The first Light Trow skiff is launched

Launch of Onawind Blue

Launch of Onawind Blue Launch of Onawind Blue Launch of Onawind Blue

The launch of Onawind Blue

Ben Crawshaw launched his Light Trow this weekend to wide acclaim – not least on the Tarragona beach where Onawind Blue first began to fulfill her destiny. Here’s a quotation from his excellent and entertaining weblog, The Invisible Workshop:

‘As the last wave of a big set broke we ran forward and into the surf, Onawind Blue’s bows skimmed over the sea and smashed through the white water. As we got out of our depth I hopped in and stood to the oars. OB responded immediately and her bow rose high over the next wave. She pulled away like a thoroughbred amid whooping and cheers from the beach and then we were on the outside and I evened up my stroke and headed out to sea.

‘She was a joy to row, comfortable, settled, surefooted and fast. Later people commented that they couldn’t believe how rapidly I was reduced to a speck. A smooth straight wake with no white water and no eddies spread behind us like a ribbon over the sea.’

It’s well worth visiting The Invisible Workshop, not least for the snatch of video, which clearly shows the kind of water Ben and his boat were so happy in, even on their first time out.

For more on the Light Trow and its ancestor the Fleet Trow:
‘Phwoar!’, says Light Trow builder Ben Crawshaw

Download the FREE BOAT PLANS for the Light Trow plans here:
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/gavin/lighttrow/trow.zip

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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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Gorgeous Oughtred sailing canoe wins 2007 Watercraft boatbuilding prize

Scotch Mist

Scotch Mist Scotch Mist Scotch Mist
Built to Iain Oughtred’s Macgregor design, Scotch Mist was the winner of the 2007 Watercraft boat building competition

Scotch Mist’s builder Chris Perkins built his beautiful sailing canoe to Iain Oughtred’s Macgregor design in an attempt to create a boat he could launch and recover on his own.

The name came from a definition in the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue that seems to have tickled Chris’s fancy: Continue reading “Gorgeous Oughtred sailing canoe wins 2007 Watercraft boatbuilding prize”