Shavings Volume 6 Number 1 (January-February 1984)

SHAVINGS Newsletter of the Center for Wooden Boats - Vol. 6, No. 1 - January-February - $0.25

OUR FIRST BOATBUILDING CLASS PLANS A LAUNCHING PARTY. . YOU'RE INVITED! They stand proudly gazing at what they are creating: the first platoon of C W B boatbuilding students and their teacher, Paul Schweiss. Then work begins. They arrive with the first light every Saturday, many with their shiny new tools in freshly built, unscarred tool boxes. The stove is fired up, and a beeline is made for the coffee pot.

Paul quietly reviews the work to be done that morning while steam rises from styrofoam cups. Soon individuals and teams are sawing, planing, hammering, measuring and marking off. Periodically all gather around the boat or blackboard while Paul illustrates an obscure point or borrows a tool to show a better technique.

This boatbuilding workshop — The Dory C o o k b o o k , we called it — is as new to C W B as the rising sun. But the idea comes from our first misty vision of a living museum. Museums preserve the past. We like to do it by letting people touch, row and sail that part of our heritage that concerns small craft. It is good to see the old boatshop know how renewed and resurrected in the hands of our boatshop students.

S o , a salute to the trailblazers in our first official boatbuilding class: Corinne Anderson, Dick Bates, Michael Brennan, K e n Bus, Al Carlin, George Corley, Douglas C o x , C a r e n Crandall, Maury C r u m . B o b Cummings, Earl D o a n , John Gruenwald, Don Haggerty, Albert Hughes, Andy Jessup, T o m Johnston, Charlie Mastro, Mathew Sage, Stan Sorensen, M a r k Sutherland and Paul Williams.

Please come to the launching of their Yankee Skiff, January 14, noon, at the C W B Boatshop, •

NOTICE TO MEMBERS Center for Wooden Boats membership dues will increase as of January 31, 1984, but members who wish to renew now can do so at the old rates.

Here's the old-new schedule: Category

Before Jan. 31 After Jan. 31

S r . Citizens Students Individuals Families Contributing Benefactors Life

$ 7.50 $ 7.50 $ 12.50 $ 20.00 $ 30.00 $100.00 $500.00

$ 8.00 $ 8.00 $ 15.00 $ 25.00 $ 50.00 $100.00 $300.00

VOLUNTEERS The C W B has one important essential - volunteers.

We need help in almost every way - typing, hauling, sanding, phone watch. We have lists of projects for all levels of time, energy and skill. Y o u call us, and we will find just the job.

For example: John Rundberg adopted our O l d Town canoe, and has caned the seats, rebedded the keel and guards, repainted the topsides and repaired and varnished the gunwale and paddles.

Dick Hinkley has removed years of paint and general gunk from the inside and bilges of the Blanchard Jr. Knockabout. He has also color-marked all C W B hand tools.

Dick Foust has been around hundreds of hours to help fix and refinish countless boats. His entertaining stories of Fisheries Department days everywhere from the Columbia River to the Pribilofs have made time pass quickly for the crews of volunteers.

Please call 3 8 2 - B O A T if you have a few minutes, hours, days or weeks to volunteer, •

Boat Owner's Notebook

HEATHER: DELIGHTFULLY DECADENT POCKET YACHT

By Tim Nolan I am an advocate of pocket yachts. I designed Heather and slapped her together over seven years of spare time to convince myself that a practical and well appointed ultra small space cruising device could be pulled off in the overall length of 16 feet.

After four enjoyable years of cruising, sport-fishing and joy-riding, I am pleased to report that Heather is a delight to sail and a comfortable and seaworthy passage maker. She is also attention-getting, never failing to prompt a friendly wave followed by a look of disbelief from other boaters. When I'm in my Sears canoe, they just frown and look away.

What possessed me to build such a small boat? I think it was impulse, but there are some practical arguments.

Consider ease of handling and maneuvering. Squeeze into small spaces in crowded marinas or fuel docks.

Strong-arm your way out of expensive crash landings by reaching out and fending off with one hand.

Consider ease of sail handling. All sheets and halyards are within arm's reach of the helmsman. Reef or furl either sail without leaving the cockpit. No winches are required.

Consider ease of maintenance. Enjoy lower moorage rates. Spend less time washing, varnishing and painting.

