Commodore’s Message Greetings all, It is mid-April and maybe, just maybe, spring will finally show up and we can look forward to getting back on the water and back to Rockland for our 58th Homecoming Regatta. This year, the Tannis will be 81 years old and will have been in the Cronin family for 50 years, having only missed two regattas since buying her. The first year, they (I say “they” because I wasn’t born yet!) tried to get to Maine but didn’t make it. The second absence was in in 2011 due to a two year rebuild. Every year, with those two exceptions, we make the trip to Maine to reunite with other sloop owners with similar passions for the craft. Whether it’s racing, cruising or socializing, the focus of our attention has always been around the Friendship sloop, and the beauty and grace under sail which has always been an iconic trademark of these vessels. Once again, the Homecoming Regatta will be in Rockland on July 19-21 at the Rockland Town Landing. With three days of racing, (or day sailing, shopping or exploring the area for those not into racing), followed by socializing at the docks, BYO gatherings or dinners up under the tent, and culmi- nating with the sumptuous awards banquet, it looks to be another great time celebrating the Friendship sloop and the lifelong friendships and camaraderie that come with these boats. Through our new Publicity Chair Jon March’s work, we are making strides to get our Homecoming events more into the public eye and to attract more people down to the docks. But truly the best way to attract attention is by filling the docks with boats, so plan now to bring your sloop and join us for our 58th Homecoming. See you there! Jeff Cronin Who’s Behind the Homecoming Banquet? Kirsten and Wayne Cronin have been involved in orchestrating the FSS Homecoming banquet on some level since the 50th Anniversary 9 years ago. They and their team of volun- teers perform this feat with such efficiency and aplomb that it’s difficult to fully appreciate the time and work involved in feeding roughly 120 hungry sailors after three days of racing. The banquet has evolved over the years it has been in Rockland. Initially, local groups took it on as a fundraising opportunity and profited from ticket sales. There was then a period of a few years where members went out to eat after the awards ceremony. It was Roger Lee and Gail O’Donnell who started to bring back the idea of doing a dinner under the tent. When Kirsten and Wayne, who live with their family in nearby Thomaston, first became involved, Kirsten contacted local restaurants or caterers to provide various dishes, but that quickly became too expensive and logistically challenging. She and her cadre of friends and family members soon took on the whole process: menu planning, shopping, cooking, storing food, trans- port, and coordinating a small army of FSS members to help with set-up, last minute shopping of things forgotten, manning the grills, and clean-up. It is a massive undertaking. (Continued to Page 2) Volume 30 FSS.ORG Spring 2018 Issue 2 Friendships Newsletter of the Friendship Sloop Society 1 Kirsten and Wayne Cronin enjoying a quieter moment in their busy lives. (photo Kirsten Cronin)

Membership Report By Carole Wojcik, Membership Secretary Dues reminders were sent to 100 members, 75 notices via email and 25 notices via postcards on February 20th. As of April 20th, 19 members have responded to the reminders. New members and owners who have joined the FSS since the annual meeting are:  Stacy Spaulding & Rayned Wiles, new owners of #255 Genevieve, formerly homeported in San Diego, now in Baltimore where they live. The sloop is 25’ and was built in California in 1982.  Al Kent has purchased #153 Angelus from long-time member Jim Carter. The 22’ sloop was in Bass Harbor, MA, but will now be homeported in Pocasset, MA.  Wes & Janis Balda of Thorndike, ME have recently purchased #35 Kizzie B, also known as the Mary C. They have renamed the sloop Juniper and will keep her in Belfast, ME. The sloop is 20 feet long and was built in 1962 by Nathaniel Clapp.  Richard and Karen Schwartz of Woolrich, ME have purchased #167 Freedom from Maldwin Drummond. The sloop is 28’ long and was built in 1976 by Ralph Stanley. Freedom’s homeport will be Boothbay Harbor, ME.  Zachary Teal of West Newbury, MA has purchased #66 Venture from Bill Finch and Carol Rose. Zach has informed the Society that Venture’s homeport will be Essex, MA. Venture is a Class A sloop built by Wilbur Morse in 1912. Zach, when in high school, helped Harold Burnham build the schooner Ardelle. Zach’s grandfather was a past owner of #34 Pal-O-Mine.  