This is really a very big little boat.

I have an idea why it is taking me so long to get this little Spindrift in the water. This ten foot boat has a rudder, a centerboard, a centerboard case, a mast, boom, tiller, everything that a much bigger sail boat has. True each piece is a little smaller, but that does not really save that much time.

The interior of the boat is nearly finished so I flipped the boat and rolled it outside to begin finishing the exterior. Along the chine you can see the tabs that help key the side and bottom panels together. This area needs to be smoothed and rounded over.

The hand plane and long board do the job fairly easily. I just have to be careful to  keep the chine smooth and even.

Once the chine is smooth and fair it is ready for fiberglass tape.

The hull has two openings one for the dagger board and one for the bailer. Holes drilled from the inside allow me to locate and cut out the openings from the outside.

 I use a router with a round over bit to shape the edges of the dagger board case.

Here I am applying fiberglass tape to the rounded chine. You can see some tape reinforcing the joint between the dagger board case and hull.

 

 

I wet out the fiberglass tape before unrolling the tape onto the chine, then I went over the tape with a brush to make sure the tape was fully wet out. I am being careful to not apply excess epoxy because that will run down and harden in globs.

 

After fiber glass tape was applied on the chines and down the centerline I coated the entire hull with two coats of epoxy. Thin as possible to minimize runs.

 The edges of the tape need to be smoothed down and faired into the rest of the hull. Graham does not recommend putting any more glass on the exterior of the hull, but I decided to cover the hull with a layer of very light fiberglass cloth.

A squeegee works well to spread the epoxy and work it into the weave on flat surfaces.

On vertical surfaces you have to apply a thin even layer of epoxy. The roller is best for this.

The roller leaves lot of little air bubbles so I go over the entire surface lightly with a foam brush. Epoxy does not like to lay smoothly but the smoother you can get it the less sanding latter.

 

 

 

 

 

The thin cloth becomes transparent when wet out and you can see through to the plywood. You can also see the purple. Phenolic microballons makes the fairing mixture easier to sand. 

April on the Pamlico

We started our Spring trip in North Creek which is located near the mouth of the Pamlico River in eastern North Carolina. Here our boat is tied up at a friends dock.

I took this photo the morning after our return everything is pretty quiet. That was not the case when we left the dock on Wednesday morning. I was debating how much to reef when a gust of wind came through and I opted for sailing out under mizzen alone. We were not in a race. This early in the season the water is quite cold so I thought it best to be cautious. Sally was also more comfortable with less sail up. As we headed down the Pamlico toward Judith Island the wind freshened and then eased and sometimes a strong gust seemed to come out of nowhere. The wind was from the North West and we made 5 to 6 knots even with only the mizzen up. Here Sally is taking a turn at the tiller.

As we sailed down the Pamlico we spotted a huge flock of birds a mile or so ahead and to the south of us. They were moving North and as we got closer it became apparant we would be sailing right through the huge flock. I would say around a thousand birds,cormorants, terns, gulls, a smaller diving bird maybe a grebe and the occasional pelican It was a mad chaotic feeding frenzy. The terns wheeled and dove from above, the diving birds would surface then take off in a rush to reenter the water near the front of the school of bait fish that remained invisible to us. The air had a distinctly fishy smell as we passed through and I was grateful that we did not catch a cormorant in our sails.

Judith Island is a huge area of marsh composed of spartina grass and a few shrubs but no trees and no high ground. Because it is so low it is invisible from more than a couple of miles away even in clear weather. When we reached the mouth of Rose Bay we hove to and switched from mizzen alone to double reefed main and mizzen. Skorpa does not tack or head up wind very well on mizzen only and I wanted the extra maneuverability in order to sail through Judith Narrows and into Shell Bay. As we got with in a mile we could see the edges of the grassy island but it was very difficult to distinguish features that would locate our position. The GPS was a big help here.

