The Relevance of Traditional Sail
This is my first posting of the year 2022. It is Part Two of thoughts offered on the importance and relevance of Traditional Sail in contemporary life.
Part One expressed dismay over the damage done, sometimes unintentionally, often uncaringly, to traditional boats and the culture they reflect, by the shapeless forces of modernization.
Part Two will offer examples of hope and creativity in the field of traditional sail. That hope is based on the re-birth of interest in traditional boat types and is itself reinforced by designers using new materials, technologies and design concepts to blend the old with the new.
What follows is a broad overview of several aspects of present day traditional sail; designs, both new and old, new technology, materials and re-purposed sailing rigs. The subject matter is vast; my approach is necessarily broad.
I am intentionally leaving it up to you, the reader, to choose what interests you. I believe that you are the only one who can make those choices and I wish you joy of it- it’s a wonderful journey.
There is an interesting irony in the fact that at the same time-the mid-1970s—when thousands of fiberglass Pangas were being built all around the planet (see Part One, Dec. 23, 2021), causing the extinction of traditional sailing workboat types, the experimental double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule’a was being built, of fiberglass, in Hawaii and that the first hulls of the Cornish Crabber design were also being built, of fiberglass, in southern England.
These boats and many of the people who conceived them are still with us today. They have prospered and inspired others.
The principle “effect” of Hokule’a was the successful demonstration, based on multiple trans-Pacific voyages, of the indisputable fact that the islands of Polynesia were intentionally explored and settled over hundreds of years by Polynesian people using large sailing canoes without the use of conventional Western navigation techniques.
The effect of the success of the Cornish Crabber and subsequent designs was to demonstrate that there was considerable interest in and demand for a smaller, handier version of traditional English boats. This marked the return of a cultural icon that could be owned and enjoyed on a personal, private, family level.
What follows is a simple listing of categories and sources.
DESIGN SOURCES
Wooden Boat magazine, and its subsidiary publications, has been around for many years, is still very popular and is full of examples, advertisements and designs.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISOR—also a magazine. If Wooden Boat is focused on “Classic Sail”, the SCA is about small sailing and rowing craft that are absolutely not yachts. I am a long-time subscriber and recommend SCA unreservedly.
If your blood curdles at the mention of “classic sail” don’t despair. There are now designs available for shanty boats, house boats and in-your-face-funky boats. Materials can be as simple as construction grade plywood, 2x4s from Home Depot, Liquid Nails construction adhesive, dry wall screws and porch paint. Blue plastic tarps for sails. Classic is as classic does—but DO NOT forget to wear a PFD!
DUCKWORKS is a very good source of information on new designs. Look for JIM MICHALAK and PHIL BOLGER—both iconoclasts. DW also offer books and large assortment of “gear’—some of it very tempting. DW in many ways epitomizes the “new wave” of small boats in the U.S.—in a good way. Check them out.
DESIGNERS
REUEL PARKER, Florida, focuses on Sharpies. He is an experienced researcher, designer, boat builder and sailor.
JOHN WELSFORD, New Zealand. A prolific creative mind. Check out his SCAMP design, the result of a collaboration with Small Craft Advisor; a type of “cross-fertilization”.
IAIN OUGHTRED, Australia. He has mostly small sailing and rowing designs with a Scandinavian influence. If you like the boats of the Shetlands Islands then he’s your lad.
SAM DEVLIN, U.S. All sizes and styles of boats—including a very attractive, tiny tug boat—all built with the stitch-and-glue technique. He wrote a book on stitch-and-glue that will take you into the exploration of epoxy’s usefulness.
HARRY BRYAN, Canada. An outstanding, creative and eclectic talent. The Victor Davis Hanson of boat designers and builders. Check out his KATY 20 foot gaff sloop.
PAUL GARTSIDE, comes from Cornwall, now resides in British Columbia. His very thoughtful designs combine traditional English gaff rigs with modern materials. I would love to have one of his boats.
JOHN HARRIS, U.S., owner and designer of Chesapeake Light Craft-CLC. Thoughtful and prolific. Offers CNC kits (see CNC below). Check out his Jimmy Skiff II design
FRANCOIS VIVIER, France, also offers kit boats through a U.S. distributor. His designs are based on the traditional small fishing boats of Brittany. The ILLUR design is especially popular.
