Charles Stock making his customary good use of his wellies. Image copyright Tony Smith (aka Creeksailor) and used with permission

I’ve stumbled across a series of short Youtube videos featuring Charles Stock, a legend among small boat sailors, particularly on the Thames Estuary and East Coast of England.

An enthusiastic sailor since he was a kid, in 1963 Stock created a new cutter-rigged boat for himself using a 16ft Uffa Fox-designed hull made by Fairey and the rigging from an old half-decker he bought in 1948. The result was Shoal Waters, a small wooden boat in which he has sailed regularly ever since without an engine and without a tender – instead, he follows the tides, moors in shallow water and, if he wishes to do so, goes ashore in a pair of rubber wellie boots.

He’s kept meticulous logs and accounts ever since, travelled over 70,000 nautical miles in his boat, written countless articles, taught sailing and navigation to evening classes for decades and wrote an excellent book, Sailing Just for Fun: High Adventure on a Small Budget, which has sold well over 4000 copies.

He also has his own website: http://shoal-waters.moonfruit.com.

Here are the Youtube videos:

Charles Stock 1

Charles Stock 2

Charles Stock 3

Charles Stock 4

Charles Stock 5

Charles Stock 6

Charles Stock 7

Charles Stock 8

Charles Stock 9

Charles Stock 10

Charles Stock 11

Charles Stock 12

Charles Stock talks about choosing the hull for Shoal Waters

Youtube tends to encourage anonymity, so at this stage I don’t really know who recorded and put the clips – but his Youtube home page and extensive collection of videos are here: http://www.youtube.com/user/creeksailor

Creeksailor also has a weblog here: http://creeksailor.blogspot.com

More photos of Shoal Waters in action appear here: http://www.saileastcoast.co.uk/shoalwaters.htm

I’ve also pasted a photo below from Paul Mullings, who has this to say:

‘Hi Gav

Rob Roy canoe gear – click on the drawing for a larger image

I’ve just learned that Mersey Canoe Club member Tony Bibbington last year sailed and paddled from Oslo to the Baltic, following Victorian pioneer John MacGregor’s paddle-strokes all the way. My thanks to Brian Smith for letting me know about this, and for pointing out that there are some great photos online at http://www.duene1.de – click on the 2009 calendar and then on Nov 4, and you will find photos of his trip round Heligoland.

It was a 500km trip that he had to complete in three weeks due to the that old enemy work, but perhaps the most jaw-dropping aspect of the whole thing is that Tony was  determined to follow exactly the same route as his hero and did so using a 138-year old original Rob Roy canoe made by Sewells of London that he restored himself.

This insistence on following Macgregor’s route caused a few problems along the way – the first  of which was that the spot from with Macgregor first launched his canoe in Norway is now someone’s back garden. Thankfully, the owner proved friendly and Tony was on his way.

An article in the magazine Canoe Focus tells the story of a varied journey, sometimes tedious, sometimes  beautiful, and with plenty of incidents worth retelling, with Tony dressing as a Victorian gentleman canoeist and meeting an artist determined to paint his portrait; moments where, like Macgregor before him, Tony had to drag his canoe out of a stream water and use a car or other means to reach the next patch of water; and a final landing in which he landed inside the perimeter of a factory security fence. Luckily, on that occasion his path was smoothed by the security man who had read about Tony’s expedition in the newspapers.

How did Tony get on with his canoe, and how did she stand up to the journey more than a century after she was first made? In the Canoe Focus article Tony himself was happy to quote Macgregor: ‘The Rob Roy has proved herself able ”to sail steadily, to paddle easily, to float lightly, to turn readily, and to bear rough usage on stones and banks, and in carts, railways and steamers; to be durable and dry, as well as comfortable and safe” just as she was originally designed to be. MacGregor’s theory was that ”a canoe ought to fit a man like a coat”. The Rob Roy had been a perfect fit on my journey and I look forward to our next adventure.’

I think the whole thing is an extraordinary story with at least four heroes in addition to old John Macgregor himself: Tony for being brave enough to set out on an arduous 500km paddling and sailing trip in unknown country  in a 138-year old canoe, his family for travelling with him and enabling him to make the journey in a modern age without horses and carts in wide use in remote areas, and the dear old boat itself.

For more on Macgregor, click here; to read Macgregor’s account of his own trip to the Baltic, click here.

The June 2009 edition of the NMMC journal Troze is now online and and is packed with gems from the history of yachting.

The article in question is titled The English yachting narrative with particular reference to Cornwall and is written by yachtsman and retired clinical psychologist Mike Bender.

Here are some quotations I particularly enjoyed. From the beginnings of yachting:

‘In the reign of Elizabeth I, Richard Ferris decided it would be a atriotic act to show that no Englishman need be afraid of sailing in home waters after the Armada had been defeated in 1588. In 1590, with two companions, he rowed and sailed in a wherry from London to Bristol. He was not molested by the Spaniards but had to take evasive action near Land’s End to avoid a pirate ship.’

That’s a great story, if I ever heard one. Writing of the Corinthian generation of yachtsmen in their small wooden boats in the late 19th Century, Bender concludes:

‘What is interesting in these texts is that they are usually little more than expanded logs and journals, so it must have been the novelty of these passages that made them of such great interest to the contemporary reader, combined with the use of lithographs which invariably show the boat being pitched around in rough seas going round some suitably perpendicular headland. This Romantic imagery obviously appealed to the dreamer in the reader; but there is a self-denying, almost self-flagellating quality, in the self-chosen tussle with the sea in which the sailor engages.’

On women, he writes:

‘There was a long period of resistance before the First World War towards accepting women into yachting and yacht clubs. Sailing by women was feared for giving too much leeway for the dress and freedom of bodily movement required (and hence, being sexually arousing); and as a statement of equality or independence.’

And on the importance of recording the recent past:

‘There is also a certain urgency… If no-one looks for or after them, the historical records of those pre-GRP, pre-GPS endeavours – the accounts, the letters, the contracts, the tools – will soon be lost; and if no-one is interested in taking down the accounts of the sailors who used them, and getting them published in one of the many forms now available, they will take their experiences to the grave, and we will be the poorer thereby.’

