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Thread: New Boat 4 Sled

  1. #1121
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    Quote Originally Posted by sleddog View Post
    someone happened to notice that overhead, the Convention Center's roof is all glass.
    !!! hahahahahaha ya gotta love bureaucrats!

  2. #1122
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    At 9:30 this morning, with police escort lights flashing, Driver Mike with MERLIN in tow made the last turn, gently bottomed out on the boatyard hill, and MERLIN was back home in Santa Cruz after a week long trip from Milwaukee.

    Mike had been delayed at Donner Pass Ag Station when an inspector, doing his job, found a Zebra Mussel infestation in the keel box and canting mechanism and quarantined the boat. It took Mike 4 hours to find someone who would hot pressure wash the boat....but he seemed in good humor and no worse for wear, given the size and length of his eye catching cargo.

    Three of MERLIN's original 1977 record breaking TransPac crew were on hand for her arrival: Designer/builder Bill Lee, "Bosun" Dave Wahle, and Phil "Cosmic Flush" Vandenberg. As MERLIN was backed into the boatyard for unloading by TraveLift, there was a brief moment of serendipity when MERLIN passed close astern of Bill Lee's first ocean racing boat, the shoal draft, centerboard, John Alden designed, 38' FRIDOLF, on which Bill crewed in Southern California in the mid-60's, and later on Monterey Bay.

    There's a lot to be done to make MERLIN ocean worthy again. First up is to locate a used TP-52 keel to replace the canting monstrosity. Bill has feelers out from Canada to Mexico. The "leaky" canard (forward daggerboard) trunk has to be cut out, and glassed over. Even though Bill agreed the forward sloping, carbon fiber, cabin top is not in keeping with the original design, I doubt it is going anywhere soon. There are bigger fish to fry. Ditto MERLIN's graphics, a leftover from when she was sold to a Texas restauranteer.

    Everyone was smiling this morning to see MERLIN back home. I'm sure there will be more stories to come.

  3. #1123
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    It's scary out there. We are constantly amazed by the innovation and persistence of SSS skippers to convince the PHRF Handicap Committee that their boat is actually slower than perceived, and needs its rating adjusted upwards to be competitive. Especially true when racing in the same class as those pesky WylieCat 30's.

    This owner took his state-of-the-art 24 year old design, spent a morning of hard labor "detuning," and recently went "Trick or Treating" for a new rating. The "Trick" is disguising this 30 foot racer as a family cruiser, barely able to stay ahead of the WetSnails, and is boat-for-boat with the Cal-20's and Tuna 22's. The "Treat" will be if Jim Antrim, PHRF Handicapper, "bites" and falls for the "we carry our fuel in jugs on deck," and "I can't hoist a spinnaker because the rubber dinghy is in the way and my sprit hangs up on the anchor."

    Good Job, Sir. However, you may have overplayed your hand. The swim fins and dive bag on the pushpit is a good look. As is the outboard. But the seasick pink flamingo and backstay toilet seat is so over the top, even for a cruiser like myself, that we have serious doubts your ploy will work.

    Good Luck anyway, and Happy Halloween to All.
    Last edited by sleddog; 10-31-2015 at 02:52 PM.

  4. #1124
    Join Date
    May 2009
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    You know what they say Skip, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
    Wildflower PHRF 1978 = 162
    Wildflower PHRF 2008 = 183
    Wildflower PCR 2008 = 208
    Westsail 32 PCR 2008 =199

  5. #1125
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  6. #1126
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    Apologies if perceived "stones were being cast." The Halloween story was in jest. RAGTIME's creative cruising makeover was her Halloween disguise for the South Bay Cruise-In.

    Also apologies if I slighted anyone's boat. No intention there either, except tongue-in-cheek. I tell anyone who asks what a competitive boat for SHTP would be, one that could sail at or near handicapped speed potential off the wind and would get there and back reliably, safely and in comfort... a WestSail is high on the List.

    I look forward to Randy's documentary on WestSailing the World.
    https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/w...-documentary#/

    Most boats I've sailed on or against have nicknames: IOR designs usually had "Dog" appended to their boat name, the partial result of their "lead dog" characteristics. Despite significant differences, WILDFLOWER was from the same hull mold as the HawkFarm Class. For years I smiled when approached and asked "is that a 'HogFart'?"

    Good Sailing.
    Last edited by sleddog; 11-01-2015 at 01:15 PM.

  7. #1127
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    As a boatlore archeologist, I am fascinated by improbable voyages. When a friend recently told me her grandfather helped build Destroyers in Pittsburgh during WWII, I was skeptical. I was unfamiliar with inland rivers and waterways, and the steel companies that lined the rivers' banks at Pittsburgh. If true, how could they get these heavily armed, narrow and deep, 350 foot warships to saltwater?

    The Dravo Corporation in Pittsburg was begun in 1891 by brothers Frank and Richard Dravo. The Dravo brothers. were highly skilled in mechanical engineering and metallurgy, similar to the famous Herreshoffs of steam engine and yacht design fame. The Dravo's expanding company helped design and build the San Francisco Bay Bridge in the early 1930's, also sections of the Los Angeles water aqueduct.

    With an increase in inland river traffic in the early 20th Century, in 1919 the Dravo shipbuilding yard was built on Neville Island on the Ohio River, close downstream of the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers at Pittsburgh. Downstream of Neville Island, the Ohio River rarely froze and allowed ship movement even in winter.

