Afloat Magazine

Piece published in Afloat Magazine website  November 14

#glensailing – The Glens are celebrating 50 years sailing and racing together as a class inDublin Bay Sailing Club, writes 'Glenshane' skipper Pete Hogan. As a very successful season draws to a close for the 12 or so Glens in Dublin Bay there seems all prospects that the fleet can continue for a further 50 years.

The story of the Glens is worth repeating. Designed by the celebrated Scottish Marine architect Alfred Milne in 1945 the Glens were built by the Bangor boatyard over the following 20 years. Possibly 39 Glens, at least, were built which gives them claim to be Milne's most successful design and also one of the last of Alfred Milne Senior's designs. The firm still exists. He also designed the Dublin Bay 21'sand the 24's which were recently in the news on Afloat.ie

At first the Glens were confined to the North but started appearing in Dublin over 50 years ago. Glenluce G67 celebrated last year being 50 years in the sole ownership of the O'Connor family. They started racing together as a class under DBSCorganisation in 1964 and have been racing ever since.

Glens are classic little yachts, retaining their looks up to today as reminders of what sailing boats looked like before the era of plastic mouldings, high freeboards and self-draining cockpits. 25 ft. long with a full keel and sensible sail plan they represent state of the art pocket cruisers of the period.

Glens were often compared to Dragons. They are heavier, shorter and carry a bit more sail. But they were never allowed to become the development class which the Dragons became and never made the seismic shift into fibreglass construction. Their handy size however, has allowed them to survive just as the 17's in Howth survive and thrive. There is a mini wooden boat building fraternity centred on the Glens and their needs. The Brennan boatbuilding family in Dun Laoghaire, all three generations of it, being its mainstay.

Moored out in front of the Royal St George YC and each painted a distinctive different colour, the Glens have become as iconic a fixture in Dun Laoghaire as the bandstand, Teddy's ice cream shop or the fishermen casting their lines from the pier. Long may they continue.

Glenshane Season 2014

Welcome to the new Glen Season 2014.

For the past 6 weeks I have been slaving away doing up Glenshane, preparing her for the new season.  First there were a few repairs. Two sections of the toe rail needed attention.  A foot long section at the stern where we got whacked while rounding a mark last year and the second, a long section amid ship where the rail was loose and rot was starting to develop.  I removed a 6 foot length of rail, filled and painted under it and then returned the rail to its former place using copious amounts of sealant.

Then it was on to the underwater hull.  This leaks quite a bit so I went around with a chisel raking out the seams which seemed suspect in places, taking the painted hull to the bare timber.  Next was an application of all weather sealant from a hardware shop.  This seems better than silicone as it is paintable and claims to stick to damp surfaces.  On top of the sealant goes an application of polyester filler which can be sanded.  Then lots of thick primer and more sanding then at least two coats of anti foul.

But I am in danger of boring everybody.  Who wants to read about paint drying.

The old boat (built about 1951) is tired.  A bit like myself who was built about the same time.  The wood is tired and brittle.  There are patches and spots of rot under the paint almost like a body riddled with cancer.  I hope the analogy ends before there.  But she has got style (in buckets!)  which is more than I can say for myself.

I will post a couple of photos and leave it at that.

 Early Days

 Rail repair

 Diamonds.  Gone.

Launch

Movie review

All is Lost

Off to see All is Lost, having seen the trailer and thought maybe Robert Redford had read my book.  But the timing does not match so no need for me to call my lawyer.

As a human interest movie I suppose it is mildly interesting.  If it had not been Robert Rredford out of retirement and with all the fantastic reputation he brings to the show no one would be much interested with this movie I guess.  Except perhaps single handed sailors.

So how does it stack up as a sailors movie.  Not very well.  The first scene with the sea anchor was a joke to anyone who knows about such things.  A hole in the side as depicted would have been easy to deal with -  a few screws and a piece of plywood and all would be right,  A container would not have done the amount of damage portrayed.  (There are not containers floating round out there I believe.)  All the yachts systems go down inexplicably. Why did the radio ariel become disconnected?

On the plus side the choice of boat was good an old Cal 35.  But the equipment was a bit dated compared to what a modern day cruiser would have had.  The weary way the aged sailor went about his tasks were realistic.  The liferaft scene where he rights it is realistic.  Redford at 77 looks great.

In general I would spend your money on my latest book.  Much better value.

