Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i Soundings

When Texan Pat Zagar moved his boat salvage business three years ago, he had to find a way to dispose of the 200 hulls stored on his property. “I’m in the boat recycling business, and I could not find a place that would take the fiberglass,” says Zagar, 57, of Houston, who dismantles boats for parts and sells them. So he dumped them into a landfill, where the fiberglass will sit for years. It cost him $40,000 to trash more than 1,100 tons of hull material. “We do the environment a good turn by getting these boats out of the water, getting them out of people’s backyards,” says Zagar, who started salvaging boats in 2008 after Hurricane Ike roared through Galveston, causing $200 million in damage to boats alone. Cleaning…

You are looking at a Hall of Famer. The J/24 burst onto the scene in the mid-1970s, taking the racing sailboat world by storm. Here was a boat with a simple rig, an uncomplicated deck layout and a minimum of frills — and it won races. Forty years later, the J/24 stands as one of the most successful designs ever, with more than 5,500 built. Under the auspices of the International J/24 Class Association, regattas are sailed today worldwide by more than 150 fleets. The trend-setting 24-footer came from the mind of Rod Johnstone, who designed the boat while working at Soundings as an ad salesman and built it in his garage in Stonington, Connecticut. Using what he learned at the Westlawn School of Yacht Design, he drew plans for…

Within a five-year period in the mid-1990s, two prominent North Carolina boatbuilders emerged and a third began a new chapter. In 1993 Ricky Scarborough Jr. began working at Scarborough Boatworks, carrying on the legacy of his father, Ricky Sr. Founded in 1977, the Wanchese company has built more than 80 custom sportfishing boats from 25 to 85 feet, including the 41-knot, 63-foot Waterman completed in October 2015. • In 1996, in a tin shed without power or plumbing in Manns Harbor, Paul Spencer founded his operation. Now in Wanchese, Spencer Yachts builds custom sportfishing boats from 37 to 90-plus feet. The Spencer 63 Big Deal (formerly Gratitude) was completed in 2014 and tops out at 42.5 knots. • In 1998, Ritchie Howell, who credits Spencer with influencing his style and…

It’s a sunny October day, and Paul Dobbins is getting a bit of a late start setting out his seaweed lines. He has been monitoring the water temperature at his lease site, in sheltered ocean water off southern Maine, and it has finally dropped to optimal conditions. Tomorrow he will start setting out thousands of feet of line seeded with millions of tiny sugar kelps, a type of edible seaweed — or sea vegetable, as many prefer to call it — native to Maine. Too bad tomorrow’s forecast calls for cold weather and rain, but that’s the way it goes when you work on the water. “It makes you appreciate coming home and taking a hot shower,” laughs Dobbins, an affable guy suited up in fleece and jeans, seemingly unaware…

SPECIFICATIONS LOA: 27 feet, 8 inches BEAM: 8 feet, 6 inches WEIGHT: 5,000 pounds DRAFT: 2 feet, 6 inches (outboard down) HULL TYPE: deep-vee TRANSOM DEADRISE: 24 degrees POWER: Yamaha F200 SPEED: 40 mph top, 25 mph cruise TANKAGE: 80 gallons fuel, 22 gallons water, 11 gallons waste PRICE: $94,937 CONTACT: Ranger Tugs, Kent, Washington, (253) 839-5213. rangertugs.com Ranger Tugs this year put the finishing touches on its first outboardpowered model, the R-23. “The outboard power gives us a chance to offer a lower price and still continue to offer a trailerable, fuel-efficient boat,” says Sam Bisset, Ranger director of communications. With a standard Yamaha F200, the R-23 bridges the gap between the diesel-powered R-21 EC and R-25 SC. The new boat rides a hard-chine deep-vee hull with a nearly…

The perfect house for passionate boaters is what Alan and Joyce Ortner sought in 2002 when they designed and built a three-story contemporary home on the Connecticut River. “[From here] we were able to be on the water with our kids every weekend,” says Ortner, 61, a retired draftsman who formerly owned a tool and gauge manufacturing company. Now their children are grown. The Haddam, Connecticut, couple want to downsize and build a smaller house nearby. Their 2.74-acre property, which has a four-bedroom, 4-1/2-bath house, a three-car attached garage, a 104-foot steel bulkheaded waterfront and two boat lifts, is on the market for $1.6 million. “We wanted a very open plan with a ‘wilderness’ river view from every room,” Ortner says. Land across the river is protected open space. The…

