Oughtred Skua Launch

[Steve Hornsby]

Hey all,

Well here it is - the elusive Skua. The boat is a 118% version of Tammie Norrie which brings it in about 16' by 5' 3". Iain wrote and mentioned that the official name for the design will now be "Sea Hen". I don't even know if the full plans package is available yet. Some time ago, Iain sent me the mold patterns and the TM package - I then got out my calculator to figure out the upsize.

For the whole two hours I got to sail, the boat went along really well. The rig seems to work well, but there are definitely some tweaks and further learning. The design is more stable then I would have thought. Perfect for my family's needs. I was very impressed with the downwind speed. Rowing with all the gear and the sticks up was challenging in the wind, but empty, it was decent to row.

The main mast (fir) is from a St. Lawrence Sea Skiff. Its been on the wall at the cottage for eons and must be 70+ years old - kinda cool to use it.

Thanks for the help along the way,

Steve



http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2367/11611299/20602022/335728351.jpg

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2367/11611299/20602022/335728361.jpg

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2367/11611299/20602022/335728367.jpg

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2367/11611299/20602022/335728563.jpg

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2367/11611299/20602022/335728349.jpg

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2367/11611299/20602022/335728370.jpg

[StevenBauer]

Ooh, that's purdy. :)


Steven

[jerry bark]

to be honest in the rowing shot it looks clunky to me.

but, in the b&w shot under sail it look really nice!

So i say leave the oars for emergencies!!

good job
jerry

[Woxbox]

Beautiful boat, beautiful build.

[WCM]

Really nice. Congratulations.

[JimD]

An exceptionally beautiful boat, Steve.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Well done old chap!! Jolly good show! I'm envious you know!! I hope you tell over these bytes and pixels!!

[Mark Giegel]

Steve,
Beautiful boat and a timely post.
I just received the plans of Sea Hen from Iain with the note that the sail plan along with the mast drawing was in the works and he will send soon. The rest of the plans were in the envelope with his hallmark high detail. I would be interested to know if you have a webiste where you have posted your build progress. Thanks in advance.
Mark

[john l]

nice. kinda looks like an IainizedCoquina?

[Garth Jones]

Steve,

Excellent! More Oughtred boats is always a good thing. I hope you have fair winds and may wonderful days on the water in your beautiful new boat.

Cheers,
Garth

[Steve Hornsby]

Thanks all for your kind words.

Mark - here is a link to some build photos. I have to admit, I got lazy at times documenting the process. There are definitely some gaps. I will prbably add some commentary soon. Hope these are of value.

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/20609189

Please feel free to contact me offline if you have any questions or wish to exchange contact information.

Good luck,
Steve

[James McMullen]

Lovely boat! But you'll get even more out of your lug yawl rig if you excercise one of its strengths by striking your rig whenever you need to row any sort of a distance. After some practise, I've gotten to the point where I can get my boat from all spars lying in the boat to all sails drawing in under two minutes! Unstayed masts and lug sails are tailor made for sail & oar boats. Congratulatons!

[Ed Armstrong]

Beautiful!

[htom]

Wonderful.

[RT MAN]

Gananoque, Kingston to me that is one of the most beautiful places, I grew up in Kingston in the 60's and 70's. My dad had a sailboat back then he used take us sailing all around Gan, Rockport and Kingston we used to camp on the Islands I don't remember all the islands but I do remember Wellsley Island. If there one thing that the St. Lawrence offers it is the most breath taking summer/fall scenery.

This summer I drove from Edmonton to Chester CT and over the 1000 Island bridge into Gan then went to Kingston to pick up my mother and then drove back to Edmonton all the while towing one of my most prized possesions back to Edmonton ( Alerion111) Cedar on Oak with a Gunter rig and Tanbark sails.

Skua beautiful boat too.

Rufus

[switters]

great looking boat, congratulations.

any idea of the hours involved with the build?

[Steve Hornsby]

Thanks Switters.

How many hours? I never really started counting, but have to guess at 600-700-800 fairly inefficient hours - probably more. The only other boat I built before was a Devline Oarling - so lots of new learning on this boat. Like all things, if I did it again, I know I could drastically reduce this. An experienced person, I'm sure, could half this.

Steve