What an amazing experience! I got to know Rusty through my brother Ken Counts and consider Rusty a great friend as my brother did. I think you , Rusty and my brother have the same DNA!
I smile every time I think of Ken - that man was def one of the good ones! I'm really thankful for being around guys like him and Rusty when I was young and impressionable!
@@greencommando2674 What part of Malaysia are you from? Is there a different boat there? I spent a little bit of time iat anchor in Labuan, and I did cargo in Klang.
@@Forrest-Jackson i'm from Selangor . This is the list tradisional boat that i know. Perahu payang Perahu Pinis Gobel Perahu Dogol Perahu Anak Bedar Bedar
I loved watching this! What a miserable time you had, but what an adventure! You are stronger in spirit than almost anyone I could imagine. What a beautiful craft and a wonderful dream. Happy sailing! Stay safe!
Thank you!!!! I'm pouring libations to Neptune Rex and the Order of The Raging Main as I'm packing for take 2 of this trip! And trying to figure out if I can pack my signed copy of "SEABIRDS: The New Identification Guide." 🤣🤣
I spent two nights at cumberland island after visiting family in Georgia, my first time as an adult on the east coast and first time on the Georgia coast. I understand how it's compelling you to make these preparations and attempts, what a wonderful craft and spirit. Thanks for the document
Thank you, @jpsuperstar! The GA coast is magical to me and I'm glad you enjoyed! I'm already planning my next attempt for May of 2024 - I hope I can get that video done in less time than this one took!! 🤣😂.
I thoroughly enjoyed your adventure story. Battling the elements can be hard on a man. Somewhere along one becomes resourceful beyond what one thought possible. Well done sir. I had my own little adventure years ago sailing around a part of Corsica with an old modified Hobie 18 so I can relate, I think. Greetings from Belgium.
I'm a fan of lamination (the waka and ama are laminated in s-glass and I'd have it no other way)... but I've seen a lot of parts rot from the inside--out, and other parts self destruct when moisture migrates in and the wooden substrate swells, splitting the laminations, so I try to be judicious about it. In the case of my failed ioko, I blame my poor wood selection more than anything else. I sacraficed strength for weight in a critical place where more strength is clearly necessary. I don't know if this wa'a layout will survive planned revisions, but if they do then I am going to inlet hardwood dowels into them and call them sufficiently reinforced. I'd prefer to be even lighter (most decisions on this boat came down to weight-conciousness), so if they fail again I'll make them from okoume or hoop pine ply, or carbon fiber with no wooden cores at all. Manuiki'iki is 21' long and I can pick him up by myself - and I'm not getting any younger 😂
Yup... Nearly every structural failure I see during a restoration is associated with metal fasteners allowing moisture in over time... with modern adhesives and laminate techniques there is far less reason to use metal fasteners, which no matter how well protected or maintained will eventually fail. 🌲⛵️🌲
Marvelous misadventure! If ever you’re interested in a more moderate expedition I’d appreciate the excuse to explore Grand Coulee, in eastern Washington. My wa’pa, named such for its plywood hull, “Huck Luna” was just launched two weeks ago. So named Huck for my late brother, Harley (if a Charley is called Chuck would that make a Harley a Huck?). I had felt conflicted about calling the boat a her, while touting his name. However, thank you for the male reference. That knowledge alleviates my mind. Similarly to your story, mine began with carrying two heavy six foot pallets from a machine shop, to my home, to build an outdoor workbench, on a Onewheel. Was that ever an excursion. It worked though, many rests and two trips later. Cheers!
Your other mother "Skin" (remember her?) would be so proud! Grateful you ate the blue crabs and not the other way around. Fantastic documentary, Forrest. Clay sent it along and told me I had to stop everything and watch it, so I did. Nice that the Fleetwoods stepped up in every way, too. Not a fun trip for you in your native waters, but certainly a true adventure. You'll be talking about it for the rest of your days. Hugs, Momster
Yeah, but Skin died when she went off a cliff on a horse drawn wagon in Nevada, so we can't really trust her judgement, now can we? This trip was actually fun in many ways.... but unfulfilling. My next attempt is now only 9 months from now 🤣 Thank you!
I appreciate the video. Very well done. And I feel like a kindred spirit. I've loved messin' around with all sorts of little sailing craft over the years, my mind full of island fantasies, but often finding that I get to do little sailing. And then I have countless hours thinking about what I did wrong. Here's my philosophy these days. A full-on sailboat is practical. A well-skippered (so to speak) kayak is practical. But when you start creating entities **between** those two design concepts, a lot of unexpected impractical things happen. I mean, down in Florida, I created all sorts of canoe-ish contraptions and went camping, sailing, paddling. Very healthy! (All that unforeseen brutal paddling.) More recently I built a Wharram Melanesia sailing canoe. I think I loved the beauty of it more than the practicality of it. Heavy weather is the scientist which tests each design. And I think there you have it. Your design is beautiful, but probably not as practical as you expected. For me, from now on, I want a sailing canoe's cockpit to be self-draining. I want it to be easily paddled. I want to be able to "anchor out" at times, and lay down on the cockpit floor and sleep. (Under a custom tent.) I want the vessel to be fast under sail but also easy to reef or strike the sails completely. And I will always now have TWO amas, like a trimaran, or at least a significant safety ama of some sort. There's a particular point of sail, a broad reach or running, with the ama to windward... THAT gets sketchy if you're out for a peaceful but serious trip down the coast among islands and not just playing around on a sunny afternoon in an empty boat. Again, practicality over aesthetics. Windage is another concern. Your akas are beautiful, but that windage messes with the sailing. (I see you are making flatter ones now, yes.) ...Anyway, just some thoughts. You probably know more about this stuff than me, but I might be more experienced in doing things wrong! haha ...And one last thing. Sand. You gotta embrace it. Trick your mind to enjoy it. Get down in it. It's the stuff of our fantasies, you know, beaches, sunshine, islands, palm trees--and sand everywhere. A beach-combing adventure (or life) must have it. Might as well love it. A hell of a lot better than concrete and asphalt and the urban life. ...Hope to see your next adventure soon.
