i just read that frank bethwaite past away last month at the age of 92, he was one of my hero's,jon
sailing aeolus - 1966 caravelle yawl
- Thread starter jon hansen
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i just googled frank and i saw an ad suggesting frank's book was just for skiffs. i just want to say the information in the book is a must know for all sailors with boats from 8' to 800', jon
as we all know our vessels are some of the greatest scouts ever concieved. jon has said that a trip to the great lakes is on his bucket list. my suggested route would be,hudson river-erie canal-lake onterio-trentsevern waterway-gorgeon bay small craft route- north channel- st. marys river- north shore lake superior (gichee goomee)- north half lake michigan- beaver island arcipeligo- and back. this is assuming that you ever actually got out of the gorgeon bay north channel section with it's 30,000 islands. this area is sone of the greatest wilderness on the globe.it's like why leave. most of the islands are covered in blueberrys so don't forget the bisquick and maple surup. an old sailing buddy, bud evenson, now 89, would alwas slip a gallon or more of privately made (extra dark) maple surup onto aeolus befor all of my many trips to canada. what a great friend to have. google some of these areas for some nice dreaming. happy sailing, jon
Pouring rain out but we got the mast stepped and Muskrat is on her mooring. Tomorrow booms, sails, etc and it looks like some great sailing weather coming up!
Jon I'll have to get out the charts and look your route over. I had no idea there were that many islands! Interesting many of the islands here on the Maine coast are covered with blueberries too though the rasberrys dominate.
Jon I'll have to get out the charts and look your route over. I had no idea there were that many islands! Interesting many of the islands here on the Maine coast are covered with blueberries too though the rasberrys dominate.
aeolus was put in the water yesterday by the yard in sturgeon bay. aeolus has been at this yard since the fall of 1980 having returned to the great lakes from a three season visit to maine. in maine aeolus was moored at bucks harbor. i would generally not want a vessel of mine moved without me being there but these guys are very capable as well as friends. "nobody takes care of your toys like you do" is generally the rule but here they treat aeolus like it is their mother's.the teak decks i have found leak just like any wood boat until they soak up. i see that is raining today in sturgeon bay with more rain due sunday. this is good. once swollen for the season the decks do not leak at all. i have tried many different things maintaining the deck and am now convinced the best way to maintain them is lightly brush once a day with water only. no soap, no sealer, no oil, no acid . i find that this provides the nicest feel for bare feet. i find that the natural graying keeps the deck cooler in direct sun. the deck is in great shape. i will say that the cockpit has had some work done at the seams. it is nice having palmer johnson craftsmen available. in the cockpit the lifting covers for what i call the sail bins are all original. the yard will rig aeolus mon. and i will put the sails and interior gear on next wed. or thus. i try and go boating every day throughout the season. yes i have it bad. i have never tired of playing on boats. like chess the possibilities are endless. at sturgeon bay we mostly sail on the bay side of the peninsula. the water is generally 10 degrees warmer. however, on those prefrontal days "when the wind comes whistling down the plain"-- south by southwest-- 25--35 mph winds --85 degrees-- 10 to 12 ft swells with a 200 mile fetch-- it is fun to take this old alden out into n. lake machigan and let that boat go. we all talk about the beauty of these vessels but really it is the seakindllyness coupled with the unusual strenghth that allows for us to play large. these boats are great on the double diamond runs. bearing off to ride a swell and driving up to bast a white capp, all fun. well, i know that i am preaching to the choir. you might suspect i am starting just a little excited,but hey. have a great season, jon
Just thought I'd drop a note here to say that I orderd the club footed boom plans from Niels this week. I'm not sure if I'll ever do anything with them but at least I can look at the drawings and think about it.
