Posted by Forrest Brownell on August 05, 1997 at 03:46:11:
In my excess of zeal in the matter of Great Northern Divers, I have
come perilously close to assuming the persona of a hectoring and
unwelcome Great Aunt. Before it's too late, therefore, I'd like to
change the subject.
My wife and I will be undertaking a series of North American 'inland
circumnavigations' in the next few years. These voyages will vary in
length from a few hundred to several thousand miles, and will involve
a mix of river, lake and coastal boating.
For a variety of reasons (which I will not go into here, for fear of
boring any surviving readers to tears), we would like to make these
journeys in a small (c 18-ft) open boat, capable of being propelled
by sail and oar, and light enough to portage short distances with
a wheeled cart or rollers.
Our problem, then: Though we have broad experience in small craft,
on waters from North Carolina's New River and New York's Hudson River
Gorge to Canada's James Bay, we have never owned a boat of the type
I have just described. To remedy this sorry deficiency in our small
fleet, we plan to build a suitable boat this winter.
We are currently much taken with Iain Oughtred's 19'6" Caledonia Yawl,
particularly in the open-accommodation, lug-rigged configuration. She
would seem to combine all the virtues: light weight, comparative ease
of construction (we would like to keep construction time under 320
hours, if possible), generous capacity (we will be carrying as much
as 1000 lb of stores and equipment at times), and a good likelihood
of reasonable performance under sail or oar.
Unfortunately, though we live on a reservoir in a well-watered region,
it is a desert for small craft. The typical boat seen in our home
waters is a semi-aquatic Porta-Loo, either a 'jet-ski' (these are now
touted as 'personal watercraft', a name which makes me snort in
disbelief every time I carry my 12-ft pack canoe into a beaver pond)
or a 16-ft 'tournament bass boat-ski boat' with a 75-HP engine petrol
engine, all-weather carpeting and an integral beer cooler. There are
no open cruising boats to be seen anywhere, and precious few Canadian
canoes and kayaks.
To my point at last: Does any reader have personal experience with
Oughtred's Caledonia Yawl, or, failing that, know of anyone who does,
whom I might contact to learn something of this lovely boat's handling
and sailing qualities? I hope so; life can be very arid in a desert.