Oops!

Sometimes you just don’t realise how much pressure things are put under!

Saturday got off to a great start, I’d loaded the car up on Friday for an early start, checked the weather forecast:

• southerly 10-15 knots mid morning
• raising to 20 knots in the afternoon
• moderate swells

Challenging but doable if I take it easy. Got to St Heliers beach and set up. On Friday I’d purchased a kayak trolley which proved to be a great help launching and retrieving. Setting off went smoothly and we made a good pace until I looked back at the rudder and noticed something was amiss; it wasn’t all the way down and at a bit of an angle. Closer inspection revealed that it was coming loose of its fittings! I quickly let the sheet out and pulled the rudder up and tied it out of the way all the time drifting further out. Thinking I’d paddle steer back to shore I got set up and quickly discovered that I had not a clue as to the right technique to use!

Eventually, one capsize later and several other close calls, I got on a good reach and managed to point her towards Ladies Bay for an textbook landing. At Ladies Bay we took a break and took down the mast; I had tried to paddle back earlier, but the mast had too much of an affect on stability and nearly caused another capsize. After that it was a quick paddle back to St Heliers beach.

Back at the beach Nico joined in the fun

I had hoped to use the day to evaluate the canoe’s performance but alas that was not to happen. I did have a few observations though:

• Paddle steering is harder than it looks.
• As the swell increases, so does the amount of water splashing into the hull (also aided by me sitting in the aft bulkhead to better steer.
• Under sail the swell didn’t present any issues and I didn’t feel any loss of speed.
• Even against the wind, she paddles at a good pace.

Now to the serious business:

This is where the rudder failed. I built the mounting board out of 20mm treated ply covered in epoxy and then painted. To attached the hinge I rather optimistically used short screws instead of running a bolt all the way through. As you can see the pressure popped the screws straight out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see the pressure was enough to break the metal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other side, even the hinge pin is bent. The rudder is made out of oak and I added a layer of epoxy under it when I built it. So I’m guessing that’s the reason it held up better. But when I fix it will become the weak link so I’ll need to replace the screws with bolts as well.

This coming weeks job will be to rebuild. I think I’ll laminate more of the oak into a board and use that instead of plywood.

Outriggers at the Fiji National Museum, Suva

Last week work sent me to Suva, Fiji. At the end of the week I visited the National Museum to see their collection of canoes. On display was the last existing Drua, this one; a small one at 15m long was built in the early 1900’s.

The shells on the hulls indicate that the Drua belonged to a Chief and the area he was from. Even though the two ends are not identical they are still proas and shunt instead of tacking (the smaller hull is always kept to windward and the sail is moved from one end of the hull to the other when changing heading into the wind). Druas represent the height of Polynesian canoe building, some being over 30m in length and very fast.

The workmanship and details on the boat is incredible:

I find the look of the raised platform quite appealing and I’m wondering how feasible it would be to build two Ulua hulls and mount a platform between them in a similar fashion? Maybe a project to try some years in the future. My relationship with Cecile is far to important to embark on another boat building exercise so soon!

Other canoe designs:

A more “conventional outrigger”:

C’est La Vie!

Her maiden voyage!

With the leeboard properly attached and one hiking seat ready to be used it was finally time to go sailing!

Saturday was Eloise’s first birthday party so it had to wait for Sunday. Because Cecile wasn’t impressed by St Heliers beach I thought we’d give Takapuna a go. By the boat ramp there is a nice rocky area with great rock pools for kids to play in.

Nico does the final pre-launch checks:

Getting ready:

Off we go:

Sailing was great, I was a bit rusty and without a wind vane was having a bit of a time of it trying to find the wind direction but I started to get the hang of it by the end of the day. 

Again I got a reminder of just how tippy the canoe is; this time she went over with me. So I got my first capsize lesson!

There was enough buoyancy in the mast and boom to keep her from going over completely so I just swam to the outrigger side and pulled her back upright and started bailing.

Of course I wasn’t wearing my lifejacket at the time. Something I fixed once I got back on board.  However I ended up going for another swim (while trying to clear up the main sheet) and found that the jacket actually got in the way. So all up I’m undecided on that.

Back to bailing, this took a long time and I’ll need to make a bigger one. I also took to sitting on the hiking seat regardless of the tack for ease of mind.

But it was a lot of fun! And when I got back we broke out a bottle of bubbly to celebrate. After the drink (and ice cream) I took Thys out for another short sail. Even with the extra person, there was no drop in boat speed.

At rest at the end of the first sail: