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Thursday, 20 April 2017

The Hawaiian Double Canoe Hokulea

Hokule'a is without a doubt the most famous Hawaiian double canoe in existence. After a rough start beset by political and personal conflicts that nearly wrecked the project, she has gone on to complete many impressive voyages, the last one in 2007. Owned by the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS), she serves as an icon of native Hawaiin culture and a training platform for teaching traditional navigation and seamanship.

Hokule'a had her start around 1973, when Ben R. Finney, an anthropologist with an interest in the settlement of the Pacific islands, decided to scale up from a smaller, self-funded double canoe on which he had begun his investigations of the type. As described in his book Hokule'a: The Way to Tahiti, his original motivation was primarily scientific: to test whether the double canoe type had sufficient windward sailing capability to have made feasible the intentional colonization of the Pacific from west to east. This was in contrast to countervailing views that the colonization was either unintentional -- a result of unplanned drift voyages by castaways -- or that it had occurred from east to west, starting from the South American continent. (This latter theory was promoted by Thor Heyerdahl.)

Finney and his early partners founded the Polynesian Voyaging Society to help organize and fund the project but, according to Finney, the organization and the project were hijacked by nativist Hawaiians who wanted to use the canoe to promote Hawaiian cultural identity. Finney felt that the two objectives were almost entirely incompatible, and his book concentrates mostly on the resulting conflicts. (He acknowledges, however, that his narrative is quite one-sided.) The book is a tale of a terribly-managed project that just barely managed to fulfill its original goals in the face of tremendous personnel problems. Along with insubordination, there were fistfights and threats of mutiny.

Somehow, the Polynesian Voyaging Society turned the situation around later, and Hokule'a has clocked more than 32,000 sea miles on a half a dozen voyages, visiting most areas of the Pacific, mostly on cultural missions. (A circumnavigation is apparently in the planning stages!) Finney's name is hard to find in any context on the PVS website: he doesn't appear to be currently associated with the PVS, and it wouldn't surprise me if he dropped out immediately following the first awful voyage and has been placed under a taboo by the organization. PVS seems to be almost exclusively concerned with using the boat as a way to champion cultural identify -- there is very little about serious science on their website.

(In addition to the PVS website, much information on Hokule'a may be found on Wikipedia, although the article appears to hew closely to the PVS orthodoxy and gives little credit to Finney.)

The boat itself is unusual and impressive. The PVS calls her a "performance-accurate" replica, meaning that she is believed to perform like the traditional boats she resembles. Construction-wise, however, she's quite different. The hulls are cold-molded, with several intermediate bulkheads, rather than carved from single huge trunks. (PVS has subsequently built another canoe, Hawai'iloa, from huge Alaskan cedars -- about as close to the original construction as is possible at this time, since Hawaiian koa logs of the necessary size are no longer obtainable.) Steering is done with steering oars, which do not pivot side to side; direction is controlled by simply lowering the oars into the water or raising them out of it. With an LOA of 62'4" and beam of 17'6", she is much narrower than a modern catamaran of the same length but in keeping with the traditional configuration, which was narrow "due primarily to the limited ability of the wooden cross-pieces and coconut fiber lashing to withstand the phenomenal stress the ocean imposes on a widetrack double-hull craft," according to Tommy Holmes in The Hawaiian Canoe.

Her original rig was a very modest 540 square feet of sail area on two crab-claw (spritsail) masts, which gives her performance on the order of 3 or 4 knots upwind, and 5 or 6 downwind . She is capable of tacking to within 70 or 75 degrees of the wind -- comparable to the pointing ability of square-rigged ships -- which, based on the results of the first voyage, from Hawaii to Tahiti, was sufficient to have allowed double canoes to have indeed colonized Polynesia in an intentional effort of exploration and settlement.

(All images in this article from PVS website.)

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Top 15 Fun Things to Do in Miami, Florida

- Man poling a dugout canoe by a village.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

aerial over 10,000 islands where Native peoples made their homes.

