Blessing Electron's Keel

Almost 6 years ago, I posted about a new project being undertaken by Eamon Doorly at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic - the rebuilding of the sloop "Electron".

Progress on the new boat at the time was minimal - only the stem, keel, and transom were erected, and only for display purposes, as other projects required Eamon's attention.

Construction of the boat is once again underway, and the Museum held a keel laying ceremony on December 12th to mark the occasion. 

Frames and gunwhales have been added to the Electron's keel as construction continues. 

A crowd gathered in the boatshed on the wharf in front of the museum in the early evening to hear about the project and see Captain Phil Watson, the current skipper of Bluenose II, perform a blessing of Electron's keel. 

Boatbuilder Eamon Doorly (glasses, facing camera) speaks with Captain Phil Watson (back to camera, also visible between the boat's frames) during the event. Holiday lighting provides the green and red hues to the boat's frame, even more appropriate when one considers the Red and Green colour scheme for Port and Starboard running lights and channel markers.

Construction of Electron will continue throughout 2025 with an expected launch date sometime in 2026 - the project will provide an opportunity for students of the Museum's boatbuilding school to try their hand at a project somewhat larger than the typical small rowboats that they build.

A view of the mast step and the hole in the deck where the mast will pass through. 

Another view of the boat's interior with the party ongoing in the background.

In the meantime, the ongoing construction will also afford visitors to the museum with a better appreciation of Nova Scotia's boatbuilding heritage. 

CSS Acadia at sunrise

The blog has been on a bit of a hiatus for the summer with everything else I had going on, but now that we are back into autumn and reduced travel, I can get this started again.

After heading back to the office a few days a week, I get to enjoy my morning ferry and waterfront commute again, at least for a while. With sunrise well timed for my walk past the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic this morning, I was rewarded with these views of retired survey vessel CSS Acadia on the waterfront with the rising sun behind her.

The winter cover has been reinstated, allowing the rising sun to provide a nice glow over the deck. At the same time, the smooth water allows for a nice silhouette of the ship's reflection.

The images can be found here: https://smcclearn.smugmug.com/Nautical/Ships/

Hopefully the nice weather continues well into fall, to keep my morning walk as pleasant as possible.

HMCS SACKVILLE relaunched

SACKVILLE returned to the water after a 9 month docking and refit period that started in January 2018 - her initial haulout was covered here at that time. She was relaunched on Tuesday, October 9th.

The refit included an extensive condition assessment of the hull and internal support structure that provided the basis for the repairs that were carried out - I'm unclear on the finer details, but I know that there was a considerable amount of new plating applied to the exterior of the hull. The hull was completely repainted both above and below the waterline, and a new suite of anodes was installed.

Rolled out of the shed and onto the Syncrolift platform, SACKVILLE sits ready for relaunch.

Lowering the platform, with the wood deck still visible under the water's surface.

The overcast sky at least made for more balanced lighting for photography purposes.

SACKVILLE was lowered to the 8' depth marking on her bow so that the riding crew could check for leaks inside the ship. Two previous launch attempts ended at this point after the ship took on some water. The patchwork of riveted and welded steel plate means that watertight integrity isn't certain until tested.

Afloat and off her blocks, SACKVILLE was pushed to the side of the Syncrolift to make room for the tugs.

With the usual configuration of a Glen tug astern and a Ville tug forward, SACKVILLE is backed out of the camber.

SACKVILLE still requires some re-ballasting before she rides correctly in the water.

Although relaunched, SACKVILLE's refit is not quite over. The mast needs to be reinstalled, and extensive cleanup above and below decks remains to be done before she can take her position on the Halifax waterfront in Spring 2019.

My photo album of the haulout, refit, and relaunch can be found here.

Sailing in Hebridee II

When done well, museums bring history to life for visitors. Working museums, such as the various working farm museums, sawmills, and blacksmith shops around the province, add live action and interactive elements, where action replace the words on an information plaque. My interests in boats and boat building aside, the opportunity to not only see a traditional Nova Scotian boat being built (or in this case rebuilt), but to actually see the end product sailing around the harbour - and if you're really lucky, to be able to join the boat for a sail - is a real privilege.

Hebridee II heading out into Halifax Harbour under sail.

I'm been following the progress of reconstructing the schooner Hebridee II at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on the Halifax waterfront for some time, and she has been the subject of this blog before:

Reconstruction of schooner Hebridee II

Revisiting Hebridee II

Rigging Hebridee II

Hebridee II - Back in the Water

Hebridee II Rechristening and Relaunching

In addition, all of these photos, and more, can be found in my Hebridee II gallery on Smugmug.

After the rechristening and relaunching, I was told by builder Eamonn Doorly that I should invite myself out for a sail at some point. It took me a while to find the time, but with the hurricane and boat hauling seasons upon us, I decided to take him up on the offer. I was instructed to meet up on the waterfront next to her berth at noon on Friday. We left the wharf in calm conditions under the power of Hebridee's electric motor, and went looking for some wind, which we found beyond George's Island. 

