Barn Door – or should I say barge door.
It’s true to say that a well-designed centreboard
dinghy with a Bermudan rig will out point even a
Sienna but that’s missing the point. The Sienna will
comprehensively out sail the Bermudan rigged dinghy
in heavier weather and do it in safety. The rig and hull
are carefully designed to complement each other and
the result is a boat ideally suited to its purpose – a
boat to seriously voyage in – to boldly go, even.
If you don’t want one of our designs then there are
thousands of 12-20ft skiffs to choose from, most
with centreboards, mostly with flattish sections and
available with a variety of rigs. Many are skittish,
many prone to capsizing but the better ones are
perfectly suited to their intended sheltered waters,
they are often cheap too. Our boats are not for
everyone but if you want to mount an expedition or
undertake some serious exploration, then a little ship
with a ballasted keel and an efficient easily handled
rig is for you. If speed is also necessary then our
Secret 20 will out sail all sorts of boats and the Sienna
19 will, as Jono puts it, “sail through the fleet.”
more on rudders
The traditional keel hung rudder is clearly illustrated
in the drawing of the Thames Barge J & M – it’s
one that will do the job year in, year out, but in
terms of manoeuvrability and enhancing windward
performance, well no. A couple of decades ago
the wonderful J Class racer Endeavour was being
restored. On sailing her she was found to be ‘ almost
unmanageable.’ The solution was to fair the rudder
and add flaps to close the gap between the keel. The
result? A boat transformed, apparently.
more words on cargo boats
I’ve been re-reading some of my books on sailing
barges, one in particular East Coast Voyage about
a man, his wife and young son sailing a barge
from the Humber to Deben rivers – a three day
voyage undertaken in the 60’s. I was reminded in no
uncertain terms of the sheer audacity of it – sailing
an engineless 80ft sailing barge down the east coast
of England with your wife and son? Wow – respect!
I know these waters and I’m in awe. Not only that
but prior to the voyage they spent months fitting her
out and then there’s the small matter of shaping and
rigging a new 42ft solid fir topmast before setting sail.
An inspiring tale and a link to a rapidly disappearing
past. There’s probably a few copies in better libraries
but I bought mine in 1971, so maybe not. Anyway,
an East Coast Passage – the Voyage of a Thames
Sailing Barge by D. Hl Clarke, Longman Group,
London.
Here’s an extract to whet your appetite.Lastly we at Scruffie Marine fit brailing lines to all our
lugsails but ours are brailed in seconds ...