Bolero Delivery and Launching

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:20 am

Bolero is now home on Lopez. She came over on the 6:50 pm ferry so I still haven't really had a look at her. I guess I can wait one more day. Sorry for the poor quality of the picture. Much better ones to come during rigging and launching.

Post by **Tim** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:04 am

Looks like she had a safe trip. I'm glad to see her there!

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:14 am

Bill you must have the patience of a saint, I can't believe you could wait even one more day. Congratulations, hope you thoroughly enjoy her.

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:42 am

I can't really take any credit for patience when I don't have a choice. I guess like Christmas morning, it comes when it comes. But now I am headed down to the boat to "try" and unwrap Tim's present and retrieve the mast.

Cheers, Bill

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:21 pm

Whoo-hoo! Boy, I would have been on tenterhooks as the boat got closer and closer. I can't wait to see her afloat!

Congrats :)

Rachel

s/v Groovy · Post by **s/v Groovy** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:12 pm

Looking great! Looks like it should be a good sailing weekend too, hope you get in the water soon....

catamount · Post by **catamount** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:30 pm

Hey, I saw that boat on the highway (I-95 in southern Maine) last week -- Looked Good!

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 12:04 am

I have been having so much fun that I just haven't had much time for posting. Bolero is coming along nicely. I started off yesterday pretty early unwrapping her from her trip. Tim did a fine job of prepping her for shipping. It probably took me about an hour to remove all the strapping and protective padding.

That done, I headed down to the coffee shop to recruit my helper Craig. After a cup of tea and hoping for better weather we finally tackled removing the mast. Which turned out to be far easier than we thought. Actually world peace might be easier than we thought getting the mast down would be.

It pretty much rained on and off the whole day. Not enough to damper my fun and enthusiasm but enough to test out Tim's scupper holes. Sort of makes finding faces in boats seem rather normal.

Before heading off to lunch I wanted an instant gratification job. So I decide to install my anchor and rode into the anchor locker. This presented me with an opportunity to start my list of ideas that were far more "brilliant" on paper 3000 miles away than they are in reality. Tim warned me that the anchor locker door wasn't quite right, that the hinges bind and interfere with opening. Well he sure wasn't kidding. It works, sort of, but it has moved itself to the top of my winter work list. Perhaps my idea was a "bit" too complex for its on good. In any case there is plenty of room in the anchor locker and should I ever get the door working right it should be nice.

I had a great task for right after lunch. Now that the mast was off, I could finally get into the cabin and crack open the forward ante chamber to retrieve Bolero's hidden treasures. I made this task take way longer than needed just so I could linger down below (and get out of the rain).

I pulled out all of the spare parts boxes, sails, covers etc. I put the main and jib back and stored the spinnaker in the aft locker. I was anxious to get to rigging the mast and that is when I discovered my first hickup. I couldn't find the clevis pins that attached the standing rigging to the mast. That ended my mast work for the day as the local marina had 1 3/8 by 3/4 clevis pin. So I decided to take the boom home to my little shop and install the gooseneck fitting and the internal outhaul. I also had halyards to spice.

Today began with an early morning trip to the mainland in search of clevis pins. And I just barely got what I needed from the dreaded marine store. So after lunch I install the main and jib halyards and the shrouds and forestay. I just have the backstay, spinnaker halyard and the boomkicker fitting and I am ready to step the mast (hopefully tomorrow).

Well this is probable way more pictures than I needed for this post but I just have to include a couple more for Peter (and any other Folkboat lovers). Also this one is for sale.

They claim we have some nice weather coming so my hope is to launch on Saturday. Time will tell.

Cheers, Bill

Triton 185 · Post by **Triton 185** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:19 am

What a fine piece of functional art.......sweet work Tim! Congratulations to all and I can’t wait to see more pictures.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 8:11 am

Lookin' good Bill! :)

I know what you mean about the "brilliant on paper 3000 miles away" thing. KAHOLEE has her share, but any project which involves so much fabrication is bound to have a few things that didn't come out as well as we had thought them might.