Merlin Miller of Rockland, ME.  Michael, Yolanda and Chris Sullivan of Charlton, MA, friends of Cyndy Pendleton & Bill Cronin.  Jim & Dobbie Kristoff of Newtown Square, PA, friends of Martin Thomas.  Charles Barker of Plymouth, MI, the author of the book, Bonnie the Friendship Sloop, a children’s story about making it through hard times.  Richard Van Heynigen of Falmouth, MA, friend of Laurie Raymond & Rusty Strange. Carole received the following notes: From Russ Perrin, owner of #210 The Sloop John B: “2017 was great fun. My friend and crew Bill and I made it to Rockland this year and crewed on Phoenix and Tannis. Thanks to Tad and the Cronins. I pulled the Faryman diesel from The Sloop John B to work on in the garage. I may have found the problem I was having: a $2 “O” ring from the hydraulic drive motor. The mast may not be so easy. The top three feet rotted in two. I may build a new 5 1/2” diameter by 22’ new one. I’m thinking western red cedar – solid. I sure appreciate all the effort that goes into keeping a ship afloat. Thanks to all the FSS members and crew.” From Tom Ash, who is rebuilding the Wilbur A. Morse built Nomad #32: “We are hoping to complete the cockpit sole, combing and cabin top this season. Last year saw a new rudder plus engine installed. Working on the mast and rigging over the winter months along with the trailboards and billet head. Slow but sure!” Who’s Behind the Homecoming Banquet? (Continued from Front Page) Caroline Phillips, Kirsten’s sister-in-law, and other members of the Cronin family handle the procuring and transport from home of many necessities like sterno set ups, serving utensils, and those irresistible beef and chicken teriyakis, as well as lining up enough helpers to prepare the barbecue side of the dinner. Kirsten, recruiting any willing friends or relatives to help, does the bulk of the food shopping, and whips up massive quantities of delicious baked beans, potato salad, ziti in sauce, and garden salad. She and Wayne store the grills, large drink coolers, blue tent, and the placards and other miscellaneous supplies at their house each year. Kathy Whitney and Nancy Toppan focus their time and talents on decorations and centerpieces. Kirsten starts the planning process (and the worrying) in June, lining up details in her mind, and it never really lets up. In Rockland, while most of us are enjoying sailing and chatting around the fleet, Kirsten, Caroline and their teams are working hard behind the scenes to be sure the Saturday night banquet runs smoothly. Within minutes of #52 Rights of Man touching the dock after the Saturday race, Kirsten is sprinting for home to get the food she has been preparing for days loaded into several cars for the trip back to Rockland. And it’s not only the food! While racing Rights of Man (which she and Wayne were engaged on), and caring for their two daughters Ashleigh and Caitlin (Alec having long since moved out), Kirsten and Wayne are usually hosting 12 extra people for all or part the Homecoming! Kirsten feels that the most challenging aspects of putting on the banquet are preparing such huge volumes of food in her modest home kitchen, and coordinating the shopping and transportation, while racing on Saturday, then being able to finish preparing the food and delivering it hot on Saturday evening. All expenditures must stay within a very conservative budget, which is why we, the hungry, only pay $10 a head for this magnificent meal. At this year’s Homecoming, if you are among the fortu- nate diners at the Saturday evening awards banquet, be sure to thank Kirsten, Caroline, Wayne and all of the volunteers who help to make that evening so delicious, fun and memorable. – 2 –

Marlinspike Seamanship By Ted Walsh Color Coding Three-strand Line We often have guests aboard who would like to help sail the boat, but they don’t know the lines. It can be diffi- cult to describe which line to haul on, cast off, or belay. More modern rigs use color-coded braided line to make this easier. However, if you have traditional three-strand line, and many of us do, there are not really color options. Additionally, there will be many purists that don’t like the look of colored braided lines on a traditional rig. One solution is to color strand the end of your three-strand line. What you are technically doing is “worming” the last foot or ten inches of the bitter end of a halyard, sheet, or downhaul, with colored braided line that has a small diameter. This is easy to do; aesthetically it fits in with a traditional rig, and can make it much easier to identify a specific line. The result will be more subtle than a modern brightly colored line, but it is distinctive enough to let a novice identify the correct line. You will need: – Small dimension colored braided line. (I use either 275 lb or 95 lb utility cord, or micro-cord, depending on the size line that I am color-coding. These come in different colors and are inexpensive). -A marlinespike or hollow fid. -Sailmakers needle or roping needle, anything between #10-#15 in size. -Some sailmaker’s waxed twine. Choose a color braided cord that is small enough to lie between the three strands of line that you are marking. – 3 – (Continued to Back Page)

