Michael Storer's Interesting Boat Links

[Boatmik]

Howdy All,

I will occasionally put an interesting new boaty link up in this thread (now I can edit old threads I can simply add to this first post).

Anyone can suggest stuff by posting here too and I will move anything exemplary to this first post with a mini review.

From the earliest (and there is more information about each of these further down the thread).

Furled Sails (http://www.furledsails.com/) - They call themselves the "World's First Sailing Podcast" but there are heaps of archived interviews with some very big names in the wooden boat movement as well as some very interesting smaller names too. Beuhler, Micro Cruisers, PDRacers, Jerry Cornell, the amazing Watertribe and much more.

http://www.sailingsource.com/cherub/idx-chbuild.php
The boats are high tech, but they have included wood as one of the very successful alternatives. If you want to build a carbon mast for your GIS ... this site is where to find out how.

National Maritime website seems to be down but...
http://www.anmm.gov.au
I saw a little photo in The Australian promoting an exhibition of toy boats at the National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour. It looked like it might be a great exhibition if you are closer to Sydney. Real proper little boats. Also make sure you see Taipan - the radical 1960's 18 foot skiff from Ben Lexcen (Bob Miller) that has been restored.

If you are restoring a trad built boat that was built in Australia there is a heap of information that allows you to work out what sizes things were in the original boat and some idea of modern substitutes. It is a fabulous historical resource - so if you are repairing or restoring a commercial or fishing vessel have a look at the Construction - Wood after logging in below. Please have a look at my comments below for some context.
http://www.nmsc.gov.au/uslcode_disclaimer.html

I have to get to the bottom of it ... but there is a festival in Taiwan that involves burning ... this.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/2468281164_3c00864726.jpg
The link to all the pics are here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/maopopo/2464236707/in/set-72157604876407672/)
You can see the full pics at my friend MaoPoPo's flickr site. I generally don't agree with burning boats, quite often there is somone lurking in the wings who is looking wistfully at it and thinking "I would take it - really". But where a boat is designed to be burned!!! There are some great pictures here - look at the detail of the boat - some of the best Junk pictures I have seen anywhere! MaoPoPo has some great photos in general - I love her vegetable pics - but she and her friends do a fair bit of Kayaking around Taiwan.

http://www.yachting-history.org/english.htm
A mindbogglingly gorgeous site full of mindbogglingly gorgeous boats from tween war Germany. Also articles etc if you can read them! We love Manfred Curry.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?p=802375#post802375
More Pics from Taiwan ... this time of traditionally built by the original (non Chnese) inhabitants of the Islands.
Pictures are by my friend Mao who took the Junk pictures above. The boats are partially SEWN together. Her pics give some of the details.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3027/2744776118_8fc2449b5b.jpg

[Boatmik]

This is what conventional sailing classes should be doing!!!

For people interested in construction and design and DIY boats it is a magnificent resource.

This fantastic site gives a number of construction methods for Cherub class racing dinghies.

http://home.freeuk.com/bloodaxe/gallery/2005nationals5.jpg

The boats are high tech, but they have included wood as one of the very successful alternatives. If you want to build a carbon mast for your GIS ... this site is where to find out how.
http://www.sailingsource.com/cherub/idx-chbuild.php

Also they have a wonderful detailed history of the development of the design from John Spencer's original breakthrough boat to the most recent raceboats.
http://www.sailingsource.com/cherub/idx-chistory.php

One of the interesting features is that simplified hullforms are starting to appear - quite flat bottomed and I am a little struck by some of how some of the features reflect the design of the Goat Island Skiff and Beth.

http://www.sailingsource.com/cherub/images/pater-7.gif

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2019/2310363400_ee97a560d2.jpg

It is not all that surprising really - the GIS and Beth both had a starting point with modern racing dinghy design (Skiff Moths and NS14s having the biggest effect), but with every attempt taken to wring out the expense. So the Goat is very similar in terms of rocker and also the widths of the bottom panel.

And just to be a real smarty pants. The Goat finished hullweight is lighter per unit length (hehe)

Best wishes
Michael

[Boatmik]

Howdy All,

I saw a little photo in The Australian promoting an exhibition of toy boats at the National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour.

It looked like it might be a great exhibition if you are closer to Sydney.

Real proper little boats.

The Museum website seems to be down - but here is the link for when it corrects itself.

http://www.anmm.gov.au

Don't forget to go to the Small Boat Annex which is about 150metres to the North of the main museum building. It is in the closest end of the building along the edge of the wharf.

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5756974,00.jpg

At the moment they have the quite nicely restored TAIPAN - one of Ben Lexcens (then Bob Miller) revolutionary lightweight 18ft skiffs.

Some of the plywood looks a bit different from what Lexcen would have chosen but the boat just looks great - the mast is gorgeous hollow timber construction.

Michael Storer

[bitingmidge]

It is not all that surprising really - the GIS and Beth both had a starting point with modern racing dinghy design (Skiff Moths and NS14s having the biggest effect), but with every attempt taken to wring out the expense. So the Goat is very similar in terms of rocker and also the widths of the bottom panel

When I was building the Goat, one of my old neighbours (in his eighties) was a skiffie from the olden days when men were men. He reckoned he'd spent so much time bailing for his crew when he was a lad, that he'd bailed out Moreton Bay three times, but I digress.

He stood there as if besotted when he first saw the Goat Boat coming together. I asked him if there was something wrong and he said it was just amazing. He'd always believed that curved bottomed boats were just a passing fad.

Just a gimmick, he said.

Each morning he used to pass our house on the way to buy a paper, "to make sure his name wasn't in the funeral notices".

Sadly, it appeared one day, just few days before we launched, so he never got to come for a ride!

Cheers,

P

:D

[PhilW]

Hey all
What a sad story Midge. These old fellas are/were a store house and treasure of information of the past. Met one old guy who was an old boy at the school were I used to teach. I spent a 'good' hour with him as he told tales of his youth. I can still see the mischievous glint of the boy in his eyes.

I digress.. Your Goat boat is a work of art. No wonder he dropped in each day to see it being built.

Cheers
Phil

[Cybernaught]

Be glad you knew him. We all have our time then it's over and we pass the gauntlet on to others and fade from memory. I'm sure his visits added to his enjoyment and it seems they made some nice memories for you too. :)

CN

[Boatmik]

OK, a story about another tradition.

The USL CODE used to be the guideline for building all commercial vessels.