Thank you for your kind words! I'd love a Wharram cat - but my big-boat days are on hold for now - I've spent far too much of my life on haul outs and bottom paint, already! The goal of this next trip will be the same as in the video: Sail from island to island, staying on each; no transit to be more than 10 or 12 miles. I have great sailing out here in the Salish Sea, but I do not have the Gullah Coast - it is a timeless, ever-changing, introspective, and primitive place. Sand and all 🤣
Holy Smokes! The Mrs. and I made it into this documentary! It was SO RANDOM and AWESOME running into you that day as you helped us look for her exhaust tip that made its exit “stage/lane left” from her bike. Dude, this boat and its history are AMAZING! Look forward to following along!
It was so funny to drive thousands of miles, for days and days, and then to see y'all on the side of the road. What's even funnier is that even with your helmets on I recognized you!!! Going to do this again in September... I have all the ducks lined up!
I just finished it. Man… talk about LIVING!!!! You’ve ALWAYS marched to the beat of your own drum, even if you are the only one, who heard it’s rhythmic beating. That’s what I’ve always admired about you. From the times we were just small kids in the Boys Home! I have ZERO doubt, you WILL make this trip, and make it on YOUR terms! Look forward to the next installment! Maybe we could meet up again. This time planned…. on your way to Clays.
@@R3215T3R Thank you, JJ! I really appreciate your kind words- it means a lot to me! It would be great to see you somewhere other than on the side of Hwy 17 - I have the next attempt on the books for this September (b/c of course I should reattempt in hurricane season) so when I'm packing I'll ping you!
Tybee can certainly crank out rough conditions for a small craft. I sat my ACA Lumpy Waters course there a while back. I added small wooden sailboats to my mix after that. One thing I've noticed with lashings (like your repair), using cordage with some give tends to let a wooden boat flex and take less shock than a low stretch Dyneema. Then again, we use what we have when doing repairs underway. After a few years of playing around in the more forgiving Gulf and Outer Banks (and Identifying failure points), I took my 19 ft open cockpit trimaran to Hamilton Bermuda from Beaufort, NC in the best window I could find at the tail end of hurricane season. I don't know if I've ever felt that tiny in my life.
The softness of the sand on the Gullah coast definitely belies the danger to boats of every size and mode... this wasn't my first time getting my ass handed to me here, that's for sure! It won't be the last, either. I used dyneema on purpose - I always have a variety of lines and methods for repair and lashing, but in that case what I wanted to use was something that wasn't going to loosen when the sun warmed it and something that could resist moisture... a larger diameter would've resisted pulling itself into the wood, but that was the size I had. Ideally the wa'a wouldn't have been so fragile in the first place! I'm fixing that- overkill on the structure isn't overkill, so overkill is coming. What kind of tri did you transit on? I just picked up a Windrider 17 and a buddy just got two of the 16's... I'm sorely tempted to do the R2AK in the 17... I have over 1500 days at sea sailing on container ships and I've felt very, very tiny out there, even on 1,000 foot ships... if you don't feel vulnerable when you're in the ocean then you simply don't understand where you are, or you lack the imagination to comprehend the many ways you can die, or you lack the experience of enough close-calls to keep you perpetually second-guessing your every move.
@@Forrest-Jackson Windriders are pretty bulletproof for what they are. I have a buddy in his 80s that sold his 17 and picked up a 16 as the 16 is so simple to set up and be on the water in minutes. From what I hear, the lack of a centerboard makes them to point very well. From a nonmototized distance race perspective, they paddle like a dog if you're becalmed. Super fun vessels, but I don't know that they're well-suited for a R2AK. I bought plans for a Slingshot 19. They're at home in skinny waters like the Gulf and Outer Banks, but a bit fragile on bigger seas. Also not a good fit for R2AK type conditions. My current iteration vaguely resembles the initial build. She still folds for trailering, but she's rigged with two mast steps to accept either a Hobie 16 sailplan or a RSS balanced lug. The Hobie yields the best peak performance, but the balanced lug can average higher on longer trips. Just so much simpler to deal with a single sheet and sail, and reefing underway isn't a death defying exercise single-handed. From a sailing perspective, I'm a noob with about 8 years of sailing, most of which is small homebuilt vessels. Hoping to build a 13 meter trimaran (or buy an older one and modify it) to do some bluewater.
Was stationed in Savannah in 1967 and only went to Tybee Island once.... got sunburned so bad that it shocked me. I'm from California and I never peel!! Every inch of my body peeled that summer. Went to Vietnam after that and even Vietnam wasn't as hot as Tybee Island was.....
Tybee can be brutal, that's for sure! I was just there and I helped move a large aluminum spar, but when I was done I felt wiped out... turns out the neighbor's thermometer was reading 110 degrees.
