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Tuesday 31 May 2011

BETH Sailing Canoe

Robert Hoffman in Poland is a 1001 Boats follower and having read his own blog I asked if we could feature his delightful Sailing Canoe "Beth".



Designed by Michael Storer


Robert tells the story as follows, "Even before 2000, my brother found on the internet an interesting and simple in construction, sailing canoe modeled on traditional sailing canoes from 1870, American sharpies and famous American boat designer Phil Bolger's influences. A boat so pleased him that soon he made contact with the Australian designer Michael Storer and bought the plans. He was going to build it, but life turned out differently. Ever since my brother showed me BETH's building plans, she liked at first sight to me also - with its elegance and simplicity, as well as the expected features of the sailing.



A few years later my brother gave me BETH's plans to build. In April 2009, build began my sailing canoe in my tiny garage. The whole time I was by Internet in contact with Michael Storer, who on his forum and private gave me some useful advices. The boat was a really inexpensive and simple to build. Building was possible singlehanded and using a very modest set of tools. After several months, just before the onset of cold weather definitive construction was interrupted for the winter, and then resumed in April 2010.



My BETH Sailing canoe was launched May 28, 2010 in Gdansk (Gorki Zachodnie), where it took part in the Raid Poland 2010. She obtained the name "YuanFen" (Chinese - a force that brings people together) but the variable and uncertain weather and the experience and common sense meant that BETH “YuanFen” did not emerge over the Gulf of Gdansk.

From June 2010 to the end of August I'have tested it on a little lake (Jezioro Dziekanowskie) near my house. She proved a fast boat and pleasant sailing. Is the boat for the experienced sailor, but the hull is relatively more stable than the other canoe hulls. She is easy to maneuver on land it singlehanded and easy for trailering and roofracking. She draws attention to its characteristic appearance and speed - she is the attraction of the waters which she will be on.

I am grateful to the designer Michael Strorer for such a beautiful design and for his advice and comments, which I gladly gave during construction, as well as my brother, for showing me BETH and transmission plans, including the right to build her.

I have serious plans to continue to use my sailing canoe BETH "YuanFen" - I intend to test it to a larger water body, and prepare for the trip (in 2012) from the Poland to Danish island Bornholm - about 70 nm open Baltic Sea. This requires preparation and common sense - good and stable weather is essential. I believe this is possible, but always keep in mind that this is just a tiny canoe.
"



Beth has a delightful simplicity and elegance, a perfect boat for getting out and enjoying being on the water, equally as many intrepid Victorian sailors were to demonstrate these small craft can make remarkable voyages. We look forward to hearing more on Robert's open water voyage on the Baltic.

Thursday 26 May 2011

Solent Scow

The Solent Scow dates back to around Edwardian times, the story goes that local Lymington sailor Captain Nicholson found that his west country built pram dinghy wasn't suited to the choppy conditions of the Solent and around 1912 asked local boat builder Dan Bran to build what is in effect a sharp nosed pram dinghy.

The boat gained popularity in the 1920's and 30's becoming known as the Scow with clubs racing the boats in nearby Yarmouth, Beaulieu and further a field Hamble and Portsmouth each fleet with minor variations.

Several builders offered the Scow including the Berthon Yard in Lymington which built hundreds.

During the 1950's Scows were still being raced and used as yacht tenders, but as clinker boat building became less cost effective the design was revived in GRP.

Up until 1985 the Scow was used for junior racing in Lymington, but by that time the moulds weren't up to scratch, so local builder John Claridge was asked to build a revised Scow making it a better all around dinghy for racing and training.



The Scow today is also built by Flight Marine and there are fleets at boths end of the Solent sailing from Chichester, Bembride, Yarmouth, Lymington and Keyhaven.

Pictures here are the Yarmouth fleet sailing on the upper reaches of the River Yar on the Isle of Wight.


