Chine bLog

Courtesy of Gavin over at intheboatshed and his recent discovery of YouTube [ ;^) ], we now see that Ted at Dovetails has posted a nice video of his Friendship Sloop sailing in a brisk Westerly off mid-coast Maine. The page includes some nice profile drawings and photos as well - its a heck of a nice boat.

Searching around for this post left me with the startling realization that, with the exception of a stray mention in the prior post where I mentioned Dovetails, I have never said anything about Friendship Sloops on these pages. I guess I have been focus on the boats of foreign lands as opposed to my native waters, but here's the real irony: Friendship Sloops are one of the most beautiful boats ever. Period. Full stop.

Look at Ted's fine example above. The clipper bow, elliptical transom, and sweet sheer that ties them together, makes for some tremendous lines, and then you typically plop a high gaff and double headsails on her... the result is outstanding. I had an opportunity to sail in the annual Friendship Sloop regatta many years back and it was an amazing experience. I have always loved them; basically, they had me at "hello."

Here's a final Friendship Sloop story: when I was teenager, we chartered a boat in mid-coast Maine and found ourselves not far from Friendship, Maine with a day of crummy weather. At my behest, we made tracks overland to Friendship in an act of pilgrimage. Let me tell you how many sloops we saw there: none. zilch. Z-E-R-O. Our only solace after such disappointment, was a near-miss: and ice cream shop called "The Friendship Scoop."

So I was merrily flipping through the latest issue of WoodenBoat recently when I turned the page and was greeted by an article entitled "Boat Blogs." Great, I thought, glad to see they are covering this... but what are the chances... Well, lo and behold, they we are - Chine bLog making the pages of the granddaddy of our space. Needless to say, it was a thrill. I believe the person who really needs a thank you is author Eric Sorensen, author of From the Dock - The Official Blog of the S/V Mistral, an experiment in public seamanship -- free rides! -- and the coolest old sailboat in Seattle. Coming soon to an adrenal gland near you. Best wishes, Eric. Keep us queued up on your newsreader!

In case you are interested, Eric also found our friends at intheboatshed.net and Craft A Craft, among others. Dovetails looks like one to check out - the author has a friendship sloop, which makes him our instant friend.

The holidays are a great time to learn about family odds and ends that you had never managed to pick up. I learned the other day that my great-grandfather ran the American Dredging Company for many years. I guess this outfit was a major marine contractor of its day. In 1932 the company purchased some new tugs, and one was named for my great-grandfather: Nathan Hayward.

A cousin recently commissioned the painting above (from artist Scott Cameron) based on some photos and additional research. I was pleased to see that she was a nice-looking tug (she was broken up for scrap in 2002, 10 years after investors did the same to American Dredging). I have no knowledge at this point of her construction, designer, builder, and so on. Regardless, I am happy to have this boat in my lineage.