Series, To the Black Sea,
Cold Weather, Beach Camping and Strong Winds
<span class="excerpt_part">Finn and Tereza make their way across Hungary, and visit the capital city of Budapest. There they pick up a crewmate, Karl, and carry on down the Danube. Get ready for some wild river sailing! Watch Episode 10 Back to Video Series Next Video...</span>
Series, To the Black Sea,
Navigating the Constantly Changing River
<span class="excerpt_part">In Slovakia, Finn and Tereza have to get chaperoned by a cargo vessel to be allowed through one of the larger locks, but in the wider parts of the Danube they get some sea room and a breeze. Watch JILL spread her wings and fly. Watch Episode 9 Back to Video Series Previous Video...</span>
Series, To the Black Sea,
Through the Iron Gates
<span class="excerpt_part">Finn and Tereza enter the Iron Gates where the Danube passes between ranges in Serbia and Romania. Funneling between the steep slopes, the wind is often on the nose. Watch as they tack downstream under a reefed sail. Watch Episode 12 Back to Video Series Previous Video...</span>
Series, To the Black Sea,
Towed Alongside a Barge Doing 7 Knots
<span class="excerpt_part">Still descending the Danube, Finn and Tereza found the going slow on a stretch of the river between Serbia and Romania. Rather than struggle for meager miles against a headwind, they did what any resourceful wayfarer would do: stick out a thumb and hitch a ride. Every wonder what it’s like to be towed alongside a barge doing 7 knots?...</span>
Series, To the Black Sea,
Ukrainian Merchantman Comes to the Rescue
<span class="excerpt_part">Joined by a schoolmate for the lower Danube River through Bulgaria and Romania, Finn and Tereza, draw near the Black Sea. One last barrier stands in their way—a canal that doesn’t welcome small boats. Watch as a Ukrainian merchantman <strong>com</strong>es to the rescue. Watch Episode 14 Back to Video Series Previous Video...</span>
Series, To the Black Sea,
A beautiful day on the Black Sea.
<span class="excerpt_part">The final week on the Danube brought Finn and Teresa to a short-cut to the Black Sea. Small boats aren’t allowed on the 40-mile-long canal, so they hitched a ride aboard a cargo-carrying motor barge. Join them for their last miles as they relaunch JILL at the end of the canal and row on the Black Sea under sunny skies....</span>
Series, To the Black Sea,
Reflecting on their adventure
<span class="excerpt_part">In this final video of their series, Finn and Teresa are at their journey’s end: Constanta, a Romanian port on the west coast of the Black Sea. With their boat covered and strapped on a trailer and ready for the return trip to England, the young adventurers reflect on the three months they spent crossing Europe by river and canal....</span>
<span class="excerpt_part"></span>
Adventures
Chesapeake Bay's Smith Island
<span class="excerpt_part">...many islanders, was never revealed. It’s getting late in the day. A text message <strong>com</strong>es through from my wife, Terri, saying a storm knocked the power out at home. Whatever did that is <strong>com</strong>ing our way. We pay the tab and head back to the boats to cast off for the mainland. We hear on radio the front is...</span>
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Boat Profile
Fast, shoal-draft, and self-righting
<span class="excerpt_part">...built ketch sails fast on all points, offers reasonable cruising accommodations, and can handle rough water. Photo by NIS Boats Sailing wing-’n-wing off the wind—no need for a spinnaker here. Kirby drew a handy cat-ketch rig to power the NIS 26—no labor-intensive overlapping headsails or tiny, impotent mainsails here. Full-length battens support considerable roach, that is, curve to the leech...</span>
Boat Profile
A fast and handsome 18' kayak
<span class="excerpt_part">...to eye with the local fish population. Night Heron moves easily through a chop. It seems to throw more spray than do round-bilged, needle-sharp kayaks; but most of that spray stays low and away from our faces. Anyone who thinks he can remain <strong>com</strong>pletely dry while sea kayaking might consider taking up croquet. This kayak’s se<strong>nse</strong> of directional stability is...</span>
Boat Profile
A simple, striking, affordable boat
<span class="excerpt_part">...trimmed, JOY accelerated in the brisk fashion that befits a light (170 lbs) skiff. She is propelled by a Chesapeake-style leg-o’-mutton rig…simple, efficient, and relatively inexpensive. The tapered wooden mast requires no standing rigging (wires that support the masts of her more costly cousins). Unlike <strong>com</strong>mon booms that run humbly along the foot (bottom edge) of a sail, the sprit...</span>
Boat Profile
Simple boats for work or play
<span class="excerpt_part">...often skidded through highspeed turns. If driven too fast with the tillers hard over, they sometimes “tripped” (capsized rapidly toward the outside of the turn). <strong>Com</strong>pared to the old boats, the Ben Garvey’s handling is <strong>com</strong>fortably predictable and reassuring. Photo by Bill Thomas “They can perform every manner of waterfront task with easy <strong>com</strong>petence and honest grace.” Doesn’t that forward...</span>
