A Wicked Wicked Man

John Welsford is a wicked, wicked man.

He designed a little row-sail cruising dingy that has captured my imagination.

He also has a lot of good advice about picking a boat. Start by looking at the traditional working boats for the primary water where you will be using the boat (for me, Sea Bright skiffs, jersey skiffs, melonseeds, sneakboxes.) He then urges people to write a story or draw a picture showing them using their boat.

My story is not much of a story, more of a picture. I see my little white boat with red sails heading up the Connecticut River just past Mt Holyoak and the big oxbow lake there.

I had never imagined myself doing river cruising. But now I am compulsively checking the tidal currents on the Delaware at Philadelphia, and trying to figure out how to juggle two small children and the ride upstream to the boat trailer.

Of course, by the time I get Walkabout finished, the kids will not be small anymore.

But I am already counting my pennies and thinking about sails — even before I get the plywood for the little rowing boat.

This is a bad sign.

Messabout report

On Saturday we went to the messabout organized by the Delaware River chapter of the TSCA, the Traditional Small Craft Association.

We got there late, after a difficult morning of errands and slack. Once we got there I had a great time talking boats. I got to row a Michalak Robote - very cool very fast rowboat. I even took younger son out for a row.

I also took both boys for a short sail in a shellback dinghy. It was their first sailboat ride ever! Elder son got very upset when the boat first heeled, but once he recognized that small boats tip a little, and sailboats always tip a little, then he calmed down.

The Robote was great fun, and I am glad that I am building something very like it. (Mine will be a touch slower and more stable.) The Shellback was a pain to sail, but looking back my best memories of the day are seeing the two boys sitting side-by-side by the centerboard as we sailed this little dinghy around on a little lake.

In other news, the leading contender for boat B is Welsford's Walkabout.