Caledonia Yawl Archives - Small Boats Magazine

Caledonia Yawl

Aboard Small Boats - A Video Series

Built at the WoodenBoat School, this Iain Oughtred-designed Caledonia Yawl, SWIFTY is a handsome and versatile double ender, guaranteed to turn heads on any waterfront.

November 2020

Bainbridge Island

A Puget Sound solo circumnavigation

Although August is usually a month of doldrums on Puget Sound, our editor’s summer solo circumnavigation of Bainbridge Island offered good sailing as well as torrential rain and a sudden squall that put a capsized daysailer in need of a rescue.

October 2020

Swan’s Island

A Maine Coast Circumnavigation

Each summer, a group of five friends usually get together with their sail-and-oar camp-cruisers to enjoy the island-studded Maine coast. This year, the three who were free to travel during the pandemic circumnavigated Swan’s Island.

April 2020

AUDREY/JAMES

A Caledonia Yawl

Martin Casey was a rebellious teenager who often butted heads with his father, James, and it was only near the end of James’ life that the two were able to bridge the distance between them. The boat that Martin built after his father’s death revealed their common interest in the Caledonia Yawl.

September 2017

GYPSY SOUL

A Tennessee cruiser

Scotty Pugh of Sardis, Tennessee, grew up riding dirt bikes and later indulged his passion for motorcycles as he collected vintage Harley-Davidsons. But a ride gone wrong landed him a hospital trauma ward for a week and he was forced to consider something else to focus his interest upon. “Wooden boats,” he thought, “will keep me entertained.”

August 2015

GOOD’NUFF

A customized Caledonia yawl

Five years in the making, it was part of a Wisconsin man’s 10-year plan to prepare himself for retirement, but before he could get started on the yawl he had to build a bigger garage.

September 2014

The Mining Ruins of Juneau, Alaska

A family adventure under sail and oar

There are so many things to see and explore in Southeast Alaska that can only be accessed by a small boat. In 2008, my wife, Leni, and I wanted to make sure that our girls—Gracie, then three, and Isabel, then one—didn't miss out on those things for lack of a way to get to them. That’s when we decided to build SPARROW, a Caledonia Yawl, which we launched in 2009. None of us really were sailors back then, but, lucky for us, the Caledonia yawl is a very forgiving boat.