Look Ma, No Rudder (No DB either!), West Mersea Duck Punt

My post about the ACA Cruising Canoe, sans rudder, elicited a comment and also an email, an unprecedented response for this blog. Both readers pointed out that there exists in the UK, a small sailing craft copied after a local wild fowl gunning punt, that is raced with no rudder, just a paddle, and even more surprising, no daggerboard either. Truth be told, I had stumbled across the Dylan Winter video on the West Mersea Duck Punt and already had it penciled in as one of my classes for my "Look Ma, No Rudder" series. Plus, Paul Mullings, pointed me to their website and some more digging on the Internet fleshed out more of the West Mersea Punt story.

The West Mersea Duck Punt is, what we call in the U.S, a flat bottom skiff. Being a craft designed to sneak up on wild fowl, it has very low freeboard and narrow beam. A local boatbuilder took the traditional design and converted it to 12mm plywood. He sells the plywood shell to homebuilders to finish off. The rig looks to be an Optimist sprit rig. The steering paddle is plopped into an oarlock on the leeward side and, like the ACA Cruising Canoe, the steering position forces the skipper to recline about in the middle of the punt. According to Dylan Winter, lateral resistance depends on heeling the punt to get the chine into the water. It must be very interesting to watch the fleet race, particularly since most racing takes place in the winter and, as far as I can see, they have no buoyancy for self rescue. Some of the paddling techniques on the turns are identical to the ACA Cruising Canoe but I'm sure there are some other racing techniques unique to the West Mersea Duck Punt.

According to the website, they have 20 and growing certified crazies that have put one of these craft together. My type of crazy.

Dylan Winters, the great sailing/travelogue videographer, documents his Duck Punt build over here.

And a video on light air Duck Punt Racing;




We also have in the U.S, the Barnegat Bay Sneakbox and the Delaware Ducker, two other gunning craft that evolved to become some very smart sailing dinghies.

Look Ma, No Rudder (No Paddle Either); St. Lawrence Skiff

Last post in this series, unless a reader points me to another class. The St. Lawrence skiff is a traditional clinker double ended craft developed in the mid 1800's among the Thousand Islands, between New York and Canada. Usually between 18' and 22', the Skiff was originally an all purpose water transport between islands and the mainland. The St. Lawrence skiff was not paddled but propelled by oar or sail, and was always sailed with no rudder. In the late 1800's, with the rush of city folk to the outdoors, the St. Lawrence skiff became the craft of choice for the local fishing guides to take their paying city "sports" out on the river. Sailing races between towns on the river took place in the Skiffs, again using no rudders, just the movement of the crew (a la the Patin a Vela catamaran) to steer the boat.

Today the St. Lawrence skiff is built primarily as a rowing craft. Search on the Internet, turned up one sailing regatta a year, the Harold Herrick Cup, usually with around five St. Lawrence skiffs competing. In my 20 or so years of taking a summer vacation on Sugar Island , one of the Thousand Islands, I don't recall coming across a St. Lawrence skiff sailing without a rudder.

I was able to lift a picture of a sailing St. Lawrence Skiff from the online "Thousand Islands Life" magazine.



And from the October 1988 archives of the New York Times, the obituary of Harold Herrick, in whose name the St. Lawrence Skiffs race every year.

Harold Herrick Jr. of Clayton and Cape Vincent, N.Y., who died earlier this month, was an extraordinary fellow. He was a superb waterfowler and a staunch member of Ducks Unlimited, a supporter of aspiring wildlife artists, an acknowledged expert in antique duck, goose and shorebird decoys, and a master at handling the rudderless St. Lawrence sailing skiff. Harold had astonishing energy, ebullience and enthusiasm that often left the more cautious mortals with whom he was associated pleading for time to cogitate.

The Thousand Islands area of the St. Lawrence was his special love. He knew its history, its people, its reefs and channels; he knew where to find muskelunge, black bass and walleyes, and in late fall and winter he knew where to rig decoys on open water for bluebills and where to wait for black ducks in secluded coves and marshes.

Harold had no truck with sham or whimpering, and to the end he refused to dwell on the cancer that so swiftly ended his life. His time was up and he knew it, but even in his final hours he was arranging a fishing trip for friends or talking enthusiastically of the warm public response to a new book, in whose publication he played a major role, dealing with the history of the St. Lawrence skiff.

He did not rage against the dying of the light, but accepted it with a forthright dignity that those who loved him will always remember.

I'll have to do some more research on this craft, particularly on how you sail them.

