This from Mike Burns:
“Technology is amazing. I have been sent a U Tube link from Cromarty boat club showing FRAM “steam training” & winning both of the Saturday Races which are part of an eight regatta series that we have amongst the five inner Moray Firth Yacht clubs.”
Enjoy
Green smack and tender in mud
Mike Coffin of Sea Pigeon kindly sent me this image two years ago, well before I started the ‘love of a boat’ series.
It complements the series perfectly.
For the origins of the series, here
When I bought Blue Mistress, she had a spray hood.
Unfortunately, it got in the way every time I wanted to go below or when going forward, so I spent most of the time with it folded down.
Folded down, it still got in the way when I went forward as I tended to trip over it.
It did, however, protect the sliding hatch from leaking rainwater.
Nevertheless, I removed it at the first refit and haven’t really missed it.
The only difficulty now was that there was no protection from rainwater getting in around the edges of the sliding hatch.
So, at the last refit, Richard produced this cover.
This has almost solved the problem and I am very pleased with it.
It is held on with popper studs and rolls back neatly with a couple of strips of velcro. It can be removed easily.
If it comes on to rain, or there is spray, the hatch slides over and the cover unrolled very simply, rather than having to go below for the drop boards.
When below, it can be rolled down to allow privacy without closing off the companionway entirely.
I say almost solved the problem.
The next design will include narrow side panels to protect the sides of the hatch. We have had some torrential downpours here this summer and occasionally water has got in, particularly on the port side. Not nearly as much as before. (Of course, this also says something about the original hatch design).
Side panels will effect the way it is rolled back, but I am sure this can be overcome.
Fram
Mike has kindly written the following about Fram:
~~~
“I thought I might just add to this email the raison d’etre for my boat being called Fram
so Episode 1
Back in around 1965 at the age of approx 23 I signed on as a marine geophysicist with the British Antarctic Survey. I had some Scottish rock & snow climbing experience but only a couple of races sailed as crew on an Enterprise at Kippford in Scotland. I had however as a Grammar School pupil in Sunderland attended the local Cathedral at some memoration ceremony to RF Scott
Three years under canvas as a dog driving scientist down south was certainly “justifiable training for the youth of GB” as once stated by Fuchs the then Director of BAS.
I completed my polar exploration stint & returned to UK, Birmingham University, to work on & eventually publish my scientific findings.
No chance of a PhD but I did get a Polar Medal and eventually a mountain named after me. (This turned out to be more of a ridge than a mountain) very aptly named “Burns Bluff”
The thought of what to do next was challenging, so I married, we canoed in two slalom canoes around north cape in northern Norway on our honeymoon and then thought that the next best thing to dog sledging would be sailing a boat travelling at around 4/5 mph with every day changing plans as to the destination according to weather etc.
Having read much of Antarctic history I grew to favour the Norwegian approach as opposed to that of Scott, It did not take long to find that Nansen had a much more erudite approach to travel and hence the Norwegian word forward or “Fram” was obvious. Nansen’s nautical travails were also far more challenging than those of Scott
In addition as a tight fisted half Scotsman four letters certainly fitted the frugality constraints which resulted in “FRAM”
perhaps Episode 2 might follow in a day or a week or perhaps a month or so as to how I found the boat in Doncaster !”
~~~
I look forward to Episode 2 Mike. By the way, what were you studying?
And is Fram still for sale?
~~~
Boat names can be tricky. I called briefly into Plymouth Yacht Haven the other day, and, as I passed a very large yacht, a young woman looked down and asked if I had a green and a red mistress too. There were several answers to that – all of which came too late!
In the Trechandiri post a week or so ago. I was thinking about evolving boat design, talking about it in old man’s ‘generation-to-generation’ terms. But, of course, boat designers are continually modifying their ideas – and boat owners continually modify the designer’s ideas with ideas of their own.
Below is an extract from an interview between Frank Rosenow and Thord Sund, the designer of the Folkboat. It first appeared in Sail Magazine, June 1979, and was reproduced in Yachting Monthly, October 1979 under the heading “Folkboat Encounter”.
