Oarlock & Sail Wooden Boat Club

Next Sunday September 18 is the 6th annual Heritage Harbour Classic race, open to all the sailboats in the harbour, and accompanied by the spectator fleet of some of the power boats – come join in the fun! The race will be starting at 2pm, ending around 4pm, followed by a rowing/paddling race and a heaving line challenge, and wrapping up with a bbq and awards ceremony. Come early if you want to get on a boat, and please let us know in the comments if you’re planning on coming – we’ll need to make sure we’ve got enough food and space for everyone!

Enke is getting a minor refresh, hopefully completed before the race – but she’ll be getting out there, regardless. We’re putting in a new mast step to replace the too-small one that was in there, which was starting to wiggle a bit when tacking – NOT a good thing for it and the keel.

Dylan has mostly finished the second window frame, and it’s looking really good!

Duane is supplying this chisel sharpening station, which should be a HUGE benefit to our tool collection! It is mounted on a turntable, with a fine grinding stone on one side and a buffing wheel on the other, easily turned around so that the tool is presented to the wheel from the right direction and angle. He’s doing some minor adjustments, and needs to dress the grinding wheel to flatten it. I’m looking forward to trying it out!

If you’ve been down to the dock this week, you will have noticed a couple of empty spots – Ern, Anja, and Luna are currently down in Port Townsend for the Wooden Boat Festival! Valerie sent this photo of Ern and Anja nested in amongst the fleet. We’re looking forward to hearing all about their adventure next weekend after they return!

Hope to see you a the Heritage Harbour Classic on Sunday!

After much discussion and evaluation of the club’s needs and desires, we have chosen the next boat to build! We were looking for a build that would challenge and interest our members, and would provide a stable but exciting boat that was able to carry 3 or 4 sailors comfortably.

The boat we ended up choosing is the Ian Oughtred Gannet, a 14′-5″ planing dinghy, which we plan to build in carvel planking. The club has built a carvel hull before, the Fancy Pram, but that was quite a while ago, before most of our current members became part of the club. We hope our members will enjoy the challenge of a new-to-us construction method. [edit: we changed our minds, and will be using lapstrake instead, in yellow cedar planking on steamed oak frames] [edit 2: we changed our minds again, and are now building the Gannet as designed, in glued lapstrake plywood]

We are in the process now of getting the plans, and choosing the materials from a supply of wood that we have stored in various members’ shops. Then we need to plan the schedule, and get the strongback and moulds built. We hope to start work on the hull in September. Until then, we have some renovations we want to do in the shop, making more room for the bigger boat.

Our lovely Button Swan was relaunched a few weeks ago, looking amazing in her new finishes! She’s been out a number of times since then, drawing compliments and admiration from many. Ragna and Vogler have been busy as well, with members enjoying the beautiful summer winds.

A project that has been on our wish list for many year is refurbishment of the doors to the shed. A few weeks ago, Dylan took on the task, and after examining the door, we decided that replacing the window framing would be enough. Dylan had a supply of gorgeous cedar left over from one of his projects, and created this work of art. Great job – thanks Dylan!

Another long-awaited job that has been started is the replacement of all the dock planking. Eric has taken on that job, and certainly has his hands full, finding and repairing all sorts of problems that were hidden. It will certainly help make the dock safer and more durable!

Hope you’re enjoying your summer, and that we see you at the shop!