Social Corner
Larry & Jamie Wheir
Social Chair
Easy Form TTPYC April 18-20th
TAX RELIEF CRUISE – PORT ORCHARD
WEATHER RELIEF CRUISE TO PORT ORCHARD
Tax relief turned into a plea for Spring & a release from the iron clad grip of WINTER. The brave Three Tree Point Fleet of six boats headed out to forecasts of cold, rain, snow, sleet, thunder & lightening, sleet, hail, heavy breeze & just about every weather condition. We did however get a fair amount of SUN. The fleet consisted of Paul & Carol Jones aboard BRIGADOON, Ray & Debra Valpey on SLOE TANGO, Buzz & Tish Greenman on PRIME MERIDIAN, Joanne Clausen & Mike on SANGUINITY, Tim & Caroline McShane on TOO FAT TO FLY & BLUE MOON captained by Peter Gelinas & First Mate Amy & crewed by Paul & Lily. For the fear of lightening or just short of time others arrived by land yachts: Phil & BJ Chin, Steve & Janet Sisson, Warren Carter.
Larry & I packed the land yacht & made sure to arrive in time for the BBQ & wine tasting. We really weren’t sure how many would brave the elements & checked with Port Orchard Marina regarding the party barge. Quartermaster Harbor Yacht Club also had a small group & they invited us to share the covered & heated facility which we must appreciated. We managed to sneak in BBQing between rain showers & they had wisely chosen to have pizza delivered. The wine tasting was a little diluted (with rainwater) but all were amused with the unveiling of the blinded bottles & mystery boxes. It was a fun winter cruise, but I for one am looking for SPRING!
As is traditional the opening day ceremony is open to all YC members, This year is a pit-pig-roast along with all the normal pomp-and-circumstance. To be held on that Saturday of Opening Boating Season Day, May 3. Contact Dave Garman for details.
Special Event to Consider, May 3st-June 1st
Twenty classic wooden yacht's will be on public display and open for free tours at the Rotary's Edmonds Waterfront Festival May 30, 31 and June 1st. The Classic Yacht Association's Third Annual Rendezvous will take place at the guest moorage area at the beautiful Port of Edmond's Marina in conjunction with the festival. The Port was honored in 2007 when it's marina was named National Marina of the Year by Marina Dock Age Magazine...the first west coast marina to receive such an honor! Definitely a fitting location for the classics. The rendezvous of the classic vessels has turned out to be the highlight event during the festival. These sleek vessels, adorned with teak, oak and mahogany bright work have been maintained in pristine condition. Polished chrome and brass cleats, horns, scoops and winches abound on the desks and pilot houses, that enclose exquisitely restored staterooms, galleys and saloons, will be available for viewing on Saturday May 31st and Sunday June 1st from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Mark your calendars and don't miss this great family event.
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Race Corner
Pat Stewart
Race
Fleet Captain
It is finally done! J mark is in place at Robinson Point. Bob Post, Tom Davis and Tim Burns found a weather window on Wednesday, the 23rd of April. Again, a big thank you to the marina for letting us use their work barge and harbor boat.
Spring Regatta is done. We had a great time being the Race Committee with help from Rosemary, John Curry, Rick Redfield and Donna Beaux. Saturday we had a very good day. We had three races for class A (PHRF), Class B (Cruising Class) and 4 races for the San Juan 21's, NINE of them! (They will do the NOOD in Elliott Bay this month). Saturday afternoon Bob Post put on a great barbeque on the guest dock. Good time! Great stories! Sunday, very little wind, too much current but we did get in 1 race. In the afternoon, Anthony’s put out food and $1 beer, followed by our awards for the past year and awards for the Regatta. Dave and Deborah borrowed a San Juan 21 and won that class. We need to see more TTPYC boats come out and sail, especially the cruisers. We only had five boats represent TTPYC.
Summer Series starts May 8th!
