Bosun School Program Outline

This seven-week program, from August 6 to September 21, 2012, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada is divided into several segments.

The introductory Bosun School, from June 24 to July 3 in Bristol, Rhode Island, USA will touch on many of the same skills described below.

Segment 1 – Introduction to the Bosun’s World

This session begins with orientation to the ship, the systems and the program, as well as discussions about what it means to be a bosun and the philosophy and psychology of bosuneering. “It ain’t just rigging!”

A big part of the first segment of the program is devoted to helping downrig the Barque Picton Castle, including sending sail down, sending royal and t’gallant yards down, sending down and organizing all blocks and running rigging. During this period we will conduct workshops in rig theory, safe working practice aloft, and related subjects. We will also be doing a lot of small boat handling and practice, including schooner sailing and theory.

Segment 2 – Rigging and Tools

This segment includes the following subjects and skills areas:

• Rope and fiber seizings
• The nature of rope and rope work; fiber splices (long, short, cable, eye, sailmakers, etc)
• Parceling and serving with serving boards and serving mallets
• Ratlines, straight as an arrow
• Best baggywrinkle
• Running rigging,
• tackles, blocks, etc
• Wire seizings
• Wire splicing
• Large hawser splicing; shroud laid, eight-braid etc
• Handling heavy gear on deck and aloft
• Sending yards and topmasts aloft and down
• Rigs, rigging theory
• Setting up the rig; dead-eyes & lanyards, rigging screws, staying the spars; how and why
• Safe and effective Bosun chair work
• Rig surveying, maintenance and repair
• Special opportunity for real hands-on practice while assisting with launching and rigging a newly-built 48' wooden schooner at Lunenburg's Dory Shop

Segments 3 and 4 – Sailmaking and Boat Carpentry

About mid-way through the program, Bosun Schoolers will be divided into groups to focus on and rotate through the following concentrations:

Sailmaking Concentration 

This concentration includes the following subject and skills areas:

• Basic canvas work and sailmaking intro
• Traditional square-sail and schooner sail design and construction theory
• Sail shape and how to get it
• Keeping the old sails going; all manner of repairs, patching from good to fast and dirty.
• Preserving sails: cotton, flax, Duradon, Dacron fabric
• Laying out a sail and cutting
• Hand-seaming
• Machine seaming
• Tabling, patches and grommets
• Reef-bands
• Roping with fibre or wire
• Cringles-spectacle iron, ring and thimbles, stuck cringles in wire or fibre
• Emergency and fast repairs to keep sailing 

Basic boat carpentry, including dory building

The Lunenburg Dory Shop has been supplying dories to fisherman since 1917. In this historic shop, students will help build a dory from scratch and become more familiar with basic boat carpentry tools and practices, including:

• Learn the fundamentals of proper caulking and paying in heavy and light planking
• Tools, tricks and short cuts
• Fiberglass and epoxy repairs
• Basic expedient repairs in steel and wood

Segment 5 – the Wrap-up

The final period will give us a chance to make sure we have covered everything we meant to, as well as give participants even more hands-on time to review all of the things you’ve learned. If time permits, we may also take field trips during this period.

Contact information

For more information about the Picton Castle Bosun School, or to apply, please call us at (902) 634-9984 or email.