Posted by Magnus Smith on April 01, 2014 at 00:10:04 user Magnus.
In Reply to: A SWALLOW'S TALE posted by Dave Thewlis on March 31, 2014 at 07:59:58:
This is pretty much the most exciting technical article about Ransome you could ever read. Thoroughly researched information about the real boat behind the story version we all love so much. Thank you Roger!
I love the photos. Ransome appears to be sitting on a cushion in the first one! Maybe it is a folded oilskin, or perhaps his piles were bad.
I note he is sitting far aft (right at the back) in two of the photos. These days no-one would sit there to helm, but it may help to move bodyweight aft to make the deepest part of the keel dig in the water and reduce leeway. To tack it would help to move forwards.
The sail must have been pretty large for a dinghy used by children: if the hull was nearly 14ft and the sail extended beyond the transom, that really enlarges the area on a lug rig. The sheet would have really pulled against your arm.
I had not heard about the removable stern thwart before. It cannot have been a very large locker though? The floor of these dinghies usually rises up a great deal at the stern, and narrows, leaving quite a small gap under that thwart. I wonder what the vertical side panel was like; just a slab of wood blocking in the area? Or maybe slatted?
It is a shame the photo doesn't reveal detail of the boom downhaul (the rope which pulls down on the jaws, and helps the sail keep its shape). I'd like to know if there were blocks (pulleys) and where they attached, etc.