Posted by Jock on February 08, 2008 at 20:40:31 from 87.105.81.146 user Jock.
The "Tideways" were strongly built classic sailing dingies built by L.H. Walker at Leigh on Sea.
They came in two varieties 12ft and 14ft. An excellent article about the virtues of the class was
published in the erstwhile Boatman magazine.
Pippin is 14ft example. She has a steel centreboard, wooden mast and is clinker built in mahogany.
The interior arrangement is just the way that I always imagined Amazon with the exception that
she has a foredeck to throw off the spray when sailing in the tidal chop of the Thames estuary.
Her hull has been lovingly restored by Richmond Bridge Boathouses including the fitting of new
frames and floors. She was originally bermuda rigged, and I have had her converted to gaff rig.
If any TarBoarder out there has dreamed of owning a classic wooden dinghy, and is not afraid of
the implications (wooden boats are more demanding of their owners than plastic ones) they are
invited to contact me by eel-mail.