Now it is a great resource if you are restoring an older Australian built commercial boat. If the deck is missing or looks too thin ... you can look up the charts and find out how thick it should be in traditional plank or in ply. Same for missing coach-house structure or a transom.

How fantastic is that!

HOWEVER!!!

The USL Code is one of the reasons for Australia's lack of competitiveness internationally. It really dates from an era when most boats were built the same way and as it was the only OZ standard it became the only way. The strengths of everything are bases on LENGTH rather than taking displacement into account and assuming the hull is being planked - so requires lots of frames and stringers that we know are not necessary for modern timber boatbuilding.

HOWEVER you cannot leave them out of a trad structure!!!

It is all being updated at the moment - a huge process - and it is about time. Thanks to all the sympathetic Bureaucrats that are pushing the changes through! Bless your cotton socks!

I've seen people jumping crazy hoops with modern structures to get them through. Trying to get a plywood composite catamaran through survey was just crazy. Initially there would be the go-ahead - "yeah it will be OK, mate". Then later after the hulls were built ... "oh, sorry, but you have to make the hulls thicker to comply with USL - but it is OK ... Just add more glass". So the poor owner had to build another boat around his existing boat and double the hull weight because the "strength" is not the same as inch and a quarter planking. With warning it would have been better to increase the ply and strip thickness as it is around a third of the weight of the same thickness of glass.

But with trad construction the planking is held together so poorly (ribs and fastenings) that it is weaker in every calculable and empirical way. Application of the rule for modern boats was just a repeated disaster.

It is the same reason the DF Mundoos for hire had three 6 x 3s running the length of the bottom on the outside - "needs the strength there". No matter that they had built a 50 footer without them a couple of years earlier and it had been craned out on a couple of slings about 12 feet apart in the middle of the boat - try THAT with a planked boat - but not an iota of visible movement on that long thin light plywood box.

There was conservatism in the application of the rule and then often a capricious response to the final boat. I once designed a hire and drive boat and jumped design hoops trying to manage the stability criterion - the full legal number of passengers standing on the side deck at the same time. Worked it out using the computer and worked out that around 200kg of ballast was required to meet the criterion. The builder left it out. A bunch of blokes in white overalls rolled down on the appointed day jumped aboard ... "you want to licence for 6? She'll take 8 easy". Licence for 8 followed.

Moral is - as useful as the USL code is for restoring traditional boats it is almost useless for working out hull scantlings for modern construction boats.

However I often find myself following the requirements for bulkheads, coachouses, transoms and decks. So there are good bits too.

USL CODE (http://www.nmsc.gov.au/uslcode_disclaimer.html)
Just say you "agree" and then look for Construction - Wood. Good stuff on steel and alloy too, but I am not able to comment on the usefulness of those codes.

Best Wishes
Michael

[bitingmidge]

If you seriously want to get a half valuable boat certified without bothering with all that silly USL stuff, there is a way.

It's how the composite ferries and work boats manage it:
Det Norske Veritas (http://www.dnv.com/)

And that's my useful link of the day.

Cheers,

P
:D

[Boatmik]

The system has generally been more liberalised in Australia, with a large variety of alternative systems now accepted with few problems. American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyds, Germanischer Lloyds, Veritas. There are also Japanese standards I believe. Naturally enough all these areas have had a bit more of a shipbuilding industry so that has enabled more cutting edge rules to be developed. Australia really has benefitted from the high speed ferry boom of the 80s and 90s where we have had a position amongst the world's best (or even well ahead of them at times) which has fed into the current update that is under way.

You can probably imagine the sudden overhead for local professionals and bureaucrats in getting to know how to handle all these different standards.

eeeek! But I can't complain - lots of choice is better than no choice.

MIK

[Boatmik]

I have to get to the bottom of it ... but there is a festival in Taiwan that involves burning ... this. Now Explained
(http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?p=774306#post774306) http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/2468281164_3c00864726.jpg
The link to all the pics are here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/maopopo/2464236707/in/set-72157604876407672/)
You can see the full pics at my friend MaoPoPo's flickr site. I generally don't agree with burning boats, quite often there is somone lurking in the wings who is looking wistfully at it and thinking "I would take it - really". But where a boat is designed to be burned!!!

There are some great pictures here - look at the detail of the boat - some of the best Junk pictures I have seen anywhere! MaoPoPo has some great photos in general - I love her vegetable pics - but she and her friends do a fair bit of Kayaking around Taiwan.

[Boatmik]

I am trying to find out what it all means. The boat looks pretty accurate in many ways - but is obviously more decoration than substance.

The Taiwanese have an interesting take on boat development - you can see a page I put together on them using traditional bamboo raft methods to make big boats out of industrial PVC tubes and monofilament strapping.

http://www.storerboatplans.com/Taiwanboat/TWboatfactoryside.jpg
http://www.storerboatplans.com/Taiwanboat/Taiwanboat.html

or the small local fishing boats

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3080/2578762863_801121e4ce.jpg

Love the use of the traditional stern to guard the outboard!!!!

Mid sized fishing boats are narrow

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3054/2578762235_4a9a5331a9.jpg

And carry powerful lamps

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/2578761223_4919a980e9.jpg

Meaning you can sit in a teashop at the historic Juifen and look up the coast and see the stars in the sky and the stars (boats) in the water.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3186/2579592712_ee9d8f22fd.jpg

I plan to go back to Taiwan soon! Just love it. These are the bunch of friends that decided to adopt me and take me around the Northern part of Taiwan.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3160/2578761605_bb539b1550.jpg

More pics on my Flickr set here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik/sets/72157605613266840/

MIK

[cruiser]

hi Mik, thanks for all the interesting onfo that you put up on the site. I Love reading through the various sites and getting new ideas, info etc. I am planning to start building a 12 ft wooden boat within the next week, Would have started today but don't like working in 4 deg temp.

Cheers :)
Art.

[Boatmik]

Howdy Art,

Thanks for appreciating all this stuff. In a way it is all of little importance, but at the same time it is pretty damn fascinating.

It is a nice thing I think to inhabit this harmless byroad!

Thanks and BEST WISHES

Michael

[keyhavenpotter]

Some interesting sites members might enjoy

Sven Yrvind is building a Paradox develoment in foam. Still of interest due to hull shape and Sven's belief in Chine Runners on "box boat" hulls.

http://www.yrvind.com/present_project.html

Duckworks article on modified birdsmouth spars.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/08/howto/birdsmouth/index.htm

Carbon mast making also from Duckworks

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/howto/mast/index.htm

Brian.

[Boatmik]

Thanks for those links Brian,

I had a look.

