Category: Culture: songs, stories, photography and art

Traditions and culture relevant to the world of real boating and sailors

From the Thames to the Solent by Una boat, an account from 1868

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From the Thames to the Solent by Una boat, by JB Dashwood 1868

Una, from Dixon Kemp’s legendary Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing

Steve Taylor was kind enough to alert me to this one – a readable pdf of a charming little book of 1868 about a canal and sea trip by an example of the Una boat, which was then fashionable in the UK.

http://www.weyandarun.co.uk/thames.pdf

Dixon Kemp describes the Una boat here: http://www.friend.ly.net/~dadadata/kemp/dictUV.html

The scans of the engravings including the author JB Dashwood’s Una boat are unclear, so I’ve included a scan of the original Una boat from Dixon Kemp’s Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing. The original Una boat was an imported North American cat boat of the era, with a centreboard, characteristic widish beam and a single gaff-rigged mast and sail. Cat boats were originally working fishing boats, but they have long been adopted for pleasure boating, and so have evolved in many ways in the intervening 140 years. They are still an interesting type, particularly for sheltered coastal cruising.

In searching the web for references, I found this online account of sailing small boats of the 19th century: http://www.thamessailingclub.co.uk/…/Our_History.pdf

There were just a few copies of Dixon Kemp’s Manual available at ABE when I looked, and several copies of his other classics also. Check now:
AbeBooks

Follow the duck – plans and boatbuilders’ stories at Duckworks magazine

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Duckworks - the best site for home-built boating enthusiasts

Duckworks Magazine’s monthly bulletin linked to an intheboatshed.net reference to Joe Dobler yesterday, and I’d like to repay the compliment.

For years now, Duckworks Magazine editor Chuck Leinweber has maintained a steady stream of fascinating posts about boats and boating, mainly concerning small boats and in particular home-built boats and occasionally restored older craft.

What makes it stand out is that it’s a real miscellany, and that it’s made up of so many obviously genuine stories about real people. Some of the material is inspirational stuff about building and cruising small boats, but you can also find tutorials on how to perform particular tasks and dire warnings about how to avoid repeating someone’s mistake.

If you’re inspired to get into building small boats, I think it’s essential reading – as is Duckworksmagazine’s sister site Duckworks Boat Builders Supply. A good place to start might be the Duckworks BBS plans page.

Duckworksmagazine: http://www.duckworksmagazine.com

Duckworks Boat Builder’s Supply http://www.duckworksbbs.com/

How a bookstore can speak volumes

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I wandered into the high-street news agent and bookstore WH Smith near one of the places where I work yesterday, and idly spent a moment looking for books about sailing.

Although this was a good-sized shop, the sailing section amounted to just two books on sailing topics, and there was nothing to indicate that there was any sort of section.

So for comparison, I glanced at the huge football section. As I scanned its many shelves, I came to a section marked Hooliganism. It wasn’t a small section – in fact, it occupied about a foot of shelf space.

Makes you think, doesn’t it? Back to boats, I say – they’re so much pleasanter to contemplate!