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Tuesday, July 25, 2017

The first Intrepid power boat Loys Charbonnet and the Checkered Demon

Sometimes you just know something unique is happening to you, and meeting Loys Charbonnet for the first time on his boat was one of them. I was called by Loys, and asked to do some Garmin 5208 training, and software upgrades. As I boarded, his boat I had this unusual feeling. It looked brand new from the factory, but it had this retro classic appearance. So I asked Loys, "Who is the builder?", and he replied, "This is an Intrepid, and it is the first one ever sold". To say this has been a well cared for, and much loved boat would be an understatement. The bright work was in terrific condition, the fiberglass was waxed, and showed no sign of oxidation. The boat is almost exactly the way it came out of the factory approximately twenty-seven years ago.

There are only a few things that are different. It was re-powered just last year, and the original Yamaha 220 was replaced with a new Yamaha 300 HPDI. The rocket launcher seat was also re-upholstered, and the motor mount is of a newer vintage.

The boat in question is a Intrepid 26, built by the Intrepid Boatworks in 1983, now Intrepid Power Boats. The hull lines are clean, and purposeful, as you would expect from a classic Jim Wynne deep V hull design. If you look closely, at more modern Intrepid boat hulls of about the same lengths, you can clearly see the design similarities, even after a couple decades have passed. I will talk about Jim Wynne a little later.

The console is well laid out, and nicely trimmed. The new Garmin 5208 chartplotter is visible behind the helm. The Yamaha shifter, and the engine instruments are new.

Under the helm, are two VHF radios, an EPIRB, and an aircraft transceiver, and you can see the small antenna farm on the mast below. The mast was custom built for Loys’ boat by Intrepid, and was never a factory option, but it is cool looking, and maybe should of. In addition to the radio antennas, you can also see the Garmin N2K GPS and Garmin GXM51 weather receiver.

So how did Loys end up purchasing the first Intrepid? He was a good friend of Jim Wynne, who told him about the new company he was designing hulls for. For those who don't know who Jim Wynne is, I will put some links at the bottom of the story to allow for some further exploration. Jim Wynne, along with Charles Strang, were the inventors of the I/O stern drive so prevalent in todays boating world, and Jim Wynne can be also be considered the one of the fathers of modern power boat deep V hull design.

So how well does this 27 year old design hold up? This is what Loys has to say about the boat:

"I am convinced that having one engine is the way to go. I have run many times in the open ocean with other 26' Intrepids with two, 225hp engines, and it was no contest in 5'-8' seas. If you strap a 25lb weight on your back, and run, you hit the ground harder. This boat is very light, and I have purposely kept it that way. I have made countless single handed crossings from Miami, to all parts of the Bahamas. This boat has never once let me down, and it is bullet proof. I elected to not take the additional 50 gallon tank option, to keep the weight down, and the 150 gallon tank is perfect for good range, and rough seas performance. I did not order the T-top because of both the extra weight, and windage. I like speed, and the new Yamaha 300 HPDI does an excellent job in this department. (Note I did not go with the four stroke version, again to keep the weight down)

"Loys followed this comentary with the following musings:

"A good friend of mine bought the second boat off the line, but I let the factory finish his first because he was headed off to the Bahamas before me. We were departing a little later in my Hatteras 53 YF. We, for the most part, towed the Intrepid all over the Bahamas. Typically we left the two boats there from May to September, and we were always moving around. I love to free dive, and shoot fish with a sling. We owned a twin engine plane (hence the aircraft transceiver on the Intrepid), and would leave on Thursdays, and would return on early Mondays, and we did this for twenty five years".

I liked his assessment of the boat, it is pragmatic, and it comes from an ultra experienced boater. Loys started out in boats at age ten in a pram. He is a world class "Half Ton" sailboat racer, with many 1st to 3rd place finishes, both domestically and internationally, and I can't imagine him without a boat, or two, or three.

So now we come to the "Checkered Demon", and all children must now avert their eyes. When I first met Loys, I had my trusty Nikon digital camera with me, whose battery promptly took a dump after the first couple of pictures. I sent him an e-mail, and asked him if I could take some more pictures of his boat, and have him answer a few additional questions. One of the questions was as follows:

"Loys, the name "Checkered Demon" is evocative of my less than halcyon, and at times somewhat misspent youth. How did you pick the name, and might you know Mr. Wilson, and Crumb of Checkered Demon fame?” Here is Loys response:

"I never personally met S. Clay Wilson, but I have two complete original sets of his comics, and no, they are not for sale. In 1974 I had a Ron Holland custom designed "Half Ton" sailboat built for the 'Half Ton" World Championships held in Chicago. A good friend of mine, Cai Svendsen, who lived in Coconut Grove, helped build the boat and sailed on it and he introduced me to the "Checkered Demon.” All of my boats, including, all subsequent to the "Half Ton" yacht, have carried the name. If you know the "Checkered Demon" you know he always wins!”

