Nautical Lore – Modern | Oral narratives of modern seafaring watercraft with multihull pioneer Jim Brown

35: SPACE-AGE BOATBUILDING

SPACE-AGE BOATBUILDING This caper features Jim sharing about his trip to New England this week, where he got a glimpse of the most cutting-edge boatbuilding technology on display from his hosts.   It's a far cry from backyard boatbuilding, and Jim offers many details on how what is going on at the building shop he visited will likely reach many in the sailing world sooner rather than later. Jim finishes off this podcast by also talking about his encounter with Amaryllis, the catamar...

34: RANDY'S BREAKFAST

RANDY'S BREAKFAST This Caper is based on a conversation with Randy Smyth recorded aboard Scrimshaw. On the day after Randy finished first in the Everglades Challenge Race, March 2017, we spoke over piles of pancakes, formulated by Bruce Matlack to include berries, nuts and seeds to sustain the endurance sailor, and served by Carla Laney to include jam, agave and maple syrup. This combination resulted in a slightly less than PhD level revelation of the world's most efficient -- yet prac...

33: COCKPIT CONVERSATIONS (Part 1)

32: CHIEF CHALLENGE AND HIS TRIBE

CHIEF CHALLENGE AND HIS TRIBE The first of the field interviews has Steve "Chief"  Isaac, progenitor of the Everglades Challenge race, describing how  a perceptive teacher and a compelling book eventually resulted in ​his sending hundreds of endurance racers out into Florida Bay and The Everglades to test their boats and themselves in true survival mode. Ah, survival, the oldest tradition of all, is seen here, ultimately, by warriors of the water, as a sublimation for suicide, a reason f...

31: STRANDED ON A WHAT?! (Part 2)

STRANDED ON A WHAT?! (Part Two)  How did he get there? What happened while he was there? How long was he there? How did he get back? This Caper tells the survival story of Captain Guy Asbury, perhaps the only mariner to spend days and nights precariously perched on a dead whale. He was surrounded by screaming seagulls (“flying rats”), crabs (which he ate as they tried to eat him), sharks (taking giant mouthfuls of blubber) and a choking stench, all in thick fog.  Can anyone find the ...

30: STRANDED ON A WHAT?!

STRANDED ON A WHAT?!​ Cruising for the first time without our two sons as crew, Jo Anna and I head north from Virginia to Nova Scotia. After dealing with fog for four days, we discover a netherworld of outlandish people and animals all living in a shack and a castle, where it seems a spell is cast. Realizing that the cruising experience doesn't get any more fulfilling than this, we stay for a month, visiting nowhere else in Nova Scotia. This is Part One of a two-part Caper, the prea...

Special Edition: NEWS ON NEW WING RIG FROM RANDY SMYTH

News on New Wing Rig from Randy Smyth In this special edition capercast, Jim Brown shares news about the development of a new type of Wing Rig developed by Olympian sailor Randy Smyth. Jim learned about this firsthand from Randy after Randy won the Class 5 category of the 2017 Everglades Challenge Race in Florida. Lots of fun in this one, as Jim shares details via his cell phone.  (Because of this unique recording situation, the audio quality of this capercast is not as clear as when J...

29: WOLFGANG KRAKER von SCHWARTZENFELD

WOLFGANG KRAKER von SCHWARTZENFELD A Little-Known Multihull Pioneer   While early childhood influences may direct our lives, there is also the adult mentor, the chance exposure to that certain individual who may well direct the course of our maturing passages. This story tells of how I first became exposed to a catamaran, where I first heard the word "trrimarran," and why, subsequently, I was predisposed to nothing much but boats.