Everglades Wilderness Waterway (Hell's Bay Chickee) Report - Florida

Noosa Everglades Canoe Trip with Barbecue Lunch

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Sunday, 16 April 2017

A Yamagull and the Bermuda Around The Island Race

What you are looking at above is what they call in Bermuda, a "Yamagull" owned by a gentleman named Brian. It is a clever marriage of a Seagull outboard with a Yamaha lower unit, a modified exhaust system, and many other changes. So what do you do with this strange hybrid machine you ask? You use it in the "Bermuda Around the Island" race. This is one of the most unique, and interesting boating events out there, and there are also several versions of it world wide.

The first rule is that all boats in the event must be powered by a British Seagull engine. You see these cranky little British engines on many a dingy world wide, and I own a 2 HP Seagull myself. There are multiple racing classes that are divided into antiques, by horse power, and the modified Seagulls. If you are using a modifed Seagull, you can do almost anything you want to the engine, but the block can't be modified. Maybe it can, the rules seem some what variable depending on where you are, but some part of the Seagull engine remains. You can also burn any fuel you want in your modified engine, although some of these engines do not alway survive the race. Like veal, they live fast, and die young

You must have at least two persons in the boat, proper safety gear, and I think I heard a case of beer had to be in the boat, at least when you check in. The course is about 40 miles long, and circles around Bermuda. About half of the course is in the lee of the islands, and the other half is in the open Atlantic, and at times it can be very challenging. The boat's design has to take the Atlantic's seas into consideration

And so this is where the story starts. Once upon a time Parmain built boats. This was a most satisfing thing to do, but a very tough way to earn a living. After losing prodigious sums of money, I added boat building to my "Museum of Shattered Dream's" vast collection, and only do repairs now. But back to the story. I get a call from Malcolm, who lives in Bermuda, inquiring if we could design a fast boat for the Bermuda race. It sounded like a fun project so I said yes, and send me some pictures of typical boats used in the race. The pictures below are of some of the boats used in the race. They all have long wetted waterlines, are fairly narrow, and you can see the builders have done an excellent job of crafting their vessels with much pride.

We started with a design that was very light, and would hopefully plane with 5hp, and two people in the boat. the primary design effort was done by Chris Doughtery, naval architect John Marples suggested widening the bow to improve water flow around it, and my friend Chris Wright who is a structural engineer of great talent, provided input on the construction details. Lloyd's grade 1/8" marine plywood was used to construct the boat, and the bilge areas were hollow. All the bulkheads had holes drilled in them to lighten them. It was similar to building an aircraft wing. The weight was about 100 lbs, it did plane well, and she was a beautiful vessel.

Malcolm flew over from Bermuda, and we tested the boat in Sarasota bay with a borrowed engine. It performed well, and we arranged to have it shipped to Bermuda.

When the boat arrived in Bermuda, Malcolm put the graphics on, and had a mount fabricated for his Seagull.

I shamelessly brought over my own graphics when I flew over to the watch the race.

You can see some of the Seagull's and steering arrangements.

This is Toothpick, another example of racing boat design.

This was a most excellent adventure, and Bermuda is a beautiful place. The people I met were fun, and generous to a couple of Americans who were visiting. Malcolm, and his family were wonderful hosts, and we were appreciative of their warm hospitality.

The most fascinating thing about the race is the evolving boat designs. I saw pictures of earlier boats, and races, and you could see the designs change over time. I came back the next year, and was pleased to see a couple of the new boats had used some of the design elements that we had used in Malcolm's boat. They are quick learners in Bermuda.

I wish that maybe someone like Mercury Marine would put together this type of a race here. I would like to see what a 5hp Mercury would look like if a NASCAR team got a hold of it, and what the boats would look like here. Hmmm, maybe all black string composite construction with hydrofoils .

