28th Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival

I find this old Chesapeake Deadrise one of the most elegant creations I have ever seen, even in her current state and am drawn to the CBMM 'small' boat shed on every visit.

I am also drawn to the apprentice boatshop, there's always something of interest there.

This years interest was a Finger Lakes trout fishing boat, from Lake Keuka, brought in by Dan Sutherland, head boatbuilder at the museum, for a bit of repair/restoration.

The trout boat is having her frames replaced in white oak, with new bronze fastenings replacing the sick old iron ones, the original northern white cedar planks are being retained. Thanks to John Hutchinson, the apprentice on duty, for a nice chat about her.

One of the nicest boats of the day was this Herreschoff Coquina, Calico Jack,
brought down from the Springfield MA area by Scott LaVertue. My friend, new to boats, declared this her favorite boat of the day. I'd say she has a good eye.

Pulling into the dock looking just great, Coqina's seem to be meticulously cared for by their owners, who all seem to share her maker's opinion off her, that being Nathaniel Herreschoff himelf. Nat declared Coquina to be his favorite boat.

She's quite lovely

Here's Scott's dad Bob LaVertue cleaning his glasses after a slight mishap (capsize) with Pretty Jane during the all craft free for all 'race'. Bob is the genius behind the Springfield Fan & Centerboard Co. Long time sailing canoe fan, Bob commissioned Everett Smith to build Twilight years ago, in the 1970's.

Here's Bob's friend Dan Sutherland, another sailing canoe aficionado out of the Clayton, NY school. Dan is resident at the CBMM as head boatbuilder.

Dan's sailing canoe is looking a little more canoeish than most decked sailing canoes.
Formerly owner of of Sutherland Boat & Coach in Hammondsport, NY, I have an inkling that Dan is one of the foremost builders of decked sailing canoes today. For instance, see this.

Buna Mon I Ya is a Crotch Island Pinkey and a perennial participant here.

Built in 1974 by her designer Peter Van Dine, he's owned by George and Marla Surgent

Pete Lesher with a bit of heritage. Pete's the family custodian for this boat originally built by his great uncle, if I got it right.Built to a design by George Washington Sears, aka 'Old Nessmuk' , guru of the Adirondacks and the return to the woods movement around the turn of the 19th C. Sears, if I'm not mistaken, based his work on the lines of Rushton's Sairy Gamp.
This canoe was built by none other than Mr. C. Lowndes Johnson, the creator of the Comet Class boat.

Pete is the Curator at the CBMM, nd here he's about to launch his canoe with the help of co-worker Dan Sutherland

A delicate, almost ephemeral design, yet sound enough

for Pete to venture out with his very young daughter

There's a museum installation which recreates the style of camping pursued by the canoe enthusiasts of that time, and background on an extended cruise undertaken by Lowndes Johnson & co. Pete has said he will forward me some of the logs from that journey, watch for the story here.

C. Lowndes Johnson's class boat beauty, the Comet, intended to be a smaller version of the Star class.

Tim Shaw, author of Chine Blog, looking happy to have his skin on frame outrigger canoe AL DEMANY CHIMAN in the water.

Mike Wick showed up this year with his lovely Pepita, always a favorite.

Barry Long's Melonseed Caesura, one of a pair he's building for himself and his better half. I'm guessing the first one finished is his, at least until the second improves on the lessons learned on the first. Both boats are almost finished, and the workmanship more than impressive. Barry has been writing a blog about his build of the two boats which is hands down the best build blog I've ever seen, informative and entertaining, and that's not an oxymoron.

Another Melonseed, Kandid, built by Barry's friend Tim Thatcher for his parents. Tim flew in from CO. for the fest.

On the road leading into the museum , adjacent to the camping area, I found this lovely creature which I'm guessing is a small Chesapeake Log Canoe, and if not a local sharpie type...can anyone help?

Certainly she's fitted out in a most serious manner, notice the holes drilled in the floors.

Another mystery boat, again appears to be a traditional Chesapeake type. Look at that sloped mast! Taken from the dock at the Crab Claw while enjoying steamed shrimp, local microbrew, and the company of my companion for the day. What a good day it was.


All photos Thomas Armstrong

The 28th Mid Atlantic Small Craft festival was only my third. It's a thoroughly enjoyable event. Relaxed and friendly, Saturday is the public day but this is really a four day messabout staring Thursday and running through Sunday for most participants. I had hoped to get down there on Friday and camp, but sadly it was not to be, hopefully next year. Many of the participants come every year and the event has the flavor of a large family reunion, with camaraderie winning out over competition, though the race is seriously contested. It's a beautiful sight, with 80+ small/ish boats of varied description out in the river at once. Not there at the race's start, I was able to get photos of several of the boats as they returned from the melee.
I've connected with several friends at this event, its a great way to meet folks with a shared interest, in a lovely setting on the Miles River. The host is the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and the museums collections are open to visitors. Both the museum and the charming historic town of St. Michaels are worth the trip, any time of the year.