Addendum;

John Summer, former curator of the Antique Boat Museum, Clayton NY, has left this comment, which I have brought up to the main post;

Skiffs typically had a fan-shaped folding centerboard, operated by a lever in the boat, similar to the Radix and other boards used in sailing canoes of the later 19th century. A Clayton resident, Montraville Atwood, had a patent on a 3-leaf folding centerboard. Rig was a 70-90 sq foot spritsail.

The majority of the skiffs had long, straight external keels with very little rocker, which facilitated tracking and reaching. To tack, the skipper moved forward, pulling up the board as he went, and crouched at the base of the mast while the boom went over above his head. Heading back to the stern, he pushed the board back down. To gybe, the skipper went to the stern and sat on the afterdeck, urging the boom across with a flip of the sheet. Smaller course corrections were variations of this weighting/unweighting, augmented by sail trim.

Look Ma, No Rudder (No Paddle Either); Patin a Vela

Hobie Alter is most often credited with coming up with the beach catamaran. Amazingly, the Catalan sailors in the most North East province in Spain (bordering the Med) have been racing a beach cat, the "Patin a Vela" since the 1920's. This catamaran has no rudder, no paddle, no daggerboard........ you tack by running forward to the mast and steer by ooching the body. And these guys race in big waves and big breeze on the Mediterranean! You can make an on-the-fly adjustment on the rake of the rig (it does look like they are pulling on some string during a tack) but for the most part it's all where you put your body that makes the difference. You just have to watch the videos.

This one shows how you tack a Patin a Vela;



This one shows how athletic these catamarans are;



And even the Patin a Vela catamarans seem to attract those showoffs who love to fly a hull (nice beach babe tucked into the video as well).

Look Ma, No Rudder; the ACA Cruising Canoe

In the midst of the Tillerman's "Less is More" writing assignment, it occurred to me that there are some people that race sailboats without parts that most of us consider essential to sailing; like a rudder. This isn't "Less is More", this is "Less is Different", and to point to another one of Tillerman's most recent themes, "Less" that makes sailboat racing very much a more challenging sport.

Classes without rudders are not popular; in most cases they reside in only one place in the world. But sailors still race them.

First up is the ACA Cruising class canoe. This is a sailing canoe that is steered with a paddle, not a rudder. This class was popular post World War II but is now found only at Lake Sebago, just outside New York City.

To steer a canoe with a paddle, the paddle must be leveraged against the leeward side. For the skipper to hold the paddle he must be sitting in the canoe and not hiking, which makes breezy racing somewhat tricky. Since the paddle, leveraged against the leeward gunwhale, is best used in steering the canoe downwind, the canoe must be set up with weather helm (rig moved aft). When pressure on the paddle is released, the canoe naturally turns to weather. You are allowed to take a paddling stroke or two when tacking to get the canoe around. The tricky part seems to be downwind in a breeze, when the paddle can load or unload unexpectedly, resulting in some spectacular broaches.

A picture by Laurie Ford from the 2008 ACA Cruising Canoe Championships at Lake Sebago. In light air, steering with a paddle looks very relaxing.



Laurie Ford's full report (with pictures) of the 2008 Cruising Class Championship can be found here.

Header Photo: St. Lawrence Skiff

The previous header photo is of the very pretty St. Lawrence Skiff; one of several racing classes I highlighted, over several posts, that doesn't use a rudder. The blog series was titled Look Ma, No Rudder.

Look Ma, No Rudder; the Hawaiian Sailing Canoe

So far we looked at two small singlehanders, steered by paddles on relatively flat water. But steering open ocean proas, crewed with seven paddlers, just using a "Steering Paddle"? What happens when the "Steering Paddle" just doesn't have enough oomph?

"I've been known to close my eyes and just hold on to my steering blade"

(I've sort of wished I could do that on some downwind rides.)

This video does give a good feel of open ocean racing in the Hawaiian Sailing Canoe's.

Why a Classic Moth is Better than a Laser

Upon writing a post about Cooper River 2011, I was reminded that I had yet to write a post that I had intended for last year. The post was supposed to be in response to an incident at Cooper River 2010 (as I have mentioned before, this blog is all about timeliness!).

Last year at Cooper River, just before launching my Classic Moth for the day, I was rounding the corner of the clubhouse when I overheard a conversation between two Laser sailors. Both of them were looking over at our congregation of Classic Moths when one of them said;

"I understand why someone would sail a foiler Moth, but I can't understand why someone would sail one of these", as he nodded his head toward our fleet.

I didn't respond, just smiled to myself and kept going. It wasn't the time or place, I had to get ready for the day on the water. But the gauntlet had been thrown down. It just takes me a while to pick it up.

