Pen Duick by BobG - Artesania Latina - 1:28

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

Any photos of the error?

 

Cheers....HOF.

[vaddoc]

On 9/5/2020 at 9:46 AM, SpyGlass said:

shows the rigging quite well - it is fairly simple and fairly standard

3 jibs/staysails, one with a boom, 2 sets of backstays, top sail on a yard and a gaff sail with reef lines etc - simples.

Hats off to you Spyglass! 😄

[BobG]

I just want to let everyone know that, even though I haven't been able to spend any time on my build lately, I have not abandoned the build. I've had a bunch of other priorities that I have had to attend to recently that has prevented me from making any further progress. However, I have been researching the Pen Duick quite a bit and have received some good articles and advice that I will discuss in a future post. 

 

As many of you already know, California is experiencing the worst number of catastrophic wildfires in the state's history. Thousands of people have been displaced, lives and property have been lost and millions of acres of wilderness have been destroyed. As of today, 26 fires continue to burn throughout the state. We have had horrible air quality in Sacramento for weeks now and ash has coated everything on numerous occasions but we are so fortunate compared to so many others that are suffering from this climate catastrophe. 

 

The record heat and hazardous air quality has pretty much eliminated a lot of outdoor activities that my wife and I love here in northern California. So we rented a house on the coast in Dillon Beach for a week in search of a change of scenery and clean air. We've had a very nice week here until yesterday and today when smoke began rolling in and ash began falling from two new wildfires in the Napa Valley and near Santa Rosa that just started. There seems to be no end these devastating fires.

 

That said, I hope to return to working on my build again later this week. I hope some of you will still be interested in continuing to follow along despite no progress of late. Your sage advice and encouragement is always much appreciated. 

 

[Nunnehi (Don)]

Bob,

I really feel for you guys. My Son lives in Portland and it’s been really bad there too. Hopefully as you get into the winter rainy season it will clear up. All we have to deal with here are hurricanes. This year we’ve had more than we normally get but we’re about 250 miles inland so by the time they get here, it’s mostly rain with some occasional strong gusts. Now, Katrina was a whole ‘nother thing - we had many hours of constant 70+mph wind and many tornados, it was scary. 

 

Look forward to updates on your build when when you can get to it. I’m really interested in your solution to your rigging challenge, it’s going to be a really beautiful model!

 

Don

[gjdale]

Sorry to hear about all the fires over there Bob. As you know, we experienced a similar thing here in Australia during our last summer. The smoke rolled in here at the beginning of December and pretty much put a stop to all outdoor activity for a couple of months. The fires here got close enough that we actually evacuated one night - fortunately that scare didn’t eventuate into anything more serious but we had quite a nervous few weeks. I think the smoke finally left when we received an almighty hailstorm that did record damage across the city - narrowly missed our house though. And it seemed we were just getting on top of that when COIVD joined us. What a year!

 

I’ll certainly be continuing to follow your excellent build as and when you have time for it.

[Keithbrad80]

Hey Bob, glad to see your doing well. The fires have been insane recently and Santa Rosa is scrambling, but this isn’t the first time and wont be the last. Dillion beach is beautiful, i hope you enjoy it down there. Looking forward to getting back to my build and seeing your progress! Stay safe.

 

Bradley 

[BobG]

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts. Unfortunately, we just got word that a friend of ours house burned to the ground in St Helena last night. He is and his family escaped but it still comes as a shock. God help us if the nations of the world don't join together to help slow the human contribution to climate change. Living here in California feels like it may already be too late to stop this runaway train...

[HakeZou]

Glad to hear that you've been safe from the fires so far, Bob! I hope you can stay that way!

 

As I was reading through some of your log, I noticed your comment about struggling to wrap your head around a gaff rig. I had the same challenge when I built the Bon Retour (my first kit!), which is also from Artesania Latina and also had unclear rigging diagrams. In the end, I found a couple YouTube videos that were much more helpful. Based on what I saw in these, I was able to install rigging that actually worked correctly (meaning that I was able to hoist the gaff and boom, and to use the rigging to adjust them to get the right tension on the sail). Here are the links, in hopes that they'll be helpful for you: "Handling a Gaff Rig" by How to Sail Oceans and "Gaff Rig - How We Hoist Our Gaff Rig" by Living with the Tide.

[BobG]

58 minutes ago, HakeZou said:

Here are the links, in hopes that they'll be helpful for you: "Handling a Gaff Rig" by How to Sail Oceans and "Gaff Rig - How We Hoist Our Gaff Rig" by Living with the Tide.