    In 1929, the Dravo Corporation introduced electrical welding of steel plates for mass producing river barges. This welding technique, along with assembly line prefabrication and mass production, ultimately made rivet construction of ships obsolete, and greatly speeded up shipbuilding, of vital importance for the coming world war.

    During WW II, the Dravo Corporation, occupied much of Neville Island and became the lead designer and builder for the Landing Ship Tank (LST), 330 feet long and 50 foot beam, a new class of flat bottomed landing craft that could carry many soldiers and more than twenty tanks and trucks, and, with a fold down bow, land them directly onto a beach. It was the Dravo Corp.'s LSTs that made possible the successful Allied invasions in Italy, Normandy, and all the major island campaigns in the Pacific.

    During the the World War II years, Dravo Corp in Pittsburgh built 670 LST's, one every three days, an amazing number. The same was happening at the four Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, CA, where Liberty and Victory ships were being launched at a rate of three/day, 747 ships in total.

    In March 1942 Dravo became the first corporation to receive the Army-Navy Award for outstanding war time production. By then, there were close to 16,000 ship building workers on Neville Island, over 3,000 of whom were women.

    Alongside the mass produced LST's, Dravo built 29 Destroyer Escorts (DE's). These were smaller (about 300 feet), less expensive and slower (24 knots) than the larger, full size Destroyers (35 knots). But DE's were of great value hunting down German submarines and escorting convoys, and made a significant impact on winning the war in the Atlantic.

    No Destroyers were built in Pittsburgh, just DE's.

    The DE's were launched sideways into the Ohio, the first being the U.S.S. JENKS on Sept.11, 1943. The DE's were then towed 2,000 miles out the Ohio and down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and Orange, Texas, where their engines and armament were fitted. Without being fully loaded, the Destroyer Escorts drew about 8 feet of water. Previously, the Ohio had been dredged and made navigable by a series of 51 locks and dams, many built by the Dravo Corp., that allowed 9' of draft to be carried for its full length.

    The answer to my mystery question is: the war ships built and launched into the freshwater of the Ohio River at Pittsburgh went west, out the Ohio River to Cairo, Illinois, south on the Mississippi to New Orleans, and ultimately into the salt water Caribbean.

    http://www.navsource.org/archives/06...65/0666503.jpg
    http://www.navsource.org/archives/06...65/0666502.jpg
    http://www.navsource.org/archives/06...65/0666505.jpg
    http://www.navsource.org/archives/06...65/0666507.jpg

    After WW II ended, American shipbuilding suffered a massive decline, for the war had produced a glut of ships. In addition, foreign competition eventually spelled doom for an industry that had prided itself on winning the naval war and being part of America's industrial backbone.

    For Dravo, the transition back to peacetime was as sudden as the gearing-up had been. Neville Island employment numbers dropped from 16,000 to 1,123. The company continued to prosper, however, by focusing on river transport, specializing in barges and tugboats, and by moving into new lines of business.

    From the 1950s through the 1990s, Dravo's shipbuilding skills translated into steel fabrication of everything from intake and outtake pipes to steel frame construction to nuclear reactor cores. Despite its many successes, Dravo would not remain an independent company; the last division was sold in 1998.
    Last edited by sleddog; 11-02-2015 at 09:08 AM.

  8. #1128
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    Quote Originally Posted by sleddog View Post
    Name:  jay2.jpg
Views: 1179
Size:  539.4 KBName:  jay2.jpg
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    It's scary out there. We are constantly amazed by the innovation and persistence of SSS skippers to convince the PHRF Handicap Committee that their boat is actually slower than perceived, and needs its rating adjusted upwards to be competitive. Especially true when racing in the same class as those pesky WylieCat 30's.

    This owner took his state-of-the-art 24 year old design, spent a morning of hard labor "detuning," and recently went "Trick or Treating" for a new rating. The "Trick" is disguising this 30 foot racer as a family cruiser, barely able to stay ahead of the WetSnails, and is boat-for-boat with the Cal-20's and Tuna 22's. The "Treat" will be if Jim Antrim, PHRF Handicapper, "bites" and falls for the "we carry our fuel in jugs on deck," and "I can't hoist a spinnaker because the rubber dinghy is in the way and my sprit hangs up on the anchor."

    Good Job, Sir. However, you may have overplayed your hand. The swim fins and dive bag on the pushpit is a good look. As is the outboard. But the seasick pink flamingo and backstay toilet seat is so over the top, even for a cruiser like myself, that we have serious doubts your ploy will work.

    Good Luck anyway, and Happy Halloween to All.
    My first thought was, there is a boat that should be named Nightmare !
    Then I got really scared and thought NorCal ORC must have come up with some new MERs.
    Will they require us to tether in while using the O.A.T.S.? (open air toilet seat)

    All in good fun

  9. #1129
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    Sep 2007
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    3,688

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    Next time I'm adding bow thrusters:

    Attachment 1150

  10. #1130
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    Dec 2011
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    Santa Cruz
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    108

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    "Next time I'm adding bow thrusters:"

    Bob~
    I had a friend that was contemplating the Race to Alaska, but decided against it partially because we couldn't figure out the best way to supply human power.
    I will suggest leg holes and fins in our next discussion.
    Thanks for a great idea.
    Howard

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