Traditional Small Craft Instructors

I have mentioned various things about the instructors in my previous posts; however, I think videos of them speaking about their experience at the school is far more valuable. I would be dishonest in saying that I have a favorite...I actually enjoy the uniqueness that each one offers. This may look and feel like a commercial for the school but the actuality is that it is real and I hope to be able to take away a little part of each instructor as I venture out on my own. It's without a doubt that we are lucky to have three of the best instructors in the country in one program.

Jeff Hammond, Senior Instructor
Jeff apprenticed to Bob Prothero, preeminent Northwest boat builder and founder of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding and began teaching at the School in 1985. As the School’s senior instructor, Jeff has led thousands of students through the lofting and building of more than seventy-five vessels ranging in size from eight to fifty feet. An excellent instructor both in the classroom and on the boatbuilding floor, Jeff has continually adapted and improved his building techniques and his teaching methodology. As a result, Jeff is instrumental not only in the direct instruction of our students, but also mentorship of the next generation of boat building instructors at the Boat School. Most recently, Jeff led his Traditional Small Craft students in building one of the three boats used by the British Broadcasting Corporation to recreate John Wesley Powell’s iconic 1869 trip through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River while completing four other traditionally-built boats. Jeff enjoys mountain biking when not in the boat shop with his students.

Peter Bailey, Instructor
After 4 years in USCG search and rescue, learning the many ways boating can go wrong, Peter apprenticed as a boat builder to Donlon J. Arques of Sausalito CA. This old school builder of tugs and barges gave him a unique education in traditional construction techniques as practiced in the San Francisco area before World War Two. Peter then went on to another apprenticeship as Historic Rigger at Mystic Seaport, then worked in various small yards in the San Francisco Bay area. He repaired and rebuilt fishing vessels and yachts. He also crewed on various large schooners and square-riggers in every job from Seaman to Captain (of the Columbus replica “Nina”), several of them being instructional vessels where he taught seamanship to youth. He designed and built a modified Slocum “Spray”, launched in 1984 and has sailed it extensively on the West coast from Mexico to northern British Columbia, refining practical skills and researching small sailing ship operation. At San Francisco Boat Works, Peter ran the wood shop and was responsible for all wooden vessel repairs, including many classic, cold molded and strip planked boats. After ten years in the film business including 3 “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies he returned to the marine trades after moving to Port Townsend in 2008. He brings over 50 years of practical experience in boat building, repair, maintenance and operation and is a unique asset to our School.

Leigh O'Connor, Instructor
Leigh grew up on the coastal town of Swampscott MA. He formed a love for the ocean at a young age and spent summers working on Lobster boats out of Beverly and Nahant. He attended the Art Institute of Boston where he studied as an apprentice in sculpture and bronze casting. He worked as a welder and metal fabricator to help pay for his education. After graduating he moved into the field of woodworking, cabinetmaking, construction, and Historical Restoration. In 2008 he received an Associate’s Degree from the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding and immediately began working as a shipwright. He has worked for himself and also with two of the top wooden boat companies in the Port of Port Townsend. Leigh has a long history of working in the trades, but has also been honing his skills as a teacher over the years. He has taught college classes, children’s classes, and has been a guest instructor at the NWSWB. Leigh believes that nothing is impossible. With the proper tools and information a person can accomplish anything. It is his dream to pass on true skills to students who want to excel as craftsmen.

Defending yacht design from the influence of...boaters?

This is something we have discussed in the Design Workshop and was also mentioned in the ABYC class I attended. 

In Defense of Good Yacht Design

By Michael Peters

Sightlines - February 2015

Crimes Against Nature

Defending yacht design from the influence of … boaters?

While naval architects prefer designing the entire boat, we also regularly work with production builders providing hull-design and other services. On these occasions we work with in-house designers who specialize in exterior styling and layouts unique to their brands. This arrangement is often rewarding and works seamlessly with builders such as Hinckley, who hand us beautiful, nicely proportioned designs to work with. Other times we are required to work with very challenging designs that can only be described as dogs. Not just dogs, but butt-ugly junkyard dogs; the kind you would never want around your family.