Boat Profile
A mini Lake Michigan workboat
<span class="excerpt_part">...he says he’d revert to Zimmer’s rigging plan, jokingly calling the boat the “world champion for number of feet of line per foot of boat.” There are other <strong>com</strong>plications, too, though they are easily remedied. “I think the rig made se<strong>nse,</strong>” said Hylan, “when the boats were 26′ long.” Why? “Because they had half the <strong>com</strong>plications per pound of displacement.”...</span>
Boat Profile
A soulful little pocket cruiser
<span class="excerpt_part">...is planked with 1″ Northern white cedar over 1 1⁄ 4″-square bent-oak frames on 9″ centers, and 1 1⁄ 2″-thick white oak floor timbers. Her deck is 1⁄2″ plywood covered with Dynel and epoxy fastened to oak beams. With both the designer’s and builder’s expertise, she is an extremely stiff and strong boat and is enjoying a long life. Approximately...</span>
Boat Profile
An electric-powered “steam” launch
<span class="excerpt_part">...bank. The battery bank is <strong>com</strong>posed of eight 6-volt golf-cart batteries. The motor is coupled to the propeller shaft by a timing belt running at a 5:1 reduction ratio and turning a 20 x 19 three-bladed bronze wheel. “Dave Gerr’s book, The Propeller Handbook, was my bible when I was putting this together,” said Hulm. What does this machinery translate...</span>
Reader Built Boats
A Gartside rowing skiff made of an unusual wood
<span class="excerpt_part">...however, and the <strong>com</strong>pany is seeking a way to keep the product going. Interested readers should visit the <strong>com</strong>pany’s web site for the most up-to-date news. [Editor’s note, January 2021: Vendia’s web site is now offering the planking again.] “Vendia,” Adrian said, “was the only reason I decided to keep building boats. If it’s plywood from now on, then I’m...</span>
Boat Profile
An inspired daysailer
<span class="excerpt_part">...than the Haven. There’s more of everything— building molds, planks, frames, deckbeams. There’s also the cuddy cabin. <strong>Com</strong>paring the displacement of the hulls minus the ballast, one of White’s own cost-estimating techniques, provides a good indicator of the relative work involved in building the two boats. The Flatfish weighs 1,300 lbs <strong>com</strong>pared to the Haven’s 800 lbs—a factor of 1.625....</span>
News and Curiosities
<span class="excerpt_part">...112-page print anthology of the quality content you’ve <strong>com</strong>e to expect online from Small Boats Magazine. In addition to a variety of boat profiles, it delivers product reviews, adventure narratives, and reader-built boats in a book-quality magazine that you’ll want to reference for years to <strong>com</strong>e. Available for purchase in print or digital format from The WoodenBoat Store. Cover Image...</span>
Boat Profile
A simple girl
<span class="excerpt_part">...possible that moving the main bulkhead aft 4″ or so could improve things, but at the expe<strong>nse</strong> of cockpit space. Because the rowing thwarts are removable and the cockpit sole is perfectly flat, self-draining, and measuring about 8′ 6″ x 4′ 5″, two people could sleep there in good <strong>com</strong>fort under a boom tent. All cruising gear—and even a small...</span>
Boat Profile
From workboat roots, a solid recreational boat
<span class="excerpt_part">...wood not fiberglass.” The resulting hull, Miller asserts, is lighter in weight than its conventionally planked ancestor, and considerably easier to maintain. The <strong>com</strong>pany’s brochure for the West Pointer notes that the cedar and mahogany used for veneers is rot resistant and <strong>com</strong>pletely sealed with epoxy: “The result is a solid, impervious structure. With proper maintenance, rot won’t have a...</span>
Boat Profile
A good sense of balance
<span class="excerpt_part">...watertight <strong>com</strong>partments, and frames, are all constructed of 3⁄8″ plywood. Her cockpit sole, rudder, and rear hatch are slightly thicker, using 10mm plywood (about 7⁄16″) that is easily found in France but may be less standard elsewhere. The backbone is made of the hardwood sapele, with wood-epoxy technology used all over, fillet joints included. Long <strong>com</strong>mon in America, such <strong>com</strong>posite...</span>
From the Editor
<span class="excerpt_part">Small Boats Magazine is excited to announce the kickoff of our new contest series. Every month, subscribers will have the opportunity to win products from our generous sponsors. We’ve worked closely with our sponsors to create this added benefit as a thank you to our loyal subscriber <strong>com</strong>munity. Only active subscribers are eligible to participate in each monthly contest, which...</span>
Boat Profile
A small cruiser for going just about anywhere
<span class="excerpt_part">...to want to just change a little here, add a little there, reconfigure this, and end up moving everything around. Stock answer: don’t do it. Mitchell’s engineering background <strong>com</strong>bined with a lifetime of sailing, cruising, and boatbuilding gives him an unusual skill set and an ability to <strong>com</strong>municate in the right language with the designer. He had already been through...</span>