The Pardox stuff is great - Matt Leyden has really developed a new type of boat capable of quite serious sailing feats but costing very little because of the small volume.

http://www.microcruising.com/Graphics/cdenig1.jpg

Original website http://www.microcruising.com/

Rule 1 ... volume costs!

I still have strong reservations about the chine runner concept. There have been some fitted here (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=51280) and there does not seem to be the performance improvement suggested by the written material.

I hope if people want to discuss this particular concept they will add posts to the thread linked to in the above paragraph as there is a significant discussion there.

My feeling is that the deepness of the hull might make an awful lot of difference. Hull depth can provide quite a lot of lateral resistance by itself - so the deep laden hulls of the Paradox type might be able to gain a good advantage - but not so good for shallow boats even if the runners are quite wide. Until someone sticks them on a racing boat ... we just won't know.

Also I think that external chine logs have similar proportion to the Paradox fins .. and many of those boats need centreboards or leeboards.

If you look at the longer thread above you can see, despite my doubts about the "runners" that I think that the Paradox approach is a fantastic design package of a highly innovative boat that ACTUALLY WORKS!!! There have been many significant cruises offshore achieved with these boats.

Carbon Spars - Good article with some significant technical weaknesses ... Main point is that carbon spars can be backyarded very successfully. The Cherub links in the first post have information on this too.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/howto/mast/twomasts.jpg

The article here however strikes me as a particularly inefficient use of carbon and they have probably made the stick much more expensive and heavier than it needs to be. You can see the difference in one of the pics of the diameters of the two masts.

A square stick is much stiffer than a round one of similar width of cross section and this carbon stick is much smaller. So this means the amount of carbon has to be very great to get the right stiffness. I would reckon they could halve their carbon and epoxy budget on this project (and the weight!!!) simply by starting with a bigger initial diameter - the Cherub articles explain how.

The other thing is they haven't weighed the difference ... often a small difference or a smaller diameter can make something subjectively feel significantly lighter - like I remember getting my first minimum weight NS14 - it felt so light to pick up and totally different on the water but 140lbs vs 148lbs - I would always prefer a measurement. Bathroom scales are ok providing there is a person's weight on there at the same time to bring the scales into the right range.

The second technical flaw is

I think it’s about what I aimed for – more flexible in gusts to reduce the heeling forces, but stiff enough to keep a good sail shape in a fresh breeze.
The mast on a lug rig should be reasonably stiff otherwise the mast bends and the halyard drops making the sail bag and twist. The spar that needs to be able to bend is the YARD along the top of the sail and to a lesser extent the back end of the boom.

Reading the article shows that they have not followed the epoxy literature in their general boatbuilding for the hull - they add acetone to the epoxy - which means it is only as effective as PAINT for keeping water out and also use 1:1 epoxies which are a bad choice because all sorts of extenders have to be added to make this mix work. They should have forgotten the epoxy completely and saved that money if they are going to add acetone to it.

Birdsmouth spars

Just to show I am not a complete grumblebum!!! This is an excellent article. Only caveat would be that the normal method does allow easier alignment of the staves. But this one allows a significant materials saving.

Thanks for the links!!!

Best wishes
Michael

[keyhavenpotter]

Thanks Michael. Here is a link to my own attempt at carbon spars on a lug rig.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27848841@N05/2681644529/in/set-72157606252376718/

The dinghy is a local Keyhaven Scow. The sail is a Sanders sail designed for alloy tubes. In the pics I am "racing" in very light winds and quite a strong ebb tide.

The gaff being a tapered section origionally made as a windsurfering mast.
When I put my Scow together from a set of mouldings I fancied doing a carbon rig if possible. Was going to use a carbon windsurfing mast but ended up locating a carbon tube maker locally.

They are 50% carbon and 50% glass. It has worked quite well but looses shape in stronger 20 knots plus winds. As you say the mast needs to be stiff for a lug rig - in strong winds I can see mine bending away from the boom.

I am planning to add unidirectional carbon on the top of the gaff, and bottom of the boom to stiffen them somewhat. Thought an extra layer of the tubular carbon for the mast might stiffen that. Stiffening the mast is most needed I think.

We use 6:1 downhaul and 4:1 kicker. ( 16mm harken aero blocks - lovely jewel like blocks with 2.5mm dyneema lines - shrounds and halyards also 2.5mm dyneema)

One of the things I was keen on was a lightweight bouyant set of spars. When capsized with alloy spars the dinghy settles at about 45 degrees below horizontal. I thought the bouyancy would help to hold her at horizontal and make it easier to right.

Hope this UK lug rig stuff is of some interest - Brian.

[coogzilla]

Howdy All,

I will occasionally put an interesting new boaty link up in this thread (now I can edit old threads I can simply add to this first post).

I have to get to the bottom of it ... but there is a festival in Taiwan that involves burning ... this.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/2468281164_3c00864726.jpg
The link to all the pics are here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/maopopo/2464236707/in/set-72157604876407672/)

OMG Michael. The Junk is a beaut. Why the hexx would they fry it. How stupid.

Coogs

[Boatmik]

Howdy Coogs,

They build one once a year - it is all fake - but with quite a lot of authentic features.

This is from my web friend Mao


The series you asked is a local religious activity called "Shao(burn) Wang(Wang Ye, God of Pestilence) Chuan(ship)" , meaning "Burning the ship of Wang Ye, God of Pestilence".

It's a very common religious activity held at many southern port cities in Taiwan and also the south-eastern sea-side part of Mainland China.

The custom was formed because there were too many pestilences and plagues burst in the sea-side port cities in the old days. Fishermen and villagers built the ship of Wang Yeh to gather all the bad things and sickness in town. In the old days, they then sent the ship away after ceremonies symbolizing sending all the bad things away.

If ever the tide takes the ship back to the shore, which means the back luck and plague comes back with Wang Ye , the villagers have to build a temple to worship the ship and Wang Ye then.

In this one I attended, they don't really send the ship to the sea(meaning traveling the river of earth), they burn it on the shore in stead (meaning traveling the river of heaven). I think in this way it eliminate the variables and strengthen the meaning of wiping the bad things away. During the process, all the local gods will have to come out to greet Wang Ye and his ship, just like the grand touring of Mazu, goddess of sea, which is also worth seeing. Check my other series:http://www.flickr.com/photos/maopopo/sets/72157604550754738/Some of the local people dress as Gods of Bad Luck (found out just now .. the Gods of PESTILENCE) - and go aboard the ship - then it is burned.

