Andrew Kitchen's J II/Arctic Tern

Taken at Mystic Seaport, this photo of Andrew's J II was used as the header for this years John Gardner Small Craft Workshop at Mystic, June 5 & 6.

J II pre launch

In the water

Andrew sailing at Mystic

The J II or Jeanne Henderson bears Iain's mothers name and is quick and lively, but a bit tender, IO redesigned her with a bit more beam and she's now the Arctic Tern

A very nice build, indeed.

The accursed yoke tiller. Even Iain Oughtred doesn't like them

all photos courtesy Andrew Kitchen

Timing is everything, it is said. Recently a posting on the Oughtred Yahoo group caught my eye. Andrew Kitchen had uploaded some pictures of his Oughtred J II. The J II is the first iteration of my all time favorite of Iain's designs, the Arctic Tern. She was fast and nimble, but a bit tender, so Mr. Oughtred redesigned her for more stability, with a bit more beam and more strakes per side. From Andrew:
The boat was completed in 2004, so she is actually a J II Yawl (the
earlier design on which Arctic Tern was based). She performs
beautifully, although she is a little tender, which I think explains
why IO modified the design. I have day-sailed her since, but never
cruised. I'll be showing her at this year's Wooden Boat Show at Mystic,
as part of the IBIM exhibit. I am particularly excited about this as
Iain Oughtred is scheduled to attend the show this year.

Yes, indeed. Last night I made a last minute decision to purchase my ticket to the Oughtred Tribute Dinner next Saturday evening at the WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport. Now sold out. I'll be looking to meet Andrew and his boat, which he's bringing to Mystic for the I Built It Myself exhibit. Maybe I can even cadge a sail!
Silent Maid will also be there...hmmm, maybe I'll be able to cadge another sail. I know that Russ Mannheimer is also planning to attend, unfortunately not arriving in Sjogin, oh well. Still it looks to be a great weekend. See ya there.

A gathering of the Clan, WoodenBoat honors Iain Oughtred at Mystic Seaport

Matt Murphy getting things underway

Geoff Kerr of Two Daughters Boatworks had some personal remarks by way of introducing Iain

Himself

A nice turnout, many of these folks are builders of Iain's designs

I sat with my friends Russ and Julia Mannheimer, made some new ones as well, in particular, and out of view to the right, were Steve and Mary Bauer of Portland ME, owners of an Al Mason designed Ostkust, for which they just launched an Oughtred Humble Bee pram, as tender to their boat, at Mystic. Photo in a later post.

Geoff Kerr's first boat, which launched his boatbuilding career, Ned Ludd

Geoff answering the endless questions, all part of being there.

Geoff's Caledonia Yawl is named for an historic British character, Ned Ludd, possibly originally Ned Ludlam, whose reaction to the industrial revolution was taken as a rallying point for those whose way of life was being radically changed and challenged. They became known as the Luddites.

Geoff and Ned Ludd out in the Connecticut River

Andy Kitchen and Iain Oughtred with Andy's J II, named for Iain's mother and which morphed into the Arctic Tern, hands down my favorite of Iain's interpretations of the Shetland Yoles

During the two days I spent at the show, I never walked past Andy's boat without there being a few admirers.

No doubt because she is such a lovely boat...

A tribute to both her designer and her builder

these four photos courtesy Andrew Kitchen

Here's Ed Segen's Patina, a Caledonia Yawl meticulously finished, down to his cast bronze knees in the shape of a whale. A beautiful boat Ed sails out of Wilton, CT just across the river from Mystic.

Ed allows he spent about 1250 hours bringing his boat to life.

A less commonly built Fulmar, trailed in from WI , this boat is a work in progress. The work is being done by Dave Tilley and his son Eric. My brother John looks on as Eric demonstrates...

...an ingenious innovation for raising and lowering the mast, similar to a tabernacle, except the mast is full length and rotates on a pin set just below the deck. The foot of the mast slides along a little track in the bow as the mast is lowered. Dave's invention allows for easy singlehanded mast manipulation. The beautiful finish was achieved using Le Tonkinois.

Annie is another less commonly seen Oughtred design, the 15'9" Whilly Tern.

