If you are like me, and you love the warm honey-glow of a newly varnished coaming, the glint of light off a distant toerail, or the intimidating majesty of the solid golden wall of hatchboards, you insist on using varnish despite many new-fangled inventions like, say, Cetol.
Part of why I like using varnish is the mystery of its mixture; like home made BBQ sauce, we could tell you what's in it, but we won't. The ingredients were figured out by experience, by some toothless old salt in a New Bedford shipyard, not by some chemist in a lab comparing the essential properties of wood and cell structure and how these would best be served by a certain mix of poly-this and esther-that.
Varnish is one of the ways we can carry the Old Ways forward. Even Shakespeare wrote about varnish. It was something like, "We few. We happy few. We band of brothers. For those who spread their varnish with us today shall always be our brothers."
Now, not everyone appreciates the varnish. There's a faction of so-called traditionalists who "prefer to let their teak silver." These guys also prefer to let their teak splinter, crack, and get replaced.
But if you are planning to use varnish on your teak, prepare to be insulted. For example, just the other day a guy in the boatyard remarked about how much wood there is on the Redwing. This is a well-sailed path and I knew what was coming next. And sure enough, he said, "you should think about using Cetol." So, playing my part, I said, "Yeah, I just like the look of varnish better." Right on cue he said, "I figure I'll get the boat with a lot of wood on it when I retire; I don't want to waste my life away varnishing."
There are dozens of permutations of this conversation but this is pretty much the way it goes. People invariably have "better things to do" than varnish, they "have a life," or they "would rather be sailing." No shit; me too. Nobody would say, "yeah I see you drinking a Bud Light, but I don't like to drink beer that tastes like it run out the back of a horse." But with varnish, there is no holding back; if you want to put in the time and effort you must have nothing better to do, enjoy wasting your time, and don't like sailing. It's strange. I don't get it.
But we happy few will persevere in the face of new "traditions." We will rest our backs on coamings buried under eight coats of high-gloss Epifanes and know that somewhere an old toothless salt is watching us, grinning into his mug o' rum.
28 April 2009
23 April 2009
22 April 2009
Robin Knox-Johnston Day!
Yes, today is Earth Day. But it's also a famous day in sailing history. Today is the 40th anniversary of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's completion of the first-ever single-handed solo non-stop circumnavigation. And he did it in a 32' home-made boat, not a computer-designed, super-tricked out, technology from the future kind of racing sled. He did it on raw Manliness. And so we, the sailing community bloggers, have decided to celebrate Sir Knox-Johnston today! It all started here.
"Forty years ago, nine men set out to be the first to sail around the world without stopping. The craft ranged from suicidal to merely questionable, as did most of the sailors themselves. One man, however - a merchant marine with a small, heavy, hand-built teak boat - decided to give it a shot. He sailed out of Falmouth with what some called a pipe-dream, and sailed back a Legend.
There are few living legends. Certainly there are people walking around who've achieved celebrity, respect, and even greatness, but 'Legendary' is an adjective reserved for only a hand full of exceptional people - a very exclusive club. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to single-hand around the globe non-stop, is most certainly that club's Commodore.
Sir Robin was, is, and shall forever be the first man to circumnavigate solo and non-stop. With over a half-million miles under his keel, and a number of other records since his first trip 'round (including the Jules Verne Trophy), Knox-Johnston is the sailor's sailor."
-Excerpted from the introduction to this great interview.
Here's what Sir Knox-Johnston had to say about his first race after finishing the Velux 5 Ocean Race in 2006: "It was much easier 38 years ago, no messing around with technology. They said I was missing for four and a half months and prepared my obituary, but I always knew where I was."
Enjoy other RJK Day celebrations listed here and here.
"Forty years ago, nine men set out to be the first to sail around the world without stopping. The craft ranged from suicidal to merely questionable, as did most of the sailors themselves. One man, however - a merchant marine with a small, heavy, hand-built teak boat - decided to give it a shot. He sailed out of Falmouth with what some called a pipe-dream, and sailed back a Legend.
There are few living legends. Certainly there are people walking around who've achieved celebrity, respect, and even greatness, but 'Legendary' is an adjective reserved for only a hand full of exceptional people - a very exclusive club. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to single-hand around the globe non-stop, is most certainly that club's Commodore.
Sir Robin was, is, and shall forever be the first man to circumnavigate solo and non-stop. With over a half-million miles under his keel, and a number of other records since his first trip 'round (including the Jules Verne Trophy), Knox-Johnston is the sailor's sailor."
-Excerpted from the introduction to this great interview.
Here's what Sir Knox-Johnston had to say about his first race after finishing the Velux 5 Ocean Race in 2006: "It was much easier 38 years ago, no messing around with technology. They said I was missing for four and a half months and prepared my obituary, but I always knew where I was."
Enjoy other RJK Day celebrations listed here and here.
12 April 2009
boat games
We had rain ALL DAY yesterday so there was little hope of going to the boatyard. I did think about going over there and washing the topsides, but I got lazy. And the thought of standing in cold rain, well, just didn't sound that appealing. I could have gone down and read some sea stories, like Sjogin did, but decided to stay in and prepare for company.
