portlandpudgy.com

Cruisers, liveaboards, or folks who just like messing about in boats…we know you’re out there blogging. If you are the proud owner of a Portland Pudgy safety dinghy and have a boating blog, please let us know, so we can link to you.

Here are three of the blogs we follow. What they all have in common (besides the Portland Pudgy) is that they’re all about people following their bliss.

Portland Pudgy: "family car" for s/v delViento

Log of s/v delViento: A family of four trade the daily grind for seasickness, financial unrest, and togetherness. (See photo above.) We’re addicted to this one. Here’s a post that talks about trying out the new Portland Pudgy. And here’s a typically unpredictable, great story: Me And The Mayor. Totally unpretentious, funny, and real.

MatTagSailabout. Stories, photos, videos, and natural history updates from a family of three traveling from Alaska to Mexico on their sailboat with their Schipperke. This post seems to have been written by the dog (who loves the Portland Pudgy).  Most of it is by Beth Mathews, a scientist and a wonderful writer. Here’s a nice excerpt about visiting friendly gray whales off Baja (by Beth, not the dog):

“Before our panga driver turns us away from our last curious pair of whales to return to shore, I wonder what the calf’s mother sees as she floats in the water next to us? A shimmering white curve pressed into the upper skin of her water world, a china teacup brimming with tiny land mammals? Shadowy appendages reach out and down through the rippling mirror — beckoning with empty, open hands.”  Read whole post…

Captain Murph. He’ll teach you to sail, pilot your yacht, or take you for a cruise on his own boat. A very entertaining and informative blog. Here’s a post about his new Portland Pudgy.

We’ll post more links to Pudgy owners’ blogs as soon as we get the info.

The Bangor Daily News just featured a piece on the upcoming balloon adventure–a transAtlantic crossing with the Portland Pudgy safety dinghy, including its survival gear (exposure canopy, sea anchor, and sailkit) being used as a gondola that can function, if needed, as a proactive lifeboat. See the past couple of posts for more on this historic voyage that will be embarking from somewhere downeast, here in Maine. There’s a link to a wonderful video of him crossing the Alps in another balloon adventure.

Hopefully the press Jonathan Trappe’s epic adventure is getting will help raise money needed for helium and other expenses, and will drum up volunteers to work as ground crew. See his website for more info.

The planned Portland Pudgy lifeboat/cluster balloon crossing of the Atlantic has gotten a lot of press the past few days. First, two big articles in the Maine Sunday Telegram January 27, 2013.

The next day, a great interview with Amy Sinclair of NECN. 

It’s sure to be a big event when the flight happens this summer. We plan to be part of the crew inflating balloons…

Small Craft Advisor magazine’s current issue (Jan/Feb 2013, #79) has a great review of the Portland Pudgy.  (In fact, author Larry Brown, who owns a Pudgy and has tested it extensively, calls it “the most exquisitely well thought-out small boat I’ve ever seen.”)

Brown really “gets” the Portland Pudgy. He understands its utilitarian aesthetic …”the lines of the boat scream ‘Dutch’ with the leeboards, bluff bow, shoal keel and pretty tumble-home aft.” He writes about the importance of the self-contained, proactive  lifeboat functionality… “No passive waiting for rescue.”  And he understands how important it is that the Pudgy is “astonishingly stable” yet easy to right with its two built in handholds in the keel… “This is an almost unheard-of safety advantage in a small boat. It means Pudgy sailors can self-rescue in a seaway without requiring outside assistance. It means Pudgy sailors can almost immediately get themselves back out of the water after a knock-down, reducing risks of hypothermia in colder waters.”

The article is a great read and is chock full of useful information about the Portland Pudgy not only from Larry Brown, but from other Pudgy owners as well.  There are reviews of the Pudgy sailboat functionality as well as of its functionality as a basic rowboat.  We’re thrilled and honored to be the subject of this awesome review.

Check out Small Craft Advisor. It’s a great magazine for those of us who believe that “there is nothing…nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

All quotes from Boat Review: the Portland Pudgy, by Larry Brown, Small Craft Advisor, Jan/Feb 2013, #79, except for the last quote (Ratty, The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame).

As you flying lifeboat fans are probably already aware, the Portland Pudgy safety dinghy will be crossing the Atlantic Ocean beneath a huge cluster of colorful balloons, tens of thousands of feet up in the air, piloted by a brave, adventurous man named Jonathan Trappe. (See blog post, October 16, 2012). That will happen in the summer of 2013, departing from somewhere Down East (maybe Calais, ME).

Trappe and a friend did a test flight four weeks ago, in Mexico. It was a spectacular success. They touched down in a lake and then took off again, reaching an altitude of 20,000 feet (see video). Here’s a photo of Jonathan relaxing up there.

Jonathan wrote to us after the flight:

“The Pudgy was successfully set down on the lake, oriented bow-first into the water—so gentle.  Exactly as planned.  Which, in a way, is amazing in itself. We flew your boat. [ ! ] -Trappe”

This is part of the continuing saga of a historic event: stay tuned!

To learn more, go to Jonathan Trappe’s website.

Finally! Someone is going to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the Portland Pudgy! This time, however, it will be many thousands of feet above the water.

That’s right. The Portland Pudgy is going to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, suspended by a cluster of colorful helium balloons, and piloted by the intrepid Jonathan Trappe. Jonathan’s enthusiasm is contagious. We’ve noticed that people who come in contact with him seem to lighten up, as it were, and lots of us want to be there as the ground crew when he sets out from Bangor, ME next spring.