As you can see .. every business in the local area will be making a motza (heap of money) as people come from all round the island to see such a wonderful and crazy thing.

At the moment there are close to a million young people in Sydney to see the Pope.

All I can say to either situation is "Why Not"! (though I am a little more likely to go to see the boat rather than the Pope!)

Anything that moves life out from being the same all the time is great. New ideas, understanding other peoples ideas - all good!

MIK :-

[b.o.a.t.]

Howdy Coogs,
They build one once a year - it is all fake - but with quite a lot of authentic features.
Some of the local people dress as Gods of Bad Luck - and go aboard the ship - then it is burned.


Anything to keep the "mainlanders" away huh....
Wonder how long before our "South Islanders" start doing something of the same... (g'day Sir Vern)
:U
:U

[Boatmik]

Ha AJ,

It is a hugely interesting question whether the Mainlanders could do anything about it at all. And it looks like it might all be quite unnecessary with regular commercial airline flights starting a couple of weeks ago.

While every Mainland Kid is told at school that they could overwhelm the island in 15 minutes it is strange they have not tried. There are three main reasons for this. The huge technical problem of moving large numbers of people and equipment across water; on paper the mainland looks like having the numbers but a huge proportion are permanently needed to fix any more local problems in the west, south and north; and probably most important ... that no mainland leader wants to be the one that loses a war and proves the Island's independence.

The main shift is that the mainland has finally realised that its previous posturing is counterproductive and was pushing the island's voters towards the side of politics that threatened independence and to acknowledge the huge financial and business exchange between the two. Many big island businesses have been in the mainland for decades.

I'm just hoping this is a chance for closer links between the two sides and a dawning period of stable and warm relations between Mainland Australia and Tasmania.

Best wishes
Michael

[hairymick]

G'day Michael,

That last post of yours was a bloody Classic!. Love ya work mate.:2tsup:

[Boatmik]

Oh my god!

As you probably know I am a big sucker for historic photos of boats.

It might seem like the resources from the US and the UK are quite good, but often the problem is accessibility. And in Australia we have lost most of it.

Anyway ... ran across a large archive of German sailing club and cruising memorabilia mostly between the wars.

The German boats were incredibly sophisticated for their era and the rigs in particular were a big influence on Australian Skiff classes.

http://www.fky.org/yachtsportarchiv/bilder/CY23-4.jpg

I haven't had a good look yet, but some wonderful, wonderful boats and material from clubs and magazines. I just wish I could read German a bit more easily!!!

I particularly like the canoes and the restricted class Rennjollen (Jollyboats) which are miles ahead in terms of hull design and sheer elegance compared to British, Australian and US models of the same era.

http://www.fky.org/yachtsportarchiv/bilder/CY34-0013.jpg

If you think it looks familiar ... this is the same heritage as the OZ lighweight sharpie. By the way ... the boats were only lightly ballasted and stayed capsized if they went over.

The site is here .. they even have a couple of video clips ... and HUNDREDS of photos.
http://www.yachting-history.org/english.htm

Some of these classes are still around today
http://www.fky.org/images/Regina.CY13-258.PCT.gif
Michael

[Boatmik]

More Taiwan Boats.

People may or may not be aware that Taiwan has its own aboriginal people belonging to quite distinct groups.

Some lived inland, but others were coastal and some live on the smaller islands around Taiwan. Their culture is distinct from the prevailing Chinese culture.

The group here are on LanYu Island which is just under 40km to the East of the Southern end of Taiwan.
Map (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lan+yu+island&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=76.704215,158.203125&ie=UTF8&ll=22.66471,121.519775&spn=2.610279,4.943848&z=8)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/2744771114_48dc201309.jpg

Anyway my web acquaintance, Mao, her husband Kevin and their friends, travel all over Taiwan and she takes wonderful photos. She and her friends go kayaking, hiking and are very outdoorsy. The pictures above of the Chinese Junk that was burned to get rid of the "Gods of Pestilence" are hers as well.


went to see it last month and this is very rare 'cause fewer and fewer people there know how to build a traditional ten-men's kayak or twenty-men's kayak, also the ceremony of kayak launching. Check out the photos first and I'll upload more and talk to more later.This series is of a 10-man boat at Lan-yu Island.
All Mao's other pics of the Taiwanese Aboriginal boat launching and feast are here
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/maopopo/sets/72157606295680824/)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3003/2743937003_0e1df2a5e6.jpg

Much of the decoration of boats and ornaments have patterns that represent snake skin. I really like the decoration. These are the first good photos of the wooden boats I have seen. I did see a fibreglass replica at a great Maritime Museum in DanShui (it is at the university there and consists of beautifully made models).

Note how the real thing is partially stitched together. I really want to have a closer look at how this is done. Wonder how they make those tabs stand inwards and don't split from the tension?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3296/2744773990_d1681b68f4.jpg

Originally it was thought that the Taiwan Aborigines had a headhunting tradition as their villages displayed skulls in the main central area.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3129/2744770076_40780a5273.jpg

However once the European scholars put away their shock and assumptions and started to ask a few more questions it turned out that many of the skulls are rellies (as we would say in OZ ie relatives) put in a central place for both memory and probably protection. Enemies killed in battle had their skulls displayed too. But it has an interesting mix of threat and respect mixed in rather than how I would have thought of it had I not known about the relatives getting the same treatment.

(this is all based on almost no scholarship from me ... so hope I didn't get it too wrong!)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3178/2690075258_58ab6c5ab1.jpg

Anyway ... not sure how often this happens. I know the Aborigines still use the boats for festivals and celebrations. One reference shows them as using the boats to collect flying fish?!?

Note how compact and fine lined the boat is for something that will support 10 men and fish!

Anyway ... thanks Mao for the pics!!!!!
All Mao's other pics of the Taiwanese Aboriginal boat launching and feast are here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/maopopo/sets/72157606295680824/)

Best wishes

Michael

[Boatmik]

Howdy ... just received an email from Mao who took the photos in the post above.

She said

I'll try to write more to you about the kayak of LanYu.

I have interviewd a LanYu writer when he was building a one-man kayak.
They think a real Lan Yu man should know how to build a boat, catch good fish (they seperate fish into fish for men, for women, kids and old people), and build a house of his own.

They sing songs to tell old stories and glorious histories (though now few young men know how to chant in their native language).

They have many taboos and customs different to Inland Taiwan aboriginal people. I love
Lan Yu very much.