It was a four cruise ship day in Halifax. 

After raising the sails, the electric motor was shut down, and off we sailed. The wind started out light, but gained strength throughout the afternoon, and of course gave us some of our most exciting moments just before we were due to lower the sails. 

Soon after we put up the sails, we crossed wakes with the auto carrier Guangzhou Highway - and what a wake it was!

Approaching Guangzhou Highway.

The auto carrier had just pulled out of the Autoport in Eastern Passage, and was making a hard turn to port in order to round McNab's Island and head out to sea again. 

A rare view of an auto carrier (for me, anyway) taken low to the water and with nothing but the ocean's horizon beyond.

Guangzhou Highway's hard turn to port left significant turbulence in her wake.

Hebridee II crossing the boundary of Guangzhou Highway's wake and the tail eddies left by her propeller wash.

At this point, we temporarily lost steerage in all the turbulence, and marveled at the effects of the prop wash on the surface of the harbour. Small whirlpools passed along our port site.

A small whirlpool from the ship's prop wash.

Eamonn made his crew work for our passage, and our participation made the sail that much more enjoyable. Under his watchful eye, we took turns on the helm, raising and lowering sails, and trimming sheets. I managed two turns on the helm myself, and probably had a stupid grin on my face the entire time.

Looking up a schooner's vast mainsail - the boom often overhangs the transom, and requires running backstays to keep the rig from falling forward when going downwind. Unlike the single backstay that I am used to on my boat, running backstays need to be reset after each tack or gybe. The "BJ" at the top of the sail stands for "Bluenose Junior", the name bestowed to Hebridee's class by her designer, William J. Roué. Sailboats usually carry letters or a symbol indicating their class on the mainsail.

Schooners are known for being reluctant to tack (some more than others), and Hebridee is no exception (though this may have been exacerbated by her inexperienced crew). I am used to a smaller sloop rigged boat that is fitted with a tiller and a fin keel, and she turns on the proverbial dime. Hebridee, on the other hand, has a full keel and her rudder is turned with a wheel - the former kills more momentum when she turns, and the latter takes longer to shift the rudder hard over. One trick is to allow the jib to backwind during every tack before hauling in the jib sheet on the new tack, to allow the wind to bring the boat onto the new course quicker - but we were not always effective in doing so, and sometimes Hebridee's bow would take a while to fall off onto her new course. The light winds probably didn't help in this respect.

Eamonn Doorly adjusts the foresail sheet. Sheets are the ropes that pull sails in and out, and they often (as seen here) use blocks to gain a mechanical advantage to make it easier to pull the sail in against the force of the wind. In Hebridee's case, the blocks are from the original schooner and were refurbished for use on the new.

Speaking of the helm, the helmsman (or helmswoman) sits on a seat on top of the worm gear that the wheel is attached to. The wheel itself turns in the opposite direction of where you want the boat to go, which takes some getting used to for anyone who is used to driving a car or, for that matter, boats where the wheel operates normally. I eventually got used to it to a certain extent, but continued to second guess myself everytime I turned the wheel, and made a few mistakes. I did not offer to bring Hebridee alongside the floats at the end of the sail.

The view from the helm, with two of my fellow crew, Aaron and Ray.

When not under sail, Hebridee is powered by an electric motor and a battery. This makes her very quiet under power, and simplifies a number of aspects in her operation and design. No longer does she carry flammable diesel fuel, and the blower normally required to remove explosive fumes from the bilge of vessels powered by internal combustion engines isn't present. The "throttle" for the motor is a simple dial located by the helmsman's right ankle, and one turns it forward to go forward, back to go aft, and it is merely turned to the neutral position when under sail. Power is instantly available when needed by turning the dial in the desired direction. The endurance of Hebridee's batteries isn't known at this point, but Eamonn says he has run the engine for 5 hours and only run down the battery by 10% (although he suspects when the batteries do drop off, they will do it quickly).

Mainsail and boom.

On our way back downwind, we managed to get the fore and main sails "wing on wing" - the foresail was on the port side, and the main was on the starboard. I didn't even know this had a name until that moment.

Sailing "wing on wing". 

A good view of the cockpit from dead aft, with the helmsman at the bottom of the image. We were still "wing on wing" at this point.

I spent some of my time lying flat on my back up at the bow, under the jib, to get some shots of the rig set against the sky. I find this often makes for good photo composition, and I love the curve of the while sails set against the blue sky.

Halifax, and George's Island, make an appearance in the bottom of this image taken as we headed out the harbour. One of the halyards is tied off on the port shroud.

The sails on my boat feed into a track in the aluminum mast. On Hebridee, a rope spirals up the foremast to attach the luff of the sail to the mast. 

The curve of the jib mirrors that of the foresail.

As with the leech of the sail to the mast, the foot of the foresail is attached to the boom with a spiraled rope. The leech and foot of the mainsail, on the other hand, are attached to clips that run in tracks in the mast and boom respectively.

Another shot showing the different attachment methods used for the different sails.

