intheboatshed.net

Another newly boat in the Boatbuilding Academy launch in December was an Iain Oughtred Auk built by Paul Braker and Joe Flynn. Piggly Wiggly is a 7ft 10in glued clinker design built in plywood, epoxy and mahogany, which  Paul will use as a tender for his current boat and to give he and his partner Sarah’s seven children something to mess about in.

Paul worked in IT until the economic situation made him look at what he really wanted to do – and he chose boat building.

My thanks to the Academy’s Yvonne Green for the photos.

16ft gentleman’s runabout Lola, built to a design by C G Petterson, and photographed at the Boatbuilding Academy’s student launch day in December

Lars Herfeldt built this very pretty motorboat during his Boatbuilding Academy course at Lyme using plans by the Swedish designer CG Pettersson.

Academy principle Yvonne Green reports that Lola, which is named after one of Lars’ grandchildren, is a 16ft cold moulded motorboat made from two layers of 3mm plywood with a final layer of mahogany veneer laid fore and aft to simulate a more traditional carvel planking construction.

While on the course Lars wrote a weblog that includes the boat build but also of his life while living at the Academy on the course – it’s in German but includes many excellent photos including a series showing one of the famous Beer luggers going about. He also played Father Christmas at the Academy Christmas dinner, at which Yvonne says he managed to look as if he’d stepped out of a Norman Rockwell illustration.

For more photos from the student launch, check out Edward Pearson’s Picasa photo set of the event.

Intheboatshed.net readers may be interested to know that Lars is returning to the Academy in September to instruct a residential course on building West Greenland kayaks in September, at which up to eight students will build a traditional kayak over ten days – course members will stay at nearby Trill Farm and build the boats in the farm’s  magnificent old barn.

Many thanks for the story Yvonne – and don’t forget to tell us more about the kayak course, as I think there will be some interest from readers!

Reader Brian Pearson has kindly given me permission to put up a few of the photos he and his son took of the Boatbuilding Academy’s student launch day last Saturday. Thanks Brian!

He tells me that it was a really nice event with lots of people, a watery winter sun – which was great after all the terrible weather we’ve been having – and lots of lovely boats and happy boat builders with their families.

There will be more when principal Yvonne Green manages to send some over together with details of the boats, as I hope she will – and perhaps with luck the students themselves will chip in also.

I must say there are some delightful pieces of work here – particularly the pram with no metal components of any kind. Take a bow, boatbuilding students of Lyme!