600miles/24hs

Ericsson 4, skippered by Torben Grael has broken the 24hour speed record for monohulls! The team sailed a staggering 600+ miles, averaging >25 knots over 24 hours… They must be in bad need of a cold beer – and some rest. At the current speed they’ll have that pretty soon, when arriving in Cape Town.

Cheers to them!

Arrival at Ramos

The transport reached its destination safely. But getting the boat off the truck proved trickier than thought. In the morning, when putting the boat on the truck, we had a coordinated effort. Now, our new helpers were already “loaded” with cachaça. And we didn’t have an appropriate trailer to load the boat on, to move the boat about in the club. I should have insisted to move the boat on the roller platforms, but one of them was already flexing under the weight, and I feared it could collapse. So we heaved the boat, mounted on the strongback onto a trailer from the club. That was a bit of a nerve-racking effort, but it worked. We managed to position the package without putting the structure under stress. Then we rolled it under one of the “hangars” – and the job was done! What a relief!!!

To celebrate we had a brief beer only, since Stefano and Fábio had to work! And we were already late and overdue. To compensate for this I invited the team for a dinner on Sunday. That was just a small retribution I could give for their immense help.

On next Saturday I will choose an appropriate location for building, together with Mr. Palmas, Nautical Director of the Club. Preferably one with a vacant box nearby, so I can store my tools and materials.

Then I will start tracing the next steps, so that I can continue construction without too much delay. I am eager not to lose momentum. Putting in a pause to get a little rest, physical and financial, is tempting. But I guess I will try to move on without resting.

Straight lines

Arpex is a boat with straight lines.

Some have already compared it to the lines of a stealth airplane. And I agree with that comparison. It is not quite unintentional. But then... straight lines are not often seen on sailboats, where sheerlines and bottoms are preferrably adorned by curves. And I usually, generally agree with the beauty of curves too. So, what happened?

The lines of Arpex are the result of my own design efforts. And, as it happens, I do not posess much design technology or educated design skill. Just a little intuition and good will. To give you the idea: I have sketched the lines of Arpex on PowerPoint. Hardly a sofisticated design software...

The basic idea was to draw a very skinny canoe body with an even more skinnier outrigger. These bodies are not adorned by too many curves, by nature of their geometry. To maximise waterline lenght and reduce pitching I had pretty blunt ends in mind. So these were pretty straight, and edgy too. Since I also had in mind to use multichine construction technique, which seemd easyer to draw and build as an amateur, I had some edges there again. Next step was to draw the cabin and deck. I looked at all those edges I had, thought about my limited designing possibilities, and reconed I should take the courage and try the straight line approach. I liked the result, and thought it made a deficiency into a virtue. And simplified many things.

Well, one can argue about the virtue argument. But I think the lines look harmonic and right. Therefore, it looks good to me.

And, just for the record: I had the lines drawn before Wally came up with the powerboat you see on the pictures... ;-)

That's why Arpex has straight lines.

Carioca sailing

Some have noticed the pictures of the battered Carioca Class sailboat which I have posted earlier. One of them was Gustavo Pacheco, who is also fond of this fine little classic sailboat. And he has contributed (again) by sending a nice picture of a Carioca sailing in the Bay of Botafogo. Thanks!

As some might know, the initial project name of my boat was “Carioca”. I chose the project name for various reasons. One of them was to create a reference and memory of this simple and quick little boat. The rig I had first deigned looked very much like this, fully battened Carioca rig. They once had a fairly strong fleet in Rio de Janeiro, and an active racing class association.

Until now I have found it very difficult to find Carioca pictures. One of the reasons is that “Carioca” is the name we give to persons which are native from Rio de Janeiro. Therefore a search in the internet gives thousands of hits for “Carioca”. But finding boats among the hits is a challenge.

Cariocas are a rarity these days. We had one in my Guanabara Club, where I leave my Arara canoe. It was in desperate condition and has been cut up to pieces… Very few have survived, partly due to their very light construction. Their hulls were constructed by riveting planks against steam bent frames. These rivets corroded away in time. Many Cariocas have therefore been glassed over.