R.D. “PETE” CULLER, U.S., has “crossed the bar” but his designs and knowledge of skiff rigs and types lives on.( see BOOKs below).
WILLIAM and JOHN ATKIN, U.S., have also “crossed the bar.” My own boat is a John Atkin design from the 1950s that is built with modern materials, some of which did not exist at the time of it’s design.
Father and son, they were absolutely the best and their designs are still available.
The list above is, at best, only a partial one; consider it to be a starting point.
DIY BOOKS WITH DESIGNS
JOHN WELSFORD, NZ, Backyard Boatbuilding, 1999.
Full of designs, advice, photos and practical instruction.
GARY DIERKING, NZ, Building Outrigger Sailing Canoes, 2008.
Designs, drawings and photos for 3 different boats.
R.D. “PETE” CULLER, U.S., Skiffs And Schooners, 1974.
Designs, advice and opinion. Rigs discussed and compared. An excellent book from the man who famously wrote “Experience starts coming the moment you begin.”
Spray. As a young man Pete built a replica of Slocum’s Spray, using the scantlings of a coaster, and built in a very traditional Chesapeake Bay shipyard. The chapters on the people, the work and the “culture” of the place and time are a very special glimpse into the recent past of American working sail.
RUEUL PARKER, U.S., The Sharpie Book.
History, plans and excellent advice on building and sailing Sharpies; also details the process of cold-moulded plywood/epoxy construction-with photos.
HOWARD CHAPPELLE, American Small Sailing Craft, 1951.
A collection of 100 small boat plans. Everyone should have a copy in their personal library.
EMILIANO MARINO, U.S., The Sailmaker’s Apprentice, 2001.
An encyclopedia of sails, sail making and sailing. Lots of good information and drawings showing rigs, materials, tuning and the practical use of sails. An extremely useful reference.
BRION TOSS, The Rigger’s Apprentice, now in it’s 2ed.
Toss has also “crossed the bar”. He was, to my mind, the first contemporary rigger to write a well-illustrated and very practical reference work. I learned the Moku hitch from his book, among many other things.
HERVEY GARRETT SMITH, The Marlinspike Sailor, 2ed., enlarged format, 2012.
This classic has been with us for decades and has never lost its usefulness. Get one and you will be pleased with yourself.
HARRY V. SUCHER, Simplified Boatbuilding—The Flatbottom Boat, 1973.
For me, this is one of the foundational texts of boatbuilding. It has good drawings, plans and tables of offsets. I hope to build a dinghy/skiff for my Atkin gaff sloop using plans from Sucher.
JOHN ATKIN, Practical Small Boat Designs, 2001.
A simple, useful collection of his own designs, as well as a chapter on lofting. All plans are available for order by mail.
BACKGROUND BOOKS ON TRADITIONAL SAIL
TOM CUNLIFFE, U.K., Hand, Reef and Steer, 2011.
The best primer on rigging and sailing gaffers that I am aware of.
JOHN LEATHER, U.K., The GaffRig Handbook, 2ed., 2001. Large format.
A very useful reference work; history, design, techniques and developments.
CONOR O’BRIEN, Ireland, Sea Boats, Oars And Sails, 1941.
A small important and useful classic. A recent paperback edition has several photos of the ILLUR design lugger.
DOUGLAS PYLE, Clean Sweet Wind Sailing With The Last Boatmakers of the Caribbean, 1998.
Quiet, beautiful first-hand account of person investigations into the history, use and construction of small sailing craft. A good choice for a gift.
WILLIAM R. JOHNSON, Jr., Bahamian Sailing Craft, 2ed edition 200, self published.
This is another must-have book if you are interested in TS and Caribbean sail in particular. All drawings are made by the author in the 1960s while cruising in his own ketch. Second edition now available at Amazon with added section on Haitian sloops.
SOMEWHAT OBSCURE BUT WORTH THE EFFORT
WILLIAM C. FLEETWOOD, Jr., Tidecraft, 1995.
An especially useful and beautiful book, wonderfully illustrated. Its sub-title says it all: The Boats of South Carolina, Georgia and NE Florida, 1550-1950.
JAN ADKINS, The Craft Of Sail—A Primer of Sailing, 1973.
Illustrated by the author, buy two copies; one for reading at home with your kids, the second kept faithfully or taken aboard your boat as a quick reference—the drawings are especially helpful as a teaching aid.
