PT 11 Nesting Dinghy – Page 6 – PT Watercraft Blog

October 2, 2015 by admin in All, Events, PT 11 Nesting Dinghy

Sailing off to wild places

This last June and July, Russell and I sailed our multi-hull from Port Townsend to Haida Gwaii/Gwaii Haanas park (also known as Queen Charlotte Islands) and back down the west coast of Vancouver Island.

ptwatercraft.com — Soaking in a hot tidal pool

There is really no way to accurately describe what it was like for me, or the feeling that we dropped off into another world for a wonderful but all too brief period of time. “What does one do in absolute wilderness?” This was a question asked by my adult daughter. “It’s more about being there.” I finally said, but I lacked for words and still do.

I did take some pictures and videos but not many, nor do they capture the wonder that surrounded us. I simply spent more time looking, listening, breathing, and just being.

We were tandem sailing with dear friends, Alex and his rotating crew (all the coolest of people), and we met up with “Blackbeard II” and “Able” along the way. We also met some really interesting people in port. There was a lot of curiosity, honesty, generosity and simple human graciousness in the people of North Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii. Thinking about some of those people still kind of blows my mind. A blog post just isn’t the place to do them justice. Of the Haida villages, we visited Skedans, Hotsprings Island, and SGang Gwaii. I was very impressed with the “Watchmen”; each one very different, each one with a story to tell in their own way, and each clearly passionate about their culture, history, and path into the future. I am so grateful, for the whole experience.

This adventure was in the planning since summer 2014, with our friend, Alex, on his lovely and magical boat, ‘Vito Dumas’. Sailing in tandem with Alex is one of our great pleasures in life and we try to make at least one small trip every year. This one was a big one, 6 weeks and over a 1000 miles. He carried a PT 11 on his fore deck and we had ours on the trampoline. We were able to go adventuring in both boats and actually get some new video. Alex has become our PT 11 Star. Thank you, Alex! Some video is already published, others yet to come. Here is a video glimpse into our trip.

My ‘take-away’? .. Nature, harmony with nature, back to nature; it is so nurturing so let’s do more to preserve and help nature recuperate from human destructiveness. I left Gwaii Haanas feeling hopeful.

If you want to go to Gwaii Haanas, you need to do their orientation, make reservations and buy passes. It is not difficult and it is so very worth it.

Contact: Ginette,
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site
60 Second Beach Road, Skidegate BC V0T 1S1 |
PO Box 37, Queen Charlotte BC V0T 1S0 |Email: gwaii.haanas@pc.gc.ca Website: www.pc.gc.ca/gwaiihaanas
Telephone | Téléphone 250-559-8818
Toll Free | Sans frais 1-877-559-8818
www.parkscanada.gc.ca | www.parcscanada.gc.ca
www.facebook/gwaiihaanas | www.facebook.com/GwaiiHaanasFR

For an interesting approach to harmonious living that you can visit, see: http://www.roseharbour.com/

September 16, 2015 by Ashlyn Brown in All, Events, PT 11 Nesting Dinghy, PT Skiff

2015 boat festival was great!

This is kind of a long post featuring my festival pictures, our booth, the Pt 11 on the water, a customer built PT Skiff, end show humor, & video links…

The Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival is a great event any year. This year, the 39th, was no exception. We had two hot and sunny days and Sunday cooled considerably under cloudy skies. In spite of the Hood Canal Bridge closing earlier in the week and again for a flotilla, people made it to our peninsula.

I did not get as many festival photos as usual but here are a few. It is hard not to get the same pictures as everyone else. Everywhere you look seems photo-worthy.

For PT Watercraft, the festival is increasingly a family reunion of sorts. Among the thousands who visited, were quite a few builders of our kits; some of our earliest customers, some who recently completed beautiful boats, and some who are just beginning construction. We were so happy to see everyone. We even have show regulars who are still dreaming about building a PT 11 or a skiff, and they come every year to stroke the bright-work, listen to conversation, ask new questions. It is great to see familiar faces.

Our booth photos;

Schooner Martha has returned to Port Townsend. The Port Townsend Sails loft cheered as Martha tied up at the dock:

You can probably tell that I love our wooden boat festival even if I talk myself hoarse over the three days. I walked the docks Thursday afternoon as boats were filling the harbor, and again early Sunday morning. The Sunday Sail-by is a highlight, though this year I found myself talking to booth visitors more than watching the hundreds of boats out on the water at once. Still very impressive! I expect lots of videos will appear on Youtube.

See a fun NWMC video of getting the boats into the harbor:

Our annual helper, Cooper Parrish, raced the PT 11 in the 26ft & under, and then sailed around during the Sail-by. Cooper makes very cool things at Scaled Composites in Mojave and we are so grateful that he is happy to take time out and join us at the show. Our friend Simon Miles of 206 Composites here in Port Townsend, had the Patin out as well. The Patin is probably the first beach cat design ever. Interested cat sailors might want to check out videos of the Vela Patin.

