Reflections of a winter, the past and the future

It’s been a long and trying winter out here on the hook, in Cowichan Bay, on a 22′ sailing sloop. Even so one could not compare it with sailing on the high seas, the hardships that come with being on the water, the lack of space, the constant exposure to all kinds of weather is very real. To survive the solitude and long nights I read a lot or listened to audio tapes. Patrick O’Brian published a long series of seagoing tales ( most likely best known from an adaptation to the movies “ Master and Commander ” ).

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Yes, there is a romantic mood included in living on the waters or being a sailor. To think that our forefathers many generation ago already have used the winds the same way we use them today… sailing can be an art form. In the begin of my sailing career I did not fully comprehend the force of the tide and was completely unaware of many facts. How to make the most of wind and currents is something I’m still learning… but by now I know what I’m capable off.

While there is a great need to simplify your life, it takes a lot more energy to live this way. The rewards are multiples and hard to conceive by some, but once you’ve been to sea… Here is a way of live that brings one closer to understanding nature with all her cruelty and all her beauty, closer to reality… …not quite as easy. 

The C-Dream frozen in 1’’ of ice and company coming…

Winter demands a constant supply of firewood. Not only to stay warm (that could be accomplished with another layer of clothing as well) but mainly to keep the boat, your bedding and your clothing dry and the mould away. I prefer the cold or a layer of snow to the seemingly forever lasting rain. Rain is draining most of my energy, undermining all of my ambition and seem to even deteriorate my brains. Rain keeps me from sleeping, soaks into everything from bunk to bedding into my very bones.

Time will bring this wet season to it’s end, but as time and tide waits for no man, I better make sure I’m seaworthy. I’m still in need of a good running outboard motor, My new tender is a small rowing boat / sailing boat. I intend to have a lot of fun with it this summer (it might sail faster than the “C-Dream”)

Passing a peer I had not seen for some time in the village, he commented on my change of attitude (from one of childish delight to one of worn out indifference in just 5 years). Did I grow up too fast or is it only a temporary lack of romantics. Let’s hope it’s the later and the new spring season will cure that.

As a challenge I would like to sail the “C-Dream” around Vancouver Island this summer.

…all for the love of sailing

With the price of newer boats being out of reach for the average man & the upkeep and maintenance of older boats more expensive than ever, fewer and fewer people can enjoy the simple pleasure of sailing.

hoisting the jib

A modern definition of boat (Bring On Another Thousand) was created by the illusion sailing relates to yachting, relates to wealth & prestige. A romantic idea of freedom only for a certain class of people who could afford it. Get out your credit card should you need marine supplies, a marina or simply a parking spot for a few hours.

Is it any wonder then, that sailing is in decline, boats are being neglected and once deteriorated beyond repair even abandoned to sink.

All over the Gulf Islands I advertised for inexpensive space, to work on the Puffin, but had very little reply.

So at the moment I still don’t now what to do with her, except to keep her afloat and hope for a solution soon or later.

 

 

 

…but since I’m already out there…and for the love of wooden boats…and the thrill of sailing..

..and as I seemed to be a glutton for punishment, I’ll try to rescue another almost abandoned 70 year old sloop (of similar size then the Crown), to get her out of retirement and sailing again. Let’s hope she’ll float.

Sailing should not be about the size and price of ones boat, but about the pleasure it can create.

Urgently needed: space to work on 23’ crown sloop ( approx. 2-3 month)

The Puffin, original build in North Vancouver as a mould for the 23’ crown (an alternative to the 24’ calvin ) and later on modified into a boat, is past 50 years old, yet somehow I don’t want to see her die.  At present she is leaking 3-4 gallons per hour.

Build out of cedar strips it was never a completely dry boat, but it has been a long time since she has been on dry land for long overdue repairs and replacement of some of the old wood.

Thanks to modern Epoxy she could be restored.

The boat has a beautiful design. Close to the water she can be a very lively sloop and a real pleasure to sail her.

If it wasn’t for the love of wooden boats and the enjoyment she can provide…

So I’m more then willing to work to get the old sloop seaworthy again…,all it takes is the right place and the right time (which should be soon…).

The “Puffin”  needs a space on dry land for the winter where I can work to restore her. I’m very flexible and willing to negotiate. Should you be able to help get in touch with me:        andreasmauer@ymail.com

The art of living on the water is to keep afloat

Beware of the lee shore

Hence don’t get to close to the shore unless you just want to beach it for a tide or two.

And this I will have to do soon in order to repair last winters damage. Several floatation devices popped out from underneath my deck that will have to be replaced. Faulty lumber below might need to be changed. In short, a lot of jacking up the platform and repairing whatever is needed.

Hopefully I can get some help beaching the cabin at the designated area

home coming

Back to Cow Bay…

Just for a few days… to sleep on my Futon mattress in the spacious V-berth of “The Escape”…Summer is here, lots to do and places to go to…

Gathering experience…

…may I never graduate…

…and stay forever young…

It must have been the sunny weather that got me so active last week.  , it was quite a restless I spend only one night next to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal. quite noisy (even so I was in quiet waters). The convenience of having a bus stop for an Express going right downtown Victoria compensated a little for all the noise from loading the Sea-span ferry., but after a day in the city and a night next to the terminal I left first thing in the morning.

