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January 2017

A Lakeland Row

A father-and-son circumnavigation

Finland is dotted and laced with thousands of lakes and waterways. The Saimaa area is the country’s largest watershed with 9,300 miles of shoreline, more per square mile than anywhere else in the world. The 14,000 islands in the region add to the complexity of Finland’s vast Lakeland. A father and his 14-year-old son take a tour of Sääminginsalo, Finland’s largest island, circumnavigating it in a restored racing boat.

December 2016

WeatherMeter

Meteorology in your pocket

This compact and inexpensive device provides data that leads to a more objective observation and better understanding of weather conditions and patterns.

December 2016

BivyBag Duo

Exped's versatile shelter garment

The BivyBag creates not only an instant shelter but also the peace and presence of mind that comes along with that measure of comfort, allowing for the thoughtful decision making that is essential to any successful outing.

December 2016

The Sailing Light Challenge

Cruising France's Charente Maritime

The French love sailing, but the big and expensive racing and cruising yachts often get all of the attention. A group of friends got together and organized a new event, called Sailing Light Challenge, an unsupported, 100-mile tour along the Bay of Biscay coast in small boats under sail and oar. This year's participants arrived at the Corps de Garde harbor near Charron, and waited with gear-laden boats for the ebb to provide a favorable current down the Sevre River to its mouth at Aiguillon Bay.

Small Boats Annual 2018December 2016

Lightning Bug

Quiet power, stately pace

The Lightning Bug’s range of 35 miles between charges will theoretically get it to points with a 17-mile radius from home. That’s a lot of territory, but a boat that is so easy on the eyes and ears isn’t about merely getting from one place to another. The vessel is in and of itself the destination: a place to relax, enjoy solitude or the company of friends, and take in the view, both within and beyond the boat.

Small Boats Annual 2018December 2016

Milgate Duck Punt

Simple rig, rewarding sailing

Mersea Island, tucked into England’s Essex coast about 50 miles east northeast of London, is truly an island only twice a day, when the high tide covers the causeway that connects it to the mainland. There’s open water to the island’s southeast side at the junction of the Colne and Blackwater estuaries, and to the northwest mile after mile of tidal salt marsh with a wealth of wild waterfowl. This is the spiritual home of the Milgate duck punt.

December 2016

SULKAVA

A kit-built Savo 650

Tim Murfitt of Norwich, England, has been puttering with small boats, mostly power boats, for more than 40 years and grew weary of their speed and noise. He thought taking to the water with a pair of oars would be a good change of direction for his boating, and although his only experience with rowing was on dry ground with a rowing machine, he felt confident that he’d enjoy rowing. He wasn’t so sure that his wife would.

December 2016

Topsails for Sprit Rigs

A classy addition to a classic rig

Barry Long has always liked sailing in light air—ghosting along close to shore on a quiet evening feels like magic, especially in a small boat. But light-air sailing, though relaxing, is surprisingly challenging. In moderate winds, any boat competently handled can attain hull speed, but light wind requires sharp skills and careful attention to detail to get the most out of what’s available. Sail shape and trim make a big difference. Beyond skills, having a little extra canvas adds a sharp arrow to the quiver.

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November 2016

All in the Family

A grandfather's Pilot 19

Joe Haynes grew up in Detroit with three brothers and two sisters. Their father, once a tight end for the University of Michigan football team and later an Army sergeant who stormed beaches in the Pacific during World War II, was a very athletic man, but in spite of his best efforts to get his kids involved in sports, none of them showed any interest. The family moved to Algonac, a small town tucked in a bend of the St. Clair River, which flows from Lake Huron to Lake Erie and separates the state of Michigan from the province of Ontario. Surrounded by water, the kids gravitated to boats. The first boat in the family was a derelict wooden boat Joe and his twin brother fished out of the river near their home. They patched the leaks with tar and used the boat to explore the river upstream and down.

November 2016

CrewStop Gloves

Cultivating calluses

If you keep at it long enough, rowing will toughen up your hands, but callouses often come at a cost. We take a look at some gloves that will give you a shot at skipping that painful blister phase.

November 2016

An Auto-Release Cleat

Safer downhauls for centerboards and rudders

If you have a centerboard or rudder blade that is deployed with a downhaul, it won’t kick up if you have the line made fast to an ordinary cleat. Clamcleat has a cleat that will trip and release the downhaul, preventing serious damage.