We sailed easily through Judith Narrows, which actually seemed quite wide, into Shell Bay I began looking around for a possible anchorage. The area felt a little exposed so we hauled our sails in tight and made for the cut leading into Deep Bay. We made the cut and started tacking up to the north side of Deep Bay where the chart showed a promising creek winding into the marsh.

We dropped anchor in a quiet spot when after several attempts we could go no further. The water had shoaled to a depth of about a foot. We dropped back to the deeper water to anchor and left some room to swing as the wind was predicted to shift during the night. We started cooking our rice and vegetables in the cockpit because it was so beautiful, but the mosquitoes and flies eventually drove us into the cabin. We installed screens on the door and hatch and soon had a bug free zone. The boat was noisy for a while during the night when the wind switched to the southeast and blew in across Deep Bay, but then it moved back to the west and grew quiet.

We had hot cereal for breakfast. Made from a seven grain mixture purchased at the co-op this takes a few minutes to cook, but we  much prefer it to quicker breakfasts as long as we have the time. After eating I was anxious to be underway. Why????  Sally was not quite ready so I decided to row over the shallows to see if we could find the head of this creek.

I love exploring areas like this. How far does the creek go and where does it lead? My oars from tip to tip are about 22 feet so we got to a point where we decided to turn around.

Sally took the oars for awhile as we headed back out towards deeper water.

 We headed across Deep Bay for the cut that would lead to Swan Quarter. When we got to the cut we noticed a 2kt current running against us. The wind was light and almost dead astern. I pulled the main across to windward in a technique know as sailing by the lee. This put both sails in clear air and gave us the extra power we needed to make good progress against the current.

This put us in a  position to reach Swan Quarter. The ferry to Ocracoke lands here but this is the first time Sally and I have been to Swan Quarter. We could not see much of the town from the water just a glimpse of some buildings set back away from the water. We headed for the fishing docks. There is a narrow channel lined on one side with docks and boats.

After visiting the work boats of Swan Quarter we headed south down Swan Quarter Bay to a little creek that looked interesting. In the narrows between Judith Island and Swan Quarter Island we worked our way up into a beautiful little cove and anchored for lunch.

I guess you have to be partial to water and spartina grass because that is about all there is to Judith Island but it was paradise to us. On our return up the Pamlico River the wind began to build shifting from South to Southwest and back. Skorpa was soon up and planing. We would slow down as her bow worked into a wave then surge ahead as we broke through. We came tearing into North Creek where we brought the main down and then dropped our mizzen just before getting to our dock.

Block Island

New Harbor our destination is located on the west side of Block Island. We gybed just outside the breakwater and sailed up the entrance channel on a broad reach. Once inside of Great Salt Pond we sailed from one end to the other just looking things over and scoping out a good spot to anchor. We have visited New Harbor several times in the past. In fact Sally rode out hurricane Carol in 1954 with her family on a small boat anchored in Great Salt Pond. We finally settled down in a little cove on the eastern edge of the Pond.

A group of Cormorants also liked our cove. They were diving for fish in the relatively clear water. We could see the bottom in some detail at a depth of 8 feet. We dined on pasta and tomato sauce as the skies began to darken. In the morning the wind had not yet switched to the N and was just 5 kts from the SW. We decided to have a more relaxed morning as it seemed like we were almost home.

We stayed very comfortable though it was in the 50's by morning.

You can see it is broad daylight as I am packing up my sleeping gear. The new stove box is visible on the galley table.

 Raising sail around 8am. The mizzen always goes up first.

 The wind was light as we glided around the Harbor looking over the old Coast Guard Station.

 The skies are looking pretty interesting and we still have a 12nm crossing to make.

 This opening to the sea was dug in 1895. We slipped out with a light wind from the W. Several boats were coming and going.

We headed North along the Bock Island shore wanting to get a look at the North Light House.

 The North Light was built on Sandy Point in 1867. Much of the north end of Block Island is a nature preserve and it is incredibly beautiful.

 Right in here somewhere the wind began to shift to the NW and gust. The clouds seemed to darken and lower. We had been sailing within a hundred yards of what was becoming a lee shore. I decided to put a little sea room between us and beach while we discussed one reef or two.

