Newporter 40 Together

a beautiful boat should sail forever.

FROM PUTTING ON THE MIZZEN COVER TO WALKING ON A YACHT

 

My first twenty-five years of boating was on workboats or “yachts” that were workboat built and workboat painted.  When I started working at Stowman’s shipyard I was on the “commercial gang” that worked on workboats.  Then I was transferred to the “Newporter gang” and stayed there, eventually becoming the rigger and demonstration/delivery captain.  We wore non-marking shoes and some of us wore Topsiders.  Those shoes had wavy slits across the soles and heels to give a good grip on wet decks.  Those slits also grabbed grains of sand as you walked across the yard and held them.  This didn’t affect the non-slip ability of the shoes but it was something to consider and keep in mind.

When I first became a regular on the mostly finished Newporters our yard superintendent took me out to a Newporter and showed me a mark on the caprail.  It was about four inches in diameter and included many concentric circles, right down to the pivot point.  He seemed to think it was “Workboat Clyde” that made the mark.  It probably was, but that didn’t matter.  I did need it brought to mind and he proceeded to teach me how to walk on Newporters.

It’s really simple and it is needed to protect the fine varnish job on the bright work.  First, he said, is to not walk on the rails if you can help it.  But, in situations that require standing on the rails or stepping on them when walking, you should not pivot on them; put your foot down and don’t move it until you lift it up.  If you have to pivot do you pivoting at your ankle.  Pivoting on your shoe sole puts a beautiful set of concentric circles in the varnish.  I told Bob (the yard super) that that would be difficult to remember.  He told me that every time I took a step to say to myself “yacht” until it becomes natural to do the anklepivot when around varnish.

So, from then on for a week or two it was “yacht – yacht – yacht” as I worked.  It became so natural that I would pivot on my shoe sole on workboats and at the ankle on yachts, even to this day, and that without thinking about it.  Okay, men, Forward March! Yacht - yacht – yacht – yacht.

Now you can stand on the after taftrail and put on the mizzen sail cover (but make sure the boom crutch is there).

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Comment by Clyde A. Phillips on November 16, 2013 at 12:08pm

Glad we caught your 9 year old in time.  Now is a good time to teach the art of varnishing!  If "turning on the ankle" is a concept that's hard to learn, remember that it means "while the foot is on the rail it doesn't move."  Put it down, pick it up, and don't move it between those two actions.  Practice it on the pier--no varnish there.

Comment by brent and leslie bandi on November 15, 2013 at 4:23pm
Thank you for posting this!! My 9 year old likes to walk on our rails and it's doing a number on our varnish! I'm now railing against this practice :) sorry for the pun, couldn't resist.
Comment by bob mitchell on October 30, 2013 at 4:05pm

THAT WAS AN AWESOME POST!

            LINKS ===============

THE ROSTER

Muf, our Keeper of the Roster, has updated it.  But he still needs information on boats out there that he doesn't have, like new owners, old owners, where any of the boats are.  We don't post the roster on the web site, it is only sent to owners.  Please send him anything you might have, or call him at:      

gmuf48@aol.com   

909 561 4245

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Captain Clyde's Newporter  sites:

newporters.blogspot.com

and  

newporter.ning.com

The Ning site has been given a reprieve.   I have  transferred my Ning site to the blogspot site and will leave it there. I am keeping my Ning site open as a home for my photos and drawings.

Many of my photos there do not relate to Newporters, but a search through my collection may prove useful for your studies.

My drawings are not accurate in many respects as a result of the PAINT program used to draw them, There is no accurate scale and at best they are only useful to indicate some specific detail.  Some are inaccurate because of my poor memory.  Use them to help you think, not as a detailed presentation of the subject matter.

If any of you want to start a web site I suggest you remember what has happened to both my Ning site and this site (which is a Ning site) and remember that my Blogspot site is free and Blogspot's owner (Google) has promised to keep it that way.

 

Clyde's email:

camgphil@msn.com 

Put 'Newporter' on Subject Line.  Email is the best way to contact me.  I do not regularly look at this site or its messaging system.  Email will get to me post-haste. 

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