The "Checkered Demon” was the creation of S. Clay Wilson, who was a contemporary of R. Crumb (Keep On Trucking), and Gilbert Shelton (The Fabulous Furry Freak Bothers). This odd, counter culture anti-hero had the distinction of doing in bad guys, such as rapists, pirates, and bad biker gangs, and never losing, but on the whole he would rather be drinking "Tree Frog Beer", and graphically chasing after (and I am being very discrete here) females with names like Star-eyed Stella, and, the ilk. For those of you, who had "Fuzzy Days" during this period in your life, I have included some additional links below to refresh your memories.

Thanks Loys, its been fun.

Below are some interesting links that are worth exploring, and Google can take you to many more.

An excellent Sports Illustrated article about Jim Wynne
Wikipedia article about the stern drive

Stern Drive, The Invention

The Bertram Mopie, Jim Wynne, and the Great Race
A good piece on S. Clay Wilson's life and times.

Wikipedia on S. Clay Wilson

S. Clay Wilson, the artist

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Friday, January 13, 2017

First Nest

After 24 hours of rain, a cloudy and pleasant day arrives, and just as after a spate of weather, wildlife behaves differently, so do humans. All down the two mile portage to Portage Bay, people stop and chat with me, asking what I am up to. I talk ducks and beaver to them, as usual, and they are often surprised that such nature is so near. This is the city at its finest and I am so fortunate. I drop off an 8x10 print for J. at the community center (see yesterday's trip). His hospitality went far beyond his job with the parks dept.

Note - the entrance to the Portage Bay beaver lodge is on the NW.

I am surveying beaver structures today, data for series of drawings that I am making. As a friend told me, my maps are the outside of a nesting Russian doll, the drawings are the inside.

You find the entrance to a beaver lodge by probing the depth with a paddle. Beaver excavate an underwater canal so that the entrance comes up into the lodge from below.

A bank burrow
Dug into the bank, branches piled above for protection and to hide the vent hole. There is a maintained 3 to 4 foot deep channel leading to the entrance. The rest of the water in this area is about 18 inches deep.

After photographing and sketching the Portage Bay lodge and the Portage Bay bank burrow, I head out east. Entering the crossing under place, I look up to see ten white motor yachts coming through in a double line. It looks like the British Navy circa 1910. For a few minutes I paddle without making a foot of progress, just bouncing up and over their wave and wave echo.

I head up and over to the NE lagoon to survey the north lodge.

But, as I am about to enter, I spot two bird watchers, so I hold off and drift until they leave knowing that I will flush whatever they are photographing as I come into the tiny lagoon. There are quite a few common mergansers here in the north end, and with the water as high as ever this spring, I use the "summer sneak" instead of the main channel. I can paddle almost 2/3 of the way around the lodge in the high water. This lodge was built on land, probably starting as a bank burrow, but as the beaver continued to drag and excavate, they lowered the ground around the lodge. Eventually it may become a tiny island.

On the little island in the lagoon, I find the first definite goose nest. She has stuffed nest material around and under her and holds her head low and motionless, watches me intensely. I stay back 50 feet, take some quick photos, and leave them to deal with more important matters.

The video of this nest looks the same as the photograph...no motion at all.

As with the "portage to", the portage back is one of short talks and waves with strangers.

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Friday, November 18, 2016

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Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Great Barrier Reef hopping first stop Fitzroy Reef

21-22 June 2016

We negotiated the narrow channels to exit Pancake Creek in the pre-dawn light by closely following our own GPS track. If we didn’t run aground coming in we were not likely to hit bottom going out exactly the same way.

The moon setting over Pancake Creek

The full moon was yet to set in the West as the sun made an appearance over the opposite horizon as we cleared the rocks of Clews Point and pointed our bow North East. Our destination was an anchorage inside a coral lagoon at Fitzroy Reef, 35 Nautical Miles off the coast.

Once we were well clear of the hazardous rocks that stretch seaward from Bustard Head we silenced the motor and let our sails push us along at a comfortable five and a half to six knots. The ten knot wind was square on the beam while the swell was reasonably mild and the sun was shining. What more could anyone ask?

We enjoyed very comfortable sailing conditions through the morning.

It was a very pleasant sail through the morning only interrupted by a mackerel-tuna having a bite at our lure and reluctantly coming aboard. These fish actually taste awful but as we were out of bait for our crab pots, Karen sliced and diced it into freezer bags for just that purpose.

