Drascombe yawls.

Apr 29, 2018
4
Pacific Seacraft 25 Sausalito Yacht Harbor, CA
I was one of the first NOLS instuctors in Baja. Tap Tapley was running the program, entirely using folboats. I brought my brother's West Wight Potter down to Bajia de Los Angeles (over the unpaved roads in those days). Due to various breakdowns, I missed the roundezvous with the course, so I spent some time gunkholing and camping in Baja (several trips and many stories). I too have some pix in the attic somewhere. I stay in touch with the Vintage Nolsies on Facebook, and went back to Lander for the 50th, and the erection of the Paul Petzoldt statue. What a small world.
 
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Nov 3, 2018
82
Cape Dory, Albin 300ms Motorsailer, Vega Baltimore
I was one of the first NOLS instuctors in Baja. Tap Tapley was running the program, entirely using folboats. I brought my brother's West Wight Potter down to Bajia de Los Angeles (over the unpaved roads in those days). Due to various breakdowns, I missed the roundezvous with the course, so I spent some time gunkholing and camping in Baja (several trips and many stories). I too have some pix in the attic somewhere. I stay in touch with the Vintage Nolsies on Facebook, and went back to Lander for the 50th, and the erection of the Paul Petzoldt statue. What a small world.
That’s very cool! I only worked there a couple of seasons and then real life came crashing in. Surrendered the life of an itinerant sailor for that of a college professor. No regrets either way. The people I met at NOLS and OB were some of the best teachers/outdoors professionals I’ve ever encountered. My wife is fond of saying that if I hadn’t met her and settled down I’d be living on a boat on some tropical island scrounging for my next meal!

I haven’t been involved with NOLS since I taught for them, but this Spring I’m going to take an alumni canyoneering course in Utah- looking forward to it.
 
Nov 3, 2018
82
Cape Dory, Albin 300ms Motorsailer, Vega Baltimore
View attachment 160145 View attachment 160146
I spent the Summer of '77 on Hurricane Island, Me. with Outward Bound doing similar stuff. My father was a captain/watch officer while my brothers and I took courses and helped out. I have a friend who use to work for NOLS as their safety compliance officer in Colorado. Great program.

-Will (Dragonfly)
I spent some time on the pulling boats as well, but in the Chesapeake- at least the water was a little warmer for the morning dip.

Have you seen the “new” pulling boats? Quite a bit different then the old ones. Glass with carbon spars (Might even be carbon hulls). I was up in Maine in 2010 and had the Blue Peter flying. Ran into an instructor group doing a training and they invited me to the new base to see the new boats. I think the base was outside Tennents Harbor if I recall corectly. They had to move from Hurricane Island.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
I haven't seen their new digs. Sailed past Hurricane Island after they moved off. Some big monstrosity of a house was built there. I understand they sail the boats back and forth to the Keys for their Winter program. Probably no shortage of volunteers for that trip. If you're not turning blue during the morning dip or the capsize drill, it's hard to think of it as an OB course. 20180219_140141.jpg 20180219_140148.jpg 20180219_140155.jpg

-Will (Dragonfly)
 

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
Outward Bound is back on Hurricane Island. We spent a night last season on one of their moorings and visited the island. https://www.hiobs.org/

HIOB holds seasonal public farm to table dinners in their dining hall to raise funds. The North end of the island is off limits but you can walk the rest of the island on the trails and see the kids and their rustic quarters. HIOB moorings are available and a dinghy dock for visitors.

In 2009 a friend from OB unveiled the new Roger Martin HIOB 30 and launched it in Rockport Harbor. I thought it would be a 'game changer!' This was a derivative of Roger Martins Presto 30. Planning, rocket speeds, the 'new idea'. My friend had visions of OB kids planing all over the coast of Maine.
Outward Bound Hi 30 2.jpg

I'm not sure but I think the HIOB 30 as well as the Presto 30, fizzled. For one, they were expensive for simple 30' sailboats. Plus they were complex in comparison to the old OB pulling boats.

Outward Bound was built on an old tried and true mantra. Exciting speed is good but it has to dovetail into the OB platform that was largely built on students that have never sailed much less planed at high speed.

But I was over the moon for the Presto 30 and the HIOB 30!

I thought the Presto would take off. The builder had problems, orders were weird (people wanted to turn the Presto 30 into a small cruiser spoiling it's performance).

PRESTO!-ON-THE-BEACH-1000w.jpg

Very cool boat! A high performance game changer? No,...a production dud.

Yet the drascombe design is over 50 years old and is growing in popularity.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
How interesting and fickle the sailboat market.
If Outward Bound planned on cruising around with 14 students per boat, the hull design would make little difference. No planing in 30 feet hulls with that load.
In the past, the ropes course was on the North end of the island. That's probably why it was off limits. Too much liability and temptation.
The climbing quarry on the South end would be bad enough.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Nov 3, 2018
82
Cape Dory, Albin 300ms Motorsailer, Vega Baltimore
Outward Bound is back on Hurricane Island. We spent a night last season on one of their moorings and visited the island. https://www.hiobs.org/

HIOB holds seasonal public farm to table dinners in their dining hall to raise funds. The North end of the island is off limits but you can walk the rest of the island on the trails and see the kids and their rustic quarters. HIOB moorings are available and a dinghy dock for visitors.

