Portlights

Now that the cabin shape is pretty much defined, I need to decide how the portlights will be shaped. And also the colour sheme for the cabin and deck. Decks and rooftop will be white to keep heat from sun radiation to a minimum. But I'd love to have some of the wood from the cabin sides visible...

I'll see if I can schetch some ilustrations to get a better idea and help on decisions.

Rio 2016

Rio is a candidate city to host the Olimpic Games in the year 2016. Of course I do support the idea. Rio de Janeiro would be a fabulous venue for the games. The Olimpic Committee will take the decision on the comming friday. Of course the whole town is fewering. Benefits for our city would be immense.

Watch this cool video:

To check out the project visit: http://www.rio2016.com.br/

Good Morning!!!

Experience shows that wheather gods can be, and are quite often cruel. They give us nice and sunny wheather during the week, while you're stuck in the office. Come Friday, they sheet the blue sky with grey clouds and open up the rain taps. Cruel...

But justice must be made; In the past few weeks the oposite has been the rule. Despite grueling conditions during the week, Saturday and Sunday awake in shining glory. Like today. While reading the newspaper on the veranda the Sugar Loaf was inviting for some climbing exercise.

Have a nice Sunday.

Cabin house shaped

There you go: the cabine house is shaped! And I am pleased with the looks of it.

Now we need to glue on the cabin "roof", or cabin house top, whatever you want to call it. The roof will be built of two layers of 4mm ply with 15mm foam in between, for temperature insulation. When this is done we will cutt in the entrance, or "companionway". We have left this for last, to assure that all pannels are aligned and straight. Not the most clever and efficient way to do it. But it works ... I guess.

I managed to buy a fair stack of cedar plywood for the comming construction steps, and have glued on the missing cabin top stringers. I have also managed to pre-coat the plywood panel which goes on the roof, and the already placed roof stringers. This makes finishing easyier.

Slacking

Building your own boat, is a messy business. You`ll need to dig, head first, deep into your personal capabilities and financial resources. Constructions skills, problem solving, time management, people management, activity management are the sort of skillsets that you will need to develop. But also personal characteristics like patience, persistence, resilience will be tested to an extend, that you are just not able to quite understand before you do it yourself. And that is precisely why it is such an enriching experience. But, like most enriching experiences it can get quite tough on you sometimes. Doubts, worries, self-questioning will be part of the process. Count on it.

Generally, amateur boat builders drive their motivation and energy from a vision, a dream. This is certainly true in my case. And it is key to keep the dream alive despite all the hardships that reality throws at you. And it is also key to keep the feet planted well on the ground, while the mind might be tripping in dreamland.

Despite the gratifying project phase I`m just going through, I must admit that my motivation is slacking. We are currently building the decks and cabin, and therefore building “the face” of my boat, and close to the conclusion of the main hull.

However, some issues are dampening my morale. First of all, I feel that my girlfriend, partner and wife, Adriana, and also my friends and family are giving signs that they desire more attention and dedicated time from me. And I actually understand that, and feel the lack of social interaction myself.

Due to the long hours that I need to spend commuting to and from work, I have virtually no time to solve anything for the project during the week. Little tasks like buying material, be it simple fasteners, or gloves must be done on Saturday. The only day I have for actual building. Add to this a small and ill structured market for boatbuilding supply, and you`ll have a picture on how this impacts my net building time. And on the bottom-line on my morale.

Sometimes I also just get tired, and want to do nothing. Maybe the constant rain that we are having is sapping my energy.

In the last few weeks, I have been rationalizing over these issues, and trying to handle them the best I can. One of the measures is that I have hired João to work on the boat, and have pulled back a little, in order to be able to dedicate more time to Adriana and friends. I have spent less time in the shed. This might not be quite enough. Maybe I`ll just take a weekend off and do a little trip out of town. … But that will have to wait until I finish the cabin. Or maybe until I complete the main hull??? It is so close…

Image: Sonya becalmed - Beken of Cowes, from www.artnet.com/artwork

Vietnamese Paddling

Thanks to Kevin, from the proafile discussion group for the link to the surprising video of the vietnamese foot paddlers. It seems to be a quite common technique. And, seeing its effectiveness one can tell why. Observe the refined style - the paddle goes perfectly in and out of the water. And it seems simple like riding a bike.