Gearing Up for Rockland By David W. Graham – Race Committee Chairman Plans for our 2018 Rockland Homecoming Regatta are well underway and indeed, nearly completed. On January 2nd, your Race Committee filed a “Marine Event” application form with the US Coast Guard office in South Portland, and just three weeks ago, we received the formal Coast Guard approval. Meanwhile, we have been chugging ahead with plans for July 19-21. Copies of our application and approval, along with a copy of our area racing chart, have been sent to the Rockland Coast Guard office, the Rockland Harbormaster, and to the Superintendent of the Maine State Ferry system at the Rockland terminal. As in the recent past, this is done so that everyone will be “on the same page” regarding our 2018 race program. We have also completed the single-sheet, double-sided set of 2018 FSS sailing instructions and in doing so, we continu- ously strive toward one goal: simplicity. Sailing instructions for 2018 will be distributed at the skippers’ meeting on the day of the first race, July 19, and will be available at subsequent skippers’ meetings. We are also truly indebted to the racing support fleet at Rockland. For the second year, Dick and Suzi Guckel have offered their trawler Cerca Trova to serve as the Race Commit- tee boat, with Oliver the cat again overseeing the group. We hope to see the handsome Effie M with Captain Jack Cronin at the helm, and Dick Salter’s reliable Liberty cruising the waters of Rockland Harbor and offering their assistance and expertise. Now for a word or two about safety and the Maine State Ferry system. A few years ago during day-one of our 3 day race program, one of the ferry captains made an inquiry to the Coast Guard as to “what all those little sailing boats” were doing. This resulted in a call to me on my cell phone within some 15 minutes from South Portland. Fortunately, our Coast Guard permit was in hand and on file in the South Portland office. Had we not filed earlier in the year with the Coast Guard, we could easily have been ordered to STOP our racing at Rockland! In no way is this intended to raise concerns in other racing locales, but Rockland is somewhat different. We all know the nautical Right-of-Way rules, I am certain, but when it comes to ferry traffic at Rockland, trying to compete with a 150’ ferry of 776 gross tonnage operating at better than 10 knots, can be both a dangerous and a losing proposition! This is why we have gone to the effort of placing a “Commercial Traffic Zone” covering the ferry route through Rockland Harbor on our area racing chart, seen at right. This is to assist our racing sailors and will help the prudent skippers, whom we are so fortunate to have within our fleet, to always give-way to an approaching ferry. ‘Nuff said! Your Race Committee is always willing to assist anyone within the FSS with answers to questions that might arise from time-to-time, particularly when they come up during our morning skippers’ meetings! As we are only too eager to help, please do not hesitate to call upon any of our RC members; Ralph Stanley, Dick Salter, Phil Pratt, Dick Campbell, Fred Lincoln, Bill Whitney, Bill Zuber, Bob Rex or yours truly. We will be only too happy to assist you with a reply to racing or safety-related questions. Southwest Harbor Race Under ‘New Management’ The 26th annual Southwest Harbor Friendship Sloop Race will be held on Saturday, July 14, but with some new faces leading the event. Longtime race organizers Miff Lauriat and Marge Russakoff stepped down after last summer’s race, figur- ing that 25 years was plenty! This year, Scott Martin, owner of Eden #122, and his chief tactician and main-sheeter Caroline Phillips will take charge of the event. A celebratory post-race pot-luck will again be generously hosted at the Manset home of Betsey Holzmann and her son Abe Noyes, and we hope that Race Committee stalwarts Jill Schoof and Rodney Flora will continue in their critical roles. Though the winds can be fickle around Mount Desert Island, this is a wonderful, fun and scenic sail! Contact Caroline at cphillips0503@charter.net or 774-200-0506 with any questions. – 4 – Suzi and Dick Guckel, whose trawler Cerca Trova served as the 2017 RC boat, receive a warm thank you from Dave Graham. (photo Bill Finch)