This article is well worth reading. Find it here.

Jim Vandenbos’s mobile phone photos of the 2009 inaugural Thames Festival Classic Rally. If anyone else has photos they’d like to share, please email me at gmatkin@gmail.com

The first Thames Festival Classic Rally at St Katharine Docks, London last weekend was a success and seems likely to be be repeated next year.

I couldn’t make it for reasons not unconnected with my broken ankle, but my pal Jim Vandenbos dropped by to see Lord Boris’s Thames’ Festival after the cricket at Lords finished early.

Among other things he was keen to see the rally at St Katharine’s Dock and beetled over to take a look. When pressed for numbers he guessed that there were something over 30 classic boats in the dock, including Arthur Ransomes’ Nancy Blackett as seen in the novel We didn’t mean to go to Sea, and a very nice Uffa Fox Fairey Marine yacht. He also says there were a good number of visitors strolling around the dock.

If Jim’s right, I’d say 30 boats was a good, healthy number.

Event organiser Ian Welsh told intheboatshed that the rally had been a success. ‘It went very well indeed, the entrants loved it and so it seems did the St Katharine’s people – so fingers crossed we’ll do it next year again. We already have lots of ideas for next year.’

More photos have been posted by the organisers on their website.

The rally also made The Times – see the story here.

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The latest episode of Griff Rhys Jones’ BBC series Rivers visited the Fens, the Norfolk Broads and the River Stour last night – and delivered him to his own front door, which overlooks the Stour Estuary.

Yet again, the programme was a quaint combination of luscious photography, interesting segments introducing interesting slices of history, some appealing old boats and some daft rubbernecking from GRJ himself.

I can’t possibly hope to describe the film, so you’ll have to see the show yourself if you have access to the BBC iPlayer. But I can tell you that the boats in this case were a curious kind of eel fisherman’s flat-bottomed punt and a very nice typical old fashioned Broads sailing cruiser hired from Hunter’s Yard complete with a handsome and convenient balanced jib.

The rubber-necking including walking through marshes on stilts (GRJ fell over, naturally) and trying to navigate the bridge at Potter Heigham single-handed with a strong following wind (GRJ lost the quant and only just avoided hitting the bridge side-on). Of course, it doesn’t seem likely that he was actually single-handed, as someone else was clearly on the boat to capture the moment under the bridge, and again when a kind woman took the yacht’s stern line. I’m only glad the boat didn’t appear to be damaged.

A more genuinely funny moment was filmed in Roy’s ever growing shopping emporium on the Hoveton side of Wroxham Bridge, when GRJ described the kind of shopping his father considered appropriate for a sailing trip. It involved a huge amount of Spam, beans and breakfast in a tin, had a distinctly post-War feel about it, and seemed to me to be an amusing but fair account of how I remember men of Rhys Jones senior’s’ generation dealing with the problem of eating out of doors. (Chris Partridge of the Rowing for Pleasure weblog has written amusingly on this subject – and very much takes the elder Rhys Jones’s side.)

But perhaps the aspect of this show that will stay with me is that GRJ also mentioned that ex-Poet Laureate and hugely entertaining 60s and 70s TV presenter John Betjeman had written a moving poem about holidaying on the Norfolk Broads and the way his boyhood relationship with his father had changed over time. Well, that resonated strongly with me – the Broads featured in my youth and again in my son’s so I had to seek out the Betjeman piece. I wasn’t disappointed, and as I’ve pasted it below I hope you won’t be – but what I really want to know is what my son will have to say about it. Not that he reads this weblog very often…

Norfolk

How did the devil come? When first attack?
These Norfolk lanes recall lost innocence,
The years fall off and find me walking back
Dragging a stick along the wooden fence
Down this same path, where, forty years ago,
My father strolled behind me, calm and slow.

I used to fill my hand with sorrel seeds
And shower him with them from the tops of stiles,
I used to butt my head into his tweeds
To make him hurry down those languorous miles
Of ash and alder-shaded lanes, till here
Our moorings and the masthead would appear.

Then there was supper lit by lantern light
And in the cabin I could lie secure
And hear against the polished sides at night
The lap lap lapping of the weedy Bure,
Dear whispering and watery Norfolk sound
Which told of all the moonlit reeds around.

How did the devil come? When first attack?
The church is just the same, though now I know
Fowler of Louth restored it. Time, bring back
The rapturous ignorance of long ago,
The peace, before the dreadful daylight starts
Of unkept promises and broken hearts.

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Johnson & Jago-built 2 1/2 tonner Dzorbha

Marinestore at Maldon sent an email to me (and probably many others) appealing for someone to take on this 1936 Johnson & Jago-built 2 1/2 tonner.

More details and photos can be found at the Marinestore weblog, but the basic information is as follows:

Dzorbha has been abandoned by her owner. Her planking and ribs are pitch pine on oak in good condition. She has no sails and her mast is long past its sell by date. Overall, she will need a lot of work by a true enthusiast. She can be viewed at Shipways Yard, North St, Maldon CM9 5HQ, in the back row against the fence.

Marinestore says it will accept any reasonable offer (the owner she goes to is more important than what we get). There will be a lifting charge to load her on to transport if required and we will allow a week for the new owner to get things organised. Please email any queries that you may have to chandlery@marinestore.co.uk – all offers by email must be in by 12pm on the 31st July.

I’ve emailed to ask for more photos and some history, but haven’t had a reply – but maybe you’ll be more lucky!

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Onawind Blue some months ago after Ben fitted her with new sails

Ben Crawshaw has successfully sailed home to Spain from Ibiza via the Columbrete Islands in his 15ft-something 50-50 rowing-sailing boat Onawind Blue.

This meant a second long sea crossing, which in the prevailing conditions meant a lot of rowing. He’s logged only a fairly sketchy account of the trip back on his weblog  – there’s much more to come, I gather – but already I think it’s essential reading. See his The Invisible Workshop post.