Great pictures, I can't wait to see her sailing.

MikeD · Post by **MikeD** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 9:00 am

I'll bet Bolero is getting more than a few head turns in your boat yard...

Thanks for the updates!

Ceto · Post by **Ceto** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:30 pm

She looks like a princess at a redneck prom!

Beautiful boat!

Ceto · Post by **Ceto** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:40 pm

Can we see pics of the cockpit and interior?

fusto · Post by **fusto** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:20 am

Bluenose wrote:They claim we have some nice weather coming so my hope is to launch on Saturday. Time will tell.

Should be good weather all weekend here in our neighborhood. (Sat and Sun. mostly sunny mid to high 60's light winds)
I'll keep an eye out off the west side of Lummi for a sharp looking boat with an ear to ear grin at the tiller.

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:34 am

Well yesterday was a pretty good day. Got the mast up very, very quickly. Our lift operator, Mitch, is an artist. I still have a long list of things to do but we threw the sail up just to make sure there weren't any problems coming.

The main looked pretty good. The jib is going to be a bit finicky. I knew we might have trouble since we move the jib leads from the deck to the top of the cabin. I need to raise the jib a bit to maintain a proper lead but if I raise it too much the leech hits the spreader. This needs a final adjustment under sail.

The real problem is the boom vang and boom kicker. I knew this was coming but still... The original boom vang lead on the mast is almost at the deck and there is very little room to move it up. In addition the boom kickers natural location on the boom runs right over the top of the current outhaul. I am going to have another look this morning to see if some magical enlightenment has occurred since last night. If I can't find a ready solution, I might go aloft and put in a "temporary" topping lift and figure out the boom vang this winter.

On the plus side, the boom is quite a bit higher than I ever thought. There is actually standing, yep I said standing, headroom while standing in the cabin with the sliding hatch open. Also plenty of sitting headroom in the cockpit. Much more than in my old Bluenose and way more than in my friends Typhoon.

I also discovered an older but very servicable boom tent. So we put her to bed proper last night.

Launch is scheduled for 1:30 pm Pacific Standard "Lopez" Time. You may or may not be able to watch it hear (refresh your browser for a new image):

Cheers, Bill

ps.. Tim, any marks, or smudges you think you see on the boat are actually on my camera lens. It needs a bit of cleaning.

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:55 am

Seems we have bunch of new web cams so may get a shot of Bolero sailing here (refresh for new images):

or here:

or sailing out through the channel here:

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 10:20 am

Yesterday was a fantastic conclusion to the Bolero fairytale. Although late, the launching went perfectly, as is usually the case with our lift operator Mitch.

One of my first surprises was how well Bolero sculled with the rudder. It was very easy to scull from the lift well to the dock in the calm wind and slack tide. She was also very maneuverable at slow speeds.

So here she is put to bed last night. All I have to do today to get her ready to sail off the dock is a down haul and jib sheets. I won't have all my lines spliced and whipped but maybe none will notice as I scream past them :).

I just want to say thanks again for everyone's support and encouragement on this project. And especially thanks to Tim for building this work of art.

Cheers, Bill

Hirilondë · Post by **Hirilondë** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:27 pm

Well she looks great, and floats too!

Peter · Post by **Peter** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:54 pm

Bill:
Wow ... Wow ... Wow !!!
I can hardly wait to see her 'in person'.
BTW, thanks for the Folkboat shots ... nice, but I'm no longer tempted ;-)

Shark · Post by **Shark** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 4:58 pm

She's a beauty!

s/v Groovy · Post by **s/v Groovy** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:06 am

She looks absolutely beautiful, Is that a Lackey Sailing logo on the main? too cool!

Sunday was great sailing down around Edmonds, did you take her out?

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:14 am

Congratulations mate, that's one pretty picture...

Ric in Richmond · Post by **Ric in Richmond** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:32 am

WOW...just incredible.

Congrats to both of you...builder and owner.

