Beyond My Known 2017

[tjr818]

Interesting that the leak is right at the attachment point of the iron Stricker.

[David Patterson]

A long-time NW waterman says it is a log pusher, probably, for moving logs around a harbor. And yes, I assume it creates a stress on the boat there.

[rorik]

"...Another sleek hard-chine boat is someone's good craftsmanship...."

Could that be a Thunderbird? I have seen that shape before.

There are ~ 1/2 dozen Thunderbirds on B dock in Boat Haven..

[David Patterson]

Are you in the boat haven? Perhaps I could come by in the next two weeks.

[rorik]

I did live in PT for several years. Currently in Tacoma, but you're welcome to come south. Sending you a pm.....

[John Danicic]

David:

Just read through your whole 9 page post and enjoyed it very much. Keep the cruising updates and photos of the classic and interesting boats of the Pacific NorthWest coming.

Looking forward to following you in the future, "beyond your known". You have a good eye.

[David Patterson]

A few more random photos. First is an unusual boat, set up to take the ground in drying bays. She looks a bit submarinish to me. Not the lines we Alberg design owners prefer. Freshly rinsed, I think she is headed home. Her owners reported great satisfaction with her. I can see her at rest in Long Bay of Jedediah, or some similar place. Next is a two person kayak of wood, suggestive of a race car body to me. Last is a quite large motor vessel ready to be splashed as soon as the tide is high enough. For scale there is that truck, and those tires which are 6' or taller. Going by the rack of kayaks above the fantail, I'd say she is in the tourist trade. As I end my cruising year early this year, I find myself reluctant to stop studying the variety of craft available here in Port Townsend. My Alberg 29 NAVIGARE is flanked by two old wood boats, in her slip in the commercial basin here, well worth some study. [John D, I look forward to viewing your own Picture Posts.]

[David Patterson]

My Alberg 29 NAVIGARE is in her 2017 winter slip in the commercial basin of Port Townsend's Boat Haven, among tugs, fishing boats, some yachts old and more recent, and the Coast Guard Cutter OSPREY, when she is in. I'm beginning to set N up for the inevitable Pacific gales and storms, doubling dock lines with chafing gear, etc. I regret missing the great fall cruising in the Salish Sea, but needs must when the devil drives. Family and health are my devils this fall. My CD Dink LAGNIAPPE is not yet on the foredeck. That 35lb CQR is N's storm anchor. Her everyday one (for about 250 days a year, usually on the hook) is the 10kg Bruce. One of my cruising friends, a young man, derides me for not having more modern anchors, but I get by. Along either side of N are old wood boats, well-preserved. The one you can see has no life lines, painted canvass deck and house covers, closed chocks, and many old-time features. Maybe I'll get a chance to post about her. Also in the basin are active fishing boats, their substantial build and gear impressive to me. I speculate that those fisherman-style anchors are used to hold a string of pots in place. The last photo is of an exhortatory sign spotted in the busy port boat yard. Each boat on the hard is over a pinned down blue tarp. Cleaning keeps blown dust from ruining fresh paint and varnish. Other signs admonish drivers to slow down. Winds can't be thwarted, of course. My Salish Sea stravaging (real word, auto-correct even accepts it, google it) is sadly officially over for 2017.

[David Patterson]

While there are surely other large boatyards in the Salish Sea, Port Townsend had surely one of the largest. Bellingham's is respectable in size, but I don't believe they have a 300 ton lift, or more than one Travel-all, for that matter. The Sound must have some large-boat yards, but that area of the Sea is still beyond my known. This year, the port yard is notably less in use, a recent price increase costing it a significant amount of business. Still, boats are being hauled here. Two big m/v are in the first photo, receiving cleaning and painting, plus other maintenance, no doubt. WINDSONG of Rolling Harbor WA shows off her very deep keel of 6' at least, and her fine stern, as she is power washed. Very handsome ROCINANTE (wasn't that the name of Don Quixote's steed?) while mastless, looks seakindly and powerful on blocks. What a rudder! L. Francis Herroshoff designed a small wooden canoe yawl named ROZINANTE, still popularly built today. And, used as a design base by other designers. I find that ambling through a boatyard is a cruising pleasure, providing answers to the perennial cruising question, what's her underbody like?

[David Patterson]

One pleasure of cruising, as I'm doing so in the Pacific NW, is to spend some winter months in different places. This year for me it is Port Townsend, a once thriving Victorian seaport. In the latter half of the 19th century PT was the customs entry point for every vessel entering the NW US from the Pacific, the large bay thick with anchored ships of sail. While the railroad terminus in Seattle ended the great prosperity, the Victorian nature of the town, and the steady round of festivals with various themes from music to film to wooden boats, makes for an active community. Then there is the extensive boatyard with excellent craftsmen. As I prepare for my winter visiting circuit among family and friends, which affords me cruising freedoms the rest of the year, my relationships satisfied, I am enjoying the town and yard. Much to enjoy, in this particular way of cruising. Below are a couple of murals from the boatyard and town, and scenes from Victorian hotels and restaurant buildings. I can only admire a mural artist who can do so well on a ribbed metal building. The sweet statue of Galatea marks the stairway between "downtown," where the traditional sailors' entertainments were found, and "uptown" where the properly behaved and moral people lived. For a Victorian lady to be seen downtown could severely damage a reputation. The town is considerably more tame now, both up and down.

