Posted by Stuart Wier on July 06, 2001 at 22:23:13 from 128.117.140.99:
In Reply to: good boats posted by John Pazereskis on July 03, 2001 at 03:21:21:
To serve as well as the Swallow did, the boat should have these
qualities:
1. be able to rig simply, and be able to douse sail quickly while
on the water, in case of a squall line blowing in.
2. have the simplest rig possible.
3. be able to row, and hopefully scull.
4. be able to carry four children under the age of 12 and
camping or fishing supplies. You are supposed to be having
an adventure, along with sailing.
5. be so stable as to be very difficult to capsize. Remember the
crew may not be sailors and may be quite young. Even if the boat
does not sink you're going to be in a pickle with 4 young crew
in the water after a capsize (what if the boat sails off by herself?
I've seen a righted boat full of water do that.)
6. Not expect the crew to sit on the rail, uncomfortably, and get wet.
7. be pleasant to look at, and responsive to sail.
Find a boat that can do all that and you have a good "Swallow." I expect
it will be a lot like the original Swallow. My "Swallowtail"
is the same size as the "Swallow." Two adults, two children,
a picnic basket and a dog do not begin to overload it. Sailing
a boat like this is, as was said, like a little ship,
not a round the buoys racer which is another kind of boat entirely.
Several modern North American builders of such boats are
listed in the web site noted here. Some have fiberglass hulls.
See also "Selecting a Sailing Dinghy and Learning to Sail"
a web site devoted to this question.
http://www.iws.net/wier/learn_to_sail.html
Stu Wier