Closed [Job Thread] From Harbour's Embrace

[Karin]

1st Autumn, 516 AV
"Speech"
"Others"

Notes :

Thread One: From Harbour's Embrace

Making and testing a rowing boat.

• Post 1- Start already working on rowing boat. Making the frame, pt. 1.
• Post 2- Frame pt. 2, checking the plans often.
• Post 3- Frame pt. 3, checking plans often.
• Post 4- Finishing frame, starting making the bench, checking plans!
• Post 5- Finishing bench, finishing an oar, testing boat on the harbour.

It was the turn of the seasons. Karin sat on a short break, carefully tying her hair back into a messy, slightly wonky plait as she sipped her waterskin in between fighting with her unruly hair as it swayed playfully in the refreshing breeze. To her left, the very barest bones of the rowing boat were laid, fresh wood smelling sweetly of resin washed with the overlaying scents of the docks. Karin stretched, cat-like, and stood up to walk towards the beginnings of the frame. Today had been a good day so far, and she was sure it would continue in much the same manner.

A short while later, and the young woman was equipped with the tools for the job at hand. Recently, there had been a lull in the construction they'd been contracted to do at the shipyard, and so she was working with a couple of people to make just about the only thing they'd been asked to recently: a rowing boat. As such, the area was quiet, but because of it she somehow felt more at ease.

She grabbed the planning board, with the neat lines and sketches of the rowing boat to be. It was a design of Picalum's, but although when she had first joined the shipyard she had found his handwriting to be difficult to read, now she understood the elegant scrawl. At least, to some degree. However, the section she was looking at made sense. It was the section about creating the spine of the boat. She laid it flat for the others to read, and smiled. There were three of them. Helena was an older woman with a bad back, but was a very competent shipwright having come from Zeltiva a long, long time ago. Okla'Kel was someone she didn't know very well, just another tall, blue-skinned man with strength in his arms and a gaze that put her on edge, slightly. Yet none of them seemed to be organised at all. Karin glanced over at Helena, who was checking over the plans with her. Okla' was sawing, the muscles in his arm pulled taut.

She cleared her throat, nervously. There was the implied need for some sort of organisation. Karin was loathe to draw attention to herself, or claim some sort of leadership over these well-established shipwrights, but someone needed to do something. "Hey. What are you doing, Okla'? And Helena too. We should sort out who's doing what, then we'll get things done quicker." She looked up, feeling the ghost of blush on her cheeks, but Helena was nodding and rolling up her sleeves and Okla' was walking over to the planning table.

Okla' had a surprisingly clear voice for his appearance, so Karin tried her best to disguise her surprise as he spoke up. "I was starting the preparation of the ribs." Helena replied too, her voice low and gravelly like the tide. Karin felt a lot of respect for the older woman, and something of a kinship to her. After all, she was Svefra too. "I wuz goin' to do the ribs too. You, what are ye doin'?"

Karin nodded, and breathed in deeply, rooting herself to her surroundings. "Right. I will prepare the spine, you two carry on with the ribs and I'll come and help you when I'm finished, or the other way round depending on how it goes. After we've got everything done then we should be ready to assemble it, okay?" There were nods all round, so she got to work.

The length of the spine was not as big as some boats, as it was only a relatively small rowing boat. Even so, it was the longest and largest piece of wood, and she was loathe to mess it up. As a result, she worked slowly and carefully, looking at the plans as regularly as made sense. The spine was actually called the keel, but Karin often used the words interchangeably. The majority of her work involved shaping the wood to make it easier to shape into the gentle curve that was needed. It was to fit into the simple wooden frame that acted as the template. Karin was sat on the wood, shaving little fragments of sawdust off as she rocked the tool backwards and forwards. The going was very slow, but she was being careful about it so that she didn't make a mistake. Afterall, the keel would direct how the boat went forwards in the water. If it was wrong, it wouldn't row well at all.

Word count: 757

-Beautiful boxcode credits go to Aislyn Leavold!

Of the sea...