Lower image from: www.revistamaremar.com.br

Transportation route

It’s a long way

In a way it was good to have a large enough truck, to comfortably place the boat on. On the other hand it caused some inconvenience. Maneuvering in tight corners was just one of them, and Arnaldo mastered that one skillfully. The other was that the big truck was not allowed to cross the bridge from Niteroi to Rio de Janeiro… Therefore we had to take the long route, around the Guanabara Bay. Instead of 30km, we now had to drive about 100km. Since we had some excess width, and did not prepare the appropriate documentation for that, we were subject to “questioning” by the road police. The excess was little, sure, but, we know how accurate our police can be regarding some issues…

The excess width was actually a surprise to me. I had calculated 80cm for the canoe body, 80 cm on each side for the extrusions, that made 240cm. the truck had 250cm width – so, no problem. Once we rolled the boat out, it seemed to be a tight fit. So I went and measured. Surprisingly the boat had 268cm width? Luiz Fernando explained candidly that he decided to add a couple of centimeters!!! This was no time for discussions. I was glad to have an explanation for the width and hoped that police wouldn’t bother stopping us. Travelling in the baking midday heat, during lunchtime would be a good thing to do. And else form that… great, I now have a wider staybase! I left the workshop with a handshake and a crooked smile.

São Pedro must have watched over our transport. After a very brief sandwich lunch, we hit the road. Luckily all went well. Police was having lunch, or sleeping, or considered it just too hot to bother with us. Arnaldo managed to negotiate all tight corners, potholes, road bumpers and other obstacles and we arrived safely at the Ramos Yacht Club. What a relief! Now all we had to do was to safly unload the boat form the truck. Loading was one thing. We had a coordinated team working under my command. Now the boathandling crew form the club joined the party. And they had had their fill of cachaça already…

By the way: All these nice pictures were taken by Stefano. Thank's to him!

They say God protects the children, the drunk and the ignorant…

They say God protects the children, the drunk and the ignorant…

Somehow all seemed nice and simple, when I thought out the transportation scheme, on a white sheet of paper. But, as usual, it wasn’t quite so.

I picked up Stefano, Fábio and Sandro at 08 in the morning. The bridge to Niteroi lay in dense fog, as we crossed over. Neverteless, the day promised to be hot and sunny. In a short while the sun would be strong enough to burn the fog away.

As we arrived an hour later, the truck was still on its way. So, while we waited for the truck to arrive, we lifted the hull and strongback onto the roller-platform. Not too heavy for 6 strong men. And rolling the boat out of the workshop worked like a piece of cake.

Then came the truck… Oh, man! That was a big, godam truck!!! I had imagined a 10 meter truck with 3 axes. Oh no! This was a big, articulated thing, with 5 axes!!! A Scania tractor, with a semi-trailer of 14 meters!!! This was the moment when it dropped me, of how big an operation this was.

Turning this thing in the small, dead-end street of the workshop was a major problem, which took about an hour, and lots of skill and sweat by the driver, Arnaldo.

When it was achieved, we positioned the boat behind the truck, and man-handled the boat hull onto the trailer. We got some welcome friendly help by neighbors, and had 8 men working in a coordinated effort. The trailer now had a little excess width though, which could bring problems with the police…

Looking at my boat sitting on top of this massive trailer-tractor, I couldn’t believe what I saw. This looked like a big boat!!! I mean;… I was just building a grown-up canoe, right? Ok, maybe 30 feet, and a little cabin on top, but still an outrigger canoe… Errrr… the visual information I was getting was telling me something quite different.

Into the light

Mounted on two small roller platforms the boathull came out of the workshop, to get the first sunlight. In the end of the story we managed to get two layers of glass and epoxi onto the hull. Which increased my peace of mind in regards of the integrity of the hull during transport.

