Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Friday, 24 February 2017
Special Report Hiking Rams Head from Salt Pond Bay St John USVI Update
 |
| The sign pointing you up the trail |
(Update see link below to download free charts & GPS coordinates!)
We are on a National Park mooring at Salt Pond Bay, St. John, USVI. It's time for another National Park Trail hike! It's 1 mile and 273 ft up from Salt Pond beach to the top of Ram's Head with magnificent views along the way.
Listen to the tinkle the rocks make when the water recedes after a wave...
References:
Download free charts & GPS coordinates! http://trailbandit.org/newsite/
 |
| Come off the sandy beach and head south |
 |
| You climb a small rise and suddenly have a view of a beautiful rocky beach |
 |
| I could have photographed this all day |
Listen to the tinkle the rocks make when the water recedes after a wave...
 |
| The Captain waiting up ahead for me to move along |
 |
| It's a National Park so it's "Leave only footprints/bubbles" but that doesn't stop some from moving things around! This wasn't me. I'm not that patient. Someone should probably spell out Odin and take a pic. Please send it to me! |
 |
| Continuing along the shoreline |
 |
| And then we start up again |
 |
| View towards the BVI side |
 |
| A view down to the St. John side & the rocky beach we followed up |
 |
| The only other sign on the trail. I think we're here! |
 |
| From atop Ram's Head looking west, a view of the south coast of St. John with St. Thomas in the far back left. |
 |
| As we turn to head back, Norman's, BVI is on our right and our mooring field on the left. |
 |
| Some of the Turkish Cap cactus had berries. "Are they poisonous?" "They don't taste poisonous." {Sigh} Google says they aren't. They also aren't peyote or agave. Before Google, we needed a set of encyclopedias or a library to settle our discussions! |
 |
| The inside of the berry |
 |
| Back along the rocky beach. Mother Nature is a a magnificent artist |
 |
| Heading back up off the rocky beach |
 |
| Boat in sight! I'm ready for a swim. |
Download free charts & GPS coordinates! http://trailbandit.org/newsite/
NPS hiking trails:
https://www.nps.gov/viis/planyourvisit/hiking-in-paradise.htm
HikingProject.com:
https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7019955
https://www.nps.gov/viis/planyourvisit/hiking-in-paradise.htm
HikingProject.com:
https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7019955
Monday, 20 August 2012
Malecite St John River Paddle
Another one of the paddles on my ever growing "to do list" is the 1896 Malecite St.John River Paddle documented in Adney's Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. The blade looks to be standard beavertail with a distinct spine, but the grip has some rectangular features and a carved drip ring which suites the paddle nicely.
Adney's St. John Malecite Pattern
After casually examining some of my books the other day, I recognized this grip pattern on the cover of Graham Warren's must have paddle making book, Canoe Paddles: A Complete Guide to Making Your Own. The grip is featured near the bottom right of his book cover..
G Warren's book cover, St.John Malecite grip on lower right
Warren's first publication (which I blogged about here) has a complete illustration with a table of offsets for this pattern as well. Graham has also graciously re-published an article on his website entitled The Malecite St.John River Paddle (.pdf format) that appeared in Open Canoe in 1996 which features the detailed pattern for anyone interested in this design. The 2011 article entitled "Know Your Paddles" by Beth Stanley in Canadian Woodworking also has a closeup shot of this grip featured below.
St. John River Malecite Grip
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Workshop with John Brooks
Landing in Boston Logan airport on a cold wet wintry afternoon with a 9 hour drive ahead, I began wondering (yet again) what have I let myself in for? Armed with GPS navigation ("Never Lost" as my American friends call it) I drove straight into evening rush hour traffic in Boston city before I finally found the right highway for Maine.
I arrived in Brooklyn which seemed at first to be just a cross roads with a store, church and inn: my destination.
The following day, I drove around the locality and immediately noticed the laid back atmosphere of the community - everyone saluting you as they leisurely drove by - it could have well been back in Ireland 20 years ago...very charming.
As I had a day in hand before the workshop commenced, I decided to find the bay after which John Brooks named this boat - Somes Sound. I'm sure there are countless more beautiful photographs taken of Somes Sound, but this is mine:-
This was my first time in a boat shop - so it was a real Alladin's Cave - so many interesting looking nameless thingymejigs!
We studied the plans and John gave us demonstrations on building the jig, cutting gains, and a variety of techniques which we would need during the build. John was in the process of finishing a SS12.5, and so we were treated to a par excellence display of finish work and varnishing.
I was introduced to the wonders of a Frearson screw...couldn't wait to get my own stock!
Ruth (John's partner and co-author of How to build Glued Lapstrake Wooden Boats) came to the rescue with an excellent lunch when we took time to get acquainted with each other. Ruth & John's children joined in and we were all made feel very welcome.
Back to work: John brought us through the build of the seats; lockers and sole - beautiful workmanship which did little to boost my confidence, such was the excellent standard of his work! Oh well, now I knew to what levels I had to aspire!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
