(Photos courtesy Ross Lillistone)

I haven’t written about Ross’  designs recently, but I’m a regular follower via his blog, http://rosslillistonewoodenboat.blogspot.com/.

And I’ve been following his progress with FLEET.  Her launching was on April 22nd.

From his blog:

“The hull shape is similar to the designs of the late William H. Hand, said to have been the inventor of the vee-bottomed motorboat. What made the William Hand designs significant was the way they would handle well at lower speeds when throttled back. Weston Farmer said of them, ”They were steerable throughout their entire range of speed in following seas. The full planing boat is a dog in this department. Unless they are banging along full bore, you cannot steer them. And full bore in some seaways with this type of boat, demands Polident for the helmsman’s teeth and metal brassiers for the ladies.” (“From My Old Boat Shop” International Marine 1979.) Now, I think planing hull design has come some way since Weston Farmer formed his opinion, and there are some very fine designs around for full planing hulls, but the fact remains that for moderate planing and semi-planing speeds, a long, narrow Hand-style hull can be superb.”

Ross’ design brief:

“As I mention previously, I believe that there is a genuine need for small powerboats which have been optimised for operation under the urge of very small outboards. I nervously await the performance report from the first outing, which will be within the next three days. This example with be pushed by a 5hp Mercury, and has been built a little heavier than initially planned due to the rugged duties expected of her. A very light version, built in a manner similar to Flint, should go well with 2-1/2 to 4hp.”

And a look at her lines:

There aren’t any details yet (that I can find) on the specs of the boat herself, or the cost of plans.  I’m guessing she’s similar to Ross’ FLINT design, at 14′-something.  FLEET is designed to be built stitch-and-glue.

Here’s the url of Ross’ blog:

http://rosslillistonewoodenboat.blogspot.com/2012/04/low-powered-planing-hull-lessons-learnt.html.  There’s a pretty funny story of Ross finishing the plans and sending them off, hours prior to leaving on holiday.

And his main website:

http://www.baysidewoodenboats.com.au/

I think I like this design — a lot.  I’m looking forward to following her evolution.

What do you think?  Please post your comments below.

Thanks, Carl

Last week I wrote about a wonderful dinghy from Germany.  I’m quite surprised we didn’t get more comments.

This week, we’re in France, at Leggero Boats

(All photos courtesy Leggero Boats.  The one shown above is the Leggero L8)

And here’s a video of her under sail:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DcUhs8N6XOQ

Here are her specs:

LOA:  8 meters

Beam:  2.5 meters

Draft:  1.9 meters

– keel raised:  .8 meters

Light displacement:  1,300 kg

Ballast:  450 kg

Her construction, from their website:

“This is the site of Alexandre Genoud who was entrusted with the responsibility of building the first Leggero L8 Fouras in his unit near La Rochelle. A site known for its many buildings in small series of wooden sailing ships composite . 
Wood, renewable material par excellence, has been used since antiquity in the construction of boats, but has been relegated in the 60s to the rank of historical material.

 
However, the Leggero L8 is deliberately built of wood. The wood chosen for its lightness and strength . The wood selected for its beautyunmatched. 
The hull shape is made ​​of strip-planking (or wood lath) and then laminated for ease of maintenance and the guarantee of an excellent durability.

The wood? The soul of a structure and technology of today.”

Among my favorites is Yacht, a German magazine billed as “Europe’s Largest Sailing Magazine.”  This may seem strange — if only because my knowledge of German is so very very poor.

I was fascinated by a recent article they ran — I believe in Issue #8 — on a very fast build of a boat purportedly available from Ikea as a kit.

I went to their website.  I went to Ikea’s websites in Germany, Sweden, and the US.  I couldn’t find any additional information.

That night at home, I spent three or four fruitless hours trying to track down the Ikea Dinghy.  This was a major find, I thought.

I wrote to friends in Germany, and to Dieter Loibner, who had an article in the same issue.

Thanks to Dieter, Jochen Rieker, the editor of Yacht, emailed me the next day:

Kind regards! It was great to hear that my colleague Martin Sebastian Kreplin’s idea made ripples in the water even in the US

Jochen Rieker

Editor in-Chief

“

Dieter — and friends in Germany — sent me this:

http://tv.yacht.de/video/Die-wahre-Geschichte-der-Ikea-Jolle/d3b278c5757ff6e8332ad17ab33a855f – “The True Story of Ikea Dinghy.”

If you have Google Chrome as one of your browsers, one of its features is that it will translate printed foreign language websites for you, albeit pretty funny translations some time.

I had fallen for a very clever April Fool’s joke.

It’s a new month now, and my trauma has receded (I hope)

Yesterday, I read Yacht #9 and learned about the Seggerling class:

(Rendering and photos courtesy www.seggerling.de)

If this is another joke by Yacht magazine, they’ve gone to great lengths.  By all appearances, it’s a fun small stitch-and-glue class.

and

More from their website:

“SEGGERLING enthusiastic beginners as well as racing fanatic. This design was created at the request of experienced racers the international Moth class and other one-handed racing dinghy. The desired boat had one hand the high technical level, the rapid speed and tremendous value for money by ensuring the DIY Moth – should outperform the other hand, the new dinghy the other hand classes, especially safety, comfort and seaworthiness. This is ideal for the SEGGERLING old racing hares who want to meet fair competition sailing without hassle or acrobatics, or for successful yacht skipper, their sensitivity at the helm would like to raise with modern single-handed sailing. In addition, all admire the sleek lines and the natural beauty of wood.”

I’d love to hear from any of our readers who are familiar with this class.  or have I fallen victime again to another joke?  Please comment below.

Thanks.  And in humility, Carl

(Renderings courtesy of Rockport Marine)

Brendan wrote a great blog about John Alden, Eric Clapton, Layla Al-Aamiriya, and a host of other worthies.

The inspiration for LAYLA came to Brendan from John Alden’s PIONEER, which was never built.

(Profile courtesy International Marine Publishing Company)

Here’s what Brendan has to say about Carrick and Henderson’s coverage of John Alden’s powerboats, in their book, “John G. Alden & His Yacht Designs:”

“I have a hard time accepting that Mr. Alden’s heart wasn’t in his powerboat designs, PIONEER especially. I don’t like the idea that anyone could produce something this beautiful without being consumed by that beauty along the way. I have tinkered with this design again and again, but for my part I’m not sure whether I have improved it in any really meaningful way. It’s not often I admit to the existence of a design I couldn’t make better, such is the nature of this yacht designer and his ego, but my hat is off to Mr. Alden on this one. When it comes down to it, I suppose, newer, bigger, and more complex for the sole purpose of being newer, bigger, and complex is the ideology of the cancer cell anyway.”

Brendan writes a superior blog (here’s the link to the one about LAYLA:  http://rockportmarine.blogspot.com/2012/04/layla-take-on-john-aldens-miniature.html )

One final rendering of LAYLA:

I hope either (or both) I win the lottery, or another person steps forward to have LAYLA built.  She’s a wonderful design, and deserves to be on the sea.  Please your order now with Rockport Marine.

And, of course, please feel encouraged to comment below.

Thanks, Carl