Sidney was my next stop since I was shopping for a new main sail. Here I was to meet Dan, who thought he might just have a fitting sail for the Puffin. As it turned out, Dan came through and his sail was a perfect fit…

So the two of us sailed despite a weather warning of strong winds with an outgoing tide, …

something about wind

Said the straight man to the late man
Where have you been
I’ve been here and I’ve been there
And I’ve been in between.

I talk to the wind
My words are all carried away.
I talk to the wind
The wind does not hear
The wind cannot hear.

I’m on the outside looking inside
What do I see
Much confusion, disillusion
All around me.
                                
                                McDonald-Sinfield

A bagful of terms

Seafaring is rich with words and phrases reflecting different cultures, eras and customs long past, yet still alive in romanticism and colourful terms used even in modern days.

There are many mariners dictionaries with thousands of nautical word . A lot of them have similar meanings, yet each one describes in details an act or procedure, a tool, a distinctive direction or location.

Here at ever been to sea I encourage you (and me) to study, remember and use this language of the sailor.

“Well, let’s have it. Mr. Novice, two dozen, if you please.”

• general keys: the prefix a- (without, towards or to the rear of) as in abaft (towards the rear)
• astern describes a location not aboard and to the stern, the (rear),  while alee is towards the lee (downwind), ahead towards the bow (front).
• the suffix –board refers to the ship or ships side, starboard (right side looking forward), larboard or port(left).
• the suffix –ward suggests in the direction of…homeward, landward,seaward
• windward, in the direction of the wind or leeward, away from the wind, towards the lee.
• berth, …as in:  I berth in Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, at the Bluenose Marina.
• wharf,…pier,…and even quay(pron. key), the later being of solid construction, all have the same meaning, a structure alongside a ship lies.
• slip,…the space between the  piers on which a ship lies afloat (see dock) .
• dock (wet &dry),…wet being the same as slip, a dry dock either a basin that gets pumped out after the vessel or craft has been properly propped up, or a space being reached via a marine railway (rails on which a cradle rolls. The boat gets floated on top of the cradle and then hauled up to dry land).

“…to be continued…”

Intro

This winter I’m in Cowichan Bay, living on a 30’ Monk  (motor boat). With enough head-room and a roomy V-berth there is no comparison to last year, wintering in a small sloop. Yet, when it comes to moving around, I rather go sailing.

When I first sailed the “Puffin”, I did not fully realize what stubborn a man I was. Sailing taught me to be more flexible, able to change,to come to compromises and act fast when needed.

The weather decides what one can or can not do. We can’t have it all, most of the time it is one or the other.

Flying over the water at 8 knots per hour in a small craft, oh… what a rush…and every time you get under way, it is a new experience

 

  The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjust the sails.

William A. Ward

Some things can’t be taught in a classroom, they have to be experienced. Nothing is as powerful as experience. Often the idea of looking foolish, ignorant or outright dumb to our peers prevents us of trying something new. It scares us to that extreme that we rather pretend to know all about it, but are not really interested, then admitting the truth, that we actually know little, would like to find out more but wont try out of fear of what the neighbour might think or what we might look like.

navigation then and now

“…We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun 
Ere the bonnie boat was won
As we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry 
Smell the sea and feel the sky 
Let your soul and spirit fly, into the mystic…”
                                                                                                             Van Morrison

 

GPS and electronic charts might have the flavour of something “New”, but like anything else have their origin in the past. So, how did we do it before we were able to turn on a computer and find our position by the click of a key?

 

To create accurate maps, latitude and longitude needed to be known. Navigators had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring the angle of the sun or a star above the horizon with an instrument such as a backstaff or quadrant. Longitude was more difficult to measure accurately because it requires precise knowledge of the time difference between points on the surface of the earth. Earth turns a full 360 degrees relative to the sun each day. Thus longitude corresponds to time: 15 degrees every hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes.

Not many had the skills required and many a sailor, living all his live at sea could not see past the ship and his own little world, while others saw continents and coastlines and wide horizons.

 The history of navigation

http://www.abc.net.au/navigators/navigation/history.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_navigation

A new blog and a new post about an old love of mine.

• fun on the water
• with music and a natural mystic floating through the air
• …we sail back into the ages.
• With the air blowing through your hair
• You too, may experience the magic.

•                                                

New format…    new style…

   adventure…      about living on the water…

 about the thrill of sailing…  

 about exploring the Gulf Islands and the Salish Sea…

  …helping one another and working together…

environmental issues

and about you,

to get involved, to share and

                                                    if you never been to sea,

here is your chance to get experienced,

you might just love it.

If to be poor and content is to be rich,

I still got a long road ahead of me.

This blog is to be a combination of creative writing, a diary or log-book, communicating with friends, advertising the pleasure of sailing, sharing interesting information and creating a platform to connect with likeminded people. It works best with feedback.

LiveJournal Tags: living on the water,adventure on the Salish Sea,sailing and exploring the Gulf Islands,get expirienced