‘Feature vessels’ at the PSP Southampton Boat Show


Steam Pinnace 199

Jolie Brise Rosenn 210908 Caroline Allen

Armed Steam Pinnace 199, Caroline Allen, Rosenn and Jolie Brise – click on each of the thumbnails for a larger photo

Boat shows can be fun, but apart from one or two rather special events they aren’t events I tend to seek out. Perhaps I should got to them however – I was rather taken by this collection of photos of what are called ‘feature vessels’ appearing at the PSP Southampton Boat Show. ‘Feature vessels’ reminds me of the ‘personality girls’ they hire for the stands to lend a little stockinged glamour, and I guess the purpose is similar.

Naval steam pinnace Maintained and sailed by volunteers from the Society of Friends of the Royal Naval Museum at Portsmouth, the 98-year-old Armed Steam Pinnace 199, is one of the last few boats in working condition still powered by steam.

Armed Steam Pinnace 199, along with her Hotchkiss three pound gun and a full crew dressed in the uniform of the era will arrive on the Show’s marina on public preview day to kick off the world record breaking semaphore attempt. See Armed Steam Pinnace 199 on Friday 11 September, berth 521.

Btw – have you noticed that the man on the stern is having a bit of moment with the ensign? Captions and speech bubbles please in the comments via the link below!

Caroline Allen The Caroline Allen is one of two 30ft steel brigs operated by the Little Brig Sailing Trust, and is the world’s smallest tall ship. She is fully equipped to take five young sailors aged 10 years and above for their first trip out on a tall ship. A typical trip sees five new sailors on the water for up to three hours, two each working the sails on each mast and one to steer.

The Caroline Allen has the same rigging as a much larger vessel, but with smaller sails the loads are a lot lighter, and to make things easier the ropes are colour-coded. She will be at berth 521 on Sunday 13 and Monday 14 September.

Jolie Brise The last sailing boat to carry the Royal Mail, Jolie Brise is a 96 year old gaff pilot cutter that became world famous when she won the very first Fastnet Race in 1925. A former fishing boat, Jolie Brise has also recently become a record breaker by setting a new ship’s record speed of 14.1kts whilst surfing down a wave.

Jolie Brise is sailed by pupils of Dauntsey’s School and has successfully competed in six Tall Ships Races – twice being the overall winner of races to the USA and Canada and twice winning the award for the youngest crew in the fleet. She will be at berth 521 on the marina on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 September.

Rosenn One of just 22 yachts built at the end of the 19th century, Rosenn is the last of the Solent One Design yachts still afloat, not to mention still racing, and is part owned by renowned yachtsman and journalist, Bob Fisher.

After spending an astonishing 60 years on the River Crouch, she returned to the Solent where she races from Lymington, recently completing the 2009 Round the Island Race. She will be at berth 521 on the marina on Thursday 17 and 18 of September.

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Small motor launch Louise built by Nick Smith complete but for her varnish

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Hampshire-based boatbuilder Nick Smith wrote this week with photos of his current motor launch building project Louise. Here’s what he has to say:

Louise will be launched in the spring, as the owner will be doing the varnishing over the coming months. Normally I would be a bit reticent about this, but having seen my customer David Eschbaeschers’ varnish work and woodwork on his steam launch I was confident she would be finished to a high standard that would be as good as I would do it.

Louise to my eye has a more ‘motor dinghy’ look than the last project, Lisa, which is more ‘motor launch’ – the one foot difference in overall length has seen to that, together with the fact that Louise is narrower and has a flatter sheer.

‘I’m very pleased how she has come out and so are the owners, they will be dry sailing the boat and go all over the country’s rivers and estuaries through the season.

‘Thats it for now. After a break I will be starting a restoration job on a 15ft clinker launch my oppo found under an oak tree at Beaulieu. So will keep you posted on that one.

‘Nick’

Nick wrote again a couple of days later with a photo of Moiety, a boat he built 17 years ago.

Moiety’s owner has sent me these pictures of the boat at The Thames Traditional Boat Rally at Henley this year. I originally built and planked Moiety in 1992 and fitted her out six years later, so she was completed in 1996, so the hull is 17 years old but the completed boat only 13 years old. She is 16 foot 4 overall with a beam of six foot four, and a lot of boat for her length.’
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Moiety at this year’s Thames Traditional Boat Rally
Thanks Nick – I’m looking forward to hearing about the restoration job.

For more photos of Louise during her build click here.

For photos of the previous build Lisa click here.

Nick comes from Devon, learned boatbuilding the traditional way and specialises in new builds in clinker and carvel for sail, motor and rowing power from 8ft to 28ft with a special emphasis on West Country style and design, and also takes on repairs and refits from 25ft to 50ft. These days he’s based in Hampshire, and can be contacted by email at nick_smith_boatbuilder@yahoo.com and by phone on phone on 07786 693370.

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A clever rotating model of the Julie skiff

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David Booth’s model of the Julie skiff – click on this image to see his rotating model

Intheboatshed.net reader David Booth has provided me with some entertainment today with a rotating photo of a model of the Julie skiff he has made. Click on the image above, click on the image that pops up and you’ll see what I mean.

David’s seriously considering building the full sized boat, made the model as a step along the way, and then realised that it was a good subject for so clever software he has developed – Rotafota. Click here for another more refined sample showing what it can do and here for the product website.