Tag: wooden boat

Baltimore Woodenboat Festival – don’t you just wish you could go?

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baltimore, wooden boat, woodenboat, tiernan roe, boatbuilder, boatbuilding, traditional boats, festival, heir island

baltimore, wooden boat, woodenboat, tiernan roe, boatbuilder, boatbuilding, traditional boats, festival, heir island baltimore, wooden boat, woodenboat, tiernan roe, boatbuilder, boatbuilding, traditional boats, festival, heir island baltimore, wooden boat, woodenboat, tiernan roe, boatbuilder, boatbuilding, traditional boats, festival, heir island

baltimore, wooden boat, woodenboat, tiernan roe, boatbuilder, boatbuilding, traditional boats, festival, heir island

Boatbuilder Tiernan Roe writes to remind me that the Baltimore Woodenboat Festival takes place in a few days, and kindly sent me some shots of local boats to grab readers’ interest.

His photographs are beautiful so I hope we do manage to persuade at least a few readers to make the journey to the far south-western tip of Ireland. They show currachs on land and in action, and the Heir Island lobsterboat Hanora taken at a charity row around Sherkin Island at the beginning of May.

Tiernan’s own boatbuilding outfit Roeboats will be debuting the Ninigret he built last year, and there should be lots to do and see, and hopefully a few good music sessions as well. It’s been too many years since I last visited the area, but I remember it as a charming, romantic and very musical place. Naturally there will be the usual races, dinners and parties one would expect at such an event.

A particularly significant shindig will be the framing out party for AK Ilen at Hegarty’s Boatyard – which will be followed by a talk on the traditional boats of Ireland.

Ireland’s national maritime radio programme interviewed Tiernan recently (look for the May 7th programme) and he also has a new brochure.

Thanks Tiernan!

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A 1930s precursor to the Classic Day Boat or Chichester Harbour 18?

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Bosham, CH18, chichester harbour 18, classic day boat, edward beaumont, George Weeks, sailing dinghy, racing dinghy, 1930s

Edward Beaumont has found a home for his Western Skiff – and has sent me this photo in return for putting out his appeal for a home for it.

The photo is of his aunt Betty and grandfather George Weeks sailing Witch at Bosham in the 1930s.

George was honorary secretary of the sailing club there, and from the photo seems to have won a lot of prizes. Edward says that as a youngster he was told the boat was a West Country One Design, and says he thinks the boat in the photo is clearly about 18 feet overall, and likely to have had a heavy centreboard similar to Thames Estuary One Design and of course, the early National Eighteens.

Edward’s grandfather became ill and died before he was born and the family does not know what happened to the boat – there were several similar boats in Chichester Harbour at the time and a local class of Chichester Harbour 18-footers emerged.

One of the older survivors is a boat called Scandal, but more recently the class has been re-established, with what Edward says is a GRP boat built by Flight Marine (see them here – they’re nice boats, even if they are GRP). He also says there are good photos of some of the older boats on the Bosham Sailing Club’s gallery.

If anyone would like to add to this story, please do – using either the comment link below or by writing to me at gmatkin@gmail.com.

The Dinghy Cruising Association at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show

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dca, dinghy cruising, association, beale park, thames, boat show, suppliers, wooden boat, boat plans, boatbuilding, sailing

The Dinghy Cruising Association at last year’s Beale Park Thames Boat Show

Dinghy Cruising Association member Nick Watt has written to say that his organisation will be at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show.

The DCA is usually in residence at the show, and generally provides a lot of the on-water activity in a range of small craft.

This year, says Nick, the DCA folks will have a stand ashore on which it’s hoping to present member Dave Jennings’ nearly completed Roamer – this is a specialist dinghy cruising design designed by a DCA member, the plans for which are available from the association. To find out more about the Roamer, click here and here. There will also be a pontoon providing moorings for DCA members’ boats.

A key aim of the DCA’s presence at the show is to demonstrate that there are more ways of having fun on the water in small boats than necessarily racing around the marks (hoorah to that, I say), and that a wide variety of small craft (including, hopefully, Alistair Law’s Paradox) can be used for cruising in coastal waters.

Whatever, those who drop in can be sure of a welcome.