Posted by John Nicholson on July 11, 2000 at 22:07:16 from da129d107.dialup.callnetuk.com:
Swallow and Amazon - the boats
Our children are absolutely enthralled by the S&A stories, and are now desperate to try real sailing, having built themselves a boat from old floor boards and buckets on
the lawn with a broomstick mast fitted with scull and cross bone burgee.
We are therefore keen to find a similar wooden boat to sail the inland lakes of Snowdonia, and explore the numerous coves and inlets around the beautiful coast of North Wales where we live. If the Swallow really was able to sail out to sea in a fair swell (as in Peter Duck) then this form of boat would be ideal. We are not at all interested in racing. We would like a forgiving, reliable, beautiful, family boat, to sail lakes and to go out to sea when not too rough, taking at least a good picnic, if not a tent and diving kit. Perhaps to-day I would add some form of secure buoyancy, and unlike the Ransome stories, I would also insist upon life jackets all round.
It seems that there are now very few traditional sailing boats of this sort. The clinker hull has all but gone to extinction. The gaff or lug rig too seems a thing of the past. Are there any boats like this still about?
So, CALLING ALL TARS members, and readers of this message board. Does anyone have such a boat for sale? - or perhaps a simpler boat that could be given a new lease of life with a new lug sail?
I would also love to hear from anyone who has made a similar clinker boat as Swallow or Amazon. If our girls maintain their interest in sailing, I may become a boat builder yet. And if I ever get to making one boat then are there other people who might also like one? - would it be worth while to make several?
John Nicholson,
(Please send any replies to me at welshcoast@callnetuk.com)