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.

Revisiting Hebridee II

About a year ago, I was given the opportunity to tour the boat shed at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, where the schooner Hebridee II is being rebuilt from the keel up. Last week I had the chance to revisit her and see how the reconstruction is progressing. While the hull itself doesn't appear to have changed much, the cabin and interior are progressing nicely and it is easy to see the difference a year has made.

Hebridee's cockpit.

A coaming has been built around the cockpit, and floorboards have been added inside the cockpit itself. The space under the deck on either side of the cockpit is unfinished, with the engine compartment in between right under the cockpit.

Belowdeck area starboard of the cockpit.

The cabin roof has been added and painted, and the cabin interior it being fleshed in as well. The galley is at the foot of the companionway on the port side, and will have a small stove top as well as a sink with a hand pumped tap.

Starboard deck looking forward.

Looking aft at the foremast step, cabin, and foremast boom (or gaff?).

I then headed to inspect below deck.

Companionway and galley.

Galley and sink.

Opposite the galley is often a small Forward of the galley is a midships dining and berthing cabin - I assume this will receive some sort of dining table at some point.

Hinged chart table on the left, to starboard of the companionway ladder coming down from the cockpit.

Midships cabin and looking forward into the cuddy (forward) cabin..Unseen at the moment is the step for the main mast which is in the middle of the cabin. Presumably a floorboard has to be cut up to make room for the mast.

Midship berth.

I didn't pull out the hinged shelf in the middle of the image all the way, so I didn't think to check if there are meant to be one or two sleeping berths on each side of this cabin.

Underside of the cabin roof.

Between the miships cabin and the cuddy is the head.

Head.

Forward of the head is the cuddy cabin, where two bunks and storage are arranged on either side of the step for the foremast.

Cuddy cabin.

Up on deck, the bowsprit is made, but can't be installed yet due to the small size of the shed.

Bowsprit.

I can only imagine Hebridee II looks longingly out the windows of the boat shed at the other museum boats in the water, anticipating her own launch which is currently scheduled for 2017.

The view out of the boat shed.

The full gallery of these images, plus the images from 2015, are on my Smugmug site.

Reconstruction of schooner Hebridee II

You don't have to head all the way down to Lunenburg to see traditional Nova Scotian boat building underway - if you live in the Halifax area, there is at least one closer example. In a small shed on the Halifax waterfront, with the sound of water splashing on the rocks below audible despite the music of the Rolling Stones, the schooner Hebridee II has been in the process of being rebuilt since she arrived at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in September, 2009. 

Hebridee II with masts removed.

Soon after arrival, I managed to catch her being lifted out of the water.

Hebridee II being lifted out of the water.

This 42' schooner (37' waterline, I believe) was originally built in 1953*, and was designed by William J. Roue, the designer of a couple schooners by the name of Bluenose and Bluenose II (Mk.1). In fact, she was apparently a scaled reduction of the original Bluenose.

* The Nova Scotia Schooner Association website variably lists her as being built in 1963, or the winter of 1952-53. Take your pick. I suspect the earlier dates to be more accurate. The museum website indicates the design itself dates from 1936.

She spent her first winter in a tent at the museum. This photo was taken in November 2009.

As rebuilds go, this one is fairly extensive. I'm told that all that remains of the previous schooner are the keel, stem, wheel, and a few bulkheads and decorative wood trim. So the schooner in the photo above, though sharing the lines of the new one, is essentially not the same schooner. To be fair, mind you, the new Hebridee II will have more in common with her predecessor than Bluenose II (Mk.2) has with Bluenose II (Mk.1).

Plan and profile views of the schooner.

After watching her under construction for the 5-6 years since, during which time I sadly paid her little attention, I finally got around to asking museum boatbuilder Eamonn Doorly when she might be back in the water (probably a few more years). Mr. Doorly kindly invited me in to take a look at her progress to date, during which time I took the following photos.

Hebridee II's bow points out towards the harbour.

Planking joins with the keel and stem.

The shed is rather tight with Hebridee II crammed in, and I didn't really get any good wide angle shots of her in her entirety.

Caulking of the planking is planned for Spring 2016.

The propeller will be installed on the shaft above, inset into the rudder. The rudder post curves around the inside of the propeller cut-out.

Planking joining with the stern post. The rudder is at an angle, which is mirrored by the wheel on deck above.

While the hull is mostly complete, minus the caulking and some touch-up, the topsides and interior are still a work in progress and I got a good look inside.

The deckhouse bulkheads are erected and porthole frames installed, and the decking is down.

This photos shows what a tight fit Hebridee II is in the shed, with her stern tucked in under the lower roof. The wheel, salvaged from the original, is installed in the cockpit with a seat behind.

The deckhouse roof is framed up, but not planked. This is where the companionway will descend into the cabin.

Hard to see here, but there is a small electric motor flywheel under the deck just behind the plank running top to bottom in this image. 

The original schooner would have had a bulkier engine (diesel, I assume), whereas the new boat will be powered by a bank of marine batteries designed to provide 5-6 hours of propulsion at a nominal 3 knots, enough to provide get-home oomph at the end of a sail to get passengers back to the dock if they need to catch a bus. The batteries can be charged dockside by plugging in, and renewable power will be purchased to reduce Hebridee II's carbon footprint. Smaller, lighter (only 35 pounds), quieter, and apart from the propeller shaft no through-hull fittings are required for exhaust or coolant. Mr. Doorly commented that he would be actually able to get at the stuffing box (propeller shaft seal) without the engine getting in the way.

The roof of the lower main cabin.

Interior of the main cabin, the main mast will be stepped in the red board in the floor.

Starboard decking looking aft.

Looking forward in the cabin. The lathed dowel to the left is apparently from the original schooner.

Starboard side looking aft.

I assume the name board is destined for the transom, though the previous schooner didn't have one.

I look forward to seeing Hebridee II back in the water, and even better yet, under sail!