Sqoop: a square-rigged sloop

  It was time for the big reveal.  The hull below the waterline had not yet been exposed to air during my tenure as her owner, and now she needed to show us her bottom, warts and all.  Actually, this past summer we dove into the lake to give her hull a light underwater scrub, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.   I made a Monday morning appointment at a recommended boat yard and began the journey westward.  My plan was to move the boat to Shilshole Marina the weekend prior, so that on the morning of the haul out I would only need to make a quick, easy trip over to the boatyard.  Of course, the weekend arrived and the weather was not ideal; rainy and windy.  I had a sporty sail around Mercer Island and across Lake Washington but once I got to Montlake Cut, the rain ended and the wind subsided. I stopped at Ivar’s for lunch, picked up the crew and we motored past Gas Works Park and into the ship canal.  The Fremont bridgemaster kindly ope...

  I got word from the sailmaker that the full-sized square sail is nearly complete.  After fabricating the test sail myself, I figured I had learned enough during the process to move along and hire a professional to craft the full-sized version; it will even have a foot of draft built into it (like a spinnaker) which is not something I wanted to even attempt.  Anyway, I will soon have a 180 square feet of 1.5 ounce ripstock nylon to proudly hoist.  You don’t see very many square sails around Lake Washington and Puget Sound, so I’m thinking about what unique insignia I can display on my blank canvas of dark blue, and I have a number of symbols influencing my attempt at graphic creativity. If you’ve read through the design document (click  HERE  to view), you’ll know that I’ve incorporated the golden ratio (aka ‘the divine proportion’) into the design.  This is most visible in the dimensions of the square sail; the ratio of the foot (and height) to the h...

  The running backstays I fabricated out of Dyneema are normally attached on the outer sides of the cockpit coaming with lashings that run through D-rings and are tightened and secured with small cleats.  Their primary purpose is to support the mast at the point where the sail’s head load is (at times) transferred through the yard-spar to the mast’s battcar & T-track assembly. When I was out on my last sail, I started wondering if they might also serve as temporary lazy jacks when sailing in the fore-and-aft configuration.  Lazy jacks are great when lowering the mainsail as they prevent the sail from spilling all over the deck as it comes down.  The potential snafu is that they can snag the sail’s battens as it’s raised, possibly damaging the fabric.  What if you had lazy jacks could magically appear AFTER the mainsail has already been raised?   Quelle magnifique idée !   After a trip to Fisheries to acquire the necessary bits of hardware and faste...