Re: Dulcibella and lifeboat conversions generally (was: Death & Glory DESIGN)


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Posted by Jonathan Labaree on May 20, 2003 at 21:23:56 from 207.5.234.19 user JLabaree.

In Reply to: Re: Dulcibella and lifeboat conversions generally (was: Death & Glory DESIGN) posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on May 20, 2003 at 18:33:23:

I have always found Davies to be a very appealing character – resourceful, gritty, and idealistic – and one, like Tintin, who have I always wished to emulate (but fall short, I’m afraid). Surely some of the Swallows’ interest in mapping derives from Davies’ devotion to his mud channels. How can you read that book and not be tempted to take up compass and tape to “worry out” the channels of one’s home waters? Indeed, influenced by Ransome and Childers we did exactly that as kids, finding new routes through reefs and discovering the last small navigable channels as the tides fall (frequently having to resort to dragging our punt back to deeper water).

The books you mention, Andrew, call to mind L. Francis Herreshoff’s 1956 book, The Compleat Cruiser. It’s fascinating, really. Here’s a man who designed some of the world’s largest sailing yachts for the some of the world’s wealthiest people, but when it came down to writing a book about cruising, he offers up his beautiful, small, and simple Rozinante canoe yawl as the epitome of yachting – certainly Davies’ Hole Haven to Carruthers’ Cowes. He discusses issues that Davies would have loved – basic means of navigation, simple and practical advice about cruising, and the wonders and beauty of small coves and bays. It is a marvelous book, written in a folksy and approachable style, singing the praises of simple times afloat. I’ll have to re-read it.

I appreciate the insights Andrew and Mike have given about the cost and availability of boats. Certainly, one of the reasons I built my first boat, in my late teens, was that I knew I would not be able to afford one someone else built. That remains true today and accounts for the plywood runabout on a trailer in our yard. Such an approach rarely results in the perfect boat (no such thing, really), but it gets us on the water, and that’s what counts!

Glad to hear they didn’t sink Dulce in the movie, but I rather guessed that.



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