Martin Scannall has built this smart example of Will Stirling’s 9ft dinghy. Here’s what he has to say about it:
‘What a joy the dinghy is. It rows like a dream, straight as an arrow and nearly as fast, is stable, can carry four adults with ease and tows well too. I have sent you a shot of her on a local beach, where rather than drive I rowed half a mile or so to a party, just for the pleasure of the thing.’
You can’t say that for many 9ft dinghies. For more information about the Stirling & Son 9ft dinghy plans, click here.
Martin has also been towing the dinghy behind his sailing cruiser Sauntress (I hope this is the correct boat – the Classic Boat link that comes up in Googleseems to be infected by something nasty at the moment so please be careful), and so keeps two long warps on the quarters of his boat.
‘The warps slipped over when I was not looking. As a result I had an unintended lesson in the effectiveness of towing warps in a following sea, which was remarkable.
‘They virtually stopped the yacht so we had to heave to to retrieve the warp, which turned out to be no easy matter. Lesson learned.’
It’s worth knowing for the rest of us, I’d guess.
I gather Sauntress is now 100 years old – and the photo below shows her with a new square sail.
I recognise that beach, and both boats, in the fiord or “ria” around my hometown (actually not Portugal, but Northwest Spain).
So today I’ll be happy for Ria de Ares appearing “In the boat shed”!
Extraordinary blog. And extraordinary your designs. Many thanks.
Pablo is right. Galicia, NW Spain, not Portugal. There is a lively traditional boat scene here. Caamouco.net vela tradicional (traditional sail) is a good starting point. “Sauntress” is the correct boat, owned by me for four decades now, built by Wright and Harris, designed by Wright (not a known name? Or can somebody throw some light) in Cardiff Wales, in 1913, pitch pine on oak, and sailed for the last quarter of a century without auxiliary power and understandably enough the apple of my eye. I do not know why the CB entry should be corrupt. If anybody should be interested in the square sail and the whys and wherefores, there is a thread on the Woodenboatforum.