The epoxi is mixed with titaniumoxide, which now gives it it's bright white color.

Leaving...

Mission accomplished!

The mission has been accomplished. Arpex has reached it's new breeding home.

It was a tough day's work. And I would not have been able to get anywhere without the the enourmous help from my friends. Long time friends and new friends. I have to thank them endlessly, for giving me support, help, sweat, brains and muscles. They endured a day of early wakening, baking heat, tough work, tedious waiting, nerve-racking transportation, hunger, thirst... oh, you get the idea! What can I say?... Thank you guys!!!

.... They did it all with a smile!

The core team is on the final picture, which you see above. From left to right: Sandro - a new italian friend, "shanghaied" by Stefano. He took everything lightly, italian style. Alberto - the skillfull driver, and undeterred help in all situations. Fábio - who heaved heavily and was allways there to scheme-out intelligent solutions. Jorge - from the transportation company "Toniato", who were immensly supportive. My own tired self. And, decieveingly in the back row... Stefano. No words can make justice to Stefano's help and moral support. During this mission, and many others. I hope to be able to retribute someday, somehow.

Many others helped. I thank them all.

New chapter beginning...

Tomorrow a new page for this boatbuilding project will be opened. I admit that I am a little apprehensive. Will the transport work without injury to the structure in built? Will the relationship with the boatbuilder be parted peacefully? Many potential points for discussion exist. But I’m not interested in discussions. I want to get my stuff, close this chapter and move on. I hope this is reciprocal.

I’m looking forward with a positive feeling. I think many aspects will improve. The next location of the building is much closer to my home. It takes a 20 minutes drive over expressways. I will not need to cross the bridge any more. A great benefit - now, that summer is approaching. This will spare me from lots of time sitting in traffic jams.

The new location is also directly on the way to my job. I can therefore pass by on the way to work, during the week, if I need or want to. This will greatly improve control over contracted labor – if I choose to contract someone…

But actually I’m looking forward to doing much of the work myself. I have learned a lot during this period of watching and occasionally doing, and feel much more confident to lay hands on now. Rather than spending the Saturdays discussing, explaining and chatting, and not finding what was discussed in the following week, I will be actually working and doing. Much better! But well,… I’ll see how that works. I will probably end up with a combination of own work and selected contracted jobs.

I have no clear idea of the impacts of the new situation on the timeline of the project. Might speed things up, might slow things down. But, let’s be honest; if you consider that working with Luiz Fernando I didn’t have the slightest influence over timeline either… Just look; it took him 8 months to half build the main hull!!! Oh, well … at least that’s history now.

I’m happy to have the company of friends tomorrow. Not only to help moving and lifting the boat, but also as a comfortable support in times of apprehension. Hopefully, at the end of the job, we will sit together over a couple of cold ones, and laugh my apprehension away.
I’m looking positively forward, thrilled and eager to start this new chapter.

Good News: São Pedro is back!

The statue of São Pedro, the saintpatron of the fishermen and seagoing people in general reappeared at its location in front of the chapel of Nossa Senhora do Brasil, in Urca.

It has been a couple of months that I noticed that the statue went missing. It is unclear to me whether it was stolen, or has been removed for cleaning. Fact is, that it is back, gleaming and shining. I'm quite fond of the statue and therefore take this as a good omen for the upcomming changes in the project.

Notice also the beautifull classic yawl in the backround.

Transportation sheme

The transportation sheme is all set up. I talked through it with Stefano who will give me an invaluable helping hand to transport the boat on the next week end.

I've quickly built two platforms with wheels so that we can rest the boat, still attached to the strongback, on top of it, and roll the boat out of the garage it is sitting in. It will also serve to move the boat within the Club.

Impressions from Ramos

A view towards the Iate Clube de Ramos.

The Club has also a nice swimming pool area. This can be a nice benefit when summer comes...

The Club has two ramps. This one is the smaller one. The ramps are infinitely better that in the São Cristóvão Club...

