As well as being pleasing to the eye, a boat should be functional, a pleasure to sail and, most importantly, getting on and off the water should not be a chore.
Being able to get your boat rigged and onto the water with the minimum of fuss and bother means that she is likely to be used more often and enjoyed to the full.
The cost of keeping even a small yacht in a marina has become prohibitively expensive and going for a summer evening sail on a whim can be quite a task. A small boat is handy enough to be able to take the opportunity of enjoying that, spur of the moment, sail.
When the desire is to visit some distant location, without the time and uncertainty of a long passage sail, a smaller boat can be hitched to your car and easily taken wherever you wish. You could even rig a tent, using the yard as the ridge pole, for camping and going on mini expeditions.
This collection of designs are rooted in the spirit of tradition, inspired, many by working boats of the past, producing beautiful, practical boats that are fun to sail and stand out from the crowd.
Utilising the best of the old together with the best of the new, many of these boats utilise epoxy lapstrake plywood construction, eg. Windchime and Owlet, to produce beautiful wooden boats that are lighter than their original counterparts and require a minimum of maintenance. On the other hand, for Windsong epoxy glass sheathed cedar strip is employed to provide a light weight, strong hull for a modern racing lugger.
To provide flexibility for sailing crewed, single handed or, when encountering higher wind conditions, these sail plans have the facility to be 'cat' rigged with just a single mainsail and the mast stepped far forward. Changing from one configuration the other is swift and easy.
The traditional lugsail, with well cut sails, is powerful and efficient, yet simple to rig and de-rig, getting your boat from trailer to being under way quickly and easily so that you can make the most of your sailing time.
