Jan19
Jim Vandenbos builds a sailing canoe
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Over the past couple of years my pal Jim and I have been colluding over a sailing canoe project – I drew up the hull and rig, and he developed the interior he wanted for a boat that would double as a sailing canoe and as a two-man paddler.
The result is Zanzibar. Although there’s still more to do, including making some decent sails instead of the prototypes made from the cheapest kind of polytarp, the boat’s first season ironed out a few bugs, and gave her a chance to show she could sail and was rather more stable than he expected, as Jim explains in his account here:
PS Rather mysteriously, Jim says the name Zanzibar is a literary reference but won’t reveal its source. If you can see what it might be, please put us out of our misery – even his family can’t guess!
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10 Comments »Canoes, Small boats
Dick Jan 19th 2007 at 12:20 pm 1
? Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner, a SF novel about overpopulation, in which the entire world’s population could be stood on the island. I believe that today, we could all just about stand on the Isle of Wight, incredible as it seems. At 1sq ft / head, 1 sq mile = ~ 28 million of us, so 6 billion = 214 sq miles or about 10 miles x 20, about the size of the IoW…
Gavin Atkin Jan 19th 2007 at 12:36 pm 2
That’s a nice idea – though only Jim can confirm it.
Not being especially an SF fan, I remember reading one of John B’s novels only once. What I do remember about him is the late-night hospitality he and his wife used to offer musicians playing at the South Petherton Folk Festival. Great parties, and kind people…
Gav
Chris Partridge Jan 20th 2007 at 10:50 pm 3
Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar. Does that count as a literary ref?
Gavin Atkin Jan 20th 2007 at 11:31 pm 4
We’ll have to ask Jim. I’ve never heard him express an interest in the literary works of Freddie M, but anything’s possible
Jim from Zanzibar Jan 22nd 2007 at 08:01 pm 5
Good try Dick.
My good friends Ruth & Tony even gave me a copy of this book thinking they had cracked it… but no.
Neither is it anything to do with a Michael Morpurgo book, ‘The Wreck of the Zanzibar’…but could Mr Morpurgo have been inspired by another literary vessel, the same one that inspired me?
Sorry Chris… the Seven Seas of Rye maybe?
It’s already stumped the fine ladies of the Tunbridge Wells Grove Book group, but I’m sure Intheboatshed readers will soon be there…
Jim van den Bos
Paul Feb 10th 2007 at 04:22 am 6
Does it have anything to do, in the words of Gonzo the muppet, with being off to Zanzibar to see the Zanzibarbarians?
Jim from Zanzibar Feb 19th 2007 at 05:32 pm 7
Paul,
I’m afraid not.
Fan as I am of the Muppets, it was the only TV I ever saw at college, we are talking literature here….
Gordon Mar 19th 2007 at 08:46 pm 8
Zanzibar was a book by Micheal Morpurgo, set on Bryher in the Scilly Isles.
Just a guess?
intheboatshed.net » Blog Archive » A Cinderella canoe adapted for rowing May 2nd 2007 at 07:21 am 9
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intheboatshed.net » Jim's canoe gets new sails Jun 3rd 2007 at 08:36 pm 10
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