jaybaz [MS] WebLog : Sailing

Rope Boarding Mat

jaybaz_MS — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 21:15:00 GMT

My mom just bought another house. She keeps doing this. Nurse by day, real-estate mogul by night/weekend. I hope it works out for her.

My brother & I were at the hardware store getting stuff to help her fix the place up, and found that they had spools of manila rope for sale. Olde-tyme sailors (like myself) used only natural fibers to make rope. We're talking pre-OPEC here. Natural ropes can rot, while petrochemical ropes decay quickly in ultraviolet. I like the look of manila and hemp; they look like authentic old stuff.

So I bought 30' of the 1/2" stuff and 30' more of the 3/4" stuff, and made a basic rope mat. It now sits in front of her door. It's the first rope mat I've completed, so I'm pretty happy about it.

To help the rope settle into shape, I used the age-old technique of driving a rental car over it. To test it, I put it on the ground & stood on it.

Three days of boats and music

jaybaz_MS — Wed, 07 Jul 2004 01:17:00 GMT

This weekend was the Wooden Boat Festival on Lake Union. Of course, we had to be there.

Saturday

Wake up at 6:30am, decide to start getting ready right away, before the family wakes up. End up reading EPAiC# for a 1/2 hour, miss my window; they are up & active.

Before going to the docks, we need a good breakfast. Clean the kitchen, cook a meal, eat, clean, play with son. 3 hours have gone by. Start packing stuff for the day. Consider taking the bus; sit down at computer to research bus schedules. Help son poop. Start working on food to pack, realize that family is hungry. Clean the kitchen, cook a meal, eat, clean, play with son. Finish packing, planning, researching, and preparing. Son falls asleep for afternoon nap. Father, exhausted from a day of getting ready, falls asleep, too.

After nap, wake up, diaper son (chase naked child in circles), dress, eat more food, load up the car, and go. Arrive at CWB at 6:15pm. Festival ended at 6:00pm.

Walk around the now-empty festival. See beautiful boats on empty docks. Sit in Puffin & chat with crew for an hour, eating sandwiches.

Drive around Lake Union to Gasworks Park. I've never seen it from the land-side before. Explore park. See barge & tugboat anchored in Lake Union, surrounded by a no-go zone marked with bouys. 2 police boats guard the area with flashing blue lights. Note to self: park is great for kids. Bring mine back some day.

Go home. Watch Queer as Folk. Go to sleep.

Sunday

July 4th = really bad traffic in downtown Seattle. Committed to not being part of the problem, I print out bus schedules & maps. After cleaning / cooking / eating / cleaning / packing / etc., we hop in the car & drive to a Park & Ride. Arrive 5 minutes after the bus left. Sit around talking. 8 minutes before next bus arives, son announces “I got poopers coming!” Hike 1/4 mile in hot 2pm sun to a park with restrooms. We're carrying son, full backpack, 1gal of drinking water, and a copy of the Marlinspike Sailor so people know I'm salty. While waiting for son to poop, bus goes by. Afterwards, walk back to the bus stop to wait again.

Catch bus. Ride across Lake Washington into the city. Get off at last stop, walk 0.7 miles to festival. Only 6 hours from wake up until arrival!

I bum around at the docks while wife & son explore. Eventually offer my help to the volunteer coordinator who puts me to work. In the height of irony, I am assigned to direct parking.

After festival closes, I work security for another hour. My job is to stand in front of a fence and make sure no one crosses it, unless they have a good reason.

Meet wife & son. Son has built a toy boat, and wife says she's had a great time. Dinner at a restaurant with rowdy son. He hasn't napped and is fighting sleep. My apologies to the other patrons. Traffic outside is atrocious.

We walk back to the docks, arriving at the end of CWB dock B around 9:45. It's getting dark & cooling off. Water lapping on the docks makes a pleasant sound, as the dock gently rocks back and forth. Just before the fireworks start, son says he's going to sleep, and then goes to sleep.