I shudder to thing what condition he must be in, but he seems to have hugely enjoyed what has been a hugely intense experience – on the way out he broke his rudder, but after fixing it on Ibiza he then cruised to Formentera, which he describes as ‘an idyllic island surrounded by impossibly turquoise waters’.

No doubt it all seemed that much better after making the trip alone in a small boat he has built and learned to cruise alone.

Bloody well done Ben! I’m looking forward to hearing more and seeing the promised photos and film.

For more intheboatshed.net posts relating to Ben and his boat built to my free Light Trow plans, click here and here.

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Water Craft’s July/August edition is a cracker

The latest issue of Water Craft sounds like a real gem – probably the best I can recall.

For the first time, editor Peter Greenfield has included free plans for a 16ft pocket gaffer from boat designer Paul Gartside. I’m intrigued!

There’s also a piece about Honnor Marine’s Devon Scaffie, the final preparation and launching of the story of a newly built gaff-rigged pocket cruiser drawn by John Leather, and Water Craft staffer Jo Moran visits the UKs sailing schools.

Beyond that… In Newport, Rhode Island, Ian Scott finds students at the International Yacht Restoration School can start their two-year course on catboats and end it on the schooner Coronet, Kathy Mansfied meets the restored Sunbeams in The Med, and in a garden in Cornwall the editor has erected moulds originally made by Connie Mense as the first step towards building Phil Bolger’s lovely 20ft Chebacco Boat. Other good things to read are a review of the latest generation of epoxies, a feature on cooking in small boats, a review of Iain Oughtred’s new book, a preview of the Thames Trad Boat Rally, a feature on Francois Vivier’s ‘Folkboat of the future’, and of course an obituary of the great North American small boat designer Phil Bolger.

See the advert in the right-hand column of this weblog to subscribe to this splendid magazine. You won’t be disappointed!

Our new Auray punt tender on the lake behind Jim and Eileen’s house

We finally launched our new Phil Bolger-designed Auray punt tender with the help of our good friends Jim and Eileen Van Den Bos yesterday.

Thanks Jim and Eileen, and many thanks also for the dinner!

A collaborative effort between Julie, myself and Jim, it was made to plans included in an early chapter of his book Boats With an Open Mind, published by International Marine, and bearing in mind that tenders have hard lives, it is built using 3/8in marine ply rather than 1/4in material. DIY boat builders may also be interested to know that the oars we’re using are the ones described by R D Culler and by Jim Michalak, who has published plans for them online. I can confirm that they’re quite easy to make (though you’ll want a power planer) and work every bit as well as Jim says.

Bolger based his design on the Auray punt on a description by Claude Worth in his book Yacht Cruising, which was written in the early years of the 20th century. Worth, who observed fishermen’s boats when cruising the southern coast of Brittany thought that one particular type, which he dubbed the Auray punt, would make a good tender. Awareness of the boat type redoubled in the 1990s, when Bolger wrote about the type in Boats with an Open Mind and included his design.

One reason for Bolger’s interest in this type of boat no doubt arises from the fact that it is a traditional boat that conforms closely to his well known ‘seas of peas’ analogy relating to the design of chine boats – many of Bolger’s designs including the Micro and his flat-bottomed sharpies share the shape of the Auray punt in an elongated form.

So how does this little boat perform? On flat water with one person on board, I can say it feels light and effortless to row until it reaches hull speed on its short water line. Three-up it seems to reach its design displacement, at which it rows rather more steadily but is very well behaved. Two up, it does exactly what you’d expect with a sharply rockered hull form…

I think it will make a handsome tender, particularly if I remember to put something heavy near the bows whenever there’s someone in the stern.

The only caution I would offer is that if you find a copy of the book and decided to build the boat, make a model first!

For more on the Auray punt and Worth’s description at intheboatshed.net, click here.

Just feet from our launch site, a moorhen resolutely sits on her floating nest made from reeds

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The Dinghy Cruising Association’s boats assembled at Beale, with
Al Law’s Paradox Little Jim in the foreground

A highlight of the Beale Park Boat Show last year was meeting Al Law and seeing his home-built Matt Layden-designed Paradox named Little Jim close up.

Yes, this little 14-footer is the boat he sailed to the Scillies and back in company with another Paradox owner, Bill Serjeant. Some say the heavy displacement Paradox is a small sharpie, while others say it can’t be  a sharpie because it’s under 19ft. Both views are correct, of course, in the mad logic of boat nomenclature.

I say that it has an interesting n some ways it’s more like a model of a small modern ship.But whatever one calls them, they’re certainly interesting, and perhaps of particular interest to someone who has come to realise their family is unlikely to sail with them, and finds sailing a small, easily managed boat alone an agreeable alternative. See the study plans here and Al’s record of building and sailing his boat here. And if you’re wondering how a boat like this can sail, check this video and also this one of Bill’s boat Faith. Bill, I should add, had sailed his little boat right round the coast from Essex: see earlier posts.

Little Jim sailing at Beale Park

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Drawings of T Harrison Butler’s single-handed cruiser

Like many of us, F B Cooke was clearly a bit of a boat dreamer, and in the early 1920s seems to have fallen very much under the spell of  T Harrison Butler’s pretty Single-Handed Cruiser.

‘I, like many other sailing men, have long searched in vain for the ideal small single-hander, but I think I have found her, or rather her lines… She is a perfect love of a boat, and when my ship comes home I shall be tempted to have her built.’

The boat is just 18ft 6in in length. ‘The underwater lines suggest  weatherliness, and with a good length of keel she should be very steady on her helm.’

Again: ‘She strikes me as just the thing for knocking about in the estuaries and creeks of the East Coast at week-ends, whilst a trip up to Lowestoft would be quite within her capabilities in any ordinary summer weather. Dr Butler has given the boat a very snug sail plan, but in that I think he is right, for it is a mistake to over-canvas  a boat intended for single-handed work.’

I should explain that the boat in these drawings looks significantly bigger than 18ft 6in because H-B has drawn her with a Laws lifting cabin roof.