Thank you! Yeah, def seen his shunting proa (I follow him). It's a design I haven't played with, but may, someday. Kinda like that Wharram he restored. My favorite proa story is by a man who moved to Mexico, built a proa, taugh himself how to sail it, then sailed down the coast to Panama - it's a fantastic read: grillabongquixotic.wordpress.com/
Hi wow I hope you don't mind but I really enjoyed this video! although it's a pity there wasn't more sailing in it! I would have done a very similar repair on that crack. I notice it occured just above where the grain was backed by the gunwhale, that is, where the tension went across the gain not with it. I also thought the akas were too high. I think dead straight would probably be okay, since they attach at a raised section on the vaka. On a tacking outrigger like this, I would recommend having at least enough bouyancy to support your weight, but otherwise, to get more righting moment an easier way is just to make the akas longer. Also a very nicely made video! I am eagerly awaiting the next installment! subscribed!
Thanks! The next installment will be me correcting the current deficiencies and adding some new ones :-D I'm in complete agreement with you... I would have definitely enjoyed more sailing in this video, and less of me getting my ass kicked. I'll work very hard to make the next attempt (May of 2024) more in line with our mutual desire, for sure. I'll be retiring the curved iokos (and yes, making them longer) and stretching the ama. Probably doing some PNW winter trials in my dry suit, too (if I can find the time - I have three large projects underway at the moment). Thanks for the subscribe! I've been watching your canoes for awhile now and dig your channel - Thank you for sharing @dominictarrsailing!
I realy like your adventure, the naration, everything. Mother nature is very humbling on the water. I went to the Bahamas with a cheap 30ft catamaran with very little experience. It was mostly great but also humbling. We had two 9.9hp outboard (one for the dighy and another for the boat) that came very handy when one quit or had the propeler tangled in rope. A small proa like this is only used inside protected atols, not in the open ocean. A tiny gas outboard would also make a huge difference. Consider it a safety feature.
Thank you for your kind words! And you're right... mother nature will knock the cocky right out of the disrespectful soul! My most memorable voyages are the ones I undertook before I had enough experience to know better... if I were a more timid man I think I'd never leave the dock again after some of the storms I've weathered (45' seas in the North Atlantic and a near capsize in the Philippine Sea come immediately to mind). I'd love to sail around the Bahamas, one day! I tip my hat to you, sir! I spent years as a merchant sailor and I have many wonderful memories from snorkelling and boating in both the lagoon and ocean sides of Kwajalein Atoll, and the comparable oceans and harbors of Guam and Saipan. But those waters - some of the ancestoral waters to a few of the mulit-hull canoes - simply cannot be compared to the waters of Coastal Georgia. The GA coast has Gray's Reef as a breakwater, super shallow and ever-changing sand seabeds with many protective 'long-shore sandbars, and a wide tidal range that make the near coastal Georgia waters more similar to an inland sea (or lagoon) than to open ocean. I've seen larger swells, waves, tidal ranges, and current velocities here - where I live now - in the Salish Sea (Puget Sound, Strait of Juan De Fuca, and Georgia Strait) than in near coastal Georgia's "open ocean." Don't get me wrong - those soft sand shores are a shipwreck graveyard when weather hits, but that's not when experienced sailors operate. Each body of water I've spent time in has its own characteristics... hell, its own personality - and of all the waters I have had the fortune to know, I like Georgia's Guale Coast's personality the most. And Manu'iki'iki was designed specifically for gliding through zephyr shadows over sandbars at low tide, pushed by the onshore morning breeze. What I got in this video was a nasty, stalled northerly, of course, and an all you can eat buffet of humble pie!!! I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the many, many different canoes of the world, too. From Bab El Mandeb at the mouth of the Red Sea where it dumps into the Indian Ocean all the way to the Galapagos in far eastern Pacific, I have seen canoes of every shape, size, description, and use. I've seen canoes in open oceans, inner and outer seas, lagoons, rivers... I saw two fishermen in a 20 foot canoe throwing nets 150 miles off the coast of Somalia. The canoes of Sri Lanka are ocean going, as are the racing jukung of Tahiti. The Philippine fishing boats of all sizes go out to fish in unbelievable conditions. The Aleuts take their kayaks into the open ocean to fish and the forefoot design is meant to race down the face of ocean swells. All of the Polynesian war canoes were ocean canoes used for warfare between island nations (Samoa, Hawaii, Chamorro, etc). These are open, long, narrow, fast, and uncomfortable canoes that surf the face of following swells. Your advise about an outboard does not fall on deaf ears. I left my electric/solar outboard at the dock for this voyage and I will NOT do that again! I will be making it a much more integral component on my planned upgrades for my next voyage! During my evaluation (at the end of the video) I had a difficult current to fight against when I was heading back in and having that extra juice was the difference between being forced to wait for slack tide and eating dinner at a decent hour. I will almost always choose to eat at a decent hour 🤣 Anyway, thanks again for watching and sharing your thoughts!
For now... September will be here soon! That's when this particular journey will continue... I guess the destination is kind of like spaghetti being thrown against a refrigerator... at some point in the journey it'll stick.