VINCENT GILPIN, The Good Little Ship, 3ed. 1975.
Photos and intelligent commentary on Sharpie yachts in Florida and the underlying philosophy of coastal cruising in shoal waters. Introduction by L.Francis Herresshof himself.
VIDEOS
OFF CENTER HARBOR. Subscription only, no advertisers. OCH has now been around for 10 years. Their library has over 6000 videos, most of their own making. They are “Maine centric” but also go as far afield as the NW U.S., New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania.
YOUTUBE. Of Course! All sorts of stuff under the category of SAIL—take your pick. I like a documentary outfit called SLICE as a good source of real world—meaning 3d world-working sail. You have to search for it but it’s worth it.
MAINE WINDJAMMERS ASSOCIATION has a number of videos of their events and member boats. Voyages in the Gulf of Maine in what Pete Culler called “dude schooners”—for tourists. Traditional gaff rigged coasting schooners with excellent food, decent accommodations and fun sailing.
TOM CUNLIFFE. Again! A series called Boats That Built Britain—all good, but my favorites are Pilot Cutters and the Fifie lugger called The Reaper—simply amazing, and a cautionary tale for fisheries management.
THE POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY. Videos, lots of videos, of Hokule’a, her sister ships and many voyages, all based on a “parallel universe” paradigm of ocean navigation. PVS lets their boats and their actions speak for them on topics such as ocean health and environmental activism.
TRADITIONAL SAILING RIGS
The surge of interest in traditional small sailing craft (see NEW TECHNOLOGY below) has caused people to become aware of the existence of sailing rigs not seen, or even heard of, in the gated, chain link-defined modern marinas full of fiberglass boats, which are pretty much all sporting the same high aspect ratio rigs.
This growing awareness is, to my mind, an undoubtedly good thing. It opens people’s minds-if they bother to observe and then think about what they are seeing—by causing them to consider the different ways, the rigs, sails, and hulls are used to get heavily loaded, half-decked dhows or feluccas or gajeta falkusas across the water to sell their goods and then go home.
The Sailmakers Apprentice (see above) has a very good description and analysis of various rigs; crab claw, leg o’mutton, lateen, settee, gunter, sprit, lugger and gaff.
NEW TECHNOLOGY
Designers are coming up with and re-discovering, all sorts of “new approaches.” Here are a few:
OFF CENTER CENTERBOARDS AND DAGGERBOARDS—to open up the internal spaces. No more centerboard cases blocking the passageway forward.
WATER BALLAST—in heavy duty, rubberized or plastic bladders stowed in the bilge, or sealed tanks under the sole (the floor boards) that can be filled by removing a threaded plug, then resealed and later drained when the boat is back on the trailer.
FINGER JOINTS IN PLYWOOD as an alternative to butt joints requiring butt blocks as well as to scarf joints requiring lots of careful preparation, clamping and manipulating.
COMPUTERIZED NUMERICAL CONTROL (CNC) allows boat kit components, such as Finger Joints to be precisely cut at the factory in order to make assembly in your garage easier and faster.
FLAT PACK KITS—what arrives on your doorstep when you combine CNC, finger joints, epoxy, pre-cut marine plywood bulkheads and “planks”, then add fastenings, fittings, a sail, then bundle it all together into a pallet. Written instructions, diagrams, discs and FAQs are also available.
Once you have narrowed your choice of design it is up to you to evaluate price, ease of construction, functionality and size as decision criteria. Don’t forget the trailer, and registration, a spare tire and a dedicated jack.
The adage “the smaller the boat, the more often it’s used” should be given considerable consideration.
Boats, like many other things in life, are a compromise.
Buy or build a small boat for sail and oars. Launch your expedition of discovery to Lake Winipachuco or Fat Boy Bayou.
Enjoy the experience, and WEAR A PFD!
My apologies to all the deserving people whose names and achievements I have forgotten to mention in the lists above. Look for them yourselves, just follow the bread crumbs.
NEW APPROACHES TO TRADITIONAL SAIL
REPLICAS. Big, established, well-financed maritime museums continue carefully build replicas of historic sailing ships, and smaller sailing craft. See the San Diego Maritime Museum, the Maine Maritime Museum and the St. Augustine, Florida Maritime Museum.