Finally, consider cost effectiveness. If we assume that the function of a cruising boat is to carry crew and gear from one place to another, a reasonable measure of merit might be cost per knot. Let's examine the effects of size on cost per knot. The economical speed for a a boat is hull speed, which varies as the square root of waterline length. The following table lists hull speed for boats of various lengths assuming V(kts)/ /L = 1.25.

Displacement of geometrically similar hulls varies as the cube of length. The table lists displacement for boats of various lengths having a moderately heavy displacementlength ratio of displacement (Long Tons) / (0.01 L W L ) = 327. A high-quality, custom-built boat costs somewhere around $4.00 / lb. In practice, smaller boats cost more per pound than larger ones because labor and outfitting costs don't really follow a cost-per-pound relationship.

Some representative costs are given in the table for purposes of discussion. The cost-per-knot increases dramatically with size. The most cost-effective boat is clearly the smallest (or lightest) one. A prudently minimized set of cruising requirements is the best way to enjoy the cost-effective benefits of a small boat.

My requirements in designing the boat were to cruise, feed and sleep two in comfort; three in a pinch; and party seven.

Given these requirements, Heather is no "small" success. T w o people can cruise in decadent comfort: two cabins, single and double berths, and an enclosed pilot house with caned seats. Three exhausted people can sleep, squeeze into the pilot house, or sit comfortably in the cockpit. Seven people can successfully party without overcrowding as follows: one standing in the focsle companionway, one seated on the focsle deck, four seated in the cockpit, and one in the pilot house.

These claims have been substantiated in rigorous field tests.

Is Heather really a cost-effective boat? Hell, no!

Heather is a monument to extravagance and runaway complexity. She has an enclosed pilot house and center cockpit. She has inside and outside steering mounted on the pilot house door. She has 19 ports, deadlights, prisms and windows. She has over 20 lockers and stowage compartments. She has twin, cast-lead fin keels, and feathering controllable-pitch propeller, fresh and salt water systems and a seven-breaker electrical panel complete with a four-speaker stereo system, knot meter, depth sounder and V H F radio. She has eight upholstered cushions fitted to the frames and hull. She has teak and holly cabin soles and teak decks in the cockpit.

She has a built-in icebox, a stainless-steel sink and a propane stove. Her stainless-steel fresh-water tank has a sight gauge and an integral chain pipe leading to the chain locker below. Her joinerwork trim is teak and colorful South American hardwoods that I used to crate my belongings for shipping from Ecuador. She has a tapered, painted aluminum spar with internal halyards and stainless-steel standing rigging. H e r color-coded braided dacron rigging runs in nylon ballbearing blocks.

She has M i c r o n ZZ bottom paint, Imron topside paint, and a gold leaf name on her stern. At least $12,000 and 5,000 painstaking hours went into her construction. I could have built a bigger boat for the same effort.

Heather is only masquerading as a cost-effective boat.

W o u l d 1 do anything differently if 1 could start over?

N o , I love her just the way she is, and hope you do, too!

3

COST-PER-KNOT LWL

V (knots)

Displacement

16'

5.00

25'

6.25

11,445 lbs

36'

7.50

49'

8.75

64'

10.00

3,000 lbs.

TABLE Cost

Cost-Per-Knot

$20,000

$4,000

$50,000

$8,000

34,175 lbs.

$130,000

$17,333

86,175 lbs.

$275,000

$34,429

192,015 lbs.

$500,000

$50,000

RUNNING NORTHWEST RIVERS IN YOUR WOODEN BOAT During the past year Shavings has described a few of the delightful small boat cruises that are possible in the Northwest. We've been concentrating on saltwater, of course, but with the winter upon us we want to talk about rivers.

Yes, rivers. No, not Whitewater.

Draining into Puget Sound are a number of rivers well suited to navigation by small boats. In this edition, and in the next few issues, we'll let you know about some of them - but we'd like to hear from you, too. If you have a river (or anything else) you would like to share with readers, please call 382 BOAT. We don't need polished prose - just the facts.

T H R E E RIVERS: T H E SKYKOMISH, SNOQUALMIE AND SNOHOMISH B y Dave C o x These three rivers, which join near Monroe, provide a number of possibilities for small-boat travel. Short trips, long days, overnights, flat water, rapids. . .your choice.

Go in the fall and see the great runs of spawning salmon.

Go in the winter and dodge fishing lines. Go in the warm sun of late spring. Go in the rain and fog. But go!

