A New Big “Small Wooden Sail Boat” for Howard and Donna Ray
(this has been a winter project, Malolo is now home in Nova Scotia)

We arrived home safely yesterday (Saturday) afternoon. The trip was good, but certainly not uneventful (they never are, it seems). Here's a synopsis of the trip (sorry for the mass e-mail, but what can you do!)... We left Boothbay Harbor Wed. morning with the intent to sail 30 miles to Manticus Island, spend the night, then head across to Nova Scotia. After motoring about 2 hours (no wind), the transmission overheated and we had no forward gear. We set sail and decided that we would just head straight for NS. After the engine cooled, we fired it up again and found that if we ran at idle in forward, with the engine hatches open, the transmission would not overheat. That let us keep going at about 3 knots, picking up to 4 or 5 if the wind picked up a bit. The wind stayed light for the most part, so we basically motorsailed across the Bay of Fundy at 3 knots, with a little bit of sailing thrown in. We arrived at Blonde Rock at the SE corner of NS Thursday overnight, in the middle of a fog bank. We then motorsailed/sailed up the coast in fog (were we ever glad that we decided to put radar on the boat!). We were about 10 miles from Lunenburg when the oil pressure on the engine dropped to 0.

There was absolutely no wind, so we just floated around while I did an oil change to see if that would help. That bought us another hour or so of engine, at which point we were not far from Lunenburg, but had no wind or engine to get there. It could be that the oil pressure sender fried itself, but I couldn't take the chance of running the engine with no pressure.

Fortunately, our neighbour Ricky (who is a fisherman) had jokingly said that he would come as far as Shelburne (about 50 miles from Lunenburg) to get us if we needed him. Well, I called him up and out he came and towed us the last 5 miles or so to home. What a way to end the trip! I told Ricky that he owes us a favor since he only had to go 5 miles to get us - he still owes us another 45 miles, I figure!

I called customs from the boat and they agreed that I could skip going to Lunenburg to report and that instead they would send agents to our mooring and meet us there. That saved us a lot of trouble. All went well and Malolo is now settled on her new home mooring. A bunch of our friends showed up late afternoon with dinner and beers, and a good time was had by all. Donna and I slept like babies last night, after 3 nights of very little sleep. A couple more of those, and we'll be good as new! We had a great trip, but it is nice to be home.

The dogs were terrific, especially considering how active they normally are. They slept most of the time and sort of learned to use the head, but need some more "practice" - they only went once a day because they weren't really comfortable with the concept (or is that "too much information"?). The really telling part is that now that we're home and we get in the dinghy to go back out to the boat, Storm and Zephyr are the first ones to jump in. I guess it wasn't too hard on them!

Now the challenge is to get our car. A friend here has lent us her car to use until we get ours and some friends we made in Maine have offered to help at that end, so it shouldn't be too bad.
Howard

From the Editor

Hello everyone and happy boating season.
First off I am very sorry for the delay in this newsletter. I finally got some information from the troops to publish and just sat on it. Annie and I have been very busy with house renovations, yard work and all those other things that revolve around getting the place nice for summer quests. I actually did find time to get Loon ready for the water, thankfully it needed very little attention and is in the water as you read this (fingers crossed).

Also because of the hectic nature of our lives these last months, I am behind on getting details about the Mahone Bay Wooden Boat Festival so watch your emails in early July for updates. This is almost my last “chore” to get finished before I pack it all in and take time to go sailing. Enjoy the newsletter and don’t forget to send me articles, ads, photos, or hosted events, anything that you are doing (boating related) this season.
Ryerson

Robert Frasers Newsest Adventures!

For three weeks of my month long trip to Thailand I spent as a volunteer helping in the reconstruction of Ko Phi Phi. Thailand refused international aid after the Tsunami and on the island I was on there has been virtually no government aid as well. After four months not all the community has electricity and the one school has had no work done on it and is closed. As many as 2000 people died here. This has opened up an opportunity for large resorts to go in and take the place of the labyrinth of small shops that used to be here. The backpackers (travellers) and the people of the community who have returned have done the clean-up and are still in the process of fixing up some of the buildings that have not been condemned. No new construction is presently allowed. It still has to be seen what will become of this little piece of Paradise on the Andaman Sea. Two of my days 'off' I spent helping volunteer divers and other snorklers clear debris from the bottom of the harbour. This is still an ongoing process with two more bodies being found under the debris in the last week I was there.

Critical Judgment, paddling fatalities under the magnifying glass

By Ulli Höger

Recently there where rumors in the Canadian paddling world that the government would come up with new regulations and requirements which could have severe impact on kayakers and canoeists. Most would hit commercial operators such as outfitters, guides, and instructors, but further down the road the recreational paddler could face more and stricter requirements regarding gear and qualification. The problem right now seems that human powered crafts would fall in the same category with vessels of similar size (i.e. sail and power boats). Paddling organizations are in favor of a different approach. They support to stick to the current equipment requirements with a change which would make wearing a PDF mandatory. Recently published numbers support this idea, since paddling fatalities are often correlated with non-pfd use.