Spring Series 2008 -
Tom Davis Report
For goodness sakes! I hate it when you look back at the competition and see them going around the mark the "wrong" way and then the boat after them goes around the mark the "wrong" way and you sail back through the start/finish line to see the course still posted and to see "OH MY GOD" we went around the mark the wrong way. "BOOM" and we got the gun.
On some boats that may be an ah s--t and that's it but on our boat there is more to it than that. We have a very generous owner who always buys the first round of drinks whenever we get the gun. This time there was quite a discussion on where to assess blame. Since the rest of the crew is blind (I guess) and this one person saw the course and wrote it down, the burden of the first round was placed on them. Justice!
Well, it all worked out. By the time we got to the bar and we all got a ribbing and received a set of RED and GREEN pencils from the Race Committee, the skipper relented and bought a round. I think he was still pissed.
The racing was good last night. The wind was in the upper teens and it was a little bumpy but it was fun to sail back over to "J" Mark again. Bob Post found a small weather window last Wednesday, put a crew together and got it done.
Thanks to Dean and Shelly Conti and their crew for another fun race.
May 2, 2008
If you weren't there you are square unless you were at a birthday party for an eighteen year old nephew which I was. What a pleasure to be with such a great group of a dozen fifteen to eighteen year olds. The future looks good.
Heard that the Race Committee got a pretty decent race off with very little wind.
Congratulations to Bob Post and his crew on Fast Feather II for the win last night and the win for the series.
Thanks to the Race Committee: Dean, Shelly , Phil, Jay and BJ (hope I didn't miss anybody) for a fun series.
Look forward to seeing everyone out for the Summer Series starting next Thursday, May 8th thru June 19th.
May 10, 2008
Summer Series
It's summer!? Well at least it's the start of the Summer Series.
Nice to see John Hoag and his GANG out on the family cruiser and Rick Redfield out with Last Tuesday, In fact it was nice seeing all of you out for the first race of the Summer Series.
Paul Jones with Phil Chin and crew are doing their annual gig as Summer Series Race Committee. And with that, don't be surprised if you see some interesting courses posted. The Race Committee has posted a Race Instruction Supplement at the bulletin board. Here is a copy of the results. Be sure to look it over. Also, there are additional instructions for this series.
Pat and Sue Waters' Liberte' was noticeably absent for the first race, in fact they will not be doing the series because of a commitment to participate in the NOOD Regatta on May 16, 17 and 18 and then two months of cruising.
It's nice to see that we have a boat racing in the NOOD!
*SSSS will host a Racing Trim and Tactics Seminar, put on by Andrew Kerr
over two nights, March 19 and April 9.
Andrew is a world class sailor with too many national titles to list. He
makes his living teaching people to race, both as a North U instructor
and as a team/boat coach. He has taught at J World, for Colgate,
just about everywhere. Read the brochure.
Normally you will have to pay several hundred dollars and drive to at
least Seattle to get this quality of instruction. If you are willing to
drive to Oly, our seminar will only set you back $25. At that price you
can bring the whole crew! Instead of paying $300 to take a course
yourself, spring for $250 and bring your nine best crew with you! That
may do more to improve your placing than a new jib.
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Please note that our series races will be PIYA Catagory III. You can obtain a copy of this by going to their web site www.ussailing.net/piya/ or linking through www.ttpyc.org. This is a check list of the minimum equipment a boat should have for safe racing on Puget Sound. Basically for Catagory III it is very close to what the Coast Guard requirements are.
We hope to see more newcomers come out and race in the Performance Class which means Cruising Boats. You don’t need new high tech sails, a perfect bottom
or remove all that spare gear. Race NFS (No Spinnaker so crew size is small). Come out and meet your fellow sailors and have fun.
The Seattle Area racing calendar is completed. Our website has our schedule and links to other racing calendars.