The first possibility is to launch into the Snoqualmie at Fall C i t y . H a n d launch down the steep bank across the street from downtown and you are off, winding down the Snoqualmie Valley. The river twists frantically from one side of the valley to the other through farms and woods.

O n e estimate puts the on river distance from Fall City to Duvall at 25 miles.

Just downriver from Duvall is a boat launch ramp. T h e ramp is maintained by the Fish & G a m e Department and is fine for trailer launches.

The river between Fall City and Duvall is somewhat narrow and becomes shallow in the summer. It would be fine for a pulling boat, if it can be wrestled down the bank at Fall C i t y . There is much to see on this stretch including livestock galore, deer and great blue herons.

Duvall (named for an 1875 homesteader) is the beginning of a trip down the lower Snoqualmie. This stretch, while still twisty in places, is suitable for any shallow draft boat not needing wind. The river passes through farms and also through stretches of woodland more extensive than those higher up. After a few hours, the mouth of the Skykomish river is reached, at which point it and the Snoqualmie merge and become the Snohomish.

The junction is the scene of several large gravel bars and a couple of wooded islands. H a n d launched boats could be retrieved here, or a trip could commence from this point. The Bothell-Monroe highway runs quite close by and there are often people fishing from the sandbars.

This would also be a possible overnight stop, something I hope to try next spring.

Another way to reach this junction of three rivers is via the Skykomish, from Monroe. South of town is a launching ramp, again maintained by the Fish & G a m e Department. The ramp can launch fair-sized boats but the river is pretty thin in places.

There are minor rapids between Monroe and the river mouth. Even during low water on an October jaunt, the river afforded a few minor-league thrills. O u r party was also under scrutiny by a mature bald eagle for quite a spell. A rowboat successfully negotiated the swift and twisty spots by turning its bow upriver and floating down on the current.

The Snohomish is both larger and more placid than the rivers it rises from. It is also quite shallow just past the M o n r o e highway bridge. Even canoes may touch bottom when the water is low. The only treacherous spot comes a mile or two down where a number of snags appear just after rounding a sharp bend. At high water these are hard to spot and nasty to hit.

Several hours of travel and you reach the town of Snohomish. Just upriver of downtown is a launching ramp, on the north side of the river. W h e n the current is running, one must be prepared, hugging the shore after passing under the railroad bridge. F r o m the shoreside, the ramp is down a side street just east of downtown. The street is not signed as leading to the ramp, necessitating the hunt-and-peck method.

The city of Snohomish maintains a public float during the warmer half of the year, located right downtown, making a good re provisioning point. The float disappears as the weather cools and there are no good stopping points after the launching ramp.

The river is tidal from this point and the current is increasingly affected. The tidal surge happens after the turn of the tide, but I have no idea how to estimate the delay. (Ask locals.) It can definitely make a difference in your downriver trip, though!

F r o m Snohomish to Everett, a trip of several hours, the river is deep and wide. Snohomish used to be a steamboat stop and one has little trouble imagining fairly large vessels using the river.

As Everett is approached, a number of interesting sights appear. Well before the town are traces of industrial activity long gone — pilings and bulkheads left to rot, and to intrigue the curious. Then there appears a sizeable hobo town on the west bank, seemingly wellpopulated.

As Everett proper is reached, a working waterfront looms, reminding one of other harbors in other places.

Just past the center of town the river appears to fork.

Stay with the left channel, which bends around a large sawmill. Just after passing under the I-5 highway bridge, hug the right-hand shore and watch for one of two launching ramps.

These ramps, useful only for hand launching or retrieval, are the only decent takeout spots I know of at Everett. They are just south of a large dry-storage marina called Dagmar's Landing, which is visible from I-5.

The total distance from Duvall to Everett is about 35 river miles. F r o m Fall City to Everett must be around 60 miles. Within that stretch are many possible trips, all

worth taking. Another possible jaunt would be to launch at Everett and explore the extensive network of sloughs and channels in the estuary area. There isn't much current during the flood tide and the only problem (aside from the aroma) might be getting lost in the maze of channels! •

A FEW TIPS FOR RIVER TRAVELERS • Plan your logistics ahead of time. Since most trips are one-way downstream, make sure you leave enough boat-carrying cars at the take-out spot.

• Carry a "dry bag" full of extra clothes, just in case. A thermos of hot tea or coffee is a good addition, too.

• Pick up a copy of " C a n o e i n g , " by the American Red C r o s s , and read the sections of safety and river travel.

