Recundra: sail plan, lines, etc.

[KAIROS]

A couple of decades ago I first read Arthur Ransome's Racundra's First Cruise. A pleasant story of a cruise he, his lover, and the Ancient Mariner completed in 1921 in the Baltic Sea region. Another bit of good writing about small sailboat cruising for which the British seem to have a particular appreciation.

In that book there was a discussion of the boat he had had designed and built for himself, but not enough about it to satisfy me. I was pleasantly surprised though, to find the plans in appendices of a recently published book titled Racundra's Third Cruise. So, here are Recundra's drawings.

There's still enough time before spring for a little armchair sailing, no?

(by the way, this recent book is not really about sailing.....more about motoring up a small river, anchoring, and fishing)

[outofthenorm]

That's pretty cool. Love the stem profile. I'm trying to figure out LOA. Is the scale in meters?

- Norm

[Dana Marlin]

I've got a soft spot for slow heavy boats and this looks like one of them... Got any more info on her?

[StevenBauer]

She was a very beamy boat. Just under 30' on deck she had a 12' beam. She was lost on a reef off Venezuela in the late 70's, though there was a report of her St. Lucia in the early 80's so maybe she was saved?


Steven

[KAIROS]

Recundra was a centerboarder (3'6" draft without it), designed by an Estonian. Her topsides profile reminds me of the Dutch 'leeboard jachts'. With what you might call a 'recurved' stem profile. The cabin-house and topsides together also give me this impression. Don't know what the Dutch yacht's hull might be like below water. Here's one sailing:



Recundra was slow and comfy.....with a huge cabin for her length. She could have carried much more sail, with taller masts and a bowsprit, but Ransome wanted her to be more 'handy' for singlehanding.

[KAIROS]

I've got a soft spot for slow heavy boats and this looks like one of them... Got any more info on her?

Ransome writes about the boat in the Into and Appendix of Recundra's First Cruise. A google search also found this 'google book' which discusses that time in Ransome's life, beginning on page 113.

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

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Um... not to be overly picky guys, but it's Racundra, as plainly shown in the title of the drawing.

[KAIROS]

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Um... not to be overly picky guys, but it's Racundra, as plainly shown in the title of the drawing.

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

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[StevenBauer]

She pops up somewhere else, too.

If as you probably do you have a copy of Adlard Coles' "Heavy Weather Sailing" she turns up in the first chapter of the older editions as "Annette 2" - Ransome sold her to Coles, but insisted that Coles change the name. Adlard Coles cruised round the Baltic in her and sailed her back to England with his wife.

I thought he only changed the name in the book, not in real life.


Steven

[Dana Marlin]

Ransome writes about the boat in the Into and Appendix of Recundra's First Cruise. A google search also found this 'google book' which discusses that time in Ransome's life, beginning on page 113.

Thanks I'll look that up (with the correct spelling..)

Dana

[Harry Miller]

A long as we're being picky The Adlard Coles book in which he sails Annette II, aka Racundra, from the Baltic to England is "Close Hauled".

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

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Absolutely correct. This book has been sometimes referred to (among aficionados, and in inverted commas) as "Racundra's Third Cruise." But I note that this is the actual title quoted in the first post -- has "Close Hauled" been republished under a new title? Seems unlikely on the face of it.

There has been a thread running on this topic recently on TarBoard.

Mike

[KAIROS]

I thought he only changed the name in the book, not in real life. Steven

I think you are right. Photos in the book show her old name still on the boat.

....An indication that Coles was of questionable character, breaking an agreement to suit his vanity.

[James McMullen]

I love the square course!

[KAIROS]

That seems very hard on Coles, whose integrity has not been questioned by anyone before, at least, not that I am aware of.

I thought Ransome was just concerned for his book sales, since Coles was also a writer.

Yes, a bit harsh. Especially when I'm coming to that statement based on 3rd person accounts of an agreement made before the teller/historian/Ransomite was born. Who knows what agreement, specifically, Ransome made with Coles.

[KAIROS]

I love the square course!

It was flown on that first cruise. Ransome said it was too small to be of real use.....except in windy conditions. But it wasn't a handy sail to set/strike in windy conditions.

I recall that George Maynard put a square-sail on his yawl 'Zulu'. I wonder how that worked out.....

[Roger Long]

It this the boat?

[Roger Long]

Yes, that's her. That's the photo in Adlard Coles's first edition of "Heavy weather sailing"

I just read the chapter in my 1975 edition and he writes, "It may be of interest to add that the name "Annette II" was adopted by me as a pseudonym in my early book "Close Hauled" (now long out of print) of Arthur Ransom's "Racundra". Shen I sold "Annette II" the new owner installed a new engine and reverted to the original name ..."

Rather ambiguous. If it was a pseudonym, which name did he have painted on the boat?

[AndyG]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but as a lover of all things Ransome (for the last forty years!) and as a model boat builder, I recently decided to combine my interests and make an R/C sailing version of Racundra, using the lines as shown in the Third Cruise book.

Here she was a few months ago before being attached to the building board:


The hull's 1/8th scale: about 44" long and a third of that in beam. Displacement should be around 30lbs. Frames are plywood, the keel's pine. She's now clad in balsa and awaiting a skim of glassfibre for protection:



Once the hull's finished, fitting the R/C gear, electric motor and other technical bits will commence before she gets decked.