LOA 11' 4"
Beam 4'11"
Sail Area
Main 84 Sq ft
Jib 12 Sq ft

Weight 220lbs

Saturday 21 May 2011

The Cruising Rowboat

Some boats just grab your imagination and keeps it working overtime. The Camper Rowboat from Angus Rowboats is just such a boat. I'm up way past my bedtime and can't stop dreaming of the adventures awaiting me if I only build this boat!


To understand the boat you need to know a little about the designer. Colin Angus and his wife, Julie, have collectively rowed more than 40,000 kilometers in a variety of oar-powered craft on oceans, rivers and lakes. Julie Angus made history by becoming the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean from mainland to mainland. Colin is the first to row across the Bering Sea from Alaska to Siberia, and he has also voyaged by oar down the length of the Amazon and Yenisey Rivers.

They live on Vancouver Island. Maybe I should say they are based on Vancouver Island, from which they launch their adventures. Outside Magazine listed Colin as one of the top 25 "bold visionaries with world-changing dreams" for his work in promoting lifestyle changes to help the environment.

This new boat looks similar to the one the duo used to row and bike 7,200 kilometers from Scotland to Syria. That boat, the Expedition, is a sliding-seat rowboat built for the open ocean with the capacity to store a bicycle and the boat's trailer in the main water-tight compartment, making the rower/biker amphibious.


At 19 feet and 175 pounds fully rigged, the Camper is about a foot longer. Instead of stowing a bike, the main compartment is now a bedroom. Other innovations include two small pontoons that attach to the outboard ends of the rowing outrigers while at anchor to make the boat a stable platform for lounging, cooking and sleeping.

Angus says the hull shape of the Expedition and the Camper boat are quite different. The Camper is made from eight panels with a V-bottom. The Expedition is made from five panels and has a flat bottom. Both are beautiful boats and look like they would be a blast to row.




(Note to Colin: Please come up with a better name than "Camper." It congers up visions of eating baloney while seated on the tailgate of a Buick Roadmonster stationwagon. Or, worse, elderly RVers driving a half the speed limit.)

The plans for the Expedition are available now from Angus Rowboats, but we will have to wait until fall for the Camper plans.

This summer Colin will attempt to beat the current circumnavigation record of Vancouver Island, which is just over sixteen days (done in a kayak). He will use an Expedition and figures he will need to cover about 75 kilometers a day in a range of conditions.




My optimum use of the Camper, should I ever build one, would be to row a leasurely dozen or so miles between anchorages in, say, Washington state's San Juan Islands. Meantime, the Anguses are planning a non-stop double circumnavigation of Vancouver Island next year with two people in the boat, each taking turns rowing 12 hours a day. (Can't you guys give it a rest; You make me tired.)

Maybe you should rename the boat the Circumnavigator Express. Yah, that's more like it!

Friday 20 May 2011

the Whaleboat


Artwork from the logbook of the ship Iris while on its voyage from 1843-1847. The painting depicts a sperm whale upending one of the whaleboats chasing it.

Courtesy Girl on a Whaleship




This detailed painting of the killing of a whale by a whaleboat crew was done on the inside cover of a logbook. The logbook covers two voyages; the ship Alexander Barclay, 1837-1840 and Charles W. Morgan, 1841-1842.

Courtesy Girl on a Whaleship






Diagram ({{Information |Description={{en|1=Side and interior plan of whale-boat equipped with apparatus of capture, &c. Noted on the drawing as Plate 192. sec 5 v ii pp241, 252. not clear why the file name says fig 193.}} |Source=NOAA Photolibrary Image ID: figb01)

Courtesy NOAA





Azorean whaleboat racing


C0urtesy Azorean Whaleboats







The Queen's Ranger's whaleboat after its trip from Crown Point to Fort Ticonderoga
(courtesy David Michlovitz)

Courtesy Fort Ticonderoga Brigade




The past--a district Missionary's whaleboat

In early days the work of the "Southern Cross" was supplemented by the district missionaries in their whaleboats, but in recent year these have been replaced by launches and schooners

Courtesy Anglican History Oceania 1849-1949







from 'Into the Deep', a documentary by Ric Burns
The history of the American whaling industry from its 17th-century origins in drift and shore whaling off the coast of New England and Cape Cod, through the golden age of deep ocean whaling, and on to its demise in the decades following the American Civil War.
Find here, and here.

