Isolde – an object of desire, and she’s for sale

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Isolde, built by Mark Harris

Boatbuilder Mark Harris has just completed Isolde, a sweet, quick little gaffer, and she’s for sale. He’ll make more if you ask nicely and promise to pay him… Read all about her at his website woodenboatbuilding.co.uk.

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Charlie Hussey builds a modified peapod

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Seapod the peapod, built by Charlie Hussey

Here’s more news from Yvonne Green, principal of the Boat Building Academy at Lyme Regis – the third in a series about boats built by students while at the Academy.

Charlie Hussey built Seapod, a modified North American peapod originally based on a couple of existing peapod designs.

‘Frankly, at the beginning we tried to put him off the build,’ says Yvonne. ‘He had spent twenty five years in the IT industry, the last fifteen as founding director of a software services company. It was all a long way from working with wood and the build was not an easy one, a 15ft carvel double-ended sailing boat.

‘But we hadn’t reckoned on Charlie’s intelligence, tenacity and sheer hard work. We’re glad we were wrong. Seapod is a beautiful little boat. Charlie also found time, while on the course, to write a detailed weblog of the work he did. It’s at http://boatbuilding.wordpress.com He’s now back in Scotland, looking for a restoration job, and has started a new website and weblog, http://marinecarpentry.com‘

Thanks for the tipoff, Yvonne. I think it will be well worth following, and naturally I’ve added it to the intheboatshed.net blogroll, which appears to the right of this post.

Seapod was one of the best things I saw at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show this year and looking back at my files I took quite a few photos of her. As usual, click on the thumbnails below for bigger and better images. Well done Charlie!

Seapod pictured at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show

For more posts relating to the Boat Building Academy and its students, click here.

There’s a nice discussion of the peapod type in John Gardner’s book Building Classic Small Craft, which may well be available via ABE Books.

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A few more photos of famous old boats

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Shamrock III

Lulworth

Jolie Brise

And they couldn’t be much more famous, could they? Lulworth and Shamrock III are two giant racers from the days when racing was a mass spectator sport and the boats had to be big to be seen by crowds standing on cliff tops (that must have been frightening!), and Jolie Brise was a veteran of various races and cruising exploits. Read more about Lulworth at the Wikipedia and at intheboatshed.net, and there’s a section on persistent America’s Cup Challenger and ‘best of all losers’ Sir Thomas Lipton at the Wikipedia.

For more on Jolie Brise try the Dauntsey’s School site and the Wikipedia.

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