In 2003 the American Canoe Association (ACA) published “Critical Judgment”, a study on paddling fatalities based on data from the US Coast Guard’s (USCG) Boating Accident Report Database (1996 – 2000). The following is a summary of the most significant findings of this study, looking into the nature of canoeing and kayaking fatalities, and ways to prevent some of them in years to come. I tried to pull out the important numbers and messages unbiased. My personal interpretations or evaluations of the study are in italics. More recently a study conducted by the Canadian Safe Boating Council came to similar results (http://www.csbc.ca/html/pfd_toolkit.html). The results of both studies indicate that mandatory pfd while boating would prevent many tragedies. Canoeing and kayaking are among the fastest growing recreational activities. Over the past 7 years kayaking by itself grew 182% in the USA, and still kayakers are outnumbered by canoeists 3 to 1. The most explosive increase in recent years was recorded in “recreational” kayaking, i.e. low cost kayaks (wide, short, stable, limited performance) more and more replacing canoes in cottage country.

One can expect that with such an explosive increase of paddlers in the past the number of accidents and fatalities increased as well. In 1996 the USCG database listed 43 Canoe/Kayak related fatalities, and reached 103 in the year 2000. Canoeists as victims outnumbered kayakers 3 to 1, reflecting most likely the larger number of canoeists on the water. Another factor is that canoes carry two or more persons, while kayaks in the majority are single seater crafts. Thus a capsize of a canoe is more likely to cause multiple victims. Most of the canoeing/kayaking fatalities are capsize related (75%). Other reasons are in single digit percentage numbers, and listed as “fell overboard”, collision with fixed or floating objects, swamped boat, and “other”.

Bottom line is that fatalities of paddlers result from immersion and subsequent hypothermia and/or drowning. Interestingly water conditions, classified by the USCG only in calm or choppy to very rough, made no difference, and also low water temperature was not decisive. Almost 50% of fatalities happened in water temperatures warmer than 65 F/ 18 C. Similar numbers of paddler fatalities occurred after capsizing in conditions rated calm, or choppy to very rough water. However, more likely larger numbers of paddlers are out on calm, warm waters, than in choppy to very rough, cold conditions. Most recreational paddlers are not looking for such challenges, caught by surprise they are not equipped and dressed for immersion, and the risk of capsize and hypothermia is largely ignored. Cold and rough water increases the risk and leaves no error margin. Paddlers frequently going out in such conditions mostly know what they are doing, even if they don’t always follow the required dress code. Water and weather conditions account for almost 45% of kayaking fatalities. This paired up with operator inexperience or other factors accounts for almost 90% of perished kayakers. These factors led also to the majority of capsizes/fatalities amongst canoeists. Interestingly alcohol as sole or additional factor was only found in fatal canoeing accidents (25%). A major cause for capsize of canoes was occupant movement and weight shift, in particular in calm water and weather conditions. Fishing from a canoe was frequently associated with disaster (50%). This numbers reflect that canoes are used as vehicle for other recreational activities, while kayaks are mostly used for just kayaking. Canoeists perish doing other stuff while in a canoe, kayakers die by paddling into places/conditions were they shouldn’t be. Even if women make up nearly 50% of paddle sport participants, 90% of perished paddlers are male! I will not comment on this result.

Closer analysis of narrative reports incorporated in the database showed that in many cases not wearing of PFD was a decisive factor. In many canoeing accidents fellow paddlers wearing a PFD survived, while those without died. In canoeing 83% of the perished paddlers didn’t wear a PFD, in kayaking 44% died not wearing a life jacket. A separate study showed that PFD use in kayaking is in general much more common (78%) than in canoeing (41%). Likely this reflects the risk perception as well as actual risk for the two groups. Kayaks are the dominant boats in white water and open water activities, while the classic open canoe is used for fishing and other calm water paddling, considered no or low risk. Likely the increasing popularity of recreational kayaks will take it’s toll, and shift those kind of fatalities partly from the canoeing to the kayaking classification. There was a correlation of inexpensive equipment and fatal canoeing and kayaking accidents found, and the study suspects that a more detailed classification into the different varieties of paddle craft would emphasize this further.

WEAR YOUR PFD ALL THE TIME, is probably the single most important message to get out to the boaters, followed by DRESS FOR IMMERSION. Legislature should make it mandatory to wear a PFD (ACA requests this only for those younger than 13?), and “no drinking while boating” needs more regulation and enforcement. The paddling community is a diverse group, pursuing the activity for various reasons and with different intentions. ACA requests a more specific classification of paddle crafts, espcl. kayaks, in future accident reports (White water, touring, recreational etc.) to allow better identification of risk groups. This would also avoid regulation of the wrong paddling disciplines. One goal of the study was to identify such high risk groups, and the one which stood out is the infrequent or casual paddler, most likely capsizing on calm water not wearing a PFD.