Saturday, 15 April 2017

On the Drafting Boards 280 Motoryacht

Here's a sneak peak at a boat that is currently in the preliminary stages of design. This will be a steel hull with aluminum superstructure. Propulsion will be diesel-electric.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 280'
Beam 39'
Draft 12'

Friday, 14 April 2017

2016 The Angling Year In Review

We're standing on the doorway of a new year and I always have a good time looking back and wading through all the fly fishing that was done. It never feels like enough when you're living it but when I look back it does seem like quite a bit of time was spent on the water. I was able to visit some really excellent places over the past year and spend time with friends, new and old.

A FEW DAYS WITH MONTANA TROUTAHOLIC OUTFITTERS
The year started with a few days with guide Joel Thompson of Montana Troutaholic Outfitters on several rivers around Missoula. This trip got my friend Dave back on the water after a couple year ordeal healing from a bad ankle break and it was great as always to get out west.

RIVERS THAT BEGIN WITH THE LETTER "B"
SCENES FROM THE UPPER CLARK FORK RIVER

THREE STRIKES
Schedules all came together to jump in the raft with Jake Howard of Saluda Valley Guides for a half day float down the Saluda River where I ended up tangling with a bruiser striper to end the day.

NATIVE SONS
Sometimes the local haunts that you didn't even know about can blow your mind and Jeff Scoggin was gracious to show me a piece of water that I can't wait to get back to next spring.

ISLANDS AND EDGES - A DAY WITH CAROLINA BONEFISHING
Captain Paul Rose of Carolina Bonefishing and I have been meaning to get on the water for years and it finally happened this spring for a fun day of fly fishing for carp outside of Charlotte, North Carolina

NEVER ENOUGH TIME ON THE FAMILY POND
Though we were on the pond more than in years past, it was still not enough and as both Hadley and Finn get older, they enough being down there more. Operation: Occupy Pond House is one of my most favorite posts of this year. What a fun weekend doing everything we wanted to down on the family pond.

KIDS DON'T LISTEN TO THE WEATHERMAN
OPERATION: OCCUPY POND HOUSE
BOOKENDING THE DAYS
AN AFTERNOON QUICKIE

ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN
Last minute plans fell into place to spend a laid back day floating the Savannah River with Guide Ben Moore of East Anglers. We found a few and had a great time on the water.

THE BEAVER ISLAND CHRONICLES
I know I talk about Beaver Island a lot around here but this place is in my blood now. Six years running and already have a full week set aside for late June. I really do enjoy taking friends here year after year and the boys at Indigo Guide Service continue to have a great thing going here.

THE B.I. CHRONICLES - THIS YEAR'S CREW & THE FLIGHT OVER
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - THE FIRST SHOTS & A NINTH INNING DOUBLE
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - WEATHER DAY BLOODY MARYS
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - A BLANKET OF CLOUDS
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - AN AFTERNOON ON LAKE GENESERETH
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - A DAY WITH MR. SMILES
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - THE FIRST TIME IS GRAND
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - AUSTIN'S HANDS
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - THE 'MERICA MINNOW
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - WE ATE LIKE KINGS
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - GOODBYE UNTIL NEXT SUMMER
THE B.I. CHRONICLES - TAILGATE GEAR REVIEW

AN AFTERNOON FLOOD TIDE WITH JERMS
Photographer Jeremiah Clark of Billie Jo & Jeremy Photography (be sure to follow on Instagram too) invited me down for a flood tide quickie. We found a few tails in the grass and it was fun zipping around in the Gheenoe.

PLACES WITH NO NAMES
I've wished and dreamed of spending a few days with the Fly Shop of the Bighorns and Rock Creek Anglers and it all came together at the end of this summer for a few memorable days that will forever be etched in my brain.

PLACES WITH NO NAMES - HIGH & DRY
PLACES WITH NO NAMES - A DAY IN HOPPER HEAVEN
PLACES WITH NO NAMES - SUMMER SCHOOL
PLACES WITH NO NAMES - ROLLING THE DICE
PLACES WITH NO NAMES - TAILGATE GEAR REVIEW

LAST MINUTE PLANS
I ran up to western North Carolina for a presentation to the local Trout Unlimited club and ended up making a day of it with a few friends floating the French Broad River for smallmouth. We found enough to make the day interesting and it's never bad to be on the water on a work day.

