Boats Thread 2.0

[rturbo 930]

While I'm sure there's many that simply get broken up, there's a few that get a second chance. With regards to great boat restorations, I have to recommend this series documenting the restoration of Tally Ho on YouTube. Wouldn't be surprised if some have already seen it. It's very impressive.

The series can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@SampsonBoatCo

[BlackbirdM3]

While I'm sure there's many that simply get broken up, there's a few that get a second chance. With regards to great boat restorations, I have to recommend this series documenting the restoration of Tally Ho on YouTube. Wouldn't be surprised if some have already seen it. It's very impressive.

The series can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@SampsonBoatCo

Yes, Leo has done amazing work on Tally Ho. I've watched the project from the beginning.

On the topic of boats being broken up, this is how close Hummingbird was. We took her over in June of last year. (Note the thread date to start.) https://forums.ybw.com/threads/1932-...wanted.595788/ What the issue was that he was so worried about is a mystery to me. The boat is even more dry now than she was a year ago, heck 3 months ago. Before the haul out and paint, there was always about 1.5 gallons in the bilge, now it can be soaked up with a sponge in 2 minutes.

If anyone is interested in a project, I know of two San Francisco Bear Boats in need of a home. They both have their issues, but its a two for one deal, and the deal is free to a good home. If someone won't take them on, sadly the plan is to salvage all the Bear specific parts from them and break them up. I know one has about 15 cracked/broken frames, but many of those could have come from sitting on the trailer. The stem needs to be refastened as well, The other boat needs similar work, and needs a rudder. The thought is that one boat could be built from both.

Will

[george graves]

That's awesome.

[BlackbirdM3]

A pic of Hummingbird about a mile west of Alcatraz on Sunday morning. The fog was on the water, visibility about 200 yards. We were racing Freda, the oldest privately owned yacht on the west coast back to Sausalito. I knew the current was pushing us to the east and we were pointed at Tiburon, so I tacked back to SF behind Freda in an effort to find either the counter current, or just move the boat west far enough to straight shoot across the Bay. In the end, we lost, as they found a fanning counter current that pulled them around the tip of Belvedere and into Richardson's Bay I ended up about 1/3 of a mile off St Francis Yacht Club before tacking back across the Bay pointed at Ft Baker and assuming the current would carry us east and right into the channel through Sausalito (Which it did) Luckily no large ships came looming out of the fog as we crossed blindly.

Will

[BlackbirdM3]

10 minutes of feeling our way through the fog on SF bay last Sunday. No navigation equipment other than a magnetic compass, no radar, all dead reckoning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vpJIQMAsqk

Will

[roguetoaster]

Fog sure is interesting to be out it in with any boat. Out in the Chesapeake it's an interesting conundrum, either stay very near shore, inside the crab pots, hopefully in occasional view of the shore, or run outside of the pots with no real nav.

I've picked the former option the only time I ended up out in 50' visibility, and it is hilarious that you can hold the wheel ahead and forever make imperceptible arcs away from your point of aim. The nav track on my phone was hilarious betweenhaving no fixed point of reference, and dodging the innumerable sand bars.

Anyway, the lower unit on my 18' mostly failed, so I ordered a brand new one, and elected to strip the transom down to reseal and add a two stroke kicker bracket. Thinking I'm going to rig the kicker to always dead ahead when deployed and use the primary as a rudder.

[uturn]

Was searching for other J-boats on youtube and saw a video of Tally Ho pop up. Also something about the Bayesian superyacht sinking... but the best video was of these RC Kayaks... they got me as I ordered one.

BTW... awesome picture of Hummingbird in the fog but I'd be crapping bricks. Once drove on Skyline drive in the fog and some car jumped out at me seemingly from nowhere.

