Category: Canoes

Canoes, kayaks, sailin canoes, open canoes, paddles, skin on frame canoes, canoe plans

John Milgate’s duck punt sailing canoe plans online

Duck Punts sailing last year

John Milgate’s wonderful Duck Punt design looks like tremendous fun to me, and I was pleased the other day to discover that plans to build these little boats are now available from Dylan Winter’s Keep Turning Left website.

I’d include some built in bouyancy and you wouldn’t see me out in a boat like this without a lifejacket, but the way they slip through the water with their tiny 35sqft recycled Optimist sails is an inspiration.

Dylan thinks one of these little flat-bottomed sailing canoes derived from boats used by wildfowlers will make a great platform for filming, which I guess they may be if you’re skilled enough to hold a sheet, steer with a paddle and aim and aim a camera at the same time.

Good luck to him and I hope he ties on his camera securely – I fear I’d be in the water in a moment if I concentrated on something that demanding while sailing one of these tiddly little canoes. Distractions such as cameras aside, though, one of these boats would be a wonderful escape in sheltered waters, particularly on a summer’s evening after a long day’s work.

I tip my hat to Bill Serjeant and his weblog Bill’s Log – for that’s where I learned that Dylan had posted the Duck Punt plans. Thanks Bill!

A boating adventure on the Brière

Brière Marais

Brière Brière Brière

Brière Brière Brière

Click on any of the images for a much larger photo

This is the Brière – an area of lakes and marshes a little inland from the France’s (or should I say Brittany’s) Atlantic seaboard.

Said to extend to 720 square kilometres, it’s a big area of marsh and water created by digging turf in much the same way as our own Norfolk Broads. However, it doesn’t have the long history of intensive exploitation by the holiday trade that is so apparent on the Broads – the big leisure activity here is wildfowling, and I guess that’s the purpose of the many hides.

The marshes are wild and empty – which makes them just lovely. (Click for a Google satellite image.) If you’ve ever wondered what the Broads would be like without the hire boats, the Brière is the best example I’ve yet thought of.

While there are no holiday cruisers, there small flat-bottomed canoes known as chalands that can be hired by the hour. They have almost no rocker and for seats they have thwarts high up in the boat, with the result is that they’re pretty tippy, and must be scary for holiday makers unused to canoes. They don’t paddle too well either – it’s no wonder that the locals use poles or outboards – but who cares? This is a fabulous place to be.

You don’t get any of the clear waymarking that the Broads has, and few clear waterways. The geezer who gives you your paddles also gives you his phone number because he half expects you to get lost, but that’s ok, for you will of course be rescued for a consideration.

He doesn’t explain how he’s going to find you in such an extensive labyrinth, however.

I gather the tradition is that the locals navigate by the churches, but our hirer gave me a satellite photo with suggested routes on it. I still became baffled after about half an hour and decided not to go too far: if you decide to spend a whole day on these empty marshes, I’d strongly suggest taking a smart phone with a GPS facility (and perhaps some spare batteries) so you can find your way using Google Maps.

You know you’re in a wild place when you see signs like the one above, which I found in an earth closet on an island in the marshes. As a freelance journalist, I naturally enjoyed the use of the word ‘commission’. And for our American friends, here’s a photo of a turkey that came to see me off…

Brière

Matt Atkin’s photographs of the long-tailed working boats of Phuket, Thailand

Matt Atkin photograph of the boats of Phuket for intheboatshed.net

Matt Atkin photograph of the boats of Phuket for intheboatshed.net Matt Atkin photograph of the boats of Phuket for intheboatshed.net

Brother Matt Atkin has been on his travels again, this time to Thailand, and sent back this small collection of elegant long-tailed working boats on the island of Phuket.

Reua hang yao, as they are properly called, are powered by a road vehicle engine balanced over the stern; I’m curious that they appear to be overpowered with those big engines married to efficient displacement hulls. Still, those Thais will know what they are doing after using these craft for generations.

The bows of the boats are decorated with coloured scarves and other items that are believed to provide good luck and protection.

Thanks for the shots Matt! For more photos from my brother Matt, click here and follow the link to ‘older posts’.