Oh, and an appropriate boat!

BTW Paul I have some photos of you launching from the 2003 festival.

Cheers,
Robin

Morning Yawl!

OUR game, ol’ pal, OUR game.

There were two more. One was Tony Andrews with his Drascombe Peter Boat. The other was David Gove with his Elver.

Quite a disparate bunch of boats!

MIK

Hi Hajo,

Your mention of the contentions on the proa boards made me laugh – we can all argue on the net, but to go sailing is to go sailing and at that point who really cares!

I think your proportion suggestion is exactly right in that it shows there is no real difference.

Clearly, Ketch, Yawl and Schooner are part of a continuum and originally were named related to the purpose of the boat only – to get some particular function.

I guess the problem is that there are two names that are supposed to have some sort of difference, when clearly they don’t really except for history – which is mostly not relevant now.

I suppose if a modern boat pushes the masts out to the end of the boat to be a good paddler or rower, then it deserves to be called a yawl – that is a continuing function and so a legitimate name.

As Paul points out “Canoe Yawl” has a specific meaning for a type and takes a lot more into account than the specific rig.

Ketch as a fishing rig … probably has little relevance now except for traditional work boats in some areas – but unlikely to be important on the pages of Woodenboat!

Thanks again for another great contribution!

Howdy Paul,

I am surprised that you have come out in the open as a representative of such a secretive organisation – a “splinter group” shall we say. AND you didn’t use the secret handshake – the things you can’t do on social media!

I would suspect that you could have a good crack at saying the canoe yawl was a hull type – making it possible to have a variety of sailplans – possibly even including a sloop. By that silly rudderpost definition most canoe yawls are ketches anyhow.

But for function they are keeping the rig out of the way of the rower and accommodations – and the type is before reliable motors – which explains why it is (thankfully) so hard to hang an outboard on them!!!!

So whether from the hull or function argument – I would include them as Yawls without much doubt.

Nice to hear from you!

Here are three members of the splinter group sailing their respective boats.

More boat pics

MIK