It seems like a magical idea, a kid’s dream, but we are very impressed with Trappe’s methodical, thorough preparation. He really knows what he’s doing, and we’re honored that he chose the Portland Pudgy to be the gondola for his historic voyage. He will be living in it (up in the air) for about a week in the shelter of the exposure canopy, and if he has to set down, he has a proactive lifeboat. He needed a craft that could rapidly descend into a storm and survive.

This summer he spent a few weeks here in Maine (see video.), learning to sail the Pudgy, experimenting with living on it for two days, practicing capsizing it, righting it, and climbing aboard from the water. This is what he says about his two-day test of the Portland Pudgy:

The boat performed beautifully.  I sailed it out for several hours, then broke down the sail, stowed the mast and boom inside the hull of the lifeboat, and raised the exposure canopy.  I slept in the boat, nice and sound.  I broke camp the next morning, did some additional sailing in light-and-frustratingly-variable winds that next day, and made camp a second night—still in the gondola, sleeping in it for a second night.
Open ocean sailing of the little boat is invigorating!  Many of you are far greater mariners than I.  My goal here was to become very familiar with the boat– both as contingency if ditching  at sea, and as preparation for being in the gondola for an extended period.  This sail covered 29-miles….
After the 53-hour sail, my feeling is that I would only need to be resupplied to remain in the lifeboat indefinitely.

Jonathan Trappe is a licensed pilot and his avocation is cluster ballooning. He has crossed the English Channel, the Alps, and Lake Michigan.  He’s worked with National Geographic, lifting a small house 10,000 feet up. (Did you see Up?) Visit his website: www.clusterballoon.com.

We recently got a thank you note from the Compass Project, complete with a photograph we had to share. It makes us happy just looking at it.

The Compass Project, an organization in Portland, Maine, knows that kids and small boats are made for each other. The Compass Project uses boat building and rowing “to provide positive direction to youth by encouraging the development of personal responsibility and community and environmental engagement.” (From their mission statement).

The Compass Project focuses mainly on at-risk kids, but is happy to get involved with any middle school and high school kids who want to build classic wooden boats and row or sail them in Portland’s beautiful Casco Bay.

In this collaboration with Casco Bay High School, many of the kids had never been out on the water before, and they needed a chase boat for the teachers and a stable rowboat for getting comfortable with rowing. (At that time of year–early spring–the water is barely above freezing, so it’s very important to have a safe, stable, unsinkable boat that won’t swamp.) David Burke, the CBHS teacher leading the project, asked for the loan of a Portland Pudgy. The last day of the week-long expedition, the kids rowed their flotilla of boats all the way out to Fort Gorges (sounds like “gorgeous,” and it is) and back.

Apparently, a fantastic time was had by all!

Excuse us please! We have to indulge in a little horn tooting!The current (May 2012) issue of Yachting magazine has a great article on the Portland Pudgy and how it came to be. The article is on pages 55-56. Here’s how it starts:

“Q&A: DAVID HULBERT MAKES THE CASE FOR A PROACTIVE LIFEBOAT

YACHTING: What inspired you to develop the Portland Pudgy?

David Hulbert: While sailing around the waters of Maine with my 3-year-old daughter and my wife in water that doesn’t seem to melt ice cubes, even  in the summer, I realized that our little fiberglass dinghy would be useless as a lifeboat. It could easily swamp and be impossible to bail, exposing us to the danger of hypothermia. I set out to design a tender-lifeboat.”

The article goes on to detail the design process that led to the Portland Pudgy.

The author, Peter Swanson, comments:
“The Portland Pudgy is a tender, sailing dinghy and lifeboat combined. Notice
the choice of words: lifeboat not life raft. The Portland Pudgy is not a passive survival platform but a vessel that makes self-rescue possible.”

Pick up the May issue of Yachting and see the whole article.

We just learned about something we hope turns into a nautical tradition: Summer Sailstice. This year it’s June 23, 2012.

Summer Sailstice is a global holiday celebrating sailing held annually on the weekend closest to the summer solstice, the longest sailing days of the year. It can take place anywhere and it’s a great way to build a sailing community and meet other sailors, and a great excuse for a party!

You can organize your own get together, or join one. How about a Portland Pudgy raft-up for Summer Sailstice!?

From the Summer Sailstice website:

Our online community at SummerSailstice.com allows you to quickly find others to join your crew for a raft up at a favorite sailing destination or create a sailboat party out on the water to celebrate the beginning of the summer sailing season ahead. No rules, no fees, no start time and no excuses not to go out and have fun! If you like to relax in the sailing lifestyle, compete in the sport of sailing or cruise the seven seas , Summer Sailstice applauds your desire to be out on the water under sail!

- 17,000 sailors have signed up and participate annually

- over 40 countries

- all 50 US states

- 12th Annual

All connected in a global celebration of sailing.

Its easy.  Sign up, sail, celebrate and win.

Summer Sailstice participants simply register, go sailing and automatically become eligible to win one of over 400 prizes from our supporters, from a yacht charter with Footloose Sailing Charters to sailing gear from  your favorite marine suppliers.

Just sign up here to join the thousands of sailors around the world planning to sail on the weekend of June 23rd, 2012!

Our online community at SummerSailstice.com allows you to quickly find others to join your crew for a raft up at a favorite sailing destination or create a sailboat party out on the water to celebrate the beginning of the summer sailing season ahead. No rules, no fees, no start time and no excuses not to go out and have fun! If you like to relax in the sailing lifestyle, compete in the sport of sailing or cruise the seven seas , Summer Sailstice applauds your desire to be out on the water under sail!