Robert Hoffman has been busy using his BETH sailing canoe that he built over a cold Polish winter.

There are now videos. I have also linked to all my videos on youtube – so you can see many storerboats sailing.

My friends Rob and Jane Hylton run sailing boat and canoe hire on some of my favourite sailing waters – the lower Murray Lakes – just an hour south of Adelaide.

The boat hire is quite cheap but linked with you overnight staying in the small town of Clayton Bay – on the edge of the Murray River. There are a number of different options. My favourite is a tent or an on site caravan on the river’s edge camping area. But there are classier (?) options as well.

Low season is quite cheap and the days down there can be very beautiful in winter with a good weather report. They also offer sailing lessons which can include a picnic and/or a tour of the fascinating Murray wetlands.

John Goodman who recently spent 5 days semi racing a Goat Island Skiff in the Texas200 event got back to me with some observations and even some pictures of aspects of the boat and the sailing.

I have responded with suggestions to make some further improvements. Between John and me there are some useful tips about setting up a boat for more speed.

However the standard setup of the Goat is fine for most – it is still pretty quick in standard form.

There is advice for both lug and sprit traditional rigs here.

Plan info – yawl rig info, please contact me. John and Mark are pretty happy with the Goat Island Skiff Yawl. You can see some of the story here Goat Island Skiff Plywood Boat sails 200 miles up the Texas Coast. There are some more pics Nice woodworking detail in that one above! For much [...]

Exciting News, John and David Goodman finished the Texas200 event in their lime green Goat Island skiff.

Five days and 200 miles up the Texas coast dodging huge barges and commercial traffic.

They had a great time and are very happy with the performance of the Goat

John in Texas built his Goat Island Skiff from a kit made by Clinton Chase. They are experimenting with a yawl version of the Goat.

They had a launch and a capsize by the dock.

The boat is a great lime green. I used to have a lime green NS14 dinghy that I enjoyed so much some of the design input went into the goat.

Bruce in New South Wales, Australia has launched his Goat Island Skiff plywood sailing dinghy at Port Stephens.

They had a nice day sailing around but capsized the boat by accident when someone tripped up. Ooops.

I am still not sure who is to blame!

We are still waiting for launch day pics to be retrieved from the waterlogged camera.

Bobwes has been using his Goat Island Skiff over the last weeks.

It is brightly coloured and looks pretty great.

Christophe has launched his Goat Island Skiff in New Hampshire. A very nice looking boat.

Jim Post has built the hull of his PD Goose – a 12ft version of the OZ PDRacer.

He has done a nice job with a couple of nice additions. A seat in the middle and a stylishly angular splashboard on the foredeck. I am dying to hear how it sails!

Finally after many years of selling the plan I have a photo of a boat with the outriggers from the drop-in outrigger plan.

Every part of the outrigger is very light. The first one we built had each component under 10lbs.

It can make a canoe or kayak into a killer sailing boat. Or can convert a canoe, kayak or suitable dinghy into a stable fishing or diving platform for paddle or outboard.

Clinton Chase in Portland Maine has just delivered a precut kit for the Goat Island Skiff to John in Texas who is building the boat.

The kit arrived in a big box.

This little article tells how his kids are involved in the boatbuilding starting with attaching the framing to the accurately cut plywood. He knows the rule that it is more important what the kids learn and experience than it is to minimise the use of wood!

Every cent of profit to Charity

We have Storerboat and PDRacer T-shirts and other stuff with cool graphics from architect/designer/artist Peter Hyndman.

Clean graphics and I really dig the bag!

The discussion on this topic went on.

Dave asked if people would laugh if they saw a PDR sailing in company with something more conventionally shaped.

Luckily I had a video clip to hand.

A little bit of writing how form in boat design seldom follows function in terms of what “looks good”. It was prompted by a discussion about whether the PDR is good looking or not.

My Podcasts on design also cover this idea to a greater depth – they are in the menu at the top of each page.

OZ Racer plan information The PDRacers have a saga published at Duckworks about the Texas 200 (the 200 mile sailing event up the Texas Coast). It is not by a Ducker but by one impressed by them. Extract The Mighty Ducks clung to the port, with all manner and various sort of other craft abeam [...]

Juan Carlos has been building his Goat Island Skiff for about a year.

He has just put up a photo series of his boat launching.

The rest of the words and pictures are from Juan Carlos.

A nice little article by Jackie Monies who is turning into the writer in residence for the PDRacers.

It posits the idea that because of its cheapness, ease of building and the creativity in the group that it qualifies as the “All American Boat”.

Actually I think it is the perfect boat for places that are water rich and cash poor. Anyone can afford to go sailing in these cool little sailing boats. The options of material and design solutions allow the boats to be built of local material just about anywhere. Very cheaply.