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June 1, 1999 Issue


June 15, 1999 Issue

June 1, 1999 Issue


Upcoming Events of Unusual Interest

Canoe & Camp Skills Day

Our Hulbert Outdoor Center will host its annual low key Canoe & Traditional Camp Skills Day on May 29 in Fairlee, Vermont. It's a day of workshops, demonstrations, activities and displays for the pleasure and edification of paddlers and canoe campers. Participants are invited to bring along their own traditional small boats as well as used boats or equipment for sale in tailgate vendor format. If you'd like to sign on for a specialized workshop you need to do so beforehand for a separate fee, otherwise it's $3 admission for the day.

Deb Williams, Hulbert Outdoor Center, Fairlee, VT, (802) 333-3405,

The Meaning Of "No-Octane"

No-Octane: 1. Powered by human muscle, will and ingenuity; 2. Powered by wind; 3. Operated without the use of petroleum products and internal combustion engines.

No-Octane Regatta for Wooden Boats, which takes place this year on June 18-20:

No-Octane Venues: No-Octane Regatta events take place on Blue Mountain Lake Town Beach and the beach at Curry's Cottages, both on Route 28 in Blue Mountain Lake, NY, in the heart of the Adirondacks. Other weekend events are hosted by the Adirondack Museum, other organizations and businesses in Blue Mountain Lake, and nearby communities.

The Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake. NY, (518) 352-7311, ext. 130 during regular business hours

Moose Mainea Rowing Regatta

The I I th Annual Moosehead Rowing Regatta takes place on June 26th at the Greenville Junction town wharf on Maine's Moosehead Lake, open to any oar powered craft ready to tackle the 4-1/2 mile triangular course on what can be, if it's windy, a rough open water lake. Events start at I I am, you can preregister at a saving or post register race morning. Sponsor is the Maine Rowing Association, which requires participants to be members but will provide one month memberships on race day at only $5.

Betsy Rockwell, Different Strokes, Greenville, ME, (207) 695-2680

Classic Boat Auction

The New Hampshire Antique & Classic Boat Museum is hosting an auction of Lake Winnepesaukee classic boats, outboards, gear and memorabilia on June 26th starting at noon. Preview is open at 9am. We are inviting consignments.

N.H. Antique & Classic Museum, Moody Mountain Farm, Pork Hill Rd., N. Wolfeboro, NH 03894, (603) 569-0000

Wooden Canoe Assembly Youth Building Program

Families are invited to Lower St Regis Lake, NY July 21-25 to build canoes together in the first family boat building program for the Wooden Canoe Heritage Assembly, a gathering which attracts between 400 and 500 traditional wooden canoe enthusiasts. Hundreds of antique and classic canoes are brought to the event.

Each family will receive a pre-cut plywood kit, with all of the building materials for stitch and glue construction included, of a new design created for young people to build and launch during a five-day program. ThelO'Iong canoe has three boards per side and a beam of 28". A small deck and bulkhead, fore and aft, enclose flotation chambers.

David Niles, a Connecticut school teacher who heads up the building program, says, "This is the first time we have tried a high quality kit boat in the building program at the annual Assembly. I asked Andy Wolfe to design a boat for us that would be stable, lightweight and very maneuverable. The canoe will weigh about 20lbs. We wanted a boat that would carry up to 185 pounds. I think this boat will provide many years of enjoyment for the young builders."

Andy Wolfe of Upper Deck Boatshop will produce the kits and teach the building program. Wolfe says, "This is a simple small craft that can easily be assembled by totally inexperienced wood workers. The lines of the boat are gentle, creating a very round hull shape. It will be a great experience for both the kids and their parents. No one has to worry about fumbling."

The cost of the program is $295 per boat, and there is no restriction as to the number of builders. If you are interested in participating in this family canoe building project, contact David Niles at (203) 248-1704 before the June 20th deadline.

Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, Blue Mountain Lake, NY


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June 15, 1999

COMMENTARY -- Meeting of the Amateur Yacht Research Society, May 1999, The Landing School

Bob Hicks, Editor

On May 1st I spent an entire lovely blue sky day indoors in a classroom at the Landing Boat School in Kennebunk, Maine. It was the Forum '99 meeting of the New England Chapter of the AYRS, the British based Amateur Yacht Research Society.