[BlackbirdM3]

I knew exactly where I was, and what heading I was on (more or less) I was trying to make Richardson's Bay, but I knew I was pointed at the Corinthian Yacht club in Tiburon (even though I couldn't see it. ) I tacked around and went back to SF, thinking I was pointed at St Francis Yacht club, and as we emerged from the fog, there it was a point off the bow. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that my newly installed wind vane on the top of the mast due to the boat being bashed into another boat when some big rollers came out of nowhere and hit the boats broadside. I think the plastic base broke rather than the screws pulling out, but I haven't gone up the mast to find out yet. Having no reference to where the wind was coming from made sailing upwind tough. I was going as high on the wind as I could guess, to the point of pinching pretty hard. Once we got back over to StFYC, there was a race going on, so we tacked about again and went out for a bit, still pointed at Corinthian, so we threw another tack and went back to StFYC and ended up in the middle of a race with some Folkboats. (It was clear near the shore) I tacked and ducked a couple boats then figured I was far enough west to shoot for Ft Baker on the north side of the GGB. Back into the soup we went. We found a catamaran trying to do the same thing, but on a course that was close to a collision course. I ducked him and continued on my way, popping out of the fog pointed at Ft Baker. We fell off and made our way into Sausalito from there.

Here is a chart overlay showing some of the wind patterns, but i think they are incorrect, or were different close to the water.

No sailing this week. Doing some cosmetic improvements on the boat. I spent the afternoon stripping paint off the back of the cabin hoping the wood was in good enough shape to varnish again, but there are some issues that are too much trouble to fix well enough to varnish, so I think its going to end up painted again. At least this time it will be a better color (Schooner Martha Green. Schooner Martha predates the Bird fleet by about 10 years, but she was on the bay and racing with them in the '20s and '30s. She is the oldest remaining SFYC flagship. She is now found in Pt Townsend WA where she sails regularly and is looked after by people from the Pt Townsend School of wooden boat building.)

Schooner Martha Green...

I will be painting the sheer planks on the sides of Hummingbird this color, so having the cabin area this color should look good, and not be out of place.


Will

[roguetoaster]

That's a lovely French sort of green, should be a good fit.

[BlackbirdM3]

The trip over to Aquatic Park on August 16th. We were trying to stay semi dry, or at least not have to sit on a wet deck. It was gusting 20+ kts.

Will

[BlackbirdM3]

Hummingbird powered up and punching through the chop off Angel Island back in August. I had high hopes for a good finish when this pic was taken just before the start line. The raced turned out to be a brutal ass kicking both by the rest of the fleet, and by the conditions. We oversailed the hell out of the boat, went slow, got very wet and beaten up. Nothing went our way in that race. Brutal wind, waves, and SF Bay made it clear we weren't contenders that day.

Will

[roguetoaster]

Forgot to mention, got another aluminum powerboat, this time with twin engines. It's an '89 Grumman 16 side console with twin 40s.

Already liberated the fancy trolling motor for my other boat, and will probably take the fish finder too. Other than the rotted transom insert and the starboard engine not firing on the lower two out of four cylinders it's a very decent boat.

Also got the 18' back together and took it for a couple of short trips before doing a 40 mile outing last weekend.

[BlackbirdM3]

A couple videos from over the summer.
I spotted a newer, larger sailboat and decided to try and chase it down. (its the one off the bow.) We did actually catch and pass them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWo4d5i1U68

This is a really long video, but it was a good recording and a fun day on the bay. We poached the "Great Pumpkin Race" (I wanted to enter it, but a certain harbor master was very unwelcoming.) We motored to the start (almost 3 hrs) through heavy fog on the water, then zero wind. I knew when our technical start time was, so I started the video just before we came about and didn't cross the start line (we were just to the left of it.) The moment we came about, the wind started to build and off we went. It was a pursuit race, with a staggered start based off of the handicap rating. We were the first boat to the bottom of Alcatraz of the part of the fleet that went counter clockwise.

What I failed to video was actually the best part of the day. The battery on the Gopro had died before we finished the race. After "finishing" I spotted the oldest privately owned yacht on the west coast out for a sail off of Tiburon, so we headed over to sail with them. We couldn't catch them going downwind, but after we both came about, I chased them down doing 9 kts on the GPS, upwind, into the flooding tide. I so wish the camera had been working for this. Hummingbird was absolutely flying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUcHz_vWrTY

Will