Gavin Atkin's weblog for the sort of people who like looking inside boat sheds. It's about old boats, traditional boats, boat building, restoration, the sea and the North Kent Coast
Sailing yachts used for cruising, or as cruiser-racers.
•1939 6-ton Hillyard double-ended gaff-rigged yawl for sale in Spain
Also:
•36ft Frans Maas Breeon class sailing yacht for sale at Portland
•43ft Laurent Giles cutter for sale in Malta
•50ft larch on oak trawler yacht for sale in Waltham Abbey
•17ft wooden fishing boat project for sale in Torpoint, Cornwall
•1960s 15ft Simmonds aluminium speed boat for sale in St Neots
•23.4m Dutch barge for sale in Amsterdam
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Regular visitors will remember I recently put up a photo of Nick Gates’ boat Ocean Pearl, which he believed to be a zulu skiff because of her vertical stem and raked stern. I must say that I thought the same – and was very pleased to be able to publish a photo of her.
Nick acquired her as a motor-powered fishing boat some years ago, brought her back to a condition where she could again put to sea, and added a sailing rig. The result is that she’s a handsome vessel, as the earlier photo shows.
However, the ex-trawler skipper and authority on marine history Jay Cresswell, who has for many years lived near Aberdeen, recently saw the photos and got in touch to put the matter right.
It seems that Ocean Pearl’s stern is not sufficiently raked and that she was built too late to allow her to be called a zulu. In support of his point, Jay sent us a fistful of photos of zulus shot while he was trawling in the ’70s and ’80s.
I’ll let him explain.
‘If Ocean Pearl was berthed up here in the North-East of Scotland, there is little or no doubt that she would be regarded as a fifie and, to confuse the issue further, a yawl too.
‘The boat below is a case in point – a fifie called Poppy on the Caledonian Canal, and one with the same rake to her sternpost, give or take a degree.
Fifie Poppy on the Caledonian Canal
Continue reading “Ocean Pearl – zulu, fifie or baldie? Scots fishing boat expert Jay Cresswell explains”
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Alfred Mylne the First
David Gray of Ace Marine has written a nice letter to intheboatshed.net:
‘Dear Sir:
‘I have had a look at your website and it looks terrific. I thought it might be appropriate to let you know about the business of A Mylne & Co, the oldest yacht design business in the world that has never ceased production. We took it over last April, and have launched a website at www.mylne.com.
We are anxious to contact owners of any Mylne-designed yacht.
We are also digitising the entire archive of 10000 drawings and over 400 designs such that they can be readily searched and accessed by enthusiasts for restoration or new build.
‘Best regards and happy new year for 2008
‘David Gray’
So there it is. If you have a Mylne yacht, you know what to do. If you don’t, just go and look – there are some very elegant craft to be seen in the gallery. I should add that the new Mylne team includes Ian Nicolson, no less.
To whet your appetite, here’s a quote from the History section of the Mylne site: Continue reading “Revitalised Mylne company digitises drawings and seeks owners”