Q: Is BELLE based on a particular historical type or boat design?

This is just a quick post to mention that I've updated the FAQ page with the above question.  I heard it quite a lot while attending the Small Reach Regatta last week--a fun event, highly recommended--so please click here to take a look (or click the FAQ button under the photo).  In it, I discuss various design influences that went into BELLE's design.  There were many.

Until next time...

Small Reach Regatta 2012

The Small Reach Regatta was this weekend, it was great fun to attend.   Over 50 boats of pretty much all description--as long as they were propelled by sails, oars, or both--gathered at Lamoine State Park for four days of sailing, rowing, and camping.  For those who wanted it, there were even catered lunches and dinners cooked at the Park.  I tried one of the dinners, excellent pulled pork and ribs! 

Thursday and Friday had plenty of wind and terrific sailing, sandwiched by Friday which was quite calm with a lot of rowing.  Alas, most of my photos are from Friday since the other two days we were too busy sailing:

Arrival and set up.  Not shown:  50+ other boats of all descriptions:  modern boats, old boats, restored boats, sail boats, row boats, quite a parade.  

Brent hams it up out on Frenchman Bay.   (Photo taken on Friday.)

I too know how to point vaguely into the distance.  (Photo taken on Saturday.)

My "art shot" of BELLE sailing along in light winds.

Beautiful...but time to break out the oars.  That's MDI (Mount Desert Island) in the distance.

A very nice Oughtred cat-yawl with Bean Island behind her.

For more on this get-together of small(er) boats, there's the web site mentioned above and a Facebook page.  I'm hoping there will be many photos of the other boats, many of which were real beauties.

For the event I borrowed a pair of 8' oars which were definitely too short. Over the winter I'll make a pair of 9'-9'6" oars for next year.  I'll be able to store them in BELLE by hanging them by leather straps under the slatted seats, projecting a couple of feet under the foredeck.  At least that's the plan.

Up until now, I've been using a couple of 5' paddles for getting BELLE over to a dock from the launch ramp and stuff like that.  For the SRR, I knew there might be some more serious rowing, so I added oar locks to the coamings and rigged up a slip thwart (a removeable temporary thwart) to make rowing more comfortable.

Here's the removable slip thwart which stores under the foredeck when not in use. It rests on the centerboard case and seats and has a couple of cleats underneath so it doesn't slip side-to-side.  It's made of cedar and unfinished,  like the floorboards, so it'll turn a nice grey color after a month or two in the sun.

Until next time!