~~~
“”I first designed her (the Folkboat) with a fully battened mainsail. It took me quite a while to realize how impractical that arrangement was . . . , another brainstorm was when I saw that a canvas cot I had intended for the cockpit would fit into the forepeak with room to spare.
Another twist was that I had conceived her as a weekend cruiser, with the simplest possible rig and equipment. There were no winches of course since the jib halyard and the jib sheets could be taken care of with two-part tackles.
In spite of all this simplicity, or maybe on account of it, people started sailing Folkboats to and from every conceivable corner of the world. And I’m glad the boat proved equal to it, even without a self-draining cockpit and all the rest of it. . . .”
In 1966, Thord Sund redesigned the Nordic Folkboat for production in fiberglass. On the “international Folkboat” he retained the proven hull sections but increased the freeboard from 550mm to 660mm to obtain more room below. He also drew out the bow and rounded off the stern, for appearance’s sake. The clinker pattern of the original’s fir planking was dropped, marginally reducing wetted surface.
This time, he opted for a self-draining cockpit, mainly because potential buyers seemed to think it would make the boat safer “They” also wanted a spinnaker, so he raised the headstay attachment point on the mast and settled on an altogether new rig. The new rig configuration allowed the use of higher aspect ratio jibs and of large over-lapping genoas. Halyard and sheet winches were now called for.
Sunden’s final variation on the folkboat theme came in the mid-1970s when, again responding to popular demand, he designed the M26 (Sunwind) with an even higher freeboard and provision for a Volvo-Penta diesel engine.
Then, with another quantum jump in the freeboard, she had come to the box-like apparition we were sitting in – “Of course, she does have a hell of a lot of space.” mused Sunden.
“We live in a different age.” he said, almost angrily. “People swarm onboard at the boat shows wearing muddy clogs, and the only thing they are interested in is standing room by the galley. So here you have it, the private flush toilet, the walk-in closet, a wall-to-wall carpet and all that garbage.”
He proceeded to decant the sherry, his heavy-lidded, sea-blue eyes staring sadly at the cork.”
~~~
At the same time as Thord Sund was thinking along these lines, Eric Berqgvist had taken the idea and produced the Folksong – this post. He too evolved his design as production proceeded.
All this was happening thirty or so years ago. Since then, technology has leapt forward, construction materials have developed, design ideas are continually being modified. These are exciting times.
Nevertheless, I picked the Folksong for the ideas that Berqgvist and Sund were working on. It suits me.
(With thanks to Mike Burns for pointing out both articles).
Talking of art . . .
Paleochora, Crete 2009
This is the 101st image uploaded for this series.
For the origins of the series, here
AA comments on my Trechandiri post:
“The word Trehandiri (Τρεχαντήρι) is loosely translated to ‘A fast boat’ which is kind of obvious for the first picture (a long and narrow boat that does not upset the water around it too much, a bit like the rowing skiffs) but not so obvious for the boats in the second picture that look more stable (wide) than fast. So perhaps they were termed ‘Fast Boats’ because they were also powered by motors.
The designers had to strike this balance between speed / stability / useful volume (after all you still need space for all the fish harvest 😀 )…These dimensions and other design elements were defined (or rather homed in) without mathematical models and simulations in different sea states at expensive experimental facilities.
I think that this is a good reason to preserve the boats and relevant pieces of the art from that era…(and of course not only the Greek fishing boats).”
~~~
I think AA has got it exactly right – “These dimensions and other design elements were defined without mathematical models and simulations in different sea states at expensive experimental facilities.”
Boat-building was an art before it became a science.
Men looked at the sea, applied their common sense and, using tools that they created themselves, turned local materials into craft that had value and beauty by virtue of their function.
Did they get it right first time? Probably not. But they learnt by doing. Shapes and designs evolved . . . and kept on evolving, handed on from generation to generation.
