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2013 Depoe Bay Wooden Boat Show The Depoe Bay Wooden Boat Show is always the third weekend in April and more or less signals the start of the boat season for most of the recreatonalists on the Oregon coast.
Everybody loves the Depoe Bay show - Even Lucy and her human, Jim. Jim has Big Blue all spruced up and you can see Dennis' electric tug boat and new tender in the background.
I'd changed my mind about using glitter for the names on the Lazy Weekend canoes. The tape was still on from the first go-round on the painting, so it was a quick fix.
Bee-You-Tee-Full. When is the last time you saw glitter on a boat?
Jim C is one of the finest boat builders I know. He's doing up a little Glen-L designed runabout, but didn't have the bottom on yet.
Rick came down from Canada with the latest Mik Storer design - a 12' sailboat that looks like it'll go fast. Jamie, a fellow Canadian, Frank, and Darrell gave it a good looking over.
Rick and I snatched up the pink canoe and hauled it down to the water. At roughly 70lbs, it is neither light nor heavy - it is manageable.
OK, so maybe that's why you don't see a lot of glitter on boat names. Still, I'm keeping it. The 20° flare in the middle give the boat a pretty pronounced rocker. A canoe with a lot of rocker can be squirrley when lightly loaded (like just one person) but it also allows the boat to hold a lot of weight and keep the ends out of the water.
We were going to be demonstrating how to build a Lazy Weekend canoe. We'd precut all the parts and I was in the final stages of preparation - assembling the frames.
Curt (on the left) and Rick (baseball hat) were going to do the assembly while the crowd looked on. Kendall (left) is a sail maker and has his loft, Sailmaker's Art, over near Eugene.
Oh, look - Coots at a messabout! Jim C has been introduced, John K (seated, right) is the de-facto leader of the Coots. Hal (middle) owns that beautiful sailboat on the right, Riff.
More Coots: Darrell is a wood sculptor who does fantastic 3D models and ship carving - nameplates, figureheads, and the like. Bob L, behind him, is a technologist as well as a boat builder, and his boat is always tricked out with the latest in comm. and nav. gear.
While I was standing around, talking to Coots, David B hopped in the Aurora and took her for her maiden voyage.
Since she'd been broken in already, we decided to put her to the test: three grown adults, about 540lbs, total. This is what the Lazy Weekend is designed for.
Oh! Oh! Oh! That's purty. Look at her float just right - and still with a healthy (and safe) amount of freeboard.
Meanwhile, back on shore, the construction of the third Lazy Weekend continues. It has been 24 minutes since the last picture, when everyone was standing around.
45 minutes after the first build picture - these guys are going to need to slow down or the boat will be done before supper.
So slow down they did. Rick took some time to show off some of the finer points of the new Storer boat.
Bud, the port manager for Toledo, took a random person out in the Lazy Weekend canoe. That pink color was a real attention getter and conversation starter.
Carli and her son, Derek, were walking to docks, admiring the boats when I offered to let them paddle the Aurora. Always have plenty of life jackets and paddles at a boat show. Always.
Derek was having a ball and Carli was handling the canoe quite well as she paddled past Jim and Lucy in Big Blue. Carli is an artist, working in glass, and her work can be seen at her website, juiceglass.com
One hour, 45 minutes since the start and the chines and gunnles were on. The guy in the do-rag was very impressed with the boat, so . . ..
. . . I took him out in Aurora. We went out and peeked out the Gap. The bar was rough and the Coast Guard had warning light flashing. Earlier, when David B and Kendrick and I were paddling around, we peeked out the Gap, then, too, and the Coasties yelled at us over the bullhorn, telling us not to go out.
As we were comign back, Jamie fired up his bagpipes and they'd started the Blessing of the Boats ceremony - all new boats were came by the Princess and got blessed. I said "Hope you don't mind, but we are going in."
And blessed we were. My passenger loved it.
Emma, one of the local kids, wanted to test out Aurora as well. Who am I to say no?
Three hours, 45 minutes and they were fitting the bottom.
And just a bit after that, we attached the buttplates over the bottom seams and decided to let the glue cure over night. Done, in 4.5 hours of easy building. All that is left is filling the screw holes and sanding.
A glance in the bay showed the local kids had hopped in the Mollyhawk and Lazy Weekend and were tearing up the waters.
The winter had been long and wet. The sun was making a rare appearance and as the afternoon wore on, things slowed down. David B and Bart did a little basking.
Not the best shot, but you can see the sun was casting its spell on everyone - even the local harbor seals.
Casting its spell on everyone but the kids, of course - they were still rowing around like madmen. That Mollyhawk is a FINE rowboat. The day came to a close and it was time to pack things in.
Rick ordered the Strawberry Waffles for breakfast - why is it Canadians are always surprised at our portion sizes? How much poutine do you get when you order a traditional Canadian breakfast?
After breakfast, we went down to the jetties at the mouth of Yaquina Bay and watched the fishing fleet head out for a day's work.
And then it was back to the boat show. It was early and the bar wasn't nearly as rough as it had been yesterday. Rick and I figured we could sneak out for a quick bit of adventuring.
While still inside the harbor, I said "Gee, do you think we should do this?" Rick said "I don't know - seems like we can do it."
As we exited the Gap and headed out to open sea, I asked "How does it look to you?" Rick answered "It seems OK." Off we paddled. About 1/3 the way out, I remembered the Lazy Weekend canoe is not a performance canoe, nor is it a white water canoe. It is a lake canoe. Yet there we were. You can just see the buoy on the horizon to the left of Rick's elbow.
Out and around the buoy - which was covered in sea lions. They were none to happy with our approach, and even though we tried to give them a wide berth, they started jumping off, into the water. That's when we started getting scared. "Go away, sea lion! Pink canoes taste bad!"
Now that we'd done it - perhaps the first people to round the buoy in a canoe and certainly the first people to do it in a pink canoe - the support boats showed up.
This is the only picture that gives any hint of the size of the swell we were rocking on. As we reentered the Gap, I said "Man, that was a pucker producer. I sure wish you would have had the sense to say 'this is stupid' back when we were starting." Risk said "I wanted to, but I was waiting for you to say it first.
Kids, don't try this at home. It's a silly stunt that, 9 out of 10 times, will get you dead. We used up the one where you live.
Back at the boat show, we put the Aurora to the use for which she was intended - letting families get out on the water.
This guy's little girl was ecstatic at being able to get rowed around in a Mollyhawk.
Everybody out and on the water.
This woman had grown up rowing around Depoe Bay and she thought the Mollyhawk was one of the finest rowing boats she'd been in.
Even 6'2" Dennis.
A mom and her girls took a go in the Aurora. The one in the middle was not too keen on getting in at the start, but she seemed to really enjoy it, once things got moving.
And a grandfather and his two granddaughters had a go in the Mollyhawk.
Up on shore, I hobnobbed with the new mayor of Depoe Bay, AJ Mattila. Thanks for all you do, AJ.
This little sprog was standing around with nothing to do, so I did what I do best, put her to work. Her name is Bella "B-E-L-L-A." And don't you forget it.
Bella wanted to go for a paddle, so I asked her mom if it was OK and off we went. We paddled over to Dennis' tug where she was a hit with the Coots.
She thought Lucy was just the greatest dog ever.
We picked up her mom and took a run out to look at the Gap.
By then, Bella was hooked. She started helping people get into and out of the boats and was promoted to Deckhand First Class. All in all, a fantastic boat show. Good job, Depoe Bay! A special thanks to Bud, Curt, David, and Rick, for all the help with the boats and the display. |
