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).