We had some folks over for game night, and we played some really fun games and had a lot of laughs. That got me to thinking about what kind of games are good for the boat. Space is limited, so games can't require a lot of people, or have a lot of pieces. Nor can they require a great deal of time because there is usually something to do or check on when we're sitting at anchor. So Risk, Monopoly, Diplomacy, and Axis & Allies are all out. I have always had a vision of playing dominoes on the boat, but that might be complicated too.
You'd think that Scrabble would be disqualified for all of those reasons, but we have a travel Scrabble and play it all the time. The tiles click into a grid-board. It's kind of a pain to take apart, but it's worth the hassle.
Last night we played a few games that would work on the boat. The first game we played was Catch Phrase. We played with 6 people, guys vs girls. The game has a little gadget that you pass around. A phrase appears in the display window and the reader has to get his teammates to say the phrase without using any of the words in the phrase or any hand gestures. It's like $25,000 Pyramid without the pyramid. Or the $25,000. That was a lot of fun. Girls won 3 games to 2. We also played a community variant where we all guessed and tried to get around the circle before the timer ran out.
Then we played Mad Gab. GREAT game. Hilarious. We played with three teams made of couples who are not couples. Each team tries to get three of the clues right in three minutes. The faster you get them all the more points you get; if time runs out you get as many points as clues correct. Each of the clues is a group of words that if said in the proper way make up a phrase of some kind. The guesser reads the words, and the partner tries to help them (number of words, syllables in each word, long or short vowels, pace, etc). For example, "Ace Lip Puff That Hung" comes out as "A slip of the tongue." Get it? Here's another: "Eye Mull of Mush Sheen" comes out as "I'm a love machine." The funny part is that as a spectator you can kind of hear what the person is trying to say, but as a guesser, you're completely befuddled.
We're definitely bringing those to the boat.
And of course, a regular old deck of cards can go a long way. Allison just learned how to play spades, so hopefully we will get some of that going this summer.
What about you? What games do you have/bring aboard? What games should I add to my list?
We had some folks over for game night, and we played some really fun games and had a lot of laughs. That got me to thinking about what kind of games are good for the boat. Space is limited, so games can't require a lot of people, or have a lot of pieces. Nor can they require a great deal of time because there is usually something to do or check on when we're sitting at anchor. So Risk, Monopoly, Diplomacy, and Axis & Allies are all out. I have always had a vision of playing dominoes on the boat, but that might be complicated too.
You'd think that Scrabble would be disqualified for all of those reasons, but we have a travel Scrabble and play it all the time. The tiles click into a grid-board. It's kind of a pain to take apart, but it's worth the hassle.
Last night we played a few games that would work on the boat. The first game we played was Catch Phrase. We played with 6 people, guys vs girls. The game has a little gadget that you pass around. A phrase appears in the display window and the reader has to get his teammates to say the phrase without using any of the words in the phrase or any hand gestures. It's like $25,000 Pyramid without the pyramid. Or the $25,000. That was a lot of fun. Girls won 3 games to 2. We also played a community variant where we all guessed and tried to get around the circle before the timer ran out.
Then we played Mad Gab. GREAT game. Hilarious. We played with three teams made of couples who are not couples. Each team tries to get three of the clues right in three minutes. The faster you get them all the more points you get; if time runs out you get as many points as clues correct. Each of the clues is a group of words that if said in the proper way make up a phrase of some kind. The guesser reads the words, and the partner tries to help them (number of words, syllables in each word, long or short vowels, pace, etc). For example, "Ace Lip Puff That Hung" comes out as "A slip of the tongue." Get it? Here's another: "Eye Mull of Mush Sheen" comes out as "I'm a love machine." The funny part is that as a spectator you can kind of hear what the person is trying to say, but as a guesser, you're completely befuddled.
We're definitely bringing those to the boat.
And of course, a regular old deck of cards can go a long way. Allison just learned how to play spades, so hopefully we will get some of that going this summer.
What about you? What games do you have/bring aboard? What games should I add to my list?
11 April 2009
spent a little time at the yard
I got down to the boatyard yesterday/Friday for pretty much the first time this season.The boat is an absolute mess!
Sometimes during the winter I wonder, "how is it even ever possible that I can wear a t-shirt, outside, all night, and not be chilly?" When I got down to the yard I had a similar thought: "how is it even ever possible that this boat is ever clean enough to enjoy?" The trees around the boat have been dropping seeds that look like bright red grape nuts and they are all over, drifted into corners, and clogged in the drains like a mash of cereal that has sat in milk a little too long. The weather has been pretty wet lately, and with the fermented bright red grape nuts jamming the cockpit drains and not allowing rainwater to pass the boat has gotten pretty dirty. Same with the scupper drains. A mess, I tell ya!
But this is what spring is for! Cleaning!
So that is just what I did. I brought all the boat tools into the boat and organized all the cleaning supplies.
This past Christmas I got one of those tool pouches that fits over a 5-gallon bucket. I have always wanted one and so I spent a little time today lovingly deciding what tools to put in the bucket kit and which pockets they should go into.
