Back in the office

Reality bites. I'm back in the office.

But, really, I've got to take it from the good side. In a time of turbulent financial world markets, I can be glad to be sailing in fair weather towards my own private dream - mostly untouched by its effects, until now.

To give a perspective: Just imagine If I had decided to put my money in stocks, instead of wood and epoxi! That would have been a reasonable decision. Yeah; I would be so f**@%g pissed off! Instead, I sold my last stocks to buy epoxi, just before they crashed down more than 60%!!! I mean.... think about that!!! That must be a sign!!!

Image from: http://wwwb.click21.mypage.com.br/MyBlog/visualiza_blog.asp?site=outracoisa.myblog.com.br
It is a brazilian fishing canoe, from the NorthEastern State of Ceará. Unfortunatelly I have no more information about it... looks nice, doesn't it?

Blue Nose - Queen of the Grand Banks

This is a phantastic document of one of the great fishing schooners of the Grand Banks - the Blue Nose. It is sailing a regatta against another great schooner. This defines the expression "a cloud of sails". Pure beauty.

A time which is long time gone. The time of the fishing schooners... and of the Grand Banks as a fishing eldorado...

Arpoador

A nice picture, showing a dramatic view from the Arpoador Rock, the namegiver of my boat. It is a good image of the current situation of the boatbuilding project. Waves are high, storm clouds passing. The sun is going down, giving end to a laborious day.

Anyway,... a nice place to sit and enjoy the view.

What will come next?

The image is taken from the internet. Sorry, I don't have the source...

What is your spot?

This blog is close to reach a milestone in terms of numbers of visitors. Almost 10.000,... currently 9.538, to be precise. Interesting.

But, more interesting than the counter, I find it to observe the clustermap, which records the origins of visitors. Each visit is recorded as a red spot on a beautyfull world map. Bigger spots reveal the locations of frequent visitors. There are about 70 of you... mainly in South and North America, Europe and Oceania. But also Israel, Thailand and others... To many of the spots, I know, or suspect, the respective names behind it. Some have left comments or written privately. Most are anonimous.

There are visits from the Galapagos Islands, for example. Did this visitor read my post about my stay on the island? Did I meet this person, maybe? Did we cross paths without looking up, without noticing each other?

But also, there are visits from Mongolia, Algeria, Nigeria, Madagascar, Vanuatu, Fidschi, Pitcairn, Island, Saudi Arabia...

Fascinating.

Anyway, I meant to write a post about why I blog. But won't manage to answer this question today. Maybe soon.

Many shades of gray

In the last few days I was fully focussed on getting the hull laminated. I was very upset at the prospect of not getting there. Now that I didn't, I'm not upset any more. I know I tried.

My participation on the construction was a very enriching experience. And we did a significant jump forward. Even if it might not appear so to some, judging from the pictures.

Weather window closed...

Despite many efforts, we have not achieved the objective of my holiday period, which was to laminate the main hull and turn it. As of next Monday, I will go back to the office, and will not be available for construction.

In fact, we might have just made it, but our weather window closed down on us. It started raining just as we finished fairing the hull. And lamination with epoxi can not be done in rainy, humid weather. Take a look at the forecast below. It is amazing how bloody accurate they have become. In this case, I found that quite annoying...

This kind of messes up our whole process. There is not much to be done on the hull now, and we will have to wait until Saturday for lamination, so that I can be there and help. I have therefore asked Luiz Fernando to cut the first pieces for the ama during this comming week.

Microcruising

That's micro-cruising... ;-)
Micronesian cruising equipment.
But hey!.... how do you shunt a rig over this structure?
It is a shunting proa.

Cozinha total

Fairing Arpex

We spent the day applying "bondo" (massa sintética), and fairing the hull. A whole lot of work.

And yes; "Thank God for sanding machines!" ... what a cliché sentence... must have been repeated by zillions of boatbuilders already... sorry, but it is still true.

During the lunch break I went to the beach. Hey! Remember? I'm on holiday!!! I enjoyed. We had a beautyfull day. I was pretty much alone, and enjoyed the sparkling view towards the hills of Rio de Janeiro.