[Karin]

1st Autumn, 516 AV
"Speech"
"Others"

Petals of wood fell all over the floor. A while ago, Karin would have been surprised at just how much waste was created from building boats, but now it was nothing but the usual. Still, she couldn't help but stop her arm-aching work for a few moments to appreciate the almost perfectly formed wooden petal shaped randomly into a flower. Then it was straight back into the hard slog. She was still shaping the spine of the boat, a process that took longer than she had expected. However, she was getting closer, having got to the middle of the piece of timber.

Here, she had to spin the piece over onto the other side. It wasn't overly heavy, but it wasn't light either. So it was with a bit of wrangling and huffing that the young woman grabbed the middle, and shifted it slowly over onto it's side, and then onto the back. She carefully propped weights to keep it in place on either side, and then grabbed her tools again, flicking her plait over her shoulder.

Now she was looking at the keel as if she was looking at the underside of the boat. She laid a hand on the wood as she twisted to look round at the plans... Hmm. She needed to measure a length. She grabbed the nearest measuring rope. It was tied with thirteen knots, and equal lengths from each other. She needed to make sure that the length she was to make was two and a half knots length.

She gathered the length in her hand, and held it out over the keel. Obviously she had forgotten the thing she needed to mark the measurement with, so after a second attempt this time she had everything she needed and had the markings written down on the wood. Now she needed to shape it. It always came down to shaping, in the end. Shaping the wood from it's original form to one that would prove useful. In a sense, she supposed one could sit on a tree and use that for a boat. That was presumably what a raft was- various tree parts tied together. But where was the elegance and the beauty in that? She frowned, and carried on.

***

The day was soon over, and she had the keel finished up and placed on the frame. It needed to be left with clamps on overnight at least, to bend it into shape. Helena and Okla' had both got a lot done too, and many of the ribs of the hull were ready to be affixed to the spine of the keel. Helena was calling them both over, so Karin walked closer, wiping her brow to clear the sweat.

"Ya finished? We shou'd be able to get the hull ready tomorrow." Okla' smiled with white teeth, and agreed. "Aye. Good work, everyone." Karin grinned in return. It was nice working with a smaller crew. She didn't know exactly why. But maybe that didn't matter. The day was almost over though, so she told the others she was going to finish up and started to walk to the beach.

***

It was a short walk there, but the sands under her feet were a welcome exchange from the warm confines of her boots. It was unbelievably freeing to let her hair down and take her clothes off and wade into the cool sea. The air was still filled with the warmth of Summer, and someone's bonfire fragranced the air with the sweet smell of burning wood. The woman dived down into the water with a laugh, and opened her eyes onto the senses of the underwater world. Then she kicked her legs and swam, following the seabed until she ran out of air and rushed to the surface to breathe in deep and gaze at the setting sun in the distance. Life was good. Yet she looked back at the height of Riverfall with apprehension.

Word count: 658

-Beautiful boxcode credits go to Aislyn Leavold!

Of the sea...

[Karin]

2nd Autumn, 516 AV
"Speech"
"Others"

It was the next day, that dawned with dark clouds on the horizon and a cool breeze, that Karin just knew would be a difficult day. She got to the boatyard early, to find only Picalum around, talking with a tall woman with bright ginger hair. She avoided both of them, but they were talking in the Akalak speech anyway so it wasn't like Karin could understand. Instead she went over to the rowing boat they were making, and dragged off the tarpaulin as she began preparing the workplace. It was a bell later, as Karin was bent over the plans, that the other two came. Helena was casting doubtful eyes to the sky, mentioning rain a few times under her breath. Okla' seemed cheerful though, so Karin greeted him and all three of them poured over the plans.

The keel needed to be set for the next few days, but it didn't stop them starting the rest of the hull. The 'ribs' that the other two had made the day before were ready, and as it needed at least two hands Karin spoke up, "We should work together, all three of us. I know you two could probably get by with just the two of you, but if I helped as well... That'd be helpful, right? What do you think?" They looked at her, and she felt a momentary twinge, as if she'd spoken out of turn. But the moment passed as they both nodded and agreed. "Aye, lass. Another pair of hands wouldn't go amiss."

Soon enough, she was holding the rib in place as Helena took hammer and nail to it. The three of them worked well together she found. They alternated jobs between them, the two more experienced shipwrights letting Karin experience all the different aspects of shipbuilding. There were six ribs that spiked up from the keel, but despite there being only six of them, the job was a difficult one that took a lot of time. Karin's arms were aching as she held the ribs in awkward positions, and she hammered her fingers more than once with a muttered, "Petch it," issued from her lips each time.