Mike Wick, member of the Delaware River TSCA and a friend, (see his Pepita above) sent me the race results:


Race Results for sailing race at MASCF 2010 Thanks to David & Kathy Cockey
Finish Order Owner Type Class

NN Al Fittipaldi Thistle !st HP Blue
Marianne Pete Lesher Log Canoe 2nd HP Red
Moth Adam Blackwell Moth 3rd HP White
Black Swan Bill Covert Sail Canoe 1st SC Blue
NN Larry Haff Sail Canoe 2nd SC Red
Mud Hen Ron Gibbs Celebrity 4th HP
Spat Bill McGraw Sharpie (Kirby) 5 HP
Malu Michael Jones Stretch Windmill 1st 2-sail Blue
Pepita Mike Wick 16 ft Melonseed (Brady) 1st 1-sail Blue
NN Andy Slavinskas Blue Jay (S &S) 1st BJ Blue
NN Harold Bernard Glen-L 15 2nd 2-sail Red
Obadiah Pete Peters Marsh Cat (Barto) 2 nd 1-sail Red
Skye David McCullouch
Skinny Swampscott 3rd 2-sail White
Junie Jump Up Turner Matthews Penobscot 17 1st schooner/ 3-sail Blue
NN Dan Sutherland Sailing Canoe 3rd SC White
Buna-Mon-I-Ya Aaron Surgent Crotch Island Pinkey 2nd 3-sail Red
NN George Loos Blue Jay (S & S) 2nd BJ Red
Slip Jig Kevin Brennan Navigator (Welsford) 3rd 3-sail
Baguette Carl Weissinger Baby Sandbagger 4th 2-sail
NN Kevin MacDonald Marsh Cat 3rd 1-sail
NN John Deppa Sailing Canoe 4th SC
Dandy Cat Paul Skalka Handy Cat 4th 1-sail
Catnip Ned Asplundh Marsh Cat (White) 5th 1-sail
Calico Jack Scott Lavertue Coquina (Herreshoff) 5th 2-sail
Whisper Dennis Keener Lug-rig skiff 6th 1-sail
Allegretto Larry Huffman Sea Pearl 6th 2-sail
NN John Guidera Melonseed (Jones) 1st MS Blue
Kandid Tony Thatcher Melonseed (Barto) 2nd MS Red
Crab Skiff Mike Moore Cambridge Skiff 7th 2-sail
2nd Wind Ron Hearon Blue Jay (S & S) 3rd BJ White
Wild Rover Frank Stauss Core Sound 17 8th 2-sail
Stiff Woodie John Allen Sailing Canoe 5th SC
Comfort Doug Oeller Marsh Cat 7th 1-sail
Mystic Charlie Steigerwald Sailing Dinghy 1st small Blue
Dolphin Jon Bornman Marisol skiff 2nd small Red
Sallie Adams Bob Pitt (FMM) Spritsail Sharpie 9th 2-sail
Bonita Marie Cobb DC 10 Sailboat 3rd small White
Utility skiff Jack Mizrahi Dobler 16 8th 1-sail
Whisp Phil Maynard Sharpie (Redmond) 9th 1-sail
Sierra Howell Crim Dinghy 10th 1-sail
NN Bob Lavertue Sailing Canoe 6th SC
NN Pamela Claggett Chesapeake 18 Tri Special
Apple Pie David Kavner Sailing Canoe (Rushton) 7th SC
Hanna Banana John England Skiff (England) 4th small
Sailing Canoe 8th SC
Woodwind John Sandusky Dory 9th 2-sail
Catnip Ron Gryn Catboat ( Gill Smith) 11th 1-sail
Bill Rutherford Peapod 12th 1-sail
Wee Punkin Lacy England Punkin (Thayer) 1st Sq Bow Blue
Kermit Ed Cobb SF Pelican (short) 2nd Sq Bow Red
NN Jim Thayer Punkin 3rd SQ Bow White
Wm Henry Harrison Paul Helbert Sailing Canoe (Storer) 9th SC

coast_pole Eben Goff

'coast / pole' took place during two trips to the North Olympic Coast in Washington State; the first during winter of 2002 and the second in spring of 2003. Driftwood poles were collected locally and carried to specific stretches of coast where, after the day's first high tide began to recede, the poles were set vertically into sand or rocks along the tide line. The pole configurations took shape in response to their surrounding topography. The quantity of poles used in these arrangements ranged between 25 and 100. All constructions washed away with in 24hours. At the outset of this project, a self portrait photograph was taken wearing a hand-made mirror mask and a fishing net that had washed up on the beach.

