Baltic Ketch Lindesnes.. Finally Found Her

[BrianM]

I've been trying to keep track of this beauty ever since I was a kid. She's "Lindesnes(s)", a Norwegian Listaskøyte.

47' OD
8TONN (as inscribed in fish hold)
Built 1919
2" Pine on 8" x 8" Oak Frames on 12" centers
All trunnel fastened
http://www.smallcraft.net/cruising/img/baltic_lg.jpg


When we Sea Scouts owned her, she had a proper pilothouse at her stern, a gaff mizzen, and a squareyard just below the topmast. Ratlines and a "crows nest" completed the rig.

Larry Hitchcock has owned her since around 1981. We scouts had to give her up as we operated on a whaleboat units budget (i.e. the only fundraising we did was enough to pay for paint.. and whaleboats don't need anything but grunt labor and paint!) We couldn't afford the maintenance of a Dorrman Diesel, fuel, etc, nor had the now-how.

She was a gas to sail. When the gale-like winds on S.F. Bay would pick up such that everyone else packed it in, we'd be flying every square inch of fabric we could find to get her heavy butt moving. We had the whole bay to ourselves! Handled like a brick and we loved her for it.

Gorgeous boat. Yes, I'd love to buy her off of Larry once he's had enough. He told me he built a new gearbox case from scratch. The controllable pitch prop acted through a cast aluminum box, circa 1930. When that wasted away, he welded up 1" steel plate into a box, and had it machined to take the gears. He's a heck of a craftsman.

[Hwyl]

More pictures please

[Thorne]

Where is she kept now? Might be able to keep an eye out for her and grab some photos if I see her up here...

[prestonbriggs]

I was in Lindesnes once, in Norway.
My Uncle has a house nearby, in Spangereid.
It's pretty much the southernmost point of Norway,
poking down into the North Sea and the Skagerrak.

It would have been a good place to watch the Battle of Jutland.
There's an old German fort there, left over from WWII.
Built right down on the water's edge. The guns are gone,
but it's otherwise wide open. I was there in August,
but it was plenty cold and windy. I imagined being there
in the winter, in some real weather, trying to keep an eye
on the shipping.

If you look up Skagerrak on Wikipedia,
you can see Lindesnes on the map.

Preston

[BrianM]

Where is she kept now? Might be able to keep an eye out for her and grab some photos if I see her up here...

I've been watching her for years, but never got a good photo. Either I didn't have my camera, or she was in a slip. I just found this photo on the web.

She's moored right adjacent to the Bay View Yacht Club. Larry used to move her up Sh*t (Mission) Creek during the winter and then put her back on a mooring after the weather cleared up outside the BVYC.

She was most recently at Oyster Point Marina. because I believe the city just "discovered" Mission Creek, and has kicked many boats out to gentrify it and make it a park (it's so close to Pac Bell Park it finally got noticed).

Years ago, when we had her moored in Aquatic Park near the Hyde Street Pier (Ghiardelli Square), someone took a photo of Lindesnes and it showed up in a Calendar. I've got that kicking around somewhere. It shows her at her best with the full rig and before the fire damage (when China Basin Pier on Mission Creek burned in the 80's Lindesnes was damaged).

[BrianM]

I just dug up some photos I took of Lindesnes before the China Basin Building Fire. Here she is in the early 90's. When we owned her in the Sea Scouts, she had ratlines all the way up the shrouds, a squareyard, and burgundy colored sails. It appears her mizzen gaff has been removed.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b8dd27b3127ccec3d85f772bfc00000010O00FZsWrly3Yg9 vPhw/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b8dd27b3127ccec3d965080bd200000010O00FZsWrly3Yg9 vPhw/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

I sure love these hulls. Great boats!

[Stephen]

Reminds me of the 'Duen':

http://www.duenadventures.com/


http://www.duenadventures.com/photo/pictures/gallery/stlefront.jpg

http://www.duenadventures.com/images/headers/ship.jpg

[BrianM]

Duen looks like a brother to Lindesnes...

http://www.duenadventures.com/ship/enlarged/sideshot.jpg

http://www.duenadventures.com/ship/enlarged/oldboat.jpg

I see she is built with 9" sawn frames. Lindesnes is probably the same. I understand when new, these boats had steadying sails, but were primarily engine powered.

Thanks for the post. It'll be a great if we could find more of these Listaskøytes that are still active.

[Bob Triggs]

I've been trying to keep track of this beauty ever since I was a kid. She's "Lindesnes(s)", a Norwegian Listaskøyte.

47' OD
40TONN (as inscribed in fish hold)
Built 1919
2" Pine on 8" x 8" Oak Frames on 12" centers
All trunnel fastened
http://www.smallcraft.net/cruising/img/baltic_lg.jpg


When we Sea Scouts owned her, she had a proper pilothouse at her stern, a gaff mizzen, and a squareyard just below the topmast. Ratlines and a "crows nest" completed the rig.

Larry Hitchcock has owned her since around 1981. We scouts had to give her up as we operated on a whaleboat units budget (i.e. the only fundraising we did was enough to pay for paint.. and whaleboats don't need anything but grunt labor and paint!) We couldn't afford the maintenance of a Dorrman Diesel, fuel, etc, nor had the now-how.

She was a gas to sail. When the gale-like winds on S.F. Bay would pick up such that everyone else packed it in, we'd be flying every square inch of fabric we could find to get her heavy butt moving. We had the whole bay to ourselves! Handled like a brick and we loved her for it.

Gorgeous boat. Yes, I'd love to buy her off of Larry once he's had enough. He told me he built a new gearbox case from scratch. The controllable pitch prop acted through a cast aluminum box, circa 1930. When that wasted away, he welded up 1" steel plate into a box, and had it machined to take the gears. He's a heck of a craftsman.

What years was she a sea scout ship?

[BrianM]

What years was she a sea scout ship?


If I remember correctly, 1978-1979

[BrianM]

I found a page from a Calendar I'd purchased back in 1981. James Blank took this photo. He is a renowned "Postcard" photographer.

This is Aquatic Park in San Francisco:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/2971263341_bce7ef4d62.jpg?v=0http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3159/2972104504_a88a59da32.jpg?v=0

Lindesnes still has her squareyard here. Imagine the fun 14-16 year olds were having scaling the ratlines and hanging out up in the cross-trees. Fun times.

[BrianM]

I went by the marina where Lindesnes is tied up. She's seen better days, but she's still with us:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d820b3127ccec71658b99ab900000040O00FZsWrly3Yg9 vPhw/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d820b3127ccec7170e12ba7500000040O00FZsWrly3Yg9 vPhw/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d820b3127ccec716a2189a6500000040O00FZsWrly3Yg9 vPhw/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

[BrianM]

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d820b3127ccec71750be3bc600000040O00FZsWrly3Yg9 vPhw/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d820b3127ccec7168bf0da0100000040O00FZsWrly3Yg9 vPhw/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

The skipper was aboard and I spoke to him about his boat. Like many/most of us, keeping ahead of the maintenance on such a large boat (40 tons) and holding down a "real" job is pretty tough. The good news is he was ordering new Port Orford planking for her bulwarks and rails to replace the original Pine which has given up the ghost.