My most enjoyable fireworks show ever. The perfect setting. Various fireworks shows in a 270deg arc around me, including a great one right in front of me. Beatiful wooden boats all around. Family. A nice time. Too bad my country is carrying on large-scale terrorism around the world, on my behalf.

After the show, hike back 0.7 miles with full backpack and a fresh gallon of water on my back, and son on my front. It's easier when I'm balanced. Catch the last bus out of Seattle back to P&R. Drive home. Guess what, I'm tired.

Monday

Seems like we know the routine by now. Eat, clean, pack, etc., drive to CWB. The festival is quieter today. We explore together, as a family.

Son & I sit in the cockpit of Dominion (picture) with a mom+son. Our sons argue about relative rank (“I’m the captain.” “No, I’m the captain.”), until they finally decide that one is captain of the radar, while the other is captain of the steering wheel. I’m assigned to be captain of the throttle.

We explored the inside of the Mallory Todd, which is amazing.

We eventually end up at the CWB docks & rent a Peapod. We don’t go far, but we do explore the boats from the water side, which is very cool. Lots of floatplanes go by, too. After an hour of rowing my back is tired. Glad we won’t have to carry the little one 0.7 miles to the bus.

At the end of the day, we head home. Dinner, more QAF, and sleep.

I had an excellent time, and I’m very glad to know that my family enjoyed it, too. It’s odd that after spending all that time at the center, I didn’t go sailing at all. The festival is about exploring things on land, and (for me) about helping other people get the most out of their experience there. I’ll have to take a weekday off soon & go sailing when the lake is quiet.

More Knots

jaybaz_MS — Sun, 13 Jun 2004 01:24:00 GMT

Today I took another knot-tying class at CWB, entitled “Boarding Mats”. I was looking forward to it, but it the experience still exceeded my expectations.

It turns out there were two rope classes going on. The Dennis teaching boarding mats class was upstairs, and Steve teaching splicing & other stuff downstairs. It's funny how things work out at CWB sometimes.

Dennis lead us through making a basic mat, pretty much the same as the one in The Marlinspike Sailor. The basic idea is that you tie some variant of the Carrick Bend, and then follow around the same path several times. One small difference is that Dennis had us start in the middle and work both ends at the same time, while Smith has you start and one end. Dennis's approach means that you do the following around with less rope, which is nice.

I brought mine home looking a lot like this Ocean Plat. The next step is to make a Flemish Coil around it & it will become my new doormat at home.

After the class, I went downstairs & saw that the other group was still going. So I invited myself to join, and made my first eye splice. It came out pretty well. I took it home & served it with some whipping twine. While it looks nice, it's only about a fathom long, so I don't think it will ever be useful.

I also got to see the Lavengro launch for a trip around Lake Washington. I really wanted to go, but the wife & son were waiting for me at home. I'm sure I'll get another chance. One thing I don't really get is that to ride on the boat costs money (not much) but to crew is free. You mean if I pay you, you won't let me help? What's the point of getting on a sail boat if you're just going to sit there? :-)

One other amusing note: when I was buying the rope, the lady who cut it for me asked who I was going to tie up. *wink*.

Knots

jaybaz_MS — Sat, 12 Jun 2004 00:47:00 GMT

To get my sailing fix while on land, I’ve been learning to tie knots.

Somehow I never got into it before. I could tie an overhand knot, but didn’t know the name. I could tie it on a bight if I needed a loop, but didn’t know what a bight was. I kinda assumed that knots were too hard, or that I wouldn’t be able to learn them, I guess.

Well, I was wrong. As I got into sailing, I forced myself to learn a few knots that I’d need on the boat. A bowline because everyone said it’s really important. The figure eight as a stop-knot on the jibsheets.

Then one day I noticed some of the fancy ropework around the center. It was so beautiful that I had to learn more.

I picked up The Marlinspike Sailor & Ashley Book of Knots, and have been cramming them into my head as quickly as I can.

