Faversham Creek: a Julie skiff whizzes along powered by an electric outboard

One of the skiffs built by school children at Faversham being powered along by an electric outboard.

The skiffs are built at Faversham Creek Trust’s Boat Camp to free plans available from Intheboatshed.net

The skiffs were built under the tutelage of local boatbuilder Alan Thorne, who is also a supplier for electric outboards, folding RIBs and inflatable canoes. Call Alan on 07865 091155

I’m not a fisherman, but surely this inexpensive and quick little rig would surely be great for line fishing in and out of suitable creeks, rivers and lakes…

Square sails drove small boats before the spinnaker

Before the spinnaker, even small boats sometimes had square sails. Not to mention every duster and teacloth in the house… See examples on the Openboat.au rigs and sails page, with no doubt many more to come. My thanks to designer, boatbuilder and sailmaker Michael Storer for the tip. See his boat plans website and Facebook page.

http://www.openboat.com.au/index.html

 

Australia’s 18-ft skiffs and 14 Footers

A little Australian moment, with links from Michael Storer’s always interesting Storer Boat Plans Facebook page.

First (above), a stunning, award-winning piece of 1970 film about Sydney Harbour’s 18ft skiffs. They have a great history – Joshua Slocum mentions seeing them at Sydney in his solo round the world account Sailing Alone Around the World.

And then there’s this article about  the history of Australia’s 14 Footers, a very different development from the Uffa Fox influenced International 14s that developed in the UK.