V-Day!! 2

It’s really this although it looks like this.  They’re actually supposed to look like this, NOT heart-shaped.

Enough frivolity.  Be nice today and loving.

All these photos I took in Brooklyn locations in September  2009.

Brooklyn Navy yard. . . .

and

Atlantic Basin.

Some decades ago, I knew a schooner in Newburyport called Hearts Desire, but otherwise, there is a dearth of vessels with nomenclaturus valentinus.  Why?

Although bowsprite put something different up, here’s my favorite one of her past V-day posts.

Atlantic Basin Barge Detail

Bowsprite satified my hungry eyes with her epic vistas of the diverse craft in the Upper Bay Sunday.  Let me complement by directing the eyes to equally satisfying detail.  Like flags defying uniformity of color and shape flying from

mastheads of divers tips.  Actually, the tell-tale is called a wimpel.  On the top foto, notice the Flinter house flag.

Fugelfrij, built in 2000, already striking with its flat-black hull, enhances that with   . . . black fenders.

Vrouwe Cornelia, 1888, has lovely carved signs.  Whoever Lady Cornelia was, she

left her shoes on deck.  Was she the beloved, or

despite the wooden shoes . . . the mermaid muse of the first skipper?  Either way, this reminder rides Cornelia‘s tiller through every turn.

These three boats (far to near . . . Pieternel, Sterre, and Vrouwe Cornelia ) alone have the combined age of 362 years!

And each tiller carries a different beast, land spirit or

water.  This fish rides Sterre‘s rudderhead.

Like grapes are these parrel beads, and like a fine basket the fenders on Windroos.

And after night fell, there was the utterly delightful music man of the waters, Reinier Sijpkens, turning as many circles as

designs on his vessel or notes in his music.  See him here on Youtube.

More soon.  All fotos here by Will Van Dorp.

Remember, fotos of the trip upriver can be seen at Arjen’s  site here.  It’s also an opportunity to struggle with Dutch text.  Still more fotos are here.

And a request:  if you happen to cross paths with this flotilla the next few weeks, I’d love to see and maybe post your fotos.  Email me.

Atlantic Basin Barge Muster

Those lucky Hudson Valley towns:  the “flat-bottoms” move upriver today after a festive send-0ff yesterday from Atlantic Basin.  Portside NewYork had published a wonderful PDF guide to Red Hook and the barges available here.

The setting sun in Red Hook has too rarely enjoyed such beautiful surfaces to paint with low-angle light and color.

The clouds heightened the sense of ceremony as

the barges paraded in . . . singles or

pairs . . .  to

the shelter of the enclosed Basin within

of New York skyline.  (By the way . . . two fotos up following the two skutsjes into the Basin is the barquentine Peacemaker.  More on them later.)  After dark the

music man appeared with his vessel Cecelia to

create magic.  More fotos of this muster later.

Thanks to all involved from this dweller of the banks around the sixth boro.  And if you live upriver in the next two weeks, enjoy!  And if you get great fotos and want me to share them here, send me an email.

Here and here are some foto links.

By the way, exactly 400 years ago today, according to Juet’s journal, the Half Moon made it up to present-day West Point.  See Henrysobsession.

All fotos here by Will Van Dorp.

Sailing Barges Up Close

I’m praying for perfect light on Sunday afternoon when a public viewing of the barges is scheduled on Governors Island.  PortSide NewYork offers this downloadable guide to the barges, Red Hook, and its Dutch history here.  If you have a chance to get there, the details of these vessels will reward you.  For this month from an on-barge perspective, check out the blog maintained by Arjen Wapenaar, captain of Sterre, the 1887 tjalk;  although the text is in Dutch, the pics are great.

I’ve always been taken by leeboards (aka zwaarden), but I’ve developed a new interest in the rudders:  large and exuberant.  And it seems the Dutch themselves love the rudders, transforming a component that could be just functional to  Rudders with a passion for  . . . being rudders.  Notice the size the rudder (aka roer) on the 1888 tjalk Vrouwe Cornelia (Lady Cornelia).

And the decoration, which I offer to the readers over at Neversealand.

The rudder on Lemsteraak Sydsulver includes a boarding ladder and a flag bracket.

The rudder on Groenevecht dwarfs the tillerman.

And all that beautiful wood begs for paint and carving tools.

I’d like to know the various types of wood used in these rudders, like this dark wood on Groenling (green finch).

I’m looking forward to the viewing on Sunday not only for more rudders but also other details:  mast, rigging, houses, blocks, bowsprits, etc.  Check out the boom (giek) support on Windroos, the hoogaars.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.  Off to Waterford now.

NY400 Week Armada 2

So here is most of the rest of the fleet.  Of course, Half Moon was the flagship, the raison d’etre of the event.  Following behind is Onrust, its first season teaching history.  Use the search window to find more on both.  For a creative-nonfiction account of Henry Hudson’s journey channeled across 400 years, click here.

Tjalk Hoop en Vertrouwen (Hope and Trust, Confidence) dates from 1913!

Check out the four rows of reef points in the sail!

Lemsteraak LE89 dates from 2005. Partly obscured is Windroos, the hoogaars from 1925.

Check out the crew shirts that read “Touch of Dutch.”

Ommeswaaij is a Lemsteraak from 1995.

First in this pack is the tjalk De Tijd zal t Leeren (Time Will Learn It), dating from 1912.

All in all it was a lovely parade.  Standing on Pier 84 I was moved to tears, especially during the gun salute as I heard background chatter mostly in my mother tongue.  Given all the preparation that went into these festivities, I have a complaint:  the outermost portion of that pier has been incomplete for some time.  Almost finished but NOT.  That outer portion would also have been the best platform for fotos, which a lot of people recognized to be true.  Since no signs prohibited access, a few dozen folks stepped over the fence and started snapping fotos and cheering friends and relatives–yes, relatives–on the boats.  Until various authorities arrived, threatening $100 fines.  It troubled me to hear threats used against tourists who might have marginal control of English.

My question is . . . why is this decking work not complete in time to be used for such high-profile events as this.  After all, less than 300 feet away were the Mayor, the US Secretary of State, and the Crown Prince and Princess of the Netherlands?

And when a certain boat blocked these fotografers, some of them were unhappy, especially that tall guy, arms akimbo.

And what view was this certain boat blocking . . . you ask?  Check this out!!  And please finish the pier decking!  I’ll even volunteer to help with the installation.

I have a request:  certain folks would like the opportunity to photograph and sketch these classic and exotic boats in all their lush detail.  There is a viewing scheduled on Governors Island on Sunday, but the time is short.  Also, might there be a back-up time if –say–it rains?  For specifics on each of the Dutch boats, click here.

Arms akimbo-guy . . . oh, that’s tugster.

All fotos except the last two by Will Van Dorp.  The last two come from Bernard Ente.  Thank you!

Sailing Barges Arrive

Let’s follow one aak from Flinterduin to the East River.  GroeneVecht, built in 1999, hangs in the slings.

Notice the hull lines.  Dimensions are roughly 60′ by 20′.  Groene means green, and Vecht is the name of a river in Netherlands.

I am fixated on leeboards, you may have noticed before.

Once out of the slings,Groenevecht motoors into a basin for minor up rig and then a wait with

earlier barges offloaded.

Once the flag is secured to the rudder,

she motors past Flinterduin to savor the East River

Much more later.  All fotos by will Van Dorp.

Access thanks to Carter Craft and GMD Shipyard.  Thanks.

Remember to double click to see full size fotos.