I learned to tie a Monkey’s Fist and a Turk’s Head pretty early on, and the Clove Hitch only a week ago. I think I’m getting them out of order.

One aspect of knots that I find fascinating is how many different ways there are to get to a given knot. For example, you can capsize a Granny Knot into a Clove Hitch in a quick jerk. According to Ashley, the salty way to untie a Reef Knot is to capsize it into a Cow Hitch and slide it off.

The Clove Hitch seems to show up over & over. The Round Turn with Two Half Hitches is really a Clove Hitch tied on the standing part. You can make two loops in a rope & place one behind the other, and you get a clove hitch. When you tie off a boat on a cleat, you make a Clove Hitch in a different way. Cross your arms, grab a rope, uncross and put one fist in front of the other – Clove Hitch. Etc.

A few days ago I learned to finish off a coil. I only know one good way, but I’ll keep learning.

Yesterday I figured out how to make a Constrictor Knot in the middle of a line, without the end. That was neat, but I’m a little scared of that knot; I don’t want to get stuck.

Today I finally learned to tie a Rolling Hitch. It’s an important hitch if you have a load pulling parallel to the target.

I don’t know why it took me so long, since it’s just a Clove Hitch with an extra turn.

I already know two ways to tie it:

Take two turns around the target.
Cross over the standing part
Take another turn around the object
Tuck the end under the last turn.
Work it up tight.

Make three loops in the rope
Bring the third loop around & in front of the first and second.
Place the loops around the target.
Work it up tight.

As you can see, I’m filling my head up with knots. I love it.

Puffin’ along

jaybaz_MS — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 02:35:00 GMT

I quit smoking years ago, so that’s not what this is about. This is about a steam powered boat at the Center for Wooden Boats, called Puffin.

Today we went down to the Center to go sailing. It was a beautiful day, with a good North breeze coming over Lake Union. And it was crowded.

CWB was holding an event they called the “Spring Cruise”. The idea was that all the boats would go out and cruise around the lake together, and pretend it was 1954. I didn’t get a deeper understanding than that.

Just about every boat was taken, but we were invited to take a ride on the Puffin. It’s steam powered – a wood fire, boiling water, and a nice puff-puff sound. It also has a very loud whistle.

The 3 of us climbed on board, sitting on the foremost seats. My toddler was approaching nap time, and was looking very mellow as we got under way. They blew the whistle as we left the docks, and boy was it loud. I covered his ears, but it was still a bit much for him.

About 15 minutes into the ride, my baby fell asleep. He was sitting upright, propped mostly by his PFD (the bulky foam type), and partly by my leg. He slept right through the whole rest of the journey, including several more whistle blows! He didn’t wake up until we got off the boat at the docks.

We stuck around at the Center for a while longer, hoping that a boat would become available for rental. None did, and we took off in search of food. Sandwiches in a park are nice, too.

I watched someone on a small boat sail right into one of the big, expensive fiberglass yachts that are docked near CWB. (You know, the kind that never leaves the dock.) Well before it happened, I had this funny feeling that something wasn’t right. The sailors on board seemed to be having a great deal of trouble handling her. There’s a no-sail area near these expensive boats (for good reason, it seems!) and they drifted right through it. The wind was blowing where they didn’t want to go. Twice I saw them try to tack and fail. Stuck in irons, they made only leeway. When they got within a few feet of the big plastic number, they gave up sailing & switched to trying to fend off. After getting clear, they headed right to the docks and called it quits. I’m sure they felt pretty miserable at that point; I know I would have.

How do you fail to tack? I haven’t had it happen to me, but my experience is pretty limited; I bet most of the boats I’ve been on are easy to tack. In close quarters these sailors lacked searoom to gain good steerage way, but they probably should have used the sails to steer her more.

It’s easiest to criticize from afar. When I’m at the helm, things are sometimes pretty overwhelming, especially since I’m new to it. I’m sure someday I will make a big mistake of some kind. I hope that when it happens, the costs are all in dollars, not in humans.