It is the vessels that are the results of this process that are being lost today. (Yes, there are still people building in this way in some parts of the world. But they are getting fewer and fewer).
Science has created a different process. The generation thing is not necessary any more – at least in the sense of person-to-person. It is more technical advance-to-technical advance. This may be spelt out in days or weeks rather than years. For example, every year new advances in technology create new products which lead to new fashions that can be seen everywhere. This year seems to be the year of the small RIB, the sit-on kayak and some very fast boats – as well as touch-screen monitors and AIS sets.
That’s great. As someone, who taps at a keyboard, posting yet more words on the internet, I like technology – and use it more and more.
But, in posting the ‘love of a boat’ series, I have noticed how technology is occluding this one important aspect of our lives: our respect for the deeper layer of human endeavour born of past generations, that lives in the present and will hopefully be passed on to our children.
It isn’t that we do not have the ability to be creative nor the willingness to gain skills, nor even that we do not care, it is that we are being hurried along a certain path that requires us to follow rather than to lead. We barely have time to assimilate one advance before the next one leapfrogs it. The pace of change is increasing.
The price of this is in many, many small losses that individually can be dismissed but in the end will add up to an impoverished society.
The demise of the ‘traditional’ craft is one of these losses.
This:
becomes this:
by doing nothing.
When AA says “I think this is a good reason to preserve the boats and relevant pieces of the art from that era”, I absolutely agree with him.
Paleochora, Crete 2009
I have started reading Mike Smylie’s ‘Fishing the European Coast’.
In 153 pages, he has written a comprehensive series of notes and reminiscences on the very wide range of boats found around the European coast.
It is the perfect overview for someone who enjoys differences in boat design from port to port, from local conditions to local conditions, from culture to culture . . . as well as for someone interested in the evolution of craft.
For example, over the past year, I have posted many images of Greek trechandiri. Smylie writes:
“The trechandiri is the workhorse of Greek coastal fishers . . . . . The advent of motors in the 1920s simply produced a fatter, fuller body section, while in profile they were unchanged. Once the rig was removed, superstructures were added! They are ubiquitous throughout the Aegean – that sea of thousands of islands, and have one thing in common, a length/beam/depth ratio of round about 9:3:1. There are two schools of thought on their origins. Some say they developed from a particular type of caique, first built in Hydra in 1658, while others suggest they evolved from the trabaccolo, a type of sailing vessel used for trading in the Adriatic.”
Agios Nikolaos, The Mani, Greece 2007
Length/beam/depth ratios have taken on a new meaning :-).
Mr Smylie adds to what I learnt from the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth earlier in the year and from Denham’s book on ‘The Aegean’.
And the images have taken on a new meaning too.
For the origins of this image series, here
Here is the the continuation of the interview with Eric Bergqvist by Ted Bradbury, who, at the time, was looking for a seaworthy cruiser to sail to the Azores – (with thanks to Mike Burns). I guess this would have been sometime around 1982/83:
Ted: I do appreciate how reasonable your prices are – (hull and deck mouldings £1750 +VAT – ed.), but doesn’t that mean that the boat has been designed to its limits – minimum bulkheads and thin laminates etc?
Eric: Not at all. The long low profile of the Folksong uses less materials as well as contributing to the boats sailing performance. The laminate is of chopped strand mat construction resulting in a thick hull which, although hand laid, is quick and easy to make. The deck is an economical one-piece moulding and the bulkheads and other interior fit-out all wood.
Ted: Why is the wood interior economical? It must take a lot of time to fit and finish.
Eric: It will take longer to fit than the kit of moulded and pre-finished parts that you would have to buy to complete a modern production yacht but these kits are expensive because you are paying for someone else’s labour and overheads. Such kits also offer very little, if any, flexibility or freedom of design. Our basic interior kit is simple and straightforward because it’s been designed specifically for the home-builder who can keep the layout as it is or add his own ideas and innovations as he goes along. We sell bare hulls and decks to customers who want to do it all themselves, or part or fully finished boats to those who haven’t the time or inclination for fitting out. Admittedly the finish we use, painted plywood with varnished hardwood trims, is time-consuming, but it is also relatively inexpensive. It has a warm classic look and can be smartened up each spring with a fresh coat of paint.
