18th century-style lugger Alert back from Iceland – and for sale

[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]

Alert at Sedisfjordur, Iceland

Alert at Sedisfjordur, Iceland

Father fishing at anchor Alert at Sedisfjordur, Iceland Alert at the Customs pontoon, Sedisfjordur

Will’s father fishing at anchor; Alert sailing in Sedisfjordur, Alert at the Customs pontoon in Sedisfjordur

Seaman Hingley collecting firewood for the Alert Alert in the Shiant Islands, with her dinghy well hauled up against rising tide Alert dried out at Tobermory

Seaman Hingley collecting driftwood to burn; Alert in the Shiant islands; Alert dried out at Tobermory

Will Stirling and his outstanding 18th century-style lugger Alert are back from their trip to Iceland. They’ve brought back some smashing photos, and some good stories. Here’s an excerpt from something he wrote about the trip that he’s been kind enough to share with http://intheboatshed.net readers:

‘Once understood, the Faeroese Tidal Atlas proved invaluable as the Atlantic squeezes through the narrow channels between the sheer sided islands at up to 10 knots.

‘At this time of year in above this latitude it didn’t really get dark. We set off from Torshaven for Iceland in the early evening. Seaman Hingley, remembering it was his birthday after three quarters of the birthday had passed, served an admirable supper just as we got sucked into overfalls whilst exiting a channel into the open sea.

‘As the evening drew on the wind increased and Alert leapt across the North Atlantic waves, making distance between the Faeroes and Iceland. The wind increased on the starboard quarter so the reefed mizzen came down. Once dropped and tied to the yard the weather helm eased. The wind continued to build until it stabilised at Force 6.

‘The reefed jib was bagged and the boat roared along under double reefed fore sail at approximately 7 knots, with the crew nervously hoping the wind wouldn’t increase further. Continue reading “18th century-style lugger Alert back from Iceland – and for sale”

Another YouTube sample of vicarious sailing to gladden the heart

[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]

Sailing a Friendship sloop across Muscongus Bay

Ted at the weblog Dovetails noticed that we’ve been presenting some boating clips from YouTube, and kindly sent us this one. The boat is a lovely Friendship sloop called Black Star, and the outing was a sail across Muscongus Bay with a brisk North-Westerly.

See it at Dovetails.

Friendship sloops are heavily built working boats developed towards the end of the 19th Century around the port of Friendship on Muscongus Bay on North America’s Eastern coast. They have impressive deep keels with a striking degree of drag, and equally impressive sailing rigs. To find out more go to the Friendship Sloop Society website.

Black Star is listed in the Society’s registry, and there’s a nice photo on the page listing boats 246 to 279.

Friendship sloop Black Star sail plan

Share this with a friend. Use the Share this link below.

Curraghs caught in action on YouTube

Court of the Silver King curragh at Clovelly

Court of the Silver King curragh at Clovelly, seen on YouTube

I can’t remember what took me to the the Court of the Silver King website, but while I was there I learned that our salmon-admiring friends are now engaged in building their third curragh – they must be pretty experienced by now.

I also spotted a link to this YouTube clip of them rowing one of their earlier boats, and was struck by the sheer bouyancy and apparent lightness of the boat in action.

Inspired to search a little further, I found some further bits of curragh video:

Here’s a series of YouTube clips of curraghs racing.

Here’s a naomhóg rowing on the river Lee.

And I also found this nice old clip of a curragh taken in the late 1950s. It’s marred by a horrid commercial watermark, but it’s still charming.

Click here for more on curraghs at intheboatshed.net, including photos and excerpts from old books including plans.

Want to share this with a friend? Use the Share this link below.