A FEW DAYS AT BLUE HORIZON BELIZE
I am still working through writing the content from this trip but the days spent at Blue Horizon Belize with permit legend Lincoln Westby, Ransom Nunez, and Scott Thompson really capped off an already stellar year. I'm already going over the calendar for 2017 to make sure I get back there for a few days.

BLUE HORIZON BELIZE - A FEW NOTES ON GETTING THERE
BLUE HORIZON BELIZE - ON THE FLATS WITH THE PERMIT MASTER
BLUE HORIZON BELIZE - RANSOM CALLING THE LAST SHOTS

BONY WATER
An afternoon quickie while waiting for the family to arrive to begin a camping weekend in western North Carolina. There was hardly any water on the Davidson River but ended up finding one rainbow that darted over to suck in the small midge I was using.

HOW TO SHOW A FRIEND THE LOWCOUNTRY
Being ninety minutes away from Charleston is not a bad thing at all. Even better to have a bunch of friends down there with boats. Captain Scotty Davis of Lowcountry Fly Shop put me on my first redfish years ago and figured that he'd do the same for my buddy Mike who was visiting from Colorado. He did and I showed him a few great places to get fed as well.

Well, not to shabby of a year, eh? I am already looking forward to seeing what 2017 has in store.

I want to thank everyone that helped make these trips possible, you for taking the time to read my ramblings each day, and the sponsors and advertisers that make a lot of this happen as well. I appreciate the support every day.

Sunday, 9 April 2017

THE PALOMETA CLUB Patrick Dukes Permit Permit Flies

In less than a month I'll be at The Palometa Club likely getting snubbed by the locals but even still, Patrick Duke's recent success with a permit eat has got me so stoked for the trip.

Along with the video, be sure to check out Patrick's "5 Go-To Flies For Ascenion Bay" on the Tailwaters Fly Fishing Blog. I'm taking notes and filling a fly box of my own with (fingers crossed) permit positive patterns.

Three and a half weeks and counting until The Palometa Club...

The Best Things in Life Arent Things

A friend posts a photo with that line painted on a cracked wall in neat block letters with the shadows of trees running through the image. I write it on the back of my life vest in neat block letters.

I am going canoeing. My big show is ready and worrying about it won't make it readier. I pack my gear (or rather, I grab my gear that is always packed and ready to go). It begins to drizzle, and I grab my gear faster. I love the rain. If I ever move from here I will probably miss the rain as much as I miss the snowy winters of the place where I grew up.

At the big lake, a woman arrives for her mile swim as I am getting ready. She is happy. Just like me with my canoe, she is happy by swimming in the open water of the big lake. I can tell. We exchange just a sentence or two. She is in the water and on her way.

The drizzle closes down the lake, the distant obstructions of the city disappear just as the even more distant peaks of Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier do. The world softens, it eases up and lets the imagination stretch.

A favorable wind blows me in my desired direction as I put my paddle down across the gunwales and write in my notebook.

The first bird of note is a female common merganser. It is a rare bird to see here at this time of year, although they are plentiful in winter. I suppose there are a few near the mouth of the Cedar River at the south end of the big lake. Rivers suit there carnivore tastes much better during summer.

At Potlatch Point an eagle with something in its talons flies by. It is on a beeline for the south nest. I am on a beeline for the NE lagoon. As I near, I find one of the north nest eagles at the lunch counter. It gets up when I am still some distance, but it is clearly the huge female.

While circling the bay, I find an immature bald eagle in a birch on Birch Island. A lot of Canada geese are right below it. The geese do this fairly often and it always looks odd to me. But, it is a foolish eagle that will mess with a full-grown goose as a goose is capable of breaking an eagle's wing...a fatal injury.