Unfortunatelly it was not possible to finish the job. So, more "bondoing" and sanding tomorrow. I would guess, that we need some 4 hours more. And if, just if, we are lucky, if the weather cooperates, then we might manage to laminate on Saturday. But I'm afraid, that the weather is not going to hold. It is actually clouded already...

My brother Stefano's canoe in Parati Mirim

Stefano has posted some nice pictures of his canoe adventures on his Castelinho 38 blog. He uses his traditional Paraty style canoe to explore the so called "tropical fjord" - "Saco the Mamanguá", and the surrounding mangroves.

Stefano has also suggested to bring my canoe, Arara, the 14ft. tacking outrigger, to the same place. A new home for Arara. Of course I love the idea. We will bring the canoe there on the next opportunity.

Amazon bassin

An interesting image of the amazon bassin. Colorfull. I like it.

Better ending

The end of the day brought this project back into the light. We managed to get the hull coated with epoxi. It was very satisfying for me to achieve this milestone.

Laborious middle

Today I had a positive surprise. Luiz Fernando had already removed all fastenings from the hull, and was well into the sanding job. I joined the party with fervour, despite being a bit late, due to my car related issues.

We sanded the hull to prepare for the first coat of epoxi resin. And, to my surpries we did put on the first coat of resin. And, believe me, I was glad that we reached this milestone.

Tomorrow we will put on some poliester resin, "bondo", to fair some rough edges, and sand this. If all goes very well, we might laminate the hull late tomorrow, or else on Friday. Great! It seems more achievable now than yesterday. If all goes well we might turn the hull by Saturday...

Working with the epoxi requires concentrated, quick work. All steps need to be planned, so that you know what your are going to do and how. It was interesting for me to see Luiz Fernando work with the epoxi, as he has a lot of experience in working with different resins. He allways tells me this and that, while working, and reveals his tricks for the different tasks.

Bad start into the day

The day had a bad start. On the way to Itaipú my radiator gave up its soul whith a thud and a cloud of vapour.

But this time Luiz Fernando didn't let me down and organized in no time a truck to "give me a tow", and a specialist mechanic to install a new radiator. Everything was fixed without much fuss and delay. After lunch I was ready to steam on.

Canoe

I love canoe bodies and internal structures.
I pictured this one in Búzios, 3 hours drive from Rio.

Night show - Arpex in the dark

Yesterday we managed to finally glue all panels on. We worked hard until late hours. I was happy to get this step behind me. It was long overdue.

To get the lamination done, which was the objective of this week, still several activities need to be done. And I'm not shure (at all) that we are going to achieve the objective.

Activities before lamination:
- Unscrew all screws that hold on the panels for pressure gluing (estimated time: 2-3 hrs)
- Give the hull some love from the sanding machine (estimeated time: 2-3 hrs)
- Clean the hull (estimated time: 1 h)
- Put on a coat of resin (estimated time: 2 hrs + curing time 4 hrs)
- Fill screw holes, voids and imperfections on the hull with bondo (estimated time: 4 hrs)
- Fair the hull (estimated time: 8 hrs)
- Clean the hull (estimated time: 1 hr)
- Prepare material (glass, tools etc...) for lamination (estimated time: 2 hrs)
- Lamination (estimated time: 8 hrs)

This simple estimation totals 36 hrs, which translates into 4,5 days of 8hrs work... No work is going to be done today... or maybe very little, since I'm not going to Itaipú due to other obligations. So the objective of lamination is just a remote possibility. And this makes me very upset!

One reason is, that if do not laminate, how is Luiz Fernando going to laminate alone? This was the very reason for me taking holidays. To have two people doing the job. All the gluing and fairing he could well have done alone. If he just would have worked like he was supposed to!

Arpex in the sun

Mermaids from Bahia

Timoneiro - Helmsman

Difficult decisions lie ahead. I know the course that I need to steer, but my crew, which has shown errant behaviour along the voyage, is showing a lack of structure for such an extended voyage.

I didn't fit out for a lonely voyage. I therefore need crew to help me to work the boat. But how do you change crew when in the middle of a crossing, in mid Ocean? The nearest shore, not to speak of the next port, is in far distance. Changing the crew means a big detour. Sail to shore, tackle the bars and shoals to release the crew and find another one. And how do you find reliable crew in a unplanned stop-over? Or should I rather fit the boat out for a singlehanded voyage? I know I can do it. But it means more effort, more strain, more time... And my family and friends are waiting for me to come home. Not to speak that I have other obligations also, besides steering this boat.

