Showing posts with label Of. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Of. Show all posts
Saturday, 18 February 2017
The Fall of the Osprey Tree
On the Casa del Taco Portage - When I have my head in a book, is is most often a factual journey for me, whether the book is fact or fiction. It is with my face in a map that my imagination runs. I look at the lines, the geographic code (that many never figure out) and imagine the appearance, the comings and goings, where the game crosses a creek or where I might pitch a tent.
The NE Lagoon (aka Yesler Swamp)I set out from the east end of the ancient portage meeting a light rain and stiffening breeze as I reach the shore. I need to see the marsh today to see what changed in the storms of the last few days. I find a 8 foot square floating dock section wedged into the break of Broken Island. It came from a long ways off as I would recognize it if it came from inside the bay. I let the wind blow me up the west channel, watching the scene pass by without effort. It is, still, crazy time for the Canada geese. There are also many herons about, but they are well scattered and instead of standing at the waters edge, they are back 5 or 10 feet in the cattails. The water is a few more inches higher than my last trip and a few of my survey stations are now just submerged.
The Osprey TreeWhen I get to the north point, I find that the two dead snags that I used in my survey have both crumpled, breaking at their bases. One has fallen into the water. I stop in the NE lagoon and return back the way I came, but continue into the south lagoon.
The high water lets me work my way through the fissures in the cattails, exploring areas that I have not seen for 5 months. The wind has even moved the moving cattail island some, although the water is not yet high enough to really set it in motion, but I can tell.
Tuesday, 13 December 2016
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Friday, 2 December 2016
Guide How to make a boat trailer out of pvc
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Tuesday, 15 November 2016
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Tuesday, 4 October 2016
The Yogattorney and the Kerala houseboats of India
Nancy, is a yogattorney. Yes it's spelled right, sort of, because she is both an attorney, and a Iyengar yoga instructer. The yogattorney makes frequent trips to India, and on her last trip, she had the opportunity to take a trip on one of the famous Kerala house boats from Cochin to Kovalam Beach in the Indian state of Kerala. So playing the game of "Where in the world is Nancy?", I have constructed a little map to show you where Kerala is.
The state of Kerala, is located on the very southwestern coast of India facing the Arabian sea. It's bounded to the east by the Western Ghats mountain range, and then transitions to low coastal plains, and the Kerala backwaters areas on the coast. The climate is tropical and it lies just north of the equator (8 to 12 degrees north latitude). Millions of tourists are drawn to Kerala for its lush tropical backwaters, biodiversity, and 370 miles of beaches.
In the late eighties Babu Varghese, an Indian entrepreneur and tour operator spearheaded an effort to take the traditional kettuvallam, and transform it into a houseboat suitable for ecotourism, and at the same time reviving the art of building them. The first "Kerala house boat" was launched in 1991, and ever since this specialized floating tour business has flourished, with hundreds of these vessels built, and directly, and indirectly employing thousands of workers.
Despite the simple tools, and lack of mechanized boat building technologies, the Kerala kettuvallam houseboats are beautifully executed, and finished. They have all of the amenities one would expect to find on a modern boat, but with a traditional, and hand crafted elegance, that comes through the clever, and skillful use of all natural materials. Unlike the original kettuvallams, most of these house boat versions are now engine powered, and still, in many cases often oar steered. In some locations in the backwaters, poling is required to maneuver in some areas.
The Kettuvallam's primary building materials, are all local, and sustainable consisting of white coir rope, and brown coir (both from coconut husks), bamboo, anjili wood for the hulls, palm leaf thatching, and a caustic water proofing oil derived from boiling cashew shells. With these few simple materials, a gorgeous boat is built.
Coir rope is made by soaking the husks from immature coconuts (white coir) for many months in a process called water retting uses micro-organisms to dissolve the plant matter around the fibers. The remaining husks are then beaten to loosen the fibers which are separated by hand. The fibers are spun into a yarn used make rope typically with the aid of a spinning wheel.
The houseboat Nancy traveled on is in the local parlance a kettuvallam, an ancient form of watercraft that has been plying India's waters for centuries. The kettuvallam is historically a double ended cargo vessel used to transport goods such as rice, and spices up and down the coasts, and into the more remote backwaters. They are by design shallow draft, and can also be poled when needed.
With the advent of the modern world, the automobile, the backwater areas became crisscrossed with roads, and bridges that steadily reduced the areas the kettuvallams could access. This coupled with less expensive transport of goods by truck made shipping by kettuvallam less viable. Over time the numbers of larger kettuvallams, especially the sailing versions were dwindling away, and more importantly the pool of skilled artisans who knew how to build these vessels were diminishing with them.
