Log of s/v Willow

GREG JUST MAY BE EPOXIED TO THIS VESSEL

2011-12-22T01:33:15Z

Back

2011-11-23T20:52:00Z

FILL IN HOLES, AND...

2011-11-16T16:35:26Z

New frames to model!

GHOULS AND GHOSTS DAY

2011-10-31T21:08:05Z

What makes up for the lack of homely charm here at the industrial park is the fact that the nearby village is unbelievably cute, especially this time of year. Soon I will get Greg to brush off the sawdust, and we will walk the block and gaze at the little monsters trick-or-treating and the candle glows from the porches of the circa 1800 homes. We recently made a spontaneous road trip to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The first couple of nights we visited with Greg's family, always happy to see them. I have awesome in-laws. What spurred the trip was discovering that there was a boat in VA built from the same plans that Greg is using, called Wild Fox, owned by an Irishman named Anthony Swanston, who had it built about 5 years ago in Poland. We drove to an out-of-the-way cove on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay on a blustery day and proceeded to comb through his boat (he knew we were coming!). It was great to see a similar vessel to our Willow, just to see how someone else would build a Benford dory. (if I could insert photos it would be here...........darn it. Basically, picture a Willow but with longer cabin topsides, teak decks, dark blue hull, and lovely varnished masts. Wild Fox's sail plan differs in that the foresail is much smaller, and the mainsail much larger, than our similarly sized sails on Willow) Buoyed from the information that Anthony generously shared, we then drove up to Maryland to visit with Jay Benford, the designer whose name has spilled off our lips for many years but whom we've never met before. Nice man, especially since he included a photo of us on the back of his new book that just came out, called 'Building Badger'. It was a timely visit for Greg to share his ideas with Jay, since gaining experience on our boat and always thinking about ways of improving the vessel design. I won't go into any details here, but maybe Greg will take a moment here soon to write about it once decisions are final, plus he'll know what he's talking about. I can state for a fact that my mead did what it was supposed to do in the carboy, as my attempts to siphon it into bottles was messy and eventually I had Greg involved in sucking the tube too-not sure how many accidental gulps in the end but it sure was fun! And already quite edible-can't wait to see how tasty it will be after sitting out the required year. Happy Halloween everyone!

On How to Be Obsessed by Boats

2011-10-11T15:30:08Z

It all begins with one very straight line.

2011-10-06T00:46:44Z

Well, having technical problems. Mostly based on the fact that I have always had either Jim or Jason Rose idiot proof this process for me. It seems I managed to mess things up again I think, so, will have to make a tech call soon to work out getting images posted. I am trying to create a new blog about the current situation Bonnie and I have found ourselves in. Building another boat in Middletown, Ohio over the next year. Will work on it, so, don't give up on me here.

THE OHIO PROJECT

2011-10-01T01:00:55Z

This is Bonnie here, and these are my very first words ever written on the blog. It's taken me 30 minutes to get this far (where do I start? What do I say? So much has happened.....) so I'll just try to spit it out..... We, Greg and I, and Willow have currently found ourselves in SW Ohio. A businessman named George saw our blog and looked us up to see if Greg would build him a similar boat. This occurred in the spring, when we were back east anyway for a wedding, so we took a day to fly out here and meet George and the shop. Things probably could have gotten rolling right then, except we already decided that we needed to get Willow out of Hawaii first. The earthquake in Japan caused the tsunami in Hawaii that damaged many boats, and we weren't even there to deal with it! Luckily our friends in Honolulu, Keegan Mars and Craig Short, took it upon themselves to take Willow offshore for us, without really having sailed with us before; but being sailors themselves, they grabbed some beers and dealt with all those funky lines in the junk sails. (Thank you thank you thank you!). So, while I worked in Alaska this summer, Greg sailed Willow back to her homeport of Bellingham WA with our friend Camila, and we would have kept her there except George offers to let us store our boat in his humongous shop. This is huge. We've sailed Willow over 25000 miles since launching her (enough to have gone around the world!), and she looks it. We haven't stopped much to give her any TLC along the way, and while that's a good indication on how well she was built, you can imagine the need for a new paint job. After arriving here and getting settled in, we have Willow trucked out and she arrived last week, probably wondering how she ended up so far from saltwater. Now here we are. We actually live in the industrial park where George has his shop, as he has an apartment built next to the office, and it's more square footage than we're used to! It's a good thing, with all the walk-in closets-all the crap I managed to get off Willow over the last few days had to go somewhere. I laugh to myself when I recall an essay written about our boat by a friend of Jeffrey and Christine Smith, Jack Mynett, who basically was amazed that we could fit all of our worldly possessions on a 34' boat. He went on to list all of HIS possessions, obviously shaking his head. As I look at our pile of stuff, I realize that most of it hasn't even been used: survival suits, dozens of flares, medical equipment, strobes, life jackets, spare batteries, epirb, spare anchors, sea drogue, sewing machine, camping and climbing gear a la H.W. Tilman (we surfed instead), 2 dozen knives(?), boxes of extra hardware from building (Ryan Martin called us the chandlery). What we did use: 3 guitars, a mandolin and ukulele, surfboards, and (briefly) kiteboards, wet suits, snorkel gear, pressure cookers, outboard engine, 20 lbs of nautical charts, chart guides for a dozen countries, fuel and oil filters, 5 pillows and 6 cockpit cushions, a dozen pillowcases, and 9 coffee mugs. While I cleaned out Willow, Greg has been full speed ahead in the three weeks we've been here. He outfitted the workshop with all necessary tools, sourced out lumber and epoxy, has lofted out the lines of the new vessel and has already scarfed together plywood and laminated southern pine for the frames. He has help from two of George's employees, Wes and John, so it's coming along quite rapidly. We held our breath when George came by to see Willow for the first time, as his will be similar (but 3 ½ feet longer), and he seemed happy at the workmanship and was surprised that a plywood hull could be faired so smooth. It's amazing to see Greg 'back at it'. I think he felt slightly bored with cruising after awhile, and now has a big mental and physical challenge again to focus on. When we visited with his family last spring, and this job was imminent, his parents took me aside and asked me how I was doing. Essentially what they were saying was, we know how crazy Greg can be with his projects and how are you holding up after 17 years with the guy? All I can say is, it's been a hell of a ride and quite an adventure! With the experience we've had on Willow, we see this as a chance to build an even better version of "Badger", while still loving our Willow and happy to have the chance to give her a overhaul and prepare her for further voyages. We're not done yet.

