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
This chapter is from quite a time before epoxy, polyurethane and the rest, of course – but it’s still what nightmares are made of.
Whenever I read it, I can’t help thinking one should really take the somewhat tactless step of examining every plank of a boat before setting out, even just across the bay…
A short film by Kat Gardiner about Canadian boatbuilder Andy Stewart.
My thanks to Sam Robinson for letting me know about this!
Photos by Tracy Marler
For years Boat Building Academy students at Lyme have been amazingly lucky with the weather on their big launch day – but not this time. These shots were taken at the summer launch day on the 7th June. The weather was mean and moody, and although the rain kept off for most of the day, Academy principal Yvonne Green reports that the big issue was wind.
‘Two of the boats couldn’t go in: the harbourmaster saw the Yachting World Dayboat zip through the harbour and decided the Haven 12 1/2 and the Half Rater were staying on the shore,’ she says, ‘but the other ten were launched to the cheers of a crowd of between three and four hundred people.’
It’s a shame about the weather, but what a great turn out!
I gather Yvonne is gathering together photos of the original boats for us. To read about the twelve boats the students build over the winter, click here.