With the advent of the modern world, the automobile, the backwater areas became crisscrossed with roads, and bridges that steadily reduced the areas the kettuvallams could access. This coupled with less expensive transport of goods by truck made shipping by kettuvallam less viable. Over time the numbers of larger kettuvallams, especially the sailing versions were dwindling away, and more importantly the pool of skilled artisans who knew how to build these vessels were diminishing with them.
What's so fascinating about these very graceful, and elegant watercraft is that they can be upwards of 100' long, and they are literally tied together, hull and all, using a rope made from coconut husks. These boats are completely made of local indigenous raw materials, using simple hand tools, and techniques that have been used to build them for over two thousand years.
The mature coconut husks (brown coir) are treated in a similar way, but it does not require the very long retting periods of the white coir. Brown coir is used for floor mats mattress stuffing, and other utility purposes. Coir is relatively waterproof, and is one of the few natural fibers that is resistant to damage by salt water, making it ideal for boat building use.
The word "Kettuvallam" comes from the Malayalam word kettu, meaning to tie, and vallam, meaning boat, and hence the literal meaning "tied boat".
The unique aspect of kettuvallam construction is the hull planks are physically tied together. Planks are spiled, and shaped just like all wooden boat builders have done for centuries, but the difference here is the hull planks have holes drilled in them at the edges allowing them to be stiched together. Larger vessels have plank edges cut in a tongue and groove shape to provide additional interlocking strength to the joints.
White coir rope is used to lash the planks together encapsulating a bundle of brown coir that is being hammered to reduce its volume as the coir rope is being tightened. The brown coir acts as the hull plank crack filler, and serves the same role oakum does in traditional western boat building.
The stitched seams (kettu) are then coated with a paste of charcoal powder, lime, and fish oil for water proofing, and the hull is then over coated with cashew nut shell oil/resin, and charcoal powder. The charcoal powder gives the hull its distinctive black color, and the caustic cashew resin coating makes the hull resistant to wood boring molluscs. There are regional variations in the recipes of these natural coatings that vary somewhat from builder to builder.
The vessel you see being tied in the photo above is a smaller kettuvalam referred to locally as a "1/3 load" kettuvallam, that is used for mud collecting, sand mining and the ilk. (See the link to Dr. Ransley's project synopsis below to see how important this function is).
In the photograph, you can see the gunwales are made of scarfed planks that have been secured with large copper rivets, and or roves. The same system is being used to secure the primary framing structures to the inside of the hulls. We are looking at the sterns of both boats. I think I see a drive shaft hole on the left kettuvallam, and I can clearly see it on the right one.
The finished hull gets decked, and a curvaceous frame of split bamboo is tied together with coir rope to make the superstructure. Thatched/woven palm leaves are tied onto the frame, and additional split bamboo frames are again lashed over the structure.
Although the superstructure appears to be flimsy, you can see in the photo there are now three people now sitting on the partially finished work. When completed the structure will be very strong and waterproof. Interiors are finished with locally available natural materials, fabrics, and carpets. In the end, it's striking how such graceful, durable, and watertight vessels can be constructed out of such very basic materials, and with so little modern boat building technology being utilized. These vessels are truly testaments to the skills of their artisans and a time proven design.
Although the superstructure appears to be flimsy, you can see in the photo there are now three people now sitting on the partially finished work. When completed the structure will be very strong and waterproof. Interiors are finished with locally available natural materials, fabrics, and carpets. In the end, it's striking how such graceful, durable, and watertight vessels can be constructed out of such very basic materials, and with so little modern boat building technology being utilized. These vessels are truly testaments to the skills of their artisans and a time proven design.
I want to leave this little vignette with this photograph and a few thoughts that struck me about this smaller kettuvallam. The first is that if you rolled the clock back a thousand years, the ancestor of this boat would likely be very similar to this one.
Looking closely at the construction details as a boat builder myself, I recognize many of the construction elements and I believe much of today's modern wood boat building techniques owe their beginnings to this ageless craft, and the many generations of talented artisans who have crafted them. Although this boat building approach has been used in India for many centuries, we didn't get around to adopting it until 1964. We were a little slow out of the gate.
Many thanks to Dr. Jesse Ransley, Archaeology, University of Southampton, UK for the use of her photos showing the tying of a kettuvallam hull as well as the one above and her cultural insights. You can find her project synopsis "The Back Water Boats of Kerala (2005-2009)" here.
The photos of the "stitch and sew" canoe is from Wikipedia, and was taken by Kevin Saff.
