Why build a wooden yacht based on an outdated working boat?
Not only are these boats ideal for the cruising yachtsman but they attract notice wherever they sail due to their sheer character and beauty, two things that are often lacking in production boats. Traditionally built, long-keeled, wooden boats based on the working boats of the last days of commercial sail are the culmination of generations of experience put in to their design by the sailors (pilots, fishermen, small cargo carriers) and builders of centuries gone by. Their vessels were built with combinations of factors in mind: speed, cargo carrying capacity, seaworthiness and seakindliness, power under sail and ultimately for ease of handling when short of crew. Different combinations for different end uses. And some – including pilot cutters, fishing luggers and smacks – were snapped up as soon as they were released from their commercial roles by cruising yachtsmen who recognised and valued these qualities.
