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Pipkin, Curlew and Aileen
The pontoon at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall is busy again, now that summer is here: after a winter in the museum workshop Curlew, Aileen and Pipkin are all in the water. All three can be seen sailing up and down the river Fal throughout the summer.
Curlew is the oldest boat returning to the pontoon. A Falmouth quay punt that has travelled the world as a yacht, her career is one of the most varied, as it ranges from fishing boat to leisure cruiser to race winner.
Aileen is the very first St Mawes One Design. She was designed by Frank Peters after he was defeated in races off St Mawes, and was built for speed. She won three Falmouth Town Regatta Class races.
Pipkin is based on the design of the Cape Cod catboats and is used by the volunteers to hone their sailing skills.
On the subject of the NMMC, I’ve been asked to ask a favour of intheboatshed.net readers. It seems that the Our lighthouses: life on the rocks exhibition has made it to the semi-finals in the Best heritage project category of The National Lottery Awards, and needs your votes to make it through to the final.
Just 10 Lottery-funded projects are in contention. Voting is now open now and ends at midday on Friday 18 June.
To vote call 0844 686 7951 (calls cost 5p from a BT landline) or log on to www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards (which is free).
Question- where can I find info (plans, lines, sail plan, rigging etc) on Pipkin? I can find nothing on the NMMC website.
And how do you get to sail her – or is that only for the favoured few? I'd love to try a catboat – there is so much disinformation about their sailing qualities put out that it's impossible to sift the truth.
John Button
'Sunrise'
Poole
John – I think the museum staff should be the best source, though from experience they're often very busy. Gavin