I did manage to get something tangible done, too. I replaced all the old, black, nasty, varnished-up edge trim with clean, white, fresh, and sparkly edge trim. This led to a bit of frenzied cleaning with the magic-fiber cloth that no stain shallt resist. This led to the complete dismantling and remantling of the shelf where we store the binocs, the propane, and the sail ties.
And that led to me pulling a muscle in my neck. Gotta get those boatyard/real work muscles back into shape!
I'm either headed back today/Saturday for some work on the stern rail, the rewiring of the engine compartment fan, or the rewiring of the Nav Lights. Or I may go on a resupply trip to WestMarine and the brand-new Ace hardware - right next door to each other! Think of it! Two-stop shopping! All we need now is some kind of beer distributor and you could call it "Manly Man Plaza."
08 April 2009
for sail and for sale!
Found another Redwing for sale on craig's list in Boston (thank you, Google Alert). 
It looks like it needs a lot of soap and water, sandpaper, and wax, but damn it's pretty! Redwing is a 1970 and so is this one. I emailed the seller to see what the hull # is, hoping that it's the brother to my own! How cool would that be?
I like the blue hull and the name is pretty good, too.
07 April 2009
the Redwing Sweet Caroline
Here's one more sister for the family tree, the Redwing Sweet Caroline.
I'm digging that red bottom.
Hopefully they will keep updating the site, or move to a blog of some kind.
I'm digging that red bottom.
Hopefully they will keep updating the site, or move to a blog of some kind.
06 April 2009
more Masefield
A Wanderer's Song
A WIND'S in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels,
I am tired of brick and stone and rumbling wagon-wheels;
I hunger for the sea's edge, the limits of the land,
Where the wild old Atlantic is shouting on the sand.
Oh I'll be going, leaving the noises of the street,
To where a lifting foresail-foot is yanking at the sheet ;
To a windy, tossing anchorage where yawls and ketches ride,
Oh I'll be going, going, until I meet the tide.
And first I'll hear the sea-wind, the mewing of the gulls,
The clucking, sucking of the sea about the rusty hulls,
The songs at the capstan in the hooker warping out,
And then the heart of me'll know I'm there or thereabout.
Oh I am tired of brick and stone, the heart of me is sick,
For windy green, unquiet sea, the realm of Moby Dick;
And I'll be going, going, from the roaring of the wheels,
For a wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels.
- John Masefield, 1916, from Salt-Water Poems and Ballads
A WIND'S in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels,
I am tired of brick and stone and rumbling wagon-wheels;
I hunger for the sea's edge, the limits of the land,
Where the wild old Atlantic is shouting on the sand.
Oh I'll be going, leaving the noises of the street,
To where a lifting foresail-foot is yanking at the sheet ;
To a windy, tossing anchorage where yawls and ketches ride,
Oh I'll be going, going, until I meet the tide.
And first I'll hear the sea-wind, the mewing of the gulls,
The clucking, sucking of the sea about the rusty hulls,
The songs at the capstan in the hooker warping out,
And then the heart of me'll know I'm there or thereabout.
Oh I am tired of brick and stone, the heart of me is sick,
For windy green, unquiet sea, the realm of Moby Dick;
And I'll be going, going, from the roaring of the wheels,
For a wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels.
- John Masefield, 1916, from Salt-Water Poems and Ballads
05 April 2009
..."a jealousy so strong that judgment cannot cure."
Here's my brother, KC. And I'm not jealous of those beautiful blue eyes either. It's something else...
03 April 2009
...but we've had a darned good sail.
The New Bedford Whaler
There was a 'Bedford Whaler put out to hunt for oil,
With a try-works in amidships where chunks of whale could boil,
And a fo'c's'le, wet and frowsy, where whalers' crews could gam,
And her captain came from 'Bedford and did not give a cent,
So over the bar from 'Bedford to hunt the whale she went.
But never a whale she sighted for eight and forty moons,
She never lowered her boats in chase nor reddened her harpoons,
So home she went to 'Bedford, where her owners came to ask,
"How many tons of whalebone, cap, and how much oil in cask?"
The captain turned his tobacco inside his weather cheek,
And he said "At least the Bible says, blessed are they who seek.
We've been at sea four years and more and never seen a whale,
We haven't a lick of oil on board but we've had a darned good sail."
- John Masefield, 1916
There was a 'Bedford Whaler put out to hunt for oil,
With a try-works in amidships where chunks of whale could boil,
And a fo'c's'le, wet and frowsy, where whalers' crews could gam,
And her captain came from 'Bedford and did not give a cent,
So over the bar from 'Bedford to hunt the whale she went.
But never a whale she sighted for eight and forty moons,
She never lowered her boats in chase nor reddened her harpoons,
So home she went to 'Bedford, where her owners came to ask,
"How many tons of whalebone, cap, and how much oil in cask?"
The captain turned his tobacco inside his weather cheek,
And he said "At least the Bible says, blessed are they who seek.
We've been at sea four years and more and never seen a whale,
We haven't a lick of oil on board but we've had a darned good sail."
- John Masefield, 1916
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