Category: Designs and designers, boat plans,books of plans

Plans for boats, sailing yachts, motor yachts, rowing boats, sailing boats, dinghies, dories, canoes, skiffs, oars, sails – may be free or paid-for

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.

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I want to sail a proa on a warm sea…

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Gary Dierking sailing proa

Here I sit in chilly, laid-up England, and for a few minutes I watch YouTube clips like this of Gary Dierking sailing a proa in the warm, far-off antipodes. Would some kind soul please send me there right now? I could write a very nice review, or whatever might be required to persuade someone to pay my fare!

Of course, Amazon has Gary Dierking’s latest book on sale.

In the meantime, don’t forget to buy my book for your favourite budding boatbuilder. Now there are no Wiis left to buy anywhere in the country, my little book must be in with a chance to be the present of the year. Have I mention that four purchasers over at the www.amazon.com site have given it five-star reviews? No? Well I have now!

For more from Gary, go to his website http://gary.dierking.net.

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A brief escape with Onawind Blue – and some other weblogs

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Onawind Blue goes sailing

Ben Crawshaw’s Invisible Workshop always provides a welcome dose of sanity when it’s needed, and his new post yesterday was no exception. In fact, it was better than ever: as I watched his video on YouTube I could feel the breeze and the water, the roll of the boat and the sense of freedom – until it was all over. Then when I had a chance I played it again, and again… Thanks for letting in a little happiness Ben!

Elsewhere on the Blogroll, we have A Shipwright in Training, in which a lucky psychologist sees the light and trains to be a boatbuilder, the Classic Sailing Club has several kinds of unpredictable fun on the Orwell and elsewhere, and Dale Austin’s Egret gets more and more interesting as his boat built to Commodore Monroe’s legendary design approaches completion.

And don’t miss Roache’s Adventures, which include some historical material, a trip to Woodbridge in company with some gorgeous Strange yachts, and some heavyweight advice to ‘dreamers’.