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Thread: New Boat 4 Sled

  1. #2771
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    did the sailboat scratch their anchor?

  2. #2772
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    Not a good day/week to be cruising the San Juans. That's smoke, below, in Friday Harbor, not fog. Highest hourly smoke level on record. Smoke is coming from fires in British Columbia. Beetle, whacha got?

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    Last edited by sleddog; 08-21-2018 at 10:57 AM.

  3. #2773
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    Anatomy of an historical goose chase.

    A few days ago I was handed a beautiful color print of a wishbone ketch off Diamond Head, likely finishing a Transpac (Honolulu) Race. The owner had found the print at an antique auction, and wondered if I knew the boat and anything of the history of the photo.

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    There wasn't much to go on, other than the photographer's name, Werner Stoy, the date of "July" noted below the photo, as well as the comment that the photo was taken "just after dawn, as the sun's rays burst through a cloud and illuminated the scene." But somewhere in the recesses of my memory, I remembered seeing this ketch as a kid....

    The first clue found was from the back of the print, entitled "Hawaiian Waters," which noted it was from Chevron/Standard Oil's “See America Scenic View” print giveaway at West Coast gas stations in the 1940's, 50's, & 60's These prints, totaling hundreds, were often shot by famous photographers like Ansel Adams, and were given away as free advertising to encourage Western tourism and as a sales stimulation to buy fuel and equipment at Chevron stations, similar to Green Stamp and road map giveaways...

    My library is filled with Transpac Race history and memoribilia, one a large hardback of the story and results of each race between 1906-1979. It didn't take long to find there had been 55 ketches racing in all those Transpac years. Which ketch was this?

    The same book, filled with historical photos, also had on page 145 a photo of STELLA MARIS II under the 1941 Race chapter. And there high on STELLA MARIS II's main was clearly a wishbone (gaff). I thought I had the answer, as STELLA MARIS II's finish time was recorded as being 7:04 a.m. Hawaiian time, dawn as in the above photo. Bingo?

    Not so fast. sleddog. The history of the 1941 Transpac tells how STELLA MARIS II, 54 feet LOA, was barely first-to-finish over JORIE, ESCAPADE, and PAJARA, all crossing within 2 hours, 18 minutes of each other. The story also tells STELLA MARIS II was handicapped by a broken spinnaker pole that "required taking down everything and putting it back up whenever the schooner jibed."

    "Schooner?"

    Clearly the Chevron print shows a wishbone ketch. What gives?

    The history of each Transpac entry in the big blue book showed STELLA MARIS II raced three Transpacs: 1939 as a ketch, 1941 as a schooner, and 1947 as a cutter. Clearly her owner, designer, and builder, A.A. Steele of the Hollywood Yacht Club in West Los Angeles, liked to experiment with rigs. But the mystery deepened from the finish time results showing STELLA MARIS II finished both the '39 and '47 races in mid-afternoon, not when Mr. Stoy's photo was taken.

    Could it be the history book was wrong, that in the 1941 Transpac STELLA MARIS II was a ketch, not a schooner? I went back to the photo/print for more clues, of which two were immediately apparent. First clue: color photography in the first half of the 20th century was limited by the lack of color film. It wasn't until Kodak developed Kodachrome in the early 1960's that color photography begin to be used extensively. Second clue: the red jib on STELLA MARIS II could only have been made of synthetic nylon or dacron, neither of which were used as sailmaking material until the 1950's.

    Could it be STELLA MARIS II wasn't STELLA MARIS II? Here my memory clicked in, recalling a ketch from my first Transpac in 1961 named TENDERFOOT II. Could it be STELLA MARIS II, renamed at a later date, was actually TENDERFOOT II?

    Now we seemed to be getting somewhere. Sometime between 1947 and 1961, the records show the cutter STELLA MARIS II was sold to Robert Campbell of Newport Harbor, renamed TENDERFOOT II, and given back her original wishbone ketch rig. TENDERFOOT II resided on the Newport waterfront, and I remember sailing my dinghy past her varnished transom.

    One last question to be resolved. TENDERFOOT II raced in both the 1961 and 1963 Transpacs under Mr. Campbell's ownership. During the finish of which Transpac Race was the Chevron print was taken?

    In 1961 TENDERFOOT II finished at 7:13 a.m Hawaiian time, and in 1963 she finished at 1:14 p.m. The print photo was taken at dawn. I feel confident in reporting the color print found by the antique dealer was taken of the wishbone ketch TENDERFOOT II, 54' LOA, on the morning of Tuesday, July 18, 1961.
    Last edited by sleddog; 08-23-2018 at 09:55 AM.

  4. #2774
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    Quote Originally Posted by sleddog View Post
    Anatomy of an historical goose chase.
    Very cool. Great photo, great detective work, nice read. Thanks.
    Lee
    s/v Morning Star
    Valiant 32

  5. #2775
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    So no batten technology in 1961? It seems the wishbone boom was used to support the added roach of the sail. Strange.

  6. #2776
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    Quote Originally Posted by sleddog View Post
    If you've singlehanded to/from Hawaii, I invite you to list 3 of your most valuable (MVP) and/or least valuable (LVP) techniques, equipment, food, sails, etc.

    From the author's perspective, #1 is shade and cooling assistance. WILDFLOWER carried a reefable, tiltable, 100 sq. foot, cockpit awning that I rolled out each morning, and rolled up each afternoon as the sun went over the yard arm. The awning, a poor man's Bimini, went from the stern 12 feet forward, covering the companionway hatch. But was small enough to allow forward and upward vision of the spinnaker luff/Windex from the helm. Besides this shade, WF carried a flower mister squirter and Hella fan over the bunk. The low draw 2 speed Hella fan was a treat in itself, making sleeping possible below decks in the warmth of tropical latitudes. The mister was like cheap AC, only $1.99.