Water Rat

Pleasant hour out on board Glenshane last week pumping her out, checking on things and generally taking it easy.  Might have gone for a short sail in the harbour if I had had the time.  But the boatmen clock off early these autumn evenings….

Like water rat there is nothing as nice as messing about on boats. Or something like that. ( there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.)  OK. I googled it.

I pumped her out then thought I would try and find where the water might be creeping in.  This involves clearing out all the clutter and sponging all the water out of the bilge when the pump has done its best.  It’s still difficult, nay impossible to find the gentle slither of water into the hull.  Up at the bow, where the most pounding happens is the obvious place to search.  Here and there the bilge paint seems to be lifting, another good sign.  But its hard to tell for sure.

Then I espied a white breasted cormorant drying  its wings.  Not sure if there is such a thing as a white breasted cormorant.  Had a go at getting a photo.  Its perched on the hi tek ferry terminal.

An old codger passed by in a day sailer, I cleaned up a rope end with my needle and thread and tied off the jib halyard with a gilguy.  A Sigma 38 passed by and I started dreaming.  By then it was time to go as the launch arrived.

More America's Cup stuff

I may complain about it but the Americas cup is absolutely compelling viewing.  As it proceeds it would appear that the boats are very well matched, something  that has not happened in the AC for a very long time.  And that has resulted in some very exciting close racing.

But to get there, there are very many negatives.  Are the boats really sailing boats?  Certainly not as anybody outside the handful of sailors who design build and operate them would probably agree.  The wing masts have to be removed as soon as the race is over.  Otherwise the entire structure would be simply blown over.

    

They will never be sailed again.  They will never lead to a racing class using wing masts which even very wealthy yachting enthusiasts might get involved in.  It’s a dead end, a cul de sac.  The rig and the technique reminds me more of some type of kite flying.  These guys have built complicated kites which they hoist up into the air and control very skilfully and skim them across the surface of the water.  Its not sailing, and it will not become sailing.

They use the rules of racing as we know them but have had to modify them.  This is most obvious at the start.  Gone is the hallowed upwind start, the most significant part of sailboat racing since day one.  I’m not sure why, but apparently it has something to do with safety and/ or the fact that these boats can do little unless they are moving on their foils at about a minimum of 20 knots speed.  So if they were trying to tack and jybe in a conventional start they might get blown over!

If money is the deciding factor then Oracle can win.  They have two boats.  NZ have only one.  On the last race with NZ facing winning the cup all Oracle has to do is take her out in a strategic crash.  Both boats go down.  Oracle, with its back up boat, goes on unopposed to win the cup.  I would not put it past Ellison. 

But its compelling viewing with all the professionalism of American sports broadcasting brought to bear on a sport which traditionally is not a spectator sport.

Heavy Weather sailing

Heavy Weather Sailing

Last nights race  (Thursday 1st Aug) was a humdinger.  The race officer put the wind at Force 4 but I think it was gusting at times well into force 5.  Well at the limits of where these wooden boats over 50  years old should be racing.  But it makes for much more exciting sailing than drifting about in the tide hoping for wind.  Which has been the situation for the past month or so.

Jerry was crewing.  And he also managed to get the time to take the attached photos.

We got a super start, more by accident than anything.  Simply good timing and then tacked immediately to clear our wind and beat into Scotsmans Bay avoiding the end of the flood.  I judged the tack back on to starboard to fetch the first mark spot on.  Other Glens took a safer course and in fine style we rounded the first mark in the lead.

It was all down hill from there, holding on to the rail but being overtaken on the long downwind leg.

Laser Worlds

End Of season distractions

With the world Laser Championship taking place out my front window and the weather continuing its exceptional mild run it seemed like a sensible thing to do to sail out and check it out. Here is the view from the front of the house:
A  nice chap on a GB rib dropped us on board.  I asked him if he had any Olympic medals to which he replied he was just a Youth Coach and then he lit a cigarette.

On the starting line all was confusion in the 20 knot wind.  We trashed back and forth getting wet from the spray.  The OD was having difficulties too.  Three times he tried to get the fleet away but had to recall the lot.  Joshua was very patient and put on my oilskin but was probably just as glad when I said we would head for home. We picked up the mooring and had our sandwiches and coffee.

Good luck to Finn Lynch and all the other Irish boats.  I doubt that the America Cup boats would have gone out in those winds.

From Sandymount

From Sandymount

Start

Joshua