I don't know how far you've gotten with your re-build, but I live in Everett and am willing to help with labor. I've converted several canoes into very good camping trimaran sailers. An aka ama would be a cinch, although I don't use arched akas. I rip them from solid fir or spruce with the vertical grain opposed to the direction of stress, then kerf slot them for a bit of fly at the outer 1/3 length. Fill the slots with thickened epoxy and wqrap with e-glass for flexible strength. The amas are rigid foam core withseveral layers of glass wrapping, with extra at grounding points and surfaces. The best I've made were 10' long x 12" deep x 8" wide used on an 18' Grumman canoe with 85 ft of sail (65ft gunter and a 20ft jib), but a better rig was the jib plus a 54ft standing lug.
I appreciate the offer! You're clearly a kindred spirit! My rebuild has gone nowhere past the planning phase, but I've gathered materials and now I need a window of time to act - my schedule is still a wall of work preventing me from this labor of love. I'm tempted to do a shakedown of the revised Manuiki'iki on Baker Lake this Spring/Summer/As-soon-as-possible. The revisions I am making are to convert the curved iokas to longer, strait spars of sitka spruce giving them the athwartship proportions more akin to the Marshallese canoes - I want to keep the weight as low as possible while at the same time make moving fore and aft easier in any sea state. I'm also going to add a manufactured kickup rudder and simplify the steering, add a simple boomless polytarp main to carry for days when dousing is critical to survival... and, of course, set off again ASAP.
@@Forrest-Jackson Baker Lake is my Valhalla Vortex. I have several videos of some sailing up there over the past several years - before my shoulders and back said, "enough". I took them down off my channel, but if you're interested, I'll re-post them and share the link. If further interested, I can meet you there at some point and be the chase/photo/video boat....and chief heckler. I'll bring the cooler.
Sailing is a nice sport with pretty traditional mutihuls but with such boats in very strong winds oh la la......never.....and the sea is never previsible.
Multihulls are ancient and the most far-flung of all boats... they've crossed every ocean and continue to do so. I've seen them from the Marquesas, all through the Pacific - Micronesia to Polynesia - into the Indian Ocean and the Bengal Sea, off the coast of Sri Lanka to Bab El Mandeb... north and south of the equator. The Philippine fishermen are some of the most fearless sailors in the world in dugout canoes with outriggers... they routinely go through incredible bar breakers and rough seas as routine. The fault here wasn't the type of boat, it was a poor design choice by the builder (me). I'll tighten up the design for the next go-round...
Ive been thinking on a minimalistic sailing design- and seen some - like Sven Yrvinds designs - but they are too small and hopeless ineffective as sailboats... and looking at your proa - when you plan a trip on the outer coast like that - you must prepare for big waves - and have a volume that can keep your things and yourself inside the hull. Look at what the mini Transat can do - they are real sailboats that can take whatever. Your boat with all the small details that can break - and very little volume - you have to stand on it - no shelter - in a 3ft chop it not working at all. That the ama was to small - first thing I noticed - its stand out to everyone that has just a tad of maritime knowledge. It may seem a good idea to build a boat from used things... but if the result is not doing what you wanted - its a big waste. But you had a real lesson there - and made a good story out of it - so not a total waste - but going on with the challenge you need a total new design. Use the proa for sheltered waters.
The idea that you are either alive or you are safe can be perfectly encapsulated by the diametrically opposed vessel trade-offs of a shallow draft and the ability for one man to move, lift, and carry it, or an armored, steel battleship of a thing and weight-be-damned. I don't seek to change your mind (pointless), but perhaps I can recommend to you a great read by a man who took a 16' proa, "Desperado," from the east coast of Mexico to Panama via the near coastal route: grillabongquixotic.wordpress.com His philosophy of what constitutes a journey, what one man needs to survive, and his total disregard of what the casual bystander on the shore thinks as he sails on by is... inspiring. Perhaps Chris' blog can explain better than I can what it feels like to be alive. Good luck in all your endeavors.
What an amazing experience! I got to know Rusty through my brother Ken Counts and consider Rusty a great friend as my brother did. I think you , Rusty and my brother have the same DNA!
I smile every time I think of Ken - that man was def one of the good ones! I'm really thankful for being around guys like him and Rusty when I was young and impressionable!
10:28 PM Tuesday 3 December 2024. Thank you sir for sharing your adventure to us. Hi 👋👋👋 from Malaysia 🇲🇾
The land of the pelang! Thank you!
@@Forrest-Jackson pelang is tradisional boat of Nusantara
@@greencommando2674 What part of Malaysia are you from? Is there a different boat there? I spent a little bit of time iat anchor in Labuan, and I did cargo in Klang.
@@Forrest-Jackson i'm from Selangor . This is the list tradisional boat that i know. Perahu payang
Perahu Pinis Gobel
Perahu Dogol
Perahu Anak Bedar
Bedar
I loved watching this! What a miserable time you had, but what an adventure! You are stronger in spirit than almost anyone I could imagine. What a beautiful craft and a wonderful dream. Happy sailing! Stay safe!
Thank you!!!! I'm pouring libations to Neptune Rex and the Order of The Raging Main as I'm packing for take 2 of this trip! And trying to figure out if I can pack my signed copy of "SEABIRDS: The New Identification Guide." 🤣🤣
Sir. You are an amazing storyteller! One of the best out there.
Best wishes from Sweden.
Thank you so much! I'm very happy that you enjoyed it!!!!!
Odissey is a great story because of the adventure. What a great adventure and a story to tell.. Well done.
