Category: Sailing cruisers

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

How to build a 1930s British sharpie, part II

Here’s a chapter from Sutton on how to make the sail for the standing lug version of his 1930s British sharpie, to go with my previous post about how to build the boat and spars.

The sail is a 92sqft standing lug job that could easily find it’s way into a design today, if anyone out there needs one of that size. There’s some nice details here; for example, in the main diagram the mast stays are fixed by lanyards rather than a turnbuckles, and, of course, all bolt ropes must be sewn to the port side of the sail.

Sutton sail Sutton sail Sutton sail Sutton sail

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262-year old East Indiaman Götheborg returns to London

Götheborg
Götheborg Götheborg Götheborg

Götheborg; sailmaking; ship’s boat; teapot excavated from the wreck of the original ship

A full-scale replica of the Swedish 18th-century East India merchantman Götheborg is scheduled to sail into London with cannons firing on the 19th May 2007. She will stay in London until the 2nd June.

The Götheborg is returning to London 262 years after her original namesake left for Sweden in a dramatic, final voyage that saw the ship wrecked Continue reading “262-year old East Indiaman Götheborg returns to London”

The boats of Swallows and Amazons explained

Swallow II

I gather from Never Sea Land that Stuart Weir’s article about the boats of Swallows and Amazons has a new home here:
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ransome/wier/sanda.html

I’ve been searching high and low for some photos I took of one of Arthur Ransome’s dinghies in the Windermere Museum, but I can’t find the folder for the life of me. It’s a shame – it’s a nice old fashioned little Continue reading “The boats of Swallows and Amazons explained”