I put one reef in the main and there were times over the next few hours that I wished I had reefed down harder. The wind began to build and continue to veer to the north. Just the direction we wanted to sail. One thing in our favor. The Long Island Current was flowing north along this eastern side of Block Island and the current was flowing east between Block Island and the mainland. We could see a distinct line of funny water paralleling the sand bar that extents about a mile from Sandy Point north towards the mainland. Even though we had plenty of water we did not like the look of that line and so we pushed further north. Finally we set our course for Point Judith just crossing the northern edge of the rip. I was plenty warm when we left New Harbor but now I was beginning to chill as the air cooled and we started getting wet from the intermittent showers and spray flying back at us as Skorpa shouldered into the building waves. The boat felt solid but I did not feel like I could relax as the wind was gusty. There was a tug towing a barge across our course and we helped each other keep track of it and other smaller traffic in the lowering visibility. There was a time when we were a long way from Block Island and Point Judith was just a smudge on the horizon and each tack seemed to bring us no closer. I brought up the line from the song the Walloping Window Blind.

 The man at the wheel was made to feel
Contempt for the wildest blow-ow-ow
Tho' it often appeared when the gale had cleared,
That he'd been in his bunk below.


 Well there was no hiding in a bunk below for us. Just tack and hike, and tack and hike and duck the spray, and trust that we were making progress. And sure enough first Point Judith Light came into view and then the breakwater was visible. We could see the ferry coming from Block Island and making in through the west gap. The wind grew light as we entered the Harbor of Refuge. I lit the stove and made some tea. The incoming tide welcomed us as we sailed through the breachway and headed for home.

Fata Morgana

Stratification of layers of air of differing temperatures and densities producing optical illusions, mirages. Named after Morgan le Fay the powerful sorceress and antagonist of King Arthur. At sea Fata Morgana can make distant objects appear to float above the horizon, it can make objects appear larger and or much closer than they really are.
I cooked some hot cereal and fixed coffee while the stars were still out and we left Napatree just after 7am. The wind was NNW about 5 kts. That made for a very gentle sail but since the wind was behind us we made nice progress. We could see surf breaking occasionally over the Catumb Rocks. We kept them to our left and Fisher Island away off to the right. The tide was just beginning to ebb out of Long Island Sound so we kept our course about 10 degrees further west to compensate for the eastward drift. When I hear the weather forecast saying Winds NW 10 kts becoming SW 10-15 kts by afternoon. I imagine the wind blowing NW for awhile then switching and blowing from the SW. It is usually more like wind starts to fade from the NW, wind calm, a little breeze from the W, wind calm, a little breeze from the NW, wind calm, a little breeze from the W. This goes on for what seems like a very long time before eventually the wind is strong from the SW. A few Lions Mane jellyfish drifted by and Sally rowed for awhile before the wind gradually began to build
Long Island began as a few smudges on the horizon. They slowly grew and filled in as we worked our way south.A particularly unusual looking bump near the eastern tip on Montauk is a radar antenna built during the cold war. Morgan le Fay"s witchcraft caused it to grow into what looked like a giant toadstool floating a bit above the horizon. Sorry but these kinds of things don't photograph well.

Montauk Lighthouse built in 1796. The radar antenna is off screen to the right. Not as pretty. Our original plan had been to spend the night in Lake Montauk. However Monday the winds are predicted to switch to the North as a cold front sweeps in. That could make for a long slog directly into the wind back to Point Judith. There is much here that I would like to explore, but our slow passage from Watch Hill, and the deteriorating weather forcast means there is insufficient time to explore the harbors and islands of eastern Long Island so they will have to wait for another time. We set a course for New Harbor on Block Island. The stiff breeze from the SW made for a rollicking ride. The wind was off our stern and we surfed some of the two foot waves.

It was about 1pm when we left Montauk astern and not yet 3pm when we completed the 15nm crossing.