Month: April 2021

Nick sent these photos of the work he’s been doing on his Davidson dinghy rebuild – he writes:

My latest boat project is very close to being finished. No name yet & sanding of the oars ongoing. It looks pretty good sitting in my shop on the “ Flintstone Roller”. I’ll be taking it out for relaunching soon
Cheers, Nick

After

Thanks for the update, Nick – looking great, and we hope you enjoy getting her back in the water!

Last week, a local writer and photographer stopped by the dock for a chat with Arnt and Dale, after one of their regular days on the water – take a look at the post on Facebook or Instagram:

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A post shared by Humans of Kitsilano (@kitsilano.humans)

Nice to get some exposure in different places!

I’ve been making (slow) progress on my model of Button Swan:

(Yes, I messed up on the thwarts – I went by the original drawings, not the revised version we built!)

We’d love to hear of any boat-related projects you’ve got going on while we wait for the opportunity to get back to the shop.

There’s a very important and worthwhile effort underway to build recognition of historic vessels in B.C. and Canada, something that has been amazingly lacking so far. The effort has been started by Robert Allan and the SS Master Society. Please take a moment to read their proposal, and if you feel led, use their template to write a letter to the minister of Canadian Heritage in support of this idea (follow the link below).

Subject: National Registry of Historic Canadian Vessels

Hello Crew,

Recognition and awareness of the Master is fundamental to our fundraising
efforts. The establishment of a National Registry of Historic Canadian
Vessels is one way to ensure the Master is recognized as the historically
significant vessel that she is. To that end, Rob Allan has written to the
Honorable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage, proposing the
creation of a National Registry of Historic Canadian Vessels.

We need every one’s help. Below is Rob’s note to members asking for your
support. Click on this link to see Rob’s note to members, Rob’s sample note
to the Minister and the article written by Rob and John MacFarlane.
https://www.ssmaster.org/registry-of-historic-vessels/

*Dear Friends of Master,As we mount our Centenary campaign to raise the
funds for the restoration of Master, a large part of that overall effort is
to try to get the Federal Government to create a National Register of
Historic Canadian Vessels.  This recognition would be incredibly important
to Master but would also establish some ground rules for the preservation
of, or at the very least accurate detailed documentation of vessels of
significance across the country.*

*For a more extensive discussion of this topic, please see the attached
article which John Macfarlane and I wrote in 2019, although this was with a
Provincial focus. *

*I am asking every one of you to please take a moment to support this
initiative by writing to the Minister of Canadian Heritage endorsing this
concept. To make life a bit easier I have drafted the attached letter to
The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage, which you
can use “as is” or adapt to suit your own thoughts.*

*Please circulate this appeal to anyone you know who believes in the
importance of our nautical heritage.*

*“Steaming Ahead”*

*Rob Allan*

*Barry*

Barry A Martens
President – SS Master Society
Email:* ssmaster@telus.net <ssmaster@telus.net>*
Website: ssmaster.org

Last weekend we had quite a blow down at the harbour – up to 55 kts of wind! Bruce and Kristyn were kept on their toes, watching the boats. Here’s some of their footage.

Under their watchful eyes, the boats fared pretty well, with some dock lines needing reinforcing, but North Star of Herschel Island sustained some damage – one of her dock lines ripped out part of her bulwarks!

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Bruce already has a workday lined up, with Eric’s help. Bruce was planning to replace some rotten wood this summer, but this accelerates the timeline!

One of our boats had a bit of a run-in with a deadhead last week, thankfully caught before there was damage! Kristyn noticed that Ragna was looking a little skewed at her mooring, and got Bruce’s attention on it – he dislodged the log and got Ragna resting comfortably again. Big thanks to Kristyn and Bruce for that!!

When the wind isn’t blowing too hard, we’ve had some great sailing – here are a couple of videos, with Ragna, Enke, and Arnt & Valerie’s boat Anja.