|  Posted on September 30th,2009
The latest issue of Outside Magazine includes a great article titled “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”about a six-person crew’s voyage in a hand-made,21′,open sloop from the southern coast of Haiti to Florida. The goal was to trace the route of refugees in a native craft. This is one of those voyages that gamely straddle the boundary between bravery and hubris. The voyage was successful,but it easily could have gone the other way. It was poorly equipped and used a boat that may be fine for coastal fishing but was not designed for open ocean crossings. I love that they used a traditional boat and I’m glad they made it,but the story reads as a bit too much tempting the sea.
Posted on March 8th,2009 Call it a two-fer. I have been doing the Apprentice for a Day program at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. I thought my Dad would enjoy it as well,I gave him a day of it for Christmas. Of course I had to join him. So he got to check it out,I scratched my boatbuilding itch,and we got some father-son bonding time in. Hey –that’s a three-fer! The mission –and of course we chose to accept it –was building a 13′3″Melonseed skiff,based on lines taken from a 1920′s craft,the oldest surviving one of its type. Specifically,the task for the day was beginning to install the ribs. We were both thrilled as neither of us had done that before. I’ll not carry on –check out the images.
» Continue reading I built another boat! OK,I was just ribbing… » Posted on January 24th,2009 
Gavin over at intheboatshed pointed us to The Invisible Workshop,a nice blog run by a Brit living in Catalonia,Spain. The author,Ben,built a boat,ONAWIND BLUE,to Gavin’s Light Trow design. Ben seems to camp-cruise the boat around the Western Mediterranean. We are eager to understand how he has formed this enviable life. The blog is also a great source for information on traditional Spanish boats. Ben,you have already contributed greatly to the Iberian section of my Traditional Boats of the World project. There are some really gorgeous boats there and I’d encourage folks to delve deeper into Ben’s posts on the subject as there are many more pictures than the one-of-each I plot on the map. As of this moment,any boat plotted in Spain is courtesy of Ben. Many thanks! Posted on January 16th,2009 
I just popped over to Proafile,where I don’t spend enough time,and was rewarded with a really nice piece of small boat design mind-candy. Michael Schacht,who writes the blog,has a concept that is one-part heresy and one-part genius –the stuff we need more of. He has taken a “sacred”design,L. Francis Herreshoff’s ROZINANTE,and turned it into ROZINANTE II –a “mono-proa –a bilaterally asymmetric monohull.”You need to check this out. You can call it crazy –it it is certainly unconventional –but you cannot ignore that it is a thoroughly creative move that does the design decent justice. As someone who increasingly finds his dabbling going in wacky directions,I love this concept. Classics,but unique moves forward that play to tradition as well are going to keep the spice in the boats we love. Keep pushing it,Michael. Posted on November 20th,2008 To Mozambique we go –ain’t these beauties? Thanks to Africa Geographic Travel for the image from its Mozambique travel program. 
Posted on October 6th,2008 
I have mentioned the presence of one of Iain Oughtred’s Caledonia Yawls at the festival. I had previously only seen the design in pictures and it was a thrill to get a up-close-and-personal with the boat,one of my favorite designs. This one is REBECCA ANN,built by Geoff Kerr in 2002 and owned by Dale Davenport of Linville,VA. Some observations: - The Caledonia is much bigger in real life than she seems on paper or screen. That isn’t a bad thing at all –she seems more substantial for cruising or going out in a little weather than I expected.
- She looks even better up close. I guess many boats look better in the water with sails flying,but she was exceptionally so to my eye.
- The interior layout just screams adventure.
 This is a boat you could load up and go somewhere with a few people. She could take you into shallow-draft waters and out across some open water. - I need one.
If interested,the web site The Caledonia Yawl Crazybird has Dale’s story of coming to own the boat,as well as his and other cruising stories. Posted on October 5th,2008 Here are most of the other pictures I took at the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival. Posted on October 4th,2008 I just test-drove three Chesapeake Light Craft boats:a Wood Duck 12 Hybrid kayak,a Chester Yawl pulling boat,and an Annapolis Wherry. You may recall I have written about them before. I really like what they are doing. 
The Wood Duck is a pretty little kayak (the hybrid refers to it being part stitch-and-glue and part strip-built). It is too small and short for my taste (I do too many longer trips and want better tracking),but for a light,easy-to-manage boat,it is a nice option. It is way,WAY nicer-looking than I lot of light recreational boats. 
The Chester Yawl surprised me –pleasantly –with its rowing capability. It is attractive,but not stunning,to my eye,but I liked its performance. It also has a really clean,flexible layout that strikes me as useful across a range of purposes. The center sent and foot stretchers are designed to hook into the floor-boards,basically allowing a myriad of configurations for different preferences. Very nice touch. 
And then the Wherry. It is gorgeous and it rows extremely well and I made an absolute hash of rowing it. Complete embarrassment. I know it has been a while since I skulled,but geez…If I wanted a really nice rowing boat,though,I would definitely look at this boat. One more thing…  I got to talk to Chesapeake Light Craft’s principal and designer,John Harris. I asked him about the rig for the Skerry,which always seemed too small to me. His fascinating response:a) everyone says that and b) everyone is surprised when they actually sail it. As-is,it has the same sail area / displacement as a Laser. Huh. Apparently they are pretty peppy with this rig and any more would be dicey (though a bigger Bermuda sloop rig exists). Shows what I know. Posted on October 4th,2008 I am sitting here watching the race from a distance and realizing a major mistake. I should have either tried to get on one of these boats by calling ahead or,barring that,should have brought my kayak with me. I could be out with the fleet right now. Instead of on a distant deck. Of course its a drift fest,so I am not missing a great race,just a close-up of these boats under sail. 
One thing I can tell from here:Phil Bolger’s lovely Light Schooner is a nice pick for such a race. I am looking at one out there and it is doing well. Posted on October 4th,2008 We are getting ready for the start of the sailing race. I am guessing there are about 40 boats out there with some really great ones among them. If have seen an Oughtred Caledonia Yawl,a couple of sweet sailing canoes,a number of sprit or lug skiffs and such. It’s very cool. Of course the breeze is minimal and flukey,so I’m not anticipating great action… | |
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