Day 25... Neah Bay!!!

2011-07-19T01:24:56Z

Hello from Greg and Camila! They arrived at Neah Bay (just a few miles up the Straight of Juan de Fuca from Tatoosh Island) this morning and called a little before 10 AM. Greg said cell service is not happening for him right now though. They should be in Bellingham in three days or so, and I imagine his cellphone might start working before then, but who knows. One final map for y'all, this one shows their position in the straight, and that of Seattle, Bellingham, and all of the San Juan Islands.
They are about 6 miles from Tatoosh. Since they had already gotten supplies from out of town by the time they called at 10 AM, I imagine they crossed Tatoosh Island's position around 4-5 AM PDT. Here's the final plot for their trip:
I broke it into three segments, the top one being just the last six days or so. Using Days 19-25 puts them in at 2:34 AM, using days 9-25 sees them in at 9:06AM (obviously a bit late), and using the whole trip's average speed, Days 0-25, puts them crossing Tatoosh Island @ 4:39AM. I'll have to ask Greg or Camila to get a more exact answer. So, I guess that's it from me, unless Greg has something really important he needs to say before he gets cell phone contact. Thanks for listening, -Jim

Day 24... 57 miles out...

2011-07-18T06:18:00Z

Greg and Camilla and Willow are doing well and are sailing in very light winds 57 miles out from Tatoosh Island. They are taking their time coming in to Neah Bay, since nothing would be open at 2AM anyway. They expect to make it in sometime tomorrow (Monday) morning. They are at 48°24'N, 126°00'W
As of 17:30 PDT they had just crossed the continental shelf:
-Jim

Day 24... Crossing the shelf...

2011-07-17T20:12:40Z

Here are the Google earth pictures for yesterday's post:

As you can see they are getting very close. They should be in some time late tonight (Sunday). Maybe tomorrow morning, since the wind had died down when I talked with them yesterday, and it continues to be very inconsistent even now (winds shown for 14:00 PDT 7/17/2011, Willow position marked as of 7/16/2100 1830 PDT):
They may be motoring a bit on this last day. The closer in picture shows how incredibly straight a line they have been sailing on over the last 5 days. They've had consistent 15knts of wind out of the NW, so they have been really moving along well.

They have crossed all the major fracture zones, and by this time they have probably reached the continental shelf, passing over Father Charles Canyon, where the depth changes considerably. From 8500 feet deep to less than 1000 feet deep. Looked at from underwater, say, if you were a whale, that's a plateau that rises 7,000 feet (or more) in a span of less than 50 miles. Some places very steep, others more worn down like they were eroded by rivers. And it goes on forever, around all the continent(s). And all the good food is up on that shelf.
The next time I will probably hear from Greg will be on a cellphone, hopefully within the next 24 hours. I'll post again when that happens. -Jim

Day 23... Closing in...

2011-07-17T02:37:45Z

Here's another update from s/v Willow. They are currently (18:30 PDT on 7/16/2011) at 48° 22' N 128° 46' W Winds have died down to about 5 knots, and when they quit Greg said they will be firing up the motor. They had about 160 nm to go to reach land, which is about 184 statute miles. They should be in sometime late tomorrow night or early morning on Monday. Sorry I don't have any pictures today, I'll try to post tomorrow with a more thorough update. -Jim

Day 22... Juan de Fuca fracture zone...

