Rake

Rake refers to mast slant from perpendicular relative to forward and aft.  Generally, a mast is raked aft of plumb, although in many seas masts are raked forward.  Raking the masts of a sailing vessel, one step of tuning a rig,  ideally serves to balance the center of effort.   The rake here on Liberty Clipper is accentuated by the “perpendicularity” of the buildings over in Jersey City.  Foto taken in October.  Serious sailors and naval architects can talk at length about rake.

Pride of Baltimore II also has seriously

raked masts.  So does Spirit of Bermuda, as seen here back in September.  As do Amistad  and Amazon.

Ditto schooner America.

On power ships, stacks are often raked, although this seems to be  about style.  To rake or not is a “first chicken or first egg” questions of ship design.  Cangarda has a single raked funnel.  Earlier steam vessels appeared to have perpendicular stacks.

Buoys, on the other hand, should not be “raked” this much and on only one side of the channel.  Something amiss here is.

Unrelated:  Some three years back bowsprite took these fotos and gave momentum to my whatzit series.  Here‘s how that “short ship” looks today, just before a radical transformation into something “tall.”

Also unrelated but getting some attention these days, tugster ran this post of Giulio Verne six plus weeks ago.  NYTimes ran this story yesterday, and adds delightful onboard info.

I’m still in Georgia, craving salt water, completing unfinished blog posts when the spirit moves me.

Summer Yachts

I looked for a name, but saw only this . . . ballyhoo, which reminded me of the conch republic already a quarter year ago.  Can you identify the yacht?

Black Knight, head-turner that she is, sports

no ballyhoo.

Nor does this large trawler in town last weekend.  Know her?  I love the stacks that suggest Sea Raven . . .

Here following replica vessel Clipper City past Ellis Island . . . it’s Black Douglas, with its tender Wild Oats.

Milk and Honey . . .  not my cup of tea, although I like the other yachts in this post.

Here’s the last clue to the ballyhoo-sporting three-masted schooner, high tech version of sail.

Spirit of Bermuda it is, recent winner of large boat class at the Gloucester Schooner fest.  Click here for a video by Capt. Joey.

All fotos taken in September 2011 by Will Van Dorp.