Shallow Water Sailors
Spring Cruise 2001
Index Page
As with the last few Spring Cruises we again invited the participants to write about their most memorable parts of the cruise.  As to the participants, here they are:

 
Little Chaptank River on Maryland's Eastern Shore
Morry & Linda in their Peep Hen
Norm W in Piilu, a spanking new NormsBoat
Ron in his Sea Pearl
Brian & sons Matt & Sam in Otter, their Sea Pearl Tri
Richard in Heron, a Dovekie
Jake in Shorebird, a Dovekie
Leo & Sandy in Waterbed, a Dovekie
John Z in Zephyrus, a Dovekie
Dave & Marcia in Tadpole, a Dovekie
Gary in his Dovekie
Ken & Ginny in Sanity, a Bay Hen
Bill  in Amenity, a Bay Hen
Dana in Therapy, a Seaward Fox
John & Patty in Zephyr, a Martha Jane
Norm & Diana in Annika, a Litorina from Sweden
Bob & Carol in Time Enough, a Mac 26
Paul & Deborah & nephew, Ben in Swan, a Shearwater
Harry & Alice in Ardea, a Shearwater
Dean & Mary in Blue Heron, a Shearwater

This spring cruise marked the maiden voyage of Norm's new Piilu.  This is a NormsBoat designed by Jim Michalak and built by Richard Cullison, with a little bit of help from Norm.

This is what Norm W wanted in his new boat:

- Boat and trailer 20' or less overall, so perhaps an 18' boat.
- Slot-top to allow walking upright from cockpit to bow.
- Enough flotation areas to allow self-rescuing.
- Enough ballast for single-handing, but without water ballast.
- Cabin length 6'4" or more, for sleeping.
- Two oar ports, port & starboard
- Two offset stern sculling points so I can stand on the centerline while sculling.
- Provision for motor mount for small outboard. (your suggestion.)
- Kick up rudder and lee board(s).
- Stowage rack for oars while under sail; and for spars while rowing. Perhaps a cradle on one side of the cabin top.
- Rig: I liked Dovekie's sprit rig; I have sailed gaff rigged Bay Hen which has too many strings when striking the rig. I like the idea of your standing lug, but I need windward ability to short tack on the narrow estuaries of the Chesapeake. Can a sprit rig work?

He got most everything he wanted, as it turned out he didn't get the oar ports, and he got the standing lug rig.

We'll get better pictures of NormsBoat as time goes by, but the one below places the boat where it belongs
 


Norm gets his anchor adjusted by the Marsh Man, Jake


 Link to Richard Cullison's pictures of NormsBoat     Richard has done a great job in taking pictures of all the phases of construction of this boat designed especially for Norm Wolfe by Jim Michalak

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Page Activity Date Pictures
 Page 1 Putting In May 4 4
 Page 2 Sailing Up Church Creek " 4
 Page 3 Old Trinity Church - Part 1 " 4
 Page 4 Old Trinity Church - Part 2 " 3
 Page 5 Early Saturday Morning May 5 3
 Page 6 Saturday Raft-Up - People " 7
 Page 7 Saturday Raft-Up - Singing " 4
 Page 8 Sunday Lunch - Part 1 May 6 4
 Page 9 Sunday Lunch - Part 2 " 4

 
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