from a new member

It could not last long — being without a boat that is. Lowly Worm II, a replica Essex Smack, was sold a year ago. The gaff rigged cutter was too much to manage from my Oxford home. He had provided some wonderful adventures, cruising Ireland, France, Sweden and most of western and eastern England. This took place over a period of ten years not including the seven years spent building. Seventeen years is a long relationship. However being boat-less is not a happy condition. Therefore I am building again. Only this time the project is of a more modest size. I am already looking forward to joining some of the DCA rallies in 1996, together with traditional sail gatherings at Bristol, Penzance, Brest and Douarnenez.

I joined the DCA last year and searched past Bulletins for ideas on cruising boats. Both the magazine and a phone conversation with the president of the association helped to focus my thoughts. I visited the Alexander Palace dinghy exhibition and sent for brochures from advertisers in The Boatman and Classic Boat. To my eye the designs of Iain Oughtred stood out as beautiful, light and elegant. The 16’ Ness Boat looked ideal, but then the extended 19’ 2” Ness Yawl would be faster and able to cruise further. Could I manage the extra length out of water? This beach-boat is exceptionally light for its length weighing in at 120 kilos. The side passage to my back garden is 5’ 4” between drainpipes. The Ness Yawl has 5’ 3” beam. The Ness Yawl it is. The idea of a trailable mini-cruiser complete with boom tent has now completely fired my imagination. As I read of members’ cruises in the winter edition of the DCA magazine I cannot wait to join in! Lowly Worm III is now well on the way to completion.

In June I placed an order with Robbins of Bristol to deliver all the timber and ply to my house. The timber was planed all round, partly to expedite the building and partly to minimise using power tools in the quiet suburbs of a university town. Meanwhile the local timber yard supplied me with long heavy timbers for the building frame and shuttering ply so that I could make up the moulds. The summer weather of 1995 was absolutely perfect for boatbuilding, though glue curing times were very rapid.

Construction is epoxy/ply. The hull was built upside down over moulds which were later discarded. There are no heavy frames and few fastenings. Thwarts, floors, knees, gunwales and so on give the boat its strength. The hull garboard strakes are 9 mm okuome (gaboon), a much lighter marine ply. Stems and keel are American white oak and everything else is Douglas Fir including the spars. The building is taking place beneath a tarpaulin strung between two garden fences.

The Ness Yawl is a double-ender, based upon the Ness Yoles of the Shetlands which were themselves directly descended from the Scandinavian Viking longboats. Certainly this lineage is already obvious and the lines are very pretty indeed. If any reader is interested in this design The Boatman did a major review in the July edition of 1995, with some beautiful photographs of the boat under sail. The boat was Iain Oughtred’s and was being put through its paces in Loch Melfort, Argyllshire.

As the yawl continues to grow throughout this winter the choice of design seems more and more right. She looks right and therefore is likely to be right. Sailmaker and trailer constructors have given quotations and orders are about to be placed.

The library of the DCA has been most useful as a source of books in planning both the boat and potential cruises. As a new member I have already benefited a great deal from the existence of the DCA. Thank you.