Here are two views of a very attractive local boat. Don't
you just want to take it home and look after it?
And here is a rather larger and still more heavily
constructed model. Fabulous; old timber, clean decks, and no doghouse, and it looks as if
it could push aside a small island.
But have another look at the elegant little boat tied up nest to
it. I know it looks very much at home tied up in a Breton port, but it's actually a
Swampscott dory, a classic design of the Eastern Seabord of the USA! I had a brief chat
with the owner, but didn't learn too much as quickly found my French vocabulary does not
run to the parts of boats. Here's another view.
And here's another heavy old local boat.
Notice the little pram hanging behind. Here's a closer view of
the same pram with a boy having fun in it.
I later had the idea of drawing up an epoxy ply pram using
Hulls, but looking back at these pictures, it's clear that my design is both rounder in
cross-section and longer than this boy's boat - in fact rather more like this pram
below. Incidentally, I think the fitting on the gunwale is for thole pins; I noticed
also that the centreboard slot has been filled with a piece of flexible tubing for towing
- a handy cord makes it easy to remove.
So it seems that in designing my little dinghy, I didn't really
replicate the pram that inspired ! Oh well, I've been meaning to make up some drawings of
a 6ft 6in pram anyway, so I'd better just resign myself to drawing another one - I think
there's room in the world for both designs!
Here's a proa, and a beautifully finished canoe:
Here's a nice strip-build skiff:
Here's an interesting boat designed and built by a local, who
told me he had based it on a faering (my French must have suddenly become better):
Seen close up, this tiny cruiser looked as if it was a
year-round home to somebody:
I don't know what this skiff is - it could even be a pod design,
also from the Eastern USA:
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What I do know is that I saw its skipper struggle bravely but
not well in a Force 3 or 4 wind, until he finally gave up and rowed home looking saddened
but very picturesque. So what was wrong? Fluky winds? A design that won't sail well upwind
in anything over a Force 2? Or is this chap still learning?
Finally, I rather liked these little beach cats used for
training by the local sailing school. We haven't got anything like this where I live - do
any of our multihull enthusiast friends fancy drawing up a safe, simple little cat like
this? I bet it could be done with three sheets of ply.
