A Lifes Work - S/V Restless

Bob Kingsland spent 28 years building Restless, a 50 foot 40,000 lb steel sailboat. One of his his college aged daughters, who was not alive when he started the project, helped put pictures from the build on a website, S/V Restless. I like boats, and I love sailing, but this boat is more than just a sailboat, it's a life's work. The boat, the workmanship, the quality, is astounding. His philosophy for the build was, "One of my primary objectives was to see something that made me smile every place my eye came to rest. As a result, not a square corner exists anywhere in the boat, neither in the metal work nor woodwork." It's no surprise he has a degree in anthropology because this boat will outlast him by a decade, and says more about the builder than it says about design or utility.

Last Sail of 2009

Well, it's that time of year for us Yankee sailors. You can see the posts on any sailing message board. They usually involve a short sweet sail, some reflections on the season and the impending sailing hiatus. Well, this is not that kind of post because my last sail was not that kind of outing.

After two weeks of wet cold weather in MN, forecasts were calling for a sunny 60 degree day with 10-20mph wind for Sunday. I had considered sailing last week in 35 degrees and snow (with 15mph wind) because I figured it would be the last chance to get out on the water this year. I'm glad I waited for this weekend.

I got to the ramp and rigged without incident. There were a lot of fishermen out on the water, but not many sailboats. I paid my $15 and got the boat wet. While motoring I rigged up my cajun tiller tamer (line wrapped around the tiller a few times). I motored South, directly into the wind, weaving my way through the fishing boats while the whitecaps crashed against the bow, sporadically sending spray back into the cockpit. It was time to raise sails, so I tensioned the tamer, but it wasn't holding well, which was going to make life hard. I tried a couple extra wraps, which helped, but didn't want to hold as well as it used to. I raised the main. My sail doesn't have reef points, so I reef it by wrapping it around the boom. I had reefed it back on shore, but given the wind, I decided to twist it around another turn. I pressed down on the halyard clutch lever and hurried back to the tiller. The halyard slipped a bit, they're too weathered to hold in the clutch in heavy wind, a problem that will be remedied next spring with all new running rigging. So I went forward and cleated off the halyard instead of using the clutch.

It was time to raise the 110 jib (my smallest headsail). I moved forward again and started raising it, got most of it up, but a hank got caught on the thicker portion of forestay where the turnbuckle attaches. Sh*t, I'll have to go forward. Sh*t, I have to go aft quickly first, or I'm gonna gybe. My tiller must be too wild for my tamer today. Then it's up onto the foredeck to free the fouled hank, and back into the cockpit to raise the jib the rest of the way. I got it all the way up, but the sail was flogging loudly. I looked at the sheet, and the jib downhaul was wrapped around it, sh*t. My jib downhaul is short, just enough to cleat it off when the jib is up so that there isn't a bunch of extra line cluttering the deck/cockpit. I got the jib sheet tensioned, unfortunately I rigged the boat wrong and the sheet was caught around the wires for my masthead light and they were trying to rip my through-deck wiring socket out of the deck. Ok tiller tamer, you're in charge again. I got everything routed correctly, with minimal damage to the socket. Back to the cockpit quickly, since were veering off course again.

Ok, main is up and halyard secured. Jib is up and the sheet is routed correctly. Jib downhaul is still flailing in the wind. Well, that's not really a critical item. I tacked back and forth a few times. The wind was strong, two other sailboats were out. One was heavily reefed, the other only had a 130 jib up. Eventually I was going to need to bring the jib down, which would involve going forward to either pull it down, or to get the downhaul rigged again. The downhaul was still attached to the halyard, but it had pulled out of the block at the bow and was just flapping in the wind. So I got as far from a lee shore as I could, which wasn't very far since I was sailing in a river. I hove to, went forward, and re-rigged the downhaul. Back to the cockpit.

The rest of the sail was good, 2-4 foot whitecaps, a few other sailboats found there way out of their slips, and the fishermen headed back to shore. I worked my way to windward. I'm sure I sailed about 12-16 miles, but only made about 3 miles to windward. I dropped the main and sailed downwind with just the jib. Got back to the dock, pulled the boat and went home. I had a rough start, but a good end to my last sail in 2009.