How do you decide just when the point of no return is achived? Head to shore and change crew, or keep on trying, knowing the limitations, and trying to deal with them...?

Image from famous photographer Pierre Verger, who pictured ethnic Brazil in the 1940'ies. Picked up on the net.

Lonely activity

If the machine fails, I work manually.
If the boatbuilder fails, I work alone.

Changes on the project are comming ahead.

Solutions to be developed

It is very satisfying to participate on the construction for a few days on a row, to actually set hand on the wood and tools. It gives me oportunity to think through many more advanced details of the construction. Many issues are still not fully developed in detail, and need brainwork. To sumarize a few:

Deck layout:
The placement of the mainsheet is quite simple and will be right behind the cabin structure. The placement of the jib sheeting is not perfectly clear yet. But several options exist. Including a selftacking system.

Cabin structure:

I have the overall shape defined, but I still need to see how the supportung structure for the cabinhouse will be built. This includes the installation of hatches for ventilation. I plan to have 2 or 3 commercially built hatches.

Main hatch:

There will be an ample sliding hatch over the cabin roof. I am aiming to achieve good ventilation. And when under anchor, a big tent will be installed. That way we'll have ample headroom where it matters.

Engine mounting:

I have a pretty well established idea on how the engine will be mounted, on a pod, under the cockpit sole. The pod will be attached on the front beam, and there will be a strong support from the rear beam. Alternatively I could install a simple conventional engine bracket. Into consideration will be taken, that the engine needs to be demounted and taken to land, for safety issues, and to "sweeten" the engine (rinse whith fresh-water to de-salt).

Deck:
The deck area will be mounted as a simple wooden deck. I will have to choose weather resistant wood. Ipê would work fine, but it is also very heavy. It would make a beautyfull practical wooden deck. I will have to decide on a reasonable compromise between durability and weight.

Inside cabin:
The exact configuration fo the internal space is not yet defined. It will only be decided as soon as we have the hull turned and are able to deceide in the flesh. There is not much room, therefore not many options. Eventhough, the cabin will have one double bed. The leepod platform gives 75 cm for and ample single bunk. But the bed will be extendable to the inside of the cabin, adding 40cm more. I believe that 110cm is confortable for a friendly couple.

Battle on...

It is satisfying to actually work on the boat. It is something I enjoy doing.

I'm not too happy with all things I see, and even less happy with the things I don't see at all. But the order of the moment is not to look back, and concentrate on the tasks that need to be done until lamination. And, surprise, surprise,There are quite a few left. It is going to be a run against the clock.


Sanding... no boatbuilding without it. For tomorrow I'm going to organize ear protection and a mask, against dust.

Shark being taken

Relax and dance to the music

The cold and rainy winter wheather is making want to remember the hot carnival days!!!

Hullshape - Bottom

I found this is an interesting picture, because the chined hullshape, as seen from the bottom, resembles the one I am using. Except that the hullshape of Arpex is much slimmer, of course. But the very deep V which broadens out towards the stern, is just what I have on my boat. It's a nice bottom, I think. Just don't like the lead bulb ...

Working holiday

Today I had my first day full working day on Arpex.

When I arrived, I was shocked, but not surprised, to see that no work had been done since the weekend. This makes two days without any activity (monday + tuesday). Frankly, it actually confirmed what I have been sensing for quite a long while... This is why everything takes 4 times longer than I thought it should take. Simple maths. Quite upsetting too. But there is little I can do about this right now. I mean right now.

At the moment I am focussing on getting the hull laminated. And for that I am going to drive out to Itaipú every day, and finish what needs to be finished, and get the job done. By Monday we should manage to do that.

Today we have glued the leepod structures. Many pieces of wood still needed to be cut to shape also. My boatbuilder loves to do the mock up, to make things look advanced... When I question, the answer is that gluing is "done quickly"...

