Harrac

The first time I saw Harrac must have been the summer of 2007 or it might have been 2006, she was backing off of the fuel berth at Moodys marina on the Hamble and she irresistibly caught my eye in the same way that you cant help noticing pretty girl.



She was designed by lan Pape as a Yawl and built by Curtis and Pape at Looe in Cornwall in 1981 with single skin carvel construction of iroko on oak, teak decks and cockpit.

LOA: 13.7m (45 0")
LWL: 10.0m (33 0")
Beam: 3.86m (12 9")
Draft: 2.06m (6 9")
Displacement: 14.145 tonnes

In 2007/8 Harracs skipper, Angus Cater set out to sail from UK to Smith Island, Antarctica. The objective was to make the trip in memory of Simon Richardson and Bill Tilman, both had died attempting an expedition in 1977 to climb Mount Foster on Smith Island.

The journey was 18,500 nautical mile, and took her down to the Cape Verde islands, across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, and then down the west coast of South America to the Magellan Straights.

Sadly, due to delays, problems with the boat including a near sinking, the narrow window for getting to Antarctica in the brief summer season was lost, but Harroc returned safely visiting Brazil and the Azores.

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Seating Positions in Cruising Dinghies

Im now nearly 57 years old, and for most of my life Ive been sailing small cruising and racing dinghies.

As far as Im concerned, there are only two places to sit - either on the bottom of the boat with ones weight in the turn of bilge, or on the gunwale/side decks to work the boat in heavier conditions. I love the inside position, as the side-deck carlins support the back and shoulder blades nicely, the view is unobstructed by the sails, and there is an enhanced sense of speed due to having sight lines which are closer to the surface of the water.

You may have seen this photo before, but it shows two of my sons and me at the end of a nice afternoon sail on Moreton Bay. Conditions outside had been quite lively, but the only person who had to change sides was the skipper.

The above photo shows the relaxed position, and the one below shows the only other position I think worth considering.

That is me, enjoying a gentle afternoon sail in my wooden International Finn.  This particular boat was built for the 1956 Olympic Games. In a Finn you need to be hiking out in just about any wind.

Despite what Ive just said, there is still a strong demand for side seats from people who enquire about my dinghy plans. On paper these side seats appear to be very comfortable and convenient, but in my experience they rob the interior of the boat of room to move, and the seating position is neither one thing nor the other. The crew end up too high to see under the sails, are too high to receive meaningful back support, and are too low to be able to hike out. Other than when hiking out on the rail, the turn of bilge sitting position provides the best live ballast location, and provides protection from the elements.

Ok! You now know where I think people should sit, but the fact is that many crew members like the idea of side seats. In order to give the option of side seating without ruining the boat, I have come up with an idea which provides removable side seating, and also solves one of the major problems when beachcruising in a small boat, which is where to sleep out of bilge water, with room to store gear.

The concept works on both my Phoenix III and First Mate designs, but is adaptable to many others. Paul Hernes, who built the first Phoenix III thought it worth a try, and here are some pictures.

This is Phoenix III showing the main thwart in the foreground and the stern sheets (aft thwart) in the middle distance. The aft edge of the main thwart and the forward edge of the stern sheets are parallel and at a similar level.

This is First Mate under construction. You can see the same arrangement of main thwart and stern sheets as in Phoenix III.  In fact both boats have identical internal arrangements - just the hull construction (and therefore, shape) are different. 

My proposed method involved gluing and screwing some 3/4" x 3/4" (19mm x 19mm) wooden cleats to the aft face of the main thwart, and to the forward face of the stern sheets, and dropping a pair of removable side seats onto those cleats. Easy to remove if required, and they can then be stored upright against the side of the centreboard case, taking up very little room. Better still, remove them altogether and leave them at home.....

This is Pauls Phoenix III with a nice set of side seats installed.

Another view. The cleats are hidden under the ends of the seats.