28: SEASTEADING 101

SEASTEADING 1O1 Here begins what we hope will be an occasional, continuing series on how the ordinary mortal can go cruising on a budget in today's world.  ​This edition considers the mindset, initial planning and suggests a boat type, designed expressly for owner-building.  Listeners with opinions on this subject are invited to participate by sending a contact email to outrig.org AT gmail.com

27: THE CAVE AND THE DITCH

THE CAVE AND THE DITCH How is it that some of us, probably including many listeners to these Capers, become so enrapt? Committed? Predisposed? HOOKED on our boats? These two Capers tend to support the predisposed explanation, for it seems to me that the lives of many individuals are  die-cast by exposure to some copacetic stimulus that occurs very early in life. The quest to identify that stimulus can be futile unless one truly concentrates on her origins. Success in that quest can be ...

26: SHOOTING VENUS

SHOOTING VENUS In this continuation of Scrimshaw's passage around Cape Thank God, I attempt to explain the dominant presence of navigating in a family crew before GPS. Jo Anna and I found it necessary to continually check each other's work, and we often found mistakes! This challenge was somewhat amplified when we became dependent on celestial navigation, and meeting that challenge brought us closer than ever as mom and dad, man and wife, captain and mate, and our "deck apes."   Also...

25: THE WAY TO CAPE THANK GOD

THE WAY TO ​CAPE THANK GOD Intending to describe family cruising with one's wife as literally First Mate, I get hung up in the details of our cruise through the San Blas Islands and to Cartegena, Colombia (our favorite port). From there, we beat up through the Southwest Caribbean to the islands of San Andres and Providencia where, seeking local knowledge of the route ahead, I benefit from meeting Captain John Bull. This is all to set the scene for the next Capercast, which tells of ou...

24: GREATEST BOAT RIDE

GREATEST BOAT RIDE Story of SCRIMSHAW's ​greatest one-day boat ride, her transit of the Panama Canal. Despite some very humbling episodes, and eighteen years of trying to get back to the Caribbean, we change oceans at the isthmus that shows us five different Panamas, and reveals "America's Experiment With Socialism," the Panama Canal Zone where "American Soil" that has since been returned to it's in-rightful owners. At 34 minutes, this is the longest Capercast yet. While it gives me a c...

23: RIVALRY

RIVALRY We should all get equal time to talk about our kids, but that would need we all have Podcasts. In this Caper, I tell of our experiences while family cruising in a too-small boat when the Captain has a too-big temper and his kids have a normal sibling rivalry. In the end, it is the kids who guide the boat and solve the problems.​ As parents, it seems to me that the best thing we can do for them -- and for us --  is to just spend time together.

22: OF WHALES, CALMS AND ALTAR WINE

​OF WHALES, CALMS AND ALTAR WINE   This account of an ocean passage illustrates the physical and mental adjustments often required of uninitiated crew.   A case is made for the gradual approach, taking  time for rest, humor, and perhaps a little "panther piss," as ​antidotes for fear. Rated "Z" (some heresy and scatology).

21: OCEAN RACING THEN AND NOW

OCEAN RACING THEN AND NOW On Christmas Day just past, a remarkable solo circumnavigation speed record was set by a Frenchman sailing a big multihull. He had made five previous attempts and finally succeeded.  At the same time, other incredible speeds were being achieved in monohulls, also sailed by the French. In this Caper, I compare today's ocean racing with examples of how it was done in the early days of modern, lightweight seafaring.

20: HARD KNOCKS AND SOFT MUD

HARD KNOCKS AND SOFT MUD  This Caper reviews the survival story in the previous edition, hoping to learn a little more from the merciful close call, and the hard knocks loss as told by Lance Leonard. As if there is some parallel, I tell of my own almost desperate encounter with “pluff mud” and a falling tide. Finally, I appeal for help, of another kind.

19: RESILIANCE

19: RESILIANCE A recent survival story, this “caper” features a recorded interview with my long-time friend Lance Leonard. Lance is a dedicated multihuller with fifty years of experience in sailing fishing and diving charters in the eastern U.S and Caribbean waters, yet he recently lost his boat, and potentially his life, in a different type of multihull catastrophe. This is his story and the lessons learned from it the hard way.