This is worthwhile, no matter what kind of boat you're taking.

• The best time for many river trips is while the water is high. But use common sense about this. L o o k closely at the river before plunging in, and retreat gracefully if it appears too high or fast.

• It's safer to travel in company with other boats, and also more enjoyable.

• Remember the current when estimating travel lime.

It's amazing how much assistance you'll receive from a 3knot current. (Also remember that you may run out of current in tidal estuaries . . . making the last leg of your trip much longer than planned.) •

WHY THERE'LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND

By Chas D o w d To a visiting American, all England seems to be a single, large Historical District. For a boating enthusiast, the pickings are particularly rich There's the Victory at Portsmouth and a steamboat museum in the Lake Country. Greenwich has the National Maritime M u s e u m and the Cutty Sark. In London there's Saint Katherine's D o c k , home of a "dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smokestack," the lightship N o r e , the Discovery, and enough Thames sailing barges to make a strong man weep. But for the small-boat aficionados, particularly rowers and canoeists, the Bath Boating Station is a unique place of pilgrimage.

Situated on the longest straight stretch of the placid and winding A v o n , the Station was founded in 1850 as the home port of the private Bath Rowing C l u b . As Stroke Oar and I walked under the wrought-iron arch that serves as a gateway, it looked as if not much had changed since then. On the left was a large open shelter filled with a wide assortment of shells, wherries, sculls, canoes and punts. On the right was an Edwardian steam launch undergoing restoration. A n d tied to the rental float was a skiff as English as Bass Bitter. Fine, lapstrake style and narrow, it looked 17 feet long from gently curving stem to rudder yoke. The wineglass transom was so small that my hand, with fingers spread, could cover it completely. With sawn frames as delicate as an Adirondak Guideboat's and a beautiful sheer which rose up and then down amidships to give enough freeboard for an easy recovery, its main impression was of thistledown lightness. Best of all, a few feet forward of the transom was a painfully elegant passenger seat with a whitepainted wrought-iron back and armrests. Tiller lines came in over the seat back.

It was a boat straight out of W i n d in the Willows.

The weather was dicey, with alternate sun and rain and intermittent wind gusts, but I don't think a monsoon or gale would have kept us out of what the dockboy called a Thames River Skiff. As we clambered in, I noticed the signs of three separate renovations. " H o w old is this boat?" I asked.

"I don't really know," came the reply. " O l d . . an antique probably. O l d . " Under oars, the boat proved to be as easy to row as it promised to be at first glance. We rowed along by turns, past cows grazing on the banks and fishermen with enough gear for M o b y Dick, hoping for pike and catching bream, a fresh-water fish related to the minnow. We passed a sign announcing that we were in the Bath University Wildlife A r e a and that we weren't to go ashore. Then, after about a mile and a half, we came to the pool below Bathampton weir. It was rural, quiet and wholly lovely, with an English kingfisher zipping happily through the undergrowth.

A couple of days later I went down to the Station to find out about its history. The dockboy, whose name was Adrian Gayner. was working in his role as apprentice boatbuilder, planing a bead into a sheer strake. He told me that the current owner, Terry Hardick, was the grandson of the founder and that all of the skiffs at least had been built between the fifties and the seventies. . .. that's 1850. W e ' d rowed a boat that was at least 19 years older than Washington statehood! Traditionally built of mahogany on oak with pitch-pine keels, the 23 skiffs

were undergoing constant maintenance and wood was becoming very hard to find. American oak "wasn't the same," "pitch pine was well-nigh impossible" and the current mahogany was "brittle." Another shortage was the wrought-iron half-round they use on the keels.

Jeremy Lavis, who'd been "hanging around a bit for 25 years or s o , " also complained of the difficulty of finding the traditional coach varnish they used as a finish. "It's wonderful stuff that never gets completely hard," he explained. Lavis showed me his 1910 Canadian canoe which got some of the last of it. . .25 years ago. Like the finish on the skiffs, it had darkened to a rich color that looks like the "brown sauce" that gives Rembrandt's paintings their moodiness and atmosphere. Lavis's canoe was made of "narrow bits left over from boat building" so there's not a plank wider than 2 inches. Like a Willits, it has no interior ribs.

We walked around the launch. They'd restored the planking from keel to waterline and the owner liked the results so well he was having them replank the topsides Lavis said that originally the launch had been electric and that steam was a recent conversion. I didn't have the heart to ask him what he meant by "recent."