Now for the important part. My idea had been that the side seats could be slid into the centre of the boat, giving a sleeping platform which is up out of the bilge water, with stowage space underneath. After a nights sleep, the bunk flat turns back into side seats, or better still, gets removed and stowed alongside the centreboard case. The length for sleeping is the total of the width of the main thwart, the width of the stern sheets, and the length of the side seats - this turns out to be adequate for most normal-sized humans in these small boats, and the sleeping width is the accepted standard of 22 inches.

Pauls Phoenix III with the seats arranged for sleeping. The system works very well indeed.

So there you go, folks - multi-tasking!

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More Interesting Work from the Workshop circa 2004

Around 2004 we were building at least six boats at one time in the old workshop - with only three-and-a-half people on the job. It was a hectic time, and looking back on it, we did some creative stuff. At one point a customer decided that his outboard-powered boat (a Phil Bolger Hope which we were building with a lapstrake hull and a small cuddy cabin) would be better as a diesel in-board, even though she was nearly finished in the outboard configuration.. I quickly designed an inovative skeg arrangement, and we carried out substantial structural modifications to accept the Yanmar 1GM10 deisel.

The nature of the retro-fitted keel/skeg was such that I thought it needed extra support against side loads and so I made a pattern for a cast bronze propeller shaft strut which had an inverted "V" on the upper side of the bearing. Not an original thought, but my first attempt at pattern making, which had been made necessary by the extreme urgency of the situation. The foundryman was a marine specialist (Marine Castings and Manufacturing - still in business) and was (to my surprise) happy with the pattern. Not only did he cast the prop strut, but he cast and machined the propeller, and the water-injected dripless-seal. Everything worked!

Propeller and strut, loose fitted without the proper pads etc - but still looking good

12" x 10" propeller from memory.

Custom-made dripless-seal

Boat on launching night - secret launching before the official one to come the next day!

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Me, looking very relieved after the owner had gone home from the secret launching. Now I could get back to business on the details (and have a quiet beer, I think)

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Launching Day (Official) for the in-board boat

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The outboard boat awaiting the owners arrival for the final inspection.

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Update on the Deblois Street Dory

A couple months ago I was entering the final stages of modeling the Deblois St Dory. I am excited to report that the work is complete and a plans package, full size patterns, and CNC cut kits are now ready to deliver!

This boat has been designed unlike any traditional, Swampscott Dory I know of. It has been a few years of hand drawing -- before I entered the world of CAD -- then building a 1/4 scale model, drafting final plans, and the building of hull #1. Then some time passed, sea trials were completed, and my training in CAD went up a few levels! So, then the DSD started getting input into the computer. The latest version of the CAD system Rhino came out -- Rhino 5 -- and I was able to efficiently finish the DSD in this advanced piece of software:

One of the great advantages of modeling a boat to such an extent is the ability to work of how everything fits together. All parts of the hull are fit together in 3-D space then the model is taken apart piece by piece and made 2D. These 2D drawings become full size patterns and the kits that are available for my boats. Even for something simple like the tholepins, having them modeled helps see how the sizing of the gunwales and the installation of the tholepins will work out in advance.

I have modeled 8 different sail rigs for the DSD. All parts can be CNC cut or supplied as full size patterns with a package of plans that includes 13 sheets of drawings, a manual, hardware and lumber lists, and direct support from me build the boat. So far two DSD plans sets and patterns have been shipped off.

I love this boat. In an article in Maine Island Trail, I said 

"If I could only own one boat – and I hope that never happens -- I would choose a dory for its simplicity and purity of form and function. And when I am daysailing to MITA islands or cruising the trail, the last thing I want is to dread having to row when the wind dies. I want a boat that is as pleasurable to move by oars as it is by sail or motor. And I want it to be a beautiful boat that can be built by a total amateur and used to explore the coast of Maine."