If you think you may enjoy becoming a crew member, we have boats looking for crew. Call me. 206.824.4814 Pat Stewart
Please review the 2008 Race Book for Updated and New Details, Rules and Information. For a TPPYC Race Book, Click here
Entry fee: $30.00 for the series (performance class FREE)
Registration form - Click here
Send the registration form and race fee to:
TTPYC Race Fleet
Attn:Registrar
P.O. Box 98700
Des Moines, WA 98198
Go to Racing page for 2008 Racing Calendar and race related information.
For a copy of the Windseekers 2008 Race Schedule, click here
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Cruise Corner
Ray and Debra Valpey
Buzz & Tish Greenman
Cruise Co-Chairs
PBJ* Cruise
May 23-26, 2008
(Memorial Day weekend)
Change of plan: instead of Bell Street Marina in Seattle, we’ll start at
Brownsville
For 2 nights, then finish at
Poulsbo
Rafted one night – and out on the town
In Brownsville, we’ll be combining some events with our neighbors in the
Poverty Bay Sail and Power Squadron.
What to bring:
-fancy snacks to share on Friday evening – likely to be our meal
-potluck dish (salad, side dish, or desert) for Saturday night
-hors d’oeuvres for Sunday night
-guitars ‘n kazoos, etc for jammin’ at the campfire
What to expect:
-Chilidogs will be provided on Saturday (indicate preference on the form)
-fun & games; maybe a sailboat race on Saturday
-on the dock at Brownsville
-we’ll raft up at Poulsbo
Cost:
-$10 per boat covers the Brownsville reservation and Saturday night’s chilidogs
-Moorage is 50₵ per foot per night, payable to the marina on arrival
Important: Send in your form right away – the first eight (8) boats to respond are guaranteed a slip. For any others, we will try our best to get you in.
-your hosts: Ray & Debra Valpey
home: 206.243.5566 / Debra’s Cell: 206.953.5704 / Email: drvalpey@comcast.net
*Poulsbo, Brownsville & Jammin’
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We are looking for summer staff for these three positions:
Head Youth Sailing Instructor and Assistant Instructors
Head Adult Sailing Instructors
Head Sea Camp Instructors
Join us in beautiful Port Townsend, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula at the Northwest Maritime Center. We have beautiful summers here with great wind and an enormous bay to sail on. Our sailing fleet consists of Opti's, Vanguard 15's and Thunderbirds with two inflatable chase/safety boats and a multitude of boats for the Sea Camp.
Head Sailing Instructors are required to have US Sailing Level 1 Instructor certification and must be great working with kids.
Head Youth Instructor also needs to be able to manage Jr. Instructors and volunteer staff.
Season runs from end of June through beginning of September for youth ages 8-18.
Adult Learn to Sail season starts in June and runs into September.
Sea Camp instructors must possess knowledge with many types of boats, be creative and enjoy working with 7-10 year olds. Season is July-August
Competitive wages and access to sailing fleet.
Check our website for more details about the programs www.nwmaritime.org and click on 'programs'.
For more information email resume to: rob@nwmaritime.org or call (360) 385-3628 x103
www.woodenboat.org and www.nwmaritime.org
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In Search of MINTO, by Michael Ellis
This is a story about a 9'1" sailing dinghy with a lapstrake fibreglass hull, teak gunwales, thwarts, knees and breast hook, Sitka spruce boom, and two-piece mast. It is called a Minto. It has been one of the most popular boats in the Northwest for the past 40 years, and it is hard to find a long-time NW sailor who hasn't owned or sailed a Minto at some point.
I don't remember exactly when or how my story of the Minto sailing dinghy began. However, in piecing together the past it seems to me it must have been at the Seattle Boat Show in 1979. For several months prior to the show, my father and I had been talking about the possibility of being partners in a sailboat. I had looked at an Aquarius 23 in Gig Harbor, which I thought was too small. I drove out to Southworth to take a look at a used Balboa 26, but it wasn't in great shape and we didn't pursue it. Then my dad started talking about American 25s and Buccaneer 24s, and I started to get nervous. Not that those aren't fine boats, but I was looking for something with more of a classic appearance, and with 6'2" standing room. For you see I wasn't really a sailor, but I thought I knew what one looked like.