I'll try to find time to tell you more. (sorry my work is overwhelmingly busy recently)

[keyhavenpotter]

Beer Luggers are sailed off the shingles beaches of Beer in south Devon. I guess you guys wished you had a place called Beer!

The sail look like a normal dipping lug except the lazy sheet runs right round the outside of the rig.

When tacking, pulling on the new sheet, the sail rolls round the outside of the luff and pops down the new leeward side of the boat. Hard to describe, and interesting to watch, see if you can make out what's going on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Gp71JdmPs

Brian

[b.o.a.t.]

some interesting links which have cropped up or been stumbled across in the last few weeks.

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/index_page1.php ensure your wallet is securely bolted to a fixed object before clicking the link. Often has budget boating articles (eg a really pretty girl in cocktail dress scraping the Bolger "Gypsy" she's building) but has a lot more on cutting edge high performance stuff.

http://www.madmariner.com/docking_game_a a bit of fun. Says it has a bow thruster but I reckon they've cheated on the coding - it's a stern thruster. The e-zine site seems ok too, but mostly about boats which suck at least 4 litres of juice per km.

http://www.thecoastalpassage.com.au/ for the serious cruiser in Nth Qld.

http://www.mit.edu/people/robot/alaska/alaska.html Seattle to Alaska in a sailing canoe. Hmmm .... Adelaide - Brisbane in a GIS ?

cheers
AJ

[Boatmik]

Howdy AJ,

Ha ... I had originally meant this as a collection of links that are highly edited by Moi!

Do you mind if I create a separate thread for ones that you and others suggest and move your post there?

They are good links (well apart from not wanting anything to do with Sailing Anarchy :D - their news pages are somewhat useful, but their forums are full of the sorts of people that make me wish I had a daughter so I could forbid her to marry any of them)

haha - not construing that as your fault old bean!!!!

But comments and links that relate to or expand what I am putting up here are VERY welcome.

My main focii are
1/ High quality photographic and other resources of traditional boat types and archaic raceboats
2/ Technical articles and resources that are REALLY useful and that others may not even imagine exist.
3/ Other interesting stuff that is in-depth on a particular subject that relates to sailing or other boat use.

MIK

[b.o.a.t.]

That'd be a good move Michael.
A thread anyone can add their interesting links to - a bit hard to relate stuff like sailing anarchy to Storer Design except as (mostly) the antithesis!
cheers
AJ

[BobWes]

Brian -

We don't have a place called Beer. Best I can do is Whiskeytown. :) Whiskeytown Lake is in northern California, maybe 3 hours north of Sacramento. I am planning to race in the Whiskeytown Regatta next May.

Bob

[keyhavenpotter]

Great answer Bob!

Look forward to a full report.

Brian

[Boatmik]

I have put a link to the website elswhere too ... but I think it is interesting enough to have here.

Peter Ewart was a Canadian artist who lived through most of the last century.

His family have set up a website and put some videos up on Youtube.

Some of these old films have examples of canoe use and canoe camping as well as regular camping.

A real feeling of how life was for Peter as he grew from being a boy in the early videos to having his own family in the website.

His father Clarence was a canoing/outdoors type too - there is much material on him including his canoing honeymoon with his new wife Edith

http://peterewart.com/images/bio/pic2.jpg

The videos can be seen here
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ewartstudio&view=videos
The Varty lake also contains images of canoes and the canoe/camping lifestyle.

The website is at
http://peterewart.com/bio.php

Peters daughter Linda points out which parts of the website is the most interesting for boats ... but I found the site interesting and touching in a number of ways


Hi, Michael! I've just learned how to respond to your e-mail. Thanks for your note. The canoe in my Canoe Sailing clip has a story you may be interested in and can link to through my web site. I've been trying to put the information in the form of a comment, but it keeps being rejected for some reason.

FYI, the movie was made in about 1927. At that time the canoe was about 12 years old. Clarence Ewart, my grandfather, was the owner. For more information and still photos of Clarence and this canoe you might enjoy a look at the biography section of peterewart.com under 'Early Childhood', '1940-1944' and 'A Most Unusual Honeymoon.'

Linda

[keyhavenpotter]

Perhaps as fans of flat bottomed boats forumites might enjoy this link to some mighty sharpies sailed by "feeble crew".


http://feeblecrew.com/

http://feeblecrew.com/new_haven_sharpie/webimages/Figure-11.400.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2506/4117913191_b09b14b87b.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik/4117913191/

How those shallow rudders controlled these very fast boats is hard to imagine, perhaps they were very well balanced and it seems very sea worthy.

"The sharpie's rapid spread in use can be accounted for by its low cost, light draft, speed, handiness under sail, graceful appearance, and rather astonishing seaworthiness. Since oyster tonging was never carried on in heavy weather, it was by chance rather than intent that the seaworthiness of this New Haven tonging boat was discovered. There is a case on record in which a tonging sharpie rescued the crew of a coasting schooner at Branford, Connecticut, during a severe gale, after other boats had proved unable to approach the wreck."


"Kunhardt mentions the extraordinary sailing speed of some sharpies, as does certain correspondence in Forest and Stream. A large sharpie was reported to have run 11 nautical miles in 34 minutes, and a big sharpie schooner is said to have averaged 16 knots in 3 consecutive hours of sailing. Tonging sharpies with racing rigs were said to have sailed in smooth water at speeds of 15 and 16 knots. Although such reports may be exaggerations, there is no doubt that sharpies of the New Haven type were among the fastest of American sailing fishing boats."

Brian

[PAR]

I have quite a lot of experience sailing, building and designing sharpies. The rudder shown above is very typical and it's retractable. The image above is showing it in the up position. In the down position(s) it would be nearly as deep as the lowered centerboard. Chapelle drew this one with the tiller in the second notch (lowered slightly) and the blade nearly full up (it could go up a few more inches). With the tiller all the way up and the rudder blade all the way down it's effective.

They do have flaws, like most everything in yacht design. In heavy air, when the boat is sailing fast (planning), the helm can get squishy or vibrate badly. I've never employed this style of rudder on any of my designs unless forced by a client. I use a much higher aspect, kick up spade, with considerably less balance then the traditional sharpie style shown.

This particular design shows a fairly well burdened sharpie hull, that in spite of it's fine entry and relatively flat run, would like carry a pretty fat quartering wave with a modest to full load. With enough crew to hold her down and sailed light, she'd be a fun, if wet ride in stiff winds.

[keyhavenpotter]

Thanks PAR, explains a lot for me, that the shaft allows the rudder blade to go much deeper. Brian

[Clarkey]

I have posted these in another thread but since sharpies came up.....

