Well, woke up this morning, and there is six inches of snow on the ground. Guess that's a sign I need to publish this issue!

Been kind of quite around here. Send pictures! Send stories! In particular, I know of one long cruise in the Chebacco "Samantha"... Send write up!

In this issue we have an update to "Chebacco Sailing 101, from the previous authors, some miscellaneous conversations, and some pictures of a Chebacco from Down South. Not "Down Under", but South America! He even wrote me in spanish.

Coincidentally, I'm learning spanish, so I wrote him back in the same language. I'll spare the regular readers the trails of automatic translation websites... (which translate "sailboat" to "boat of candles"...) I had originally planned on doing the whole issue in his native language, but I'll do it in
english instead.

Ed Heins reports progress:

At long last it appears I'm able to report some progress on the chebacco garage ornament that's been living about 25 ft away from this computer for the past 4 years.   Light at the end of the tunnel is looming larger as I should finish sheathing the topsides tomorrow and be done with the final fairing of the epoxy making ready for painting by the end of the month.  Boat name "Bodacea" has been selected and routed into an oak nameboard for transom mounting, and brightwork already started.  Electrics are in to the stern light and battery box, and should the mood strike tomorrow, I'll get the flush mount running light mounts cut in.  Current plans are to paint it interlux dark blue on the bottom and hatteras off white on the deck to just below the rub rail.  Then a gold and red bootstripe should finish it off.  Opting for no waterline markings since the boat will live on a trailer for most of it's life and the bottom will not be antifouled.
Just bought the power planer today, and plan on attempting a birdsmouth mast later this winter.

As does Mike Haskel:

Good morning Richard,

How are things going down in Oklahoma? I have attached a URL that describes
the building of "Two Grumpy Old Men"

http://www.adventurequest-usa.com/New_Folder/chebacco.htm

All the best,

Mike Haskell, Founder/CEO
Adventure Quest-USA
8 River Road
Bowdoinham, ME  04008
207-666-8976

Also had an interesting conversation on the origins of the name "Chebacco" with Edson White:

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Spelling
To: Edson White
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 8:39 AM
Subject: Re: Where did the name "Chebacco" originate?

Actually, I think it is a type of boat from England:
 
http://www.essexshipbuildingmuseum.org/lewstory.html
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Edson White
To: richard@chebacco.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 8:30 AM
Subject: Where did the name "Chebacco" originate?

Richard:  I am a little curious.  I have password "chebacco", and my son has "Chebacco-2"  Our "clam shack" on the ocean was named "Chebacco" back in the 1800's!
 
Thus, (1) "Chebacco" is an Indian name, given to a river before the advent of the white man - at least up here in the northeast.
 
Is this also an Indian name prevalent in Oklahoma, and if so, do you know the meaning of the name?
                                                   
                                                                                                         Best regards,    Edson F. White
I've been able to sneak out a couple of times, weather permitting, and using nice tall rubber boots to retrieve the boat from the frigid water. Nothing really notable, except for the icebreaker session!

A friend of mine had come up to deliver half a boat, which is a whole other story. Part of the price was a sailing trip in Schroedinger. Luckily, the weather cooperated, and we had wind and temps in the 45 degree range.

We see some nice waves when we drive over the dam to launch the boat at the local state park, so I'm anticipating a nice brisk sail.

I setup the boat and we launch at the ramp, with only one other vehicle in the state park on this nippy January morning.

 
The new steps I cast for the boat work great! They make it very easy to get in when the bow is on the beach. (I've been doing machine work lately, when it's to cold to sail. http://www.richardspelling.com/richardsfoundry/  )

I notice the water is calm in the bay where we are launching, I attribute this to the surrounding hills.

As I'm reversing away from the ramp, I idly wonder aloud what that filthy layer of scum is on top of the still water. "Oh, that's ice" says my sailing
guest.

And I'm about five feet away, backing the transom and the expensive motor right towards it!

Can you say "quick turn"?

I take a good look, and guess what, there is NO WAY out from the launch ramp facility! There's open, ice free water about 1/4 mile away, but there is no path to get to it!

Nothing for it but to put the 1/8" stainless steel keel armor to the test. RAMMING SPEED! All hands brace for impact! Crunch!

About this time I'm wishing I had brought the camera!

At about half throttle, the keel rides up on top of the ice, and the weight of the boat breaks the ice, in true icebreaker fashion.

My greatest worry at this point is that I'm going to have to repaint the bottom!

We crunch through the 1/4" mile of 1/2" thick ice to open water, and have a nice sail. The only other homemade boat on the lake was out, so we sailed over to him and had a nice chat.

And guess what, when we retrieved the boat, we had to do the whole icebreaker thing again! Oh, my poor paint!

When I got off the boat at the ramp and looked at the hull, there was not a single scratch in the "deck paint" on the hull! Amazing, I was expecting at least bare fiberglass.

And interestingly enough, when I posted my tale on the Bolger egroup, two other people had ice stories, for the same day! We decided to officially dub that saturday "National Bolger Icebreaker and Porch Paint appreciation day"!

More when the weather warms up!

- Chebacco Richard