Saturday, January 31, 2015
Indigenous Boats as Propaganda Dragon Boats in Rhode Island
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| (Click any image to enlarge it.) |
A large booth sponsored by the Taiwan government introduced attendees to some elements of the countrys culture and handed out literature, some of it explicitly political. Although I did not ask, it appeared that representatives of the Peoples Republic of China were neither invited nor welcome to participate. Indeed, there was a Falun Gong booth, which pretty much assured the PRCs non-participation should they have been otherwise inclined. It all seemed like the event was designed by Chinese expats in Rhode Island to promote the Taiwan government to the non-Chinese in attendance. Not that theres anything wrong with their motivations -- its just demoralizing to see something so apparently noncontroversial as an ancient boat type being used for political purposes.
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| Underneath their colorful decorations, the dragon boats in Pawtucket looked somewhat industrial. |
Okay, enough politics. The six identical boats are 50 feet tip to tip, 58" in beam, and weigh 1,500 pounds. They appeared to be made of fiberglass and, in spite of their lovely, colorful decoration, looked somewhat clunky and barge-like. They seat 20 paddlers plus a steerer, a drummer, and a "flag catcher." This latter individual is the foremost person in the boat, and his job is to grab a suspended flag at the finish line. Not only does this keep the steerers focused on going straight and not interfering with their competitors, but it also provides officials with a second visual cue in case of close finishes.
I was told by one racer that most race hosts in the U.S. provide identical boats and paddles for all teams. (He also said that some hosts have narrower, faster boats than I saw in Pawtucket). This is nice, as it makes it purely a skill competition among paddlers and takes technology and money out of the equation.
The race was a 300 meter sprint, straight, one-way. (One of the event organizers insisted that it was a mile, but with winning times of about 1 minute 45 seconds, I had to force myself into polite mode in order not to contradict him publicly.) Other dragon boat races in the U.S. may be as short as 250 meters or as long as 2 km.
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| Bow decoration... |
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| ...and stern. |
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| Steering oars. Note also how close the seats are. The paddlers are packed in pretty tight, making good coordination and a good drummer essential. |
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| Bracket ("fixed oarlock"?) for the steering oar on the starboard quarter. It appeared to be made of stainless steel. |
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| Steering oars in place on the starboard quarter. |
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| I enjoyed the variety of logos on the team "jerseys." These guys looked pretty serious... |
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| ...but these guys didnt. |
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S S 34 and Jessica Watson
Sir Edward Heaths Morning Cloud - S&S34After some gentle nudging from our friends down under, we are here going to attempt to make amends for failing to congratulate Jessica Watson on her successful circumnavigation in her S&S34, design 1959, Ellas Pink Lady. Following in the footsteps of sailing greats such as Jon Sanders (1981), David Dicks (1996) and Jesse Martin (1999) Jessica certainly proved the naysayers wrong and successfully (and safely) completed her trip earlier this year.
We would sure like to credit her boat for her success but in the end it took not only guts but sailing skill to get the job done. Well done and congratulations!
Jessica, our contacts in Australia tell us you will be in New York early in September for the launch of your new book. We would be pleased to welcome you to our offices to perhaps have a look at the original plans for this great boat. You have an open invitation!
Sail Plan
Arrangement Plan
Lines Plan Perspective - S&S34 Mark IPrincipal Dimensions
LOA 33-6"
LWL 24-2"
Beam 10-1"
Draft 5-10"
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Friday, January 30, 2015
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A Garboard Tragedy Act 2
This brilliant insight almost tripped me up, of course.
But before I explain myself, let me make up two definitions. There may be words for these processes already, but I dont know what they are. (If you happen to know the correct terminology, please pass them along using the comments form below.)
In this blog, I will use the following definitions:
To Spile a Point: to draw an arc from a point on the form onto a spiling batten
To Unspile a Point: to draw two arcs from an arc on a spiling batten, onto pattern or planking stock, thus recreating the original point.
With those definitions in mind, I can now easily say that you can use any divider settings you want for any point, as long as you use the same setting for spiling and unspiling that one particular point.
For example, I used a pretty wide divider setting up in the bow, where the distances from the points to the spiling batten were several inches, and a smaller setting in the stern, where the distances where much smaller.
To enable me to reset the dividers correctly when unspiling the points, I marked off both divider settings on the batten itself, by marking a starting point on the batten, drawing an arc, and labeling it. Once this setting was recorded on the batten (it could have been recorded anywhere, but the batten was handy), it would always be possible to reset the dividers to the proper size.
Of course, you also need to record which set of points use which settings... which I will definitely do the next time I use this marvelous trick...
Actually, as Bob Easton helped me see, you dont need to use this trick at all. It is always possible to use the same divider setting for all points, which is much less error prone. However, even if you are using the same setting for all points, I still think its a good idea to record that setting on the batten, just in case...
Resuming our tragic story...
Once the spiling batten is tacked onto the form, the next step is to spile all the points you need onto the batten. This is very easy to do. Just put the pointy end of your dividers onto the point to be spiled, and draw as long an arc as possible. Keep the dividers perpendicular to the spiling batten for maximum accuracy.
By the way, this blog post is a classic UnlikelyBoatBuilder how-not-to guide. Practically everything I show you in this post is a mistake. Builder beware! Read the next post before you run out and try spiling!
In the photo below, Im spiling from the rabbit line. Notice that I havent cut the rabbet, yet.
When all the points are unspiled (isnt that a useful word?!?!), just connect with a batten in the usual way.
This is when I discovered that I had used the wrong divider setting for one set of points. No big deal, though. I just bypassed them. The batten supplied the missing points.
I hope youre enjoying "The Unlikely Boat Builder" as much as I enjoy writing it. Some people have asked for a way to be notified automatically when I post new episodes. Ive figured out how to do this, so if youd like to be notified, please click on the link below. I promise Ill never spam you (and Google will have my head if I do.)
Thanks for your interest!
-- John