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
Shopping for salt in the next town along the coast? Why not, especially if the weather’s like this?
Over at The Invisible Workshop Ben Crawshaw indulges three of his pleasures, sailing his Light Trow, enjoying a beer with friends and delicious cooking…
Don’t forget his equally delicious-looking book on the Lodestar imprint is now out – click on the advert in the top right hand column of this weblog!
I’m delighted to be able to announce that Ben’s colourfully illustrated 224-page book will be available from Lodestar Books in a few days and is now available to order, priced at £15 in the UK, £17 Europe and £20 outside Europe. [NB – this book is now debing delivered!]
It tells an amazing and exciting story, as the publisher’s notes make clear:
‘A sail-and-oar adventure in our own boat, one having the inevitable beauty of a form which accurately meets function – this is the dream of many of us. But Ben Crawshaw shows us that the dream is nearer to our grasp than we may think.
‘In Gavin Atkin’s Light Trow design he found an affordable boatbuilding project which would require the most simple and accessible of materials, and just basic woodworking ability.
‘Within months he was afloat in Onawind Blue, and his book Catalan Castaway recounts his day-sails, beach-camping cruises and a challenging longer voyage, over a five year period on the Catalan coast of Spain, where he lives with his partner and young family.
‘Onawind Blue has been Ben’s passport to the traditional maritime community of the region, so in addition to her own exploits we learn of the indigenous boat types, many now endangered, and the dedicated band of people who keep them alive.
‘Ben’s increasingly ambitious adventures have sometimes made him draw on deep reserves of physical and mental strength, as has his personal battle with the ‘giant octopus’ of serious illness, happily now at bay.’
Read a sample chapter of Catalan Castaway here.
For more posts about Ben Crawshaw and his boat Onawind Blue, click here. Also see Ben’s excellent weblog, Theinvisibleworkshop.
Read all about it here; I’m guessing it may become a destination for small boat sailors.
For more posts about Ben Crawshaw and the Light Trow (including free plans for building this flat-bottomed sailing and rowing boat), click here and page back through the ‘older posts’ links.
PS – I’m reminded by reader Dale that Ben’s handsome new book Catalan Castaway will be out in a few weeks. If you let the publisher Lodestar Books have your email address, they’ll contact you when they start reserving copies about four weeks ahead of publication.