The working area offers a very good structure, with many professionals and workshops at hand.

The access is through a "favela". The brazilian word for slum area. It seems to be a safe area. The area is dominated by a militia. They chased the drug dealers and gang out, ... and off... I was assured that I can safely go for a stroll if I like. I'd be safer than on the Copacabana. Well, that should be an interesting experience which I won't miss further along the road!

The Club is right next to the Ramos Beach. Coul be a nice beach if it weren't so terribly, heavily polluted! Maybe, if we cariocas vote for Mr. Gabeira on the upcomming election, maybe, he'll do something about that situation... hopefully.

Living in a Carioca

During my scouting for boatsheds, I met Sr. Augusto. Sr. Augusto lives inside a Carioca. Carioca is a locally designed, 26ft. wooden boat, which was very popular in the 1960-ies. I love its shape. In fact it inspired the project name of my boat, which I also call Carioca.

We had a friendly chat, during which he invited me into his house, and showed me around. He is slowly, very slowly working on the boat. His intention is to make it fit to go fishing with it. But he addmitted that it would be prudent not to take the boat out of the bay, and stay in sheltered waters... I agreed. He will call the boat "Lunólogo" - which I found quite appropriate.

Sr. Augustos house-boat is sheltered under a tree which gives generous shade.

The image below shows another Carioca, in precarious conditions, in the same fishing community where Sr. Augusto lives. It floats in helplessly polluted waters of the backdoor of the Guanabara Bay. A side of the coin seldomly seen.

Cariocas are/were nice little boats. With a light construction and a centerboard which allowed for shallow draft sailing they were well adapted to our sailing waters. It carried lots of sail area, and was something like a F1 of its time.

Branca de Neve

I'm running out of fairy tails at the moment, but this is one I can't resist.It is a Wally, called "Bianca Nieve". Italian style. I love that crossover between modern and traditional. One nice daysailor boat... Go to Monaco to see one.

Junk in Rio

The latest posts by Latitude Index about a junk in San Francisco, the "Princess Thai Ping", reminded me of a couple of images I intended to post for a long time now. An interesting, traditional chinese junk is sailing in our Rio de Janeiro waters, at least since April 2008. It was built by a German fellow, in Indonesia. It is built and rigged in a traditional way. I had chance to visit the boat during the Rio Boat Show - which happens in April. The lower image was taken in April. The image above was taken some 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Apparently, the boat is for sale. It is named "Kublai Kahn" - or something like it. You can have it for something around R$ 200.000, which currently translates into USD 100.000. But I'm not involved in the process, so don't sue me if that's wrong. If you're interested, bring your crew, and sail away in a very unique boat. Seems the boat has mastered some serious seamiles already.

Scouting

Yesterday I took a few morning hours off to scout a few possibilities of locations to continue my boat construction.

Requirements are:
- cheap rent (timeframe is about a year)
- close to my home
- covered area
- safety (personal and material)
- acess to specialized labor (carpenters etc...)
- acess to sea (.... obvious, for launching)
- tolerable environment
- if possible other boatbuilders around (for chatting... ;-))

My first option was Clube São Cristovão. It would be convenient beacause it covers most requirements, and is the main gathering place for amateur boatbuilders. Unfortunately, the club has no vacancies. All places are taken. The picture below shows part of the structure...


A couple of friends have built or are building there. One of them is Charles Watson. He is building a Caledonian Yawl, which you can see below. Despite my pleading, the Club was not willing to create some area for me. I even tried creative proposals - considered building a covered space myself. They have the area... But I dropped that...
Next on the list was the Iate Clube de Ramos. I was surprised to see that the Ramos Club offers a pretty complete structure. Even better than S. Cristovão. And is cheaper. It covers all requirements, and is the next probable location of the building. Several boats are being build and/or refurbished. Most are powerboats, but also a nice looking classic sailboat.

