20 February 2021 | Little Bay, Marystown, Newfoundland, Canada
Richard Hudson
Light winds caused the docklines to droop into the water overnight.
The surface of the water froze.
Wind in the morning pushed the boat away from the dock and pulled the lines out of the water, taking some ice with them. I liked the pattern of the ice on the docklines.
12 February 2021 | Little Bay, Marystown, Newfoundland, Canada
Richard Hudson
It's been chilly lately.
After a storm
we had strong, cold NW winds for three days, and now the snow on the ground mostly stays.
That's mostly salt water that waves pushed onto the side of the boat, which then dripped slowly enough where one plate overlaps another that it froze, and then kept growing into an ice beard.
I have a new video about sailing the coast of Newfoundland late in October. It is about a daysail of about 50 miles down the coast with a full crew.
We left in darkness following a gale, had a drone film us, and sailed in strong winds at first, that steadily lightened, bringing us to our scenic destination in the afternoon.
I have a new video about sailing onto anchor on the Schooner Issuma YouTube Channel. It describes how to sail onto anchor, and then shows my crew and I doing it.
Most of the video was shot several years ago at the end of the Northwest Passage, when we sailed onto anchor in a large bay to wait out a gale that was coming.
31 December 2020 | Little Bay, Marystown, Newfoundland, Canada
Richard Hudson
My last sail of the year in Marystown, Newfoundland, Canada, on New Years Eve.
The forecast was for light winds in the morning, steadily building to a southerly gale in the late afternoon.
We got off the dock just after 0800, and started setting sails immediately in a very light tailwind. The picture was taken in Little Bay, where Issuma is now docked, by Francis Farrell.
Several ropes were frozen, so getting the sails set was slow. We weren't able to set the jib at all because the sheets were too swollen to get through a turning block.
With a reefed main (not shown) for balance and two staysails, we pleasantly sailed Mortier Bay (where Marystown and Little Bay are) for almost three hours. Then the cold wind picked up and encouraged dousing the sails and motoring back to the dock for a celebratory drink below in the warm cabin.
In the picture, Issuma is being pushed against the wooden dock by 45-55 knots of wind, and the camera is looking down, between the hull and the dock. The tires are both preserving the paint on Issuma's steel hull, and protecting the dock. Inflatable fenders (of which I have a few) would be punctured by the load on the tire on the left of the picture.
My friend Joe kindly gave me a set of four, wide tires, two of which are in the picture. The wider the tire, the more it keeps the hull off uneven surfaces.
It takes about ten minutes with a 1/2" (12mm) electric drill to drill a 3/4" (19mm) hole in the tires (less time if the tires don't have any steel belts in them) to pass a rope through.
The downside of tire fenders is that they are difficult to store when underway (they also make black marks on the hull, but that can be solved by painting the hull a dark color). I tie the tires on deck, but they do take up a noticeable amount of space.
So in case you thought voyaging boats don't use tires...now you know :)
Damien II, 15m/50' steel staysail schooner with lifting keel
Extra:
Designed for Antarctica. Built in France by META in 1981. Draft 1.3m/4.5' with keel up, 3.2m/10.5' with keel down. More details at http://www.issuma.com/rhudson/issumaboat/IssumaDetails.htm