I run once through the east marsh and south lagoon. I leave the water at the west end of the ancient portage. On the way home, I run into the man with the crutch and the little lap dog, right at the steepest cobblestone section of the portage, where I have always found them. It has been some time since I've seen them. I stop and we talk for a minute or two.

Friday, 7 April 2017

Leveling in the East

S drops me off at the East River put-in and leaves to do errands. I set out on the most perfect of summer days - low 80's, no humidity, a light breeze and sun. Perfect days lack pizazz. Give me something wilder. But, I need the leveling of a canoe trip, perfect weather or not.

The put-in was occupied by people drawn to the perfect day, futzing with their seldom used boats, struggling with preperations that should be routine, but aren't. It reminds me of why I don't belong to a canoeing club. I unload and paddle off in less than five minutes, and I head up the less visited Neck River because I doubt that any of them knows about the high tide sneak across the spartina back into the East. And, I'm pretty much on my own from then on.

Yellow Legs sitting back a ways from the river.

Wren nest in phragmites


Wren nest

When I return, a person from the state is safety checking each and every boater as they come to the launch site, checking for PFDs, whistles (a state law), licenses for motorcraft. I pack my gear and take the canoe out and wait for fifteen minutes for S to arrive. The safety monitor never says one word to me. I take it as a compliment.

Thursday, 6 April 2017

The Bombaloza skiff in the water

Based on three sheets of lightweight okoume marine plywood, this skiff is easy to lift and handle.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Plans also exist for a two seater with a four seat design being worked on right now.

The alloy hardware can be sourced from an outside supplier.

Why not build yourself a rowing skiff, there are many places that you can use them and to move one its as easy as a car top roof rack.

My thanks to David, the designer for supplying the pictures.

Roy

Sunday, 2 April 2017

Roadster in the house

I just don't get what the typical go fast boats are all about. Before the owners of these boats start to whip me with their gold chains, I get the "Need for Speed", I just don't get these boats.

I would love to have the "where with all" to own a fast car, and when I say fast, I mean fast as in a Bugatti Veyron, or a Aston Martin DB9. Now imagine what the DB9 would look like if you asked Aston Martin to design one, that would go just as fast, and have room to sleep in it at night, (maybe this would be a good topic for Top Gear), and the typical go fast boat is what you end up with.

So here is my impression when I get on a generic go fast boat. You enter, often precariously, into a cockpit that is generously covered with copious quantities of colorful hides, from the rare Nauga. Stepping down into a cabin designed for Hobbits, onto a purple plush carpet, and with bent knees, and a cricked over neck, you survey the less than expansive space. A galley is to port, with a fridge that will just hold a couple of bottles of wine, and maybe a six pack of beer, and a sink that is just large enough to ice down a bottle of wine. To starboard, is a tiny claustrophobic compartment that has a head, and another pretend sink. Lifting your eyes forward, is a very low white pleather couch, facing a formica cabinet, with lots of mirrors above it, and plenty of gold plastic trim. The "Piece de Resistance", all the way forward is the love nest. A triangular bed, with a leopard print bedspread, that you can barely crawl onto on your hands and knees. With poor access to the bow, often no anchor locker, loud, poor ventilation, and hard riding, they are a classic case of function follows form, with marginal accommodations, and garish interiors. Ouch, quit hitting me with that gold chain, your'e going to break it.

I feel better now that this is off my chest, but all of a sudden, a new go fast boat moves into my town, and all of my perceptions are suddenly changed. The boat below is the new Nortech 80 Roadster. This is a deceptive vessel. At a first glance, it appears to be just 40 feetesque long, but when you get up next to it, it's substantial in scale. With a length of just shy of 80', and a beam of 16', I feel small next to it.

A huge cockpit, and a very commodious European style interior, with a three cabin layout, that sleeps 6 in comfort. There is a full galley, and en-suite heads for each cabin. It is everything its little brothers from the Jersey Shore want to be, but never achieved. The Roadster has twin Cat ACERT turbocharged diesels providing a total of 3800 HP, powering Arenson surface piercing drives, and reaches speeds of over 70 MPH. With a displacement of 80,000 pounds, and 1200 gallons of fuel, you will get a smooth ride, over a much broader set of sea conditions, and with real range.