Soon to be crab bait

About an hour and a half before reaching Fitzroy Reef we received a radio call from Gary and Anne on the catamaran Chances. They were a few miles behind us also on their way to the reef and were now asking if we’d been through the narrow entrance in the coral that must be negotiated to enter the lagoon. We explained we had never been here before but had downloaded Google Earth imagery and overlaid it on our charts and were planning on entering using these for additional guidance. They then asked if we could slow to let them catch up and follow us in.

It was a simple request to agree to. If we had it right why not let them follow the leader. If we got it wrong at least there would be another boat standing by to help. We furled away the headsail and bobbed along while they closed the distance from behind.

The entrance to the lagoon is very narrow and curves through the very menacing coral coming up near vertical and protruding above water level except at high tide. We timed our arrival for just after midday so the sun would be high in the sky providing the clearest view of the coral below the water. We didn’t mind entering a little later as that would put us closer to the low tide slack water and reduce the amount of current that can race in and out of the narrow gap.

Just after 13.00 hours Karen positioned herself on the bow for our passage through. With one of our small radios she was able to communicate exactly what she was seeing directly back to Rob on the helm as he followed the electronic chart. Once the boat was actually into the entrance itself the coral walls lining the edges were very clearly visible in the sunlight making steering through a lot easier. We imagine an overcast day would be much more nerve wracking.

With Chances following closely astern we cleared our way through never seeing less than six metres on the depth gauge and entered the expansive lagoon’s totally calm waters. Right on cue, what remained of the morning’s breeze dropped out to leave dead still air. We edged our way around a couple of bombies (coral outcrops that rise from the seabed) into a wide, clear area of sand in seven metres of water and dropped our anchor. The water was so clear, we could see every link of the chain laying on the lagoon floor. This place was simply amazing.

The narrow entrance to Fitzroy Reef as seen from inside the lagoon

Our track into Fitzroy Reef lagoon on Open CPN with the chart overlayed with Google Earth.

Pancake Creek to Fitzroy Reef – 34.9 Nautical Miles – 6 Hours 56 Minutes
Average Speed 5.0 Knots Max Speed 7.1 Knots

No sooner had we zipped up the sail covers and tidied up the boat than another yacht arrived at the lagoon entrance. It was friends we’d made last year in Bundaberg Marina on their boat Sea Whiskers from Eden on the NSW South Coast. While sailing over from Pancake Creek we had spotted Chris and Sally on our AIS heading north from Lady Musgrave Island and guessed they may also be planning on spending the night at Fitzroy and were delighted to see them motoring over to anchor beside us. It’s always great to catch up with cruising buddies. They are on their way North again and we were very pleasantly surprised to learn they too are bound for the Louisiade Islands.

Our Dreamtime at anchor inside Fitzroy Reef. We offset the boom to keep shade off the solar panels.

Our anchor chain could be seen clearly laying on the sand almost 8 metres below the surface.

By now the water inside the lagoon had totally glassed out and in very short order each boat’s crew was heading off to different areas of the reef in their dinghy to snorkel. Sadly much of the coral was suffering from the bleaching that huge areas of the Great Barrier Reef is experiencing that has been very widely reported in the media. However the fish life was abundant and we were still able to find colourful examples of different corals dotted along the reef section we snorkelled.

On our way to snorkel on a coral outcrop inside the Fitzroy Reef lagoon.

Sea Whiskers, Our Dreamtime and Chances anchored inside Fitzroy Reef

We came up with so many great photos it was difficult to choose what to include here in the blog.

Much of the coral was dead or bleached but the fish life was amazing.

Fitzroy Reef coral

The snorkelling conditions at Fitzroy Reef were amazing.

It was fantastic to still find vibrant colours at Fitzroy Reef.

Please ignore the date on the video. We haven't worked out how to set it on the new camera yet. Technology is wonderful.

That evening we experienced one of THE most amazing sunsets we have ever seen. It seemed to last for an hour with the sky altering its spectacular display constantly.

Back on the boat ready to see what Fitzroy Reef had in store for sunset.

Chances in the glassy conditions.

Sea Whiskers was silhouetted beautifully by the stunning sunset

Annie on Chances got this shot of Our Dreamtime and Sea Whiskers in Fitzroy Reef lagoon

Even the view from the galley was awesome

The light continually changed as the sunset made its way through to darkness

Finally the heavens were totally devoid of sunlight or manmade illumination and the more stars shone brightly through the very still, clear night air than you could ever imagine. The glassy water mirrored each and every one of them making it impossible to determine where the horizon lay and what were stars and what were reflections.

This all changed in the early evening when a bright red globe arose slowly from the Pacific Ocean before gaining height and taking on its normal white hues. What a night to be treated with a full moon. Unfortunately it was all impossible to photograph from a floating boat.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is an incredible gift of nature that we are looking forward to seeing a lot more off.

Goodnight from Fitzroy Reef

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