The damnedest thing is, they blame you. They blame you for demanding these awful creations. If that is true, then you must want 5 pounds of shit in a 1-pound bag and not give a damn if it’s safe or what it looks like. The builders of these unfortunate things say they are only trying to respond to what you ask for. If you want space and you want headroom, they are willing to give it to you in spades, even as it sacrifices the boat beneath your feet. Just one look at these ugly things and you know something is wrong. Mother nature knows it too and it wants nothing to do with these boats. I am talking denial-of-physics ugly, real crimes against nature: Top-heavy, fat, bloated boats that don’t pass any stability calculations. Boats that accommodate huge interiors, but not head seas. Boats that really shouldn’t leave the dock.

It’s hard to believe it, but in the U.S. there are no stability requirements for pleasure boats above 20 feet. ABYC and the U.S. Coast Guard are silent on this issue. This is not true in Europe, where a boat must pass stability requirements in order to be sold. But in America boatbuilders are free to sell you any boat you care to buy. There are no standards in place to protect the unwitting buyer. In the absence of U.S. guidelines, my office designs to ISO 12217-1:2013 requirements for boats up to 24 meters. ISO stands for International Standards Organization. American-built boats, sold to Americans, don’t have to pass these international standards. I currently have a couple of projects on my desk that don’t even pass category D. That means these boats are considered unsafe in waves above just 20 inches. The builder still plans to go ahead with production, justifying themselves by pointing to their likewise guilty competition. Perhaps they should tie all their boats together side by side so they won’t tip over.

Europeans may get a pass on stability, but they are just as bad as Americans with regard to hull shape. They gladly sacrifice efficiency, ride, and seakeeping in favor of a fat hull for larger accommodations. The head designer for a large European manufacturer became quite pissed off when I suggested he was turning their boats into barges in an effort to fit his creative designs. Amazingly, creativity knows no bounds when it’s allowed to stick outside the hull. Interiors sell boats so why not sacrifice the hull? Is good seakeeping passé and has the very boat become obsolete in boating?  

Certainly the concept that the boat comes first does not do well against current market mandates. So you have to ask if boats are simply becoming real estate on the water? If this is the case I can’t help but think we are going about designing them completely the wrong way. Instead we should be developing boats like the Arcadia that look like a house stuck on a hull, with minimal power. Initially I hated it, but now I am growing to admire the honesty of its concept. It reflects how we use boats today and is the natural conclusion to market demands. Just putter out to your favorite anchorage in your house and enjoy a beautiful weekend on the water. The boat becomes the smallest factor in the equation.

Maybe we should just admit that the traditional concept of boating is outdated. Instead of designing boats with lots of power and styling them like giant cars, we should abandon all that and go the way of Arcadia. Maybe it should just be architecture on barge-like hulls that don’t attempt to go very far. You wouldn’t have to worry about the principles of naval architecture, because the problems would largely go away. It would be honest. Is this what you want in your future?

The Puget Sound: Native Americans and Fishing

Bob Miller, the instructor for the American Maritime Heritage workshop, stopped by to give a preview of the course and some of the topics covered. The presentation was titled. "The Puget Sound: A Select History". Not being from this region it was extremely informative and I learned many things that I had no clue about.

I'm sure it's no surprise the importance of the bounty of fish and shellfish from the Salish Sea to the Native Americans that were here long before the white man came. The first video is about the Pacific Northwest Canoe Legacy Project and the importance of honoring the past.