Hotel Roraima

The top of the Roraima Tepui is among the remotest parts of the world. Not because of the distance to populated areas, but because of the difficulty to reach the top. Not many bother treckking and climbing the distance to see bare rocks, swamps, clouds and,... well not much more than that. ... But the little more there is, is quite enchanting.

Due to the rocky, erodet surface of the top of the mountain there are only scarce places where to mount a tent. The few sandy patches that can be found, are within small caves, called "hotels". It is in the 3 available "hotels" that all visitors stay overnight. And I can assure, that the denomination "hotel" is heavily overstated. But they do offer welcome shelter from the ever present wind and rainshowers. We loved them!

During our 3 day stay we had the hotels all to ourselves, no other visitor were to be seen on the Roraima. We had the room service all to ourselves. That is Luxury!

Arpoador

The Arpex, or Arpoador rock, as seen from a plane in early years. I would say,... maybe between 1950 and 1960. There is still the radiographic station on top of the rock. I still remember standing on the (remains of the?) station, when I went there, as a kid, in a year when my father was participating in the regatta Santos - Rio. The Arpoador was then the finishing line. Must have been in the 1970-ies, I guess...

Albatross's meal

During years, centuries human kind has been carelessly poluting and depleting our planet. But our generation has been done it with full knowledge about the consequences of this. The bill for this selfish behaviour will be payed by our following generations. Our sons, daughters, nephews, grandsons and so on... Just in case that "following generations" sounds too wague and abstract.

Our Oceans are among those habitats that are taking serious damage. About 60% of all big fish are threatened of extinction. Also pelagic birds are in peril. Look at the image of the amount of trash found in the stomach of an albatross.

We Brazilians need to catch up with environmentally responsible behaviour. Each one of us is resposible to take action - even if we feel it is of limited impact. If you need a place to start, here is a site that offers some ideas of what to do with the hatered, ever present plastic bags: Sacolinhas Plasticas

Nosy

"Popa sueca..."

I do have a crush for peculiar boats. They seem to have more stories to tell than off the shelf plastic boxes - specially about the people who have built and own them. Be that good stories or not so good.

Suiá seems to be one of those peculiar boats with a story. Built out of wood on "Ilha da Conceição", it was used for dive fishing in the Arraial do Cabo region. Later it was transformed into a sailing vessel, and made its way to the Caribean and up to Florida, in the seventies. The boat is now beeing refitted by Sergio, who fittingly described the boat as being a "trainera de popa sueca e proa groenlandia". Now I can see why.

Above you can see the "popa sueca" - the round canoe stern.

Here is the boat lying on anchor in the Granadine Islands, in Caribean.

Forming the cabin

The cabin is slowly being sculptured. João builds a little, I ask for changes, adjust... and slowly we get to the form that I have in my mind. I suppose that next week we will be pretty close to the final form.

Entrada na Barra Pequena

Historic picture taken from Cayru II. Entering the Guanabara Bay, looking towards the Corcovado mountain.

"Trainera de Popa Sueca e Proa Groenlândia"

I've got a cool e-mail from Sérgio, who lives in Miami.

He mentions a boat, and describes it with an Brazilian expression, saying that it is a "Trainera de popa sueca e proa groenlândia"... (to non portuguese speakers, it means: "a trawler with a swedish stern and goenlandish bow"...

A very odd expression, indeed. Even being so odd, it seems, in a very distant corner of my brain, a if I have heard it before. But I have no idea of what it means. Can anybody help??? I'm sure Sergio can...

The images are by Christian Gaul. They don't have much to do with the issue. Sergio might find it interesting that the image on top was taken in Arraial do Cabo, where his famous trainera originated... But other might enjoy anyway: http://www.christiangaul.com/

Morning light by Forselles

Another beautifull image by Forselles. Nice colours.

Sails

Beautiful image of traditional working boat sails by photographer Pierre Verger. The image was taken in the Satete of Bahia, where Pierre Verger has done many of his studies. Many of the working boats carried sails set from short masts and carried a long flexible gaff. A small, sometimes tiny jib completed the sail inventory.

Checking options...

Eric, from France, has suggested, that I should look into the gunter rig, specifically as designed by Bernd Koeler.

Indeed, the gunter rig is an option that I consider very suitable to the Arpex project. And, as a mater of fact, it was my first preferred option, as you can see from early project illustrations. The were drawn in the early stages of design, in 2006.

