Port Townsend Bay,
Saturday, January 12th, 2013

Captain Kirk Gresham

Kirk Gresham (Captain Kirk), broadcast on our local pocket yachters list that he was itching to go out on the water and his boat is packed up for the winter... And it was another rare sunny day in the high 30's F...  So, I called him to crew on Yasmin.  I was also itching to get some feedback from an experienced sailer on how my outhaul control was dealing with the lee helm problem.

He experienced the lee helm as we hoisted the sail, and she wanted to take off toward Indian Island (downwind).  The 'test outhaul' doesn't  kick in until the sail is at it's full height. As soon as the sail was fully up, the outhaul yanked the luff end of the bottom batten back toward the mast and Yasmin started to behave and was almost balanced.  So, I will install the full outhaul control lines and Kirk also suggest maybe moving the halyard forward on the yard maybe a foot.

It was cold, with variable 5 to 11 knot winds, with wind chill factor making it feel like 31 degrees, so we didn't stay out too long, one run up to Point Hudson and back.

Thank you, Kirk, for getting out on such a beautiful day.  I hope to be fully rigged for this years Shipwrights' (Regatta) Race on February 23rd.

Heading toward the paper mill

Another perfect day for sailing!

New Years Day 2013, out on Port Townsend Bay

New Years Day 2013, snowy Cascades in the east, Tabitha's hood as she helmed the CS17 for her dad,  to take this shot with his phone.  (by Edward Gossett)

Just had to get on the water and it turned out to be one of the rare sunny days this season.  The Cascade Mountains were dusted with snow on the Eastern horizon and Mount Baker was solid white and massive in the Northeast.

About 13:30 we found +Edward Gossett out in the middle of Port Townsend bay, testing an additional sail between the two mainsails  while is adroit 4 year old 'manned' the helm of their core-sound-17.

Later, again with Tabitha at the helm, Edward took two pictures of Yasmin... I hope to figure out my phone camera and promise to return the favor on future messabouts.

Edward has his own blog where he describes their frequent family adventures from each family member's perspective, such refreshing and cool way to tell the story and highlight learnings. http://foggysailing.com

Happy New year, I'm feeling that this will be the luckiest year yet 2013!

New years day 2013, with Port Townsend Waterfront by Edward Gossett

36th Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend

Yes,  there is plenty of wood in this Alacrity 19 on a perfect day, tons of boats but I've focused on the junk rigged ones.

S/V Bertie on its way toward us.
click to see, kind of far away
I lost my photographer before Bertie
was in range.

Rob Parish's Sampan with three
 generations aboard.

s/v Yasmin
Alacrity 19

Sampan with foresail up,
click to see  better.

Heading out.

Arrrr, getting ready for the boat festival tomorrow.

At the dock in Boat Haven, Port Townsend. Fifty six little sail panels make some awesome pirate power.  Hopefully we'll get some good pictures and video of the many classic boats arriving for the 36th Wooden Boat Festival... Yes, my boat has a wooden mast and wooden like battens (bamboo) plywood bulkheads inside, wood hatch and seats in the cockpit... We'll fit right in.

S/V Yasmin's first sailing, September 1st, 2012

We went out for a little shake down cruise with almost no wind, but, of course, the breeze arrived and we sailed off toward Rat Island, on Port Townsend Bay.  It was perfect.  Still making adjustments to the rigging, but we'll be at the PT Wooden Boat Festival this weekend. Woo hoo!

 The name "Goblin" didn't really fit this new Alacrity 19, so I had been looking at a few other names, but nothing really stuck, until Yasmin.  I know a feistyYasmin who has travelled the world and loves life, and this name just makes me smile all the way to the center of my being.

Randy, an old sailor and sage and my mate on Yasmin's first sail.  Thanks Randy.

The sun shines right through.

Launching today, no sails yet, but motoring to Pocket Yacht Palooza!

New gudgions installed and boat numbers applied last night.

Final coats of paint on deck over non-skid...

We're going to get her in the water by May 19th,  in time for the first Pocket Yacht Palooza in Port Townsend.









The list for May




Red mast, 3 coats of penetrating epoxy  and 2 (of 3) coats of red.

Red rudder and companionway doors.

Non-skid (white sand) spread over deck.

New shape for port lights.








Location : 1946-1994 Spruce St, Port Townsend, WA 98368,

Solar and Wind powered Goblin floats to mark her waterline.

But also,  we first drop in the unstayed mast.   Sorry, my hands were full and couldn't get photos of the launch.   It was wonderful to slide her through the water with a line attached to the bow and stern.  The engine has arrived...  an electric 3 horse with solar panel.   Motor sits in a new motor well in the starboard cockpit locker.  Will upload photos this weekend.

First coat!

The kids got coat one down.  Tomorrow we float her to get a water line.

Fairing completed on all decks and cockpit..

Cockpit fairing completed, and new companionway doors and cover started.  Rob is an artist.  Cover will be hinged on the port side and can be slid off the hinges and stowed below.

Boat Shop Upgrade and Masthead Complete

Things have been a little quiet on the boat, but not really.  Rob Parrish's Boat Works has moved into a bigger work shop with high ceilings, high enough to work inside on the larger boats.  Sharing the shop with other highly skilled crafts people is a great benefit.  Dave made the above masthead this week.  I've brought it home so I can figure out sizes of the rig pieces to attach to it.    Looks like this masthead will outlast the mast and boat by a several hundred years... anyone want to wager on that?

Cheers,

Jeff

Sail design that Goblin likes today.

Here the sail is at rest and reaches to the  bow.

 A great site on junk rig terminology can be found here: 'How does it work',  but there is no substitute for looking at photo's and drawings of the real rigs. Each customized over generations for specific purposes.  With my rig, here in Puget sound, I need a substantial amount of sail area for light airs, but the ability to drop all sails or reef quickly at the first sign of shifting to squal. This design was done partly with an old junk rig cad program 'SailCut8', running under 'wine' on a mac.  But it's a bit too limited, so I printed and modified it to what looks right to my eyes.  It may require a bit of a boomkin,  but that's easy. It's about 218 square feet, which is not too different than the sq feet from the Alacrity's standard main combined with the genoa.  If it's too much, I'll cut the bottom panel off, or if I need more, I'll add another panel at the bottom.

Goblin, actually prefers these curves, today.

Here the tack line is pulled about as far as you'd ever want.

Inspiration came from this one and

And especially, this one too.

And this one for the amount of sail ahead of the mast.

My Current favorite resource for detailed, photos of junks from the 1970's

index111ChineseJunks
Karsten Petersen is the photographer and maintainer of this site.  I'm very grateful to him for making these images available to the world. 

Sails that Goblin and I admire.

These are the inspiration for Goblin's new junk rig sail.  Hope you enjoy them as much as we do. These are from Rob Parish's vast collection.