She grimaced as she felt a spot of rain on her face, but it was light so they continued for the next few chimes up until it was time for a lunch break. Karin checked the plans, seeing the placement of the nail and hammered the final half in just as the rain started to grow heavier. The three of them quickly pulled the tarpaulin over their work, as others in the shipyard started to do the same. It was busier than yesterday, so Karin walked into the maze of the docks to eat her lunch.

The rain lasted for a few bells before it cleared, so in the meantime Karin started work on one of the oars. These too were written and described in the plans, and to her surprise were much more detailed than simply being two long sticks with paddles on the end. She was housed under a temporary tent, and the rain pattered fiercely on the roof as she tried to concentrate. Her hair was frizzy and damp at the front where the hood hadn't covered, and the wet strands were blowing against her face making her frown and slap at them, trying to get them to stay stationary.

The workbench was a bit damp, but the wood was dry so she began filing them down, making the long, slim handle. The wood was relatively heavy, perhaps some kind of pine. Despite the rain and the irritations, she soon got into the rhythm of the work, and in no time at all the weather cleared up somewhat, just as she finished off the base of the oar. There was still the actual paddle to shape and create, but the handle was slim and tapered the way it was supposed to. Only a minor error where Karin had cut a little too deep to remove a knot in the wood, but she hoped it was easily smoothed over when it came to varnishing them.

Word count: 690

-Beautiful boxcode credits go to Aislyn Leavold!

Of the sea...

[Karin]

4th Autumn, 516 AV
"Speech"
"Others"

A couple of days later, Karin awoke to the sound of commotion in the corridor outside of her room. The distant yells of an arguing couple were not easily masked, even as she groggily rolled over and tried to stuff the scratchy pillow over her ears. "You're a motherpetchin' SHYKE! Did you know that? Did you? Huh?"
-- "And you're delusional"
"You prick!"
-- "Shut u..-"

The argument raged on behind her door, but she was awake now, and not in the mood to listen to shyke like that. After a quick wash and five chimes spent brushing her hair with a broken comb, tying it back into a messy plait, the young woman left her room and walked slowly through the streets of Riverfall. It was early in the morning, and Syna's rays were only just spilling over the horizon. Birds sang though, their voices like sparkling wine in the clear air. Karin's mood wasn't brilliant due to her abrupt wake-up, but the outside was already making her feel better. She hoisted her pack better onto her back and gently started out into a jog, taking a gentle and careful run down the slopes of the city.

By the time she reached the docks, the sunrise was well under way, and the woman was slightly out of breath from her run. It was roughly the eight bell. Picalum was at the boatyard, as well as a few others. Karin acknowledged them with a short smile and strode over to the boat that was being worked on. The hull was set now, and it was about time to take the clamps off. That was the command from Picalum, so Karin started with a couple of others. It wasn't a difficult task, merely time-consuming. The clamps were well-applied, and involved a lot of unscrewing to get them off without damaging the boat.

After struggling with a particularly difficult clamp, Karin reached and stretched, before collecting all of the discarded clamps and placing them in their box. She reached and placed them on the shelf where they were stored, before going straight back to the yard. There was much to be done, and she wanted to get it done. The main thing now was finishing off the hull. To do that she needed to know measurements and lengths of the planks that were to be attached to the hull.

It was a clinker-built boat, where planks were layered one over each other, so Karin needed to know the exact amount needed, their width, length, and where the nails were to be placed. Of course, she wasn't alone, and so she joined a few others who had amassed to look over the plans. It wasn't long until she had been designated a section to work on, and no time at all until she was hefting the long strips of wood onto the sawing block.

She had her trusty measuring rope, and measured out the correct length before marking it off with a chunk of charcoal. Then it was sawing, sawing, sawing. The motions were repetitive, but she was careful not to break the wood. There had been occasions where she thought she had been doing a fine job, only to discover she had been too hasty and the wood had snapped prematurely, causing more time to be spent on fixing her mistakes than actually getting on with it. So, she took care.

