Category: Culture: songs, stories, photography and art

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

Maurice Griffiths talks about comfort on board a yacht

Maurice Griffiths

Maurice Griffiths

My partner Julie found this wonderful quote in the The Arrow Book of Sailing, by Maurice Griffiths

‘There is a story about a tripper to the seaside who, from the pier, had often watched the yachts out sailing, but had never seen one of these white-winged beauties close-to. On day, he found one lying alongside a jetty with apparently no-one on board. Overcome with curiousity he stepped gingerly onto the deck of the thing, lost his balance as she rolled on the swell, and fell head-first down the hatch. [ad name=”intheboatshed-post”] Continue reading “Maurice Griffiths talks about comfort on board a yacht”

An Ashcroft dinghy at the Beale Park show

Ashcroft dinghy

Ashcroft 10ft dinghy Ashcroft 10ft dinghy Ashcroft 10ft dinghy

Ashcroft 10ft dinghy Ashcroft 10ft dinghy Ashcroft 10ft dinghy

Ashcroft 10ft dinghy Ashcroft 10ft dinghy Ashcroft 10ft dinghy

Ashcroft 10ft dinghy Ashcroft 10ft dinghy
Ashcroft 10ft dinghy rigged for sailing

Those of you who were intrigued by my post some months ago about the possible relationship between a 10ft dinghy designed by Ashcroft and another by his friend Chappelle will know why I was intrigued by this real-life example of the Ashcroft 10ft dinghy built by the Ashcroft method, in which veneers are laminated together at an angle to each other. See the post in question here: Ashcroft and Chappelle – are their dinghies related?

It’s a sweet and unusual little boat, but I doubt whether many people would build this little boat this way today. Of course, Tom Dunderdale built a similar boat using epoxy ply clinker, which is enough to set a chap thinking…

At the time of writing there were 15 copies of Ashcroft’s Boat Building Simplified available at ABE Books. Check now:
AbeBooks

Want to comment or add something? Email intheboatshed.net: gmatkin@gmail.com

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Cooke on anchoring, mooring, stowing away, and running aground

Cooke

Chapter IX: ‘No anchor, no matter how good its proportions and shape may be, can be expected to hold a boat if the cable be allowed to fall in a heap on top of it.’

Cooke Cooke Cooke

Cooke Cooke

Chapter X: ‘There is probably no manoeuvre in the practice of seamanship that causes the novice so much misgiving as picking up moorings.’ Continue reading “Cooke on anchoring, mooring, stowing away, and running aground”