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

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Testing prototypes for the world’s largest Viking ship

The Dragon Harald Fairhair project sounds wonderful – and even these little prototypes are clearly great fun.

You may have heard that square-sailed craft without deep keels don’t go well to windward and have to be rowed, but from what I can see, these little boats do remarkably well on that point of sailing, even if we can’t see enough to tell whether they match up to a modern racing yacht.

My thinking is that the Norsemen made the journey to our islands in numbers on a regular basis, and did it in such numbers that most of the villages and features in the area where I grew up were named by them. In making their journeys, they must have sailed towards the prevailing wind on most occasions.

It will therefore be very interested to hear how the new Dragon performs when she’s complete. Read all about her here and here.

My thanks to John  Lockwood for pointing this out.

Boat Building Academy students build a small South Bay catboat

  Michael Tyler's Catboat 'Lucie' designed by Mike Broome. Photo by Emma Brice

Boat Building Academy students Mike Tyler, Jon Bicknell and Andy Blundy built this strip-built South Bay-style catboat to a design worked up by the students with the help of instructor Mike Broome.

Local lad Mike – he commuted to Lyme from Sidmouth each day of the course – worked in banking before coming to the BBA. However, he seems to be a man of many interests: previously he had studied sculpture at art college, where he frequently worked with driftwood, and dreamed of becoming a boat builder.

Mike particularly wished to build an ‘original’ design with a sculptural form, and was inspired by the Victorian half rater built by another BBA student, Martin Nott. Mike then came across the 21ft Gilbert Smith design Lucile that was then redesigned to a manageable size with instructor Mike Broome’s help – and the result was the 14ft Lucie.

Mike Tyler is now at Pangbourne, Reading, and involved in setting up the new Beale Park Maritime Museum.

Jon comes from a background in information technology design and Jon worked predominantly with Mike on Lucie – although did spend an hour here and there on other builds. Having finished the course is now busy finding his feet in the boat building industry.

I gather Andy, who was previously a floor layer, was a little less involved – but was an asset to everyone at the Academy, always cheery and ready to help. Like the other students not building their own boats, he circulated around the boat builds to gain a thorough knowledge on as many construction types as possible.

Marcus Lewis builds two more Fowey River dinghies

Marcus Lewis builds Fowey River Class dinghies

Marcus Lewis builds Fowey River Class dinghies Marcus Lewis builds Fowey River Class dinghies Marcus Lewis builds Fowey River Class dinghies

Marcus Lewis builds Fowey River Class dinghies Marcus Lewis builds Fowey River Class dinghies Marcus Lewis builds Fowey River Class dinghies

In all the gloom at this time of year, it’s great to hear the cheery news that Marcus Lewis is building two of his splendid 15ft Fowey River dinghies down at his workshop. Here’s what he says:

‘Hi Gavin – You’ve had some good posts lately! Just thought I would drop you a line about what has been going on in my workshop lately. This winter we had two orders for Fowey River dinghies, originally 15ft ‘knockabouts‘ designed by Reg Freeman in the late 1940s.

‘We have just finished fitting the thwarts and knees, and now comes the big clean out and dust down before we start coating up the inside with a couple of coats of International quick dry sealer, followed by International original and schooner varnish.

‘Building two together saves a little time, but it does fill the shed up, and doesnt leave much room for handling timber through the thicknesser or bandsaw! The photos show the new boats half built, how they are now, the designer’s lines and layout drawings, and photos of Fowey River 56 – a boat we built a couple of years ago.

‘The distinctive coloured sails are not compulsory by the way – but most owners get their crayons out and design their own colour scheme.

‘By the way, the gunter-rigged and clinker-built Mayflower dinghy we built last year is still available. Perhaps it will sell when the weather warms up!

‘Best wishes

‘Marcus’

Thanks for the post Marcus – and for the new header shot.

Marcus can be contacted on tel 07973 420568 and via his website www.woodenboatbuilder.co.uk.