All these boats are from Venice and have hull shapes pretty much identical to North American sharpies.

The first drawing shows the enormous rudder that lets these boats sail with no centreboard.


http://www.webalice.it/cherini/UltimeBarche_file/Barche_adriatiche/slides/topo%20istriano.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3236/2972732608_03a4149153.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3009/2972725210_2b7d6652ed.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/2971878979_97f485f365.jpg?v=0

Chris

[Boatmik]

A look at Bolger lightweight schooners.

These boats are quite improbable .. even after years of seeing them sail around the lower murray lakes.

http://www.crew.org.nz/site/creworg/images/2009_Photos/April/fs1.JPG

At one stage there were two folding schooners here. One called Brian and Doreen (built and owned by a retired couple named Brian and Doreen!) and another put together by a High Court Judge.

Tim Fatchen built the shorter one piece version and has held a number of serious trophies in his "Flying Tadpole"

Anyway ... you can see a story about how these boats hold up ok upwind if you keep them moving and just howl downwind even against much more modern boats.
http://www.crew.org.nz/NEWS/Aussie+News/Folding+Schooner.html

If you want to read how Tim Fatchen played havoc with the handicapping system in South Australia you can read it all here. have a look at the racing victories.
http://www.ace.net.au/schooner/index.htm#menu

I have sailed beside Brian and Doreen in BETH ... it is rather uncanny - the boat is not much wider than the average 14 foot boat So when it is sailing alongside .. it looks much longer than its 31 feet. But when it turns to sail away from you ... it looks like a 14 foot trad rig sailboat.

Lots of fun.

Michael

[Boatmik]

Hi All,

I haven't added a lot here for a while. Maybe I haven't been websurfing for a while or life has been FAR too interesting to look inside a computer for fun stuff.

This comes from David Graybeal and is a link to some great pics of trad, and not so trad fishing boats.

The most gorgeous are the Columbia River Gillnetters that I met in Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia - so don't miss those.

http://66.154.152.16/albums/album18/1934_Don_Riswick_CRPA_August.jpg

www.besthistoricfishing.net (http://www.besthistoricfishing.net/)

MIK

[Boatmik]

A short film on Pirogue making. They claim it may be one of the last authentic Pirogues made.

Rather lovely. don't let the still images at the beginning put you off.

FolkStreams » The Pirogue Maker (http://www.folkstreams.net/film,188)

MIK

[m2c1Iw]

Mik that film is wondeful it brings a whole new meaning to building wooden boats and ain't it a dainty thing. I did like the shave with the piviting handel, cool the broad axe and the adzes fantastic. Thanks

Mike

[Boatmik]

Those are the surprising things to me too. Seeing really trad tools fired up in anger rather than a minute long demonstration. And nicely edited so you can see the flow of work.

Also like you say ... dainty.

For something that is a dugout it is really pretty and light. I will have to have a closer look to see if it is any internal structure in some of the others in the footage.

Another interesting thing is that you have a great lump of wood and you could cut out any shape at all. You could make a whitehall or a kayak form ... but this pirogue shape comes out each time without any plans at all.

The mind and feeling creates the form and makes it consistent.

MIK

MIK

[m2c1Iw]

Those are the surprising things to me too. Seeing really trad tools fired up in anger rather than a minute long demonstration. And nicely edited so you can see the flow of work.

Also like you say ... dainty.

For something that is a dugout it is really pretty and light. I will have to have a closer look to see if it is any internal structure in some of the others in the footage.

Another interesting thing is that you have a great lump of wood and you could cut out any shape at all. You could make a whitehall or a kayak form ... but this pirogue shape comes out each time without any plans at all.

The mind and feeling creates the form and makes it consistent.

MIK

MIK

Don't think there is anything internal. I liked the way he drilled a hole to guage the thickness of the bottom and the care in fairing, wow.

I'd imagine the oil used would be linseed or similiar, just give a splash regularly and she's right a lot easier than epoxy. :D

[Watermaat]

Hi MIK,

Perhaps interesting since you have sailed the Autralian Sharpie..............the "original" is still alive in my country....Foto gallerij (http://www.sharpie.nl/gallerij.htm)
and a UK site British Sharpie Owners Association - The Sharpie (http://sharpies.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=4&Itemid=162)

The original is a GREAT boat to sail in, massive wood, great looks, pretty fast and very competitive racing. I have raced with it when I was 17 yrs old....only in light weather, because the skipper needed at least 100kg crew when it started blowing :U
The organization has bought several old wrecks and rebuild them to keep them alive.

Lots of pictures and few video's here.

[Boatmik]

Howdy Watermaat,

I have seen at least two of the heavyweights here. The class got a boost as they were originally brought here for the '56 olympics. (in melbourne - won by a Kiwi with an Australian second)

By 1960 everyone was tired of picking them after racing up so moved to plywood and brought the hullweight close to about a third of the original (particularly if you take the steel centreboard being replaced by a wooden one).

That was a joke ... actually Australians threw themselves into plywood boatbuilding and a whole range of new lightweight boats appeared in the early '60s. Some of the older classes that people loved were changed over. So lots of people loved the Sharpie.

I have never sailed a heavyweight, but imagine that the wonderful handling (providing you keep the boat dead flat) would be the same. Nothing loves rough water more than a sharpie.

I did have my eyes open for one of the heavyweights though. When I lived in houses I could have quite imagined having one in the garage!

I do know the links you posted well, but others will find them quite interesting too I think.

MIK

[MiddleAgesMan]

That pirogue film is a treasure, MIK. I had to watch it twice before I could let go of it.

I'm curious about that hole they bored in the bottom. At first I thought it was there to drain the hull when out of the water. My second thought was they are checking the thickness of the bottom wood. If that's what they are doing it seems a rather drastic measure to learn something that could be determined through less destructive means.

What do you think it is drilled for?

[Boatmik]

I don't really know. I accepted Mike's comment initially, but now think that you would need lots of holes to check overall fairness. Maybe that's the way they keep the timber wet so it doesn't crack up?

Also remember that the South of the USA is almost viciously humid, so the wood will have a relatively good time of it. If you built one of these in OZ you would need a hole it it to make sure it spends most of its time sunk so the wood would not split.

