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The final version of the Junk Rig Glossary is now available and can be found under the Junk Information menu, or directly here. This Glossary lists all the terms related to the junk rig, its implementation and use.
We were formed in the UK, and although our 'office' address and banking remains in the UK we are run by an increasingly international Committee via the Internet. A number of posts become vacant every year, at the AGM, so if you choose to join you could also put your name forward to help run the 'club'. It doesn't run itself. Our membership is now more than 50% outside the UK. Click the chart for detail.
September 2018 - Nomad
Nomad is a Tom Colvin designed Gazelle purchased as a bargain boat from Houston Texas charity in 2003. Her past is unknown other than that she was built by Ron Barnes in 1981 at St Augustine, Florida USA. Completely stripped out with even the lights and cushions gone and tar splashed all over in the bilges, peeling paint streaked with rust she was on the verge of becoming another unwanted derelict.
A couple of years later I was planning to renovate her one small area at a time as funds became available, but found water in the bilge one morning. Finding the source required sawing up sections of the floor to reveal hidden areas of the bilge. Scrapping the boat at this point would have been the wiser choice but this was a boat I had wanted for many years, so the entire interior forward of the aft cabin was chopped out to allow access to the hull. Seeing the extent of the rust along the frames, I decided to just cut out and re-plate most of the bottom. Coming home with everything I owned piled on top of the keel I took a deep breath and began building. By 2011 Nomad had a functional interior and sails had been built.
My birthday celebration that year was Nomad’s first ever sail and beginning of her transformation into an ocean cruiser. A few more years passed with more equipment added and adjustments made with numerous sails on Galveston Bay and a few trips on the Gulf of Mexico. By January 2014 I felt comfortable that she was ready for the open ocean. Fully aware that once Nomad got into the ocean I would be most unwilling to settle down again and finish building her out, I decided to sail to the Caribbean for the winter…and never came back.
I soon discovered the folly of trying to sail a junk with a tiny engine against the trades and spent a pleasant winter in Dominican Republic, Cuba and Haiti. I was faced with an impending hurricane season and unrelenting wanderlust so I decided to sail to Nova Scotia, Canada and points north. Sailing through Nova Scotia and south Newfoundland, I decided to follow the weather around the North Atlantic for easier sailing and more adventures. Azores, Madeira, Morocco, Canaries, Senegal and The Gambia.
Following in the footsteps of early explorers while learning the history of these places was endlessly fascinating. Postponed jobs and the need for funds pulled me back to Newfoundland for the winter. It was some winter even by Newfoundland standards. Frozen in, blizzards and then pack ice. The worst in thirty years I have been told. Newfoundland being less than a thousand miles from Greenland made the call of the Arctic irresistible and Nomad sailed the west coast of Greenland, but staying too long in the north found me unable to get a break in the weather to head south to the Azores at the end of October so I made my way across to Labrador. With harbors already freezing over at night I made my way south as fast as possible between storms to seek refuge in Newfoundland once again. Summer is here and once again I find myself looking north. This year will be different, though. Nomad is long overdue for fresh paint so will be sailing south in search of warm, dry weather most likely in West Africa. By way of the Arctic if I can trust myself not to linger too long in a truly stunning wilderness sailing destination.
Our Boat of the Month Archive is here.