Friendship Memorial Scholarship Fund By Philip C. Pratt II, Fund Chairman As indicated in the Winter 2017 FSS Newsletter, we had a very strong show of support from individuals and organi- zations donating to the Scholarship Fund in celebration of its 50th year, surpassing the goal of raising $40,000. I want to add an enormous thank you to Dick Salter and the newly christened “Friendships of December” Christmas party group. Dick has organized an FSS Christmas party in Danvers, MA, for three decades. He made an exciting announcement this past year that an FSS member insisting on anonymity, wished to donate $1000 to the Scholarship Fund in the name of this group. At that point, the group had no official name, so several ideas were considered and “Friendships of December” was born. Thank you again to Dick, the “Friendships of December” group, and our generous donor for all of their support! The Trustees of the Fund meet in mid-May to determine the scholarship dollars to be awarded to each student recipient. In 2017 graduating seniors received a record $1600 each, and continuing education students received $1000 each. The Trustees hope to continue increasing the dollars awarded to Friendship students pursuing a post-secondary education. Gifts received in 2018 and beyond will be a key ingredient to growing the scholarship program. Watch for your appeal letter this spring, which will reveal the dollar distribution amounts for the 2018 scholarship recipients. We are sure you will be happy with what you see! Irv Lash, of the renowned boat building family from Friendship, has carved an elegant Friendship sloop half hull, a Wilbur Morse design of a 37 foot sloop (pictured below), to raffle off in support of the Scholarship Fund. The vast experi- ence Irv has had in the world of boat building shows clearly in every half hull he creates. He has requested that the raffle be held at the FSS Homecoming in Rockland this summer. Tickets at $5 each will be available for purchase during all three days of the event, and ticket purchases will be open to all, not just FSS members. Please contact me with questions, or comments at 207-832-4335 or by email at davisloop100@gmail.com. Blackjack Nears Launch Captain Jim Sharp of Rockland’s Museum of Sail, Power and Steam, sent in this latest summary of the ongoing restoration of 33 foot Blackjack #19, an original Wilbur Morse built sloop. The restoration was recently featured on WABI TV out of Bangor, ME. “She has been configured as close to the way Wilbur would have done it… as close as we could figure. Note the tiller steering (pictured above), no engine, newly carved trailboards (duplicated), and simple flat white paint. We are to the point where we have all the carpentry accomplished and will be rigging. We hope to have a launching before race days in July. Our volunteers have done a wonderful job on her, and with the professional guidance and advise of several master builders like Ralph Stanley, Maynard Bray and Dan West, we have the most authentically restored and original sloop in existence. We will have races each week with our very own vessels, Persistence & Blackjack, as soon as I can find the right captains…!” The Museum is indeed looking for USCG six-pack licensed captains to sail these beautiful sloops this summer in Penobscot Bay. Contact Jim at 207-701-7627 or sailpowerandsteammuseum@gmail.com, if this might be you or if you know of a potential captain. The Museum is always seeking financial support for the ongoing restoration as well, so don’t hesitate to make a gift earmarked for Blackjack! – 5 – Division 2 sloops Gladiator #71 and Rights of Man #119 beating to windward. (photo Bill Finch) Irv Lash’s elegant half hull model will be raffled at the Rockland Homecoming this July. Tannis #7 is believed to have been built from this model. The Lash Brothers yard eventually scaled the 37 foot design down to 31 feet, and built several more Friendships, including Downeaster, Dirigo, and Rights of Man. (photo Phil Pratt)