Eben Goff

Alchemical Vessel

Point of Arches

caption text for coast / pole 4

coast / pole 4
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caption text for coast/pole 1-4

coast / pole 1
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coast / pole 1
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coast / pole 3
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coast / pole 2
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coast / pole 2, washed out to sea
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All material courtesy Eben Goff

I stumbled, happily, across this arresting art project by Eben Goff. I found it haunting, but at first I didn't delve into why, I just enjoyed it on it's surface, letting it tug at me but not wanting to analyze too much. I'd revisit it every few days. Recently I directed a friend who shares my interest in art to it. In trying to answer her questions I found I was looking more deeply into the work, and simultaneously into my response to it. It was a fruitful endeavor. I had originally contacted Eben to ask his permission to share this piece with my readers, but he was traveling over the summer and we had only a little dialogue. After digging into it with my friend, I had a set of responses to the work and sent them to Eben to see what he thought, and his reply surprised me, I don't usually get this stuff right but he confirmed my reading and elaborated on it. I'd like to share the 'conversation' with you, but not just yet. What I plan is to give anyone interested a chance to do what I did, to work with this piece and arrive at your own conclusions and discoveries. In short, right now I want to share it, but not spoil it for others by laying my interpretation and Eben's response all over it just yet. This will allow you to have an unmediated response of your own. In a week or two or so, I'll re-post this with a transcript of our exchange. Should be fun, stay tuned. And great thanks to Eben for being open to a dialogue, and to my friend Lisa Obrecht who got me really thinking about this piece and helped elucidate our responses. A portal to Eben's masterful work, and other pieces, can be found here.

Paul Frankowski, documenting working sail. 2

Paul Frankowski at the helm of a Felucca

Zanzibar Dhow in construction

Deck of Dhow

Dhow Mombasa

Dhow Rig

Fishing dhow red sea Hurgharda

Fishing dhow red sea Hurgharda

Sailing Shaui Zanzibar

Sailing outrigger Zanzibar

Name Nizva It looks this boat is expedition boat used by trench to make journey from Persian Gulf to med retracing legend of HENRY de MONFREID

Fishing harbour Hugharda

boat hugharda red sea

feluccas

Felucca
Nile barge called FELUCCA, nowadays hull made from steel, wooden rigging sails Egyptian cotton. Lateen sail in order to set, is raised by halyard along long spar, from point were mast is touching spar up to the top of the spar, spar is made from 3 parts permanently fixed to mast in upward position, boom can be raised upwards parallel to spar, in this method it is easy to reef and store sail, relatively big rudder, same Feluccas have centerboard which can be raised when boat is crossing shallows, to steer skipper have to use whole weight of his body, strong weather helm

detail of sails of Feluccas

Lateen riged boat Tunisia

Jahazi Tonga harbour

SAILING ON YAHAZI

Derelikt lambo perahu Sulawesi

on deck of lambo perahu Makasar

mast base of Jangolan outrigger Lambok

Bhur on Ganges River


all images courtesy Paul Frankowski

I've written about Paul before, take a look. Paul is on a quest to document working sail as it is being used in various locales around the world. He doesn't have a grant or a salary that pays him to do this. It's his passion and he is funding the project out of pocket. Here's what I wrote before, explaining his mission:

Born in Poland, he immigrated to the UK in 1995 after learning to sail on the Baltic in what he terms "the tough school sailing world of a communist regime," where he was denied entry to foreign ports. He's made his way by working as a builder and was inspired by Clifford Hawkins' The Dhow, and the book and film of The Last Sailor, by Neil Hollander and Harald Mertes to document indigenous working sail, or as he puts it, cargo ships.

After a visit to the Mediterranean, where he experienced the local ciaques, he sailed to Tanzania and Zanzibar where he managed to sail on a Jahazi, an indigenous dhow, and reports "it was like to be back in Vasco da Gamma times (with) no radio, no life preservers and so on." Next he went to Indonesia where he sailed a Lambo Perahus, a type of Günter sloop. Lately he's been to the Bahamas to document the Haitian sloop - certainly a lot of adventures. There is also a photo of an Indian dhow on the Ganges, so I would assume... ?

Paul has also published two articles about these craft in Polish sailing magazines. His next research landfalls would be to Brazil to sail Saveiros and to Madagascar where there are still plenty of cargo schooners, Gaolettes and dhows. I am hoping for the best of luck for Paul and the book he's writing on this subject.

This year he cruised his Moody 333 Perhau from the UK to Egypt, and documented Felucca. He sent me another parcel of photos, some from his latest trip, some from earlier journeys, many of which I am sharing with you. As I mentioned above, Paul has no funding beyond his own resources. I feel he is working on a very important project and would like to suggest that anyone who can help Paul with funding and believes in his project, step forward. Email me and I'll connect you with Paul. You can work out the details together.