If you want to be at the helm of your own Deblois Street Dory, please contact me. Visit my webpage to learn more and see pricing. Cheers! ---Clint

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Bahia Chamela to Tenacatita

We spent four days in peaceful Bahia Chamela. It was a windy passage from La Cruz so the first day in the bay was devoted to catching up on sleep and enjoying a magnificent sunset aboard the boat. The next day we wandered around the village of Perula, entertained fellow cruisers aboard the boat and were treated to a magnificent night of stargazing. There was another boat anchored very close to us so I was up every two hours to make sure we didnt tangle as the wind and current shifted throughout the very dark and moonless night. Around 0400 I was checking our anchor and noticed the Southern Cross low in the sky to the south, then looked the other way and saw Polaris, the north star, not far above the northern horizon, with the Big Dipper circling it. In between was the Milky Way, with its billions of stars and the mighty Orion was directly overhead. I sat for some minutes in the cockpit in awe of this wonderful show.

The following day we motored out to Isla Cocinas, one of several small islands in the southern reaches of Bahia Chamela. We anchored on the northeast side of the island near a tiny sand beach that was crowded with pelicans. We landed the dinghy through the small surf and discovered pelicans nesting in the cactus. It was a wonder how a pair of pelicans could build a nest and hatch their young in the top of a 20 foot tall cactus. Later we circumnavigated the island in the dinghy, returning to the Honcho around 1600.

We left Bahia Chamela around 1000 this morning, motoring slowly out of the bay in almost no wind. Around 1100 the wind filled in, light at first, and we hoisted sails and shut down the engine. Our course took us out past the tiny cove at Paraiso and Punta Etiopia. We sailed well out to sea and as the day wore on the wind built to about 20 knots. With a following sea and wind, the Honcho surfed along at speeds of up to 10 knots, a new record for the boat. We were at the mouth of Bahia Tenacatita by 1600 and were snugly anchored in the upper bay by 1700.

Tenacatita is a lovely bay, surrounded by beatiful beaches and lush tropical vegetation. Were only 19 degrees north of the equator here and it feels like it. Well spend a few days exploring the area, perhaps indulge in a coco loco, and  do some serious snorkeling out near Punta Hermanos.

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On the fact that Im simply tired of getting depressed when I read boat ads

Something interesting/scary, video meets the memory hole, and in the ongoing "Attack of the PFD Nazis" department...

This morning I saw that a boat I know was still for sale and had been recently reduced in price... It got me thinking about how everyone makes mistakes. In this case, a young couple bought a boat that was as close to perfection (in their mind) as they could find, spent a sizable chunk of money making it even better, and then discovered, for one reason or another, that cruising simply did not suit them.

Sort of a bummer that.

Of course, this is not an isolated incident and, over a fair amount of years, Ive seen this scenario play out time and time again and, at the end of the story, there is always a boat with so much invested in it selling at a deep discount. To say its depressing is something of a gross understatement. So, just a little advice...

Get yourself a cheap boat in decent shape and just go cruising.

Go cruising for six months or a year and find out if you actually want to cruise. An old Pearson Triton, a CAL 29, or a Hunter 33 will tell you everything you need to know about cruising and if in the process you discover you want to cruise full time you can always buy a nicer/better boat with added smarts on what a better/nicer boat actually is.

That said, if you find you dont actually like being on a boat you can then sell your cheap Pearson/CAL/Hunter for around what you have invested in it or at most a minuscule loss.

Just saying...

Listening to Lucy & La Mer

So it goes...

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Whimbrel Dimensions

A number of people have written to discover the boats principal dimensions. Here they are: -

• LOA (not including boomkin or rudder) - 17" 6"/5334mm
• BOA - 6 9"/2057mm
• LWL at 1041lbs/473kg displacement in salt water - 13/3962mm - draft 6"/152mm
• LWL at 1538lbs/699kg displacement in salt water - 14 7"/4445mm - draft 7-1/2"/190mm
• LWL at 2094lbs/952kg displacement in salt water - 16 1"/4902mm - draft 9"/229mm

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