I just happened to catch the airing of this documentary on PBS, I rarely watch TV so it was extremely fortuitous. I was deeply moved and impressed by this work.
Ric Burns is without doubt a most discerning and articulate documentry filmaker. I recommend this film highly. It focuses acutely on the wreck of the Essex, an American whaleship and more generally on American whaling. The wreck of the Essex is reputed to be one of the inspirations for Moby Dick, and the documentary focuses quite a bit on Melville's celebrated work. Do not miss this!

Courtesy Ric Burns, PBS, and Mystic Seaport





Aquatic Mammals
Caption: Darting Harpoon into Sperm Whale
Image Date 1926
Subject Whaleboats
Whaling
Harpoons
Sperm whale
Image Source Author Cook, John A.
Image Source Title Pursuing the Whale : a Quarter-Century of Whaling in the Arctic
Pub. Info. Boston, MA : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1926
Page No./Plate No. Facing page 8
Digital collection Freshwater and Marine Image Bank
Repository Most materials are located in the University of Washington Libraries. Images were scanned by staff of the UW Fisheries-Oceanography Library
Copyright Materials in the Freshwater and Marine Image Bank are in the public domain. No copyright permissions are needed. Acknowledgement of the Freshwater and Marine Image Bank as a source for borrowed images is requested.
Ordering Information The University of Washington Libraries does not provide reproductions of this image. This record contains a citation for this image. If you want to use the scanned image, acknowledgement of the Freshwater and Marine Image Bank as a source for borrowed images is requested.
Type Image

Courtesy
University of Washington Libraries






A whaleboat chasing its prey

Courtesy Girl on a Whaleship




From the introduction to ' The Whaleboat A study of Design, Construction and Use from 1850 to 1970 by Willits D. Ansel, published by the Mystic Seaport Museum:

The term "whaleboat" properly describes boats used for hunting whales, lthough it has also been applied to other boats having similar features, generally sharp ends. Whaleboats ere used by the thousands aboard American whaleships in the middle of the nineteenth century and, in lesser numbers, aboard the vessels of toher nations and at shore stations around the world. The whaleboat was a double ended, light, open boat with a length at that time of between twenty-seven and thirty-one feet and a beam of slightly more than one-fifth the length. It was pulled by oars and sailed. It was a fine sea boat, not only adapted to its function but also handsome. Though there were variations in size, lines, and construction, the general characteristics were well defined.
The whaleboat was once the most widespread of all small craft. In the late 1800s it was known in the Pacific in such widely separated places as Easter Island, Tasmania, the Bonin Islands and the Aleutians. In the Atlantic, it appeared in the north off Greenland, in the Azores, the Grenadines, and south to Tristan da Cunha and still farther south to Antarctica. In the Indian Ocean it was seen in the Mozambique Channel, Kerguelen Island and Cocos. It was used in the Arctic Ocean at Herschel Island on one side and Spitsbergen on the other. Whaleboats were seen in the most remote places in the sea.
The last voyage of a whaleship that carried whaleboats was in the 1920s. At a few far scattered places the boats continued to be used for shore whaling, as at Tong and Norfolk Island in the Pacific and at Bequia and the Portuguese Islands in the Atlantic. Two whaleboats are still maintained at Bequia and whaling on Pico and Madeira.* In 1969 there was whaling at Fiji. Elsewhere on remote islands the type survived for carrying cargo and passengers.
In the United States, where the whaleboat was carried to its final stage of development and where the boats were build by the thousands, very few remain outside of museums, although an undermined number survive in Alaska.
Much has been written in praise of whaleboats:
Their shape "ensures great swiftness as well as qualities of an excellent seaboat." 1
The boats were dry and rode "as gracefully as an albatross...for lightness and form, for carrying capacity compared with its weight and sea-going qualities, for speed andfacility of movement at the word of command, for theplacing of menat the best advantage in the exercise of their power, by the nicest adaptation of the varying length of the oar to its position in the boat, and lastly, for a simpicity of construction which renders repairs practicable on ships, the whaleboat is simply as perfect as the combined skill" of generations of boatbuilders could make it. 2