I spent two nights at cumberland island after visiting family in Georgia, my first time as an adult on the east coast and first time on the Georgia coast. I understand how it's compelling you to make these preparations and attempts, what a wonderful craft and spirit. Thanks for the document
Thank you, @jpsuperstar! The GA coast is magical to me and I'm glad you enjoyed! I'm already planning my next attempt for May of 2024 - I hope I can get that video done in less time than this one took!! 🤣😂.
I thoroughly enjoyed your adventure story. Battling the elements can be hard on a man. Somewhere along one becomes resourceful beyond what one thought possible. Well done sir. I had my own little adventure years ago sailing around a part of Corsica with an old modified Hobie 18 so I can relate, I think. Greetings from Belgium.
@@TarpeianRock That sounds like it was a blast! Thank you for your comment - I'm happy you enjoyed it!
As a boat restorer the cardinal rule is... when in doubt, laminate, laminate, laminate every structural part possible.
Treehouse🌲Boat⛵️Works
I'm a fan of lamination (the waka and ama are laminated in s-glass and I'd have it no other way)... but I've seen a lot of parts rot from the inside--out, and other parts self destruct when moisture migrates in and the wooden substrate swells, splitting the laminations, so I try to be judicious about it. In the case of my failed ioko, I blame my poor wood selection more than anything else. I sacraficed strength for weight in a critical place where more strength is clearly necessary. I don't know if this wa'a layout will survive planned revisions, but if they do then I am going to inlet hardwood dowels into them and call them sufficiently reinforced. I'd prefer to be even lighter (most decisions on this boat came down to weight-conciousness), so if they fail again I'll make them from okoume or hoop pine ply, or carbon fiber with no wooden cores at all. Manuiki'iki is 21' long and I can pick him up by myself - and I'm not getting any younger 😂
Yup... Nearly every structural failure I see during a restoration is associated with metal fasteners allowing moisture in over time... with modern adhesives and laminate techniques there is far less reason to use metal fasteners, which no matter how well protected or maintained will eventually fail. 🌲⛵️🌲
Inflatable beach rollers are the Adventure Boaters best friend...
Yeah, I've seen them used in the Texas 200 and the Everglades Challenge and they look like a great idea.
Marvelous misadventure! If ever you’re interested in a more moderate expedition I’d appreciate the excuse to explore Grand Coulee, in eastern Washington. My wa’pa, named such for its plywood hull, “Huck Luna” was just launched two weeks ago. So named Huck for my late brother, Harley (if a Charley is called Chuck would that make a Harley a Huck?). I had felt conflicted about calling the boat a her, while touting his name. However, thank you for the male reference. That knowledge alleviates my mind. Similarly to your story, mine began with carrying two heavy six foot pallets from a machine shop, to my home, to build an outdoor workbench, on a Onewheel. Was that ever an excursion. It worked though, many rests and two trips later. Cheers!
Ping me in the Springtime! I'm a glutton for misadventure!
Your other mother "Skin" (remember her?) would be so proud! Grateful you ate the blue crabs and not the other way around. Fantastic documentary, Forrest. Clay sent it along and told me I had to stop everything and watch it, so I did. Nice that the Fleetwoods stepped up in every way, too. Not a fun trip for you in your native waters, but certainly a true adventure. You'll be talking about it for the rest of your days. Hugs, Momster
Yeah, but Skin died when she went off a cliff on a horse drawn wagon in Nevada, so we can't really trust her judgement, now can we? This trip was actually fun in many ways.... but unfulfilling. My next attempt is now only 9 months from now 🤣
Thank you!
Absolutely superb Forrest! Cracking adventure and brilliantly documented. Respect brother 🙏🏼
Thank you, Chris! That means a lot, especially coming from a man of your talents!!!
I appreciate the video. Very well done. And I feel like a kindred spirit. I've loved messin' around with all sorts of little sailing craft over the years, my mind full of island fantasies, but often finding that I get to do little sailing. And then I have countless hours thinking about what I did wrong. Here's my philosophy these days. A full-on sailboat is practical. A well-skippered (so to speak) kayak is practical. But when you start creating entities **between** those two design concepts, a lot of unexpected impractical things happen. I mean, down in Florida, I created all sorts of canoe-ish contraptions and went camping, sailing, paddling. Very healthy! (All that unforeseen brutal paddling.) More recently I built a Wharram Melanesia sailing canoe. I think I loved the beauty of it more than the practicality of it. Heavy weather is the scientist which tests each design. And I think there you have it. Your design is beautiful, but probably not as practical as you expected. For me, from now on, I want a sailing canoe's cockpit to be self-draining. I want it to be easily paddled. I want to be able to "anchor out" at times, and lay down on the cockpit floor and sleep. (Under a custom tent.) I want the vessel to be fast under sail but also easy to reef or strike the sails completely. And I will always now have TWO amas, like a trimaran, or at least a significant safety ama of some sort. There's a particular point of sail, a broad reach or running, with the ama to windward... THAT gets sketchy if you're out for a peaceful but serious trip down the coast among islands and not just playing around on a sunny afternoon in an empty boat. Again, practicality over aesthetics. Windage is another concern. Your akas are beautiful, but that windage messes with the sailing. (I see you are making flatter ones now, yes.) ...Anyway, just some thoughts. You probably know more about this stuff than me, but I might be more experienced in doing things wrong! haha ...And one last thing. Sand. You gotta embrace it. Trick your mind to enjoy it. Get down in it. It's the stuff of our fantasies, you know, beaches, sunshine, islands, palm trees--and sand everywhere. A beach-combing adventure (or life) must have it. Might as well love it. A hell of a lot better than concrete and asphalt and the urban life. ...Hope to see your next adventure soon.