18: On Fixing Proa Problems

On Fixing Proa Problems Special holiday podcast featuring a bit of personal news from Jim's travels and some interesting thoughts on proas.  Jim talks about visiting a new small boat gathering event in Cedar Key, Florida during late Fall.  He also shares about the restoration of his old boat SCRIMSHAW at a secret boatyard in South Florida ... also known as a place where many old boats go to die.  (But there is much planned life left for SRIMSHAW though). Also, Jim talks extensively a...

17: PARK IT, DAD

PARK IT, DAD This Caper is based on one of my favorite stories from, "Among The Multihulls - Volume 2." It tells of a passage from Bermuda to New England in son Russell’s proa when I was recruited as crew.  It turned out to be an intense father and son adventure ... including descriptions of the proa's handling in storm waves! I had previously not been interested in proas, but this voyage really turned my head. I have since concluded that the proa is the most conceptually perfect of al...

16: BEWARE, PROA CONSTRUCTOR

BEWARE, PROA CONSTRUCTOR The above title is taken from a sign posted over Dick Newick’s shop in the early 1970s when he was developing his “Atlantic” versions of the “shunting” proa. This Caper, however, is my fictional reconstruction of Stone Age history, when the Pacific proa was invented by a young Micronesian woman who could think by-longitudinally.

15: CAT / TRI COMPARISONS PART FOUR: MOTION, ACCOMMODATION AND SAFETY

CAT / TRI COMPARISONS PART FOUR: MOTION, ACCOMMODATION AND SAFETY This Caper offers my understanding of the differences between cats and tris in riding motion, weatherliness and tacking. Also, there are pivotal contrasts in their accommodation plans and underwing pounding. Finally, I attempt to draw comparisons in their respective chances for survival from collision, shipwreck and capsize.

14: CAT / TRI COMPARISONS PART THREE: CONFIGURATIONS and STRUCTURES

CAT / TRI COMPARISONS PART THREE: CONFIGURATIONS and STRUCTURES The contrasting design challenges between catamaran and trimaran  are met equally well today by understanding the differing load paths in their respective structures. In addition, because of the catamaran’s “Siamese twin” nature, it requires substantial duplication of components, whereas the trimaran requires three hulls. This explains in part the relatively high cost of both types for construction and maintenance.

13: MONOHULL - MULTIHULL MINDSETS

13: Monohull - Multihull Mindsets​   This Caper continues to explore both the conceptual and the mindset differences between ​monohulls and multihulls, ancient and modern. And, Jim gets carried away with the life-like properties of watercraft in general:  "The boat owner is really into watercraft husbandry; the sailor holds the reins as a watercraft drover; the boat builder gestates with selective breeding; and the watercraft designer, bless his little ego, is really... (tune in to find ...

12: CAT-TRI COMPARISONS PART ONE

CATAMARAN-TRIMARAN COMPARISONS - PART ONE In response to feedback from listeners, this “caper” is the first of a three-part series on comparing different types of watercraft: rafts, dugout canoes, catamarans, trimarans proas and monohulls. Jim describes the basic configurations and how they evolved to suit specific applications, from pre-history to the present. This session begins about 4,000 years ago.

11: VOICES FROM THE PAST, PART TWO

VOICES FROM THE PAST, PART TWO Jim’s most illustrious client, Mark Hassall, reads a long quote from the movie actor and consummate seaman Sterling Hayden to explain Mark’s philosophy of how, “A voyage, like a life, should be based on a firm foundation of financial unrest.” Then Mark faces almost certain death as a castaway in the Indian Ocean, and Jim inserts his own vignette of using the “debris field” tactic of recovering seven people who have been swept overboard by a single wave. J...

10: VOICES FROM THE PAST, PART ONE

VOICES FROM THE PAST, PART ONE By mining old video footage for its sound tracks, Jim brings us the actual voices of the several seafaring pioneers whose stories he has told in previous Capercasts. In this first cession of a two-part series, he includes the voices of Woody Brown, Arthur Piver and James Wharram with his mate Hanneke Boon. She explains the logic of the polygamoust relationship James maintained, at considerable cost, with up to five women at once, all equal partners in their...