Ric

MikeD · Post by **MikeD** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:47 am

The only problem with that picture is it looks like there's an outboard hanging off that beautiful transom. :(

s/v Groovy wrote:Is that a Lackey Sailing logo on the main? too cool!

Tim should start adding the hull number to his logos. Two and counting...

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:15 pm

s/v Groovy wrote:She looks absolutely beautiful, Is that a Lackey Sailing logo on the main? too cool!

Sunday was great sailing down around Edmonds, did you take her out?

Yes and Yes.

That is a Lackey Sailing logo on the mainsail. It didn't seem appropriate for Bolero to continue wearing the Shields logo and Tim graciously offered his to Bolero which seemed very appropriate.

Yes I did get Bolero out on Sunday. I am writing up a few thoughts and will post them on my blog today or tomorrow depending on the wind.

Congratulations mate, that's one pretty picture...

Thanks Allen. There have been many times when I thought bolero looked a bit chubby from certain angles. But in person, with her mast up she is long and skinny in 3D.

The only problem with that picture is it looks like there's an outboard hanging off that beautiful transom. :(

Yep I noticed that too. That is the closest Bolero will ever get to having an outboard. I couple people even kidded me about be able to squeeze an outboard on the transom. I am used to it by now and I just laugh.

Idon84 · Post by **Idon84** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:02 pm

I reiterate my comment previously. DROOOOLLL!

I don't know where I've been, probably just looking at pictures and not reading, but I didn't realize you were a neighbor up in the islands. I hope I get to see her out there during one of my summer sails in the San Juans!

CHEERS! (from Olympia)

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 3:45 pm

Idon84 wrote:I reiterate my comment previously. DROOOOLLL!

I don't know where I've been, probably just looking at pictures and not reading, but I didn't realize you were a neighbor up in the islands. I hope I get to see her out there during one of my summer sails in the San Juans!

CHEERS! (from Olympia)

Drop me a note telling me when are are coming up and your preferred beverage and I bet we can do better than a sighting.

Cheers, Bill

rshowarth · Post by **rshowarth** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:41 pm

Is there a Lackey cove stripe to go with the Sail Emblem?

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:07 pm

MikeD wrote:The only problem with that picture is it looks like there's an outboard hanging off that beautiful transom. :(

Optics mate, not to worry, it's on a boat on the other side of the dock. :)

Idon84 · Post by **Idon84** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:27 pm

Bill

Thanks for the offer! We'll try to make some plans to check her out one of these days!

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 10:59 am

Simply Amazing. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Humina humina!

So... How does she sail?

kristian · Post by **kristian** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 3:18 pm

Way to go! She looks really beautiful in the water. The best part is yet to come; sailing these boats is amazing fun.

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:08 pm

Simply Amazing. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Humina humina!

So... How does she sail?

It will take some time to get use to this new boat. My initial impression is that Kristian is right on with his view.

Here is a copy of a post from my blog where I go into a bit of detail about our first sail on Sunday.

Bolero's Maiden Voyage

Early on Sunday I headed out to Bolero to finish a few things that I need to do so that she was ready to sail. My tasks went pretty well so I headed over to where I keep my dinghy and rowed her out to our buoy with a friend's dinghy. All set for the afternoon sail I headed home for lunch.

I planned to cast off around 1:00 but I ran into a few rigging glitches and a wind problem. The final rigging issues were easily fixed by the wind direction was problematic. I had paddled Bolero from the travel lift dock on Saturday to one of the South facing finger piers. It was a great location to sail off the dock for our typical SW wind. The problem on Sunday was that our forecast was for 5 to 15 kts out of the N. Often when we get a 5 to 15 forecast that, more often than not, means calm to 5 kts. Well not today. The wind was really coming up from the W with gust from the NW. This meant that I couldn't easily raise the sails and have them luff while I prepared to cast off. I had a few ideas going through my head when my friend Craig happened by and provided just what I needed, an extra pair of hands. Craig could now play both the bow and stern lines holding Bolero to the dock while letting the stern fall of a bit. This enabled me to raise the main and jib and clean up. It actually went fine and in hindsight we could have done it ourselves. But I think this is one of the challenges I find sailing engineless, the first launching of a new boat. So I appreciated the extra hands.