Thank you for your kind words!
I'd love a Wharram cat - but my big-boat days are on hold for now - I've spent far too much of my life on haul outs and bottom paint, already!
The goal of this next trip will be the same as in the video: Sail from island to island, staying on each; no transit to be more than 10 or 12 miles. I have great sailing out here in the Salish Sea, but I do not have the Gullah Coast - it is a timeless, ever-changing, introspective, and primitive place. Sand and all 🤣
Just one more reason I like to sit on a dock with a cuppa and go in the house when the weather shows up! Amazing adventure, really glad you lived!!!
I was never in any real danger - just the danger of excessive discomfort, the kind you can't really plan for.
Holy Smokes! The Mrs. and I made it into this documentary!
It was SO RANDOM and AWESOME running into you that day as you helped us look for her exhaust tip that made its exit “stage/lane left” from her bike.
Dude, this boat and its history are AMAZING! Look forward to following along!
It was so funny to drive thousands of miles, for days and days, and then to see y'all on the side of the road. What's even funnier is that even with your helmets on I recognized you!!!
Going to do this again in September... I have all the ducks lined up!
I just finished it. Man… talk about LIVING!!!!
You’ve ALWAYS marched to the beat of your own drum, even if you are the only one, who heard it’s rhythmic beating. That’s what I’ve always admired about you. From the times we were just small kids in the Boys Home! I have ZERO doubt, you WILL make this trip, and make it on YOUR terms! Look forward to the next installment! Maybe we could meet up again. This time planned…. on your way to Clays.
@@R3215T3R Thank you, JJ! I really appreciate your kind words- it means a lot to me! It would be great to see you somewhere other than on the side of Hwy 17 - I have the next attempt on the books for this September (b/c of course I should reattempt in hurricane season) so when I'm packing I'll ping you!
I dream of spending time kayaking up and down the Florida cost. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Fantastic, thank you!
Enjoyed your narration and the adventure
Thank you!
Tybee can certainly crank out rough conditions for a small craft. I sat my ACA Lumpy Waters course there a while back.
I added small wooden sailboats to my mix after that.
One thing I've noticed with lashings (like your repair), using cordage with some give tends to let a wooden boat flex and take less shock than a low stretch Dyneema. Then again, we use what we have when doing repairs underway.
After a few years of playing around in the more forgiving Gulf and Outer Banks (and Identifying failure points), I took my 19 ft open cockpit trimaran to Hamilton Bermuda from Beaufort, NC in the best window I could find at the tail end of hurricane season. I don't know if I've ever felt that tiny in my life.
The softness of the sand on the Gullah coast definitely belies the danger to boats of every size and mode... this wasn't my first time getting my ass handed to me here, that's for sure! It won't be the last, either.
I used dyneema on purpose - I always have a variety of lines and methods for repair and lashing, but in that case what I wanted to use was something that wasn't going to loosen when the sun warmed it and something that could resist moisture... a larger diameter would've resisted pulling itself into the wood, but that was the size I had. Ideally the wa'a wouldn't have been so fragile in the first place! I'm fixing that- overkill on the structure isn't overkill, so overkill is coming.
What kind of tri did you transit on? I just picked up a Windrider 17 and a buddy just got two of the 16's... I'm sorely tempted to do the R2AK in the 17...
I have over 1500 days at sea sailing on container ships and I've felt very, very tiny out there, even on 1,000 foot ships... if you don't feel vulnerable when you're in the ocean then you simply don't understand where you are, or you lack the imagination to comprehend the many ways you can die, or you lack the experience of enough close-calls to keep you perpetually second-guessing your every move.
@@Forrest-Jackson Windriders are pretty bulletproof for what they are. I have a buddy in his 80s that sold his 17 and picked up a 16 as the 16 is so simple to set up and be on the water in minutes. From what I hear, the lack of a centerboard makes them to point very well. From a nonmototized distance race perspective, they paddle like a dog if you're becalmed. Super fun vessels, but I don't know that they're well-suited for a R2AK.
I bought plans for a Slingshot 19. They're at home in skinny waters like the Gulf and Outer Banks, but a bit fragile on bigger seas. Also not a good fit for R2AK type conditions.
My current iteration vaguely resembles the initial build. She still folds for trailering, but she's rigged with two mast steps to accept either a Hobie 16 sailplan or a RSS balanced lug. The Hobie yields the best peak performance, but the balanced lug can average higher on longer trips. Just so much simpler to deal with a single sheet and sail, and reefing underway isn't a death defying exercise single-handed.
From a sailing perspective, I'm a noob with about 8 years of sailing, most of which is small homebuilt vessels. Hoping to build a 13 meter trimaran (or buy an older one and modify it) to do some bluewater.
Was stationed in Savannah in 1967 and only went to Tybee Island once.... got sunburned so bad that it shocked me. I'm from California and I never peel!! Every inch of my body peeled that summer. Went to Vietnam after that and even Vietnam wasn't as hot as Tybee Island was.....
Tybee can be brutal, that's for sure! I was just there and I helped move a large aluminum spar, but when I was done I felt wiped out... turns out the neighbor's thermometer was reading 110 degrees.
Awesome. I love disaster adventures more than idealistic ones. Each one has its value. You had an adventure just not the one you planned for.