Thanks very much, HakeZou. I will definitely watch those videos.

[EKE]

Terrible news Bob.  So sorry to hear about your friend.  I’m praying for everyone who’s hurting because of the fires.

[vaddoc]

You know how it goes Bob. Good times follow bad times until things go bad again. We just need to enjoy the good breaks and soldier on during the bad ones. Soon you ll be back on your boat, scratching your head trying to figure out the rigging.

Stay safe

 

Vaddoc

[BobG]

Thanks vaddoc. I've been staying busy with other interests of mine lately. I was focusing solely on ship modeling for quite a while and got completely away from playing my guitar and photography etc. I especially missed playing my guitar and I'm getting back into the groove of it now. The air quality in northern California has improved as the wildfires have slowed down so I've been able to ride my bike again too. I've also been doing a lot of yard work and have been switching my container garden over from warm weather vegetables to the cool season fall and winter vegetables. 

 

I'll be back working on my Pen Duick pretty soon. It's a lovely model and, yes, the gaff sail rigging is confusing but I'll figure it out...at least I think I will!

 

Be safe as well my friend.

[glbarlow]

Sorry Bob, hope things get better soon. 

[BobG]

4 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Sorry Bob, hope things get better soon. 

Thanks, Glenn. I'm really doing just fine. So many have lost so much recently with the wildfires and and Covid-19. I'm grateful to be so fortunate as to be able to enjoy my hobbies instead of wondering how I will pay my bills or rebuild my house or struggle to breathe. We are living in challenging times and I hope that things will get better for those who need it the most.

[VTHokiEE]

Simply checking in and seeing how things are. Hope you’re doing well!

[BobG]

55 minutes ago, VTHokiEE said:

Simply checking in and seeing how things are. Hope you’re doing well!

 

Well, as they say, when it rains, it pours. I've had a couple of medical issues pop up and that has taken some time and attention. About a month ago I came down with an intestinal infection that required some heavy duty antibiotics and took me 3 weeks to get back to normal. Then to top it off I noticed a lump in my upper chest. I ended up having to have a mammogram and an ultrasound. The radiologist thinks it is "probably benign" and we will just monitor it for a while and do another ultrasound in 6 months. Now I know what women have to go through on a routine basis!

 

This all came as a bit of a shock to me since I have always have been very healthy and physically fit and active in general. I'm an avid cyclist and my wife and I eat very healthy food. So all of these medical appointments along with the rampant Covid-19 surge everywhere has left me a bit unsettled. So I'll just take it a day at a time right now.

 

I have also gotten back into playing my guitar a lot lately. I had been so focused on ship modeling in the past 2 yers that I wasn't playing my guitar much at all. I began playing again recently and realized how much I love it and have missed playing.

 

So I'll be back on my build pretty soon. My mind has just be elsewhere for a while.

 

Thanks for checking in. Stay safe and healthy everyone!

[VTHokiEE]

I’m sorry to hear that, but at the same time I’m glad that it sounds like you’re holding up strong.

 

10 minutes ago, BobG said:

I had been so focused on ship modeling in the past 2 yers

I have this tendency as well, becoming super obsessed about a hobby which really is to the detriment of the hobby because I end up interested in something else. I’ve been working on getting back to healthy relationships with my hobbies (a little tough with little kids and minimal completely free time :-), but I’m glad to be integrating my old live of photography into my hobby which has led me back to taking pictures of the family and other things.

Now that I realize I’m rambling I’ll reign in with being a huge fan of your guitar playing. That’s something I wish I had learned, if I could go back in time I would tell myself to choose guitar instead of trumpet in 5th grade 😃.

[Ryland Craze]

Sorry to hear that you are having health issues, but it sounds like you have a handle on them.  These issues can come upon you quite quickly.  Take care of your self and we will be here when you are ready to return to modeling.

[glbarlow]

Hope everything works out and you’re better soon. 

[Justin P.]

Sorry to hear the news Bob, I hope things turn around for you.   As another guitarist, I completely understand the cycle...  Ive put mine down only to discover it numerous times.   

[gjdale]

Sorry to hear about the health issues Bob - particularly with the whole COIVD thing happening in the background around you as well. Take your time coming back - we'll be waiting when you're ready, some of us more patiently than others.....😉

 

Glad to hear you've picked up your guitar again in the meantime. One should always have music in one's life.