The first kettuvallam photo is from Wikipedia, and was taken by user Ramesh NG.
The photo of coir yarn spinning is from Wikipedia, and was taken by user Bricaniwi.
The photos of the kettuvallam bamboo framing, and hull construction are from Wikipedia, and was taken by user Challiyan.
The photos of the "stitch and sew" canoe is from Wikipedia, and was taken by Kevin Saff.
All other photos courtesy of the Yogattorney. Her Iyengar yoga organization website is here.
The map is by the Installer.
This is a good video of a kettuvallam being repaired, and showing the hull "stitching" technique.
If you're interested in a Kerala houseboat trip, Tourindia is a good place to start.
Thursday, 15 September 2016
The Practicality of the Philippine Banca
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| Beautiful curves on the sheer and outrigger booms on this Philippine banca. The booms are carefully chosen for their curves from the branches of a native thorn tree. Each side of each boom is a single branch, lashed together where they overlap amidships. (Copied from the Facebook page of Tropical Boats, a cultural tourism company.) |
I can assure you that bangcas are alive and well. If you show any narrow boat to a filipino fisherman he will immediately suggest that you add outriggers and bamboo amas. First and foremost most bangcas are rafts for working t sea and so stability is king. But fast access from the shore to the workplace off shore is essential as well. So the narrow hulls, easily driven by very inexpensive single cylinder pump motors. I have tried and tried but it is damn difficult to design a boat that is a better match to the requirements of the typical Filipino than the bangca.
Flat bottom bangcas built of plywood are emerging. Planing boats, very fast on and off shore. Many variations but all have the classical bangca outrigger setup with bamboo amas.
Photos of our bangcas here https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=585396104825590&set=a.350169285014941.86952.350169078348295&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-frc3%2F977338_585396104825590_659414029_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-frc3%2F970528_585396104825590_659414029_n.jpg&size=2048%2C1536
and here
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Macho-Tsongo/388093857895410
For those of you who don't do Facebook (poor, benighted souls), here's the "About" verbiage concerning Mr. La Quey's business, Tropical Boats:
About Tropical Boats is for adventuresome tourists. We build boats and arrange tours in our own boats and can provide a wide variety of accomodations, ranging from tents to fine resorts. Create your dream vacation. We make it a reality.
Mission Tropical boats uses boat building to introduce tourists to another way of life ... that of the poor but free Filipino fisherman. Our mission is to open minds and hearts to realities not often considered in the developed world.
Description During a typical class at Tropical Boats you will build a Filipino bangka (outrigger canoe) during the first week. During the second week you will go fishing in your bangka with a Filipino fisherman. Food and accommodations will be provided as well as weekend entertainment.This sounds like a fantastic vacation to me. Here's Mr. La Quey's contact info:
Phone: +63 947 949 5887
Email: robert.laquey@gmail.com
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| Copied from Mr. La Quey's Facebook page, I have no information about this photo, but I love the way these little Philippine folks have their own beautiful little banca. |
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| Macho Tsongo is a 10-meter banca based in Ligtasin Beach, "available for day trips around Matabungkay Bay and Fortune Island," according to its Facebook page, which continues: "We also provide custom tours for overnight camping and fishing around Caltagan Point to Balayan Bay and to areas around Lubang Island." |
Tuesday, 13 September 2016
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Monday, 18 July 2016
Choice How to make a sailboat out of paper
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Friday, 1 July 2016
Sarasotas waterways a chamber of horrors
I only go into the water under duress, and never very from the shore or boat when I have to. The reason for this is I'm aware of the large numbers of monstrosities that lurk just below the surface of our waters. Locally we have the first sighting of a Pacu, a cousin of the Piranha with a mouthful of very human looking teeth. This fish is known worldwide by names such as the Testical and or Penis eating fish, Nut Cracker and Ball Cutter. Schools of these denizens have been seen in Phillippi creek a stones throw from the intercoastal waterway.
To be fair to this invasive toothy species I can find no documentation that it has ever chomped any external genitalia, but humans have been bitten by them. If I had to go into these waters I certainly would cover critical appendages. I mean I could live without a finger, but....
I have on more than one occasion seen Alligators swimming in the intercoastal waterway, and on occasion they are spotted in the Gulf of Mexico and can even end up on a beach. We only have a few Burmese Pythons so far in the area, but they can swim in salt water without any problems at all. Sometimes the Pythons eat the Alligators, and other things. By the way have you seen my cat lately?
These mindless gelatinous abnormalities of nature known as Jellyfish are seen all of the time in the gulf, bays, and waterways. Not all of them can sting, but many can, and how would you know slimy blob is which? Do you have your copy of the "Field Guide to North-American Jellyfish" with you at all times? I didn't think so. Avoid these brainless menaces at all costs.
