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.

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.

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.

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.

This podcast/mp3 talks about why Australian (and New Zealand) wooden boatbuilding is different from the rest of the world..

Click to listen to the talk. This is the third of three.

This talk is the first hour of my exposition on boat building and design. There are two more parts to come. This covers some of the background and design issues. The second is more on the building side and the last is a bit more about why the Australian (and New Zealand) wooden boat tradition is different from the Northern Hemisphere.

You can stream the talks over your internet connection or download them as a podcast.

From Clinton Chase’s blog clintchaseboatbuilder.blogspot.com

On November 1st I was pleased and honored to introduce Michael Storer, an Australian Boat Designer reputed for his simple, elegant, and approachable boats, to a group of 21 members from the wooden boat community in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Some knew of Storer’s work, others have built his boats, and many knew him as an important name and wanted to learn more about the man and his message.

Invitation to a Talk by Boat Designer Michael Storer

At Clint Chase Boatbuilder, 25 Deblois Street, Portland, Maine
Sunday Nov 1st @ 11am-1pm, Bring Boats and Questions
After some food and chat, Michael will talk to us about making our boats better…

Ralph Gersson in Holland got a very nice mail from Michael McNamara from mcNamara sails UK. He made a nice sail for Richard Harvey’s GIS “Blanche” and Ralph has decided to order.

Michael, a racing sailor with a lot of background talks about the experience of sailing the Goat Island Skiff.

Well a mind-boggling day today. Set is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik…7622312609441/ Some of the “Coots” boating group organised a joint trip for four of us to Astoria (named after the Astor Family who made their money in the fur industry a couple of hundred years ago. We got up early and went to meet Long 龍 at [...]

The trip has been and gone, however you can see the pics, the blog entries and hear the talks all online. Michael’s Schedule: NOTE: Michael would like to give as many talks and workshops as he can while over here. If your club or organization would like to have him come to your meeting and [...]

It is a bit hard finding information on my forum as the list is not very ordered, so I have attempted to fix this.There is a general building section then each boat is in alphabetical order.To see all the images you may need to become a member, however, they are a good bunch and will [...]

Ok … lug vs sprit We finally had two PDRacers with either rig option on the same stretch of water. The event was the Goolwa Wooden Boat Festival. The Sprit sail design and making method is in the plan for the PDRacer (a whole $20 for 90 pages – really a course on modern boatbuilding) [...]

Howdy, Jan in Denmark found something interesting. Hi everyone After reading this forum for a couple of days, I realised I needed to register, fast. Lots of fantastic advice here, both from Boatmik and the rest of you. I am impressed. A few words about me:I have dubbed myself “the world’s slowest boatbuilder”. I have [...]

Norm is putting together a BETH Sailing Canoe and documenting it on the WoodenBoat forum. He is going like a rocket, it is possible to drop in every day and see some big changes. He has departed a bit from the plan in both building method and detail. I’d suggest that most people who build [...]

There has been a fantastic discussion about some of the racing possibilities of balance lug rigs on my forum I have learned a huge amount from sailing my BETH sailing canoe and the Goat Island Skiffs over the years, but recently ran into Brian who uses a lug rig for racing traditional British boats. So [...]

From Chad, Launched my GIS, Sailormade, tonight after work. Just had enough daylight left as you can see! Boat was very light and responsive. I rowed out away from the jetty but drifted back towards it as I set the sail due to the current. I had not lowered the rudder and by the time [...]