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.
Snugged down for winter in Faversham creek last weekend, Willow of Harty glints in a brief flash of afternoon sunshine. If this is your boat, please get in contact with me gmatkin@gmail.com, and I’ll send you the much larger original.
traditional sail boats; Faversham
The Association has over 900 registered boats ranging from classic racing dinghies to wooden ships. Membership extends world wide and there are a number of Regional Sections holding regular meetings; members meet at a national rally and at boat shows.
One of the VWBA’s current projects is compiling a pictorial and historical archive of registered craft that will provide a lasting record for the future.
For more on the VWBA:
http://www.vwba.org
Each month the site features a different boat, and at the time of writing it was Cordon Rouge, a 28ft 1930s Broads sailing yacht built by Applegates of Potter Heigham:
Here’s a link I’ve been looking forward to putting up about another Maurice Griffiths favourite, Idle Duck, which by chance spent much of the summer sitting on a barge bottom a few feet from our own little boat.
When she arrived we experienced one of those amazing coincidences that sometimes arise, for it turned out that one of the crew was a musician and boating pal of ours. Anyway, through him we met Bob Telford, Idle Duck’s new owner.
The pictures tell the first part of the story, from when Bob found her through to her arrival at Alan Staley’s yard at Faversham for restoration and refitting work. Idle Duck, I should explain, is an astonishing boat, big and comfortable in every way, as the shots at the EOG site clearly show. She’s a 34ft long Bermudian cutter rigged cruising yacht, with a long keel and centreboard.
For the pictures of Idle Duck’s rescue:
http://www.eventides.org.uk/builders.htm