Coming Soon: www.belleboats.com

Greetings, I have some news:  I'm pushing to finish a new BELLE website by November 1 where  I will be offering sisterships of BELLE for sale.  There are a lot of details, which I'll have by November, but I'm excited to offer BELLE once again.

The original BELLE has a new owner in the Chesapeake, so I'd love to build another version for a new customer.  I say "version" because, as a custom builder, any new Belle would have it's own personality and style.

I'll also have some preliminary information on a new 20ft version, BELLE 20, with a small cabin.

The site isn't complete yet, but here's the address anyway.  Please bookmark...and take a look after November 1!

http://www.belleboats.com

BELLE wins award at Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival

BELLE's new owner took her to this year's Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland.  He tells me that the show was a lot of fun and that BELLE won First Place in the “traditional design, contemporary construction” category!  Here's his report:

This weekend Belle and I were at the Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival at the Ches. Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels MD. About 120 boats of all types were there and it was great fun. 

Best of all, Belle won first place in the “traditional design, contemporary construction” category. There were some very fine boats there so her win was very satisfying...Many people remarked on how clean/simple she was and how spacious her cockpit was. I know she was the subject of many photos... 

Music to any designer/builder's ears!  So many thanks to him for taking BELLE to the show and sharing the news.  The Judges Notes that accompanied the award included these comments:

Beautiful lapstrake work, innovative decking, very clean boat, very nice design- lots of thought...Beautiful spars, very delicate, liked the non-wire stays..."

The judges confer...

The ribbon...