Simple to build, but good performance

The dory boat has a long history of being a simple but effective boat. In no way is a dory a racing boat, but it can be used for pottering about, for fishing, as a sailing dinghy or even as a yacht. the dory is strong, and as it is made from wood, can last for 30 years or so.

In its simplest form, the dory has a flat bottom and the same sharp prow at bow and stern - the  stern being a little lower than the bow. This shape of boat can be built out of strip plank or marine plywood, fairly simply. Of course, you need some transverse beams to stiffen the structure - formed by the seats on dinghy versions - a rudder and rowlocks. An outboard bracket is also a good idea.

In practice, to improve the performance, the floor curves up at the front and rear. This shape reduces the wetted area – and therefore drag – and helps lift the boat over waves rather than crash through them.

For sailing, the dory can have a fixed keel, a lift keel, a dagger board or a lee boards, depending on the size of the boat, and whether it is intended to serious sailing or not. Among the bigger dory boats are the 32-foot yachts designed by Ted Brewer, the famous ship’s architect. One of these boats, Badger, has been used to sail tens of thousands of miles, across oceans, and has proved very safe and able to cope with very severe weather. It is rigged as a junk rig schooner.

Most dory boats are rather smaller - 16-feet is a typical length - and was the size of the Grand Banks dories used by fishermen from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia for years.

Read more about Building Your Own Dory Boat.

Sailboats
Sailboats

The MX-Ray sailboat is one of those sailboats that lots of dinghy sailors want to know about, but evidently not enough wanted to buy, as it is no longer made. With a top speed of 20 knots, the ability to plane in winds as low as 6 knots, this tiny sailboat or sailing dinghy is truly amazing.

How come it is so fast?  Well, it is similar in concept to the Moth sailboats, which have been used in international sailboat racing for years. Like the Moth, the e MX-Ray sailboat has a very narrow hull, giving a small wetted area, but widens out above the waterline so the crew can sit out to counterbalance the force on the sail.

In the Moth, which was normally wooden, a trampoline was mounted on the hull, but the  MX-Ray sailboat is plastic, so it is molded to provide the space for the sailor to sit out. This is how it gets the name – well the Ray part. Looked on from above, the MX-Ray sailboat looks like a stingray.

Unlike most single-handers, the MX-Ray sailboat has a lot of sail. Like many modern high-speed sailboats, it has a bowsprit so that a large foresail can be carried despite the short length of the hull.

Not only is there a mainsail with a deep roach, but also a jib, genoa, with stowing tube and a spinnaker. With this much sail, it is no surprise that the e MX-Ray sailboat is very fast, and can leave Lasers well behind.

Discover more about this amazing boat at Sailboats-Yachts

Sailboats
Sailboats

Balboa sailboats are great little cruisers – mini-cruisers. There was a range of models from 20 to 28 feet, and all were designed for use with outboards, from 4 to 20 hp, depending the size of the sailboat.

The 20-foot and 23-foot Balboa sailboats are ideal for learning to sail, and also as compact trailer-sailers, as they have lift keels. The advantage of getting a boat of this size to learn on is that they are light, so if for example, you find that the bow is heading for the pontoon when you come into moor, you can just push it away with a hook, and then pull it in at the stern easily – you can’t do that with larger cruising sailboats.

There is a compact cabin and a transom stern, with a transom mounted rudder that pivots up for coming ashore, except on the larger models, where the rudder is forward of the transom.

Balboa sailboats have been around for 30 years, and are well-designed craft. They have been made for many years, and are still much sought after.

Read more about sailboats and sailing at http://www.sailboatsyachts.com/Sailboats/

Sailboats
Sailboats

Suddenly, I’m without a sailboat! After sailing Zefka 5,000 miles or so from the UK, and then all round the Med, I decided to sell her, as we wanted to sail elsewhere. It was not practical to get Zefka, my junk rig schooner, to Australia, so I put her on the market, and suddenly she is sold. Bye, Zefka!

Of course, I am pleased that I sold her quickly, and that sh has found a good home with her new owners. Still, it is a shock not to have a boat. Apart from an eight-month period – mostly in the winter - I have had a boat for 18 years, so it feels odd not to have one.

The question now is what sort of sailboat comes next? It will be hard to find anything like Zefka, and in any case the sailing waters are rather different off Western Australia than round England and in the Med, so it is a question of staring from scratch to see what is the best boat for the conditions, and what I can afford.

That’s a problem we all face from time to time, except that most people know where they are going to sail, and have probably sailed there for years. It is going to be interesting.

For more about sailboats take a look at <a href=”http://www.sailboatsyachts.com/Sailboats/”>Sailboats-Yachts</a>

<a href=”http://www.technorati.com/tag/Sailing” rel=”tag”>Sailing</a>
<a href=”http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/Sailing” rel=”tag”>Sailing</a>

Welcome to my new blog, which will be all about sailboats, yachts, sailing dinghies and the fun of sailing. Whether you sail now or are thinking about it you will find something of interest here and in the main website, http://www.sailboatsyachts.com.

The first sailboat I sailed was a Waverley, a great little boat to learn on. Then, I sailed a variety of single-handers, including a Laser and Streaker, and a couple of boats made by Yamaha. But one day I sailed a keelboat and enjoyed it much more than sailing a dinghy or small sailboat.

I then took a series of sailing courses in larger sailboats – 28 and 32-footers – and learned about navigation, handling a boat of this size, and in being a skipper. For the past 15 years I have been sailing my own cruising sailboat, and have had a huge amount of fun – and a few scary moments!

The thing is that sailing has it all:

You can cruise along at 3 or 4 knots in a light wind, and enjoy the scenery;

You can beat to windward as fast you can in a strong wind, every so often getting drenched as a wave comes over the boat

You can race a small sailboat like a Laser of 420 – very exciting and quite hard work; You can lazily sail into creeks, beach our dinghy and lie on the beach

You can do offshore or trans-ocean racing – very demanding and exciting

You can cruise along the coast, or between islands, or across lakes or oceans

You can thread your way through the rocks in a difficult passage – a but nail-biting, that one

And you can just mess about in boats – even when the boat is on the yard.

There is a wonderful feeling when you go aboard and feel the motion of the boat, then cast off, and hoist your sails. Then, you feel the wind fill the sails, the sailboat heels – and you are off on another adventure! And you know it will be different. Even if you sail from the same port for years, you will find every time you sail is different.

So, have fun sailing, and visit http://www.sailboats.com often.

Sailing Boats
Sailing Boats