9: GRABBING THE BOTTOM

GRABBING THE BOTTOM Three more anchoring episodes illustrate the tenuousness of Grabbing The Bottom, with some conclusions about the weight of ground tackle and the crew’s the ability to retrieve the anchor. Jim asks for feedback as to how much “how-to” information, relative to straight storytelling, listeners may want.

8: HIJACKED AND SHIPWRECKED

HIJACKED AND SHIPWRECKED There are two contrasting anchoring predicaments here: Jim's boat and his family crew are hijacked by a "sea monster" and towed out to sea. How they get free. Then, a different vessel is embayed and destroyed, its crew stranded on a desert island. How they sail again.

7: THE DINGHY THAT TRIED TO CLIMB THE MAST

THE DINGHY THAT TRIED TO CLIMB THE MAST In this anchoring fiasco, Jim tells of how even an experienced sailor can get so screwed up so fast in a boat ... even if he designed and built the boat himself and has sailed it for forty years. This begins a three-part series on anchoring in which some sessions do not have a happy ending, but some conclusions are drawn.

6: CHUBASCO, THE MEXICAN HURRICANE

Storm Coming... Sailing past the tip of Baja in the dark, with no lighthouse operating, we find ourselves crossing to the Mexican Mainland, a passage of about 300 miles, with a chubasco obviously approaching. There being no protection from such storms at Cabo, we head back there anyway, hoping mainly to get Jo Anna ashore safely. We are met again by a troupe of gracious Mexicans who solve all our problems. However, this leg of the voyage ends here, and we return to California overland ...

5: LOST AND FOUND

Losing and Finding a Trimaran... The cultural influences of the 1960s, fear, paranoia and escapism, stimulates the owner-building of cruising-type multihulls. Survival aspects of yacht ownership discussed. Continues the the voyage of JUANA, wherein the vessel disappears from its anchorage at a remote location in Baja California. With the gracious help of threadbare Mexicans, JUANA is recovered, and we continue south…into changing weather and different circumstances.

4: LEARNING TO “FEEL” A SEAFARING MULTIHULL

Sailing dynamics of the Piver Nugget trimaran at sea. We now begin to understand the differing dynamics, and the disorienting sensations, of running downwind in a craft capable of equaling or exceeding the speed of the seaway. Our trip down the Big Sur Coast offers us “the most terrifying thrill on this planet,” but the boat keeps telling us that all is well. Surfing at night, rounding Point Conception, and the joy of getting on the boat in northern California and getting off in Southe...

3: ARTHUR PIVER, FATHER OF THE MODERN TRIMERAN

Arthur Piver and the Modern Trimaran About ten years after Woody Brown launched the first truly modern catamaran, a San Francisco man named Arthur Piver succeeds in developing a three-hulled vessel that delivers the all-round performance and maneuverability that the catamarans of the day do not. I just happen to be there at the right time – late 1950s – and am so consumed by this revelation that I build two of Piver’s early boats and, together with my bride Jo Anna, take one of them to s...

2: WOODY BROWN AND HIS TRAIL-BLAZING CATAMARAN

Modern nautical lore “capercast” podcast with multihull pioneer and historian Jim Brown. This is oral narrative # 2 featuring modern seafaring watercraft, their concepts, creators and crews. In this episode,Jim continues the amazing story of Woody Brown, designer and sailor of the first modern catamaran.  

1: WOODY BROWN AND MODERN FAST SAILING BOATS

Modern nautical lore "capercast" with multihull pioneer and historian Jim Brown. This is oral narrative # 1 featuring Jim sharing about modern seafaring watercraft, their concepts, creators and crews. In this episode, Jim shares part one of the story of Woody Brown, the designer and builder of the first modern sailing catamaran.