Cheers,
Jay
Cheers,
Jay
aeolus is back in the barn and i am back in toledo. july was very calm so i apted to fish more than sail. the king salmon were usually in the 20 lbs range. ate alot of fresh and brought home 54 lbs of smoked falets. then in aug and sept the wind came on strong. most of the time we sailed we had 15 to 25 knots of wind. four different times in sept there were gales out of the sw with warm air off the plains and we got to play in them all. out in lake mich the waves were in the 15 to 17 ft range but in green bay we found very steep 5 ft-ers and had a blast. i did not get rained on once all summer while sailing. lake mich & huron dropped 18 in from july 1 to sept 30 and i have never seen that before. one day while i was rowing in from the mooring i saw a man watching me from a pier. when i reached the beech he had walked over and was standing near. after stoughing the dingy in the bushes he aproached me and said "is that a john alden design caravelle built at paul molich's yard in denmark". i said yes and asked him how he knew that and he replied " because i built that boat"! i will tell you it is a small world. I B Ladefoged worked for molich before and during going to navel architechure school in denmark. he later worked for alden for 22 to years as a designer. i guess he drew most or all the big aldens that palmer johnson built back in the day. i got him out sailing, he his a very nice man and a great sailor. he drove most of the day while i and my crew asked him 1000's of questions to which he kindly answered them all. one thing he confirmed is there was alot of carlsberg beer consumed during a build. i alwas thought so. aeolus alwas seemed to sail beter after i consumed alot of carlsberg. i am already looking forward to next year, aeolus's 40th year in the family. happy sailing, jon
http://www.stephenwolter.com/AEOLUS/Photos.html is a photo essay of a trip on aeolus in mid september about four years ago. sturgeon bay,wis.---washington island,wis---s. manitou,mich---beaver isl., mich---sister bay,wis.---sturgeon bay,wis. stephen wolter was one of the crew, also my two brothers, david and douglas, elizabeth (one of the best female sailors in door county, and jim monaham "skip" from new hampshire. jim has sailed the world on his big hinkleys but i this was his first ride up on the lakes. the winds were strong that week and the whole crew highly skilled so we got to push hard. jim noted that one would not do such 1000 miles offshore but we weren't so we let aeolus run. you get to see the wild beeches we get to play on, also note that the 'beaver' is like lost in time. it is like 1905 out there. happy sailing ,jon
the 22---ish foot sailboat in the photos that is parcially swamped and dismasted was a wreck that happened on a couples honeymoon. i wonder how the marriage is working out. the reason for wearing the life jackets and rain gear on what was the last day was due to the 45 mph winds blowing when we departed the dock in sister bay, wis.. the winds subsided to 30 ish about half way back home and we were able to shake out the main. there is one photo with just the 100% jib up in the big wind and we were cruising hull speed easally. well i hope you east coast boys weather SANDY alright. it sure looks like things could get scary with this strorm. back in december of 72' and again in november of 75' i was aboard ships when the sustained winds went over 100 mph and at the time even was required to work on deck during the blow and i sure would never want to repete that. i will say a prayer for those who are about to endure this storms wrath. today on the highway i saw a convoy of over 200 electrical lineman's trucks heading east. good luck guys, jon
on the first day sail to washington isl. we had 10 to 20 out of the west going n. by ne. on the second days sail we left green bay north of rock isl and crossed lake mich to s. manitou isl with 15 to 25 from the nw. we were headed e by se e . day three we waited all day at s manitou for the n wind to back to the s, which it did just after dusk. the heading to the beaver is n by ne n. arrived after dawn and spent the day and night at the beaver. met up with glen the harbor master for some drinks and seastory tales at the shamrock bar. glen had been capt on malabar X in chicago for a number of years and alwas tickled to see an alden arrive at st. james harbor. next day in a blustery nw. wind we departed and sailed s. along coast of the beaver then swung w by sw to clear s. fox to the south and headed for death's door passage half way across mich the wind died so we motored for some four hours when a sw breeze filled in butting us on a beat. it built to about 25 mph true. we were able to just make the entrance of the "door" and entered green bay late at night . we then beat down the coast to sister bay. the next day the front swept through throwing 45 mph n winds at us. "should i stay or should i go" was the concern. we left and had on rocking sail down the coast back to sturg bay. havindg a skilled crew on board makes all the difference. to truley understand how tough this group was please notice the new england patriots sweatshirt worn brazenly deap in the heart of cheese head country. jon
today is the aniversery of the sinking of the S.S.Edmond Fitzgerald, a 730' steel great lakes freighter. i knew and had sailed with well over half of that crew. i was out in that storm on an older laker and worked hard on deck that day to save her from peril. i had two great uncles and a great great uncle drown at sea on the great lakes that i did not know. once on aeolus and once on the a-scow i had crew fall over board and both times they had life jackets on. on the a-scow we alwas wear life jackets what with the nature of that vessel. on aeolus the incedent was with my 7 year old nephew where he was happily swatting black flys on deck and bumped the life line gate and it popped open and out he went. on aeolus all kids must wear a life jacket while on deck and i am a tough ass about it. when my kids were young i would buy them a new life jacket of their choice every year and this made them prowd to wear their jackets both on the boat and docks. with guest kids on board i would often wear my life jacket on easy days so i say i'm wearing a life jacket and so will you. you will see in the photos that i replaced the horse rings and boeys with a M.O.M. as i believe it is a quicker system. you will see in the photos that my life jacket is next to me at the helm. you will see i have throw pads on the cabin top and in the cockpit at all times. before all day sails i review the life jackets with all new comers and i alwas ask guests if they are strong swimmers if not i insist they wear a mlife jacket and then will wear one myself to make them feal more comfortable. on all cruises i issue a jacket to all crew before departure and tell them to keep them on the ready at all times and to never stow them. when racing i like to place extra jackets at the mizzen and at the main mast. when i am a guest on anther vessel i ask to be issued a life jacket and will put it on and size it and an keep it near available to me at all times. if it starts to pipe-up i'll be the first to put it on to promote that saftey first is cool. personally i am scared of the horror of drowning and a thousand times more scared of losing a loved one that way. if i didn't love you- you wouldn't be on aeolus anyway!