Duane Pasco, well-known Northwest Coast Artist, explains how the canoe was an integral part of the culture in the coastal waterways. It was not only a means of transportation but an art form in itself

The next two videos illustrate a darker side to the Pacific Northwest's history. "The Days of Salmon Traps and Fish Pirates" shows that there is such a thing as being too efficient. The film "As Long as the River Runs" is about the Fish Wars of the late 1960's and early 1970's.
The Days of Salmon Traps and Fish Pirates

As Long as the River Runs

The Fish Wars were a series of civil disobedience protests in the 1960s and ‘70s in which Native American tribes around the Puget Sound pressured the U.S. government to recognize fishing rights granted by the Point No Point Treaty. Under the Point No Point Treaty, tribes on the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas gave up most of their land, but retained rights to their traditional fishing areas.

In 1974’s United States v. Washington, U.S. District Court Judge George Hugo Boldt stated that treaty right fishermen must be allowed to take up to 50% of all potential fishing harvests, and required that they have an equal voice in the management of the fishery.

The so-called Boldt Decision was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in 1979 and has been used as a precedent for handling other similar treaties.

Ray Speck's Centerboard Design

Our class is building two Catspaw Dinghy's (one lapstrake and one carvel planked). Ray Speck gave a presentation on his design for a centerboard. The secret sauce is the mortising for the bolts. If you are going to build a boat with a centerboard and do not follow these instructions, well...you have been warned that yours will probably leak!

This article originally appeared in WoodenBoat Magazine #152, January/February 2000.

The Elwha River

Bob Miller, the instructor for the American Maritime Heritage workshop, stopped by to give a preview of the course and some of the topics covered. The presentation was titled. "The Puget Sound: A Select History". Not being from this region it was extremely informative and I learned many things that I had no clue about.  There will be several posts about topics covered by Bob in his presentation.  This post is on the Elwha River. Both videos below are very moving and worth the time to watch.

It is now more than ten years since Bruce Brown began the Olympic Peninsula wanderings that led him to write this powerful account of how greed, indifference and environmental mismanagement have threatened the survival of the wild Pacific salmon and, as a result, the region’s ecology and its people. Acclaimed by critics who likened it to Coming Into the Country by John McPhee and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Mountain in the Clouds has become a classic of natural history. As the struggle to protect Northwest salmon runs and the urgency of the fight against environmental deterioration escalates, Mountain in the Clouds remains an important and illuminating story, as timely now as when it was first written.

KCTS 9 and EarthFix chronicle the historic removal of two dams from the Elwha River, and show how it will impact people, salmon and the environment for years to come.

"Return of the River" offers a story of hope and possibility amid grim environmental news. It is a film for our time: an invitation to consider crazy ideas that could transform the world for the better. It features an unlikely success story for environmental and cultural restoration.

Fundamentally, the Elwha River in Washington State is a story about people and the land they inhabit. The film captures the tenacity of individuals who would not give up on a river, mirroring the tenacity of salmon headed upstream to spawn. It is a narrative with global ramifications, exploring the complex relationship between communities and the environment that sustains them.

The camera soars over mountain headwaters, dives into schools of salmon, and captures turbines grinding to a halt; as the largest dam removal project in history begins. The film features people and perspectives on all sides of the Elwha debate, reflecting the many voices of the Elwha valley
http://www.elwhafilm.com/

Exploration of ABYC Basics

In January, I attended the "Exploration of ABYC Basics" class during ABYC's 6th Annual Standards week in Seattle. The class was billed as an interactive exploration into the Basics of Electrical, Systems and Corrosion using ABYC Standards and learning how ABYC Standards are applied and their mission to make boating safer. Within in the first 10 minutes of the class, our instructor, Kevin Ritz played the following video:

Lucas’ Story: Electric Shock Drowning (ESD)

Yes, the instructor standing in front of the class, is the same Kevin Ritz in the video. I'm not ashamed to admit that I and everyone else was moved to tears. Kevin has dedicated his life to spreading the message about safe electricity and how important it is for us boat builders, mechanics and boat owners to be trained to apply the ABYC Standards. What makes this tragedy almost incomprehensible is that if 1 of 6 Standards were met...Lucas would still be alive today.