Hebridee II's restoration isn't quite finished, and Eamonn expects to work on her this winter. The turnbuckles that connect the shrouds to the chain plates, for instance, are from the original schooner and grey paint is covering up their true age. She also requires some modern electronics to allow her to sail farther afield than just afternoon sails in Halifax Harbour, and Eamonn hopes to sail her down the South Shore for Chester Race Week and schooner races in 2018.

Hebridee employs polypropylene rope that has been treated to look like traditional hemp rope.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable sail. As Friday afternoons go, I've had much worse.

SACKVILLE arrives on the Halifax Waterfront

HMCS SACKVILLE transited from the Dockyard to her berth on the Halifax Waterfront in front of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic this morning. I had hoped to tag along for the ride, but couldn't make it over in time. My fallback position was to take photos from the ferry as she left the Dockyard, but the timing didn't work, so I grabbed a few photos from the pier instead.

Although the tugs left her side briefly in order to switch sides from port to starboard, this occurred when SACKVILLE was behind Cable Wharf from my location, and I didn't catch it. It is therefore nice to catch an angle such as the following images where the tugs do not appear.

In a few of the images, I managed to avoid having both the tugs and Cable Wharf show up in the background.

As SACKVILLE came alongside, I got to try for images of the crew throwing the lines ashore.

SACKVILLE won't formally open to the public for a few weeks, although she will be open by appointment until then. 

Buran, the Soviet's Space Shuttle

Passing through Sydney, Australia, in 2001, the last thing I expected to see on the list of potential tourist attractions was a space shuttle - let alone a Russian one. The Buran spaceplane program started in the 1970's in response to the American space shuttle program, and produced several shuttles. Only one of the Burans ever flew in space (unmanned) before the collapse of the USSR and the abandonment of the project. One atmospheric test article, model OK-2M, was sold and ended up in Sydney to be displayed during the 2000 Olympics, and she was still on display when I visited in early 2001.

Buran test article OK-2M on display in Sydney, Australia, in 2001.

Unlike NASA's Enterprise, which was used for basically the same purpose, OK-2M was fitted with four AL-31 jet engines for her role as a flight test prototype, with a large fuel tank installed in the cargo bay. These engines are also used in the SU-27 family of jet fighters. Enterprise had to be lifted into the air on the back of a modified Boeing 747, and released at altitude to test her gliding capabilities. The space-capable Buran's did not have jet engines.

Two AL-31 jet engines mounted on the starboard side.

Access covers removed on one of the port AL-31 jet engines. 

The two upper AL-31 nacelles were mounted directly to the fuselage on either side of the vertical stabilizer, and appear to have had covers. The lower two engine nacelles were mounted on short struts.

A view of the orientation of the four AL-31 jet engines. One set of cargo bay doors was open, and I suspect the object in the cargo bay is the fuel tank for the jet engines.

Unlike the US Space Shuttle, the Buran orbiter lacked main rocket engines, and only had smaller engines for maneuvering in, and breaking from, orbit.

The Buran's maneuvering engines in the tail, with one of the jet engines outboard and above.

Another view of the Buran's engines.

A view down the starboard cargo bay door and wing.

While on display in Sydney, OK-2M was protected from the elements under a rigid frame tent structure, and was fitted with aluminum walkways to allow visitors to climb up and over the spaceplane and down into the cargo hold. Unfortunately, one could not actually enter the crew compartment or flight deck.

An access walkway runs along the port side of the cargo bay and down over the port wing. The port cargo door was removed, and can be seen hanging from the tent's rigid frame in the top right of the photo. 

Looking down over the nose.

OK-2M had black heat shield tiles around the flight deck windows, unlike OK-1K1 (the only airframe to fly in space). There were windows wrapping around the front, as well as looking out the top of the flight deck.

The starboard window over the flight deck.

Looking into the flight deck at the flight controls on the centre console. The Buran apparently didn't come with cupholders.

There were also two windows looking into the cargo bay.

Another view into the flight deck, this time through a window from the cargo bay.

The walkway dropped right down into the cargo bay.

Looking forward in the cargo bay. Instead of a pressure door, there is a grate over the opening into the crew compartment at the forward end of the cargo bay.

A closer look at the grate blocking access into the crew compartment. As a test platform, I'm guessing OK-2M's crew compartment was probably never finished inside, but I couldn't get close enough to the door to find out.

Details of construction in the cargo bay.

The cargo bay was home to a large fuel tank for the four jet engines. 

This is the aft end of the cargo bay, behind the fuel tank. I'm guessing the yellow piping is the plumbing between the jet engines and the fuel tank.

You could also walk underneath the shutte and view the landing gear up close.

After I visited OK-2M in Sydney, the company putting her on display went bankrupt, and she was stored out in the open for a year before moving to Bahrain. She was found there in 2004, and eventually made her way to Germany where she is now on display at the Technik Museum Speyer, near Heidelberg in Germany. She hasn't flown since 1988, and all her subsequent moves appear to have been either via sea or land.