Also unlike its little brothers, the helm can hold real navigation systems. In this case there are twin Garmin 5215 15" touchscreen chart plotters, and most clever of all, the Garmin radar dome rises up out of the cockpit on a stainless shaft to a usable height when you need it. So lets sum up, very fast, comfortable, room for real navigation systems in the dash, and a real head turner. I have seen it out on Sarasota Bay at speed, and it an awesome beast to behold. Best of all, no purple plush carpet, and monkey fur to be seen anywhere.

When I took the pictures, I was also very impressed with the lift, and maybe in my slightly weird techie way, I liked the lift more than the boat. The lift is a Titan 60 ton precision machine manufactured by Quality Boat Lifts in Ft Myers Florida. I spoke to Sean, who was the engineer that designed it, and the lift, like the Roadster, is a machine on a grand scale.

The system uses 220 VAC stainless steel variable frequency electric motors, with cycloidal gearboxes to drive the lifts. With next to no mechanical backlash, the programmable speed controlled system, allows the lift to start smoothly, accelerate to speed, and then gracefully brake to a stop. This type of drive system is also used widely in larger robotic systems. In other words, this lift will place the 80,000 Roadster exactly where it is supposed to be, stop on a dime, and give you nine cents change. The motor covers are powder coated aluminum, and Plexiglas windows on the sides allow you to see the drive systems. In addition to the 60 ton unit, there are also 50 ton, and 36 ton systems, and all are available with a wireless interface, and a remote controls. You need to pick up a big boat? This is where you should go.

The Roadster, has temporarily left town, and can be seen at the Ft Lauderdale boat show, and if I can catch up with the owner, we will come back and take a closer look at this remarkable piece of boating technology.

Now come on now all of you gold chain wearing guys, you know you really want a Roadster, so stop beating me with those chains, the Atocha coins are staring to hurt.

You can see more pictures of the Roadster at Nortech Boats

Thursday, 30 March 2017

Among the Grey Sticks

The Great Swamp

I don't remember the first beaver dam, but it has a blow out in it that I can paddle through. Maybe that's why I don't recall it. Memory isn't perfect. The beauty of oral tradition is that it is a tradition. Memories are preserved, at least somewhat intact, through the telling and retelling. Maybe I didn't tell the story often enough.

The second dam is a good thirty inches high and steep faced. It is neat, crisp, well-built and has come too soon. It looks new, as in newly built. Maybe I remember it wrong. I portage it on the end. The grey stick swamp above the dam is well flooded and I flush a good number of mallards from the wet footed brush on either side of the river. There is a new lodge not far above the dam.

The third dam... well, there wasn't a third dam this spring. I step out onto to it for an easy crossing.

The fourth dam I remember, but it is only an inch above the water. In the spring it was 20 inches high, a graceful curving bit of work out in an open sky section of the swamp. It is becoming obsolete. Several new lodges and the increased size of the beaver pond show that the beaver are doing what beaver do... colonizing. It is all so very good.

At this point, the grey stick forest is so well flooded that the main channel of the river doesn't stand out. Obstructing deadfalls lie lower in the water. The going is easy.

There's not many leaves left here in the grey sticks, but there weren't many leaves here in mid summer. It's great blue heron and woodpecker country...lots of tall dead or stressed trees, roots too wet for there own good...beaver making meadows, so that a new forest can grow someday.

I turn back just short of the counterfeiter's island. Short days that turn cold when the sun dips...I have eight beaver dams to cross on my way out.

I spot a mink swimming across the river. I ready my camera, because it has just gone behind a stump and I know that curiosity will get the better of it. It reappears and stares at me...they always do.

I see a muskrat...too small for an otter, too small and high in the water for a beaver. It dives.

And finally, at the tree recently felled by beaver, two white tail does with huge tails bound off deeper into the trees.