With the Arctic ice pack shrinking, NOAA archaeologists were able to explore the waters off Alaska’s North Slope and locate two of 33 whaling ships crushed and lost in the ice nearly 145 years ago. Starting last August, archaeologists aboard Ukpik, a 50-foot Prudhoe Bay-based research vessel, scoured a 30-mile stretch of nearshore waters in the Chukchi Sea off Wainwright, Alaska. In September, they found the two wooden hulls in 15 feet of water. Warmer weather and a later onset of pack ice near the shore of the North Slope “extended the window when we could safely navigate those waters,” says Brad Barr, a NOAA archaeologist and project co-director. The team surveyed the bottom out to about three miles, but conditions often were so bad — 30-knot winds and 9-foot…

HATTERAS GT70 LOA: 73 feet, 8 inches BEAM: 21 feet, 1 inch DRAFT: 5 feet DISPLACEMENT: 120,000 pounds FUEL: 2,140 gallons POWER: twin 1,920-hp Caterpillar C32As SPEED: 36 knots top, 31 knots cruise PRICE: $4.64 million CONTACT: Hatteras Yachts, New Bern, North Carolina, (252) 633-3101. hatterasyachts.com PAUL MANN 60 LOA: 60 feet BEAM: 17 feet, 8 inches DRAFT: 4 feet, 10 inches DISPLACEMENT: 72,000 pounds FUEL: 1,750 gallons POWER: twin 1,550-hp MANs SPEED: 40 knots top, 32 knots cruise CONTACT: Paul Mann Custom Boats, Manns Harbor, North Carolina, (252) 473-1716. paulmanncustomboats.com Legendary builders and their boats fill the pages of North Carolina maritime history books, with names ranging from sportfishing icons Warren O’Neal and Omie Tillett to production boatbuilding legends, such as Grady-White’s Eddie Smith and Hatteras founder Willis Slane.…

Thanks to a crew of dedicated hearts and souls — and a substantial financial commitment — the spirit is back in the Spirit of South Carolina. After a summer’s journey north to Newport, Rhode Island, for a haulout and refit, the 140-foot (sparred length) two-masted schooner that is the tall ship ambassador of the Palmetto State is ready for the 2016 season of sail training and charter. It’s a positive turn of events that new owners Tommy Baker and Michael Bennett and a fleet of supporters are thrilled to see bring to a close a four-year period when the boat sat idle under bank ownership in Charleston. “Hundreds of volunteers love that boat and have given it their time and energy,” says Baker. “It belongs to all of us. That’s…

Hauled for work, the J. Roberts Bateman rests on blocking in a yard in Cambridge, Maryland. She was built in Greenwich, New Jersey, for the Bivalve Packing Co., launched in 1928 and has been a workboat ever since. Once a proud schooner, she was converted to power and today is home-ported in St. Michaels, Maryland, as an oyster buyboat and seed boat. Up for Repairs is a 12-by-20-inch oil on linen from the hand of New Jersey artist Neal Hughes. He completed the work in two days at the yard during the Plein Air Easton competition in Maryland, one of the country’s most prestigious juried plein air events, where artists gather to paint on-site. “I was attracted to the scene because it is a large and interesting craft with a…

Fusion Marine Stereo Fusion’s new MS-RA70 and MS-RA70N marine stereo systems promise clear and dynamic sound reproduction in a marinized, space-saving chassis. Features include independent balance and volume control in two audio zones, additional line and sub outs, and Bluetooth audio streaming. The MS-RA70N includes an NMEA 2000 connector for integration with existing networks. $239 (MS-RA70, pictured), $289 (MS-RA70N). Fusion Entertainment, Scottsdale, Arizona, (623) 580-9000. fusionentertainment.com Iris NightPilot The NightPilot gyro-stabilized thermal imaging camera has an advanced thermal core, a fast and quiet motor system, and a compact waterproof design. Features include an 8X digital zoom and a color palette that can be inversed to provide clear images under different environmental conditions. Iris says vessels can be identified at a distance of more than 1 nautical mile, and a person…