Annie was built and is daysailed and camp cruised on the Connecticut River by her owner, John Denunzio of Durham CT


all photos Thomas Armstrong unless otherwise noted

The 19th WoodenBoat Show, sponsored by WoodenBoat Magazine was again hosted by Mystic Seaport. This was my first WBS and it was great fun and a bit overwhelming. The honored guest this year was one of the worlds pre-eminent designers of small craft for home builders, and one I hold in the highest esteem, Iain Oughtred. Undoubtedly best known for his seaworthy double enders based on traditional Scottish boats with a Scandinavian heritage, Iain's work spans a long career and a wide range of boat types. Not only does Iain continue to publish new design's, he is constantly revising and tweaking older designs to make them better.
Saturday last was the night for the tribute dinner for Iain. It was this event which, at the last minute, pushed me over the edge to commit to going to the event. Glad I did, it was well worth it. First up was Matt Murphy, editor of WoodenBoat Magazine, with some anecdotes and introductions. Next, Geoff Kerr, an early builder of the Caledonia Yawl, explained how building this boat ignited the fuse to an explosion of energy which resulted in his transition from a suburban McLean VA corporate worker bee to full time boatbuilder. Geoff now does business at Two Daughters Boatworks in Westford, Vermont. Geoff visited Iain at Struan Cottage, Isle of Skye and desribed the journey as "two planes, two trains and a ferry". He also allowed it to be an insightful and productive meeting of the minds. Geoff then courageously took a mystical tack, describing Iain Oughtred as a 'Wizard' at finding the essence of traditional boats and bringing them forward and making them accesible to the backyard builder using modern techniques. Geoff ascribed this ability to a sort of genetic memory, and challenged the audience to deny that everyone there probably had a bit of Norse or Scandinavian blood in their ancestry. No one spoke up.
Iain took the bait, and agreed, in his talk, that he thought Geoff was on to something. Then he went a bit further and recounted that many years earlier, while touring Norway in his beat up VW van scouring the countryside for examples of traditional workboats, he heard a voice impelling him toward his future. The voice, whether from his own subconscious or the muses, simply said "you need to work with boats". I do not discount this phenomena, having on at least two occasions had a similar experience.
Iain then went on to offer a brief synopsis of his evolution beginning with his building/racing career at a very early age in his native Australia and culminating in his currently vibrant achievement as a one of the foremost designers of neo traditional boats in the world accompanied by a relevant slide show. His talk concluded to vigorous applause!
Much to my pleasure I was able to have a few words with Iain, and brother John kept running into him on Sunday.
As you can see in the photographs above, several devoted builders were compelled to bring their Ougthred boats to the event, both within the I Built It Myself exhibition and at large. The folks above are only a portion of the Oughtred boats present in Mystic. A very rewarding weekend and not one to be soon forgotten.
I'll be writing about other highlights of the show very soon.

22nd annual WoodenBoat Festival at Mystic Seaport .2

St. Ayles Skiffs and 'Sephira'

Just below the far shoreline are two horizontal dashes, above the green buoy. That's a pair of St. Ayles skiffs having at it.

Here they are again, the nearer skiff is Canada's 'Sea Shadow' and an American boat, the 'William H Shipp' is just passing those pillings. At this point the crews have switched boats, I believe.  'The Joseph Conrad' in the background.

The crews gathered on the docks after racing, with the Apprenticeshop's whaleboat in the foreground.

A boat of a different color, the Sephira is a modified St Ayles. Also called the Musical Ark, she is rigged to be played like a harp and sing to whales. Interesting project, to say the least! 

As I write this the Skiffie Worlds are in full swing in Ullapool, on the northwest coast of Scotland. The St Ayles skiffs are an Iain Oughtred design, lapstrake ply rowing boats, expressly conceived for the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project. The initial idea was for communities to build their boats and compete with other communities. It took off like wildfire. There are now over 50 boats in Scotland and the project has spread to North America, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. The boats are built from cnc kits which interested groups purchase and the build themselves. For those who would like to dig a little deeper, there's loads of info here.

The sole competitor at the worlds from North America is an entry from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. But she's not the only St Ayles from the US in Ullapool. Also attending, but not competing, is 'Sephira', aka the Musical Ark. I was informed about this project by Alec Jordan, whose company Jordan Boats supplies the kits in the UK. Alec was in Mystic for the show, and though I'd corresponded with him in the past when writing about the project, we'd never met. I also met Gardner Pickering of Hewes & Company, the kit suppliers for North America.  Alec was very keen for me to write about the Ark, as it was defaying some of the expense involved in traveling to Ullapool with a kickstarter. I'm pleased to say that they reached their goal Friday afternoon but are still open for business into tomorrow if you'd like to get involved. This is an "insanely great" project and must see.
Also must see is Alec's report on the North American St Ayles Championship, the pair of boats pictured above, one from Picton, Ontario and the other from the Renbrook School near Mystic.





I Built It Myself

 Scott Matthews brought his lovely Arctic Tern.

 

This Oughtred design is a bit slimmer and lighter than a Ness, and a bit faster as well.

Phil Bacon lounging in his Caledonia Yawl

Rudder detail

Phil is pleased with the workboat finish, and I agree, better to sail than sand and varnish.

  Leonard  Rollins brought his restored Old town square stern lake canoe.

1940 Johnson power

Big Green dates from 1928 and was a total restoration

Another Oughtred design, this Ness Yawl was built by Walt Kangas

great attention to detail

Tulli

'The Cat'

Piero Biancani built a lovely power catamaran.