I have a saying: "I aim for adventure, but I'll settle for misadventure." There's something so much more invigorating about the unexpected!
Cool vid!
if your interested Dominic Tarr has built and rigged an interesting adaption, of Peircy Brett type…outrigger….might give you some ideas.
Thank you! Yeah, def seen his shunting proa (I follow him). It's a design I haven't played with, but may, someday. Kinda like that Wharram he restored. My favorite proa story is by a man who moved to Mexico, built a proa, taugh himself how to sail it, then sailed down the coast to Panama - it's a fantastic read: grillabongquixotic.wordpress.com/
Fabulous! Looking forward to the next try.
Thank you! Cheers! Been stewing on the changes to get ready!!!
Excellent documentary! Fair winds for your next adventure!
Thank you! September cometh... plans are afoot!
Hi wow I hope you don't mind but I really enjoyed this video! although it's a pity there wasn't more sailing in it!
I would have done a very similar repair on that crack. I notice it occured just above where the grain was backed by the gunwhale, that is, where the tension went across the gain not with it. I also thought the akas were too high. I think dead straight would probably be okay, since they attach at a raised section on the vaka. On a tacking outrigger like this, I would recommend having at least enough bouyancy to support your weight, but otherwise, to get more righting moment an easier way is just to make the akas longer.
Also a very nicely made video! I am eagerly awaiting the next installment! subscribed!
Thanks! The next installment will be me correcting the current deficiencies and adding some new ones :-D
I'm in complete agreement with you... I would have definitely enjoyed more sailing in this video, and less of me getting my ass kicked. I'll work very hard to make the next attempt (May of 2024) more in line with our mutual desire, for sure. I'll be retiring the curved iokos (and yes, making them longer) and stretching the ama. Probably doing some PNW winter trials in my dry suit, too (if I can find the time - I have three large projects underway at the moment).
Thanks for the subscribe! I've been watching your canoes for awhile now and dig your channel - Thank you for sharing @dominictarrsailing!
On the bright side, a 35 knot wind stops the mosquitoes.
Not a single mosquito bite!
I realy like your adventure, the naration, everything. Mother nature is very humbling on the water.
I went to the Bahamas with a cheap 30ft catamaran with very little experience. It was mostly great but also humbling.
We had two 9.9hp outboard (one for the dighy and another for the boat) that came very handy when one quit or had the propeler tangled in rope.
A small proa like this is only used inside protected atols, not in the open ocean.
A tiny gas outboard would also make a huge difference.
Consider it a safety feature.
Thank you for your kind words! And you're right... mother nature will knock the cocky right out of the disrespectful soul! My most memorable voyages are the ones I undertook before I had enough experience to know better... if I were a more timid man I think I'd never leave the dock again after some of the storms I've weathered (45' seas in the North Atlantic and a near capsize in the Philippine Sea come immediately to mind).
I'd love to sail around the Bahamas, one day! I tip my hat to you, sir!
I spent years as a merchant sailor and I have many wonderful memories from snorkelling and boating in both the lagoon and ocean sides of Kwajalein Atoll, and the comparable oceans and harbors of Guam and Saipan. But those waters - some of the ancestoral waters to a few of the mulit-hull canoes - simply cannot be compared to the waters of Coastal Georgia.
The GA coast has Gray's Reef as a breakwater, super shallow and ever-changing sand seabeds with many protective 'long-shore sandbars, and a wide tidal range that make the near coastal Georgia waters more similar to an inland sea (or lagoon) than to open ocean.
I've seen larger swells, waves, tidal ranges, and current velocities here - where I live now - in the Salish Sea (Puget Sound, Strait of Juan De Fuca, and Georgia Strait) than in near coastal Georgia's "open ocean." Don't get me wrong - those soft sand shores are a shipwreck graveyard when weather hits, but that's not when experienced sailors operate.
Each body of water I've spent time in has its own characteristics... hell, its own personality - and of all the waters I have had the fortune to know, I like Georgia's Guale Coast's personality the most. And Manu'iki'iki was designed specifically for gliding through zephyr shadows over sandbars at low tide, pushed by the onshore morning breeze.
What I got in this video was a nasty, stalled northerly, of course, and an all you can eat buffet of humble pie!!!
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the many, many different canoes of the world, too. From Bab El Mandeb at the mouth of the Red Sea where it dumps into the Indian Ocean all the way to the Galapagos in far eastern Pacific, I have seen canoes of every shape, size, description, and use.
I've seen canoes in open oceans, inner and outer seas, lagoons, rivers... I saw two fishermen in a 20 foot canoe throwing nets 150 miles off the coast of Somalia. The canoes of Sri Lanka are ocean going, as are the racing jukung of Tahiti. The Philippine fishing boats of all sizes go out to fish in unbelievable conditions.
The Aleuts take their kayaks into the open ocean to fish and the forefoot design is meant to race down the face of ocean swells.
All of the Polynesian war canoes were ocean canoes used for warfare between island nations (Samoa, Hawaii, Chamorro, etc). These are open, long, narrow, fast, and uncomfortable canoes that surf the face of following swells.
Your advise about an outboard does not fall on deaf ears. I left my electric/solar outboard at the dock for this voyage and I will NOT do that again! I will be making it a much more integral component on my planned upgrades for my next voyage!
During my evaluation (at the end of the video) I had a difficult current to fight against when I was heading back in and having that extra juice was the difference between being forced to wait for slack tide and eating dinner at a decent hour.