Book Review: Return To The Sea

After reading Webb Chiles' A Single Wave I was left wondering why he sank his last boat Resurgam. Return To The Sea was his latest book, following A Single Wave, and I thought it might have an explanation as to why he sank Resurgam, unfortunately it did not. Return To The Sea records the completion of his fourth circumnavigation. Chiles is growing old, he admits living much longer than he had expected. He doesn't seem to be in search of challenge and adventure like he used to be. Instead heading out to the open sea is like returning to the comfort of home for him. While I really liked A Single Wave, Return To The Sea was a bit dull. He does make some interesting observations about life and different cultures. It wasn't a bad book, but I felt a little let down after no explanation was given for his intentional sinking of Resurgram.

Sailing Apostle Islands

I had wanted to sail on Lake Superior this year, but I didn't want to do it alone yet. Luckily a fellow MN sailor, Chad, mentioned on the Com-Pac Yacht Owners Association message board that he and a few other guys with small boats were going to sail around the Apostle Islands toward the end of September. A little bit about the islands. The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is a national park in Northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior. There are 21 islands spread out over 70,000 acres. Many of the islands have docks and primitive camp sites. It's a popular place to sail and kayak. Chad sent me this link showing pictures from their trip the previous year, and I was hooked.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

The plan was to duck out of work around noon on Wednesday, go home and grab the boat (which was already packed and ready), and head up to Bayfield, WI. Chad and another sailor, Gordon, were going to be spending that night at the Apostle Islands Marina, so I called them up to reserve a slip as well. The odd thing about the city is that they don't seem to be too caught up with exact addresses. I mentioned to the guy on the phone that I was going to be launching a 16 foot sailboat and I needed to leave the Jeep and trailer for a few days and would need a slip for Wednesday night. He said there was a public launch about 5 blocks away where I could launch and leave the Jeep and trailer. I asked where exactly this launch was, and he said, "Oh, you just go down the street from here and take a right at the Coast Guard station, then it's down the street a ways." So I reserved the slip and said thanks. Since I didn't have an address to Map Quest for the launch, I went to the Apostle Islands Marina website, but no where on the site do they have their address. A little googleing found it though. It was about a 4.5 hour drive from St. Paul to Bayfield taking the scenic route up WI-63 through the heartland of Wisconsin. I got into town and it wasn't too hard to see where all of the masts were, and I made my way around the local streets until I found the marina. Sure enough, go past the marina, take a right at the Coast Guard station, and a few blocks down was the launch. Chad had actually gone up there Tuesday, but Gordon was at the launch rigging his Montgomery 17 when I got there. I went to work setting up my boat, and we launched at about the same time. He motored over to the marina and I through up the main and spinnaker to see if I could get a little sailing in despite the light air and setting sun. I gave up after 30 minutes and motored in. The marina had put all three of us right next to each other.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

You can barely make out the cabin top of my CP16 next to the first dock, then Chad's Montgomery 15, and Gordon's Montgomery 17. The marina was obviously designed for much larger boats than ours. In fact the fee schedule for the marina started at 25' boats. The slip cost $33 after tax for a small slip with no electricity. Seems steep to me, but the bathrooms were clean and the place was quiet (though it was a Wednesday night in the fall). I got my boat tied up and gear stowed, then called Chad. He and Gordon had walked over to Maggies for some dinner. Chad didn't know how to get there, but Gordon said to walk up past the marina offices and take a left, then Maggies was a bright red building and I couldn't miss it. Again, no address, but the place was easy enough to find. The place was just about full, but they already had a table. I ordered a mojito and cheese pizza. The mojito wasn't anything special. The pizza was homemade (including the crust), and it was good. We headed back to the dock and looked over each others boats and chatted for a while. Gordon turned in for the night and Chad and I wondered around the docks looking at boats until about 10:30, then I turned in as well.

In the morning the wind was kicking up, they didn't show up in the picture, but there were small white caps forming.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

We filled water and gas tanks, paid up at the marina, and got on our way around 10am. Here's Chad with picturesqe Bayfield in the background.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