Here is a plot of the 10 nautical mile maiden voyage of Bolero.

We initially headed South, staying in the bay, to get a feel for Bolero and remove fenders, dock lines and clean up the cockpit. It didn't take long, however, and we knew we were going to head out of the bay and check the ole girl out. With the wind from the North we need to tack our way out the bay, a most unusual occurrence. Being on our way to a high tide this was easy, although Bolero's rigging was far from tuned correctly.

Once outside of the channel I went to work tensioning up the shrouds, forestay, outhaul and backstay. It took three of four tacks to snug things up but I still have much more of this once we get to know our new boat.

Of course we ran into Eric sailing my old Bluenose Sloop. He was sailing with a friend who was taking pictures the whole time. We were even asked to position ourselves so he could get just the photo he was looking for. Hopefully I will be posting these photos soon.

Sailing alongside my old Bluenose a few things became clear. First the increased stability of the larger Bolero with her heavier ballast ratio and the slightly lower SA/D of Bolero with respect to the Bluenose. With the wind around 15 kts Eric elected to tuck in the first reef and mentioned his surprise that we hadn't. Since we don't have the reefing setup that wasn't an option but we never felt overpowered in any way only burying the rail a few times.

Second, upwind we were faster and could out point the Bluenose. No surprise here with our extra length and inboard jib leads.

As we fell off the speed increase seemed to lessen. Some of this may have been my inexperience with Bolero but the inboard sheet leads started to be a handicap on reach. And down wind with Eric polling out his Genoa (still reefed) we seemed only a bit faster.

All in all we had a blast sailing besides our old boat. Eric has done a great job refinishing her for this season and she looked great. I had never really seen her from the outside looking in and it was a joy since she is such a beauty.

Here are some additional first impressions of sailing Bolero

Where the Bluenose seemed quick, fast, agile and fragile Bolero seems powerful and strong. Although she is going faster than the Bluenose she doesn't feel as fast. That said, Bolero is very, very maneuverable with a lot of rudder authority. I must admit that the sloppy steering I got away with on the Bluenose caused pretty severe course changes on Bolero.

I have a lot to learn about sailing to get the most out of this new boat. The controls on the Bluenose were very basic. Bolero has, or will have, most of the modern sail controls. In addition since she does everything a bit faster my decisions need to catch up. I am committed to spending as much time on the water as it takes.

All in all we had a great afternoon sail and hope to go out again in the light wind forecasted for today.

I was able to get on the water on Monday and Tuesday as well in really light air, 0 to 10 kts. Tuesday was my first chance to single hand her. I have to say that her light air performance far exceeded my expectations. I think that if I can see ripples on the water she will easily sail faster than the 1 to 1 1/2 kts that I can row. The great part is that she sails well in light air with a non-overlapping jib. I really like how easy this makes her to single hand.

One other really, really nice surprise is her weight. All along weight has been a critical issue in this project. I don't think Tim or I have talked publicly about it that much, but it was high on my list of priorities not to ruin the Shields performance by adding too much weight. I even went so far as to have a detailed weight budget. In the end that turned out to be impractical since there wasn't any easy way to know how much weight Tim was removing. But as Tim started cutting things off, and feeling how heavy they were, he started to get the feeling that we might be weight neutral. When it came time to determine the waterline we (Tim and I with Kristian's input) decided to raise it 2 inches for aesthetic reasons and to account for some amount of weight increase. Well without actually measuring it, I can say that we definitely have all of the two inches showing and perhaps as much as three inches. My goal from the start was to have Bolero total two person sailing / camping weight to be no more that the Shields class racing weight of 1260 lbs. Even if she is an inch or so lower (which I am not sure she is) that is only an increase of around 435 lbs or so and we will easily outfit her and keep her light.