I will almost always choose to eat at a decent hour 🤣
Anyway, thanks again for watching and sharing your thoughts!
They say it’s not about the destination, it’s the journey. So what a journey…for now …
For now... September will be here soon! That's when this particular journey will continue... I guess the destination is kind of like spaghetti being thrown against a refrigerator... at some point in the journey it'll stick.
Can't wait for the update.
Me too!
It may not have gone to plan but you were out ther living life. Many never let themselves.
Spiral ground anchors are Adventure Boaters next best friend...
Chain... I left it at the dock with a bunch of additional "unnecessary gear" and it does the heavy lifting for ground tackle. I won't do that again!
Very entertaining! Take care
I don't know how far you've gotten with your re-build, but I live in Everett and am willing to help with labor. I've converted several canoes into very good camping trimaran sailers. An aka ama would be a cinch, although I don't use arched akas. I rip them from solid fir or spruce with the vertical grain opposed to the direction of stress, then kerf slot them for a bit of fly at the outer 1/3 length. Fill the slots with thickened epoxy and wqrap with e-glass for flexible strength.
The amas are rigid foam core withseveral layers of glass wrapping, with extra at grounding points and surfaces. The best I've made were 10' long x 12" deep x 8" wide used on an 18' Grumman canoe with 85 ft of sail (65ft gunter and a 20ft jib), but a better rig was the jib plus a 54ft standing lug.
I appreciate the offer! You're clearly a kindred spirit!
My rebuild has gone nowhere past the planning phase, but I've gathered materials and now I need a window of time to act - my schedule is still a wall of work preventing me from this labor of love.
I'm tempted to do a shakedown of the revised Manuiki'iki on Baker Lake this Spring/Summer/As-soon-as-possible.
The revisions I am making are to convert the curved iokas to longer, strait spars of sitka spruce giving them the athwartship proportions more akin to the Marshallese canoes - I want to keep the weight as low as possible while at the same time make moving fore and aft easier in any sea state. I'm also going to add a manufactured kickup rudder and simplify the steering, add a simple boomless polytarp main to carry for days when dousing is critical to survival... and, of course, set off again ASAP.
@@Forrest-Jackson Baker Lake is my Valhalla Vortex. I have several videos of some sailing up there over the past several years - before my shoulders and back said, "enough". I took them down off my channel, but if you're interested, I'll re-post them and share the link.
If further interested, I can meet you there at some point and be the chase/photo/video boat....and chief heckler. I'll bring the cooler.
Link to one video up at Baker lake
ua-cam.com/video/LGRsZsgKCgU/v-deo.html
I'll def respond here if this is going to happen! Love the video - last time I was on that lake it was fantastic!
@@Forrest-Jackson I'm always ready.
Forrest.
, that was amazing 😊
🤩
Sailing is a nice sport with pretty traditional mutihuls but with such boats in very strong winds oh la la......never.....and the sea is never previsible.
Multihulls are ancient and the most far-flung of all boats... they've crossed every ocean and continue to do so.
I've seen them from the Marquesas, all through the Pacific - Micronesia to Polynesia - into the Indian Ocean and the Bengal Sea, off the coast of Sri Lanka to Bab El Mandeb... north and south of the equator. The Philippine fishermen are some of the most fearless sailors in the world in dugout canoes with outriggers... they routinely go through incredible bar breakers and rough seas as routine.
The fault here wasn't the type of boat, it was a poor design choice by the builder (me). I'll tighten up the design for the next go-round...
You da man !!!!
Like Robinson Crusoe. 😮.
🤣🤣🤣
Eikki - Leaki?
LOL - NO leaki's nowheres!
@@Forrest-Jackson Would have made a good name for my old tinny. It gave me the eikki's.
😂🤣😂
Must be why those are better for the Pacific islands.
Hmmm. What makes you say that?
Ive been thinking on a minimalistic sailing design- and seen some - like Sven Yrvinds designs - but they are too small and hopeless ineffective as sailboats... and looking at your proa - when you plan a trip on the outer coast like that - you must prepare for big waves - and have a volume that can keep your things and yourself inside the hull. Look at what the mini Transat can do - they are real sailboats that can take whatever. Your boat with all the small details that can break - and very little volume - you have to stand on it - no shelter - in a 3ft chop it not working at all. That the ama was to small - first thing I noticed - its stand out to everyone that has just a tad of maritime knowledge. It may seem a good idea to build a boat from used things... but if the result is not doing what you wanted - its a big waste. But you had a real lesson there - and made a good story out of it - so not a total waste - but going on with the challenge you need a total new design. Use the proa for sheltered waters.
The idea that you are either alive or you are safe can be perfectly encapsulated by the diametrically opposed vessel trade-offs of a shallow draft and the ability for one man to move, lift, and carry it, or an armored, steel battleship of a thing and weight-be-damned.
I don't seek to change your mind (pointless), but perhaps I can recommend to you a great read by a man who took a 16' proa, "Desperado," from the east coast of Mexico to Panama via the near coastal route: grillabongquixotic.wordpress.com His philosophy of what constitutes a journey, what one man needs to survive, and his total disregard of what the casual bystander on the shore thinks as he sails on by is... inspiring. Perhaps Chris' blog can explain better than I can what it feels like to be alive.
Good luck in all your endeavors.
Having "just a tad of maritime knowledge" is knowing that this is not a proa.