Ted: I think I see now why you haven’t attempted to give the Folksong standing headroom, but surely this is unacceptable to most prospective buyers.
Eric: I agree that the lack of standing room is a drawback but a box cabin high enough to allow for this would ruin her lines and performance and increase the cost. There are plenty of 25 footers to choose from with standing headroom but few that can be built as economically as the Folksong or perform as well. In fact the Folksong’s headroom rarely concerns my serious customers because the Folksong design appeals principally to experienced sailors. Like you and I they have the ultimate ambition of making that long ocean passage and are confident that the Folksong can help them accomplish such a dream.
Ted: Finally, Eric, have you made any improvements to the Folksong in the three years you’ve been producing her?
Eric: Of course. The design is constantly developing. From the fifty or so boats built we’ve had a lot of customer feedback and each year a new interior is planned for a customer’s own specific requirements. Recently a new cockpit layout was added with an outboard well, and the Folksong hull has been successfully used for other hone designed cruisers. At the moment, two customers are building Chinese junk rigged Folksongs. One of these is a replica of Blondie Hasler’s Folkboat, Jester, that made so many single-handed transatlantic crossings. And what better recommendation for a Folkboat than that!
~~~
Well, there you have it from the designer himself. He wanted the Folksong to be good-looking, economical in its simplicity, have a good performance – hence the low profile, be flexible in its design and be capable of ocean voyages by the ambitious and the experienced.
That’s what I saw the day I first saw Blue Mistress. What about you?
I am not the only one owning a Folksong. In fact, compared to some, I am very much the novice – (as anyone who has read this blog for a while can testify). However, I have learnt a thing or two and I know a gem when I see it.
Kite gybe
This is Fram. The picture speaks for itself.
Mike Burns wrote at the end of last month:
“I home completed a Folksong in 1984 . . . and still have her . . .
“Maiden voyage in 1985 was circumnavigation of the north of Scotland, ie. clockwise Fortrose to Fortrose via the Caledonian Canal.
“Raced her last weekend single handed, flew spinnaker & also had to anchor up when wind dropped & strong tide, only came third out of 8 mixed handicap boats. Had to winch up the anchor with the genoa winch!!”
He has kindly sent images of Fram and copies of his original documents, and has given me permission to publish them here which I am delighted to do. Thank you, Mike. I hope we will exchange more details as time goes on.
~ ~ ~
Among the documents is an interview with the Folksong designer – Eric Bergqvist.
In it, he says: “I wanted a yacht fit for sailing single-handed in the Irish Sea.
“The first of my three requirements was that she had to be attractive. Pride of ownership is always a top priority and a gentle evening’s sail followed by a few pints and a chat at the club can be just as rewarding as a landfall after a long passage.
Fortrose Harbour
“My second priority was performance – speed on all points of sail and the ability to keep going in a short steep sea where you’ve the combination of wind over tide in shallow water. Self-steering is, in my opinion, the best aid to navigation, enabling the skipper to keep dry, warm and alert. The Folksong’s long keel gives good directional stability and suits the construction of a very simple self-steering device.
“My third requirement was ease of construction. Simplicity is the essence of both good design and economy, and I’m not in the position of having a lot of money tied up in a yacht.
These three requirements: looks, performance and economy all add up to a fibreglass Folkboat.”
With dolphins
That sums it up for me. Even though I have spent more money than planned on Blue Mistress – (yeah, well . . .), she is still more economical than many similar boats from the more well-known classes. She performs well and looks good.
~~~
Now, some detail. In the extract above, he talks of “the construction of a very simple self-steering device.” Do any Folksong (or Folkboat, Folkdancer or similar long-keeled boat) owners know which one from the early eighties he may have been referring to?
Beyond Steeple Point 