Customer built PT Skiff ‘Mojo’, was in the water. It was great to have a skiff at the festival for folks to check out. Builder/owners Mark and Meg were rightfully proud of their boat. Mark chose to really spiff it out with various woods, a sprayed paint job in indigo blue, and some plush outfitting choices.

At the end of the festival, packing up has a party like feel to it. We all survived a fun but physically challenging weekend. Our friends and show neighbors, Chesapeake Lightcraft, often display a bit of end show humor. This year, they thought the Wee Nip bar next to them was closing the festival with ‘BYOB’ for a fill up. Well, John and crew brought a boat! Thanks John for all the laughs!

June 9, 2015 by admin in All, Instructional, PT 11 Nesting Dinghy, PT SPEAR

Painted interiors

As beautiful as clear coated Okoume is, a couple of builder’s have chosen to paint their dinghy interiors. They have also added non skid. I have to admit, I think these boats look super smart!

exterior paint job on Sadee Ann includes a nice racing stripe.

ptwarercraft.com — Sadee Anne PT 11 nesting dinghy nested

March 22, 2015 by admin in All, Inside PTW, PT 11 Nesting Dinghy, PT SPEAR

Sandy Goodall; Sail designer

Re: Sail Making and Sail Design.

As introduction, Sandy Goodall designed the PT 11 sail. Working with Sean Rankins of NW Sails and Canvas, and Russell, they prototyped and modified the sail to its current size and shape. Sandy is a friend and great to work with but I realized that I knew very little about his career as a sail designer. So I asked. (I have to say, that Sandy is pretty humble.)

Ashlyn: How did you get into sailing and sail making?
Sandy: I was very interested in sailing from a fairly early age (my mother was an avid sailor from the Canadian maritimes), and I knew that I wanted to get a job working with sailboats.
So it was either yacht design, boat building or sail making. I ended up choosing sail making, thinking that it involved the least math. (wrong!)

Ashlyn: When, where and how did you learn sail making, and how long have you been doing it?

Sandy: My family was living in Toronto in the late sixties, and the famous Danish sailmaker Hans Fogh (who trained under Paul Elvstrom) had emigrated to Canada, and lived in Toronto.
His loft was not far from my parents’ house, and I visited him and nagged him until he agreed to take me on as his apprentice, after I completed university in 1974. So, it has been 40 years now!

Ashlyn: What types of boats do you deal with?

Sandy: Almost all kinds. My first real responsibility as a young sailmaker was cutting the Laser sails for the newly introduced Laser class dinghy.
But since then, I have sailed, and made sails for everything from Optimist dinghies to square riggers, high tech mono and multi hull racers, and Arab Dhows.
So all kinds of boats, really, and I appreciate all of them for different reasons.

Ashlyn: What type of design tools do you use?

Sandy: When I started sail making back in 1974, it was all still pretty traditional. The master sailmaker kept all his design notes and secrets in a “little black book”, and we apprentices were not necessarily privy to all the tricks of the trade. But we were in search of ways to increase the repeatability of a good design, so we gradually started to reverse engineer the traditional methods, at first using very simple programs written for HP programmable calculators.
Surprisingly, as a non–math person (I studied philosophy at university), I was very interested in this process, which ended up directing my career in sailmaking.
I continued along this path, becoming involved in the ongoing development of sail design software. I ended up selling my share of the Elvstrom Sails loft in Denmark, and focused on sail design software (“SmSw6” and “Azure Project”), and sail design, working free-lance, designing sails for other sailmakers. These days, sail design software is quite sophisticated, and we can do both structural and aerodynamic analysis on proposed sail designs, all on a lap top computer.

Ashlyn: Do you manufacture sails?

Sandy: Not any more. I was directly involved with manufacturing sails (Elvstrom Sails Denmark) until 1990, but I have specialized in computer sail design since then.
The digital recipe that is the result of the sail design process is then sent by E mail, and cut on some computer driven machine, to be assembled “somewhere in the world”.
I collaborate with quite a number of sailmakers, where I do the design work, and they build the sails. I also coach other sailmakers in the use of the sail design software.

Ashlyn: “Do you think custom sail makers (in the USA for example) still have an impact in a world of factory made sails?”

Sandy: “Yes! It’s hard to dispute the fact that the big offshore sail manufacturers offer very attractive prices, due to the economies of scale.
But there will always be an important place for local lofts, producing excellent sails and providing on-the-spot personal service to their clients. I’m happy to be in a position where I can collaborate with these local lofts (like Northwest Sails and Port Townsend Sails). The personal contact, the creative discussions, the boat measuring, prototyping etc. that this close collaboration allows, certainly represents added value for the end user.”

