Category: Techniques

Beale Park Boat Show: artist Claudia Myatt, Starfish Books and a coracle

Claudia Myatt Starfish Books

Artist and author Claudia Myatt has written to say she’ll be at the Beale Park Boat Show (10-12 June), where it seems her time will be divided between manning her Starfish Books stand, and messing about on the water.

‘Beale Park is the perfect antidote to big boat shows,’ she says. ‘It takes mixing business and pleasure to a fine art, which is why I spend as much time paddling my coracle on the lake as I do on the stand.’

Claudia has been exhibiting at the show since it began over ten years ago. Since then she has developed her Starfish Books range of colourful nautical designs, which now includes the Log Book for Little Ships and the popular Go Sailing series of children’s books commissioned by the RYA.

New for this year is RYA Go Green. Fun and colourful, it covers everything you need to know about the marine environment, from rivers to oceans, sharks to shopping. All Claudia’s books, cards and designs will be on the Starfish Books stand in the area of the show called the Marine Village – and colouring sheets will be available to entertain children while parents browse.

Finally, her website includes a nice child’s colouring-in drawing of boats on a lake that could easily have been inspired by the Beale Park show. If you’re bringing kids, why not print it out – I’m sure she’d like to see them nicely coloured-in at the show.

Claudia Myatt and her coracle

Beale Park Boat Show preview: De Bootbouwschool boatbuilding school shows the Hanze yawl

Hanze yawl Bert van Baar De Bootbouwschool

Hanze yawl Bert van Baar De Bootbouwschool Hanze yawl Bert van Baar De Bootbouwschool Hanze yawl Bert van Baar De Bootbouwschool

Bert van Baar has written to say that at the Beale Park Boat Show (10-12th June) the De Bootbouwschool will be showing the good-looking Hanze yawl, which he and colleagues designed last winter during a three-day course on lofting.

With the aid of Pepijn van Schaik of Manta Marine Design, the school has now made a set of plans available to purchase; the boat will also be available as a kit this year.

The boat was built during a nine-day boatbuilding course with five people in my workshop during March – she is to be finished by the student who was lucky enough to win the boat in a lottery, although I don’t think this will be completed before the show.

The Hanze yawl will be rigged in the same way as Iain Oughtred’s Ness Yawl as standard, although other rigging arrangements are available on demand.

Bert himself has just finished a whitehall rowing boat with sliding seats for a Dutch owner, and is now building an example of Oughtred’s Kotik design for a Russian customer – it’s a streched version of the well known Wee Seal.

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Stirling & Son’s latest clinker dinghy

Stirling & Son 9ft clinker dinghy

Stirling & Son 9ft clinker dinghy Stirling & Son 9ft clinker dinghy Stirling & Son 9ft clinker dinghy

 

Boat builder and historian Will Stirling has sent in these shots of his latest beautiful 9ft clinker dinghy – Will has a great eye for a photograph and these shots are up to his usual standard, even if it was a miserable day.

These dinghies are a regular product line for Devon-based Stirling & Son and should be better known. This particular example is mahogany on oak with copper and bronze fastenings, spoon oars, with the name relief-cut with gold leaf.

Will also sent over a photo of half a whole mahogany butt sawn at 1/2in. ‘Dinghies in kit form’, he says wryly… There should be enough for seven to ten dinghies worth of timber in this part of the log – the rest arrived in a second delivery on the same trailer.

Will and his workmates had to cut hundreds of softwood sticks to place between the planks to allow the timber to season – softwood is chosen for the job because it does not stain. I gather teabreak at the Stirling & Son shed was dominated by question of how to calculate the optimum size of spacing stick to provide effective airflow and drying while using the least timber – and Will has asked whether any intheboatshed.net readers can advise?

By the way, Stirling & Son run twice-yearly courses during which students build their own 9ft traditional dinghy under the guidance of a skilled shipwright. The courses are part-time, running for three days a week for sixteen weeks, and cost £3,500 including materials.

For more posts relating to Stirling & Son boatbuilding projects and boat design work, click here.

Mahogany log for building clinker dinghy