MIK

[PAR]

I'm fairly sure the hole is a drain. There wasn't any involved thinking in these boats, nothing that wasn't directly related to function. The skills were handed down and they built what they knew. Tools were simple and skillfully used. They could tell within a 1/32" or so how far out the hull thickness was, just with their hands on each side. We're talking about skills that are nearly dead now, well beyond the understanding of most. My first boat building skills were milked from the likes of folks with these skills and mentality. Simple folks who likely couldn't have told you who the vice president was, but could whittle a fine boat from a log.

[Watermaat]

Howdy Watermaat,

I have never sailed a heavyweight, but imagine that the wonderful handling (providing you keep the boat dead flat) would be the same. Nothing loves rough water more than a sharpie.

MIK

With 230kg of minimum hull-weigh these narrow gaff-rig sharpies do tack against waves like nothing else :U In late 60-ies clubracing we were faster upwind than the Flying Dutchmen in most conditions, but lost the battle as soon as the FD hoisted the spi.
Due to their weight they reacted more like yachts, than dinghies. You have more time to react.........but you certainly need a heavy-weight crew to get them full speed.
These wooden gaff-rigged sharpies allways have surprized me with their impressive tacking ability, faster and closer winded than lots of bermuda rigged racers.........and what about their looks :U:U:U ................Oke........a bit off topic :C But some old loves never die.

[Boatmik]

Yes,

The Australian Sharpie retains the close windedness. And as they have spinnakers and trapeze they are pretty equal with a FD up and downwind. But if the water is rough, the slimmer boat is advantaged!

With spinnaker and trapeze (and only 80kg hullweight) you get some pretty exciting rides downwind too.

I wasn't able to find any pics of one going fast downwind, but here is a former employer of mine who has been at the top end of the Sharpie and 505 fleet for many years.

http://www.binksonline.com.au/images/large-Sharpie.jpg

Just a hint of the upwind speed. This is Lake Illawarra.

[Boatmik]

One for the propeller heads.

This is a discussion of performance prediction of yachts that I have just stumbled upon.

It does focus on the IMS scheme to some extent so is outdated in some senses.
http://cmst.curtin.edu.au/publicat/rinamodernyacht98.pdf

MIK

[Mezix]

Hello Boatbuilders,
I don't know if you now about it. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) has published several fishing boat plans in order to help developing countries local fishing developments. Check this (http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5649e/y5649e00.htm) out.
You can find other plans in the Corporate Document Repository of FAO - just search for boat building.
Best regards
Csaba

[Boatmik]

Howdy,

I have mixed feelings about these types of projects.

There is so much culture tied into boats and the way they are used, and the last thing I would like to see is boats of these designs become common in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Vietnam.

How sad that would be!

It also is a boat that will only move well with a motor and won't be as efficient with small motors as many of the boats in Thailand or the Philippines.

Maybe these are a better choice for a hullshape?

I do think if a local boatbuilder in one of the target places might get some benefit from reading the document and might borrow some methods - I think that would be a better way - produce an informative newsletter with traditional boatbuilders from Thailand, Sri Lanka etc contributing about the real problems they find and real methods they find useful.

One of the pictures of the Taiwanese aboriginal people's boats I have shows a method of using rope to tie the two sides of the boat together in the bow. I've seen the same method on Polynesian boats.

I am on my mother's computer, so don't have the bandwidth to find the pic at the moment.

The idea of producing a method like this is good, but I think if it focusses more on the method than the boat, it might be even more useful.

Best wishes
Michael

[Boatmik]

Haven't seen anything as exciting as this for some time. Heavish boats going fast with some degree of precariousness. The start procedure is pure art.

BARQUILLOS DE VELA LATINA CANARIA en Fuerteventura

This is the page if the embedded link doesn't work
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7796071923054969577&ei=DItLS-W9KpPaqwLhyd2TCw&q=vela+latina&hl=en&client=firefox-a#

MIK

[Boatmik]

Micro as Art - thanks Pindimar.

http://i1.exhibit-e.com/gagosian/eb589402.jpg

Set of unmanned micros set up for ocean crossing.

Chris Burden - July 11 - August 30, 1996 - Gagosian Gallery (http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/beverly-hills-1996-07-chris-burden/)

[StephenR]

Howdy,

I have mixed feelings about these types of projects.

There is so much culture tied into boats and the way they are used, and the last thing I would like to see is boats of these designs become common in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Vietnam.

How sad that would be!

It also is a boat that will only move well with a motor and won't be as efficient with small motors as many of the boats in Thailand or the Philippines.

Maybe these are a better choice for a hullshape?

I do think if a local boatbuilder in one of the target places might get some benefit from reading the document and might borrow some methods - I think that would be a better way - produce an informative newsletter with traditional boatbuilders from Thailand, Sri Lanka etc contributing about the real problems they find and real methods they find useful.

One of the pictures of the Taiwanese aboriginal people's boats I have shows a method of using rope to tie the two sides of the boat together in the bow. I've seen the same method on Polynesian boats.

I am on my mother's computer, so don't have the bandwidth to find the pic at the moment.

The idea of producing a method like this is good, but I think if it focusses more on the method than the boat, it might be even more useful.

Best wishes
Michael

Mik
Just seen this post. Have you seen a book called "Sails as an aid to fishing" published by the UK Ministry for overseas Development a long time ago - 1988? It is all about getting sails back onto traditional fishing boats as a cost-effective replacement to the then-rapidly spreading engines. It looks in a very practical way at rigs like the lateen, crab claw, sprit, gunter, dipping lug. Doubt very much it is still in print and no idea if it had an impact. If you are interested, just send me your mailing address in a private message and I´ll send it to you. Better than sitting gathering dust on my shelves. You can see something about it on pp.25 of this pdf; http://www.spc.int/Coastfish/news/Fish_News/Old_Fish_News/Fish_News_46.pdf

Best

Steve

[MiddleAgesMan]

That is too cool!

I wonder how the artist came to choose Phil Bolger's ugliest ducklings for the exhibit....

[Boatmik]

Mik
Just seen this post. Have you seen a book called "Sails as an aid to fishing"

If you are interested, just send me your mailing address in a private message and I´ll send it to you. Better than sitting gathering dust on my shelves. You can see something about it on pp.25 of this pdf; http://www.spc.int/Coastfish/news/Fish_News/Old_Fish_News/Fish_News_46.pdf

Best

Steve

Very kind of you Steve, but on my return to Adelaide I am going to start getting rid of all my books to fit with my new relocatable lifestyle.

MIK

[Boatmik]

Howdy,

For a long time I have been recommending to avoid ball bearing blocks (pulleys) on boats because of the extreme expense compared to cheaper blocks

http://www.binksonline.com.au/store/images/rf280_sml.jpg

The above is a cheaper non ball bearing block. It costs about $10 as against a ball bearing block from the same manufacturer for around $40.