    Attachment 3679

    #2 was 2 bean bag chairs. Lightweight, they could be positioned just about anywhere for comfort, making steering long hours a pleasure, rather than a chore. I covered them with washable terry cloth towels. Total combined weight = 6 pounds. When on deck, they were secured to the boat with a tagline.

    #3 was a smallish hatch (10"x16") in the floor of the cockpit, directly over the (aft) sea bunk. No only did this hatch provide light and air, but also a view of the masthead Windex. The hatch also allowed the tiller pilot to be adjusted with my head on the pillow, as well as easy access to the main and jib sheet, and engine throttle/shift on the return passages. If I felt the beginning of rain drops, I knew a squall was impending, and time to take action.
    That is the exact Hella fan I have on Jacqueline and agree is it one of the best pieces of gear on board. Mine is 32 years old and going strong with a little WD 40 on the bearings which started to make some noise during last visit to Kauai.

    #2 My gunmount and pole which worked perfectly to pole out my jib after the spinnaker exploded and eliminated the gunmount's primary function.

    #3 Interior handholds which essentially eliminated falls. A huge improvement. I am amazed I didn't have them in 16 when I experienced several dangerous falls inside the cabin

    The bad

    #1 Tethers and jacklines - horrible arrangement. Constant tangles and wraps around feet, etc.

    #2 No harness except my PFD which was hot and uncomfortable in the tropics.

    #3 No shaft lock. I resorted to using a small hardwood board to stop the prop turning and wearing out my shaft seal/tranny. I do not have a folding prop. BTW, I was amazed at the torque on the shaft when the boat was sailing at 6 Kts. It could easily have been used to generate power.
    Last edited by mike cunningham; 08-22-2018 at 11:11 AM.

  7. #2777
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan Gutoff View Post
    So no batten technology in 1961? It seems the wishbone boom was used to support the added roach of the sail. Strange.
    Jonathan-
    Sharp eyes, Sir. Here's a photo of STELLA MARIS II, aka TENDERFOOT II, taken in ~1940. Battens, 4 sets on both main and mizzen are visible, as well as reef points, 2 sets. My guess is the batten pockets and reef cringles are on the opposite side of the sails from the photographer in 1961, and due to the lighting and thickness of the sail cloth, are rendered invisible. Maybe not.

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    Last edited by sleddog; 08-22-2018 at 11:43 AM.

  8. #2778
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    Sorry to hear friends aboard DOGBARK have had to abandon their attempt on the NW Passage, due to heavy ice blocking their way east of Prudhoe Bay.
    http://forecast.predictwind.com/trac...isplay/Dogbark
    It doesn't look hopeful for any yachts getting through this year in either direction.
    https://saildogbark.com/

  9. #2779
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    Quote Originally Posted by sleddog View Post
    If you've singlehanded to/from Hawaii, I invite you to list 3 of your most valuable (MVP) and/or least valuable (LVP) techniques, equipment, food, sails, etc.
    The good:

    1. Monitor Wind Vane. Steered like a champ, all the way to Hawaii and back after the autopilot failed day 3 of the race. I had to re-do the way the lines were attached to the wheel adapter a couple of times; but once that was dialed in, the vane was a rock star. Even when the 'safety tube' broke, there was a spare in the kit, and the repair was not difficult.

    2. Solar panels. With sunshine (of which there was plenty on the return, not as much as we would have like during the race) the 185 watts from the three rigid panels would provide all the energy needed 24/7 – including 12 v refrigerator/freezer and 12 v to 20 v adapter to keep the laptop fully charged.

    3. Bimini. Easy pop up, one line to secure it in place, giving full shade to cockpit. Well worth its weight and windage.

    The bad:

    1. No helmet. With plenty of good hand-holds, I didn’t have any falls. But twice when not holding on down below the boat got slammed and I went flying. Once the energy of my impact was largely absorbed by the head door being ripped off its hinges. The second time, however, involved a blow to the head that could have been bad. As I write this my right ear is still swollen and bruised; the cartilage got mashed pretty severely, but took enough of the impact to save me from a concussion.

    2. Provisioning. I planned on a 24-day return passage, and it took every bit of that to get to San Francisco. Ran out of coffee and most everything fun and easy to eat.

    3. Sail Mail via SSB. From a few days out of Kauai, until well past the halfway point, it was touch-and-go getting connected to a Sail Mail ground station; and the connection would frequently drop before completing the send/receive drill. Once the west coast stations were closer than Honolulu the situation improved. But the experience has me planning to get my Ham license so I can switch to Winlink – which reportedly worked perfectly all the way back.
    Lee
    s/v Morning Star
    Valiant 32

  10. #2780
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    Quote Originally Posted by AZ Sailor View Post
    The bad:
    1. With plenty of good hand-holds, I didn’t have any falls. But twice when not holding on down below the boat got slammed and I went flying. Once the energy of my impact was largely absorbed by the head door being ripped off its hinges.
    "Head door"? One of the first things we learned as kids was the inappropriateness of the weight and space blockage created by carrying a head door. This was confirmed by meeting the owner of a K-40 who was solo sailing and in the head when his boat auto-tacked. His boat's interior slightly shifted, and the mast now lay against the head door, effectively trapping him inside. It took him several minutes to kick out the door and escape, begging the question, why would a singlehander need a head door?

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    Last edited by sleddog; 08-23-2018 at 10:44 AM.

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