The build is not "traditional" compared to much of the fantastic work that I see on this forum - I'm using block balsa for the bow and stern, for example - but I've taken these shortcuts in order to finish her quickly and to see how well this immensely rotund hull form performs and sails.

If there's continued interest, I'll be happy to provide updates in this thread.

Andy

[Sailor]

Consider there to be interest!

[AndyG]

Ok, so I'm not the fastest builder on the planet, but here's my Racundra as of tonight:



Skimmed with glassfibre, false deck on, all the wiring in for RC, and the cabin/companion way underway. She's 44" by 17" and will be sailing this summer.

Andy

[gilberj]

"Racundra's First Cruise" One of my favourite stories. One of my favourite boats, though I do think she could use quite a bit more working sail.

[outofthenorm]

c'mon Andy. More photos! I would like to see how you've arranged the internal gear.

- Norm

[KAIROS]

"Racundra's First Cruise" One of my favourite stories. One of my favourite boats, though I do think she could use quite a bit more working sail.

Yes...I agree, but our opinion is probably tainted by our cruising grounds. I don't know about the waters Racundra was designed for. My boat was designed and built in northern Scotland and later sailed here to the San Juan Island area. I've often wished for a topmast or a new rig here with these often light winds and strong currents. I assume that there's more wind and less current in the waters my sailboat and Racundra were designed for. Or maybe sailors were more patient then.

[AndyG]

c'mon Andy. More photos! I would like to see how you've arranged the internal gear.

My pleasure Norm.

To the left (aft) is the "door" at the bottom of the companion way. The motor is a beefy 12V Buhler (not shown on a mounting here). It just fits - now I've ground it down! Then there's the CB case. Next, a tray (150mm by 63mm) holds the 12V, 7.2AH lead-acid battery. The aft end of the mast partners mark the front end of the cabin. The frame spacing is just over 60mm.



Portside of the battery tray is the electronic speed controller (ESC) and wiring terminals for the various bits and bobs.



Starboard side of this will be the step-down regulator to provide a solid 6V to the sailwinch servo. (The battery elimination circuit from the ESC only provides 4.8V, which is ok for the RX and normal servos, but not enough for winch use.)

The charging socket, power and receiver switches, plus the fuses (for main power and motor) are contained within the forward hatch:



The rudder servo, lighting switch servo and sail winch servo will live on plywood platforms bonded to each side of the CB case.

Cabin access is 11" by 12", so there's loads of room in there for fettlin' and fixin'. The cabin roof is going to be a waterproofed fit and removable.

Finally, the spaces each side of the pine keel provide enough room for the 6kgs or so of lead needed to bring her to her marks. All spare space is now stuffed with expanded polystyrene. Just in case.

Andy

[outofthenorm]

Cabin access is 11" by 12", so there's loads of room in there for fettlin' and fixin'. Andy

That's the advantage of building to a good size scale.

Nice arrangement. I'm looking forward to more.

- Norm

[AndyG]

...And she's filling up.

Top middle is the 12V battery. Left of that is the electronic speed controller for the main motor. Below that (and a bit hidden) is a distribution block for the power cables (12V - motors and ESCs, and 6V - radio and electronics).

Left of the centreboard case is the big Hitech sailwinch servo for the main and mizzen.

Beside that is the 2.4GHz receiver, and almost out of sight to its left is a 12V to 6V regulator.

Currently lying loose on the bottom of the boat is the rudder servo. That will get fixed in this area (since my 1/8th scale Arthur is going to be steering with his right hand while sat to port. Trust me, it'll all make sense once done!)

To the right of the centreboard case is another speed controller mounted on a circuit board, with a pair of fuses, diodes and what not, which control the Meccano contraption. This is the jib winch, which - having two sheets to control - needs to operate in a different manner to a normal drum winch. The blue plastic chain is driven by a geared-down motor, out of sight at the bottom of the picture. The microswitches on the ends of the track prevent (embarassing) overruns by the slidey-thing. I'll be able to tack the jib sheets in 4 seconds or so with this arrangement, while the main winch takes about 8 seconds to go from close-hauled to running.

The bare wood each side of the keel will swallow some of the 6kg (total) of lead ballast that's been cast to fit these gaps.

Once that's in, I've all those cables to tidy up.

Andy

[AndyG]

Well, I'm still building Racundra - real world has taken a terrible toll these last few seasons - and I've a question to the assembled brains here on the forum.

Rigging.

As seen in the picture at the top of this thread, there's a "guide" to how & what was rigged where. This evidence is aided (a bit) by photos throughout the 1st and 3rd cruise books. I'm about to start making ropes for the model, but I've little-to-no-idea of the sizes required for particular roles.

Can you give me some guidelines for standing and running rigging diameters, using natural materials, for a pleasure boat of about 30', made in the twenties?

I'd appreciate it hugely.

Andy

[PeterSibley]

I'd suggest asking your library for a copy of "Yacht Cruising", Claude Worth. An interlibrary request should find a copy. It will be the perfect resource.

[AndyG]

Many thanks, Peter - it's priced around £20 here in the UK. (Adds it to the "must buy" list).

Andy