Yak

Just got in from London last night in the middle of the deluge. I went from the Monaco Yacht Show to London for a few days, staying at the Royal Ocean Racing Club in central London. This is a fantastic yacht club for sailors, the membership criteria being one has to have completed an ocean race of at least 500 nautical miles.

Today we are going racing in New York Harbor on Blackwatch (ex-Edlu II), design #218. This is part of New York Classic Week, sponsored by the Manhattan Sailing Club. The only issue today is we are still being hampered by the tropical storm that has effected the entire Eastern Seaboard. Today's race is from the Battery to the Verrazano Bridge and back. It will be wet but the good news is it should be fast.

Here's the general arrangement for Blackwatch.

And the sail plan.


This boat was the second Edlu designed for Rudy Schaefer, Jr. of Schaefer Brewing and launched in 1938, by Nevins of City Island.

Here's an article from the time.

Archive.org has another online book which features some paddle & canoe related sketches. Aboriginal Use of Wood in New York by W.M. Beauchamp was published in 1905. Plate 5, sketch 22 shows another illustration of the paddle first documented in  The voyages and explorations of Samuel de Champlain, 1604-1616. This is one of the  earliest recorded images of a North American paddle although the original artist never likely saw the paddle directly.  Note the absence of any grip.



A previous post from 2010 showcased this paddle in its original illustrated context as part of map of Champlain's explorations. A native woman (obviously drawn with European bias) holding onto a child with one hand while grasping chevron decorated paddle with the other.




Beauchamp 's Aboriginal Use of Wood in New York also contains another re-sketched historic paddle image.



This one originally comes from Baron de Lahontan's book, Nouveaux Voyages de Mr. Le Baron de Lahontan dans l'Amérique Septentrionale first published in 1703 (see previous post here). The english translation dated to 1905 is also available on Archive.org. During Lahontan's journeys in New France between 1683 - 1695, he managed to record a brief description of typical paddles which included some dimensional info...

"The paddles they make use of are made from Maplewood, and their form is represented in the annex'd Cutt. The Blade of the Paddle is twenty inches long, six inches broad, and four Lines [1/3 inch] thick. The Handle [shaft] is about three Foot long, and as big [thick] as a Pigeons Egg"

The backyard workshop in winter

Reworking on the shaving horse

The original oval-shaped shaft felt too thick so it was worked back into a round shape with a crooked knife. Didn't realize I acquired so much grey hair this year...