salt and wood

1. The makings of T Bone

2. T Bone test flight.

3. Starboard.

4. Port

5. Stern.

6. Bon Voyage

T Bone was an experiment to see if lifting the sail clear and high of the water surface would be more effective in capturing the breeze. The answer is who knows as while this was an intriguing sculpture that cast a pleasing reflection it was a failed sailing vessel. It set out very well and accelerated to a high speed straight away. But I had set an aggressive port rudder to cut her across the wind to the heads. I underestimated the effect of the vertical plank hull and each time she sped up the blue plastic rudder pulled to port and the blade hull dug in. Resulting in a more of less sideways sailing position. There was also to much buoyancy to far back meaning more of the front half of the hull was in the water trying to turn her backwards. Oh well. She was still upright and heading to the heads of Botany Bay when I left but more like a crab than a Marlin.

1. The makings of Wood if I Cood

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7. Bon Voyage

8. Pirates

You know it took me a long time to get to this point. This was a day trip to the beach that I was not even likely to get time to whip up a boat. Not to mention the wind was blowing on shore. It just so happened I found a few bits here and there and voila, a boat. And not just any boat but a colour coordinated, rope weave crafted, wooden hulled, successfully engineered self writing boat that sat perfectly on the water and low and behold was bobbing around on the water next to me when the wind changed for the afternoon and she glided out into the bay in a smooth effortless fashion and to top it off she was headed for the open sea at the opening of Botany bay. To say I was feeling fulfilled would be an understatement. As we wondered up the hill to leave the beach I turned to get one last shot of her way out on the water from higher ground. It was at this point that I noticed the pirate attack under way. A small chubby child clearly to young to be in charge of a motorized dinghy had broken away from a large motor boat named ‘Risky Business’ and was heading at speed towards the (hence) Wood if I Cood. As my heart sank I watched him grab her by the sail and drag her behind his dinghy at high speed much the same way a hopped up Mexican might drag a captured cowboy. As he came in closer to the shore I yelled out “hey kid let it go out” and I could hear his mum yelling for his attention from the RB “Jordan let it go let it go”. She was clearly concerned that little Jordan may have enraged some beach dwelling boat making hobo and there could be retribution. I couldn’t watch. I tell my self he let it go and it stole away into bay on the evening breeze.

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flotsam rubbish sailing boat

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What an oddball. An almost hull free creation. It sailed surprisingly well. The theory here was that the half bottle located at the rear of the rudder shaft would add to the effect of the rudder and be weightless in the water but if she tried to tip forward in a gust and the half bottle lifted it would of coarse attain weight and hold her down. It sailed surprisingly fast but didn’t get to far before it tipped forward and the big floppy sheet sail dug into the water. This was in the days before I had developed the self righting tech seen on The Steve Kamper, Wood if I Cood and This Is Ship to name a few.   

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Flotsam rubbish sailing boats

There were a number of things I enjoyed about this boat. Not least the word play. The remaining portion of this real estate agents sign not only vaguely referred to a famous car race but also the Leman Brothers company that had just collapsed in the U.S.  A big graceful wooden hulled creature fixed over three PET bottles partly filled with water. The theory was that they float when on the water but attain weight when lifted out of the water such as when she is tipping to far. The main sail was located far enough forward to counter the effect of wind pulling the protruding rudder to the round and sailing backwards. In fact she sailed beautifully as you can see from the wake here pulling away from the rocks and way out in the bay in the final pictures. 

1. Stern

2. Port

A funny primitive little wooden hull plastic sheet sail skimmer. This was a very early creation. The rubber band stabilized knife rudder is probably the only noteworthy feature of Knifes Edge. Strictly for sailing on very calm seas. 

1. Pretty basic

2. Striped hull

3. Ready to roll

4. Bon Voyage

Not even a skimmer just a funny fat little barge with a spray can lid full of sand to help stabilize the hull on the water. You can see where a clothes peg came into its own fixing the sail to the biro mast and in turn to the secondary stabilizing stick that was running the glad wrap flag. This took a few minutes to put together but sailed off in a very satisfying fashion.