Category: Small boats

Where is Tara Tari?

Young Frenchwoman Capuchine Trochet is due to begin her crossing of the Atlantic from the Canary Islands today in a small boat built in Bangladesh using a composite material based on jute and recycled materials, and based on local fishing boats.

Mlle Trochet has a weblog about her adventure here and, if you’re into that kind of thing, there’s also a Facebook page.

If the name Tara Tari sounds a little familiar, it will be because a 26-year old Frenchman with no knowledge of navigation, Corentin de Chatel Perron, sailed her 8000 miles from Bangladesh to France via the Indian Ocean, through the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal in 2010, and wrote a book about the adventure.

There’s a boat show YouTube video that gives some idea of the boat here.

I gather that he won the Moitessier Literary Award for 2011, but I hope Tara Tari’s present skipper is better prepared!

National Geographic has a spectacular shot of a fishing boat with a similar hull form here.

Henwood & Dean 30th anniversary book

Head, Heart, Hand – a Boatbuilder’s Story (the link goes to an impressive collection of sample pages) is a beautiful book documenting the work of Thames-side traditional boat building firm Henwood & Dean, with photographs and design by Michael English.

The book is published to celebrate three decades of the Henwood & Dean boatyard – an event that is also marked by local newspaper the Henley Standard.

I’d guess that it would make a nice Christmas present for quite a few folks out there…

By the way, if like me you feel a little awed by the the varnished finishes the Henwood & Dean team achieve, you may be interested to know that Colin Henwood will be leading Boat Building Academy courses on renovation and finishing at Lyme Regis next year on the 18th-22nd February and 18th-22nd November (by coincidence the dates fall on the same dates each month).

BBA students launch their boats on the 5th December – and you are invited

 

Readers are invited to join Boat Building Academy students and staff at 10am on the 5th December to see this year’s class of 18 students who have completed the 38-week course launch their boats into the water at Lyme Regis Harbour.

It will be a morning to remember, as the students launch their boats, and in many cases mark the beginning of what we all hope will be successful careers in boat building.

To see the boats going together and to find out more about the students as the big day looms, click here.

To get a taste of the event, there are some photos of the BBA’s last student launch day here.