At the 1979 Seattle Boat Show I found Ranger Boats of Kent, WA, displaying their Ranger 26 sailboat, and I fell in love. However, the cost of a new Kent Ranger 26 in 1979 was about $23,000 USD, which was around twice our sailboat budget. So I started searching for a used one while holding my dad's American and Buccaneer urges at bay. I am pretty sure I remember seeing a Ranger Minto at the show, but my focus was on the Ranger 26. I had driven past Howard Smith's Ranger Boat Company on HW99 numerous times and noticed the cute little boats he had on display, but it never occurred to me to stop. After the show we did stop at Smitty's to get another look at the Ranger 26, and I remember standing in the display room and admiring the beautiful little Minto.
Ranger only built about 70 Ranger 26s before shutting down its production, and since at that point they had probably only built about half, finding a used one took some time. As this was before the Internet, my searches were restricted to regular checks of the two main Seattle papers. Then, after several months of fruitless checking, my wife and I left the kids with the grandparents and took a short weekend getaway to Vancouver, BC. After taking in a Friday night movie, I got up Saturday morning and went out for some donuts and coffee, and of course a newspaper. And of course there was an ad for a Kent Ranger 26, which just so happened to be in Bellingham, which just so happened to be on our way back home, which just so happened to cut short our first weekend without the kids. So we bought our first Kent Ranger 26 in 1980, and some time in 1982 we bought a used Minto.
I bought the Minto primarily to be used as a tender for the 26. However, it came with a sailing package and I discovered how much fun they were to sail. It also became a fishing, crabbing, and crawfish-catching boat. It went on just about every family vacation that we didn't go by plane. Sometimes on top of a motorhome, sometimes on top of the car, and sometimes in a trailer, and sometimes even behind our boat. When we moved to a new house and sold our first Kent Ranger 26 in 1997, there was no question of selling the Minto. For the past eight years, it has been a common sight in Rich Passage, between Waterman Point and Bainbridge Island, serving as both a rowboat and sailboat
So that was my 25-year introduction to the Minto, and until this year when I started building Mintos I hadn't been all that curious about how the boat got its name or how the boat came to be. Over the years, I had heard a number of stories about the origins of the Minto. Initially, I just assumed it originated with Ranger Boats. Then I read an article published in 48North magazine that identified Ed Hoppen, the boatbuilder who was the first builder of the Thunderbird sailboat, as also being the father of the Minto. That story told of Ed finding an old wood boat washed ashore somewhere in south Puget Sound and using the boat to make the mould for the first Minto in his Eddon Boat Yard in Gig Harbor. After that, the Minto history is pretty straightforward. At least for the history of the authorized Minto. As one of the most popular boat designs in the NW, it has been frequently pirated, both commercially and as home projects. The roots are undoubtedly Eddon, and the main trunk is Ranger, but there are numerous offshoots to the Minto sailing dinghy tree.
After building a couple hundred Eddon Mintos, Ed licensed Ranger to make the Minto in the mid-1960s. Ranger built about 1,000 Ranger Mintos until Ranger was sold in 1999 to Dave Livingston and his sons. The Livingstons decided to concentrate on powerboats, and by 2002 both Minto moulds had been sold. One went to Hal Palmer in Gig Harbor, who subsequently sold it to Ed's son, Guy Hoppen. The other mould went to Steve Metz, also of Gig Harbor, and this was the mould I used to put the Minto back into production this year as the Rich Passage Minto. As the latest in the line of Minto builders, after owning one for 23 years, I finally got interested in the Minto history.
