Category: Canoes

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

Tony Bibbington sails and paddles Macgregor’s route in a Rob Roy canoe

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Rob Roy canoe gear – click on the drawing for a larger image

I’ve just learned that Mersey Canoe Club member Tony Bibbington last year sailed and paddled from Oslo to the Baltic, following Victorian pioneer John MacGregor’s paddle-strokes all the way. My thanks to Brian Smith for letting me know about this, and for pointing out that there are some great photos online at http://www.duene1.de – click on the 2009 calendar and then on Nov 4, and you will find photos of his trip round Heligoland.

It was a 500km trip that he had to complete in three weeks due to the that old enemy work, but perhaps the most jaw-dropping aspect of the whole thing is that Tony was  determined to follow exactly the same route as his hero and did so using a 138-year old original Rob Roy canoe made by Sewells of London that he restored himself.

This insistence on following Macgregor’s route caused a few problems along the way – the first  of which was that the spot from with Macgregor first launched his canoe in Norway is now someone’s back garden. Thankfully, the owner proved friendly and Tony was on his way.

An article in the magazine Canoe Focus tells the story of a varied journey, sometimes tedious, sometimes  beautiful, and with plenty of incidents worth retelling, with Tony dressing as a Victorian gentleman canoeist and meeting an artist determined to paint his portrait; moments where, like Macgregor before him, Tony had to drag his canoe out of a stream water and use a car or other means to reach the next patch of water; and a final landing in which he landed inside the perimeter of a factory security fence. Luckily, on that occasion his path was smoothed by the security man who had read about Tony’s expedition in the newspapers.

How did Tony get on with his canoe, and how did she stand up to the journey more than a century after she was first made? In the Canoe Focus article Tony himself was happy to quote Macgregor: ‘The Rob Roy has proved herself able ”to sail steadily, to paddle easily, to float lightly, to turn readily, and to bear rough usage on stones and banks, and in carts, railways and steamers; to be durable and dry, as well as comfortable and safe” just as she was originally designed to be. MacGregor’s theory was that ”a canoe ought to fit a man like a coat”. The Rob Roy had been a perfect fit on my journey and I look forward to our next adventure.’

I think the whole thing is an extraordinary story with at least four heroes in addition to old John Macgregor himself: Tony for being brave enough to set out on an arduous 500km paddling and sailing trip in unknown country  in a 138-year old canoe, his family for travelling with him and enabling him to make the journey in a modern age without horses and carts in wide use in remote areas, and the dear old boat itself.

For more on Macgregor, click here; to read Macgregor’s account of his own trip to the Baltic, click here.

Lars Herfeldt builds a gentleman’s runabout at the Boatbuilding Academy

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16ft gentleman’s runabout Lola, built to a design by C G Petterson, and photographed at the Boatbuilding Academy’s student launch day in December

Lars Herfeldt built this very pretty motorboat during his Boatbuilding Academy course at Lyme using plans by the Swedish designer CG Pettersson.

Academy principle Yvonne Green reports that Lola, which is named after one of Lars’ grandchildren, is a 16ft cold moulded motorboat made from two layers of 3mm plywood with a final layer of mahogany veneer laid fore and aft to simulate a more traditional carvel planking construction.

While on the course Lars wrote a weblog that includes the boat build but also of his life while living at the Academy on the course – it’s in German but includes many excellent photos including a series showing one of the famous Beer luggers going about. He also played Father Christmas at the Academy Christmas dinner, at which Yvonne says he managed to look as if he’d stepped out of a Norman Rockwell illustration.

For more photos from the student launch, check out Edward Pearson’s Picasa photo set of the event.

Intheboatshed.net readers may be interested to know that Lars is returning to the Academy in September to instruct a residential course on building West Greenland kayaks in September, at which up to eight students will build a traditional kayak over ten days – course members will stay at nearby Trill Farm and build the boats in the farm’s  magnificent old barn.

Many thanks for the story Yvonne – and don’t forget to tell us more about the kayak course, as I think there will be some interest from readers!

Intheboatshed.net highlights of 2009

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It’s almost impossible to pick out my favourite posts of the year – there are simply too many, and for too many different reasons.

For example, the editor-residents of Intheboatshed.net Towers would have no difficulty picking out the students’ launch at the Boatbuilding Academy in December, but for entirely different reasons we’d equally easily choose the astonishing details of the wherry yacht Hathor, or the various posts on the zulus of the Scottish West Coast, or the review of the lovely new book Holmes of the Humber, or, for that matter, the story of the Iain Oughtred-designed St Ayles skiff and the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project.

And how remiss would we be if we failed to mention Ben Crawshaw’s awesome sailing exploits in his Light Trow, or Dylan Winter’s wonderful Keep Turning Left videos about sailing anti-clockwise around the coasts of Great Britain? I’d like to offer my apologies if I’ve left out your favourites here, but I’m working from memory here – I simply haven’t got the energy required to re-read the 250-or so posts I’ve put up this year.

With the hit-counter below cruising gently towards our millionth, what were readers’ favourite posts? There seems little doubt that the posts that have caught most people’s interest have been about free boat building plans. For example, the post announcing the boatbuilding plans for the Julie skiff 15ft 8in plywood flattie rowing boat has been viewed a whopping 27,647 times. We think it goes to show how powerful is the draw of free plans – but also how effective an advert on this site can be.

A little behind that comes a favourite with model makers and admirers of small Scottish skiffs, A challenge for home boatbuilders: a sweet 10ft clinker-built double-ended skiff, our boatbuilding plans for the sailing version of the 12ft plywood Ella skiff and for the boatbuilding plans for the Sunny 14ft plywood rowing flattie.

Why not let us know what your favourites of the year might have been? We’re very friendly and can be reached at gmatkin@gmail.com.

What will next year bring at intheboatshed.net? It’s impossible to say who will be in touch and what they may send me for publication. I only hope they continue to do so. In the meantime, I can tell you about two projects that are in the works here, the Low -power outboard skiff, and a mark II stitch and glue version of the well tried Light Trow rower-sailer in both its rowing and sailing versions.