Did the Single-Handed Cruiser ever catch on? I’d very much like to know. And I can’t help thinking that an inexpensive small boat along these classic lines and as pretty as this one might be an interesting proposition for a boatbuilder to offer in wood or plastic in times like these.

The mystery of Gadfly II’s origins and her link with the Blackwater sloops reminded me of yachting author F B Cooke, who I seem to remember owned a Blackwater sloop in the 1920s.

He had strong views on the size and type of yachts that should be used for cruising, for as he says:

‘To be dependent upon the assistance of friends, who may leave one in the lurch at the eleventh hour, is a miserable business that can only be avoided by having a yacht which one is capable of handling alone… The ideal arrangement is to have a vessel of sufficient size to accommodate one or two guests and yet not too large to be sailed single-handed at a pinch.’

I’d go further, and say that even with friends and family aboard, it’s safer and better if all the basic sailing tasks can be carried out by a single pair of hands.

I thought readers might be interested to see what he had to say about what size and type of  small yacht seemed most desirable in those far-off days.

Spindrift

Phil Smith, who recently sent us a fascinating report of his experiences sailing a converted airborne lifeboat, has written for us again.

This time his story is about Spindrift, a fifer-style boat built from kauri in New Zealand. Phil and partner Susie owned her for a while and, just as he did with airborne lifeboat, Phil makes this boat sound very desirable as well as interesting.

For the record, Spindrift measures 30ft (9.14m) loa including bowsprit, 27ft on deck, 10ft in beam, has a draft of 4ft and displaces 5.3 tons.

‘While wandering the piers at Tauranga Marina, New Zealand, about 20 years ago my attention was drawn to a white motor sailer. At first glance she looked odd: like a 42 footer with 15 feet sawn out of the middle and the ends stuck together. She had very high topsides, and a surprising amount of sheer put the stemhead almost 6ft above the waterline.

Wide side-decks, brass portholes, mahogany helm, no-nonsense rig . . . there were things I liked about this unusual boat. She had a jaunty, naval appearance compared to the sleek and sinister cruiser-racers berthed around about. She also resembled a fishing boat.

At that stage I knew nothing of Scottish Fifers.

Eight years later my navigator and I found ourselves clambering over Spindrift’s gunwale, in Whangamata Harbour, 30 miles up the Coromandel Coast from Tauranga. Her elderly owner had lost interest in her and decided to sell. He’d had her up on the hard for two years, installing the Sabb engine and a new electrical system installed, and refurbished her deep and cosy interior. The price seemed steep, but she was professionally built of solid kauri, and looked like she might even have a pedigree.

The biggest boats we’d ever owned till then had been a 23ft James Wharram Hinemoa, and a 23ft Uffa Fox airborne lifeboat. A five and a half ton motor sailer would be a new and awesome experience.

We bought Spindrift, fixed her up a bit, and motor-sailed home on a beam reach in 25 knots of south westerly. We covered 30 miles on the chart in five hours 11 minutes, which eradicated any doubts about her performance or capabilities.

‘Thou shalt not buy too much boat’ has been one of our nautical commandments, and over the last 30 years we’ve only had boats that we can maintain on our modest income, using our own skills and labour, and, perhaps surprisingly, Spindrift came well within that criterion.

In the two and a half years we owned her we have clocked up nearly 150 engine hours, spent 34 nights on board, and taken her out an average of once a fortnight. Most of our cruising consists of day trips around Tauranga Harbour, or out to sea: we are coastal sailors who plan never to lose sight of land.

Spindrift is simple and practical. Her ample sections enclose a large, self draining cockpit. In the middle, a hatch lifts off to expose the engine room, including the 190kg motor, which gives hull speed at 1500 rpm, using around three litres an hour. Two tons of lead run along the base of the keel, with a further 200kg of internal ballast in the bilge. Virtually all the boat’s heavy parts, including storage, are located around the hull’s centre of gravity, with nothing in the ends.

In a locker aft, the hydraulic steering ram can be disconnected and a tiller secured in a socket on the rudder post. She handles well with the tiller.

From the cockpit, three big steps descend into a saloon with 6ft 3in headroom and accommodation for two or three, a wide berth to starboard and a galley to port. In a forward cabin she has a further triangular berth. The interior features golden varnished kauri and rimu timber, set against the white painted ribs and planking of the hull.

In spite of her apparent bulk, Spindrift behaves nicely in marinas and open sea alike. In 20 knot winds we would reef down, but no doubt a more adventurous type would carry full sail in 30 knots. She heels slowly and reluctantly and has to be pushed hard to go to 20 degrees. Instead of swooping up the waves and banging into the troughs, Spindrift barges her way confidently through the seas, occasionally shouldering a big one, sending spray hissing overhead. Overpowered on a beam reach under full main alone, Spindrift has no tendency to either round up or bear away; instead she’ll go over, slow right down and, without much steerage, happily wait for the sheet to be eased and a reef to go in.

She never fails to come through the eye of the wind in a tack. On the wind she’ll steer herself long enough to use the head or galley, though extra attention is needed downwind.

Spindrift’s life began as two kauri trees in the primeval forest of a remote valley in New Zealand’s far North. Her builder, Collin Reid, did the job at her Waipapa Landing, near Kerikeri, in the Bay of Islands, the site of New Zealand’s pioneering settlement. She was completed in 1968 using traditional plank on frame construction. The shell comprises inch-thick tanalised timber fastened by copper nails to steam-bent ribs of kowhai and tanekaha on 8in centres. Reid added a few personal touches, such as an almost imperceptible ‘clippering’ of the bow, and a hint of tumblehome in the canoe stern, while the Dutch designer gave her a small fore-foot cutaway, curving from the bobstay chainplate on the waterline back to the keel – but otherwise she conforms broadly to the lines of a fifer.

The Reids cruised Spindrift as far as Great Barrier Island and up and down the rugged Northland Coast for a number of years before embarking on another boatbuilding project.

