The first Bristol 27 motor cruiser is launched by Star Yachts

Star Yachts Bristol 27 Star Yachts Bristol 27

Star Yachts Bristol 27 Star Yachts Bristol 27 Star Yachts Bristol 27

Star Yachts Bristol 27 Star Yachts Bristol 27

This is Eskdale – the first example of a strip-built Bristol 27 motor cruiser built by Win Cnoops and colleagues at Star Yachts, and designed by Andrew Wolstenholme.

It has obviously been drawn and built with the intention of evoking a bygone age, but I think it’s a stylishly retro craft in any language.

As built she has port and starboard bunks, one of which converts to a double, lockers, a galley and separate heads, a small locker, aft of these is a small galley on one side, and a hanging locker on the other. Win is offering a variety of options for future boats, including a choice of 50hp engine offering a maximum of 12 knots and a 38hp offering 10 knots.

BBA students build a Yachting World Dayboat

Yachting World Dayboat Yachting World Dayboat

 

Photos by Emma Brice and John Palmer

This Yachting World Dayboat was built by Boat Building Academy student Sean Quail, with the help of Charlie Yetton.

Sean joined the BBA’s long boat building course after deciding to make his hobby of woodwork into a career, and went to Lyme after completing his A Level exams – though first he took time out to travel through Australia, Canada and Thailand.

Charlie completed a foundation course at Chelsea College of Art and Design and a BA in fine art sculpture at the University of Brighton, and then worked as an artist’s assistant for a period. He then decided he needed what he called ‘real’ skills – and chose boat building and carpentry as the area in which he was most interested.

The Yachting Day Boat was originally designed in 1949 by G O’Brien Kennedy; Sean’s was constructed using oak ribs, spruce planks and mahogany-veneered plywood.

This is the second YW Dayboat to be built at the academy – see Locky McKenzie’s build, click here. On Sean’s boat, the plank lines were tweaked a little, and the Highfield
lever
was left off the forestay in favour of tensioning the rig using the jib halyard.

To view Sean’s weblog of the Dayboat build click here.

I gather Sean is now living and working in Hampshire.

PS – If you’re interested in what the BBA can teach and might consider one of its short courses, take a look at its 2012 short course programme.

1900 edition of Dixon Kemp’s classic boating manual is online

Dixon Kemp online  Dixon Kemp online

If you’re wondering what to do this weekend, the 1900 edition of Dixon Kemp’s classic A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing is online at the Internet Archive, and will keep a boat nut with a sense of history busy for quite a while.

As you read, it’s interesting to note how much is still true – and how many of the craft in the beautiful drawings are still inspiring boat and yacht owners, builders and designers today.

Kindly digitised by the University of Pittsburgh, it’s available in a variety of forms: there’s HTML for online browsing, PDF and Kindle for those who prefer, and, wonderfully, the Daisy audio form for those unable to see well enough to read.

My thanks to reader Paul Mullings for letting me know about this!