The planks were long and unbroken, but thin enough to be able to be softly bent around the curved edges of the hull. She had finished off the first one, and grabbed someone to help her fix it to the hull. With a grunt, she pulled the plank onto her shoulder and carried it to the ship, then carefully unloaded it onto the floor so that it was propped up against the side. She picked up a plumb line and held one end as the other worker held the other side, and she squinted, looking at the line of the plumb to see if it was even. After a long while of adjusting, she figured it was about right.

Then she started to hammer the plank into place. They were building the boat from the bottom up, so she had to crouch down low to get the hammer in the right place. But with help, the plank was soon attached. She smiled, and turned around to the other half of the yard again. Next one!

Word count: 742

-Beautiful boxcode credits go to Aislyn Leavold!

Of the sea...

[Karin]

12th Autumn, 516 AV
"Speech"
"Others"

Karin wrung her aching wrists and gently held her thumb over a cut on the pad of her other thumb as she took a small break. In front of her, the rowing boat stood on it's rest, looking splendid. After many days of building, the hull was mostly finished, although it still needed to be caulked.*=waterproofing! It was elegantly tapered, even if it was 'only' a rowing boat. She gazed at it with a certain fondness, and then knocked back her waterskin to take a satisfying gulp of admittedly tepid water before hunching back over her work table.

The job of caulking was currently being undertaken, but Karin wasn't doing that job. Not today. Instead, she was working on another oar. In front of her she had the one she'd previously made, and she was using that as her template, as well as the plans she had originally made it from. It was somehow more difficult to make another oar exactly the same as the one previously. She didn't know why... but she tried not to think of the difficulty of the task, and instead focussed on trying to get it as right as she could.

However, it wasn't as easy as it might look. She grimaced as she accidentally bit deeper into the handle than she had intended, then outright cursed (a loud, "Petch it!") as the entire handle broke off with a loud clatter. She flushed a dark crimson as several heads turned her way, and frowned angrily as she picked up the broken item. She hadn't got far on the oar, but it was beyond frustrating to have wasted money on the wood for the boatyard. She placed it to the side and grabbed the spare piece, and started again.

***

Mid-way through the afternoon, Karin was finishing up the oar. She had taken even more care than she had done previously, but it had paid off and the oar was as good as she could have made it, even if the actual paddle of the oar itself was slightly thicker in some places. Now all she had to do was varnish them, before moving on to her next task.

Varnishing was a task she found easy enough, having done it many times in the past. The varnish pot lay close by, and so she took a large paintbrush and started applying the varnish thinly over the oars. It took several applications, so she painted as thin as possible. In between varnishing, the woman took the time to study the boat plans. There were three different views of the ship. Seen from the side, seen from the top, and seen from the front. Each had measurements and more detailed drawings, and Karin looked at them with interest. The lines were obviously made with some very thin material, and were incredibly straight and neatly curved.

She tucked that information away for later as she carried on painting the varnish on. By the time she was finished, the afternoon had turned into early evening. Yet, it was still light, so Karin left the oars to dry and turned her attention to the half-crafted seat for the rowing boat. One of the workers who had left had made the seat, and it was well made. However, as she clambered over the side of the boat and dropped into the interior, she realised it still needed putting in place. It was a task that had obviously been left for the morning, but Karin didn't want to return to her residence. Yet, as she prepared her things, it soon became apparent that the light levels wouldn't hold.

With some degree of frustration, Karin climbed back out of the boat and covered part of it with the tarpaulin, leaving the rest for the others who were there as she turned and went towards Riverfall. A chill wind suddenly swept up as the sunshine finally fell from the sky, and she pulled her arms close about her as she headed towards her room.

Word count: 669

-Beautiful boxcode credits go to Aislyn Leavold!

Of the sea...

[Grim Ravenwood]

Your Grades

Skills:
Carpentry: 4
Shipbuilding: 4
Planning: 3
Swimming: 1

Lores:
Spine: Also known as keel
Spine: Directs forward movement
Spine: Needed to be left with klamps overnight
Self: Prefers working with a small crew
Oars: More comlex than one would think

Comments:
Please delete your request in this thread. I like how much detail you put into your work threads, enjoy your grades!