Ashlyn: Do you have any favorite boat types, or types of design work?

Sandy: I like all kinds of sail boats, large and small, fast and slow, modern and traditional. But I suppose that I prefer smaller boats, and the projects that involve working with people I know and like.

Ashlyn: Can you predict anything concerning the future of sails and sail making?

Sandy: New high tech materials are constantly being developed at an increasing rate, and we can build sails that are lighter, and less stretchy, than ever before. But these (racing) sails are not necessarily a pleasure to use, for the leisure sailor. So there is still a place for traditional dacron and nylon sails, and there are still many people who appreciate and prefer them.
I think we will see more kites and “thick sails”, and lots more work on hydro foils, and various other drag reducing inventions! The “foiling moth” class is a good example of one of the many interesting directions things are going!

Ashlyn: How can people best contact you?

Sandy: Via E mail, at sgoodall@telus.net

Ashlyn: What information should people have on hand to begin a new “design” conversation?

Sandy: To begin with, just the size and type of boat they have, and where they sail, and whether it’s racing or cruising. Then we can take it further from there.

Ashlyn: Thank you Sandy! Russell and I feel very fortunate to work with you.
Sandy: You’re welcome! I really enjoy working with you and Russell!

Learn more on Sandy’s website; http://www.sandygoodall.com/

Read Sandy Goodall’s Review of Sailing the PT 11 nesting dinghy.

March 16, 2015 by admin in All, Community, Events, PT 11 Nesting Dinghy

Shipwright Regatta 2015

February 28 2015 was a beautiful sunny and breezy Saturday, and it was the occasion of the annual Shipwrights Regatta in Port Townsend. Russell and I are not racers but this seemed like a good excuse to get out on the water. We entered the PT 11 thinking there would be a host of dinghies in the fleet as is often the case in Port Townsend. Well, we turned out to be the only actual dinghy! Our 11 footer was the most “water-line challenged” in the fleet. Next up in size were 505 Olympic class racing dinghies, then 6 Thunderbirds, and lots of racing and cruising yachts of a wide variety.

When the horn sounded for the start, we were first across the ‘line’, together with the ‘cruising class’. We made the course around the bay twice and crossed the finish line just over 2 minutes behind the last large boat. Yes, we finished last which, after-all, was pretty much a given at the start! It was a lot of fun and nobody was ever left far behind as even we were able to stay close to the fleet and boats with 10 times our sail area and 3 or more times our waterline.

A great thing about this town and this sailing community and regattas like this one is the fun loving spirit and a trophy of some kind for almost everyone. We won the Boat Hook, as the boat that ‘could have used a little pull’… or one less crew, perhaps.. but we were tickled with our “win” and had a blast out on the water. I was having so much fun, cold as I was, that a childish grin was frozen on my face.

My fingers were too cold and stiff to work the Gopro camera very well but what I got is HERE, wet lens and all.
Other pictures of the day can be seen on the Port Townsend Sailing Association website. We are seen under the results and Annual Awards as “Lil B”.

😉 Ashlyn

January 4, 2015 by admin in All, Events, PT 11 Nesting Dinghy

‘it’s not just a boat..’

we received a very special New Years gift from PT 11 builder Cassie McDermott. It was a really nice email and a pdf attachment from 10 year Milo, for whom she built the boat. She concluded her letter thus:

“I knew that your boat changed our lives, but I didn’t realize just how much. I am overwhelmed and feeling completely blessed for what you and your boat has brought our family. In the end, it’s not just a boat.”

..”Please feel free to share Milo’s story. Maybe it will inspire other young folks to get into boatbuilding and sailing. ” Click here to read Milo’s story about his PT 11 … and something more..

October 10, 2014 by admin in All, Events, PT 11 Nesting Dinghy

Summer 2014 Videos

I have more raw footage to play with but these are the latest from this summer. Click on the titles for the story and video,

A bit of ‘white water’ in the PT 11

Sky rowing in the PT 11

Camp Cruising July 2014

or watch all our videos on PTW You Tube !

October 10, 2014 by admin in All, Events, Instructional, PT 11 Nesting Dinghy, PT Skiff

The 38th Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival

September 5-7th were the days of the 38th Annual Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival.
This year was unique for us due to having a relative fleet of PT 11s on hand; 8 or 9 PT 11 dinghies could be seen over the weekend of marvelous sunshine and sailing breezes, tethered behind their “motherships” in the harbor or out in the bay among so many beautiful boats!

Joining them was our own PT 11 captained by Cooper Parish.