Year after year we repeat the springtime rituals of launching and outfitting our boats. Being creatures of habit we also have a tendency to stow items aboard where they have been for years. But things change. Something new arrives aboard; a new set of tools, a new GPS, or we replace that beloved Teflon- coated frying pan with a new cast iron one. Little things that may seem inconsequential can add up over time. Big changes like an engine refit are more obvious, but both the big and the cumulative small changes can have a significant impact on the magnetic environment that the ship’s compass lives within. Checking out the compass, or “swinging the compass” is a procedure that should be conducted annually or whenever the location of anything made of steel or iron changes. It establishes the amount of deviation that the boat’s magnetic field imposes on the compass. When the boat was new, a compass adjuster added compensation magnets, or adjusted those already installed, to counteract the magnetic field of the boat so that the compass pointed to the correct magnetic heading regard- less of the boat’s heading. When the compass adjuster finished installing or adjusting these magnets, a compass deviation card was provided that recorded any remaining deviation error that could not be removed. (You do have it, right? Oh, so it was installed 42 years ago? And you have checked it since, right?). The accuracy of your steering compass on all angles of the ship’s heading is really important. This is the one instrument that won’t fail when the power goes out. A check of its perform- ance should be part of your commissioning checklist. It is not only easy but can be accomplished several different ways, using several different “tools” that are already aboard the boat or in your pocket. Of course you could always hire a compass adjuster to come aboard and go through the exacting procedure of comparing the compass headings with the modern version of a gyro-compass, and pay whatever the current cost is, but why not check things out yourself to see if there is a problem before going that route and possibly spending money unnecessarily? There are several ways to do it, but the quickest and easiest is to have someone steer due north (000°C) on the steer- ing compass while another person uses a hand bearing compass to sight along the centerline of the boat while standing at the stern, well clear of any magnetic interference. You can also use the compass app on a smart phone (set for magnetic, not true) as long as you can sight along it or keep it aligned with the vessel’s centerline. Have a note pad handy to record the readings of both the steering and handheld compasses and/or smart phone heading. Continue recording bearings every 30° until you have completed a full 360°. Compare the differences between the steering compass and handheld/smart phone headings and record the amount and direction of deviation for each course steered. If deviation exceeds 5° on any course, it’s time to hire a profes- sional compass adjuster to correct the compass. The 2018 Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book gives a good description of using your GPS; on page 213 for creating a devia- tion card, and on page 209 for adjusting the compass and deter- mining any misalignment problems that may exist between the boat’s centerline and steering compass, not as rare a problem as you may think! A third method, although limited to one bearing line because of the timing of the sun, is to check the compass bearing of the sun at sunrise or sunset. Once again, your 2018 Eldridge gives a good description of the process on page 232. One potential drawback with this method, aside from being limited to one bearing, is the cognitive condition of the person taking the bearing. A sunrise bearing assumes one is awake and can recognize the sun when it comes up. The sunset bearing has its own set of issues. The seductive comforts of a quiet cockpit while waiting for sunset may induce additional cognitive problems. The clear liquid refreshments, crackers and cheese, dips, chips and good company can easily cause one to forget entirely about sunset, not recognize that the sun is going down, or be unable to locate the compass. This method may not be terribly productive, but certainly sounds like the most fun! Publicity Marches Forward FSS member Jon March has stepped up to become the FSS Publicity Chairman in an effort to make the Society, the Friendship sloop, and particularly the Annual Homecoming in Rockland more visible and inviting to the public. The Executive Committee has met with Jon, who has an extensive background in events planning and organizing, and hopes this year to have several large banners on the main roads into Rockland announcing sloop days, and a loud and effective PA system announcing the parade of sloops and perhaps even the races themselves. Public service announcements, press releases sent to local news outlets, and Facebook updates are all part of the effort to expand knowledge of the FSS, the boats and their history. Jon, who grew up sailing Dirigo #46, and is the brother of former FSS Commodore Noel March, is very enthusiastic about drawing more people to the docks and getting them excited about sailing on, and perhaps even eventually owning a Friendship sloop. – 6 – Tech Tips: Swinging the Compass By Bill Whitney