 Yet another Oughtred design, this one a Whilly Boat.

 Again we see a sensible workboat finish, this by Aaron Ward who trailed his boat all the way from east Texas.

All photos and text copyright Thomas Armstrong, with the exception of the Musical Ark

Always a favorite of mine at the Festival is the I Built it Myself green. The boats are invariably immaculate and finely detailed. This year seemed to be dominated by Iain Oughtred designs and it's a pleasure to see some of the less built boats such as the Arctic Tern and the Whilly Boat. I've included four Oughtred boats here but there were two or three more. A highlight of this exhibit is the chance to chat with the owner/builders, a pleasure. I'm already curious as to what will show up next year. 

 

originally posted by Thomas Armstrong on 70.8%

Iain Oughtred and Nic Compton's beautiful biography

Nic Compton's new volume on Ian Oughtred, published by and available now at WoodenBoat

courtesy WoodenBoat

Iain's Elf, after the Hardanger Faering

courtesy Bootbouwer

A sailing version of the Acorn Skiff, the design credited with 'making' Iain's career

courtesy Jane & Pete Peterson

The Arctic Tern, says Iain, is a 95% scaled down Ness Yawl. These boats take their inspiration from the Shetland Yoals, but are lightened and narrowed for faster recreational performance. This example has a gunter sloop rig,  giving increased windward performance

courtesy Classic Marine

Jeanie II, the prototype for the Arctic Tern, named for Iain's mother.

The Arctic Tern profile drawing as found in Iain's design catalogue, a desirable piece of literature, which can be ordered from Iain . Find his mailing address below.

For comparison, here's a photo of a Shetland Yoal, a foureen from about 1895 with a high peaked lugsail, found in " Inshore Craft of  Britain" by Edgar J. March

Interor view of a JII or Arctic Tern built by Andrew Kitchen

courtesy Sailing New England

One of  Iains most popular designs, the Ness Yawl

posted by Wayne Torry, found in the WoodenBoat Forum,

this photo was originally taken by Owen Sinclair from his Welsford Navigator and is of John Hitchcock's Ness 

Bumblebee Pram, courtesy Strathkanchris

Macgregor sailing canoe, also courtesy Chris Perkins, aka Strathkanchris,via Intheboatshed

Here's Iain sailing a sprit rigged Elf

courtesy Bootbouwer

Cover of  Iain's design catalogue which is in itself a formiddable work of art.

Order from iain direct at the address given below.

Albannach, or Alba, Iains own Ness Yawl, is now for sale. Details here.

I believe this boat has won a Glen Raid or two

A Wee Seal at the Port TownsendWooden Boat Festival (I have no idea what year)

courtesy John Welsford, a formidable small boat designer in his own right, via  Duckworks Magazine

Eun Na Mara

courtesy Classic Marine

Haiku, Iain's interpretation of Ralph Monroe's noted sharpie Egret

There's an article on the designing and  building of this wishbone cat ketch to be found in Water Craft #61

I've included this photo simply because I found it compelling, a Ness or Caledonia Yawl, most likely, but I was intrigued by the extended stem and stern  posts, a more traditional Norwegian detail

courtesy Bootbouwer

Author Nic Compton, in colusion with WoodenBoatBOOKS and Adlard Coles has produced a sumptuious feast of a biographry about Iain Oughtred, his life and his designs. It takes one from Iain's early years in Melbourne and Sydney, his migration to Britain and his participation in the wooden boat revival there, and his eventually settling in his adopted homeplace, beloved Scotland. It also chronichles the arc of his career and follows the development of his design philosophy. The book also includes a beautiful design catalogue. Copious photographs accompany and illustrate the text. Biographies are often slow going, even a bit moribund, but for me this one (so far anyway, I haven't finished) reads more like a thriller, pulling you forward, wanting to find out what happens next. Iain started his sailing career as a racer and has  not denied these roots in his design, even as he turned more and more to maritime tradition for his inspiration. His entire ouerve has seen him grounding his designs in seaworthy tradition while updating them for contemporary use, building techniques and speed. He has been instrumental in putting forward the lapstrake plywood/epoxy building program (he wrote a book on this technique), and his design always takes into account the homebuilder. Mr. Compton has knit all this together into a flowing narrative that stays out of the way and allows the story unfold like a satisfying afternoon sail. Highly recommended. Iain Oughtred's life is and has been an extraordinary journey and this book is testimony to it.  Amazon is taking orders, but you can get the book now at WoodenBoat. I suggest you do so.  Iain doesn't maintain a web presence but some of his plans are available through WoodenBoat, Classic Marine, Jordan Boats UK or directly from Iain  the old fashioned way, here:

Iain Oughtred

Struan Cottage

Bernisdale

Isle of Skye

IV51 9NS

Tel: 01470 532732

 Iain is selling his Ness Yawl, Albannach, offered on the Jordan site.