[Nunnehi (Don)]

Bob,

 

I’m sorry to hear about your health issues and wish you the best. The covid nastiness is scary and, hopefully, we’ll have a resolution soon that will see us getting back to some semblance of normalcy. It’s good to hear you getting back to your guitar. As we’ve talked before, music is a big part of my life too and the groups that my wife and I play with haven’t rehearsed since March - I’ve found some online play alongs but it’s not the same. 

 

I read a quote somewhere that said that “the wood is patient”,  your Pen  Duick will be there when the time is right. 

 

Don

[BobG]

Thank you VTHokiEE, Ryland, Glenn, Justin, Grant and Don for your kind thoughts and words. 

 

My wife and I and our son are in Pebble Beach for a week. We rented a nice house with a view of ocean over the tops of the Monterey Pine and Cyprus trees. It's a stunningly beautiful area. So we'll have a wonderful, relaxing week here and I'll have ample time to continue playing my guitar too.

 

The whole Monterey area is very special to me since I spent 2 1/2 years here attending Monterey Peninsula College after I got out of the service back in 1970-72. The memories always come flooding back to me from those days long gone by every time I return to visit the area.

 

Those were perhaps the most transformative years of my life as I struck out on my own after having grown up in a small town in Indiana followed by 4 years in the Coast Guard. A long road trip wandering up the entire coast of California from LA eventually brought me to Monterey with $50 left in my pocket. My hair was down to my shoulders and everything I owned including my 1964 Gibson guitar was in the back seat of my '69 VW Bug when I arrived. 

 

I was fortunate to have the GI Bill available to use to go to college but I wasn't sure that I would personally fit into the college environment let alone be successful in the classroom. It turns out that my decision to try and go to school was one of the major turning points of my life. With the support of some wonderful, dedicated instructors and mentors, I ended up being an honor student and eventually transferred on to UC Davis. Those instructors saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. They supported me when I doubted myself and almost quit and, as a result, I stayed in school and new set of doors opened up for me to journey through. I am forever grateful to them for having profoundly influenced the trajectory of my life.

 

So, although I'm feeling the itch to get back to work on my model, It will be at least a week before I return to the shipyard. Until then I'll continue to enjoy reading the forum and trying to learn a thing a two.

 

Stay healthy and safe everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

[Keithbrad80]

Monterey is a really beautiful place. My dad and I used to fish down there a lot as he was biologist for the aquarium when I was a kid, it’s a really interesting spot!

 

A couple years ago my wife and I lost our house in a wild fire and almost moved to Monterey! Hope you feel better and enjoy your vacation. 
 

Bradley

[BobG]

Thanks, Bradley. Monterey was a magical place to be in the early 70's as a young man. It certainly has grown by leaps and bounds since then. My wife and I find ourselves looking at the homes for sale in the area too. 

 

I think you mentioned that you are rebuilding your home in Santa Rosa. I hope that is going well for you.

 

The Monterey area in in the midst of a prolonged drought as well and, unfortunately, the conditions here ripe for a catastrophic fire like many areas in California. We're hoping for rain like all other Californians but it appears we are in store for another dryer than normal winter.

 

[BobG]

I was looking over my Pen Duick hull this morning. She's been laying on a cloth for year now and I'd almost forgotten how beautiful I think it is. So I ended up rereading my build log. It was so nice to read over all the wonderful, supportive comments again that so many of you posted while I was still actively building her.

 

I got bogged down with trying to understand the gaff rigged topsail and I lost the my drive to figure it out. I set it aside and ended up getting totally immersed in playing my guitars and riding my bike and, before you know it, a whole year slipped by. Well, I think it's time to get my small, shipyard desk set up again and see if I can figure things out and continue on with this lovely model. 

 

Hopefully, I'll be posting some progress soon. Thanks again to everyone that has taken an interest in this build and sorry for such a long absence.

 

All the best,

 

 

  

Edited August 8, 2021 by BobG

[VTHokiEE]

Glad to read about your return and I can’t wait to see the updates.

[glbarlow]

Me too

[gjdale]

Glad to see you back at it Bob. I look forward to the next update.

[BobG]

Thanks everyone. Folks are so supportive on this forum! 

 

I'm sure it will take a couple of weeks for me to set up shop again and pour over the plans to see if I can make sense of the rigging. Artesania Latina's instructions and plans are practically nonexistent when it comes to the rigging. 

 

My immediate time is limited for the next two weeks. My son just moved into an apartment in San Francisco for his work at Google and we'll be helping him out with the move and some painting. 

 

Stay tuned. I will probably have to ask the experts here to help me out with the rigging plan if I even can figure out how to coherently ask the questions!