For a long time people involved in racing have been saying that the most important things with block choice is to make sure the rope is well inside the diameter capacity of the block. So if a block will accept up to an 8mm line diameter then maybe you only run a 4mm rope through it.

Now I have found some research using actual measurements that supports the point of view that ball bearing blocks are probably not really needed in most applications, so it may be possible for raceboats to reduce their rigging costs by 50% over the conventionsl craze for ball bearings everywhere.

The point the study makes is that most of the friction comes from the rope itself. When it bends around a corner all the fibres rub against each other.


The best way to reduce this friction is to use thinner ropes (something raceboats have been doing for some time) and
Increase the sheave (the spinning part of the pulley) diameter - achieved by following the guideline of using blocks that will handle larger rope for smaller rope.

Anyhow here is Martin Schoon's (in Sweden, i think) research.
http://hem.bredband.net/b262106/Boat/Blockfriction.pdf

He also has some other great articles for propeller heads.
Overview of documents referred to on Martin's web (http://hem.bredband.net/b262106/documents.html)

MIK

[Boatmik]

I've been writing a lot about Moths lately, prompted by a visit to the worlds where I took pics and observed from the "relative" safety of Bruce's Goat Island Skiff.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5087/5336546915_20cac319bb.jpg
More pics (http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik/sets/72157625778324208/with/5337254844/)

Here on this forum - http://www.woodworkforums.com/f169/building-shesha-hunter-valley-gis-australia-106260/index34.html#post1259829

and here a conversation ends up being about hydrofoil moths (http://www.storerboatplans.com/wp/design/rules-of-thumb-for-boat-and-yacht-design-are-they-legitimate/) on my own website

That's in the past ... however ...

Here is the best article I have found on what foiling Moths are like to set up and sail (http://www.internationalmoth.co.uk/foiler-set-up/foiler-fettling/) complete with techical descriptions.

Not quite wooden, but we learn from everyone - right!?

[woodeneye]

Very cool links indeed Mik. I have just caught up with your Rules of Thumb article, the one that developed into a most interesting discussion with David on boat design and Moths. It was absorbing stuff between two guys who know what they're talking about.

If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a favour and take the time to read it through from top to bottom. Don't skip anything, because you'll learn something!

[Boatmik]

An unmissible link.

As you know one of my theses (yes ... groan ... just one of them) is that all the major technical developments that have improved boats have happened independently of sexy materials.

You don't necessarily need the expense of carbon fibre parts or ultralight ball bearing blocks to get ever single advantage of the last 150 years of small sailing boat development.

Not that it has ever really been a cheapie (maybe in its early days) the Star Class has led the way in many of the developments that make modern boats what they are.

But it is worth remembering that all these developments in the Star happened using wood, rope and wire - even cotton fabric.

This page on the Star website has a bunch of articles by some of the prime movers in the class. Just fantastic.

http://www.patricktaylor.com/uploads/dclassicstar1.jpg
Picture stolen from Star Class Racing Yacht (http://www.patricktaylor.com/star-class) who likes stars as much as I do!

Articles are here (http://www.starclass.org/history/star_boat_design_development.htm) - Star Boat Design and Development (http://www.starclass.org/history/star_boat_design_development.htm)

Best wishes
Michael

[woodeneye]

Stars are a really cool boat and one of my favourites too. The rules are so intriguing too, especially the crew weight formulae. For instance, with my weight of 73kg, I need to find a fit crewhand of 118kg!

However, after seeing the restoration of an old wooden Star in France, I'm smitten. One day I have to restore and sail one.

YouTube - Star : un bateau de légende ...

[MiddleAgesMan]

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this sort of thing, MIK. If it is please feel free to move it wherever including out! :)

Anyway, this guy has an interesting technique to controlling his canoes. He can make 'em spin on a dime: YouTube - Canot Quessy Saguenay présenté par Canots Légaré

[Boatmik]

Nice One MAM! It is the perfect place!

As an Australian, I was so surprised when I found out about this. A bit of boating heritage that is little known about here

Freestyle canoeing also happens in Tandem.

YouTube - Mid-West Freestyle Canoe 2007 - Bob and Elaine Mravetz

The Dutch are not immune

YouTube - Freestyle Canoeing 1

Here is the very famous Bill Mason showing where the skill came from and where they are used.

YouTube - Bill Mason - Waterwalker

MIK

[MiddleAgesMan]

More freestyle canoeing video:

Freestyle canoeing: The most unusual sport ever? [VIDEO] (http://www.wimp.com/freestylecanoeing/)

[Coucal]

The National Film Board of Canada has some great archived videos of Bill Mason's (from 'Path of the Paddle'), which go through some of these skills and strokes.

The films are divided into basic & whitewater skills, for solo & doubles.

Here's the site:
Path of the Paddle: Solo Basic by Bill Mason - NFB (http://www.nfb.ca/film/path_of_the_paddle_solo_basic/)

[Boatmik]

Bill Mason is just amazing. Well worth a look!

This is a little documentary of Bill doing what he does best. Watch the simplicity but sophistication of his paddlework.

Bill Mason - Waterwalker - YouTube

I was privileged last year to do a rive trip with Paul Helbert, who sometimes appears here and also his son Eli who is a whitewater freestyle canoe champion.

Also on the France trip ... It was amazing how quick Paul could propel his canoe with his occasional but immensely powerful strokes. Made me realise how much I had to learn!

Michael

[Boatmik]

A really nice article about Jeff Stobbe building a traditional plank on edge English cutter.

http://intheboatshed.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Twinkle-3-319x480.jpg

It is on Gavin Atkin's website "In the Boatshed"

Victorian Plank on Edge Cutter built in modern day UK. Performance and handling. (http://intheboatshed.net/2012/02/18/jeff-stobbes-striking-and-beautiful-victorian-style-plank-on-edge-yacht/)

The plank on edge boats were from the Victorian era in the UK. Basically they looked like traditional boats from the side but were crazy narrow.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/6900298499_9b5ca310c6.jpg

Jeff did a lovely job of the boat and is very honest about the positives and negatives of the type. It is a very interesting read.

It prompted me to write a reply also on Gavin's pages. But also I expanded it slightly and added images here.
Design factors - Victorian Plank on Edge cutter, canting keel maxis, multihulls. (http://www.storerboatplans.com/wp/design/2469/)

Michael