Email from Matt:

Shadow was originally launched in 1967 in Portland after a four year building project by Don Becker, my wife’s father. He and his wife Gloria cruised the lower Columbia from Cascade Locks to Astoria aboard her until he passed away in 1991. At that time Shadow came to Laura and I. As every Chinook is unique Shadow has her own list: the freeboard was raised three inches, as was the main cabin as the Beckers were tall and wanted amble standing room down below. A spade rudder was used in place of one hinged on the keel, I think from a modified one for a Cascade 36. The rudder post comes up into the cockpit to a sprocket where a chain connects to a more aft but same size sprocket that is connected to a tiller. In 2001 Shadow was pretty much totally rebuilt by Laura’s brother, Tom Becker with labor support from her and I. At that time Tom replaced the original 4 cylinder Palmer gas engine with a 27 hp 3 cylinder Yanmar diesel, rebuilt the icebox, repaired a lot of rot in the deck and laminated the cabin sides with 1/4″ marine plywood with 2 layers of 10 oz cloth and resin to stabilize the topsides, and much other work with an emphasis on retaining the boat’s original character and appearance. So she is very much a family boat. Shadow will celebrate her 42nd anniversary of being on the Columbia this April.

Click on the pictures to see a larger image.

Our car buried in snow.

After two weeks of record cold and snowfall in Portland, Oregon, with a few days that we couldn’t even get out of our driveway and a rare white Christmas, we finally got a melt off enough that we could get down to check on Cinnamon on Saturday the 27th.

Hayden Bay after snow.

She rode out the snow and wind storms with no problems. I had spent some time winterizing her the week before the storms started, but the power had stayed on at the marina so everything was fine except for some broken waterlines under the dock. By Wednesday, New Year’s Eve the temperature was back in the high forties and there was a break between storms so we couldn’t resist putting the jenny back on and going for one last sail in 2008 just to get a quick sailing fix.

We had a nice South wind that varied from 5 to 10 knots so we had just enough sail so move us upriver on a beam reach at a leisurely pace. There weren’t any other boats out when we first got out and then Balancing Act, an Erickson 35 sailboat that is also at Hayden Bay came out. They raised full sail and quickly caught up to us. We cruised upriver almost to buoy 14. The clouds were closing in again from the South so we headed back to the marina, got the headsail back down and flake up the covers put back on just as the next storm started to move in.  As we came back into the marina we were greeted by a sealion.

Buckets of rain fell New Year’s Day day so we will have to choose another day for our first sail of 2009.

The main reason I called him was to see what he could tell me about trim and ballast on the Chinook sailboats. I wanted to see what his opinion was about how tender the Chinooks were. Wade agreed that they are a tender boat, although he said that if the rail is in the water the boat is not going fast, they like 10 to 15 degrees of heel to bring the waterline length up. He asked what type of keel she has. I told him Cinnamon is not a “center board” type, but has a fixed lead torpedo type ballast bolted on the bottom and fiber glassed over to make a full keel. He said that was a good thing. The centerboard boats with internal ballast are even more tender and that external ballast was better. He said their original idea of a centerboard for a shoal draft boat for the Columbia River didn’t really work out. At 3′ 10″ with the centerboard up it was still to deep to just step off the boat to push it off a sandbar. I was happy to get this assurance from Wade since I wasn’t sure which was better and was thinking maybe the centerboard might make the boat more stable.

I ask Wade what his opinion was on the seaworthiness of the Chinooks. At first he didn’t seem to understand what I was trying to get at with my question. He ask me how the standing rigging was and if the turnbuckles were rusty. When I assured him that the standing rigging had all just been replaced this summer and was all new shiny stainless steel. He said “oh, then you are ok”. I tried to get a little more to the heart of the matter so I ask what he thought of the Chinook’s sea handling abilities and if they were safe to take offshore. Wade’s reply was in the early days there was a little fleet of them at the Rose City Yacht Club and they had made many trips up the coast to Puget Sound and around the San Juan Islands. He said he knew of Chinooks that had sailed to Hawaii and back. Still trying to probe deeper, I ask him if he ever got wet or had water in the cockpit. He said no didn’t sail that way, that other then a little splash he never got wet.

I got a lot of interesting perspective on the boats from Wade. When I mentioned the heavy mahogany framework in the Chinooks he was quick to point out that in the beginning they really were armatures and they didn’t know what they were doing so they way overbuilt the boats. As time went on and they grew more confident in the use of fiberglass they switched over to lighter more modern designs.

Wade was very proud of the Cascade 29, which was the last boat he owned before he gave up sailing. He said there are Cascade 29s all around the world. I told him I liked the Cascade 42 “high side” hull and had been looking at one before I found Cinnamon. He said that was a funny story. They had designed the mold for the Cascade 42 with the extensions for the extra foot of freeboard, but had discouraged people from going that way because of the extra weight and windage. Finally a customer insisted on having the high sides. After people saw that hull Cascade never build another Cascade 42 without the high sides. Wade volunteered that the Cascade 36 is the best Ocean boat for a couple to shorthand. He said the 42’s are too big and you need a crew of four or five and everything gets more expensive because it’s bigger. He was also very proud that this years overall winner in the 2008 Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Hawaii was won by a Cascade 36.