"It must've been lovely in its day," he said, adding that just about the only piece of original wood left was the clipper-style stemheadcum-fashionboard. " C a n ' t you just see her. though, gliding along silently. " O n the A v o n .

I could. If I were to characterize the Station in a single phrase, it would be as a place where they consider steam noisy. •

WINNING LESS AND ENJOYING IT MORE

By Peter Lentini

FALL REGATTA - ANOTHER FIRST FOR THE CWB

By Eric Burkhead The C W B Fall Regalia, October 1, was the first to be held at our new Waterway 4 site a perfect environment for friendly competition, outstanding culinary performances and an intensive exchange of facts and opinions regarding wooden boats.

Fine Northwest watercraft converged on the event from as far away as Portland and Anacortes. Visiting vessels were supplemented by boats from the C W B ' s own "living m u s e u m " fleet N u m e r o u s small boats represented both traditional as well as state-of-the-art construction methods and designs.

An extensive rowing race seven separate classes, plus the "Challenge C u p , " a rematch involving two hotly competitive doubles teams began the day's events.

Spectators were treated to a display of diverse rowing styles and the spectacle of Waterway 4 overflowing with an abundance of beautiful watercraft.

An outstanding potluck dinner provided the intermission between rowing and sailing contests. As always, there was a cooking competition, and the coveted " B l u e Ribbon Chef's C a p " went to J o h n Campbell for his " S e a C o n k S t e w , " a curious title for a top-notch chili recipe.

Racing competitors who were still ambulatory after the feast assembled for a hotly-contested but lightly aired sailing race. Four classes were represented, and a final race involved combination rowing-sailing vessels.

(This one called for rigging spars and sails mid-race, an added element that would meet the approval of the Keystone C o p s . We'll continue refining the combination race in future regattas.)

Thanks go to Judy M a z z a n o for managing registration and orientation, Paul F o r d for handling the culinary competitions and potluck logistics; and others for their donations of materials and skills Abigail's Restaurant, Flounder Bay Boat Lumber. Phil Thiel. Peter Lentini and Colleen Wagner.

Following are race classes and winners. Please note that an effort is underway to diversify race categories to better cope with the baker's dozen of boat types participating. If you have been hesitant to match your El Toro against a H a m p t o n or Blanchard, fear no more! Bring your boat to the Spring Regatta (April 22) and you'll find there's a category in which you can enjoyably complete. See you there!

Gig Rowing Team O A R S crew and friends; Erica.

Unlimited Shell Singles Brad Tinius; Ardea.

Unlimited Rowing Singles - Harry Donovan; Monitor.

Special Challenge C u p - Dave C o x & Dick Wagner; Whitebear skiff.

All-Female Rowing Lauralee C o x ; Whitebear skiff.

Mixed Doubles Rowing - J o h n and G i n n y Hartsock; Cosine Wherry.

Combination Rowing-Sailing Skip Wolfe and Eric B u r k h e a d ; Skeena.

Traditional Sailing Large Bruce Shilling; P C 56.

Traditional Sailing / Small - Brad Tinius; Beetle Cat. All-Female Sailing Team Barbara O a k r o c k and crew; New York Kate.

Classiest Boat Award N e d Hayes; Raptor.

Rowing Tailswatter - C h u c k Berkey, G r a n d y skiff.

Sailing Tailswatter - C h u c k B e r k e y ; El Toro.

Farthest Traveler Award N e d Hayes; Raptor, •

Skeena is a boat. She is made of w o o d and painted a shade of blue some say is garish. Skeena likes to race, as do I. John Henzie, who has been described as a gorilla by some opponents, helps me row the boat.

The Whitebear is another type of boat - not a reference to the blanched, hairy quadruped, Thalarctos Maritimus, of the Far North. It is also made of w o o d , but is painted a discreet white. It poses with an air of elegance and. although the Whitebear disdains sweaty athletics, it is secretly fond of winning. Siegfried, who is also called Dave C o x , rows a Whitebear. He also likes to go fast.

Richard Wagner helps Siegfried row the boat.

Wagner has been heard saying, "I don't like to race," or sometimes "I hate to race!" Y e t , with an oar in each hand, he will pull like a dynamo propelled by jet fuel.

On October 1 the C W B had a regatta. Skeena and the Whitebear raced one another as part of the festivities.

