Unidentified sailing objects on the Swale

An intriguing boat moored near Faversham

An intriguing boat moored near Faversham

A mystery craft sails into Herne Bay

A mystery craft sails into Herne Bay

The first  looks as if it could be  Scottish to me but I don’t recall seeing her  in the area before – is she a fifie? I’d certainly like to know more.

The second is very  striking when seen from a distance. I’m pretty sure she’s the Colin Mudie-designed sharpie I’ve seen over-wintering at Faversham’s Iron Wharf in past years. If so, she’s working as a pleasure boat, and having seen her hull I can say that she bears a strong resemblance to the Nonpareil sharpies that Thomas Clapham designed and built all those years ago. There’s a short description of the Clapham’s Nonpareil boats  here at the Wikipedia. Now, I wonder whether I might be able to persuade the kids they would enjoy a trip in her next week?

7 thoughts on “Unidentified sailing objects on the Swale”

  1. Gavin,

    She is Maurice Griffiths LOON, rebuilt a while back at Alan Staley's.

    I think that she used to have a centre plate that came through her foredeck, but this was removed due to leak problems.

    She is well documented in MG's 60 year a yacht designer.

    Bob

    1. Hi Gavin I owned her back in the late 70’s and sold her to the Guy in Faversham. She did have a center board, leaked around the Garboards most of the time, but was a great boat. Just before i sold her i found she was designed with a loose footed mainsail and trying this transformed the performance. when i bought he she had a large perkins truck engine in her so sailing stern down and improved with a yanmar. I believe for a while she was called Gairlock and was used for Duck hunting. the owner before me ( a doctor i think) used to sail her to France, take out the mast and use her as a motor boat on the canals from Dinard for holidays each year.

      Michael

  2. GAVIN,

    I am wrong; she is not in MG's book 60 Years… , but she IS designed by MG. She is mentioned in one of his earlier books.

    Bob

  3. The boat Loon is a Maurice Griffiths design which i owned in the early 80's. She was launced with the name "Gairlock" and this was subsequently changed. When i bought her she had centre plate operated by a modified tennis net worm drive. The Garboard strakes worked like carzy and I was going to the channel islands most weekends I moved toa larger Yacht Chloe May 42'. before she sank. The new owner in putting on a fixed keel has probably transforemd the boat. One modification back to origianl was to put a loose foot mainsail on her which transformed the performance.

    1. 21 January 2013. My father George Robinson bought Loon between in about 1955. It had been with the commodore of the West Hartlepool yacht club and then up on Lake Windermere. My father converted an old war department trailer to carry it. My father kept it at Whitby in the outer harbour in the southside moorings that he himself established. We went across the Cherbourg (encountering the ash of the Queen Mary !), Sark and Jersey in about 1965 on a trip out of Poole. We then sold to a friend Johnny McGuire who then lived in Poole. If anyone wants contact, happy to chat on e mail arobinson90@yahoo.co.uk

  4. Hello I'm menno from holland

    in 1999 I was in favershame on the yard of allan and looked at the loon.

    is it treu that they put a keel unter it ,that would be sad

    can some body help me to find the loon of the drawings of her

    best regards menno

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.