I guess what I am trying to say, in a very nerdy way, is that so far I am tickled with how she sails in light air.

Cheers, Bill

Post by **Tim** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:07 am

Has your friend with the camera sent you his photos yet? We're dying here!

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 9:36 am

And how!

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:22 am

Tim wrote:Has your friend with the camera sent you his photos yet? We're dying here!

Believe me, I'm working on it.

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 5:18 pm

I am still trying to get a hold of Sunday's sailing pictures and will of course post whatever I can get.

Here is a little interest on that debt.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 5:35 pm

An even better picture Bill.

You need to watch those buoys though, with the bow over hang on a windless day with rollers they can batter the paint, although the spherical type don't seem to do that and I never had it happen with one of those, but the conical type like they have in Annapolis can do a number on you because the shackle on top can hit the hull. KAHOLEE now has the battle scars to prove it.

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:24 pm

You need to watch those buoys though, with the bow over hang on a windless day with rollers they can batter the paint, although the spherical type don't seem to do that and I never had it happen with one of those, but the conical type like they have in Annapolis can do a number on you because the shackle on top can hit the hull. KAHOLEE now has the battle scars to prove it.

Allen,

Thanks so much for the reminder about those gosh darn mooring balls. I was so inspired that I rowed out and wrapped the shackle ring in a whole role of rigging tape.

I imagine that those battle scars were a bit painful at first but I guess that is the price we pay for using our boats. My time honored battle scar tradition is rotating away from a dock a little too quickly as I leave and grazing the stern. You would think that would have cured me from my long skinny overhange disease. But I think it may be terminal.

Anyway thanks again for the heads up.

Cheers, Bill

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 1:47 am

I guess you no longer have any thoughts of her possibly looking "chubby."

Wowee.

R.

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 7:50 pm

Okay, no long drawn out post. Just the pictures.

MikeD · Post by **MikeD** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 10:29 pm

Peter · Post by **Peter** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 10:52 pm

Bill,
If you sheet that flag in a bit you're probably good for another half knot ;-)
She looks just .... GREAT!

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:20 am

Peter wrote:Bill,
If you sheet that flag in a bit you're probably good for another half knot ;-)
She looks just .... GREAT!

That would make Bolero a Yawl wouldn't it?

I am really starting to like sailing this boat. We have a few days of storms so I was hoping to get on the water today. I had a list of things I wanted to tinker with hoping the wind picked up. Well my todo list was mostly a bust (wrong parts) except for incorporating a two part jib sheet (I got the idea from the Colgate 26 site and this photo)

Well the wind did picked up a bit and the two part jib sheet was a great success. It turned out I didn't quite have the line I needed to make two separate jib sheets so I made one continuous one. I really liked how easy was to use this new system by myself and save the winches for the really heavy stuff.

Today actually started out kind of light, just a few small ripples on the water, and then picked up a bit (I am guessing 10 to 12 kts). It seems that if you can see ripples, Bolero sails at about a knot and a half. If the ensign start to flutter she makes about 3 knots. After that she jumps up to 5 to 6 knots with just a bit more breeze. And that doesn't count the days when the rail dips in the water.

Post by **Tim** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:42 am

Nice to see her in action! Thanks.

rshowarth · Post by **rshowarth** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:15 am

Your boat IS gorgeous!

On another note, can someone identify that block on the Colgate jib car? I use a 2-1 sheeting on my Mariner and have thought of replacing my old jib blocks. That design looks like it would do well.

Thanks,

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:38 am

Great pictures Bill, good on ya. :)

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:19 am

rshowarth wrote: On another note, can someone identify that block on the Colgate jib car?

Any open-throat block will do, I'd start with Garhauer.

(and I'd finish by not installing it backward. grrrrrrrrr.)

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:09 am

Idon84 · Post by **Idon84** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:21 pm

NICE!!!

Plastic Classic Forum

Bolero Delivery and Launching

Bolero Delivery and Launching

Neighbor!

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