As surf boats the whaleboats were "without rival, better than a lifeboat which is a compromise because it has to carry a larger number of people...The whaleboat was the best seaboat that man could devise with no limits to size, weight, or model. "3 A whaleboat type, locally called a longboat, was adapted on Tristan da Cunha around 1886, after fifteen men were lost in a lifeboat. The longboat coxswains conider their light, canvas covered boats fine surf boats. 4
Howard Chapelle cites the whaleboat's reputation for good performance under oars and sail under all conditions.5 Others noted their maneuverability and speed and, last but not least, the cheapness of their construction.
Such praise was deserved. However, the whaleboat was the product of compromises, and was excelled in some functions by specialized boats. There were faster pulling boats, such a certain ones used in nineteenth-century smuggling in southern England, and certainly some lifesaving boats were safer in surf or a breaking sea. In terms of all-around performance, however, the whaleboat rated very high.

1. Charles M. Scammon, The Maritime Mammels of the Northewest coast of North America and the Whale Fishery, rev. ed. (Riverside: Manessier Publishing Co., 1969), p.224.

2. William Davis, Nimrods of the Sea, rev. ed. (North Quincy: The Christopher Publishing House, 1972), pp157-58.

3. Clifford W. Ashley, The Yankee Whaler, (Garden City: Halcyon House, 1942), p.59.

4. Notes on the Tristan da Cunha boats were provided by the island's administrator, J. I. H. Fleming, in 1973.

5. Howard I. Chapelle, The National Watercraft Collection, (Washington, D.C., Goverment Printing Office. 1960), p. 262

* Whaling was banned in the Azores in either 1986 or 1987, even though other small groups of shore based whaling, such as the Inuit and the Bequian whalers were allowed to continue as their whaling is considered 'indigenous'. It's my belief that the Azoreans should also be allowed to take whales based on their long standing practice. (ed.)

While not meant to condone the wholesale industrial slaughter of whales by, in particular, Japan and Norway, I do feel the history and development of the whaleboat a legitimate area of inquiry.

Currently I am writing a weblog about the construction of two whaleboats being built to fit out the restoration of the Charles W Morgan underway at Mystic Seaport. The boats are being built to historic standards at both the Independence Seaport Museum's boatshop in Philadelphia, PA and at Rocking the Boat in Brooklyn, NY.

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Folkboats

Patrick Hay a regular reader wrote reminding us of the Folkboat, clearly a yacht we were not going to miss off 1001 Boats

Patrick writes - "Love the 1001 Boats site and have a look almost every day to see if there's anything new.

One of the first keelboats I sailed was a Folkboat, and if it hadn't been such a great boat I might have stayed a dinghy sailor all my life. This boat has surely earned a top place in the 1001 boats list.



Maybe you could use this piece in praise of one of my all-time favourites. I have no photos of my own, but I found these excellent pics on the Nederlands Folkboot Club site."





I don't know if it's just me but that last one looks like it may be sailing past the Golden Gate Bridge, whatever the case our thanks to Nederlands Folkboot Club for the use of their great photo's.

Patrick -

"Back in the '60s I used to crew aboard an early Folkboat sailing around the Irish Sea. It was one of the original, pretty, Scandinavian clinker-built boats, with cramped accommodation, low headroom and no heads. There were two settee berths in the saloon, and a pipe cot under the foredeck that was a tight squeeze for an adult. An outboard motor was sometimes used to get us into difficult harbours, but more often than not we couldn't be bothered, as it was dreadfully hard work to mount and start it, and it was appallingly unreliable, anyway.