I told Wade that everyone who sees Cinnamon always comments on what a pretty boat she is. Wade said yes, that is why we choose the design. We wanted to build a pretty boat. So, there you have it, straight from the horses mouth. Five amateur yachtsmen spend two years studying the plans from the best naval architects of the time and in the end their decision was based on “she’s a pretty boat”.

]]> http://www.chinook34.com/a-conversation-with-wade-cornwell/feed/ http://www.chinook34.com/a-nice-southeast-wind/ http://www.chinook34.com/a-nice-southeast-wind/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:49:48 +0000 Dan Burch http://www.chinook34.com/?p=190

As we head into the late fall the days start getting shorter and the sun is low in the southern sky here at 45 degrees north on the Columbia River (known as Wimahl or Big River to the Chinook-speaking natives who live on its lowermost reaches) in Portland, Oregon. The Pacific lows roll in and push the summer high pressure east of the Cascade Mountains, the wind turns to the east and is funneled through the ventury vortex of the Columbia River Gorge dropping almost to sea level for 200 miles upriver with volcanic peaks rising up to over eleven thousand foot on either side, Mt. Hood (Wy’east) to the south and Mt. Adams to the north. Winds are routinely recorded at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge from Cascade Locks to Crown Point in the 50 mph range. As the Columbia River flows into Portland, Oregon it doglegs to the north and so the Portland - Vancouver yacht harbor is somewhat sheltered. Depending on the position of the low pressure centers, north or south, wind and sailing conditions can vary widely. Some of the best sailing days are when a low has passed to the north of our area, the pressure gradients have slacked off and a nice southeast wind swings around the dogleg to give us clearing sky’s and a fun close haul upriver.

Here is a picture of of Mt Hood thru the bow pulpit on Cinnamon, our Yacht Constructors Chinook 34 sailboat November 24, 2008. It’s also a nice shot of the Harken Blocks and running rigging at the mast. Click on the picture for a larger image.

The teak toe rail and mahogany cockpit coaming brightwork had been sadly neglected for sometime. It looked like a project the previous owner had been thinking about it because there were various wood refinishing and restoring products, teak oil and such, in the cockpit lazaret. While I was at A & D Yacht Service at Rocky Point Marina I ask for their recommendation on refinishing the brightwork. Andrew, the owner, paint expert and all around boatyard guru recommend a good cleaning, light sanding and Cetol Marine Natural Teak Finish.

At Hayden Bay, Hank, the owner of a Baba cutter sailboat that has extensive teak brightwork with teak bow sprit, toe rail, hatches and cockpit coaming, has been experimenting for the past few years with the various Cetol finishes. His conclusion is the Cetol Natural Teak Finish is the most durable. I have to say Hank is a bit obsessive about his teak brightwork. He spent a good part of his summer stripping the teak bow sprit down to bare wood and then he applied 8 coats of Cetol Marine Wood Finish. Also, upon the strength of Hank’s experience Dana Sewall undertook the project of refinishing the teak toe rail on his Cape Dory 30 sailboat. Dana spent hour sanding lightly by hand and with a small finish sander, with extreme care to remove as little of his precious teak wood as possible. Then he did 4 coats of Cetol Marine Natural Teak Finish and several coats of Cetol Marine Wood Finish Gloss Overcoat.

With these 3 strong recommendations for Cetol Marine Wood Finish in the “Natural Teak” and several more from other sailboat owners at the marina who had also used the Cetol products over the years I decided to give in and spend $30 for a quart of the stuff.

Now the commitment had been made. The first step, as Andrew suggested, was to clean the years of accumulated grime off the teak and mahogany wood brightwork. It took several hours on hands-and-knees to make a round of the teak toe rail the cockpit coaming. Simple Green Marine cleaner with first a soft brush and then some elbow grease with a Scotch-Brite pad did a fine job of removing the heavy stuff. Since most of the old finish was gone and the grain of the wood was already raised, so I wasn’t worried the surface at this point. Fortunately there was plenty of wood to work with so sanding it down to a smooth surface wasn’t a problem. Using my palm sander where I could and hand sanding where necessary, I gave it a light sanding with 80 grit sandpaper to knock off the heavy stuff and then a second finish sanding with 200 grit sandpaper. I used a shop vacuum as I went along to remove as much of the dust as possible. As a final step before applying the “Natural Teak” Cetol Marine Wood Finish, I wiped the teak and mahogany wood brightwork down with a dust free cloth dampened with acetone. As recommend on the Cetol can I put on 3 coats. The Cetol says no sanding but I went over it between coats with an Ultra-Fine Scotch-Brite Hand Pad just to take off the gloss and wiped it down with a clean cloth. I’ll post some pictures below. Click on the small picture to see a larger image.

Dana rounded buoy 18 near the I-205 bridge and started back towards us. He started sailing all crazy. Heeling to the extreme. Later we learned that he had a novice crew and was letting them practice on the helm.

(Click on any small image to see a larger picture.)

We put in a reef. We kept going upriver watching him come towards us. As he got closer we decided to turn and sail back with him so we could get some pictures of the Cape Dory sailing upwind.

We took a slip out on the very last row of the marina, L row, because there were some double slips open that had no boats on either side. This gave us the chance to practice docking and undocking without worrying about hitting someone else’s boat and plenty of room for those first few attempts that weren’t quite perfect. The first couple of times in we were far enough away from the finger that I had to reach out with the boat hook as we were coming in and snag the cleat to pull us over. Much better then coming to close though. After a few attempts I was stepping off the boat onto the dock tying up the dock lines.