Classic Design, Modern Build In 1936 Sparkman & Stephens won a design competition sponsored by the New York Yacht Club for a new one-design class — the New York 32. Many of the original 20 — built by the Nevins yard in City Island, New York, and priced at $11,000 — are still sailing today. “We set out to design a good cruiser/racer with good all-around form, guided by the lines of Dorade, Stormy Weather and Edlu, and emphasized seaworthiness rather than around-the-mark agility,” Olin Stephens said of his design. Nearly 75 years later the NY32 was reintroduced in cold-molded wood and epoxy. Masquerade was built in 2010 and is on the market for $488,745 with an auxiliary diesel. The boat is in Holland but can be shipped to the…

TO THE FINISH LINE Playful dolphins escorted Comanche on the approach to Tasmania, where the 100-foot maxi yacht took line honors in the annual Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in December. This was the first time in 17 years that an American yacht was first across the finish line of Australia’s biggest offshore race. Skippered by Ken Read, Comanche made the 630-nautical-mile sprint in 2 days, 8 hours, 58 minutes, 30 seconds. Almost a third of the fleet retired in the first 48 hours because of the punishing conditions. With more flare at the bow, increased freeboard and a deeper cockpit, the new Boston Whaler 280 Outrage better fulfills its mission as an offshore center console, says sales and marketing vice president Jeff Vaughn. “Our goal was to create a boat…

Vale Robert Oatley started out as a man of modest means and built a business empire on coffee beans, wine and luxury resorts, but many will remember him as a yachtsman and a sailor. Oatley died Jan. 10 from a lung infection. He was 87. “Bob mentored many sailors and supported them throughout their careers, and many people owe him a debt of gratitude. He was a Foundation Member of the Australian Sailing Team Patrons’ Program, and we are extremely grateful for his contribution and support over many years,” Matt Allen, president of Yachting Australia, says in a statement. “He replicated his business success in sailing by putting good people around him, which proved a winning formula.” Oatley’s love affair with sailing started in his early teenage years on Australia’s…

There aren’t many people who reach the top of one profession and then attain the pinnacle of a second one. But Onne van der Wal, though he is affable and modest, is also a talented overachiever. Born in the Netherlands and raised in Hout Bay, South Africa, van der Wal learned to sail aboard his grandfather’s boat before he learned to walk. Youth sailing programs followed, and van der Wal discovered his first passion: ocean racing. He was the bowman and engineer aboard the Dutch maxi Flyer II, which won all four legs of the 1981-82 Whitbread Round the World Race (now the Volvo Ocean Race). When van der Wal wasn’t busy with his crew duties, he was documenting Flyer II’s circumnavigation with his camera — from the bowsprit, the…

The roots of North Carolina sportfishing boats can be traced to the commercial fishing boats of the late 1800s and early 1900s, beginning with the sharpie sailboats that worked the southern Outer Banks. “Many of the sportfishing boats are direct descendants of working watercraft,” says Paul Fontenoy, curator of maritime history at the North Carolina Maritime Museum. “Their predecessor was the Core Sounder, basically an adaptation of a sharpie so it would function under power. They put a vee-bottom in the forward part of the hull.” On the northern Outer Banks, the shad boat — the state boat of North Carolina — served as the main vessel for commercial and sport fishing. The commercial Core Sounders spawned Core Sound sink-net boats, which were built for sport fishing, says Neal Conoley,…

It was 1 a.m. on a cold, stormy January night in 1850. A fisherman walking on the beach spotted the Ayrshire, a three-masted ship, rudderless and aground off Squan Beach on the New Jersey coast. He brought help — volunteers carrying rescue gear, pulled by an oxcart. The rescuers lit a flare to let the crew and the 200 passengers on the Scottish ship know help was on its way. A Lyle gun was set up; it took two tries, but at last a line was shot to the wreck and firmly attached, the other end secured ashore and the whole stretched tight. Then rescuers suspended an 8-foot corrugated metal “car” from the line, with ropes on either end that could be used to pull the odd conveyance back and…