Another thing we did, was to insert a piece of tremendously hard wood on the bow - I whish I remembered the name of the wood. It is hard as stone. Please note it on the picture above. It serves two purposes. First, I thought it would be good to have something very hard on the very fine bow, to resist impact. Second, The bow had a funny shape that I didn't like. I'm not sure where this mistake came from. Due to this mistake, my reconning was, that the bow might stick above the waterline. Which would make the boat look out of trim. Well, it still might, but a little less now. ;-)

Tomorrow we should glue the reminding structural pieces and the plywood panels. Then we will sand the hull to prepare for lamination. First step is to treat it with anti-bug-stuff (Jinocupim). Sanding and treating will probabely take place on Friday. Then, the product needs to evaporate over the weekend before lamination.

Anyway, the wheather is miserable. It is raining cats cats and dogs since yesterday. Humidity in the air is about 95 to 100%. Hardly ideal for lamination with epoxi... Great for fungi of all kinds to attack the wood!!! The weather forecast predicts improvement of conditions as of Friday. Hope it is accurate. The sun and heat should drive away the humidity. Thank God, the phenolic glue which we are using to glue the structure doesn't care about humidity!

Sailing canoe action in Jericoacoara

See the beautyfull sailing canoe regatta, taking place in Jaricoacoara/Ceará, NorthEast of Brazil.

Jericoacoara is a phantastic venue for wind- and kitesurfers. The wind blows every day in the strenght you can see on the video.

Holidays!!!

Dark matter - the other side of the coin.

A "Cigarra" do Luc e da Musa

This piece is the "Cigarra". It is one of four cigarras. The cigarra is an insect, which makes a loud and vibrating sound, which is very characterisitc in the hot Rio de Janeiro summer nights.

I gave this one as a gift to Lucas Leuzinger, my friend who now lives in the Pantanal, where he and his wife Musa, run a wilderness lodge "Fazenda Barranco Alto". The gift was made about 3 years ago... As the canvas still was needing a chassis, I took it home to get it streched on the frame.

Unfortunatelly though, as things happen, the piece still hangs in my appartment in Rio. We need to find a way to bring it to its new, distant home in the wilderness...

Lucas left a nice comment on the "Arpex - the name" posting, which made me very happy. He remembers our adventures on the Arpoador rock. He and his brother Matthias and sister Sibylle are part of these adventures. Our families would often spend the day together at the Arpoador beach. And of course he remembers the pit-stop on the way back, where all kids would have a delicious icecream at "Alex".

Jzerro sailing

This is a nice video showing the proa Jzerro, designed and built by Russ Brown, sailing at 17+ knots in 10kts of apparent wind. The boat is sailing under autopilot.Thank's to Rob Denney for the heads up, on the proafile.

The steering arrangement, via a handle that controls a bar going to the rudder, is quite what I have in mind for Arpex. One can see it nicely on the video.

Easy Rider

A motorcycle meeting is taking place at Itaipú Beach. Nice customized motorcycles are on display. I am not a rider, but I sympathize with the sense of individuallity that they celebrate. The bike on the picture above is appropriately called Scorpio, and was on the stand of "Fazz". It must be a ridiculously loud machine, since there is no silencer. I do not symaphize much with that...

Stormy passage

The most memorable moment of the South East Pacific Tour was during the 3 day storm with winds of 35-40 knots, gusting up to 55 knots.

The grandious display of nature was mesmerizing. Despite feeling cold and exhausted by the physical strain, my mind was clear and alert, though. Watching the wind screaming over the huge vastness and through the rig. The sea; white, overriders breaking over the crests of the huge pacific rollers. Endless wave trains. Mountains of water, estimated at 8 to 10 meters, rolling behemothly, in regular and powerfull motion across the globe. These were prime times.

Strangely I felt no fear. The biggest danger was loosing the rig, and getting pooped. Being pooped was a great worry. Columbia being the heavy ship that she was, pooping might have sunk her in a matter of seconds. We had several overriders crashing into the cockpit. And no need to say that loosing the rig in these isolated waters is catastrophic too. Which is why we had reason to worry. In one of the last stronger gusts one of our lower shrouds broke...

Yet, strangely, I felt no fear.

Arpex

The objective of this comming week is to close the hull, treat it with anti-fungus and anti-bug product, and get a first coat of epoxi on. This first coat penetrates deeply into the wood and makes the wood "hairy", in a way that it nicely holds the fiberglass cloth for the first lamination.

