Paul Gartside’s 16′ Gaff Sloop, his Design No. 218, has its roots in SJOGIN, a 22′ traditional double-ended Scandinavian workboat built in the late ’50s. Paul designed a modified version of it, his Koster Boat, Design No. 176, and later developed three smaller versions. The last of them, Design No. 218, is the Gaff Sloop, a 16-footer with a transom stern. When Jonathan Sheldon of Hereford, England, enrolled at the Boat Building Academy (BBA) in Lyme Regis, he decided that this design fulfilled all his criteria for a new boat. He wanted a trailerable, stable, traditional-looking boat that he could sail, row, or motor either singlehanded or with a sizable crew.

Photographs by the author

The removable floorboards are finished bright and bordered by fixed perimeter boards, here painted white.

Jonathan was keen for the boat to have a cutter rig with a bowsprit, a feature that was present in the Koster. Paul was more than happy to draw a new rig with a bowsprit but thought the boat was too small for two headsails, so the gaff-sloop rig was retained. The mainsail and topsail were adjusted slightly to keep the center of effort in the same place.

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