My first step was to find out why the Minto graphic was a little steamship. I did an Internet search and discovered the steamship SS Minto, built in 1898 and used in service on Upper Arrow Lake in British Columbia until 1954. This seemed too much to be coincidence, but I wanted confirmation and an explanation. I called Ken Wheeler, who for many years was Smitty's production manager at Ranger Boats. Ken confirmed the graphic and name did come from the old steamship, and according to the story, he was told it was because Ed Hoppen had found the original wood boat lying in the weeds next to the derelict steamer. Well, that was a nice little story and with that information I wrote a nice little article for Small Craft Advisor magazine. The problem was, like other handed-down stories, it was mostly true, but not entirely so. When I contacted Guy Hoppen for confirmation, he told me his dad's friend, Heine Dole, was the person who actually found the boat, and it came from a barn on Orcas Island, not the weeds holding the old SS Minto. Guy speculated the Minto name was adopted for the dinghy because it reminded Heine and his dad of the lifeboats carried by the SS Minto, and to make the dinghy distinctive. Guy said he remembers watching Heine and his dad designing and cutting out the first little Minto steamer icon to go on the dinghy's sail.
The boat Rob purchased happened to be named after the SS Minto, and it came with a fancy skiff, which had "Minto RVYC" carved into its transom. Besides thinking the skiff was a little too fancy to be used as a dinghy, he also thought the 10-foot skiff was too long for his 24 foot sailboat. So he traded it for a shorter dinghy Bob Schoen had bought in Vancouver for $65 for his larger Chantey sailboat, and after Chantey was sold the original Minto dinghy eventually got stored in the Schoen's barn. That is where Heine, a naval architect, saw the boat and convinced Bob it would make a great boat reproduced in fibreglass, but would have to be shortened. At this point I should mention that before Rob Whittlesey sent me a photo of the original Minto skiff, everyone had remembered Ed and Heine lengthening the plug by about two feet. When I got the photo from Rob I suspected perhaps the photo was of the wrong boat. We are talking about something that occurred about 60 years ago, and those involved still living didn't realize they were engaged in creating a NW classic. However, Rob's memory was confirmed by another old friend, Terry Dalton, who was with Bob on Chantey when the trade was made.
Ed Hoppen died in July 1985. Bob Schoen died in March 2003, and Heine died one month later. Mary Schoen and Peggy Dole both remember Ed Hoppen's Eddon Minto #1 being destroyed, #2 going to Ed, #3 going to Chuck Ogden, #4 going to Heine, and #5 going to Bob. Mary still has #5, which she still sails in front of her home on West Sound, and she also has the last Eddon Minto built. Besides having my curiosity satisfied, the real reward in this search has been learning about and meeting some of the wonderful people behind the story, each of them owning a part of the Minto sailing dinghy history. Even though Bob Schoen was known for many achievements in his life, according to Mary he took special pleasure in having provided the wood boat that was used to make the Minto sailing dinghy.
So with the question about the origin of the Minto sailing dinghy sufficiently resolved, my next question was from where does the Minto name come? There are numerous geographic applications of the Minto name, but they all relate back to Minto village in south Scotland, near the border with England. But the use of the Minto name does not refer to the village itself, but to the persons who have carried the title of Lord Minto. At the time the SS Minto steamship was built, the Governor General of Canada was Lord Minto, Gilbert John, 4th Earl of Minto. It is assumed by the British Columbia History Museum archivist the SS Minto was named to honour Lord Minto for his recent selection as Governor General, and his previous service to Canada from 1883 to 1885 as the military secretary to the then Governor General of Canada, Lord Lansdowne. However, during his first stay in Canada, Lord Minto, who was born Gilbert John Elliot but assumed his father's title of Lord Melgund, was commonly known as just "Melgund". It gets a little confusing with given names, titles, and the names actually used by British aristocrats. Regardless, as Governor General of Canada from 1898 to 1904 and Viceroy of India from 1905 to 1910, he was known as Lord Minto and is considered in Britain's history one of its most notable diplomats and administrators.