Well, I didn't mind too much for the program included a lot of interesting stuff far out there on the leading edge (or even beyond it) of messing about in boats, with emphasis mostly on sail power. Much of the AYRS focus since its inception back in the '50s has been on utilizing wind as a power source, and investigating ways to get beyond the traditional viewpoint of the yachting/sailing establishment. For a long time catamarans and trimarans held center stage, but much more radical stuff has also been offered up and at this gathering there was no lack of that.

I guess I will start with Dave Culp's "Kite Tugs". Dave has done a lot of work on kites as sail power. Most of us have noted the kites that kayakers sometimes launch to tow themselves along. Well, Dave is far beyond this level now and his concept of kite tugs is far down the course set by the occasional attempts today to add sail power to large vessels as auxiliary power. When the wind is right, the sails are hoisted and take on some of the propulsion chores, conserving fuel.

Dave pointed out that the super kites possible to be built today can offer a boost to a freighter or cruise vessel, but when the wind isn't favorable for the desired course, the reeling them in, storing them, and relaunching later when a wind or direction change permitted, would be labor intensive and messy. So Dave conceives a sort of an enclosed control gondola attached to a super kite, manned by a small crew, which hooks up the kite to any appropriate vessel which wished such a boost. When conditions alter the need, the kite and its "tug" drop the tow and sail off looking for other business. Hugh Ware, you'd better look into this for that tugboat book you're writing!

Following my own subjective interest I now come to the topic of landsailing, presented by current world record holder Bob Dill of Burlington, Vermont, who sailed to 108mph on a small Nevada dry lake in March in his Iron Duck. Perhaps sailing on the hard is getting a bit away from messing about in boats, but I was fascinated by Bob's rig in a way I'll clarify in a moment.

Landsailing has been around a long time, and the most commonplace efforts involved sailing DN iceboats rigged out with wheels on large, flat hard packed beaches common in England with its enormous tidal ranges, or on dry lake beds in our southwest desert country. Bob decided that claimed speed records for iceboats, up around 140mph, were bogus as no accurate speed measuring equipment was used by those claiming the records. He went on to establish that it appeared that around 85mph was probably the fastest land sailing record and determined to build a land yacht specifically designed just for setting a record.

The Iron Duck was the result, a streamlined three wheel frame with a tall wingsail at the back, pilot within a totally streamlined cockpit by the sail, and a weight of about 1,800 pounds. Heavy! Yep. It could have been much, much lighter, but Bob couldn't keep the wheels on the ground as speed picked up, sideskidding set in, so "ballast" had to be added. Still he got up to 108mph on a course scarcely a mile long in winds of about 40mph. The Iron Duck needs a 20mph windjust to get moving enough to start to create its own apparent wind.

Well, in my recumbent bicycling I've tried the recumbent trikes that sit 6" off the ground, weigh 25lbs, and can be pedalled, even by me, up to 25mph on the flat for a mile or two before the power (me) flags. So, how about a sailpower auxiliary for such a trike?

But, back to boats. The day finished up with a statistical presentation by Rich Boehmer. He is a world class sailing speed expert with long association with sailing speed efforts such as Phil Weld's Ostar effort. His graphs and charts and diagrams, and sail plan views of various fast sailing vessels, past and present, all conspired to be able to compare how different sailing rigs in different times compare head to head.

At one point Rich projected on the screen side by side the sail plan views of the last of the J boats, Ranger I believe, and also the current super boat Playstation, a 120' catamaran built to compete in "The Race" in 2000. The two stood up face to face comparable in size. The J boat, however weighed in somewhere around ten times Playstation's weight! Ballast.

When talking about those faster keelboats of yesteryear and their ultimate design parameters, Rich would toss a statement right to a slight grey haired man sitting right up front. Back came the response about the technicalities involved, almost offhandedly, from this man who obviously had it all right there. His name? Olin Stephens. At 92, still on top of his field and right here amongst the radicals of the AYRS participating in this exercise in creative ideas for uses for wind power afloat. Wonderful.

You can find out about AYRS by contacting Tom Blevins of the AYRS/NE at P.O. Box 212, Edgecomb, ME 04556, phone (207) 882-6396, fax (207) 882-9826, email tjblevins@clinic.net



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