mold.

After letting it cool a bit, Sam separates cope and drag...

...and extracts the still hot piece from the mold.

Cope and drag with the casting removed. I find these very compelling images, a result of the process but to me they read as wonderful drawings.

Viola, the newly minted silicon bronze oarlock!

In a matter of minutes Sam is on to the next casting, here sprueing a mold for the sockets the oarlocks will fit into.


all photos Thomas Armstrong except where noted

First thing Sunday last at the WoodenBoat show was a demonstration of backyard bronze casting techniques by Sam Johnson. Sam has worn many hats in his lifetime, he's a boatbuilder, a foundryman, a teacher. He currently maintains a shop in Seattle, but is also the director of the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, OR. He also teaches workshops on bronze casting for boatbuilders at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle and at the WoodenBoat School. Sam's teaching style is energetic and informative. He neatly demystified the previously esoteric process of sand casting mold making and pouring in his hour long demo. Having long stood on the fringes, this demo reignited my interest in this craft and empowered me to believe it would be within my grasp. That's what good teaching is all about.
While it's a little hard to imagine the affable and voluble Sam Johnson in business attire attending a board meeting, I'd be willing to bet he's no less formidable in the board room than he is engaging and didactic in the the teaching environment. It was a pleasure to meet you Sam, and thanks for some insight and inspiration.
I'd like to say that a far more coherent, instructive and lucid account of this demo can be found at John Alberg's The Unlikely Boatbuilder.