2018 Calendar of FSS Events Red Brook Harbor Rendezvous (Buzzards Bay, MA) Friday, June 29 Scituate Harbor Rendezvous Saturday, June 30 Cape Ann Rendezvous Sunday, July 1 Southwest Harbor Rendezvous, Race and Potluck Supper Saturday, July 14 Pulpit Harbor (North Haven) Rendezvous Tuesday, July 17 58th Annual Rockland Homecoming: Rendezvous and Races Rockland Public Landing Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 19-21 Sloops arrive Wednesday, July 18 Races on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (start time 1 PM) Sloops depart Sunday, July 22  Welcome Reception: Informal BYO drinks and snacks under the tent Wednesday afternoon/evening  Parade of Sails: Saturday morning, Rockland waterfront prior to the race  Awards Banquet: Saturday night, 5 PM, Rockland Public Landing, under the tent FSS Annual Meeting Saturday, November 17 Best Western Merry Manor Hotel, South Portland, ME Events of Interest – Summer 2018 New England Waters Wooden Boat Show, Mystic, CT June 22 – June 24, 26th Annual show at Mystic Seaport Presented and produced by WoodenBoat Magazine www.thewoodenboatshow.com Windjammer Days, Boothbay Harbor, ME June 24 – June 30, 56th Annual Festival Events for the whole family www.windjammerdays.org Casco Bay Gaffers Race, Portland, ME Monday, June 25, 2nd year tevakesailingcharters@hotmail.com or (207) 841-9125 Camden Classics Cup, Camden, ME July 26-28, 3rd Annual event ** Friendship sloops welcome with registration www.camdenclassicscup.com Sweet Chariot Music Festival, Swan’s Island, ME July 31 – August 2, arrive by boat! www.sweetchariotmusicfestival.com Chowder Cup Race, Friendship Harbor, ME August 4, one day race, free, 38th year! Contact Charlie Witherell at cwitherell@roadrunner.com or Bill Shaughnessy at william_shaughnessy@comcast.net **Friendship sloops welcome with registration Eggemoggin Reach Regatta, Brooklin, ME August 4 All wooden boats 24 feet or longer are welcome ** Friendship sloops welcome with registration www.erregatta.com Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta, Marblehead, MA August 11 and 12 Corinthian Yacht Club, Marblehead, MA www.corinthianclassic.org Antique and Classic Boat Festival, Salem, MA August 25 and 26, 36th year! Brewer Hawthorne Cove Marina ** Friendship sloops welcome with registration www.boatfestival.org Under the Tent Please plan to come join fellow sailors, sloopers, hounds, family and friends under the tent at the Rockland Public Landing for an informal get-together and kick-off for this year’s FSS Homecoming celebration on Wednesday afternoon, July 18, around 4-5 PM. Bring drinks and something to nibble on and wander up from the dock for an hour or two of reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. – 7 – Tannis #7 at 37 feet, appears to be ‘neck in neck’ with 25 foot Banshee #180. (photo Bill Finch)

Marlinspike Seamanship (Continued from Page 3) The key to getting this to work right is to make the braided cord lie snuggly between the three strands of the line without increasing the diameter of the line, or having the colored cord come loose from the line. So, to keep the ends of the braided cord in place and under consistent tension, you need to stitch or whip the cord in place at either end of the wormed section. This will keep a uniform tension on the cord and line. Where the line has been wormed, it will be stiffer than the rest of the line (filling the void between the strands takes some of the flex out of the line) so you will likely not want to have the section that is wormed be more than ten or twelve inches. – 8 – Friendship Sloop Society 347 Lincoln Street Norwell, MA 02061 “As work boats go, (the Friendship sloop) was not remarkably cheap or easy to build, but the inhabi- tants of Bremen Long Island were remarkably skillful and they had an eye for style. They wanted handsome, fast boats, even if they took time to build. For instance, the clipper bow is largely decorative. The cutwater and trailboards do not support the bowsprit and add nothing to the seaworthy qualities of the boat. The lovely ellip- tical counter is difficult and time consuming to build; the vessel would lift as well to a following sea with a cheaper stern
At any rate, the combination of clipper bow, quick sheer, and graceful stern is a joy to behold and a source of pride to the builder.” Preface, Roger Duncan’s Friendship Sloops