Month: May 2007

How to build a 1930s British sharpie, part II

Here’s a chapter from Sutton on how to make the sail for the standing lug version of his 1930s British sharpie, to go with my previous post about how to build the boat and spars.

The sail is a 92sqft standing lug job that could easily find it’s way into a design today, if anyone out there needs one of that size. There’s some nice details here; for example, in the main diagram the mast stays are fixed by lanyards rather than a turnbuckles, and, of course, all bolt ropes must be sewn to the port side of the sail.

Sutton sail Sutton sail Sutton sail Sutton sail

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Superstitions at sea

Cutty Sark figurehead

The Cutty Sark’s figurehead from an angle calculated to save her blushes. However, I can confirm that her breasts are as startling as Chris Partridge suggests they should be (see comments below). Click on the photo to visit the Cutty Sark website

Despite all the potential conventional hazards of collisions, groundings, capsizes, sudden leaks, engine failures and the rest, they do say that boating is a fairly safe activity – or so I believed until I read a press release this morning from the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival.

Inexplicably, their release lists a long series of potential sources of boating danger I had never previously considered, and which I’ve never seen marked on any chart Continue reading “Superstitions at sea”

262-year old East Indiaman Götheborg returns to London

Götheborg
Götheborg Götheborg Götheborg

Götheborg; sailmaking; ship’s boat; teapot excavated from the wreck of the original ship

A full-scale replica of the Swedish 18th-century East India merchantman Götheborg is scheduled to sail into London with cannons firing on the 19th May 2007. She will stay in London until the 2nd June.

The Götheborg is returning to London 262 years after her original namesake left for Sweden in a dramatic, final voyage that saw the ship wrecked Continue reading “262-year old East Indiaman Götheborg returns to London”