Small Boats Annual 2018November 2016

Pythagorean Mooring

Variations on anchoring

The Pythagorean mooring technique appeared in Roger Barnes’s delightful and informative book, The Dinghy Cruising Companion, when it was published in 2014. It is a simple and clever way to anchor a dinghy without using a clothesline loop or outhaul set up. As described, a Pythagorean mooring, named after geometry’s theorem of right triangles, is most useful in settings where tidal range is modest and where there is fairly deep water close to a shoreline.

November 2016

A Maine Island Idyll

Circumnavigating Deer Isle

It was a very gentle bump. I’d been sleeping comfortably at anchor after a long day on the water, but I was wide awake in an instant. A few seconds later, it came again—a firm nudge from below interrupting the soft, easy motion of my boat—and this time WAXWING stopped moving. I was aground. I checked my watch—3:30 in the morning, still an hour and a half to go before low tide.

Small Boats Annual 2018November 2016

Odyssey 165

A front-facing rower for touring and fitness

The Odyssey 165 is an unusual rowboat for touring and exercise. It is specifically for use with the FrontRower, a drop-in forward-facing rowing system. With the oars fully supported by the rowing rig, there’s no need to make the boat wide enough to provide a workable span for conventional rowlocks, nor stout enough to take the strain of rowing on the gunwales. The Odyssey has the proportions of a canoe, offers the same view over the bow, and is similarly efficient converting effort into forward progress.

Small Boats Annual 2018November 2016

Seaford Skiff

A versatile thin-water cruiser

Seaford skiffs first appeared in the shallow marshes around the New York town of Seaford, Long Island, in the early 1870s. They are an evolutionary product of skiffs commonly used by local baymen for hunting waterfowl, digging clams, and fishing. Boatbuilder Samuel Gritman is credited as the primary originator of the Seaford type, but other builders such as Paul Ketcham of Amityville, and Charles Verity and his son Sidney of Seaford, built many and contributed their own modifications to the design from its inception through the 1950s.

October 2016

Bevin’s Skiffs

Building more than boats

Kids at the Community Boating Center of New Bedford, Massachusetts, built three Bevin's skiffs as part of a program to teach valuable skills through boatbuilding.

October 2016

Scrubba

A wilderness washing machine

Clothes inevitably get dirty and even a bit pungent while you’re cruising and camping, but with this innovative bag you can do laundry in camp or at anchor.

October 2016

Gaco Oarlocks

Less wear, less noise

An Australian invention, these oarlocks can fit standard sockets, but they move the rotation above the socket where it will cause less wear and noise.

October 2016

Knees and Breasthooks

Function and form

These angled pieces are important structural elements, but their potential as grace notes in a boat’s composition of curves is often overlooked. Ben Fuller shows us how they can be made both strong and graceful.

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October 2016

A Man’s Best Friend

No, it's not the dog

While big boats would come and go, Nic Compton’s little plywood skiff was the one boat that stayed with him through thick and thin. He tells the story of how a kit-built Western Skiff wove itself into the fabric of his life and family.

October 2016

Little Miss Sally

An electric micro-boat

This micro-boat—easy to build, store, and transport, and powered by a modified electric trolling motor—will tootle protected waterways for hours.

October 2016

Flint

A versatile Ross Lillistone skiff

This plywood skiff's fine lines make efficient use of power, whether it’s from oars, sail, or small outboard.

Small Boats Annual 2017September 2016

Compass Skiff

A lightweight, nimble, outboard skiff

The Compass outboard skiff, designed by Clint Chase to build during a weekend festival, is a good boat for a family to build together and for introducing children to the pleasures and responsibilities of boating.

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Small Boats Annual 2017September 2016

Guillemot

An Iain Oughtred sail-and-oar skiff

Iain Oughtred is best known for his modern glued-lapstrake adaptations of traditional hull forms, but his Guillemot skiff looks especially handsome when done with larch planking riveted to bent chestnut frames.

September 2016

Building on Tradition

An American geitbåt

Jay Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and English but realized the life of a man of letters was not his calling. He left North Dakota and moved to Norway, the land of his ancestors, and apprenticed himself to a master boatbuilder.