Here education about risks and the right equipment (float bags in recreational kayaks!) and very basic skills training could already prevent a lot of the fatalities. Other paddling activities, such as white water or ocean paddling, carry by nature a higher risk and require more advanced skills and knowledge to handle conditions. People getting into those disciplines are mostly aware of the risk factors, and are willing to acquire the required skills and know how over time. Funding is needed to bring the safe boating message to the population, legislature, and enforcement. Legislature and enforcement should consult and use the expertise of national/local paddling associations before new regulations are put in place. Funding to provide training opportunities for paddling instructors, paddlers, accident investigators, and other boat operators is needed. Boating related agencies should increase staff with a paddling background to get insider perspectives. Funding to improve and standardize waterway signage to warn paddlers of existing hazards (i.e. dams, rapids) and to guide them around (portages).

Some take home facts:
A) 75% of paddling related fatalities examined were associated with canoeing
B) 82% of all canoeing fatalities were not wearing a PFD
C) 50% of canoeing accidents were caused by occupant induced capsize
D) 50% of the fatalities were fishing when the accident happened (connection with C ?)
E) 25% of canoeing victims were intoxicated by alcohol (connection with C ?)
F) 90% of kayaking fatalities were caused by hazardous water/weather conditions and/or insufficient experience
for the conditions encountered and subsequent hypothermia
G) Inexpensive equipment seems often correlated with lack of skills and know-how deficits of the operators

Reconstructing M.V. Pappy
Continued from the (January? Edition)

Greg Silver, in D’Escousse

When I last left you dear readers, I was bristling with excitement about putting Pappy back together. My excursion into the bilge of this vintage 24’ born again lobster yacht led to discovery of some poorly built floor frames under a soggy plywood deck, and some funky black rot in the nether-regions. This led to my deconstruction project which was documented in a recent issue of this Bulletin. I had predicted having my lumber within the week, and to a happy winter sawing, fitting, screwing and gluing Pappy back together.

Alas, it turned out to be more of a task to actually acquire the juniper 2 bys and 1 bys I needed. The local mill I was counting on had a high wind accident and lost one of their buildings – putting this one-man enterprise out of the customer service business for an extended period. Finally I was referred to a young fellow in L’Ardoise who recently opened his own mill, and within 24 hours after reading him my list on the phone, he called back to say it was ready. I was on my way within the hour, and it took about an hour to find him in the backwoods, upshore of St. Peter’s. We checked the moisture content and it seemed to be about 20%. A bit damp. I filled the back of the half-ton with fresh-smelling, slightly furry juniper and I trounced down the 104 back to Isle Madame, to yet another sawmill, this one owned by Alfred Marchand, who makes flooring, handrails and all kinds of moldings. He also has a nice little kiln which he made from a 40’shipping container, and this is where my wet juniper was headed. Alfred tended it for a couple of weeks, then called me to come and get it. First, we planed one edge of all the 2 bys, so I was sure to have a good clean landing surface for the floor deck. It was friggin’ mid-April already. But I had my wood. Newaftqtr08.jpg: New juniper boards were fitted to replace rotted sections, which were sawed out last fall. This was done without totally removing the knee, so slots were made in the new boards to accommodate the long carriage bolts, and slid up into place. The gaps were filled in with wood and epoxy, then the knee bolts re tightened. A new covering board has been spliced in since this picture was taken. I set back to work on the boat most weekends for at least one day, and in a good week an evening or two, since then. As it turned out, there was more tearing out of bad stuff to be done, particularly the larger framing members which were in worse shape than I thought last fall. Fortunately, the mill had provided me an extra stick or two of each size I ordered (no charge) so I have not yet run out of material. To date I’ve finished framing the floor, cutting and fitting the 3/4” plywood floor panels, including cutting two large hatches. All the plywood has been coated with epoxy and is screwed into place, with gaps filled and edges leveled. I’ve also repaired the scary rotted section under the starboard gunwhale – with a few board feet of new wood, and lots of strategicallyapplied thick epoxy. In the photos you can see this section of the starboard aft quarter, before the new covering boards were fastened over it. Framing layout was redesigned to accommodate two large central floor hatches. Much of the original framing was replaced and new – all in 2” juniper. All old wood in the bilge was scumscraped and cleaned, then that and all the new wood was preserved with Pentox and new wood was epoxied. Tops of frames that receive hatch lids has been glassed. Hopefully I will have glassed, filled and painted the whole floor by the time this Bulletin reaches you; and we will be happily rewiring the electric system, and praying the engine will start when we re-launch Pappy sometime around mid June.

I may report back once we’re afloat – assuming she does we will be considering an upgrade of the forward section of the boat next winter. And I’ll be buying my wood early. After going in and out a few times for fitting and trimming, the epoxy-encapsulated main floor panel is ready to be put into its final resting place. The main floor panel fits snug. Since this was placed, all other floor panels are installed and screwed down, ready for application of 6 oz. cloth, talc-laced epoxy skim coat, and some nice fishing boat deck paint.

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