The row out to the boat was shrouded in the morning mist – the top of the tide increasing the deep silence over still water.
Others were busy too. It was the annual mooring shift to allow the Cattewater Harbour Commission to lift and reset the moorings – a valuable service that gives peace of mind but requires some swift work to oblige.
The buoys are stripped of their usual tangle of lines and shackles, most of which have been there all year. As a result the pins are usually well and truly fast.
In Blue Mistress’ case this is not altogether true. We lost a pin due to a poorly moused shackle earlier last autumn, so there is one new, easily removed shackle. In fact all three of the shackles on our stern buoy (above) were relatively easy to remove but the two on the bow buoy were jammed. It required a very large spanner, another one jammed in the shackle to hold it still and two of us to lean on it. Thanks to Freya’s skipper for his foresight and help – I promise to buy a bigger spanner next time!
~~~
When I looked up the fog had lifted and the rowers were out.
It seemed to good an opportunity to miss, so I motored down to the end of Mountbatten Pier in the sunshine, catching “Sweet As” returning from an early morning fishing trip.
The emphasis then came on lorries parked for the weekend – here below the mark (DirFRWG),
and here in gentle salute on the Cattewater Wharf.
I was expected in Exeter this afternoon but checking the boat after the snow, the frosts and the rain of the past two weeks was a priority, so I seized the moment this morning.
The drive to Plymouth is about an hour and I got there about 10:15. By the time I had pumped up the dinghy, talked to the man who was going fishing in his ocean kayak and taken some photos, it was about 10:45 when I finally arrived aboard.
There is debris in the river from the heavy weather. In general, it floats past, but occasionally snags boats that are moored on the trots.
The mooring lines were as I had left them two weeks ago. There were no loose halyards. The sail cover was still firmly in place – it is too short and I have promised myself I will get one the right length one day. In the meantime, the boom end is covered by a square of canvas.
She looked neat in the morning sun.
The ten minute row demanded a small celebration.
Then start the engine (it fired first time!) and a look around before getting on with the several jobs I had planned:
The seagulls were enjoying the sunshine;
the fine house on the Cattewater shore was still overwhelmed by her industrial neighbours;
the boatyard on the opposite shore was the usual marvellous jumble of work-in-progress;
and the rowers were taking advantage of the weather.
A good day for a sail. Pity I had to return so soon.
This blog never set out to be a website for the Folksong as a class. It was designed for me to find out more about my Folksong. (At the same time it has given me a chance to share maritime subjects that inspire me).
Folksong are not common. I still do not know how many home-completion hulls were built and sold from Eric Bergqvist’s yard in Lymm, Cheshire. So when owners and prospective owners come out of the ether as they do at intermittent intervals, its always a pleasure to hear from them. They are an independent lot.
For the record, here are five boats whose owners (or, in one case, prospective owner) contacted me in 2009 – (and if they’re reading this, “Happy New Year!”):
Fram
Sailing out of Fortrose on the Moray Firth in Scotland, Fram is the most ‘authentic’ of the Folksong I have come across. Finished to Bergqvist’s original plans in 1984 by her current owner, her maiden voyage included a circumnavigation of the north of Scotland – clockwise Fortrose to Fortrose via the Caledonian Canal.
Solaire
Solaire was discovered this year after ten years beside a barn on a farm in New South Wales, Australia. She is due for complete renovation on the western shore of Port Phillip Bay. Of course, the big question is: “how did she get to Australia?”
Matilda
And Matilda, on the south coast of England, is also a recent purchase, the owner looking for thoughts on the rig and news of other Folksongs in the area.
Betsy
In September, I was contacted about Betsy, which was for sale in the Algarve. I had to admit that I didn’t know of her previously – but I was fascinated by the blue stanchions!
Sea Pigeon
And Sea Pigeon, seen here at Brightlingsea. Back in 2007, it was Sea Pigeon’s cabin, and particularly the engine housing, that gave me ideas for the layout in Blue Mistress.
Sea Pigeon is now for sale. For an excellent description of a Folksong, I commend her details to you.
Under the title “Dolphins swim so fast it hurts” the author reports:
“What is the fastest a dolphin can swim? Near the surface, no more than 54 kilometres per hour. Why? Because it hurts it to swim faster.Those are the findings of a pair of researchers from the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. But tuna, they say, do not suffer the same problem. Gil Iosilevskii and Danny Weihs carried out a series of calculations to model the tail and fins of fish such as tuna and mackerel, and cetaceans such as dolphins. The aim was to determine what limits the maximum speed at which these creatures can swim. The researchers found that although muscle power is the limiting factor for small fish, this is not the case for larger and more powerful swimmers such as tuna and dolphins. . . .”
Citing cavitation – (the same problem that causes erosion in propellers), as the painful limiting factor, they give 10-15 metres per second (36-54 kilometres per hour) as a maximum.
~~~
So how does this tie in with man’s maximum speed on water without an engine?
For that, you have to look at Hydroptere achieving 51.3 knots over 500 metres
It seems they built an aeroplane and then found a way of gluing it to the surface of the water.
By the way, if you are a wooden-boat person, don’t for a moment think that boat-builders haven’t for ever been constantly developing their skills and technology to improve the speed and/or capacity of their craft, especially where commerce or glory were involved.
It’s not for nothing that the organisers of class-racing have had to place limits on boat specifications to make racing fairer – and don’t for a moment think that individual racers aren’t for ever looking for ways to quietly (very, very quietly) improve the performance of their own boats.
Hopefully, technology will come out of Hydroptere that will filter down to the rest of us.
(And let’s hope they continue to sail where there’s no traffic).
~~~
Which brings me to Blue Mistrss and a more prosaic rate of travel!
When the Folksong were built, one of the accepted methods of calculating maximum boat speed was as follows:
“The speed that a yacht’s hull can be made to travel through water is related to waterline length.
The formula for an average sea-going yacht of conventional shape is:
Speed in knots = 1.4 x Square root of the L.W.L. in feet
The multiplier is altered according to the type of hull. It may range from 1.25 for a tubby hull to 1.5 for a large racing yacht.”
Therefore Blue Mistress’ theoretical maximum speed at L.W.L 19’ 8”: (I have made no allowance for hull shape)
= 1.4 x square root of 19.66 ft = 1.4 x 4.434 = 6.2 knots
I guess there are several other calculations now, but that was then.
The maximum speed (recorded on my handheld gps) on last Sunday’s sail was 6.8 knots.
The best ever is 10.4 knots, remembering that this is speed-over-the-ground rather than speed-through-the-water, i.e. there was an element of tide in the speed recorded – and in the case of 10.4 knots it was a spring tide plus surfing that helped, which makes it even slower than Hydroptere where, presumably, for their record to stand, the water was slack.
Oh, and also not forgetting that my numbers would have to be achieved for a mere nano-second to satisfy the gps, not a timed distance over 500 metres!
~~~
But there’s one distinct advantage for Blue Mistress here – I bet Hydroptere’s crew didn’t have time for the dolphins.
Beyond Steeple Point 