today was my fathers birthday. he would be 94 if he were still with us. i was 22 when he bought aeolus and now i am 60. in 1975 my father sailed aeolus to sturgeon bay from toledo to show the boat to his mother then 93. she was the daughter and granddaughter of wooden ship captains (AND BUILDERS). grandmother was born in 1882 and took many trips with her father on his schooners. when i was a little boy i would delight in hearing her tell these stories of iron men and wooden ships. one of the greatest thills for my dad that summer was to take his mother, as i said 93, out for one more sail. i was along for that ride it was great. grandmother had driven schooners as well as sailing yatchs. her two daughters had grown up sailing on the bay and were quite skilled and now my two daughters and son are highly skiled sailors. my youngest daughter likes driving the a-scow in a good breeze the best. i do love these wind toys. happy sailing, jon
Hi Jon, I'm loving reading your posts. You are, of course, preaching to the converted about the joys of these very special boats... but you've been at it a lot longer than me! The Alden Caravelle is the perfect boat. Fair winds, Iain
well here we go!!!! season nu. 40 with aeolus is almost here!!! i am allowing myself to start getting excited about the upcoming season. i hope to have aeolus in the water within 60 days. mom will have had her 89th birthday by then and has already asked for a sail this summer. all my siblings are showing up at one time or another, it should be a fun summer. my new club-footed jib has been built and and one main has been tweaked by doyle sails detroit. al declerq (my sail maker) has been a friend for 40 years and has built all the sails since the early 80's. he and his son are signed up to come to wis. for a week of a-scowing with us and if it blows to hard we can switch to aeolus and head out again. al told me he can train us hansens to do flying spinniker jibes on the scow. rolling the bay at 25 knots with old men on board, bought a gopro and they are waterproof. but it is that njce old alden that i love the best. regular crew has been calling to check in with smiling anticapation. the bay is still frozen but the big lakers will all be leaving this week and so the ice breakers will be lossening up the channel. the next 2 weeks are the best northern pike fishing of the year, the colder the water the tastier the meat.as we all know the best sailing in the world is when your close friends owns an alden that's in great shape. can't wait, jon
this winter i saw a couple of shows about jay leno's dusenburgs, nice cars! i don't think dusenbergs have anything on these aldens of ours! just saying
my youngest graduated collage three weeks ago. picked her up in n. carolina and brought her home to toledo. last week drove her to her new job in wis..( they asked her to work, she applied nowhere) all kids are now launched. picked up my sails up in st. clair shores. new club footed jib. spetra main had issues with the kevlar tapes lifting and so had then all sewn down. never liked non-stitched areas of modern sail construction. youngest daughter mentioned that she is only 3 hrs from sturgeon bay and summer sailing. she is 5 mi from lake peewakee home of the harken bros. and some of the best a-scow sailing in the midwest. she is 25 mi. from zenda wis. and that melges clan. daughter was one of the best hunter jumper equestrian riders coming out of collage in the country. she now is working / riding with one of the best grand prix riders in north america. she is a top athlete and is still excited about helping her OLD man play on his boats. this OLD man is excited she will still show up too. i'll be going north next week. aeolus in the water is first on the list. i hope to sail till after holloween this year. hope everyone has a fun, happy, and safe season, jon
this year is the fortyith season that aeolus has been in the family. god i love that boat. still have not seen any other boat i would rather sail up here on the lakes. jon
this is my first attempt ever posting a photo. this shows what a two bladed prop looks like when locked up for sailing. i still suggest that 3 bladed props are for motor boats only. the drag of a 3 bladed prop is the same as dragging a bucket
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