Her next owner shortened the cabin, enlarging the cockpit, and built a one-ton ice hold and hydraulic line hauler for longlining and crayfishing. He also added the wheelhouse and a huge fuel tank. Then she was bought by three men in Tauranga who went voyaging and fishing around the Bay of Plenty. Around 1994 the boat was bought by the Whangamata owner, and in 1998 by Susie and I.

The Fifer motor-sailer evolved as a recreational version of the beamy, high-bowed North Sea fishing boats, and quite a number built to a designed by  George Watson were built at the yard of James Miller, at St Monance.  They were built to the same specs as the trawlers and seiners, mostly from larch on oak, and the weren’t cheap boats.

More recently a range of fibreglass  boats built to Watson’s designs have been in production at Colvic Craft, in Essex, England.’

‘There is one thing I can depend on when I’m cruising with you.’

‘What is that?’

‘Variety.’

This is the first chapter of the highly entertaining Seamew & Co by Courtenay Hayes, which is supposed to be fiction – though I suspect it’s really a right old casserole of autobiography and fantasy not unlike a celebrity’s account of their years of success. Here, our hero buys his first cruising boat, and immediately everything goes wrong…

The March/April issue of Water Craft. As usual, click on the thumbnail for a bigger photo

The bi-monthly Water Craft is a great magazine and, after talking with folks who edit it, I’ve decided to publish previews of each issue. Hopefully they will remind people to nip down to their newsagents – or, better still, to buy a subscription for themselves or a loved one.

Editor Pete Greenfield reports that ‘small is beautiful’ has emerged as the dominant theme of Water Craft number 74, which is due out on the 26th February.

It’ll include a reprint of an article by Moray MacPhail first published 14 years ago, which now seems more relevant than ever, particularly in the light of the evidence of the WBTA Boat Buying Survey also included in the issue.

Also,there’s a piece from canoe builder John Floutier describing a sailing canoe cruise in company in the Western Isles. Also Kathy Mansfield impressed by the 14ft GRP Devon Yawl, and Jo Moran down in Cornwall sails the similar-sized and equally gutsy GRP Bristol Jolly Boat.

Smallest of them all in this issue, however, is Chris Perkins’ latest home boatbuilding project, the 10ft Stickleback canoe designed by Iain Oughtred.

Look out also for Dick Phillips sailing Secret, a 20ft Edwardian-style ‘gentleman’s cruising yacht’ you can build from a pre-cut plywood kit, and the beautiful 20ft Laurent Giles Sandpiper named Surprise, built by Tom Naismith in his garage.

The Grand Designs series features Nigel Irens’ 15-knot electric speedboat, which made her debut at the London Boat Show and Australian designer Michael Storer introduces his Radical Raid Boat, which will make her debut on the Water Craft stand at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show.

Subscribe to Water Craft now using the button below – with the pound so cheap now, this must be a real bargain for many of our international readers!

Water Craft subscriptions

UK six issues £21.50 UK twelve issues £39.00 Europe, USA and Canada six issues £23.50 Europe, USA and Canada twelve issues £43.00 Rest of world six issues airmail £37.50 Rest of world twelve issues airmail £67.00 Rest of world six issues by Surface £25.50 Rest of world twelve issues surface £47.00

Check this website to find a newsagent in the UK: http://availability.mmcltd.co.uk

An outstanding example of John Welsfords Rifleman light outboard motor
boat. This one was built by a retired professional boatbuilder and is the
best John has seen

One of John’s Navigator open cruising boats

Be rational, says legendary New Zealand small boat designer John Welsford. Think about the water you can get to, the people you have to sail with, the time you have available, the space you have to build in, and the size of your wallet.

He isn’t about to spare your feelings, but he might just save you a lot of money, time and heartache, so do please listen to what he has to say – unless, of course, you’re one of that rare breed of person who really is cut out to look after a special old boat. If that describes you, follow your dream and please send us some photos!

But back to John:

‘You will have some thoughts in your mind as to what would be a nice boat to have, and no doubt some ideas as to what you want to use it for. Some people will have seen something on the water or in print that they have fallen in love with and nothing else will do except one of ‘those’.'There will be those who have a lot of boating experience in one type of craft, and who don’t want to risk a change, and a few who are looking for something different. All of these already existing ideas have a bearing on what you might choose from the range of plans here in this on line catalogue of my work.

‘But here’s a warning: I’m going to lecture you a bit here, if you don’t like lectures, go and have a look at the boats, but otherwise, do please read on.’I have sold something in excess of 4500 sets of plans over the years and more than a few of the owners have ended up with a boat that, while it did what it was designed to do , what it was designed to do was not a good match for the owner’s environment, or was not suited to the usage, or could not be achieved with the time, building space or budget available.

‘There was nothing wrong with the boat, but it was just the wrong one for the place or the job.

‘So here are some suggestions.

‘Have a look at the area where you are going to use the boat: an ocean cruiser is not going to suit daysailing on a small lake, while a boat intended for running a river bar won’t be ideal for fly fishing the upper reaches of that same river. So have a realistic look at the water you have available to you and make some notes.

‘A small boat can be very seaworthy, but each person on board needs about 10 pounds a day of stores, and the trip to Europe from the US west coast needs six weeks worth of stores aboard. If your crew is four people, that’s getting up towards a ton of food and water plus the boat’s needs for the trip. If that’s your purpose, choose a boat that is designed to carry that load.

‘A boat that is intended to do that trip may be mostly cabin, and will have a tiny cockpit to accommodate one or two on watch but if you’re day cruising in a hot climate no one will want to be downstairs in a stuffy cabin so if you’re going to be sailing in  warm part of the world, you’ll need a much bigger cockpit.

‘Type is important too, rowing boats are as long and as narrow on the waterline as the designer thinks they can get away with, while a power boat intended to plane has very straight lines underneath – but these will make it a poor sailor. A sailboat is of a shape that resists the winds efforts to heel her over, and will travel at relatively slow speeds efficiently, but not fast.

‘A heavy motorboat won’t ever achieve planing speeds and the longer it is the faster it will run, ( a bit like the rowing boat) .