As many boats bobbed in the hot sun, E.B., a race master with a sleepy wheatfield accent, stood on the dock with flags of diverse shapes and colors. There were yellow ones, red ones, and some that appeared striped and polka dotted. He also had a blank pistol, a bullhorn and a string of firecrackers. With these items he would signal the start.

There was a flurry of activity in the Whitebear as boats maneuvered in the starting area. Siegfield and his helper had donned flame-orange plastic capes. On their chests each bore a large letter " S " to signify their "Superior Status." A skeptic in the crowd wondered, " H e y , how come you guys are wearing garbage bags?" Obviously, the fellow had little knowledge of heroes' attire.

Finally, we were off and in a short distance closed and crashed into one another amid a flailing of oars. No necks, arms or gunwales were broken. We tried, but our aim was bad.

O n c e again we got underway around the tedious little course, which had five turns in a two-lap run. Skeena

SHAVINGS A publication of The Center for W o o d e n Boats. Issued six times a year for members; single copies are available for 25 cents.

Editorial contributions are encouraged. We are especially anxious to receive submissions for the Owner's Notebook series, and wish to publish additional features on small-boat beach camping trips, boatshop projects, new designs, voyages planned and profiles of traditional Northwest small craft. If you have an idea and don't know what to do next, please call.

Address all correspondence to Shavings, The Center for W o o d e n Boats. 1010 Valley Street, Seattle, W A .

98109. If you have questions about an editorial contribution, please call Marty L o k e n , Shavings Editor, at 282-8116 (days).

WOOD IN THE SPACE AGE

Bruno C a r r stepped in with a little old-fashioned craftsmanship to help the technical whiz kids build the space shuttle Columbia. Seems they couldn't find the right material for the main door bearings. H a d to stand extremes of temperature and pressure After countless RACE RESULTS AND AWARDS FALL REGATTA failures with all sorts of alloys and plastics, they asked Bruno.

He turned out a set of hard (black) maple bearings in Traditional Rowing Singles - John D i c k s o n ; his home shop in Alexandria. Minnesota. W o r k s perfect.

Whitebear skiff.

Maybe they should have done the whole thing lap Traditional Rowing Doubles - N e d Hayes and strake? • son; Raptor.

tracks very well and consequently turns as spritely as a sodden log.

In this test of skill and strength, of which there was little, the Whitebear skiff prevailed, as is her wont.

At the finish the victors pelted Skeena with water balloons. The odious foes would stop at nothing!

Skeena is a Seaboat and a sailboat. A s such, she quietly tolerated the abuse heaped upon her by the highstrung poodle-dog lake boat.

We had agreed that the loser would donate $25 to the Center, which we did. However, in an unprecedented act of good sportsmanship, Siegfried also donated $25. (I can no longer call him Siegfried, perfidious hound.)

Skeena is eager to race the Whitebear and her crew of heroes again at the '84 spring regatta, and perhaps this time the Skeena crew can choose the course. Then, should the Whitebear prevail, I may be hard-pressed to find excuses!

•

LETTERS I enjoyed the article on the Blanchard Seniors, and can add some addenda from my own experiences.

First of all, the original Senior, without the extra keel weight or genoa jib, sailed herself on many points of sailing. She was fritzy with everyone in the cockpit, but if you went forward for sail-handling or setting up ground tackle, she was very steady. One of my fondest memories is crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca in a glassy calm. By adjusting the tall sail and avoiding clumsy movements that disturb the boat, we let her sail herself for six hours in the light breeze higher up, and landed within a mile of the projected plot. For a single-hander this quality is invaluable, as it allows time to consume nutritious hot meals, not only cooking and eating but also the inevitable result. Also, the boat will sail herself so she can be scrubbed and neatened, so every entrance to a harbor or mooring can be made smartly, with all lines coiled and everything clean and neat.

Of course, any boat will drift around or blow downwind harmlessly while a little painting is done, but the beauty of the Blanchard is that she will actually sail a steady course and make good time to windward if properly trimmed.

The story I heard about the keels is that none were built with extra weight. In the early 60's the owners' association voted the extra weight and the genoa jib.

Norm Blanchard, I understand, said the boats were not designed for the weight or the sail, and refused to have anything to do with the project. From my experience, the only nuisance greater than the marine toilet on these boats is the genoa jib. The owner who discards both of these "accessories" will find their life simplified and improved.