It was a delightful boat to sail in any weather. The long tiller remained light and the helm responsive however hard the conditions, and the boat could stand up to her sail well. The Folkboat's ability to take strong winds and rough weather in it's stride has made it one of the great boats of our time, with many epic ocean voyages and thousands of victories in both offshore and coastal races.

A strange fact about the Folkboat. The design originated as a result of a competition to create an affordable one-design weekend cruiser/racer – but nobody won the prize!

Instead, naval architect Tord Sunden was asked by the Swedish Yachting Federation to amalgamate elements from 2 of the best design entries, together with some of the committee's own ideas, to create the type of boat they really wanted. As a result Tord Sunden's name goes down in history and everyone has forgotten the designers whose boats didn't quite fill the bill.

The first Folkboat was built in 1942 during World War II – which makes the “People's” boat almost an exact contemporary of the Volkswagen “People's” car, and though the two concepts came from very different political and social cultures they have a great deal in common – affordable, reliable, and simple yet offering good performance. Although the boat's design is now almost 70 years old, it is so beautiful it will never date, and an old pitch-pine planked clinker Folkboat can still compete with much more modern boats, especially if kept up to date with modern spars, sails and rigging. Of course, there are also official GRP Folkboats but these are made from moulds that comply exactly with the original design.

Over the years there have been many different versions of the original boat, some calling themselves “Folkboats” even though not complying fully with the one-design rules, and others, though clearly Folkboat based, going under other names. Some very successful boats, such as the Contessa 26 and the Stella class have been developed by designers who tweaked the classic Folkboat shape, but nobody has bettered the original package – which is why there are literally thousands of them sailing all over the world."

Indeed there are Patrick and more than a few here in the Solent, but having searched the hard disk, I too am short of Folkboat pictures so I went out on Sunday and snapped a couple of local boats.

This first one is in fact a Marieholm Folkboat, an updated version of the original by designer Tord Sundén for fiberglass construction which first appeared in Europe durng 1969.



This one however is all wood, varnished and beautifully maintained and being a Folkboat she's going to sail as well as she looks.

Saturday 14 May 2011

Lanteen

To most of us in England, the boats of the Mediterranean are characterised by the Lanteen sail with it's huge spar and a sail something in shape like a 30/60 triangle. Studies have shown it to be a very aerodynamic rig with good upwind performance, which sets a large amount of sail area on a relatively low mast.



Thanks to Jaume Escanellas in Mallorca who blogs at La Mar (Google Chrome will automatically translate for you as best it can from Catalan to English) for sending these pictures. Jaume originally posted comments on the recent post about a Greek Fishing Boat regarding the Mallorca Lanteen Association which has some great photographs of these boats. There are clear differences in boat type between a "bot" and a "lute" which are referred to on the site, bot refers to a transom stern boat as in the post on Capitan Valdes, so I'm guessing a lute is a double ender, perhaps someone more knowledgeable could confirm.


Below are a collection of traditional boats in the Mediterranean port of Sete in the south of France with many similarities to Jaume's Balearic boats, the flush deck to the bulwarks would have made a very effective platform for both fishing and sailing, the small hatches providing access below and a very secure way of keeping water out without the complication and potential weakness of cabin construction.

And of course there are those lovely long lanteen spars.

Wednesday 11 May 2011

HMS Victory - Yawl Boat

Will Sterling from Tavistock in Devon, kindly sent details of this ship's boat which his company built for Nelson's flagship HMS Victory. Victory although kept in dry dock in Portsmouth naval base is still a serving ship in the British Navy.



Will explains "Having studying the ship's documents the Curator of HMS Victory realised that a 26' yawl had been part of the 1805 ship's complement of boats. In 2008 he determined to have a yawl built."



"Stirling and Son won the tender and built a yawl under MOD contract. The boat was built to a draught of 1797 from Greenwich Maritime Museum."



"She is built of full length planking copper and bronze fastened and is now on display in Portsmouth, alongside HMS Victory, the flagship of the Royal Navy."