And here's the ferry that runs back and forth from Bayfield to Madeline Island, which is a part of the chain of islands, but isn't a part of the national park. It has a permenant population of about 250 people.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Our plan was to head out to Stockton Island and spend the night in Quarry Bay. The wind was from the Southeast, which put us on a beam reach for the first few miles, then a downwind run. I knew there was no way I would be able to keep up with Gordon's 17 with very new sails, but I thought I might be able to keep pace with Chad's 15. But going straight downwind, the Com-Pac's added weight and conservative sail plan worked against me and Chad was actually able to catch Gordon. I was making 1.2-1.5 mph, and I was still about 5 miles from Quarry Bay. I was starting to get pretty hot and figured I could swim faster than the wind was pushing me. So I dropped sails, put on a life jacket, tethered myself to the bow and jumped into the cold September water. I spent about 15 minuets doing various strokes, I was worn out and cold, so I got back in the boat and raised sails. As soon as I did that Gordon called on the VHF radio and said they were firing up their motors. I pulled the sails down and fired up mine, and I was happy to be making 5mph again. Here's a picture of the other guys ahead of me just before they dropped sail.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

We got to Quarry Bay and tied up to the dock there.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Just like at the marina, the dock was designed for a much larger boat. The water was also deep next to the dock, about 3.5' below me, and about 5' under Gordon who was at the end of the dock. The water was very clear, this picture is in about 4' of water off the side of the dock.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Quarry Bay gets its name from the brownstone quarry that was on the the south end of the island. There was a hiking trail back to the old quarry, which was a nice 45 minute walk. Every once in a while the tree line would open to great views of the bay. Here's one from the top of a cliff.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Here's the cliff from the water.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

We spent the evening talking boats on the dock. A 25' cabin cruiser pulled up to the other side of the dock. They were from Superior Wisconsin and had trailered their 5,900 pound boat to the Apostles. Crew consisted of Grandpa, Grandma, and two grand-kids, both boys, about 13 and 15. They were out there for a long weekend of fishing. While sitting around I noticed my Windex wasn't sitting as high as it should be. So we dropped the mast and found that the Windex was missing the bushing that the indicator rides on. Grandpa had a washer that was the right size, and with a little electrical tape, the Windex was in workable condition (though a little less sensitive). Gordon hit the hay early and Chad and I stayed up chatting about life. It sounded like our neighbors were playing dominoes or some other game. The night was uneventful, except that the wind picked up a little. I was first up in the morning and got this shot just as the sun was coming up.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

The wind had picked up and was coming from the Northwest, but was expected to shift to the East overnight. So we headed out to Raspberry Island. Anchoring on the west side of the island would give us good protection from Eastern wind. The weather forecast called for 5-10 knot winds, and a 70% chance of rain. We made good time rounding Oak Island (with Bear Island in the distance), but the front up ahead looked a little worrying.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

It was the best sailing of the trip so far. We made good time to Raspberry. When Gordon went to fire up his motor to snug up into the anchorage it would start, run for a few seconds, then quit. He ended up filling the internal tank and detaching the external tank and that solved the problem.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Chad inflated his "pool toy" kayak and paddled over to chat with Gordon. It was pretty rough sitting at anchor. Our anchorage was fully exposed to Lake Superior. The wind had started to shift to the East, but swells were stilling coming in from the lake that were generated by the Northwestern wind earlier in the day. So the bow wanted to point into the now Northeastern wind, but that put the boats beam to the swells. The only comfortable place to sit on my boat is in the cabin with my legs in the berth and back against the cooler. So I sat down below despite the pitching and rolling, snacked on some beef jerky and read.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

We thought the rain would hit us in the early afternoon, but the front was moving slowly.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Gordon took a nap. Chad paddled over to me and we talked for a while. His Montgomery 15 only displaces about 800 pounds, so it was really bobbing around and he didn't feel like sitting there the rest of the afternoon. So he pulled anchor and sailed around to the Southeast side of the island to take a look at the lighthouse and sand spit. I sat below and read some more, poking my head out every once in a while to see if the front was any closer.

Yeah, I guess it's a little closer, but it sure is taking it's time.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Around dinner time we were getting some clouds building above us and the front was getting closer. I boiled 3 hot dogs and went back below to read some more.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

The pitching and rolling was getting to me and I wasn't sure the hot dogs were going to stay down, but then the swells started to abate. Checked the sky again, it sure is taking a long time for this front to get here.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Chad came back, anchored, and we all put up boom tents. Gordon was sitting in the cockpit watching the clouds and waves. I don't know what Chad was doing. I went back down below to read. At 8:30 it was dark, but no rain yet.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