I took a picture of an arerial view of the Ramos Club (below). It is surrounded by favelas - the brazilian slums. All the bay area is degradated and surrounded by slums. But the area around the Ramos Club is seems to be safe. Thats what the peolple in the Club told me. Militias have taken over, and have chased drugdealers out. This is our reality. Got to live with it.

During my scouting I also visited some more improbable locations. This one is a fishing community (picture below). The bay water is putrefied. It is sad to see how humans can deteriorate an othervise nice place. But apart from that healthy confrontation with reality, I had a nice chat with a curious character who lives in a sailboat - Augusto. I'll post about him.

Horizonts

A friend, Gustavo Pacheco, has sent me these stunning pictures. While checking out the blog, he saw the drawings of my "Correntes" series, and thought I might like his picture. And he was right. I think it is just beautifull!!!

I recommend you click on the image for a full appreciation.

Gustavo is a keen sailor, who has just come home from the Regatta from Recife to Fernando de Noronha, which he sailed on "Adrenalina Pura". "Adrelina Pura" is a catamaran, which holds the record for this regatta and also for the regatta Cape Town - Rio. Gustavo also does deliveries, and has done several Atlantic crossings. The picture below shows a sailors' view.

Treading water

The latest messages from the project have not been very positive. And, I have to admit, all the difficulties (and there have been lots of them) have made it hard to maintain the motivation and drive. And in this context, I want to thank to all those who have sent me messages of support and encouragement. Getting this support and appreciation is a great benefit of keeping this blog.

However, despite all the challenges, I'm not considering giving up just yet. I'm actually just starting to get used to them.

I have already started to look for new sheds. One of them is within São Cristóvão Club, which has an area that functions like some sort of amateur boatbuilder condominium. This is my preferred option. But it seems that it is difficult to get a vacancy at the moment. There is still hope, though. And there is one other option which I'm prospecting, but it is far from the water.

I am also already sourcing transport for the boathull and material. The transport involves some bureaucracy... of course, I live in Brazil!!! This will, in the best case, take a full day to get over with... I guess that is the worst aspect of all this business!

Else from that, I'm eager to get to the next phase. Luiz Fernando is, thankfully, moving on with the lamination. The weather is hot and dry. Ideal conditions for epoxi work. If he maintains the mood, we might have a laminated hull until the weekend. Therefore, if I can sort out an appropriate location, we could be moving on as soon as Saturday. But it might just as well have to wait for the next week.

It will be good to get out of this mess, and get up and running again. With solid gound to treat on.



Wikipedia: Water treading is an aspect of swimming that involves a swimmer staying in a vertical position in the water whilst keeping his or her head (at least) above the surface of the water. Treading water provides the swimmer an opportunity to keep the head from becoming submerged while not providing sufficient directional thrust to overcome momentum and propel the swimmer in any specific direction.

Arpoador

Image by Marizilda Cuppe

And now for something completely different...

This boatbuilding has been a rollercoaster ride. Just when I thought that Luiz Fernando had gotten the grip on himself, I find myself confronted with a sudden turnaround. A down-ward turn...

It starts to sound silly, I know. I have been pondering whether I should publish all these ups and downs, twists and turns. Makes this project, me, look a bit foolish, I think. However, at some point I have commited to write the story of this boatbuilding project just as I see, and feel it. Please note that I didn't write "the true story". Later someone else might tell me what the truth of the whole story was... Or maybe I'll read the blog in a couple of years, and chose my own truth. Ok,... that's why I'm writing this blog in the first place.

Fact is that the situation with my boatbuilder has become unsustainable. I will not go into the details, but the "boatbuilding canoe" is making water, sinking, rather quickly. I'm not sure whether I, we, will accomplish the lamination before I'll have to move the boat to another place. I hope that we will. I'm quite sad about the situation. But honestly, I'm running out of options right now. Therefore I will have to commit my time to building up new options. First I need a new shed. In a second step I'll have to see how exactly I will get the "manhours". Maybe they will be mine, maybe somebodyelse's.

..............