John Goodman and I sailed the immaculate Goat Island Skiff he built from my plan in the Texas 200.

The boat showed itself to be one of the faster in the fleet despite loading up such a short boat with food, water and camping gear for six days with little outside support.

We played with sailing the boat by the lee – a method used by racing boats to gain both speed and control.

I document the method here including a video showing how the angle of heel can be controlled using the mainsheet.

Photos and slideshow from the Goolwa Wooden Boatshow 2011.

Over 250 boats – mostly in the water. Wooden hydroplanes, “restricted 21s”, riverboats, putt putt launches, classic sailing boats, kayaks, canoes and more.

I had the quick canoe, the eureka canoe and the OzRacer on the stand that was shared with Duck Flat Wooden Boats and Boatcraft Pacific. Good time was had by all.

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.

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 [...]

Duckflat have started work on Kirribilli for a consortium of owners. Keel is off – boat is upside down – hull is half stripped and half splined – starboard side. I’m assisting with the technical side. If the end result is as nice as the work Duck Flat and I did on our last keelboat [...]

This is the story as we understand it so far … “Kirribilli” was built for the 1956 Olympics by a consortium from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and built a few doors down from the club. She is a beautiful 5.5 metre yacht built by Bill Barnett, one of the great Australian boatbuilders from designer [...]

I wrote this because the Star Class is one of my all time favourite boats. Crazy, fast, wonderful.

Would it be possible to homebuild a simplified construction boat in plywood and cedar strip and still hit a similar weight and stiffness as competitive boats, but at a much lower cost?