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
Brian Pearson has sent over some of his photos of the Boat Building Academy’s student launch day on 7th December. Thanks Brian!
He seems to have had a good time: ‘It was a very joyful occasion, so thanks for the heads-up.’ He added that his party voted the Gartside-designed Skylark their boat of the day, though njo doubt others will have their own favourites.
Remember Chris Perkin’s award-winning Macgregor canoe built to Iain Oughtred’s design? Well, it has turned up on a BBC series following largely forgotten steamer routes taken by Victorian holiday-makers, and pioneer canoeist Macgregor himself. (I’m sure they’re not forgotten among boating enthusiasts!)
It’s a wonderfully scenic part of the world and it’s great to see Chris’s immaculate little boat being paddled by the presenter, and I think the series will be well worth watching. Broadcast transmissions have been restricted, but it is available to many of us via the BBC iPlayer.
More photos of the boat can be found on Chris’s Flickr photostream.
François Vivier’s sailing cruiser Pen-Hir
Many of François Vivier’s revered ply and epoxy boat designs draw somewhat on the traditional boats of the Breton coast. We had a priceless opportunity to appreciate how attractive and well worked out they really are this summer when we were invited over for lunch with him and his charming wife Veronique.
That meeting over a lovely lunch was a great pleasure for both Julie and I. François’ English is excellent and his conversation is marked by strong views and clear, well argued and original insights – they’re just as well made as his boat plans themselves.
Looking at his own coastal sailing cruiser Pen-Hir as built by his son’s boatyard, we were struck not only by attractive and well made the boat was, but also by how well everything is worked out.
For example I often joke about the ‘long things’ that make life difficult in most small boats – the boat hooks, the unused spars, the odd oar or sweep, and so on – but I was impressed to find that François hadn’t just found places for them on his boat, but had designed-in spaces for each one that meant they could be kept accessible but out of the way and secure.
The smart equipment was good too. I particularly liked the diesel cooker that doubled as a heater, and the electric outboard. It was only a shame that it was too windy to go sailing – and boy was it windy. We’d heard stories about how the French will sail in any sort of weather, but from our experience they aren’t true – at least not at Pornichet, for no-one else was out on the water that day either.
I was interested to learn that François has been involved in establishing a new French boat building school, and very much look forward to learning how it goes in the coming years.
More information about the Vivier Pen-Hir design and many more photos can be found here.