weblog – Page 6 – intheboatshed.net

Tiernan Roe starts work on a Karl Stambaugh Catbird 16 small cruising sharpie

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It may not look like much at the moment, but this is the very beginning of a new project for Tiernan Roe. Tiernan is a South-West Ireland-based boatbuilder who has recently received a huge amount of positive coverage for a beautiful John Atkin-designed Ninigret 22 he built for a client.

The acclaim has come from quite a variety of sources, including the hard to please Wooden Boat magazine.

Here’s what Tiernan has to say:

‘Just thought you might like to know what I’m up to at the moment. I’ve started building a Karl Stambaugh-designed Catbird 16 cruising sharpie for a client to use on Galway Bay.

It’s to be a ‘sailaway’, as they say – so the client will be doing the rigging and painting. Oh joy!

I’ve attached a few photos of setting up the frames, and I’m hoping to do a bit of a stop motion video when I’m finished and when I get the time.

I hope all is well with you. As always I’m enjoying intheboatshed – only last night reading I was reading about canoe yawls in WP Stephens’ book, and now all I have to do is find a client who wants one.

Anyway if you have any queries etc. don’t hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Teirnan’

Click here for Tiernan’s weblog. For information about Karl Stambaugh’s Catbird 16, click here.

Cruising a small boat in the western Med parts one and two

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Cruising a small boat in the western Med is the name Ben Crawshaw has given to a series of YouTube videos he has put together about his expedition to Ibiza and Formontera from the Spanish mainland.

So far there are only two of the series to watch, but already it’s clear the adventure was a real roller-coaster ride. Part two finds him on an exhilarating run to Formontera to meet friends for a dinner date aboard a restored 1929 British lifeboat; however the contrast with his honest account of the fear he felt in part 1 when sailing overnight to Ibiza could not be more stark. It’s not for nothing that he’s called the first episode Fear is a giant octopus.

See the videos at his weblog The Invisible Workshop here and here. Ben Crawshaw fans – and there are many – will be pleased to know there will be more to come…

I thought of Ben’s first video last night as I dipped into my book collection during a bout of insomnia. The volume in question was Old Jack by W H G Kingston. It’s a romantic story of derring-do on the high seas, and I have to say after just two chapters the adventuring has already been immense and the body count is mounting.

I was particularly taken with the advice an experienced sailor gave the young protagonist when he said that he would never be frightened so long as he was with his companion and the ship’s captain:

‘Peter laughed. “We may be very well in our way,” said he; “but Jack my advice is Trust in God and hold on to the weather rigging.”‘

For more on Ben and his Light Trow named Onawind Blue, click here.

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Chris Perkins’ photos from sunny Portsoy 2009

Saturday, Portsoy 2009. Not really a day for a race! As usual,
click on the thumbnails for some nice big photos

Award-winning lapstrake boat builder and Iain Oughtred boat plan specialist Chris Perkins has written to tell us a little about this year’s Scottish Traditional Boat Festival at Portsoy, and to share some of his photos. If you enjoy these, there are lots more at his weblog Strathkanchris’s Little World.

‘A few snaps for you from a very sultry Scottish Trad Boat Fest. Went to the seminar on Thursday. The session with the Swedish boatbuilders, the Ravinis brothers, was brilliant and I would have liked more, Iain Oughtred’s talk was enjoyable if a bit rushed, and our American visitor Bob Walser on shanties was enjoyable – he has a good voice. I’m afraid that for me the history of the clippers, although well presented, wasn’t of great interest – they are far too big! Unfortunately I had to leave before Nigel Irens talk.

‘Saturday was a magical day. We were up at 05:30 so we could make the three-hour drive over in plenty of time to see the boats away. Lots of boats, bright skies and very little wind so the race turned into a bit of a drift around on glassy water – but the consolation was that the light was pretty darned good and created some good shots – well I like to think so!

‘It was an event that I think you and Julie would have hugely enjoyed. As always there was far to much to see and hear in the one day, one of these days I will take a boat over and ”do” the weekend properly.‘

Well Chris, it sounds irresistable. I’ll talk with Julie about 2010… Thanks for the photos!

I should add that Chris is a leading light of the Home Built Boat Rally group of British-based home boat builders.