So now you know why the pretty little sailing dinghy created by Heine Dole and Ed Hoppen in Gig Harbor is called a Minto. The Minto sailing dinghy is the namesake for the Minto skiff, which was the namesake for the Minto sailboat, which was the namesake for the SS Minto, which was the namesake for Lord Minto, who was himself a namesake for Minto village. So does that make the dinghy a Minto fourth removed? I think we will just continue calling it a Minto.
If you want more information about the Rich Passage Minto sailing dinghy you can go to the Rich Passage Boats, LLC website at www.richpassage.com, e-mail Mike at mike@richpassage.com, or call him at 360-769-3972. (This was taken from the website, rather than re-typing the copy, http://www.richpassage.com/richpassage_article_nw.html
"Some footnote remarks. . .the three of us had just returned home from WWII: Bob Schoen, Rob Whittlesey and I departed January 1, 1946 from Lake Washington on a 5 week cruise in the San Juan and Gulf Islands aboard Bob's 30' cutter, "Chantey", a Heinie Dole designed able vessel. After several San Juan anchoages we spent a couple of days in Victoria and about then Rob learned he had been accepted at Columbia University and had to get back there to enter school.
We sailed from Victoria for Cattle Pass and Friday Harbor where Rob could ferry back to civilization and the trip up the straiits in a ferocious westerly was some ride. The whitecaps were blown away off the wave tops in the rising gale. Wer were running solely on clubbed staysail as we entered the welcome shelter of Cattle Pass whre all the seabirds had congregated for respite: seagulls, cormorants, Guillemots, and even a pelican, soaring around looking like a pterodactyl!
After Rob's departure in Friday Harbor, Bod & I cruised slowly up to Nanaimo, waking each morning to find ice on the decks and finding the Shipmate stove loaded with bark a welcome companion. We crossed the Georgia Sraits to Vancouver, where Bob did some serious shopping for a dinghy, as "Chantey" did not have one until then. The brand new, copper-fastened, lap strake cedar gem was purchaded for $65, and later traded for the Minto's longer skiff which became the "Minto" sailing dinghy mold. And so the beat goes on. . . hooray!"
E. Terry Dalton 01/30/06
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Get Off My Tail! Be Whale Wise -Stay 100 Yards Away
The Pacific Northwest posessesses many natural wonders. One of the most fascinating and precious of these is the Southern Resident killer whale population living in the waters of British Columbia and Washington State. The enthusiasm of boat owner and tourists for seeing Orcas has led to some vessels operating in very close proximity to these amazing animals Approaching too quickly, getting too close or making too much noise can disrup Orcas, keeping them from finding food, socdializing, resting and other activities.
The Be Whale Wise campaign was launched in order to provide boat operators in Washington and British Columbia with a set of guidelines to help them avoid disturbing Orcas - an illegal act which can carry a substatial fine in both the U.S. and Canada. These guidelines can be found on the campaign's website: bewhalewise.org. This website also has links to the U.S. and Canadian laws governing human interaction with Orcas. (Info take from letter sent by bewhalewise.org)
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Membership
Janet & Steve Sisson
Membership Chair
Message From the Editor
Please remember that the website has all articles within this newsletter as well as changes that are sent my way after and before publication each month. Two new pages; Mid-Sound Summer Social and The Ship’s Store are now available. Please check these out and note new info on several pages, this website is not static!
The above request from NW Maritime Center was sent to us via the internet. Yes, I am receiving queries and requests every month through our website. It is getting more attention, which is a message to you that your content is viable. Continue sending new articles and photos. Check out photos of 2008 Blake Island Cruise photos sent by Mark Nutter archivealbum.
Remember that you may opt out of receiving the monthly issue of the Barnacle sent by USPS. Simply notify Sue, and she will pull you off the mailing list. PDF issues are always available by going to Archived Back Issues.
The Barnacle is published by the Three Tree Point Yacht Club every month but July.
Material for the Barnacle must be submitted by the 1st of each month of publication to Sue Waters' email
May, 2008
