Jun17
Gavin Atkin
One of the treats of the Beale Park Thames Boat Show was seeing one of John Macaulay’s traditional Hebridean skiffs full of old-fashioned boatbuilding features.
Note the short floors and ribs, for example – they’re very much what one sees in a Viking ship or Viking canoe. What’s more, the oarlocks and oars obviously belong to a time before the fashion for adopting rowing racing practice brought in round oars in round oarlocks capable of being rotated.
For an earlier post on Macaulay, click here.
This interesting article sheds light on the man himself: John Mcaulay Boatbuilder. Of the virtues of wooden boats he says: ‘There is only one boat worth having and that is a wooden boat. They are unique; one off and beautiful. How anyone with any sensitivity could choose a plastic hull over a wooden one made by hand, I will never know.’
Here’s another newspaper piece in the Stornaway Gazette describing the restoration of a Western Isles boat.
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Boatbuilders and restorers, Events, Locations, Small boats, Suppliers, Traditional clinker, Uncategorized, Working boats
Jun15
Gavin Atkin
Click on the images for much larger photos. The one at the top
makes a particularly fine background – click on the thumbnail,
then click on your right mouse button when the large image loads
We’ve just got back from a blissful weekend’s sailing around the Swale in our little Ian Proctor-designed Prelude, and here are some photos to prove it. From the top: an unknown yacht making her way seaward at low tide in the morning light; two shots of a boat belonging to one of the local sailing barges (there are two shots because one reveals something about its hull form – for more more on barges, click here); an unknown yacht rides the afternoon tide; three shots taken by Julie of a smack at Tester’s yard at the mouth of Oare Creek.
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Barges and wherries, Boatbuilders and restorers, Cruising yachts, Locations, Modern boatbuilding, Small boats, Suppliers, Traditional carvel, Working boats
Apr12
Gavin Atkin
Water Craft Issue 75
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Boat plans and books of plans, Boatbuilders and restorers, Cruising yachts, Culture: songs, stories, photography and art, Equipment and boats for sale, Events, Locations, Modern boatbuilding, Motor yachts and boats, River boats, Small boats, Suppliers, Techniques, Uncategorized
