CVRDA

LaserTourist, Fascinating history. Except for the Vaurien (which seems to be the exception), the French seemed to produce round bilge sailing dinghies which fits in perfectly with fiberglass construction (whereas the English and even the Americans were always trying to reproduce chined hulls, or lap...

LaserTourist could you tell me how the French became the first to truly mass produce sailing dinghies in fiberglass? Here in the U.S. we still run into the original Lanaverre Europa Moth or 420.

LaserTourist - I really enjoy your French dinghy history. What do you know of the Classic Moth's that were built during WWII (the Germans allowed the French to build Mothboats as they determined they were not a offensive weapon). Someone mentioned a book that could be purchased that has some of that...

Another meandering thread - which is the way I like it. We have touched on regional differences in what we like in our racing dinghies and it is more important than people realize. Here in the U.S.A we like our two man dinghies without spinnakers; in the U.K it is reversed. Here in the U.S.A many of...

I like the idea of the Skolley. All indications are that the builder was pushing the Shelly shape to a narrower waterline, more rounded shape (as best as could be accomplished within the broad Shelly shape). George up the street has a Skol he has stripped the deck off. Need to stop by sometime to ge...

Skol looks a likely possibility though I thought the design started off in glass.... or maybe a one-off homebuilt modified Shelly. Builders of yesterday and today still take liberty in modifying Moth designs. Some other pictures of Classic Moth transoms can be found on my blog. http://www.earwigoagi...

Interesting. I wonder how different Jack Holt's 14 design was from Uffa's. Was the I-14 one of the first Jack Holt designs? As you probably guessed, I refer to Uffa's pre-war I-14 construction; the closely spaced stringers, double planked skin with oiled silk between, as the "bone" boats. ...

What does the Holt 14 look like? I've read about them but never seen a photo. Were they plywood or "bone" boats like the Uffa designs?

Rod M.

Interesting. Have the plans for the YW Scow survived? I thought all the YW series (YW Diamond, YW Cadet, YW Dayboat, what other ones are there?) were designed for the home builder. The YW Scow shows very rounded bilges, difficult to manufacture out of ply, and I wonder if it was indeed designed to b...

Len Parker put this up on the CVRDA forum just after Christmas (but under the Announcements section so it may have escaped notice); Sad news ... Boat builder Bill McCutcheon passed away last month on the Isle of Wight. Bill built many superbly turned out I-14s , Cherub's and Moth's , amongst others ...

"ktz" illustrates my point. The Seabird Half Rater keelboat was considered a proper "small boat" in the late 1800's. Those who started playing around with 12', 14', 16' sailing dinghies were likely considered foolhardy, if not a bit daft. You can see this in some newspaper articl...

Certainly size and safety had something to do with it, particularly in England where the sea and tidal conditions are boisterous. Certainly the Water Wags and the North Haven dinghies of the 1880's were designed as heavy dinghies that could handle wild conditions safely. At the turn of the century, ...

It looks like we are coming up on the centenary of the International 12 class in 2013 (according to a Google Search, the first couple of boats were delivered by October 1913). The Water Wags (IRL) and the North Haven Dinghy (Maine in USA) claim their origins pre-1900's. I was wondering what other di...

If looking for the reason why Uffa Built to another designers lines for Colin Ratsey, bear in mind Uffa would have bought lots of sails from Ratseys, he was always short of cash and a contra agreement could have been arrived at, to mutual benefit, also Ratseys were Cowes Royalty to the extent that ...

Interesting. No mention of how "C-Squared" did overall for Burton Week? I did check the N12 Website and they do list "C-Squared" as a Hall design. Thanks for the offer but I have the relevant Hall material from "Marks to Starboard". David, I may get up to New England du...