Shellers on Sanibel suffer from the "Sanibel Stoop." In Sarasota we have the "Sarasota Shuffle." We have a lot of Stingrays here of several varieties.
Tourists are advised to shuffle their feet in the sand while they walk in shallow waters. The going theory is if you accidently step on a Stingray you will surprise the crap out of it. Then it takes off like bat out of hell lashing you with the poisonous barbs in its tail as a parting gift.
So let's see now. If you shuffle into one, it will have the crap surprised out of it. It will then take off like a bat of out of hell, and not leave you with its barbed gift? Who wants to be the first in line to test this theory a couple dozen times? I didn't think so.
Tourists are advised to shuffle their feet in the sand while they walk in shallow waters. The going theory is if you accidently step on a Stingray you will surprise the crap out of it. Then it takes off like bat out of hell lashing you with the poisonous barbs in its tail as a parting gift.
So let's see now. If you shuffle into one, it will have the crap surprised out of it. It will then take off like a bat of out of hell, and not leave you with its barbed gift? Who wants to be the first in line to test this theory a couple dozen times? I didn't think so.
Local Toadfish are poisonous freaks of nature. They have hollow spines that inject venom into you and can kill you if eaten. Locally we also have Scorpion and Rock fish with similar characteristics and they're not exactly beauty queens either.
While I'm on the subject the saltwater Catfish is another really bad piece of work also with venomous spines. I learned this lesson early in my life with a visit to the local hospital to remove a broken piece of spine from my badly swollen hand.
While I'm on the subject the saltwater Catfish is another really bad piece of work also with venomous spines. I learned this lesson early in my life with a visit to the local hospital to remove a broken piece of spine from my badly swollen hand.
The Lionfish's appearance just screams stay away and for good reasons. When it splays out its fins the spines of extreme pain are exposed. You don't want to touch or step on one of these nasty pieces of work.
Some local sushi restaurants serve Lionfish. I'm thinking I would put this menu item right up there with eating haggis, raw monkey brains and cooked carrots.
Seabather's eruptions. Just the name should give you the willies. This what you get by swimming in water with jellyfish larva.
They are tiny and you can't typically see them. They stick to you, and die when you leave the water and dry out. Dying causes them to automatically fire their venomous little harpoons into you as a final defiant act.
They are tiny and you can't typically see them. They stick to you, and die when you leave the water and dry out. Dying causes them to automatically fire their venomous little harpoons into you as a final defiant act.
The Hammerhead shark is a dangerous and heinous creature that was no doubt created on Dr. Moreau's Island. What's up with that ugly ass head anyway? One of their favorites foods are Stingrays. As if you really needed another reason you shouldn't be in shallow waters doing the "Sarasota Shuffle" in the first place.
We have Bull sharks, Tiger sharks, Mako sharks and even a couple of tagged Great Whites. They are not picky eaters and are basically large digestive tracks with lots of teeth at the business end. The ones that are tagged have cute names like Betsy and Katherine and they hang out in the hood on occasion. Katherine alone is 14' long and is a svelte 2300 lbs.
If this hasn't been enough to keep you out of the water then let's add e-coli from rainwater runoff, butt ugly swimming sea slugs, red tide, rip tides, Sea Urchins and sunburn. I have left the most horrifying reason to stay away from the water for last.
If this hasn't been enough to keep you out of the water then let's add e-coli from rainwater runoff, butt ugly swimming sea slugs, red tide, rip tides, Sea Urchins and sunburn. I have left the most horrifying reason to stay away from the water for last.
Tourists in rental boats. Oh the inhumanity of it all. Run for your life.
Photo Credits:
The Pacu photo was taken by Wikipedia user Line1.
The Lionfish photo was taken by Wikipedia user Jens Petersen.
The Spotted Rays photo was taken by Wikipedia user Steve Dunleavy.
The Moon Jellyfish photo was taken by Wikipedia user Jeanne Warner.
The Hammerhead shark photo was taken by Wikipedia user su neko.
All other photos are in the Public Domain or taken by the author.
Photo Credits:
The Pacu photo was taken by Wikipedia user Line1.
The Lionfish photo was taken by Wikipedia user Jens Petersen.
The Spotted Rays photo was taken by Wikipedia user Steve Dunleavy.
The Moon Jellyfish photo was taken by Wikipedia user Jeanne Warner.
The Hammerhead shark photo was taken by Wikipedia user su neko.
All other photos are in the Public Domain or taken by the author.
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