If you're visiting England then it's really worthwhile to take the time to see HMS Victory (and her neighbouring historic ships Warrior and Mary Rose), and not least Will's fantastic yawl.




Friday 6 May 2011

Ocean Pearl

Graham from Port-Na-Storm kindly sent these pictures of Ocean Pearl a relatively local boat based in Chichseter. Originally a motor zulu/fifie, the 42 footer fished from Peterhead in Scotland until the 1960's when she came south for restoration. She was acquired by local boat builder Nick Gates around 10 years ago and has undergone significant restoration and being rigged as a lugger.

There was some debate over the rake of her stern and whether she was a Zulu or a Fifie which you can read on Gavin Atkin's In the Boatshed. Whatever the outcome she's a fine looking vessel and credit to Nick's skill and determination.



Graham explains "I was at the Dinghy Cruising Association Summer Camp at Cobnor, Chichester Harbour last August and while out for a sail with Chris Waite in Tit Willow we took a detour up Thorney Channel where we saw Ocean Pearl riding at her moorings.

She was built in Scotland as a motor fishing vessel and restored and converted to sail by Nick Gates. She is nearly a Zulu, apparently a true Zulu would have had an even more raked stern post but with the advent of engines, stern gear, propellers etc the designers and builders had to make them less rakish. She still looks pretty amazing to me.

Chris and I saw her a month later when we were all taking part in an Old Gaffers race in the Solent. Ocean Pearl creamed past us and looked magnificent under full canvas."


Tuesday 3 May 2011

Knud Reimers' 'Tumlare' or 'Tumlaren'


unattributed





Gokstad Faering


courtesy Vikingskip og norske trebåter






Knud Reimers


courtesy Swedesail




An original Reimers drawing of 'Tumlare'

unattributed






unattributed





unattributed





At 10,000 pounds of Nordic pitchpine and steam bent oak frames, Egret shows some power in a breeze. This photo was taken on Clear Lake in Northern California where she served as the testing boat for Penofin's Marine Oil Finish.

courtesy Penofin




Courtesy Knockabout Sloops






A great photo of her unique double cockpit arrangement that puts the helmsman aft at the tiller, the two jib winches are the only winches on the boat as sails were hauled aloft on their halyards by hand. Beside the winches are the running back stays. See the original compass on the strong back between the two cockpits. A single-cylinder diesel was added in the 1980's. Hidden appropriately under the cockpit and which greatly improved her handiness in tight docking situations.

courtesy Penofin




Courtesy Knockabout Sloops






History: Built over a five year period beginning in 1947 by Bob Stevens in his backyard ZEFIR (Swedish for Zephyr) was built as Knud Reimers designed with hot zinc galvanised frames and floors, with well seasoned Jarrah garboards and Queensland Kauri topsides. Three years later after Bob returned from Europe and the USA he found the hull structure in perfect condition to continue ribbing with hot steamed bent intermediate laminated Karri timbers, Spruce deck-beams and cabin and cockpit structures.

courtesy Classic Yacht Association of Austrailia





She was raced successfully in Port Adelaide by Bob until the early sixties and one other Adelaide owner then sold to Howard Fox in Melbourne in 1975 when her name was changed to ZEPHYR. As a “cruising” Tumlaren, much heavier than the majority of Tumlaren built in Melbourne and raced from Royal St Kilda Yacht Club (now Royal Victorian Yacht Squadron) Zephyr didn’t feature on the winners list in the very active racing regime of the Tumlaren Association. She was purchased by Kevin Read in 1993 after coming ashore at St Kilda and had two major restorations that replaced the galvanised ribs and floors and completely refurbished the hull and cabin and finished with a laid teak deck. She is now owned and raced by Anne and Karen Batson and is penned at the RYCV Williamstown.

courtesy Classic Yacht Association of Austrailia




A Tumlaren at the Hobart Wooden boat Festival

courtesy Dan Gadd




Arguably Knud Reimers' 'Tumlare' falls into the very narrowest selection of the most beautiful objects ever designed by the hand of man. Certainly she is the equal of the little Gokstad Faering pictured above (and of which she is undoubtedly a descendant), at least in elegance and seaworthiness, if not in simplicity. Reimers designed her in 1934 as a 20 square meter sloop for racing and cruising. Below are some thoughts on the boat from a couple of admirers.