Also, I might mention for the benefit of younger readers that the Senior can be singlehanded under sail in or out of any moorage - repeat, any, including house boat waterways, in any weather, so a motor is not necessary. . .

Hope this may be of interest to other C W B members.

Terry Scott Seattle, WA About Bob Allen's comments (Owner's Note book, last issue) on the fiberglass C Lark. . .

I owned a C Lark from 1970 until 1976. towed it on a trailer all over the Northwest, raced the devil out of it as much as three or four days a week in all kinds of weather including 40-knot blasters, and found the boat to be completely reliable. It was stored uncovered either on the trailer or in salt air at Shilshole, seldom washed, almost never waxed, and in general all but unmaintained.

When it came time to sell I spent a day sprucing the C Lark up and it fetched top dollar.

There's no need to justify one's choice of a wooden boat of traditional design by complaining about fiberglass boats of more recent heritage Best regards, Bob Hale Bellevue, WA I am in the seventh grade in St. Joseph's School in Palm Bay, Florida. I am doing an experiment on the effects of adding red pepper to marine paint to help prevent marine growth on the bottoms of wood boats.

This is for our science fair in January.

I was reading my father's National Fisherman and saw your name and address. If your members have any information on the building or care of wooden boats, I would appreciate it.

Thank you, Billy Graham 900 S.W. Country Club Dr. Palm Bay, FL 32905 Editor's note: Anyone have any solutions more inventive than red pepper? •

PAINTER AT MUSEUM The Museum of Sea and Ships (open 10 am - 5 pm daily at Pier 59 in Seattle) has a special exhibit of paintings of Amencan lighthouses by William Trotter. The artist is working on his paintings at the museum every day through January, and will speak at the CWB's next monthly meeting, January 20. •

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Saturday, January 14 LAUNCHING PARTY Noon, at Boatshop A celebration and launching of the 12-foot Yankee Skiff built over the last 10 weeks by C W B ' s first boat building class. All are welcome!

Saturday, January 14 FUND-RAISING C O N C E R T 8 p.m., Seattle Folklore Society A Song Circle concert, to help raise funds for the C W B . $4 general admission; $3 for members of the C W B and S F S ; $2 for children and seniors. For details, call 382 B O A T .

Friday, January 20 C W B M O N T H L Y MEETING 8-10 p.m., Boatshop Freida and William Trotter will tell some amazing stories about American lighthouses. They are traveling around the country, researching for their collection of lighthouse paintings, now on display at the Museum of Sea and Ships.

Friday, Jan. 20 through Sunday, Jan. 29 SEATTLE BOAT SHOW Kingdome As always, the C W B will display its wares, conduct demonstrations and give talks. For details, call 382BOAT. Saturday, January 21 BOATBUILDING WORKSHOPS & Port Townsend

SEMINARS

The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding begins another series of workshops and seminars on such topics as lofting, tools, skiff building, caulking, lapstrake and carvel construction, repair, steam-

bending, marine survey and small-boat maintenance. To receive the class schedule and other information, contact N S W B at 251 Otto Street, Port T o w n s e n d , WA 98368, or call (206) 385-4948.

Saturday, February 4 C W B S E M I N A R SERIES Every week through May The Center's annual series begins. Please see complete details elsewhere in this issue. Questions? C a l l 382-BOAT. Saturday, March 31 DINGHY-CRUISING ASSOCIATION MEET 1 p.m., C W B Boatshop Members of the Northwest Chapter of the worldwide Dinghy Cruising Association will gather, some with their boats, at C W B . Everyone's invited! For details, call 3 8 2 - B O A T . or the D C A ' s Bob Rodgers, (206) 743-3855.

Everett.

Sunday, April 22 SPRING R E G A T T A Noon to dark. Free.

C W B ' s semi-annual gathering of the clan, including rowing and sailing races, potluck feast and an abundance of boat talk. For details, call 382 B O A T , •

NEW CATALOG OFF THE PRESSES Seattle's Wooden Boat Shop has an impressive new 28-page catalog that is brimming with exotic i m p o r t s fancy British hardware, Japanese chisels, G e r m a n knives, New Zealand winches, Swiss power tools, French sailing sweaters. . .and more. For those who wish to Buy American, there are dozens of items from this country too, of course. To receive your copy, send $1.50 to The Wooden Boat Shop. 1007 Northeast Boat Street, Seattle, WA 98105. •