March/April issue of Water Craft out soon

Water Craft March-April 2011

That’s an impressive looking lot of sail!

The March/April 2011 issue  of Water Craft will be in the newsagents from 24 February.

Inside, you’ll find:

  • Colin Buttifant’s latest Broads yacht is fast – she can hold her own with the stripped-down local racers but she’s as cosy as a country cottage down below, according to Kathy Mansfield.
  • In Pen-Hir, leading French naval architect François Vivier has created an elegantly simple cruising yacht he calls a ‘Folkboat for the Future’ – and his son’s boatyard Icari is building her in sustainable birch plywood.
  • Boatbuilding materials are rarely – if ever – cheap, so when Ian Parsons decided to build his first boat, a stitch-and-tape Stornoway 14 dayboat, in order to avoid expensive waste he bought a pre-cut kit of plywood parts.
  • When Dick Phillips took over Phil Swift’s Willow Bay Boats range, he was undecided whether to offer the popular dayboats as bare hulls for home completion. So he went to see two of Phil’s customers who had done just that..
  • Gentleman-chandler Moray MacPhail leads a fact-finding mission of East Coast luminaries to Klassieke Schepen, the Dutch traditional boat show.

This is not to forget all Water Craft’s other features, regular and irregular, and – inevitably – a reminder from the editor about the Cordless Canoe Challenge at the Beale Park Boat Show, in which contestants compete to win a bag full of brand new Makita power tools worth over £1200.

Click here to order your subscription now!

Boat Building Academy summer 2010 student launch

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Youngest student on the course Alasdair Grant (18 years) launching his Beer Beach Boat

(L-R) Tim Price and Tom Trevessey and boat owner Lachlan McKenzie in the background - bringing 14’ ‘Tailwind’ Yachting World Day Boat to the harbour Foreground – Dominic Frankis in his 12’5” Mallard Dinghy, with James Downs in the background celebrating with champagne in his 14’ 3” Canadian Canoe Martin McMahon’s 16’5” Islay Skiff with student Jim Walsh and BBA Graduate and woman gig-builder Gail McGarva in waders

18 year-old Alasdair Grant launching his Beer beach boat; Tim Price, and Tom Trevessey and  Lachlan McKenzie bringing Yachting World Dayboat Tailwind to the harbour; Dominic Frankis sails his Mallard dinghy while James Downs in the background celebrates  in his Canadian canoe; Martin McMahon, Jim Walsh and BBA graduate and woman gig-builder Gail McGarva in waders with Martin’s Islay skiff

Back in early June June 2010 six full-sized boats built by students at the Boat Building Academy workshops were  launched at  Lyme Regis.

If that seems a long time ago,  I apologise – I should explain that as a one-man band and I’ve had rather a lot to keep me busy lately!

The full-sized boats were joined by as surprise additional contender – a remote-controlled model of a Nordic Folkboat built in student Tim Price’s spare time.

Among the boats launched were a 14ft Yachting World Day Boat, a 12ft 5in Mallard sailing dinghy, a 16ft 5in Beer beach boat and a 14ft skiff with a polyester and glass hull, and a wooden fit-out. The sun shone, as usual – I really don’t know how the BBA does it.

Among the students were a management consultant, a builder, a product designer, an architectural technologist, a snowboarding instructor and a handful of school and university leavers.

The selection photos above come from BBA staffer Emma Brice, who has promised more of the individual boats over the next weeks. Thanks Emma!

The July/August issue of Water Craft magazine is due out very soon!

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paul gartside, gaff rig, dayboat, roger dongray, golant yawl, golant gaffer, kathy mansfield, iain oughtred, water craft, magazine

The July/August issue of Water Craft – subscribe online now!

The July/August 2010 issue of Water Craft magazine is out from the 24th June contains the usual fine collection of articles! This time, editor Pete Greenfield says it includes the following:

Designer Paul Gartside presents full plans and offsets for a shapely 18ft (5.5m) gaff-rigged centreboard dayboat. I’d say that was unmissable…

Roger Dongray introduces his new 25’ (7.6m) Golant Yawl, which follows on from the success of his widely admired 19ft (5.9m) Golant Gaffer design. This issue includesfeatures on both.

Boatbuilder Gail McGarva completes the construction of two traditional 32ft (9.8m) Cornish pilot gigs.

Reporter and photographer Kathy Mansfield goes to the recent ‘Oughtraid’ held in Holland. Apparently it was relaxed gathering of Iain Oughtred’s elegant boat designs in the Netherlands. I hope the weather was good.

The issue also includes the next instalments of its Grand Designs series, including a lovely double-page  feature about the Light Trow, and  all the usual regular features.

For more on Iain Oughtred’s designs, click here.

For more on  Gail McGarva, click here.