OK … it IS a rant. But it was prompted by the very legitimate question about why have a mizzen sail.
But sadly I descend into a rant about how expense is a really poor predictor of performance.
Why is every boat different despite the best aim of the designer?
It’s because every customer is different. Which is OK!
Mark Milam has done an amazing job of overseeing a project combining his work with that of a boatbuilder friend. Also the best method I have seen of supporting a windsurfer mast in a sailing dinghy.
Wonderful woods, some great detail design and the very best fitting of a windsurfer rig to a dinghy that I have ever seen.
Fyne Boat Kits has an excellent reputation for customer service and quality.
I am happy to announce that they will be gradually phased in as the UK Agents for storerboats kits, plans and materials.
Eureka Canoe on Hungarian TV. Csaba Mezai, storerboatplan’s agent in Hungary translated my plans into Magyar (Hungarian). He also runs by far the biggest website in that language – www.hajoepitok.hu which includes a very active forum.
Some examples of sailing nicely in the Goat Island Skiff, reversing, sailing at nice speed in comfortable conditions.
Locations are San Diego, Australia, Texas, Florida and Maine
A small collection of the many videos of the Goat Island Skiff Planing fast in different places around the world.
This OzRacer mk2 has a number of changes from the original design, but Bob has pulled it off. The biggest risk is that the windsurfer mast might break because it is not meant to be supported in this way – it is meant to be held up higher by the arms of the sailor.
David Graybeal of Harbor Woodworks in Portland, Oregon built a pair of my wooden paddles from the free plans
See the link in the left column. Simple, but look way nicer than other simple paddles.
The Goat Island Skiff Calendar is out for 2013.
Goat Island Skiffs from around the world. It is put out yearly by the Goat Island Skiff group on Facebook through an open voting process using the Facebook “like” function.
Some basic questions were asked on my forum about the design of amas.
There are so many permutation of ama length, crossbeam width, ama volume with performance ranging from very poor to very good. But what are some of the basic criteria?
In general I don’t like most sailing books and most sailing lessons.
I think that a learner doesn’t need to learn many new words. Also because they don’t explain the correct principles in the beginning their explanations become really complicated.
If you understand how to use a sail to get power – when it is at maximum power and when it isn’t it all becomes very logical.
Joe sent me a question about why his self designed sailing rig for my Electric Quick Canoe design works better if he moves the leeboard forward of the theoretical point for a balanced helm.
He has stumbled upon a nice observation of a design element called “lead” (I lead you … not the metal Lead).
I explain
It always bugged me about how people said that some powerboats and fast sailing dinghies would “plane” to reach high speed. But multihulls reach higher speed, but they “don’t plane”.
It’s illogical to have two different explanations.
Also how a classical “displacement hull” go much faster on an ocean wave. Theory says it has a speed limit no matter the power you throw in.
I worked out a reasonable explanation for all this but it shows “planing” does not exist.
A correction to the OzRacer RV plans.
There was a small discrepancy in the corners of the boat which can be filled. Or if the panels are not cut yet they can be corrected so no filling is required. Apologies to all affected – I do my best but sometimes something sneaks through. Thanks Ryan for the building feedback.
I am in the Philippines at the moment.
I took five days out to go to the area where one of my Australian Filipino friends has her hometown. The general area is Laguna, I was staying at Lumban and nearby was a canoe trip to Pagsanjan falls.
I was really interested to see the local boats and to see how they might relate to the timber boats that existed previously. The boats are elegant and very well suited to their environment. Paddling and motor canoes are used on a daily basis.
A few photos and a short report from Hungary.
They held their first wooden boat messabout. 30 people, 10 boats and a big pot of homemade goulash!
Paul Haslett is putting together a live google map showing as many Goat Island Skiffs as possible.
If you want to be on the map you can contact me.
I used to work at DuckFlat many years ago.
I visited them in Adelaide. Photo and text of a fast plywood trimaran, 40ft steam liveaboard boat, kayak, rowboat and a Hartley Powerboat restoration
List of Kit suppliers for Storer Boat Plans. UK and Europe, USA, Australia, South Africa. Kits make building a Storer Boat even easier.