‘Meanwhile, a yacht tender is possibly the hardest boat to design of all, as it has to fit into a small space on deck, carry impossible loads, row well, tow at high speeds and be stable enough to allow its occupants to stand up and scramble into the parent vessel without going for an ignominious swim.

‘So think long about your dreamboat, consider where you are going to use it, be realistic about what you are going to do with her, and think over your likes and dislikes in a boat. Even the building space and budget will have a bearing on what is realistic.

‘If your choice is a good match with your dreams, the environment in which she will be used, and the skills and resources available to build her, then the project will be a successful one.’

John Welsford is a highly respected designer of small boats built from plywood, many of which include features from traditional boats. See his website at http://www.jwboatdesigns.co.nz

For more posts relating to John’s work, click here.

A rare moment of bright sunshine at an HBBR meeting

The Home Built Boat Regatta folks are planning what sounds like a jolly river trip. It starts at Lechlade on the 1st June with the aim of arriving at Beale Park, Pangbourne, on the evening before this year’s Beale Park Thames Boat Show.

In keeping with the HBBR’s traditions, the Lechlad Raid is not an organised event but a cruise of individuals in company who welcome all who wish to join them, but ask that all boats and crews are up to the trip. Each individual is responsible for ensuring their own liabilities are covered and for making their own arrangements for over-nighting during the journey. There will be no formal safety cover.

From what I understand, the start time on the 1st is unclear, but more information will doubtles emerge and will be posted at the HBBR website events page.

Some readers may be interested to hear that by chance the Trailer Section of the Old Gaffer Association is also having a meet at Lechlade on the weekend of the 30-31st May, and that it will be happy to see Lechlade Raiders who decide to arrive early to join them. The OGA folks have organised camping in a field behind the pub, and this is likely to cost about a tenner.

Another piece of news concerns the Water Craft magazine amateur boatbuilding competition, which is judged at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show each year. After some discussions with HBBR members, editor Pete Greenfield has decided to change the format in the light of complaints that the high standard of craftsmanship of some of the entries tends to discourage rather than encourage many amateur boatbuilders.

So this year there will be three equal prizes of £80-worth of Water Craft books for: The Home-Made Boat Which Offers Most Encouragement To Beginners, The Most Innovative Home-Made Boat and, because we don’t want to stop encouraging amateur craftsmen and craftswomen, The Most Professional- Looking Home-Made Boat.

Now it’s time to find some pictures of your home-built wooden boat, write a few words to describe her, add your contact details and send it no later than 17 April, either by email to: ed@watercraft- magazine. com or by post to: Amateur Boatbuilding Awards 2009, Water Craft, Bridge Shop, Gweek, Cornwall TR12 6UD. All entrants who bring their boats to the show will also receive £50-worth of vouchers. You don’t have to pre-register to participate in the Raid, though it would be kind to let the HBBR folks know you’re coming, but you must send entries for the competition to Water Craft by the the 17 April deadline in order to take part in the competition – for insurance reasons, you can’t just turn up on the day, by water or by road.

Be aware, also, that you must be a real amateur, and that boats built from pre-cut kits are not allowed to enter.

For previous intheboatshed.net posts featuring the HBBR, click here.

I won’t be able to join the HBBR folks once again dur to family reasons, but if anyone reading this fancies the trip and would like to build a simple and easily constructed rowing boat for the purpose, may I modestly suggest my Julie skiff plans? I will be pleased to help out with modification to make it more suitable for overnighting afloat.

Colour on the Thames – footage from the Thames dating back to 1935

Here’s a sweet piece of film of the River Thames years ago spotted by ‘Carl’, who belongs to the Dinghy Cruising Association’s splendid Openboat YahooGroup. If you’re a small boat sailor I recommend it for all sorts of practical reasons, and this kind of thing is a real bonus.

But back to the film, which has been put up by the British Film Institute. Check it out for steam ships and tugs, busy bridges, some nice old footage of sailing barges motoring and under canvas in the Pool of London, and some very coolly-dressed up-stream watermen in suits and hats working some small steam boats.

PS - Do have a look this splendid footage of oyster fishing at Whitstable in 1920 that I’ve just found: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=v8pFfqfL4D8 Isn’t YouTube fun? It’s certainly better than the telly is most evenngs.

Jack Daly shakes hands with our justly proud commodore, David Williams

The Hollowshore Cruising Club’s new premises were officially opened this weekend by one of its youngest and most venturesome members, Jack Daly.

Fitted out largely by the club’s members, the new premises are a credit to the volunteers who took on the work and to the club’s excellent chairman, David Williams. For more on the club itself, see its website.

I should explain that young Jack has just completed a round-Britain trip in his Coribee, named Padiwak. Some months before his 17th birthday, he left Ramsgate at the end of June this year, determined to get round before school started again. Supported by his amazing parents, who took turns to follow him round by road, Jack made it back to Ramsgate in mid-September after being delayed by weather – so he only missed a few weeks of his first term back. See Jack’s website.

In the process he raised £5000 for the Westbere Sailability Centre.

It’s entirely a matter of coincidence, but John Welsford has also been weblogging the design of boat  – though his could hardly be different from my little skiff.

Pilgrim is a small seaworthy open cruising boat light enough to be managed by one person on the beach, but fitted with removable ballast. It has a rounded and balanced hull form that allows it to heel without wanting to turn – in that way, it’s more like a yacht than modern dinghy, even if it is dinghy-sized.

(For those who don’t immediately understand this last point, I should explain that the now conventional sailing dinghy form that encourages planing when sailing usually also makes a boat that pulls round into the wind when heeled. Yachts however are generally designed to remain easy to steer as they heel, because there’s usually no way of ensuring they can be sailed flat – some obvious exceptions are high-tech boats with moveable ballast and heavy keels that swing sideways such as Mini-Transats and Open 60s.)

