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
My thanks to Earwegoagin for pointing out the existence of an extraordinary sailing sport I hadn’t previously imagined – the Australian Historical 10 foot Skiff Class (click here and here).
The skiffs are 10 ft long and carry as much sail area as their three man crews can cope with. No trapezes, leaning boards or ratchet blocks are allowed. With three blokes in a ten foot boat, they sometimes sit on the transom, at others I think they sit on each other…
My pal Pete Bromwich caught the sailing and boat building bug some time ago – and has kindly sent me some photos of the the boats attending the Yarmouth Old Gaffers Festival (YOGAFF) last weekend.
I think it’s a particular pleasure to learn that old pals you haven’t seen for a while have taken up one’s own interests, and that’s certainly the case with Pete.
Here’s what he says:
‘Unfortunately the wind was not with us this Saturday and I did not see any of the gaffer actually moving, but here are some in Yarmouth, hope they are of some use to you.
‘Yarmouth Harbour was full; I did not count, but there must have been well over 100 gaffers of all shapes and sizes crammed into the harbour over the weekend.
It was lovely to see a friend I had met at Lyme Regis Boat Building Academy, Jeremy, a few years ago with Margherita, his Willow Bay Boats Shilling. She was rafted with Marjory, the first one built by Phil Swift in 1998. The Shilling has a cedar hull which is then sheathed, making her virtually maintenance free.
The build quality and thought that has gone into carefully making all use of the available space is quite stunning. She’s a lovely looking small gaff rigged yacht that sails well, according to her owner.
Pilgrim was a big attraction at Yarmouth, seen here with Princess of Caithness rafted to her. She is the oldest surviving Brixham built and rigged sailing trawler. She is run by a trust who offer sailing experiences from ½ day to 9 day cruises. Definitely one of the many things on my to-do list. She is now completely restored and members of the public where invited on board to view her, which was greatly appreciated.
‘Hope this is of some use to you. Pete’
It certainly is! Many thanks for some very nice shots. We had better winds to play with on the North Kent Coast last weekend, but I can’t pretend we had a fraction of the number of pretty boats to look at!
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.