We should apply 3 layers of glass, 4 in critical areas. We want to do that in one day. After applying the first layer, we wait until the epoxi cures just enough to be still sticky. This is when we put on the second layer. This way we should obtain optimal bonding between layers. This is the recommendation form the epoxi producers.

I plan to take a couple of days off from work during next week to be able to be there and help Luiz Fernando in the process. It should be a crucial step in the construction, and I want to be there when it happens. Having an additional hand (my hand in this case) will also be fundamental for the job.

The question is, whether I'll be able to take these days off...? I've been assigned to a critical project in my company. The environmental licensing of the pre-operational steel-milling complex. The licensing process has an important milestone meeting on monday. I'll have to wait until after the meeting, to see what my boss wants me to do after that. Hope he can spare me for a couple of days...

Fish on Saturdays - Anchova

One of the main colateral effects of this boatbuilding project is the steep increase of fish consumption. After the weekly visit at the building shed, I head to the Itaipú Beach, where I take a swim among the turtles, and go buy some fish with one of the local fishermen.

Turtles? Yes,... some 15 sea turtles live in front of the beach, and are regular company when I go take a dip. It's nice and somehow conforting to see their heads pop out of the smal surf close to the sandy beach.

But my prefered company on the way home is some fresh fish, for the late afternoon or dinner feast. On this occasion the fish is the main figure. Today I've bought 3 "Anchovas" and some Tuna filets. Each one of the Anchovas weights around 1,5 kg, and therefore one makes two hungry eaters happy.

My preferred form of preparing:

0. Heat the oven.

1. I slice a couple of potatoes, and two tomatoes. I usually give them potatoes some cooking first, and therefore cook them in salt water with folha de louro, garlik, onion and tomato - for some taste. I also cut the head of the fish off, and put it to the soup. Other vegetables can be used also.

2. Prepare a souce of smashed garlik, olive oil, salt, lemon, coentro and salsinha, and cream in and all around the fish

3. At this point the potatoe is just good. I take it out of the soup and put it all on an terracota form (panela de barro). The fish on top. Putting lots of the potaote cooking soup into the form, makes the whole thing tasty and moisty. The head is now ready for snacking. Afterall, one needs to test, wheather the fish is good enough to go to the table. Like a newly opened bottle of wine.

4. Now, the form with fish and vegetables must be closely covered with aluminum foil.

5. The fish generally stays for 30-40 minutes in the oven.

Argurias Arpoadorensis vs. Felicitas Arpex

Some might have gotten the impression that this boatbuilding project is consuming me in worries and depression. More attentive readers might percieve, though, that, of course, the contrary is the case. Despite all difficulties I appreciate every bit of the voyage. Also, I am quite sure about the beneficial effects that it has upon my life.

It is a deep voyage into my own self.

The research and problemsolving exercises during boatbuilding are such, that there is a constant stimulation of multifunctional faculties. Research about various topics nourishes my curiosity. Associative navigation between interesting topics in the colourfull information world of the internet also stimulates my creativity immensly. Focussing on one objective also streamlines other life area's objectives. This is an essential learning that I receive during this project.

Networking is also an important element of a project like Arpex. Through discussion groups like the Yahoo proafile I have learned everything I know about sailing outriggers. Many sailboat designers, amateur and professional, have contributed to the development of this project. On many opportunities I have gotten help and advice from discussion group members. I have allways greatly enjoyed the exchange, with people from all over the world.

This is the reason why I write this blog in english, and not portuguese. It is a form of retribution to those who have taken their time to give me advice and to bounce my ideas and opinions.

It is also a contribution to all those who will also, one day, venture out towards a passage, which will have its stormy days. One of the most important things to understand, is that the stormy days are just a natural part of the passage. As a good sailor it is essential to prepare the ship well before leaving the protected harbour, to allways keep a lookout, screening the horizont, the sky, beeing aware about approaching storms. ... and about the beauty of the world we live in. The colourfull breaking of daylight, the shades of green and blue, the flying albatross that crosses your path, and looks down at you from aloft, on a storm ripped day. If you enjoy the ride, there is not much that can go wrong.