Cooper (who currently works for Scaled Composites) has built a PT 11 at the NW School of Wooden Boat Building. Many of our friends and customers share our deep appreciation for innovative aircraft as well as boats. We love the following picture Cooper sent to us earlier this summer, (wearing a Port Townsend Watercraft hat!) and we love having his help at the festival!

As usual, I did not get out and about to take more pictures. The reason, I am pleased to say, is that our display maintained a virtual flood of visitors and our team (including my wonderful sister, Dana) was happily kept busy showing off 2 PT Elevens (one on the stand and one for rowing demos), and a PT Spear, (generously loaned by Mr. Swantner).

Our tent hosts, the smart folks from WEST SYSTEM EPOXY, were on hand with expert epoxy advice, interesting props and informative booklets. This year’s festival was also special and memorable due to having our dear friends, Kathy Massimini & Steve Callahan here. Steve was a guest speaker for the festival. If you have not read his book Adrift or don’t know about Steve, you’ve missed out. See his website HERE.

You might already know about Off Center Harbor, and all of the really well done, interesting videos they offer on a wide range of boating topics. We were honored (and pretty camera shy) to receive an interview request from the OCH team. Filming took place right after the festival and the video will be available sometime in the future. Thank you Steve Stone and Off Center Harbor!

The fine weather inspired more boats to be out sailing for the entire three days than I have ever witnessed in my 5 years of attending. The final ‘Sail-By’ was quite spectacular. If you missed it this year, mark your calendar for the first weekend of September 2015 and keep an eye on the NW Maritime Center website for events over the year.

Please enjoy a small album of pictures I took during the Festival.

Some videos of this years’ festival are on You Tube. This is a particularly artistic slide show. HERE

PTW AB 😉

October 10, 2014 by admin in All, Instructional, PT 11 Nesting Dinghy, PT Skiff

We ‘stick’ with WEST SYSTEM

Many of you already know about EPOXY WORKS magazine, a FREE publication from Gougeon Brothers Inc, that is sent out twice a year. Issue #39 for this Fall of 2014 reviewed Russell’s EPOXY BASICS on the back cover!

This is a huge bonus for us and many of you have proven that! We had such a run on books within days of the magazine landing in mailboxes, that I have been kept busy sending them out. I want to thank those of you who had to wait with faith and patience for your back ordered copies. THANK YOU!
So why did Gougeon Brothers do such a nice thing? All I can say is that we are thrilled. Our relationship with Gougeon Brothers/WEST SYSTEM, is based on our long history and trust of their products, through which a lasting friendship has emerged. Russell’s nearly constant work with epoxies over the last 40 years has given him many opportunities to try various brands. His livelihood has depended on very refined composite workmanship and building lightweight, tightly engineered parts and craft. Many experiments, challenges, and successful projects have lead him to trust in one epoxy in particular; WEST SYSTEM.

The Gougeon brothers have an fascinating history and the company maintains an expert team unafraid to ask questions of themselves and the products they represent. In the spirit of doing what is right, ( yes, they do carefully consider environmental impact), full time scientists continually test every imaginable epoxy related scenario and tweak their products to best serve their customers of many industries. Their loyal customer base depends not only on having the best physical properties and workability in their epoxy, but also on knowledgeable customer support. The full time tech support staff at WEST SYSTEM are, in that down-to-Earth, humble, mid-western way, generous with their knowledge. If they don’t have an answer for you right away, they will find out, and get back to you, even if it takes lab testing. All this greatly benefits the casual epoxy user as well.

Calling the company during business hours (phone #1-866-937-8797) will not reach an automated phone system…. Nope, a real person will answer and politely direct your call… I know… hard to imagine these days.. Can you tell we like these folks? I hope so. We have the highest respect for the people in the company and the principles on which they base the production of excellent products; integrity being far more important to them than fancy marketing. Working with the folks at Gougeon Brothers/WEST SYSTEM, is always a pleasure. Such person to person relationships, with friends, customers, and business associates, rank high on my list of things that make life meaningful. For a well written article about the Gougeon brothers, see: GOUGEON. G-O-U-G-E-O-N GOUGEON by Dan Spurr in Professional Boatbuilder Magazine Issue #125, beginning on page 36. You can buy the issue HERE: Also, coming soon in WOODEN BOAT MAGAZINE ; an article by Jim Brown called, “Catching Up With Meade Gougeon”.

PTW AB 😉

October 9, 2014 by admin in All, Events, PT 11 Nesting Dinghy, PT Skiff

Featured Launchings, Fall 2014

Enjoy Pictures recently received of boats launched this summer or boats in use. I love the new colors added to PT 11’s; now sporting blue, green, sunny yellow, mellow yellow, cream, red, white…have I missed any? Beautiful!! Keep those pictures coming! What do you think about a photo contest???? Let me know and I will work on prizes to offer. 😉