2011-07-16T02:22:20Z

Nice sailing, 15-20 knot NW wind, steady. Big swells, but not uncomfortable. 40° cold though. They cruised another 158 miles yesterday, and are now only 332 miles from land. Yesterday's progress was all almost directly at Tatoosh island again, gaining 157.8 miles towards it. They are 87.4% of the way across, and based on the last four days of progress they should be rounding Cape Flattery sometime Sunday Night or Monday early morning. At 19:00 PDT on 7/15/2011 they are at: 48°09'N, 131°57'W
This close in view shows the cool stuff they are floating over. To the NE about 80 miles is Explorer seamount. They've done a lot of submersible studys on the hydrothermal vents down there. Life that thrives on hydrogen sulfide. And they are starting to pass over the fracture zones between all those plates I talked about yesterday. I think they will pass over the Juan de Fuca fracture zone.
Wind has not changed much, and that's good. This wind will blow them right in to the Straight of Juan de Fuca.
I will try to post an update tomorrow, but I might not have access to a computer. -Jim

Day 21... Seamounts everywhere...

2011-07-15T03:12:30Z

s/v Willow is now only 490 miles from land! They made another 155.6 miles today, all but 0.1 miles were directly at Tatoosh Island. That weather vane steering gizmo sure does a good job. The winds were still 15-20 knts out of the NW, and they will get 1 - 2 more days like this, then it will become light and variable. That should put them within 100 miles of shore though. Greg said the seas were pretty big, but going in the right direction, and they were making over 6 knots. Everything is great. They are really looking forward to a few days from now though. Here's their position: 48° 02' N, 135° 22' W 19:00 on 7/14/2011
And here's their wind picture:
They are about to pass over a fascinating region of plate tectonics. Here's a zoomed up picture of where they are:
The deepest spots around them are ~13,000 feet, but the area is filled with a whole bunch of seamounts, Moore, Forster, Eickelberg, Gordon, and the list goes on. Some of these rise up several thousand feet, so the clearance is only ~9000 feet or so. I hope they don't scrape bottom. That zig zag line that is just off the coast of Washington, Oregon and northern California is a very smashed up bit of real estate. At least four plates crunch together here, Gorda, Juan de Fuca, Pacific and North American. It's quite a mess, and that's why there are so many earthquakes in the region. Here's a link: Gorda plate and Pacific Northwest Plate map on wikipedia Camila has a message!!! Ajua! Saludos Mexico Lindo y querido! And Greg says Hey! -Jim

Day 20...Low visibility again...

2011-07-14T04:55:12Z

Hello again, All systems are nominal on s/v Willow. Winds blowing 15-20 knts out of the N to NW. They are cruising nicely at: 47°50'N, 138°44'W, 19:20 7/13/2011 PDT
They went 155.5 miles yesterday, and all of them were directly towards Tatoosh. That means they are 647 miles away from land, or 75.4% of the way across. 39 more miles north, and 642 miles east. Throw in some fudge factors and a healthy dose of spherical geometry and those numbers actually work out I think. Visibility had decreased again somewhat throughout the day, but it had improved by the evening and should stay OK for the rest of the trip. Still, it's completely overcast and that won't change until Saturday or Sunday. No precipitation though.
-Jim

Day 19... Sedna ridges and Tufts plain...

2011-07-13T03:14:21Z

s/v Willow and crew are doing well and are currently (19:00 PDT 7/12/11) at: 47° 30'N, 142° 02' W
This puts them at 69.5% across, traveling 115 miles over the last day and getting 114 miles closer to Tatoosh. A bit slower overall, but they have gained some of the North they needed. They are now only 61 miles South of Tatoosh Island (and 807 miles West). They were getting 15 knots of NW wind, and making 5.5 knots on a course of ~60°. The great circle route to Tatoosh would be 79° now, so they are still aiming a bit North. The winds over the next two days should be 20 knots from the northwest. They just passed across the Sedna Ridges, and are now following the top edge of the Tufts Abyssal Plain. Named after a bunch of Tufts grad students and researchers on a cruise in the 50's. Here's a pdf about surveying that area for oil or something... PART C: SITE SURVEY ON THE TUFTS ABYSSAL PLAIN Bonnie is in Dutch Harbor! I don't think it would be easy to swing the boat around at this point. No worries, hopefully she'll be back in the NW in a few weeks, and so will Greg! Here's the wind picture:
This is what they will get for the next couple days, NW winds 15-20 knots until Friday at least. For right now, the weather was partly sunny, they were cruising along and everything was fine. It was a good day. -Jim