Tag: sail

Vintage Wooden Boat Association

The Association has over 900 registered boats ranging from classic racing dinghies to wooden ships. Membership extends world wide and there are a number of Regional Sections holding regular meetings; members meet at a national rally and at boat shows.

One of the VWBA’s current projects is compiling a pictorial and historical archive of registered craft that will provide a lasting record for the future.

For more on the VWBA:
http://www.vwba.org

Each month the site features a different boat, and at the time of writing it was Cordon Rouge, a 28ft 1930s Broads sailing yacht built by Applegates of Potter Heigham:

The Three Brothers – a coble from the Yorkshire coast

There aren’t many sailing cobles left, and so it’s great to see that the The Three Brothers is on the water in the harbour at Bridlington, and being sailed and cared for by Brid’s own Bridlington Sailing Coble Preservation Society. Built in the town in 1912 at a cost of £75, for many years she was a fishing coble as well as a pleasure vessel during the summer. Cobles converted readily to motor power, but The Three Brothers is now refurbished as a traditional East Coast sailing coble and is sailed regularly by local Naval cadets and members of the Society.
For more on the Society:
http://www.bscps.com/
If you can add to this story – perhaps links to more photos, details of the restoration or the boat’s history – please email us at gmatkin@gmail.com . It would be great to be able to add something to what’s currently online.

A barge with a Viking-style square sail

The Humber keel Comrade is a rare surviving example of a type of craft evolved to work the difficult Humber Estuary, and its tributaries and canals. She was built in 1923, at Warren’s shipyard at New Holland, and was originally named Wanda. At 61ft 6in in length and 15ft 6in in beam, she had a hold capable of carrying over a hundred tons in cargo.

The Humber is very much part of Viking invader territory, and I do wonder how much this unusual square sail may owe to those invaders of more than a thousand years ago.

For more on Comrade and her sister ship Humber sloop Amy Howson,  see http://www.keelsandsloops.org.uk/