John’s project is interesting not least because I can’t recall anything recent that’s quite like it, but also, I think, because its rounded hull bears at least a little resemblance to the beach fishing boats that have been used on the South Coast of England for generations, and I’d guess that at least some of John’s design criteria have something in common with the needs of the crews of those little boats – which one might say was a matter of convergent evolution.  Notice the cute bowsprit designed to maximise the rig area to match the powerful hull, and the long shallow keel that becomes deeper the further aft you go. The rather misleading name for this feature is ‘drag’, by the way, but don’t let that confuse you.

I do hope John himself doesn’t think I’m talking complete nonsense!

I wonder what the members of the Uk’s dinghy cruising movement will think about it? My only concern is that I think rowing it will be hard work – but with a big rig, perhaps that won’t be necessary very often in John’s sailing area.

Click here to follow the Pilgrim project’s progress.

Humber dusters – click on the image for more

The Humber blobber – click on the image for more

The striking Paull shrimper – click on the image for more

Some intriguing gems this morning from Goole on the Web. I grew up on the southern side of the Humber Estuary, and I’m always interested in the bits of information about the area’s boats that occasionally come my way.

The Goole on the Web folks have put up a series of pages on each of several important boat types, including the Humber duster,  the blobber, the Paull shrimper and the Humber trawler, as well as the better known billyboy, Humber keel and Humber sloop.

I can’t begin to guess why some of them have such intriguingly unfamiliar names!

It seems the area also had crab boats borrowed from Cromer on the Norfolk coast, and of course its own packet boats.

If the Hull-type duster looks familiar, this might be the reason! I gather the maritime museum in Hull has an example of a duster, by the way, but can find no pictures on the web, which seems a shame – I think both the duster and blobber have potential as the basis of modern-day small cruising boats.

PS The musuem at Hull has interesting links to pages and pictures of the ancient Ferriby boats, the Hasholme boat, and the impressive and even older Brigg log boat.

PPS – I’ve just learned that the illustrations that Goole on the Web have put up are likely to be the work of George Holmes, which would make sense. I’ll add more later when I know more, but in the meantime here are some samples of his artistic work from the Albert Strange Association weblog.

Shamrock III

Lulworth

Jolie Brise

And they couldn’t be much more famous, could they? Lulworth and Shamrock III are two giant racers from the days when racing was a mass spectator sport and the boats had to be big to be seen by crowds standing on cliff tops (that must have been frightening!), and Jolie Brise was a veteran of various races and cruising exploits. Read more about Lulworth at the Lulworth website and at intheboatshed.net, and there’s a section on persistent America’s Cup Challenger and ‘best of all losers’ Sir Thomas Lipton at the Wikipedia.

For more on Jolie Brise try the Dauntsey’s School site and the Wikipedia.

Light Trow Onawind Blue tied up somewhere on the Spanish coast

Ben Crawshaw of The Invisible Workshop is back from a 300 kilometre trip in his boat Onawind Blue and, not surprisingly, seems to be simultaneously shattered and happy. Why not leave a comment of congratulations on his weblog?

Here’s a quotation:

‘You can’t travel 300 kilometres over the sea in a little boat without a lot happening. We had our share of calms and light headwinds, we had long sessions of gut busting rowing under a blazing sun, we had contrary currents and large rolling swells; conditions so frustrating and tiring that I was ready to let mermaids lure me overboard into the cool waters. We had a rat stowaway in the forward locker for 24 hours and we ran aground off a small rocky island. We saw the Tramontana wind and helped heave a 30-foot sailing boat off rocks after it’s anchor dragged in the cove where we sheltered from the fierce blow. We had some fantastic sailing with following winds, at one point so strong that I could only continue sailing by rigging the double-reefed mizzen sail on the main mast and then, with only 1.2 metres of sail cloth, we still sailed at 6 knots. I discovered the most idyllic coves, met fantastic, welcoming people, got drunk, ate some great food and let the sea in through every pore in my body so that now, on land at last, life seems impossibly dry.’

Ben has a great story to tell over the next few weeks, and I’m looking forward to it!

Claude Worth’s drawing of the Auray punt

The Auray fisherman’s dinghy used described by Claude Worth early last century is one of the dinghy forms most fancied by amateur builders. It has also attracted the attentions of several notable small boat designers, including Murray Isles and the mighty Phil Bolger.

Worth called it a punt, probably because it had a scow bow and stern, and I’m sure that then as now a large part of its appeal is the simplicity of its construction. Sadly, however, he doesn’t seem to have recorded the name used by the local fishermen of the time.

Intheboatshed.net readers might like to see Worth’s original description, and to read his thoughts on yacht dinghies generally. These pages come from the 1926 edition of his splendid book Yacht Cruising.

A little less than a century later, I had the great luck to go to the Douarnenez maritime festival, where I saw a small Auray punt in action, albeit in rather un-testing conditions. See the photos at the bottom of this post, which show a simple, load carrying box piloted by the most piratical-looking Breton I’ve had the privilege to see – but sadly I still don’t know the proper name for these boats.

There are two sets of plans for modern boats derived from the Auray punt in my book Ultrasimple Boatbuilding: one’s a simple rowing and small outboard boat, while the other is a multipurpose 8ft dinghy with a sailing option designed by the splendid Murray Isles.

Canoe Cruising and Camping, by Perry D Frazer

‘The author of this book claims nothing for it as an instructor of men to whom canoe cruising and camping, and all that follow in their wake, are as an open book. It is his aim to give to the uninitiated many little hints and suggestions that are usually only learned and mastered after years of experience.

‘That which first prompted me in this work was as follows: In the cities it is a common thing to hear young men say, “I wish I had some plan of spending my leisure hours in more pleasant manner than by sitting round the house or the parks.” If asked why they do not pass holidays and vacations in fishing or hunting, they will say they cannot afford it; that a month in the woods would cost them twice or thrice as much as they can earn when at work a similar length of time; they may not care for horses or bicycles, and a sailboat or small yacht is entirely out of the question, as far as owning one is concerned.

‘When the reader has thoroughly studied the information I wish to give, I hope he can see how easily he may provide a means of enjoying leisure hours, without great expense.”

This is a great online book with some stonking old photos. Thanks to Craig O’Donnell for taking the time to scan it and put it up at his website. Read the book here.

