For comparison with the normal type of sailing dinghies, sloop rigged with centreboards, I should like to describe my experiences with another type of boat for cruising and day sailing.

Formerly I have used the normal type, rather heavy and I have also built and sailed a Sea Skater catamaran. However, for the last ten years I have a type of boat whose designation translated into English should be ‘gunning canoe’ (that is grouse shooting); in Swedish ‘jaktkanot’.

It is a double-ender with a length of 15 feet, a width of 4¼ feet and a hull weight of 200 lbs made of glassfibre polyester. It is provided with decking fore, aft and sideways. The decking surrounds an elliptical cockpit, 8 feet long by 3 feet wide, limited by a low coaming. It has got no centreboard, but the lateral resistance is provided by a shallow, 3½” keel along the entire length of the hull. For buoyancy it has got five integrated air tanks, one bottom, two under the side decks and finally one under the fore and one under the aft deck. A small well in the bottom tank with floor board is collecting the spray and cooling the beer.

For main propulsion I use a standing lug sail with an area of 43 square feet and for auxiliary propulsion a pair of oars 8½ feet of length. The length. The absence of a transom makes an outboard impractical. A paddle, a boat hook and a fixed compass complete the equipment.

A rather special feature is the absence of a rudder. I use one of the oars for steering. I can apply the steering oar in two alternate rowlocks aft, one starboard and one port. The advantage with this arrangement is the increase of steering force, very much needed when tacking owing to the extreme directional inertia given by the long narrow keel. The drawback is the need to change the oar from side to side when tacking. The boat can be obtained with an optional rudder, but I would not be interested.

Now for some of my mainly positive experiences. The boat is surprisingly stable in spite of its limited width. I can reside comfortably in the cockpit or sit on the aft deck even in strong winds; in fact I seldom find it necessary to ‘sit out’. The explanation is, apart from the modest sail area, that the distance between the centre of effort and the centre of lateral resistance is relatively small. The draught is only 9 to 11 inches depending on the loading which simplifies navigation a lot; as a fact shallow water is judged by eyesight instead of sea charts. The boat is surprisingly seaworthy in spite of its relatively low freeboard. The absence of a centreboard makes the cockpit comfortably roomy. Sleeping aboard for one or even two should not present any problem especially as the thwart is resting loose on the buoyancy side tanks. However in tideless Baltic with free access to lots of empty islands and islets a small standard bicycle tent provides an adequate protection against rain, dew and mosquitoes.

The speed of the boat varies between 3 and 4 knots for most wind forces and directions. It can not stand up against a conventional dinghy in a tacking contest, but it can tack effectively 60° from the wind, planing is out of reach. It has got excellent rowing properties when the wind fails.

I have also tested the boat with a gunter lug sail and a Polynesian crab-claw sail. The drawback with the former is that the mast is longer and the advantage is that the boat points somewhat higher. The heeling is a little more marked. The Polynesian crab-claw sail has got the best overall sailing properties but should be taken behind the mast for every tack, which is awkward for single-handed sailing but OK when a crew is available. For a white hull I have chosen all my sails in dark red. What I like best about my boat is the extreme simplicity of handling, which adds to the safety in troubled conditions for a not so young and agile helmsman.