I think the gunter offers a series of advantages, which fit this project very well; like low center of effort, low center of gravity, "self reefing" though feathering, and other. In the end I have given preferrence to the Wharram sofwing sail due to its availability. Construction is well documented in building blogs, and building plans can be purchased for a reasonable fee at the Wharram Office.

But, Eric has triggerd my curisosity, and I have contacted Bernd Koeler to check options. Who knows? Maybe the gunter is something worth comming back to? See Bernds design of the KD 650 below. It is a lowely cat, with an interesting rig, indeed. Thanks for the hint Eric.

Sailplan

A collection of images to illustrate the alterations I made to the sailplan developed by the Naval Engineer.

I'm pretty settled on the final plan, which is illustrated above. But I'm still pondering over the need, or the configuration for the boom. Wharram rigs usually do not carry a boom, and I do see the advantages of that in terms of safety for the crew. But I do still have doubts regarding the performance. Since my mast is not in the center of a beamy cat-platform I do not have many possibilites to flatten the main without a boom.

I am in contact to the Wharram Office to purchase building plans. And hopefully they can help me on the boom issue. I am receiving good advice from Tiki users on this regard also, who strongly advice not to use a boom. Several design itinerations were needed to achieve a sailplan which had a Center of Sail Effort corresponding to the sailplan developed by the Naval Engineer. Below is one of them - not the final one. Note that the mast is still a little forward of the current position. This was an interesting process with a steep learning curve.

One of the amazing pictures by Forselles (www.forselles.com). It seems that this is his view from the living room. Not too bad... Luxuries available to those who live in Rio.

The weather is not good at all today. I hope to have gluing weather tomorrow.

Breaking the 50 knot barrier

Cabin shape

All in all I'm happy with how the cabin shape is comming out...

Good day for a swim at my local beach

Despite a bad forecast, today's holiday was awarded with a bright and sunny day. I threw my good intentions of doing some more gluing on Arpex over board and went for some swimming at my local beach, Praia Vermelha.

The picture was taken from the website: http://www.forselles.com.br/. Forselles has some impressive pictures of Rio de Janeiro in his blog.

50 knot barrier broken

The french hydrofoil boat Hydroptere has broken the 50 knot barrier. In 28 knots of wind it made a 500 meter run with an average speed of over 51 knots. Quite a feat.

In times where all sorts of boats, proas, monohulls and ocean going multihulls are already averaging 40 knots over extended periods, it seems that more amazing feats are to come.

Amazonia 360

Globo offers a special about Amazonia. The site offers some cool 360 degree images, which permit an interesting look into the amazonian day-to-day. Check it out here.

My favorite is this one.

Taming the monster

João has cut down some of the cabin sides according to my markings. The criterion was to have sitting height (barely), when sitting on the bunk. This will leave generous sitting height when sitting on the seats in the hull center. But I still found the thing a little bulky, and have therefore asked him to chop it down some more. Mainly in the front section.

It is a delicate ballance between liveability and looks. I don't want the boat to look like an eggbox, but still want a reasonabely confortable room inside. Of course nothing of this would be a problem if I had only added 2meters (6ft. to the boatlenght... Maybe I'll have to build a bigger boat some other time afterall ... ;-)

View from the Bridge

My good friend Ricco took this nice pictue from the bridge of his ship, which lay at anchor in the Guanabara Bay.

Brazilian Classics - Cayru II aka Sagres V

Mr. Eduardo Hamond Regua, the new proud owner of one of the finest Brazilian classics Cayru II, has kindly sent in some interesting historic pictures of his new boat. The winner of the 1953 edition of the regatta Buenos Aires - Rio is today named as Sagres V. Mr. Eduardo, who has recently acquired this carrier of Brazilian nautical history, reported that he will give the boat a refit before putting it to good use.

And, I was happy to hear, he will give the boat back its original name, Cayru II. Doing so he will do a good service to the nautical history of our country.

Above, Cayru II is entering the Guanabara Bay, with the Sugar Loaf in the backround.

Here Cayru II lies on the pier, before the regatta, still in Buenos Aires, along with other competitors. It is interesting to see, that Cayru II is the smallest in the row. The designer Olin Stephens designed his boats light and nimble, incorporating modern design concepts. This allowed his designs to win races against bigger competitors.