Onawind Blue is ready for an exciting and demanding new season

Ben Crawshaw of The Invisible Workshop has had some posh photos taken of his boat for both his friend Mr Mushroom and his sailmaker. He’s also getting ready for his first 50 mile cruise along his section of the Spanish coast. Why not drop by and wish him luck?

Photos thanks to Ian Ruston

Chris Perkins has kindly sent a short report on the UK’s Home Built Boat Regatta group’s successful meeting at Barton Broad on the Norfolk Broads the weekend before last.

A whacking total of 19 boats attended – a splendid result given that at least some of us feared American-style messabouts like the HBBR were unlikely to be successful in the UK, not least because so few people take the trouble to build their own boats here.

The success of the HHBR makes an important point: whatever skill level we work to, amateur boatbuilders are not alone, even in the UK!

If Chris’s name seems familiar it’s because he won last year’s Watercraft prize prize for his Iain Oughtred-designed Macgregor canoe, Scotch Mist.

Any way, here’s his report, and some splendid photos from both him and Ian.

Before you read any further, I should explain that in our changeable climate, HBBR meetings have traditionally been dogged by bad weather – there are also one of two items of detail that Chris didn’t have to hand, so please email me or use the comment link below to fill me in on anything that seems to be missing.

‘Barton Turf 24-26th May 2008

‘The usual adverse weather forecast failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the ranks of the HBBRers who made treks from all parts of the country to assemble at Barton Turf for a weekend of sailing and boatbuilding talk.

‘Saturday dawned bright and breezy – just how breezy we would find out later – and everybody who came managed a spell on the water, some more successfully than others. Nobody landed in the water.

‘A good range of designers were represented, but fittingly, 25 per cent of the attendance were from the board of designer Conrad Natzio, which was fitting as these are his home waters.

‘Canoes were well represented, but some eagerly anticipated sailing trials unfortunately had to be curtailed due to strong winds.

‘One new build made an appearance, Dave Wallwork’s Oughtred Puffin ‘Lucia’ appeared on the Sunday, a beautiful piece of work, although the incessant rain would have meant that any launching party would have smacked of masochism!

‘An excellent barbecue was provided by Barton Turf Adventure Centre, thanks Simon and Sheila Fishwick, and a variety of beverages brought by the attendees ensured a great evening was had by all – even if one gentleman did become a little lost later in the evening.

‘Sunday was an unpleasantly wet and windy day and the planned group cruise to the pub in Neatishead dwindled to the intrepid crews of two vessels. Conrad in his Spoonbill and Tony Waller rowed his Oughtred Shearwater, Isabella III, the length of Barton Broad in borrowed waterproofs.

‘The rest of us chickened out – and took to the road. After a pleasant lunch we returned to the centre and watched the rain come down for a while longer until a small party gave up on the weather and went off in search of the Museum of the Broads at Stalham.

‘Monday was not as wet as Sunday, but by then most had had enough and started to make for home. In all, despite the weather, the meet was a success and the group is now looking forward to the next rallies in September at the Cotswolds Water Park, and at Ullswater.’

Boats and crews at Barton Turf May 2008
Mermaid 137, Steve Blackman; Sandpiper ‘Nessy’, Chris Partridge; Oystercatcher ‘Everhopeful’, Wayne Oliver and Marcus Davies; Tit Willow, Chris and Ruthie Waite; Isabella III, Tony Waller; Tonawanda, Phil Oxborrow; Deux Chevaux, Ian & Janet Ruston; Ranger canoe ‘B&Q’, Graham Neil; Inwe, Richard Rooth; Serafina, Peter Nobes; Ranger 8, Lata Nobes; Puffin Lucia, Dave and Carol Wallwork; Polly’s Folly and Scotch Mist, Chris and Viv Perkins; strip-built kayak, SamB (SOTP member); Tigerella, Simon Fishwick.

In addition, Conrad Natzio brough three examples of boats built to his own designs.

Photos thanks to Chris Perkins

Light Trow Onawind Blue has a new set of standing lugsails

Ben Crawshaw has given his Light Trow some new standing lugsails made especially for her. They’re obviously not the spritsails I originally drew, but he seems very happy with the result and the boat looks just right – and charmingly picturesque too. I’m very happy with the change.

Read all about it at Ben’s excellent weblog The Invisible Workshop, which describes the story of how he originally built the beach cruiser from my free plans, and how he’s been adapting her to his needs for cruising on the Spanish coast.

There’s no doubt Ben’s going to enjoy her new turn of speed combined with the ability to reef well down – as the picture shows, he’s got two good-sized reefs in each sail.

For more links related to the Light Trow design and to trows in general, follow this link.

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John Welsford’s interesting Fafnir design. Click on the images for larger drawings

John Welsford tells me that the level of interest in his new Fafnir pocket cruiser design is exceeding all expectations.

It’s certainly an interesting boat – a blue-water cruiser capable of being build in a typical garage, and there’s a good case for saying that it’s the best choice available for someone who wants to sail alone in a small, easily handled boat.

Its crucial dimensions are:
•Length on deck 13ft 1in (4.00m),
•Beam 6ft 2in (1.90m)
•Draft 2ft 7in (0.800m)
•Sail area 139sqft (14.9sqm)
•Dry weight estimated 1430lbs (650kg)
•Ballast 550lbs (250kg)
•Maximum sailing weight 2420lbs (1100kg)

John describes Fafnir as a tough little cruiser for one or two, and tells a story about how the design came about at his website.
It seems a customer wanted to build a 10ft boat in which to circumnavigate, so John worked out a route, the amount of current assist that was possible, the weather windows and the climatic and stores consumption issues – and decided the voyage wasn’t practical.

But he went on to draw the minimum boat he considered workable – and Fafnir is the result.

Go to John Welsford’s site to learn more!

Some John Welsford-designed boats rafted up in some idyllic New Zealand spot.
Can’t you just smell the warm air on the water?

Duckworksmagazine has put up this nice article about open boat cruising in New Zealand, and John Welsford’s boats.