In 2009 a friend from OB unveiled the new Roger Martin HIOB 30 and launched it in Rockport Harbor. I thought it would be a 'game changer!' This was a derivative of Roger Martins Presto 30. Planning, rocket speeds, the 'new idea'. My friend had visions of OB kids planing all over the coast of Maine.
View attachment 160225
I'm not sure but I think the HIOB 30 as well as the Presto 30, fizzled. For one, they were expensive for simple 30' sailboats. Plus they were complex in comparison to the old OB pulling boats.

Outward Bound was built on an old tried and true mantra. Exciting speed is good but it has to dovetail into the OB platform that was largely built on students that have never sailed much less planed at high speed.

But I was over the moon for the Presto 30 and the HIOB 30!

I thought the Presto would take off. The builder had problems, orders were weird (people wanted to turn the Presto 30 into a small cruiser spoiling it's performance).

View attachment 160226
Very cool boat! A high performance game changer? No,...a production dud.

Yet the drascombe design is over 50 years old and is growing in popularity.
Glad to hear they are back on hurricane island- yet another reason to get back to Maine, as if I needed another reason.

There is quite a bit of difference in the educational philosophies and outcomes between OB and NOLS, which is reflected in the types of boats they use. OB focuses on “inner development”, teamwork, overcoming challenges and getting outside your comfort zone. Sailing, or rock climbing, or anything else is just a vehicle for that inner development. For example, at least back in the day, part of every course was the solo where students were left for 24 hours on their own for reflection.

With NOLS the focus was wilderness travel and being part of an expedition. There was a lot more instruction on the technical aspects of voyaging in small boats, wilderness travel, and what was termed expedition behavior- how to lead, how to follow- to make the expedition a success.

The old pulling boats were great for that inner development and team work. 15 kids rowing together to get the boat someplace definetly took teamwork, and sleeping on the oars, staying on the boat 24 hours a day was a great lesson in interpersonal relationships and conflict resolution. The Drascombs on the other hand are great for small boat travel/beach camping.

If I were going voyaging I would rather do so in a Drascomb, but if I wanted a challenge and to step outside my comfort zone then spending 2 weeks on a 30 foot pulling boat with 14 others would be the ticket. No planning required.
 
Nov 3, 2018
82
Cape Dory, Albin 300ms Motorsailer, Vega Baltimore
I always liked the OB motto “ to strive, to serve, and not to yield” I think it’s from Tennyson.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
My understanding is that the OB experience was founded in the discovery by the British Navy that experience and attitude survived what youth and strength would not. Often the old salts, the veterans, lived through hardships that younger, stronger sailors could have done better in, yet those sailors perished simply because they became overwhelmed and gave up.

The solos, by the way, were two nights for 14-16 year olds and three nights for the older groups. There was a one night and one day group solo. In our case, the watch officers pretend our boat was sinking and kicked us all off on an island before sailing away. They showed up again just before dusk to give us one large and one small plastic tarp. Our group couldn't manage to rig a simple lean-to. I got sick of the fighting, grabbed the small tarp and said, "If you guys don't mind, I think I'll just find another place and set this little trap up." They just blinked at me until one other kid said, "I'm coming with you." It rained all night. The two of us were dry and comfy on a small raised area that drained well. The tarp stayed up and only a small corner of my sleeping bag stuck out sometime during the night. We got up in the morning and walked back into the other camp. The big tarp never made it up and everyone was laying under it like a giant group blanket. None of them were cheerful. Apparently, they were still working on it when it started to rain. I was asleep by then, the sound of the rain woke us up and my companion and I wondered, just for a moment, how the big tarp was working.

It was on Hurricane Island that I met Bob Roe of Green Baret fame.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Tom J

.
Sep 30, 2008
2,301
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
My understanding is that the OB experience was founded in the discovery by the British Navy that experience and attitude survived what youth and strength would not.
I almost laughed one day when three hefty young men grabbed the bow line of a forty foot sailboat as it was blown off the dock, and then caught the current. It was moving rapidly across the fairway to the opposite dock. My experience as a dockmaster told me that all three would soon be going for a swim, and some damage to boats would result. I rushed over and told the guy in front to take a turn on the dock cleat, quickly. He just smirked at me and looked at his buddies. I repeated to all of them to get a turn on the cleat, NOW. They promptly dropped the line and said something about do it yourself. I took a turn on the cleat and stopped the motion of the boat, and then sweated it back to the dock. It wasn't easy on my lower back, but I got it done.
 
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Apr 29, 2018
4
Pacific Seacraft 25 Sausalito Yacht Harbor, CA
NOLS was started by Paul Petzoldt who was the chief climbing instructor at Colorado Outward Bound. He needed instructors for OB, so he started the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander, Wyoming in 1965.
 
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