18th century-style lugger Alert back from Iceland – and for sale

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Alert at Sedisfjordur, Iceland

Alert at Sedisfjordur, Iceland

Father fishing at anchor Alert at Sedisfjordur, Iceland Alert at the Customs pontoon, Sedisfjordur

Will’s father fishing at anchor; Alert sailing in Sedisfjordur, Alert at the Customs pontoon in Sedisfjordur

Seaman Hingley collecting firewood for the Alert Alert in the Shiant Islands, with her dinghy well hauled up against rising tide Alert dried out at Tobermory

Seaman Hingley collecting driftwood to burn; Alert in the Shiant islands; Alert dried out at Tobermory

Will Stirling and his outstanding 18th century-style lugger Alert are back from their trip to Iceland. They’ve brought back some smashing photos, and some good stories. Here’s an excerpt from something he wrote about the trip that he’s been kind enough to share with http://intheboatshed.net readers:

‘Once understood, the Faeroese Tidal Atlas proved invaluable as the Atlantic squeezes through the narrow channels between the sheer sided islands at up to 10 knots.

‘At this time of year in above this latitude it didn’t really get dark. We set off from Torshaven for Iceland in the early evening. Seaman Hingley, remembering it was his birthday after three quarters of the birthday had passed, served an admirable supper just as we got sucked into overfalls whilst exiting a channel into the open sea.

‘As the evening drew on the wind increased and Alert leapt across the North Atlantic waves, making distance between the Faeroes and Iceland. The wind increased on the starboard quarter so the reefed mizzen came down. Once dropped and tied to the yard the weather helm eased. The wind continued to build until it stabilised at Force 6.

‘The reefed jib was bagged and the boat roared along under double reefed fore sail at approximately 7 knots, with the crew nervously hoping the wind wouldn’t increase further. Continue reading “18th century-style lugger Alert back from Iceland – and for sale”

Another YouTube sample of vicarious sailing to gladden the heart

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Sailing a Friendship sloop across Muscongus Bay

Ted at the weblog Dovetails noticed that we’ve been presenting some boating clips from YouTube, and kindly sent us this one. The boat is a lovely Friendship sloop called Black Star, and the outing was a sail across Muscongus Bay with a brisk North-Westerly.

See it at Dovetails.

Friendship sloops are heavily built working boats developed towards the end of the 19th Century around the port of Friendship on Muscongus Bay on North America’s Eastern coast. They have impressive deep keels with a striking degree of drag, and equally impressive sailing rigs. To find out more go to the Friendship Sloop Society website.

Black Star is listed in the Society’s registry, and there’s a nice photo on the page listing boats 246 to 279.

Friendship sloop Black Star sail plan

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A little in love with a bawley

Bawley Vivid

Bawley Vivid Bawley Vivid Bawley Vivid

Bawley Vivid

Bawley Vivid, built in 1860

A friend of mine is secretly a little in love with someone else’s boat. His own is a sweet and well cared-for craft, but some small part of his tortured heart lies elsewhere, and his heart lifts as he sees the other object of his desires making way down the creek.

I won’t mention too many names to protect those who may already feel just a little guilty, but from looking at these photos you might just begin to see why he feels this way. I know I do, and I hope her owner won’t mind my sharing them with http://intheboatshed.net readers!

The boat in question is Vivid, and she’s certainly a very sweet small bawley at just 24ft. According to a page on the Old Gaffer’s Association site she dates back to 1860, which in itself is enough to make her special indeed.

Bawleys were built mainly for shrimping, and have a characteristic tall cutter rig with no boom. The lack of a boom means that their mainsails are reefed quickly using handy brailing lines, but together with a rounded hull form it also means that the boats aren’t so hot to windward. I’d guess that bawley sailors who belong to racing associations such as the OGA have to learn a certain serenity in the face of coming last almost every time they go out – but there must be a strong sense of satisfaction in sailing a boat as important, interesting and handsome as this one.

It’s not very easy to find sources of more information about bawleys, but there’s a good section on them in The Chatham Directory of Inshore Craft, and a few mentions in both Mike Smylie’s Traditional Fishing Boats of Britain and Ireland, and Eric McKee’s Working Boats of Britain.

And Derek Coombe’s The Bawleymen has a lot to say about how the boats were used and the lives of their crews – if you can find it.

PS I’ve learned from a forum that there is a very fast bawley called the Helen & Violet. I don’t claim to know everything, but I try to report the best of what I learn. Anyway, Googling reveals this Googlewhack including links to photos and this excerpt from John Leather’s classic The Gaff Rig Handbook. This is very useful – I’ve mislaid my copy after moving house just a few weeks ago – but what does it mean for the future of book publishing?

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