For more information visit: SafeElectricity.org

Ray Speck, Classic Whitehall

One of the advantages of going to the school is to be able to have the privilege of listening to Ray Speck talk about wooden boat building. This week Ray stopped to by to give us a slide show presentation on building a 14 foot Whitehall. The pictures and commentary were extremely detailed, so much that if you paid attention closely, I think you could build the boat.

Whitehalls are the iconic American pulling boat. They are a specialized form of wherry.

They emerged in New York City and, possibly, shortly thereafter in Boston in the 1830's. It is thought the name derives from Whitehall Street in New York City, though no one is sure.

The boats were usually used under oars and occasionally sail as fast harbor ferries and the boat used to take harbor pilots out to meet inbound sailing ships. They have a fine reputation as fast, easy-rowing vessels.

Most Whitehalls were carvel-built with white oak planking on an oak backbone with oak frames. (Carvel planking means that the planks butted up against each other, edge to edge).

Famously, John Wesley Powell used Whitehalls (built in Chicago for him) for his first trip down the mighty Colorado River in 1869.

Mystic Seaport has several fine sets of plans available for classic American Whitehalls. www.mysticseaport.org

The client for whom we built this boat wanted a Boston bow and a New York stern (characterized by it's fine "wineglass" shape).

Master Boatbuilder Ray Speck and the students in the 2007 Traditional Small Craft class joined the two iconic shapes on the loft floor, a challenging assignment, then, as the client wanted, built the boat as a lapstrake vessel to those revised lines. (Lapstrake planking overlaps, like clapboards do on a house).

Under Ray's supervision, the students built the boat of western red cedar planking on a white oak backbone and white oak frames. The transom was mahogany

Stephens/Waring Sentinel 24

Sean Koomen gave a slideshow presentation on the building of the Sentinel 24. The boat was a collaboration between the school and Stephens/Waring Yacht Design (Paul Waring happens to be Sean's brother-in-law!). A cool video of the completed boat can be found at:

http://youtu.be/wrrwdKmmZps




Type: Sail
Price: $90,000
Construction: Cold Molded Wood Composite
LOA: 24'
LWL: 19' 4"
Beam: 8"
Draft: 4' 4"
Displacement: 2,850 lbs

The renowned firm of Stephens/Waring Yacht Design of Belfast, Maine (SWYD) www.stephenswaring.com selected the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding to build the first Sentinel-24 sloop.

The Sentinel-24 class is designed to be a comfortable and stylish boat. It combines the beautiful lines of yesterday's classics with a modern underbody design and state-of-the art rigging, and represents Stephens Waring Yacht Design's signature approach to distinctive, fun and high performance sailing with more than a touch of historic grace.

Since the Sentinel-24 is designed for commercial production, it fits the School's need for a modern cold-molded wood composite boat to be used to teach students that style of boatbuilding. Our Contemporary class of 2013 is well along with building the first hull. In fact, we're looking forward to launching our completely outfitted boat on September 6th, 2013 at the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend WA.

The cold-molded hull is just under 24 feet long overall, with 19 feet 4-inches on the waterline and a maximum beam of 8 feet on a draft of 4 feet 4 inches, displacing 2,850 pounds with two crew. The sloop will carry 300 square feet of sail on a modern rig.

The open cockpit measures over 8 feet long, and was designed for a party of four with plenty of elbow room. The open cockpit layout is standard and combines a commanding tiller steering arrangement for ultimate steering feel, though an alternate deck arrangement has been drawn by Stephens Waring Yacht Design to satisfy those looking for a small cuddy and enough accommodation for an overnight excursion. The 24 will accommodate wheel steering with the modified cockpit as an upgrade.

Clean line management leads to the simplified control and trimming of sail, all ergonomically situated forward at the base of the mast. This results in a spare and restrained layout to ensure the boat is as easy as possible to handle. The standard rig is a backstay-less rig using a square-topped mainsail. For sailors who are not yet believers in square-topped mains, a more conventional sloop arrangement is offered by Stephens Waring Yacht Design, since the Signature-24 is a great platform for each owner's customized choices.

