Welcome to our website! There is quite a lot to read here and if you find yourself in the Northwest we hope you will stop by our shop - there is alot to see there, too. We are located in the historic seaport of Port Townsend, Washington within a stone's throw of shipwrights, sail lofts, machinists, a canvas shop, and a full service haul out facility.

Our Mission is to blend the ageless wisdom of traditional rigging with the materials and applications of modern day. We work with our clients to provide complete rigging services of the highest standard and specialize in preparing vessels and their owners for extended cruising and offshore voyages.

Upcoming Events te:

UPDATE to Brion's San Francisco Bay Area Visit

While in Oakland last week, Brion worked with the crew of Pegasus.  An Alden ketch that well serves the children of the bay area as a sail training vessel. Photos and Report in the letter that follows from Dr. Peter Hayes - the Director of the Pegasus Foundation:

Hello all - The report from the rigging workshop yesterday is below.

The Pegasus crew are very grateful to Brion for giving us a full day of his time and expertise.

*Report from Toss Rigging Workshop April 12, 2008*

Brion Toss, master rigger and author of The Complete Rigger's Apprentice and many other books (http://www.briontoss.com/catalog/books.html ) arrived at K-dock shortly after 8 am on a picture-perfect Saturday.
Pegasus' crew had already laid out an array of tools and expensive shiny metallic objects (Norseman) on the foredeck, and moved the boat so that the bobstay was well over the dock to make for easy access to the forward end at the sprit and cranse iron. The previous evening, Berkeley Yacht Club announced the workshop to members some of whom joined Pegasus crew to learn from Brion.Photos are posted at: http://picasaweb.google.com/pegasusvoyages

To many in the sailing world, Brion is about as close to God as you can get from the masthead-and for good reason. He knows what he's talking about in physical and engineering terms, and draws on a vast repertoire of traditional knowledge and a huge well of personal experience. But at the personal level, he's a quietly spoken guy who communicates key concepts with lovely metaphors and humor, and quickly generates enthusiasm and joy about rigging with a group of avid sailors and learners-and aren't we all learners at some level? The Pegasus crew was no exception as curiosity and learning kicked into high gear.

We began with the bobstay. We chose the bobstay because of all the rigging on the boat, it's the most exposed to corrosion and most prone to impact-related damage. First, Brion showed the crew how to create a parallelogram to determine the load on the stay relative to that on the jib forestay. It turned out that the bobstay on Pegasus bears about twice the load of the jib forestay. He noted that the bobstay is likely slightly undersized and should upgraded from 3/8^th to 7/16^th or 11 millimeter Dyform wire in the future.

He explained why, given the loads, there is no gain to be had by putting a turnbuckle on the bobstay provided it is strong enough to stop the bowsprit from rising above the gammon iron at the top of the stem. This led to the axiom of the day about shiny, heavy metallic objects on
boats: "Sailors are like magpies with credit cards."

Next, the crew removed the bobstay and examined the clevis pins. Brion pointed to the corrosion and pitting on the surface of the pins that is caused by lack of air, salt water and chloride corrosion, and heat that destroys protective oxide layers on otherwise shiny metal, and leads to radiating cracks inside a pin. We replaced both clevis pins. Brion examined the metal plate or lug under the cranse iron for corrosion, deformation, or swelling. He found that the plate was slightly undersized and that in the long run, we would do well to have a new cranse iron with a much stronger plate for the bobstay to attach with a clevis pin. Meanwhile, it is adequate for our usage. He also reviewed the intersection of the jibstay angle with that of the bobstay, and found that these lines converged exactly in the middle of the bowsprit which loads it evenly and correctly, unlike many boats on K-dock.

The crew then took apart the existing bobstay and examined the interior of the two Norseman fittings. Both were found to be in excellent shape, as is the existing wire. Careful measures were made of all the fittings because at this time, we were still considering building a new replacement if problems were found. But as everything was in good order and the existing stay can reasonably stay in service for another 4-5 years before being retired to the Bobstay Museum, we did not proceed with the backup stay after all.

Instead, Brion demonstrated how to install a Norseman fitting from scratch on one end of the new wire. When the five years are up, we will replace it with a bigger wire, and also install a link fitting at the stem end that will clear the stay another six or eight inches out of the water. Thus, we were able to avoid installing two heavy shiny metallic objects-a turnbuckle and a massive link fitting--that will go back to the store for credit!

The crew were fascinated to see how a dyform wire can be unraveled and forms into a perfect tulip shape to allow the wedge to be installed over the inner core of smaller wires. Rich Gillette with other crew put the fitting together, checked it to see if the wires had wrapped over the wedge tightly, and then closed it up with caulking.

By now, the sun was up and everyone was hungry. Time for a break and to put the tools away. Aboard, Brion talked us through the basic principles of tuning the rig and reviewed the mast for undesirable bend. The crew measured the mainmast and determined that it is angled to port although the shrouds are tensioned well and the bend is good. But to move it back to starboard requires taking up on the starboard turnbuckles, and these are already maxed out. Thus, to correct for the off-vertical to-port inclination of the main mast requires that we cut a few inches off the starboard shrouds and reinstall the Norseman and studs so we can take up on the starboard shrouds. Another day, another job, but we know what we have to do. Meanwhile, we will sail faster and closer to the wind on port tack, remember that on May 24^th at Master Mariners' Regatta!

We got underway at about 2 pm. Rich Gillette was captain, Mark Caplin was at helm, Tim McAnulty was on foredeck, yours truly was at starboard winch with Gary Herbertson, Dan Augustine at number 6, and Larry Vanderwall on port winch, with Brion in the cockpit. We slipped out of the dock and into a parade of small and big boats heading for the Bay up the main channel. Outside the breakwater, we raised all sails to load the rig in the light westerly wind, and Brion inspected the leeward rigging on the port tack as we headed for Richmond. After clearing the Berkeley reef, we swung onto a starboard tack and bore back toward the Berkeley pier but able to clear the end. Again, Brion inspected the leeward shrouds. He recommended that the aft lower and intermediates be taken up a few turns on the turnbuckles which crew did after removing the "tig" cotter pins. Then we tacked again, and did the same to the leeward shrouds on port tack.

That done, we relaxed and enjoyed sailing out to near Point Blunt in tee-shirt weather, a rare treat in the Bay at any time of the year, let alone in early April. We broad-reached back and saw a rare mirage over the Berkeley coastline, including the roof of Skates restaurant that looked like it was some kind of Viking helmet (see it on the photo
gallery) due to the refractive effect of the inversion layer.

At dock, we fare-welled and thanked Brion after a crew debrief, and set down the boat, tired but happy that we had served the boat well and added a little safety factor to our youth voyages by attention to detail, and knowing that we had been blessed by his gentle and firm presence for the day.

Crew should check out Brion's website (which also refers to Pegasus, see http://www.briontoss.com/index.html ) and especially Sparktalk - see left column of home page).

============================================
Dr. Peter Hayes, Director, The Nautilus Institute for Security &
Sustainability, Center for the Pacific Rim, University of San Francisco,
2130 Fulton Street LM200, San Francisco, CA 94117-1080 USA ph 1 415
422-5523 cell 1 510 7174439
Professor International Relations, Research and Innovation, Nautilus
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne Australia
ph61 417 576836 peter@nautilus.org * http://www.nautilus.org