I turned on the anchor light and turned off the cabin light, and slid further into the berth. I awoke at 11pm to the sound of rain, finally. I woke again at 1am, the rain had stopped. I peeked out the window and things did not look right. I got out into the cockpit and realized we had swung 180 degrees at anchor. It was incredibly unnerving. I got unto the bow and checked the anchor rode. It was nice and taught, the anchor had reset itself, but I was still unnerved. I set the drag anchor alarm on my GPS and went back to sleep. I woke a few times and checked the GPS and we hadn't moved a budge. Here's what it looked like in the morning.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Forecast was calling for 10-15 knot wind from the Southeast, 2-4 foot waves, and a good chance of rain. The forecast for the next day (Sunday) was 30-40 knot wind and rain again. We decieded to head back to Bayfield and pull the boats. We put on our foul weather gear, and pulled anchor. The first mile of the trip was pretty harry. Waves were 2-4 with winds that must have been gusting harder than the 10-15 predicted. I quickly reefed in the main. Despite less sail, I still had the rail in the water, and when a gust and large wave teamed up on me, I heeled over enough to take a little water over the cockpit combing. Once we rounded the South side of Raspberry we were on a broad reach and the wind started to calm a little. All evening I had heard radio chatter from a group of charter boats. Turned out they were in Raspberry Bay overnight.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

The wind continued to slow, or at least we were now being sheltered from the wind by land. Once we rounded Red Cliff Point and entered the West Channel, the wind picked up again. I had started the morning in a sweatshirt, full foul weather gear, and a stocking hat. I was down to jeans and a t-shirt by this point. It was shaping up to be a nice day and a great sail. Here's Chad reaching across the channel.

From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

The wind started to get flukey, it would blow for 10 minutes, then die for 10 minutes. I was 3 miles from Bayfield, was tired of the uncooperative wind, and wanted to burn at least some of the gas in my tank to take some of the stress off the transom during the 4.5 hour trailer ride. So I dropped sails and fired up the motor and headed in. Gordon was almost there already under sail, and Chad got there about 30 minutes after we did. We pulled the boats, congratulated ourselves, and promised to do it again.

Reefing the Main Sail

I don't have reef points in the sail, instead I have to pull the boom away from the mast and start twisting it to wrap the main sail around the boom. The problem I was having was the clip for the topping lift was catching on the boom as it twisted around. Here's the problem:

From Main Reefing Fix

You can see how the end of the hook would get caught when twisting the boom, I needed some way to make the twisting of the boom easier. I figured if I could attach a small piece of stainless steel (aluminum might not stand up to the stress) to the existing end-of-boom-sheeting, then attach the topping lift to that, I could keep it from hanging up while twisting. I haven't found a good local source of just random scraps of metal, so I went to the local hardware store and started wandering the isles. I found a u-bolt that had a flat piece of metal that looked like it would work.

From Main Reefing Fix

I picked up a small stainless steel carradge bolt and lock nut, which I used to connect the flat piece of stainless to the factory end-of-boom-sheeting arrangement.

From Main Reefing Fix

With the rounded head of the carriage bolt rubbing against the end of the boom instead of the topping lift clip, the main now reefs easily without any kind of hangup.

From Main Reefing Fix

New Companionway Hatch

The companionway hatch that came with the boat was in rough shape. The lower starboard corner had rotted away, and the finish was shot. The original board also left a small gap between the board and the sliding hatch. It seems to me that this was done on purpose to allowed a little extra ventilation.

From Misc Boat Stuff

I know it wasn't the best choice, but I went with oak plywood. The boat spends 98% of it's time in my garage, so I think it should hold up OK. I used the old one as a template, but made the new one 1/2" taller. Fits nice and tight.

From Misc Boat Stuff

One week, a coat of stain, about 10 coats of spar varnish, and some silicone around the screws for the hasp and I've got a new hatch board that will keep the water out and looks a lot better than what was there before.

From Misc Boat Stuff

I think it turned out good, but nothing like a new piece of brightwork to make the rest of the boat look old and tired!

Book Review: A Single Wave

I saw a post on SailNet that linked to Webb Chiles website where he has some articles about his sailing experiences. I read a couple of them and was hooked. I ordered one of his books, A Single Wave, Stories of Storms and Survival from Amazon. He recounts a number of his experiences with storms while sailing everything from an 18 foot open boat to 30 foot cruisers during numerous circumnavigations. Chiles sees himself as an artist, whose medium is the wind. He often repeats that his goal is to maximize the intensity of his life, instead of it's duration. Personally, the guy seems kind of suicidal, but it makes for some good stories.