Clint Chase of Portland, Maine, is far from the first small-craft designer to find inspiration in the marvelous “faerings,” or four-oared boats, of Scandinavia, and he certainly won’t be the last. But with his Drake design of 2009 he seems to have captured the point of the ancient workboat type in a way that works especially well for a particular kind of recreational user today: the oarsman.He does so by making no pretense of trying to make the boat something that it is not. This boat isn’t going to sail well to weather. Period. The key to successful enjoyment of the type is to refrain from asking or demand- ing that it do so. Trying to graft a modern racing sloop capable of tacking through few compass degrees onto the historical roots of a faering has rarely worked well, and the attempt often merely corrupts the virtues that draw our attention to such fine craft in the first place. This design is for someone who is not at all afraid to break out the oars, since it is, first and foremost, a rowing boat. Looking for a seaworthy boat suitable for fast solo or tandem rowing in open water, Clint Chase found his inspiration, as many small-craft designers do, in the faerings of Scandinavia. His lightly constructed plywood-epoxy Drake moves well under oars, but a small lugsail can be shipped for downwind sailing.
Photo by Jake Chase/Jellyhawk Studios
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This is great to see – it was my first real coverage by WoodenBoat and I remember how tickled I was!
Now of course the boat is so much more refined – but looks pretty much the same!
Thanks for rebroadcasting this!
I have a westcoast handliner – similar in many respects as a carvel planked double-ended rowing boat – similar to a peapod. With my down-wind lug sail I have had a double blast rowing and sailing downwind (with a surfing surge that’ll make you smile) in sizable waves and decent wind. It’s a little known sport with a rush, like skiing moguls fast! Give it a try!!
There are too many people missing out on downwind sailing in a rowboat that has the right hull shape for carrying sail.
But people still want to ruin the rowing by installing a trunk of some sort…a daggerboard trunk is something I can live with, but a centerboard trunk will ruin the Drake. A DB trunk is simply not needed because of the lateral resistance provided by the long keel. I bet the handliner has the same.