Category: Restoration and repair

Restored Falmouth Quay punt Teal is sailing again!

Don’t you wish she was yours? Adrian Nowotynski has written to report on the progress of the century-old Falmouth Quay punt Teal, which is now back in the water and sailing again following her restoration of the boat at Hegarty’s Boatyard near Cork.

The fabulous photos were taken by Tim Cooke, who writes the weblog An Ilur in Ireland, and are used here with his permission.

Here’s what Adrian has to say:

‘She was relaunched a few weeks ago with great success. We made it to Baltimore two days before the annual Wooden Boat Festival.

‘We had our first attempt of sailing her during the harbour race on Saturday in over 20 knots of wind. It was fantastic and we were very impressed by her.

‘On Sunday we had lighter wind, competed in the race and took part in the parade of sail, this time under full sail minus the topsail ( need more rope for that one).

‘On Monday we sailed her to her home port of Union Hall where she is now sitting on her mooring ready for adventure.

‘The project has been huge, but a fantastic experience that I am missing already, and Teal is absolute gem.

‘Thank you for posting the updates and I will be in touch if we succeed in any big adventures,

‘I will be getting started with the Apple Pie dinghy soon so will let you know.’

Adrian also adds that she will soon be getting a nice new set of sails.

Read Adrian’s weblog for more about Teal.

Launch day inches closer for the restored motor launch Mary


Ben Wales has written with news of the progress of his restoration of the 18ft motor launch Mary.

The clinker built little boat was used by the smart Royal Lymington Yacht Club, and was also used in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk.

Ben reminds me that we’ve been following his project for four years now! Good for him – it’s great to see that his persistence is now so close to paying off.

Here’s what Ben says:

‘We had to take down the tent cover over the winter as it almost got destroyed by the storms in December and January.

‘While the main work was on hold we did a test engine line up, as I will need to make a new forward engine mount support bracket.

‘In March we set up the tent cover and began to lay the new solid timber forward deck in pitch pine – the planks are fitted tight and screwed down with A4 stainless screws finished with a dowel.

The deck will be sanded, caulked and varnished, and replaced with bronze deck fittings.

Work has now began on the aft deck; the steering blocks for the steering cables have been fitted and a fuel tank installed – this has to be done before the deck can be laid.

‘I hope to have a progress report later next month for you – and maybe Mary will be ready for a summer launch.

‘Regards, Ben’

Thanks Ben! It would be great to see Mary afloat and glistening with varnish in the coming weeks.

Row St Kilda has started

Row St Kilda crew practising

Great good luck you lot! The row St Kilda crew practising

They’ve set off – the 100-mile fund-raising row from Village bay St Kilda to Portree on the Isle of Skye in an open rowing boat built around 1890 began earlier today.

The rowers are raising funds for the RNLI and Skye & Lochalsh Young Carers. The link for donations is here; their website is here, the BBC has a story here, and track their progress .

I wonder whether they’ll do it all again next year?