Sloop-a-palooza!

jaybaz_MS — Mon, 15 Mar 2004 14:24:00 GMT

This past weekend I took the Sloop-a-palooza class at the Center for Wooden Boats.

It was a beautiful day. Warm (60 deg F) and sunny. We sat on the docks and talked about sail shape & hull hydrodynamics.

The big lesson for me was about overtrimming sails. Typically when you talk about Bernoulli & airfoils, lift is described as a single vector off the airfoil. However, that vector is the composite of the forces of the air on both sides of the airfoil, across its entire surface. The forces are perpendicular to the tangent of the sail surface at each point. So, the part of the sail near the luff produces lift forwards, while the middle of the sail produces lift more athwartships. If you overtrim the sail, bringing the leech around, then the sail surface will produce lift to stern, slowing the boat.

This is why, when trimming a sail, you slack the sheet until it luffs and then harden just enough to stop the luffing. In this shape, the maximum lift will be forwards.

(Sailing physics combines many forces in complex ways. My understanding & explanations will always be oversimplified.)

We then hopped on some small sloops (3 Blanchard Jr. Knockabouts and 2 Falcons) and cast off. There was next-to-no wind. We ghosted around the lake for a while and experimented with weight placement and sail trim in light airs. I spent most of the time lying down on the foreward part of the deck, to balance the weight of the helmsman and other crewman in the cockpit.

After an hour, a breeze picked up and we started sailing.

The course instructor had suggested a blindfolding exercise. One person takes the helm & mainsheet, blindfolded. Another takes the jibsheets, also blindfolded. The 3^rd gets to look, but not touch. The 3^rd gets to give instructions (“tiller hard to port” “watch out for that float plane!”) and describe the sail shape (“the jib is luffing slightly”). The sail shape instructions go away after a while, as the blindfolded folks get a better feel for the boat.

It was a great exercise. I was totally surprised to find that the job of the 3^rd (with vision) was a lot of work! I had to pay attention to everything and describe it in detail. It was good practice for the jargon, too (“tiller to port. No, my port. Err, starboard.”)

In the afternoon, I got to take out the Yankee one-design Venture (See the bottom of the CWB Links page). Sarah + me + 2 other students. Airs were light again for most of the time. I again climbed up on the deck, this time carrying the large Genoa around the mast with each tack. It’s a beautiful boat, and she’s put a lot of work into it.

I was surprised how complex the rigging on the Venture is, after my experience on the simple Blanchard Jr. and the Petrel. Just figuring out which line was the Genoa’s halyard took a few minutes. I hope to get checked out on one of the larger sloops soon, so I can take friends & family out in relative comfort for a tour of Lake Union from the other side.

SailNOW Graduate!

jaybaz_MS — Wed, 03 Mar 2004 01:54:00 GMT

This entry is a departure from my other entries, in that it has 0 to do with computers. Please comment on whether you liked it or not.

I've just completed the SailNOW! program at the Center for Wooden Boats. I've been wanting to sail for about 8 years, and I'm glad I finally did it.

I'm really glad I went to CWB. In 5 classes I had 5 different instructors. In boating, it seems that everyone does it differently, and everyone certainly teaches differently.

The class description talks about training on various boats. That didn't happen for me, though. I had 4 lessons on a Blanchard, and 1 on the Petrel. I understand why: the Blanchards are very forgiving; easy for newbies to get comfortable in.

Everyone asks if I'm going to buy a boat now. No way! The best boat is someone else's. Wooden boats are notiously time consuming to maintain, and I'm glad that CWB has people who do that already. I can just pay my $20 and go.

I now know what I'm doing with friends & family come to town for a visit.

So what's next? Sloop-a-palooza looks interesting.

The CWB founder made some noise about becoming an instructor - he said they like it when SailNOW! graduages do that. My Yoga instructor said that there are 3 steps to learning something: observation, practice, teaching. If you read this and take the course some day, maybe you'll have me as an instructor. Who knows?