[David Patterson]

With only a bit over a week of my 2017 year aboard left, I spend my time securing the boat and studying old classics slipped nearby. Here are three. The first is a 46' Sparkman & Stephens cutter, viewed port and starboard, built in 1934, undergoing something like a refit on the water. I found her bow hardware of interest. I've not seen Skene chocks with those knobs on the tips before. Her club-footed staysail is well inboard. I doubt that her jib has difficulty getting through when tacking. More boat than I could manage, on multiple levels. The second one is at my finger dock, so I view her frequently. Of Danish design and built in 1951, she crossed the Atlantic. A sister ship won the Trans-Atlantic Race in 1954, the owner said. Apparently the designer was considered radical, for he cut away her forefoot, much as our Alberg designs have, considered radical at the time. Would she track? Again my informant was the owner. Her forward hatch is elegant. So is her house. 6 1/2' draft, 34', at 7 tons. Last is PAX, as classic-looking as they get. She is written of in a book, Finding Pax I think is the name. The small protected space at the mast base must help keep the crew on board. We tend to take our double lifelines for granted, but these classics weren't much for such amenities.

[David Patterson]

A few more of my sightings during this last week of my curtailed 2017 cruising year. The home of the US Coast Guard Cutter OSPREY is in the same basin as NAVIGARE. I doubt that she is limited to the Salish Sea. So near the entrance to Juan de Fuca Strait, I presume she patrols part of the Pacific coast. Nearby my slip is the big old tug ATLAS (strong enough to shoulder the world being implied) from 1909. I imagine the maintenance commitment of a boat so large. Yours for $110k. One of her former uses was running rum out of Canada. She could have managed quite a cargo. A scattering of classic boats are in the last photo. The schooner MARTHA berths at close Point Hudson, seen here in her harbor dress. Everything about her is lovely. A wooden cruiser next to NAVIGARE has a surprising (to me) hard chine. Some one's gaff-rigged cutter looks well-maintained and attractive. A dark green hull and canvas on another boat draws the eyes.

[David Patterson]

Thinking about keel shapes, I took advantage of being next to a big boatyard, going out at mid-day to look at a few lower hulls. Poor timing for photos because of light angles, but perhaps these will illustrate. First is a full long keel on a big (to me) schooner. A straight stem yields the longest keel. This schooner at least has a curve. The issue is tacking a long keel, I believe, which can often be aided by a jib out on a bowsprit, as in Lyle Hess' Bristol Channel Cutters. This schooner may be slow to tack and might "miss stays." The second photo shows a cutaway full keel on a cutter, the amount of keel designed away being modest, yet meaningful. Tacking should be improved without a jib on a sprit, with less lateral resistance from the forward keel. (Or so it seems to me. Does Skene's Yacht Design book address these considerations?) Last is a photo of my old CD25D on the hard in 2014. Her keel is typical of Alberg designs, including my current Alberg 29. The forward part of the keel is cutaway, with also a slight additional notch forward of the mast. I'm sure he gave that choice considerable thought. Both that reverse curve of the keel and the mast placement forward of the lowest part of the keel must be part of what makes his designs tack so well (and horse at anchor, as they can). A better look at the keels might be had on sailboatdata.com. We still have lots of keel down there, useful when occasionally taking the ground, as I can affirm, without ending up with extensive repairs, as fin keel boats do. Notice, by the way, the black marks on my hull. The customs dock in Friday Harbor is thoughtlessly equipped with lengths of ABS pipe as a rub rail. In waters open to significant wake surges, its difficult to avoid marks. Not very welcoming on entry from Canada. Perhaps I just came in too fast. Singlehanded docking is an area of constant learning for me. I've had interesting adventures.

[David Patterson]

A last 2017 posting on this year's wandering cruising topic. The year definitely took me beyond my known, though not in the geographic terms I had initially hoped. Greene Point Rapids remains my new northern gate between familiar waters and the Broughton Archipelago I had planned to visit. Maybe in 2018.... Below is Stefan Freelan's Salish Sea Map from Western Washington University (usable with that citation), depicting what have my home cruising waters since 8/1/12. Much of it remains unexplored for me: the Sound which is lightly cruised for 3/4 of the year; both sides of Juan de Fuca for I've only transited the east end a half a dozen or so times; both the NE and SW shores of the Strait/Gulf of Georgia. Plenty left for me. The world-class cruising of the Salish Sea draws cruisers from Europe and South America, as well as those in the US and Canada, partly due to it being the south end of the Inner Passage to Alaska. I've only barely --by circumnavigating E. Thurlow Island in the Discoveries-- been outside the Salish Sea watershed. To the east of Queen Charlotte Strait are the islands I yearn to visit. For most of my years here my cruiser has been the CD25D CLOUD GIRL, now in new hands. Currently my boat is the Alberg 29 NAVIGARE with her CD Dink LAGNIAPPE. My retired state leaves me free to use them; my skill set limits me most. For inland waters cruising, I can't imagine a better setting for myself. Some consider this the northern hemisphere version of parts of the Chilean Canals. I've no way to know about that. Warmer, probably. Thanks to all who have followed and commented on my postings. May your holiday season be warm with family, and your coming cruising filled with adventure. David Patterson, aboard NAVIGARE in Port Townsend WA. [And, whoever it was that asked me for a link to the excellent Jack Hull journal from the '30s, please ask again. I've lost your email.]

[Sea Hunt Video]

David:

Thanks very much for sharing this season's adventures with all of us on this website. Your photos, comments and observations are wonderful to view and read. For guys like me who will never sail those waters and have your experiences it is wonderful to have your posts and photos, albeit they are too few. I find myself reading and re-reading most and just staring and dreaming at some of your photos.

I wish you and your family Safe and Happy Holidays and look forward with great anticipation to your return to the Salish Sea area in 2018.