From the sadly now defunct weblog Knockabout Sloops:

I have been rereading Lin and Larry Pardey's "Seraffyn's European Adventure" and I came across this description of one of Larry's early boats, a Knud Reimers' Tumlaren, that he raced and cruised when he lived in Vancouver.
When Larry was nineteen he'd fallen in love with a twenty-seven foot Tumlaren class sloop designed by Knud Reimers and called Annalisa. She'd been built by the Kungsor yard near Stockholm in 1948 for the crown prince of Denmark. By taking a bank loan, countersigned by his father, Larry had been able to buy the completely varnished sloop and for five years he raced and cruised her around Vancouver. From the time I met him, two years after he sold Annalisa, Larry had raved about his magnificent sloop. I'd almost grown jealous for Seraffyn as he described the extreme lightweight, scientific construction of the narrow, delicate Tumlaren. Seraffyn is twenty four feet four inches long with a beam of nine feet, and weighs close to eleven thousand pounds. Annalisa, at twenty seven feet on deck, was only six feet and displaced only thirty eight hundred pounds. As we cruised north through Sweden's multitude of islands I came to appreciate the ideas behind the Tumlaren's design. She, like the much better know Folkboat class, had been created for families who had protected waters to sail in. From a hundred fifty miles south of Stockolm north to Finland and east to Helsinki, a stretch of over six hundred miles, there are so many islands and anchorages that there is never a need to be more than four or five miles from land. The islands keep the seas flat with only occasional chop. Tiny villages dot the archipelagos so a family cruiser need carry only a few day's worth of supplies. But the intricate passages around the rocks and islands require boats that are handy to tack and close winded, boats that accelerate quickly to use each puff of wind that whispers around the points and trees. These boats are built light to save money since they can only be used three or four months out of the year. We saw hundreds of them throughout Sweden and Denmark, and many are sailed without engines.

From Classic Yachting:
Tumlaren was once called “The most advanced type of cruiser in the world” by another famous yacht designer, Uffa Fox!
Tumlaren was designed by Knud H Reimers in an attempt to marry the characteristics of a “koster”, longish and narrow, with those of the faster Square Meter Yachts that where very popular in Scandinavia at the time.
Tumlarens characteristics are very easy for, aft and water lines. And the yacht was like so many of Reimers designs designed on diagonals, all on diagonals, all of which cut the sections squarely a technique that makes it easier for the boat builder to do the laying down and fairing up.
The yacht has a sharp bow and a rounded stern that founded the British expression “Tumlaren stern” and other similar nautical expressions.
Tumlaren has an aft cockpit with just enough room to hold a helmsman. The main sheet is attached to a traveler on a wooden strong-back that separates the aft cockpit from the main cockpit. The interior accommodations are very Spartan with full length settee berths port and starboard and a v-berth forward the mast. In total allowing her to sleep four but this is very cramped with today’s measurements of yachts. Aft the port settee is normally equipped with a small alcohol stove and storage lockers. Additional storage lockers are found to starboard.
Tumlaren was also designed and built in a bigger version, the Stor Tumlaren (meaning “Large Tumlaren”) and in total there where more then 600 Tumlaren built.
Knud Reimers Tumlaren can today be found on all the worlds’ continents and in at least 24 countries. In Australia it early became a one design racing class and the building and measurement where adopted to locally availble wood types.
Today Tumlaren are very sought after classic yachts and prices vary from a couple of 100 USD for renovation projects to 30 000USD+ for nice examples.
New built Tumlaren are still available and among others a there is a Finish company named “M-Yachts” who still build them in wood.

More on Knud Reimers here.