Proas

As Arpex is a tacking outrigger, I have not posted much about shunting proas on this blog yet. But all the whole polinesian family of sailing boat is, of course, a great influence to my project. And isn't it fascinating to think that these handcrafted wooden-craft, achieved speeds of 20knots? All made of logs, crude plancs, palmtree mats... sewn and lashed together?

This is how a proa is defined by http://www.mit.edu/people/robot/oldhome.html:

"A Proa is a single-outrigger sailing canoe that is sailed with the outrigger always to windward. This is Tevake's Tepuke trading canoe, Taumako Island in the Solomons, photographed in the '60s.The sail is highly efficient. see "Sail Performance" by Marchaj. "Proa" is Malay for "boat". It's the most efficient displacement hull arrangement. Many proas can sail faster than the wind.
This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen."

I agree. They look beautyfull.

Making a modern interpretation of these sailboats is a challenge.

Arpex - Stormy Weather

The game is never ending. Two steps forward, one step back.

The arrangement with the carpenter and the apprentice, to speed up physical progress of the construction, has not worked out well. I was not too happy with the results. Productivity increase was definitely not the same I had hoped for. Therefore, we are back to the old sheme. Luiz Fernando builds as it fits him.

I the end, it was not a decision I took. It seems the crew found other jobs which seemed more promising, and left. As I wasn't too satisfied with the work done anyway, I was not too sad. From any angle though, the situation was not good.

For me this is a difficult situation, and I have told Luiz Fernando so, on saturday. We will have to speak about our arrangement again. Despite my questionning, he assured that he will bring the project to an end. But, in general, I would be happier if we had calmer water ahead and could concentrate on the job.

At leat I am getting now more confortable with the stucture we are building. Note the transversal axis on the image below, which is reinforced by 3 stout, solid wooden "crossbeams", which will still receive aditional reinforcements to make them into a semi-box.I believe this will be a strong structure. Specially after glassing. I have been putting lots of thought into the forces involved and, together, we have come up with a good solution. It is important that the structure will not only be glued together, but the wood will be also physically locked.

The vertical strut, the outer edge of the leepod, will be doubled, enclosing the three transversal wooden struts. The shrouds will be fixed at this point. More wood will be added until next week.

The transversals and the crossbeams will surely disturb the interior arrangement. The plans I have received provided drawings with crossbeams which did not cross the interior. A feature I had explicity asked for. Unfortunately the proposal for the structural solutions didn't convince me. I considered a more conservative solution, making the crossbeams actually cross the canoe body. The transversals are firmly glued onto the bulkhead. The last thing I want is having the boat breaking in two!

The interior structure is looking good. The whole front section, with its beautyfull canoe body, will be empty and void of any furbishing. It will be an area for sails, fenders, and other storage. I could provide for an aditional berth in this area, but I will have to make a keel-stepped mast base, which will stick right through a candidate berth. As there will be enough space for visitors outside, under the deck tend, I'm not too worried about this. Being empty it will be light.

CERN - The most significant experiment in history

One of the most significant scientific experiments in history begins today - and it may help unravel the mysteries of the universe.

Beneath the rural tranquillity of the Geneva countryside, where ramshackle sheds dot the wide-open fields, scientists are getting ready for a trip into the unknown. Here, under 100 metres of rock and sandstone, lies the biggest, most complex machine humans have ever built, and today they will finally get to turn it on.

For CERN, the European nuclear research organisation, it will mark the end of a lengthy wait and the beginning of a new era of physics. Over the next 20 years or so, the $9.6 billion machine will direct its formidable power towards some of the most enduring mysteries of the universe.
The machine will search for extra dimensions, which could be curled up into microscopic loops. It might produce "dark matter", the unknown substance that stretches through space like an invisible skeleton. And it will almost certainly discover the elusive Higgs boson, which is better known by its wince-inducing moniker, the God particle.

The machine is called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and when working at full tilt it will drive two beams of particles in opposite directions around a 27 kilometre ring at 99.9999991% of the speed of light. Every second each of the beams will complete 11,245 laps of the machine.

I've copied this article form a canadian online newspaper, but lost the link...

Mrs. Arpex in: E a vida continua...

Minha bela esposa Adriana Mattos, na peça "E a vida continua...".