September 2007 – Page 11 – intheboatshed.net

A new boat along long-forgotten plank-on-edge racing sailing yacht lines

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Tiny 1880s-style plank-on-edge dayboat Molly at the Beale Park Boat Show

One of the more amazing sights at the Beale Park Boat Show was Molly, an extraordinary toy-like plank-on-edge dayboat being built by boatbuilder Peter Graham.

At the time, I thought that seeing a boat like this would be a once-in-a-lifetime event as few people would build boats like this, and I’ve been saving it for a rainy day as a treat for intheboatshed.net readers when there wasn’t much else going on.

But a doubly amazing thing has happened – an enquiry from a boatbuilder in the US who says he is building a boat to the same lines, and has asked for contact details for Peter after seeing the boat in a magazine. Of course, as I had photos to share I was happy to help. So now we know that two of these amazing little boats are being built.

But perhaps the most surprising thing about the enquiry is that it seems to have come from the US – a land where in the 1870s and 80s racing yachts were so shallow and beamy they were nicknamed ‘soap dishes’ while the British were busy building to ‘plank-on-edge’ or ‘leadmine’ lines. The two styles of yacht regularly fought it out until a kind of compromise between the two extreme hull types eventually won out.

But compromises can have a dull quality, and it’s the lack of compromise that makes a boat like this exciting, at least to me. I urgently need to know how this boat sails – I hope she sails as well as she looks, for when I saw her it was clear Peter had done an outstanding job.

After I put this post up, Peter got in touch with two more images, one of Molly, and another of the sailplan from the plans he’s working to:

Home Built Boat Regatta meeting 2007

Adam Claridge’s Wolstenholme Mallard

Graham Davies’ Oughtred Mole Talpa; Chris Partridge’s Wolstenholme Sprite Snarleyow; Phil Oxborrow’s Selway-Fisher Prospector Tonawanda

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A general messabout-style beach photo; Richard Rooth’s Oughtred Elf Inwe; canoe Hen Party

Chris Perkins, the Watercraft award-winning builder of Scotch Mist, an award-winning Iain Oughtred Macgregor sailing canoe, has kindly sent me these photos of this year’s Home Built Boat Rally national meet at the Cotswold Water Park near Cirencester. It’s great to see a British version of the American messabout movement emerging, and perhaps we’ll see some more home boatbuilding in the UK as a result.

There’s an earlier post about the HBBR here: http://intheboatshed.net/…1st-and-2nd-september/

HBBR have a Yahoogroup at http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/uk-hbbr and a website at http://www.uk-hbbr.co.uk/uk .

Amazon has just a few of Iain Oughtred’s classic paperback on plywood clinker building: Iain Oughtred plywood boatbuilding book

Classic 100-year-old photos of racing sailing yachts from the America’s Cup

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Racing sailing yacht Vigilant; two photos showing details; Vigilant with the Royal Yacht Britannia; Vigilant slipped and in dry dock

Jeff Cole continues to delight with his collection of photos from The Yachtsman and elsewhere. Today, I thought we should have some shots relating to the ever-controversial America’s Cup series of races.

The photos above show:

Vigilant, the 1893 defender of the Auld Mug or America’s Cup. there’s no information about who took the photo, but it’s a Photomezzotype. The detail photos show deck layout, wheel, crew placement, other gear including ships boat, and the skipper in a dark uniform, officer’s cap and beard looking astern.

Vigilant and Royal Yacht Britannia becalmed at the Royal Clyde YC Regatta, July 9, 1894. The photo appeared in a supplement to The Yachtsman no 191, December 1894. This is a Photomezzotype by the London Stereoscopic Co, and the photo was taken by Mclure & Macdonald. Three steam yachts, other sailing craft and even rowing boats can be seen in the background.

Vigilant in dry dock. The shot is listed as photo 8589 by West & Sons of Southsea, and Jeff believes it probably appeared in Yachting World. It shows a clear view of the hull and keel, rudder, boom horse, wheel, binnacle, companionway, lifting gear on gaff, skylights and ship’s boat. There are two gentlemen on the dock, one in top hat, tails and walking stick. The other with full white beard, bum-freezer jacket and cap and what looks like an umbrella…

Vigilant and unknown smaller yacht passing the finishing mark at the Clyde Corinthian YC Regatta, July 10, 1894. There’s nothing to say where the image came from, but it might be another London Stereoscopic Co Photomezzotype. In the background there are steam yachts and several small craft.

Shamrock and Reliance racing for the America’s Cup, and Mrs William Henry Henn relaxing on board the Galatea

Shamrock and Reliance in a photo captioned ‘First race for the America’s Cup’. It appeared in a supplement to Yachting World, Sept 3, 1903, and was taken by The Pictorial News Co of New York.Charming photo of Mrs William Henry Penn on boatd the Galatea, which was an America’s Cup challenger in 1886. There’s nothing to say where the photo appeared, but Jeff says hat it’s a Photomezzotype. Mrs Penn is clearly young, dressed in tartan and sitting in a cane chair, and a she’s accompanied by a curly retriever dog, an elaborate silver fox fur (on skylight, says Jeff) and there’s a named fender at base of the davit. There’s also a pinrail between the davits. In the background, is that a barge or hulk?

Amazon has this fabulous book about another America’s Cup contender of long ago:
Reliance

There’s also this book by legendary America’s Cup skipper Ted Turner:
Ted Turner book on the early America’s Cup

And this analysis of how far contenders are prepared to go to win and how shamefully unsportsmanlike they can be as a consequence:
Keelhauled: Unsportsmanlike Conduct and the America’s Cup

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