Category: Sailing cruisers

Sailing yachts used for cruising, or as cruiser-racers.

Stirling & Son build a yawl for HMS Victory

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A yawl for HMS Victory, build by Stirling & Son. Even the supports

Boatbuilder Will Stirling of Morewellham has sent us these photo of the striking yawl his company Stirling & Son has just built for HMS Victory. She was built to a Ministry of Defence contract using drawings dating back to 1793 supplied by the National Maritime Museum, and a specification from David Steel’s book Naval Architecture published in 1805. So it should be authentic!

One question I feel is particularly relevant, however: how did men manage when they had to wear hats like that?

Will is perhaps best known in the boating world for having designed and built the 18th century style lugger Alert, which is now back from a trip to Iceland and is for sale: read about her here.

The news on Alert is that Will has dropped the price a little to £67,500, as he’d like to get on with a new project – if you’re in the market for a magnificent boat like this, it would be well worth taking a look also at the Stirling & Son website for more information. Alert is an outstanding piece of floating history, and the kind of boat that would be noticed and admired anywhere.

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Smack and Barge racing off Whitstable – Neil Baker’s photos

From the top: three photos of the 2004 Whitstable Smack and Barge Race,
the rest are from 2008. Smacks Gamecock and Emeline appear in
several photos, as do the barges Greta and Repertor

Neil Baker takes many photos for use in promoting Whitstable, and he has kindly sent us a bundle of excellent shots from the town’s Smack and Barge Race for our entertainment.

To see more please go to his site http://www.inct5.co.uk/. Here are 25 from this year’s Whitstable Smack and Barge Race held on the 2nd August, and here are a further 17 from the 2004 event.

Many thanks Neil! Any time you have more photos of old-style boating and maritime subjects to share, please get in touch.

One thing that intrigues me is that Gamecock is well reefed down, while most of the rest of the boats have most if not all of their sails up. Does anyone know why? Was she light on ballast, perhaps to reduce stresses?

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A pleasant episode on the Swale

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From the top – three photos of Steve Taylor’s 1923 Hillyard,
Dorma, followed by one of Alan Thorne’s double-ender,
Nissa. As usual, click on the photos for larger images

After posting about a seriously long voyage a moment ago, I thought I’d share some photos from a remarkably short one. On a nearly windless morning, Bob Telford, Steve Taylor and I motored Steve’s Dorma down the creek and tried to sail for an hour or so before the tide got too low to allow her back.

It was a delightful short trip, and I think we would all have happily sailed like that all day – going nowhere very much, but far from anything remotely like work or the trials of everyday life.

We almost had the sea to ourselves – but not quite, for Alan Thorne and his partner and kids followed us out in his Swedish double-ender Nissa. Naturally, we took the opportunity to take a few shots, and here they are.

I’m the geezer in the fetching yellow bouyancy aid, by the way, and Steve is the chap at the tiller with a sailing barge in the background. I’m not very clear why Bob’s nowhere to be seen but I think he may have been wrestling with the Primus stove at the time. I remember a welcome cup of coffee arrived some considerable time later.

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