Port Townsend Field Trip, Part Two

In the beginning of February we took a field trip to Port Townsend to visit the NW Maritime Center and Point Hudson. The NW Maritime Center is hosting the school's Contemporary Wood Composite program this year. We toured the facility, including the shop and library, with Scott Jones the boat shop manager for the NW Maritime Center.

NW Maritime Center & The Wooden Boat Foundation

The Wooden Boat Foundation was founded in 1978, after the first and highly successful Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. More than 2,000 people from all corners of the US and several Canadian provinces traveled, some with their boats and tools, to the first nationally recognized Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend.

The most popular and largest program continues to be the internationally renowned Wooden Boat Festival, but this small non-profit also offers an eclectic and well stocked Maritime Library, a high quality Wooden Boat Chandlery and active Boat Shop. All are open to the public year round in the historic Point Hudson district of downtown Port Townsend.

In January, 2008, the NW Maritime Center construction began and the buildings opened at Festival 2009! The facilities connect the Victorian historic downtown with the maritime heritage and modern marine trades activity of Point Hudson.

http://nwmaritime.org/

Hasse Sail Loft

Lorraine (Carol Hasse’s boat)




















Sean Rankin’s Spitsgatter

Schooner Adventuress Tours

Design Workshop - Laminar Flow

This is really cool...so I couldn't not post it. In the Design Workshop we discussed flows around hulls and foils. Flows can be either laminar or turbulent. Below is a short description and video on laminar flows:

At low speeds and over short distances, flow with no disturbances is laminar. Laminar flow is characterized by smooth flow past surface with no motion perpendicular to surface. Imagine stretching taffy. What is happening is viscosity of the fluid (water or air) damps out minor flow variations (eddies). Boundary layer starts with zero viscosity at surface and smooth transitions to full flow a fraction of an inch from surface. It's as if the flow were thin lamina.

Design Workshop - Seaworthiness, the forgotten factor...

This quarter I am taking a workshop offered by the school, "Introduction to Boat Design". The instructor is David Blessing, the President of the Board of Directors of the school. Here is a brief overview of David's background:

David grew up in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Physics. For most of his working life until 2002, he was a nuclear power engineer, working on nuclear submarines for the US Navy. While living in Virginia, David sailed on Chesapeake Bay. He built a cold-molded wooden 505 sailboat which he raced for many years, and learned to appreciate the statement “Upside down is slow.” David built two other small wooden boats in his shop in Virginia. When it was time to choose another career beyond submarines, David came west to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding where he could pursue his passion for wooden boats. After graduating, he worked for a while building wooden sea kayaks. In 2004, an opportunity came up to join the Lockheed Martin team developing the design for a nuclear powered spacecraft for scientific exploration. Subsequently, he has been working on advanced reactor designs for commercial application and on energy conservation projects.

What's great about David is that although he is an engineer, he is also an avid sailor and can relate the technical aspects of design to real world applications. What the bio fails to mentioned is that David commissioned the school to build his Dudley Dix designed Didi-Cruise Mini. 

So why all of this background information? The discussion about "Seaworthiness" and boat design directly relates to Dudley Dix the designer of David's sailboat.

In boat design there are always trade offs...sea kindly or fast? Which do you want? Do you want a boat that will take care of you at sea no matter what...or one which requires the crew stay engaged to keep her moving and safe? The complexity of boat motion in waves means the extrapolation from known designs can save a lot of trouble.

The video at the link below shows a heavy displacement power boat going through very rough seas. This is the case where a sea kindly hull is really important to keep the boat upright and powering. Try to imagine what the boat's motion would be if it were a shallow draft planing hull with a deep keel.

So to the main event. Dudley Dix's article "Capsize!" in the June/July 2014 issue of Professional Boatbuilder on a wave-induced capsize in a modern sailboat (click on the word Capsize! to read the article).