Hamble Visitor

Ed Hughes of A Silhouette Called Misty sent me these photos of a recent junk-rigged visitor to the Hamble from across the water. Southampton Water actually, she's based in Ashlett!



There are more details plus a couple of short movie clips and of course Ed's own boat Misty on Ed's blog which will feature here shortly.

Chippendale Sprite

Thanks to Chris Partridge of Rowing for Pleasure blog who offers his Chippendale Sprite, Snarleyow.

It is a 15ft sliding seat rowing skiff, designed by Andrew Wolstenholme and made from a kit supplied by Jack Chippendale.

It must be close to being perfect as a recreational rowing boat. The hull is fast and easy to push along, light enough to car top and carry to the water, stable and capable of surviving the worst conditions Chichester Harbour has to offer.
The kit is easy to put together too - it is a simple stitch and glue assembly and the moulds cleverly become the boat's frames.



I made a kit up many years ago but didn't use it much because I was living miles away from the water, but when I moved down to Chichester I found another for sale. It got me back on the water, at just the right time. I think if I had carried on doing as little exercise as I was, I would have been carried off by a cardiac arrest by now.

Over the last ten years, Snarleyow has been in continuous use and has been a joy.

The Sprite is now supplied by Seabird Boats in Rye .

Blue Clipper - Van de Stadt Legend 34

To kick off 1001 Boats I’ve chosen Blue Clipper a Van de Stadt designed Legend 34, built in 1970 by Tylers a famous UK yard.

E.G . Van de Stadt has a reputation for designing fast and sea worthy yachts and Blue Clipper was no exception, she was easily driven, close winded and comfortable. It’s only many years after she was sold and with the experience sailing many other boats that I realise how good and forgiving a boat she was.



What made her special is that in 1997/8 she carried Erica and I safely for ten thousand miles, sailing from Portsmouth, England, across the Bay of Biscay to Spain and Portugal, out into the Atlantic to Madeira and the Canary Islands, then south again to The Gambia in West Africa before crossing the Atlantic to arrive in Barbados. Our cruise in the “islands,” took us south to Trinidad and then north visiting most of the Antilles; the Windward and Leeward Islands, before returning back across the Atlantic, stopping at the Azores and finally returning to England.

Blue Clipper was a bit small, certainly compared to a modern 34 yachts, but she coped with light winds, huge ocean swells, what might have been pirates, gales and a frisky whale. She took us out of our comfort zone, stretched us as sailors and individuals, she will always have a place in our hearts.