In 2003 Wooden Boat magazine published a 4-part series on Replica ships that I find to be extremely, impressively well done. Go to Wooden Boat archives to obtain copies.
COMMERCIAL SAIL. In the province of Guanacaste on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica a group called SAIL CARGO is building a wooden ship, 80 meters long, for commercial use. Look for Sail Cargo—ship’s name is CEIBA on Youtube.
GREYHOUND , a purpose-built replica lugger, is hauling both cases of wine and tourists from Brittany to southern England, a centuries-old trading and smuggling route.
CLASSIC SAIL in Cornwall, U.K. has a number of traditional ships and cutters catering to the tourist trade.
PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS spring up all around the world, always hopeful, sometimes successful. LUKE POWELL, a well-known sailing figure in Cornwall has joined with the municipal government of a small Cornish town to establish a boatyard to build traditional boats, for tourism and to train people as boatwrights. GWEEK, CORNWALL _PILOT CUTTER PELLEW.
RACING (but gentle, often with tea and cakes, not the rowdy, cut-throat style of the U.S.). Traditional boats, some newly built and some going dating from the late 19th century, are still raced in England, Scotland and Ireland. Look for Thames Sailing Barges, Pilot cutters, Luggers in Looe, Smacks and Bawleys. The Irish boat types have Gaelic names and considerable style.
These events and efforts exemplify the continuing importance of traditional sail in contemporary life.
FINALLY———CHASSE MAREE
CHASSE MAREE is a French word with multiple meanings; a “tide chaser”, meaning a fishing boat, also a type of fish, also a Revenue Cutter, and even, I believe, an annual road race for cars.
HOLD THAT THOUGHT
At the beginning of WW Two, which in Europe was the late 1930s, France and the U.K. both still had considerable numbers of wooden sailing craft in their commercial fishing fleets. Sail used a free energy source, boats and rigging could be cheaply and easily repaired by human hands, very little machinery required. Some of the boats in the U.K. survived to the present day. (See RACING above).
In France it was different. The German occupation of France resulted in the intentional, systematic and widespread destruction of wooden sailing craft by the German Army. This was done for a variety of reasons, all aimed at controlling the French population and lessening the threat posed by the proximity of the English coast to the French coast, much of which was in the province of Brittany, where there are enormous estuaries where people and small boats could easily hide.
The importance of traditional sailing craft as “icons of culture” and “carriers of culture” was recognized by the Germans when they purposely destroyed the boats of the French fishing fleet.
In the mid-1980s a Frenchman named Bernard Cadoret began publishing a magazine he called CHASSE MAREE. He used the magazine as a “bully pulpit”, a metaphorical “soap box” to almost single-handedly create a renaissance, an actual re-birth of traditional working sail in France, specifically in Brittany. Located in the Breton town of Dournenez, both Cadoret and the magazine continue today as exemplars of how powerful ideas can be made into reality on a national level.
Cadoret focused on the French model of government, both regional and national level, that embraces and supports regional differences and specialties; wines, grapes, cheeses, animal breeds, plant types, regional cuisine, etc., all of which are tied to the concept of “terroir”, a flexible term that refers not only to soil types but also to climate, micro-climates, ecology and cultural history: a “sense of place.” Brittany is especially diverse in these characteristics, especially in its fisheries.
So local governments, influenced by Chasse Maree, and probably also by lobbying at the national level, joined up with the “regional culture protection bureaucracy” (my term), to enable, both legislatively and financially, the building of new traditional sailing/fishing boats of the various types that existed prior to the German occupation; sardine boats, shrimp boats, oyster boats, herring boats, etc.
These boats exist today, along with the new generation of people who have learned how to build them, rig them, maintain them, and how to sail them, usually with generous amounts of wine, cheese, music and laughter. They appear to have become “dude boats”, for tourists, and that has become their new, accepted and economically sustainable function. They are all, without exception, beautiful and amazing. Chasse Maree holds regularly scheduled, week-long, carnival-type events every few years in various Breton ports. Attendance is in the tens of thousands of people and the thousands of sailing craft from all over the Mediterranean. Look for Semaine du Golfe, Brest, Morbihan and Dournenez.
Raise a glass to Bernard and his crew!
Le Voila!
DUNCAN BLAIR
As always, all opinions expressed above are mine alone.
If you are curious, outraged or interested after reading this post, please feel free to contact me; traditionalsail@gmail.com
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