Tillerman has merrily gone down this path before with several posts on "Reasons why such-and-such class is better", the Sunfish/Laser being a target in his post Ten Reasons Why Sunfish are better than Lasers , and then with the Force Five/Laser with Seven Reasons Why Force Fives are Better than Lasers . (Tillerman even had a tongue-in-cheek, self flagellation post, Seven Reasons to Hate Laser Sailors, but that isn't germane to this post.)

I can come up with five strong reasons why I persist in sailing the Classic Moth and not return to the Laser Borg (though you will find me every once in a while racing a Laser.)

1. Classic Moths are so much Lighter

Every time I sail a Laser I dread carrying an enormously heavy Board Bag to the boat, wrestling an enormously heavy mast with sail attached into the mast tube, heaving a heavy Laser hull onto a dolly, and staggering backwards up the inclined float with the Laser on dolly. Admittedly this may be my age talking but, in reality, I have the Classic Moth to compare it too. The Classic Moth minimum hull weight is 75 lbs (34 kg), though most of my Classic Moths have weighed closer to 90 lbs (41 kg). This is still 40 lbs (18 kg) lighter than a Laser! My heavier Classic Moth aluminum mast weighs 10 lbs - 4.5kg ( (carbon masts are even less). I think a Laser mast is 18 lbs (8kg). My blades, which are wood, nothing special, feel to be 1/2 the weight of a Lasers. All this lightness of a Classic Moth makes the off the water chores of rigging and moving and loading boats that much more enjoyable than a Laser. And on the water, that lightness of the Classic Moth plays into reason #3 below.


2. My Classic Moth fits Me

The Laser has a flat deck, great for production but very uncomfortable for hiking. The Laser has a very raked rudder which develops a lot of helm fast with any bit of heel. The Laser now has "improved sail controls" but the cleats are still forward of the daggerboard, which is a long way to reach. The Laser has a marginal bailer which, upwind, still leaves the cockpit full of water in a breeze. With the Classic Moth, I can change all this.... or not. If I don't like a flat deck, I can build a different one, or if I like a flat deck, I can build a flat deck. And so on down the line. For the most part, in a Classic Moth, if I don't like it, I can change it. And fitting the boat to me makes it more enjoyable to sail.


3. The Classic Moth is more fun to sail

Anytime I get into a Laser, it feels like an aircraft carrier compared to a Classic Moth. The Classic Moth, with it's shorter length and lighter weight is just more lively on the water. I have a rudder which is tuned to be very balanced so it has a great feel upwind. Offwind, with it's lighter weight, the Classic Moth lights up in a breeze. There is no doubt that the Laser is considerably faster than the Classic Moth (except maybe in drifting conditions) but I just enjoy sailing the Classic Moth more. A friend of mine said there were two types of sailboat racers; those that were more interested in hard core racing, the intensity and the competition,and those that were more interested in racing boats that have certain appealing characteristics. Throughout my sailing career, I've straddled those two groups but, as I have aged, my interests have slid over from the hard-core racing into "I race in this class because I appreciate how it sails".


4. Classic Moths are Cheaper

My Maser I picked up for $500 (no rig) and I have another hull in my collection I picked up for $350. Complete Classic Moths with National Championship speed have been had for under $1000. Used Classic Moths going for more than $3000 are unheard of (but if you want to build your own, you'll probably spend around $3000 when all is said and done). Granted we have no professional builder, so it's a little harder to take your check book out and purchase one, but a little leg work will usually find some Classic Moth that will fit your bill.


5. The Classic Moth People

You stay with a class because you fit in with the people. The Classic Moth is diverse, the people are diverse. And laid back. Because I did the Laser thing in my twenties and I don't need that kind of intensity year round in my sailboat racing. I get tired of talking about that left shift I missed at the weather mark to drop me behind 25 Lasers. I've been missing those shifts for many years and I just as soon talk about that Vintage 1940's Moth you've restored or that Savannah Wedge design you pulled out of retirement, or your trip to Sweden, or tell me about the latest A-cat developments.

---

Here's John Z's [Gen II Mistral Mothman] reasons why a Classic Moth is better than a Laser:

"I sail both a Laser and a Mistral Classic Moth and racing the Classic Moth is definitely more fun, mainly because Moths are much lighter so they accelerate more. When you're sailing you feel acceleration more than you feel velocity (F=ma). Classic Moths leap frog down the reach legs so we sail triangles a lot.

"Moths also have more controllable rigs. In 20+ knots I can flatten out the Moth sail, put the traveler down and keep blasting along. In a Laser, Radial included, I'm struggling - at 140 lbs.

"I still enjoy the Laser because we sail all summer at my club on Tuesday nights with 15+ boats on the line every week. We only race Moths five or six times a year and it takes some driving (NJ, NC, FL, MD).

"If you like to putter on boats and don't mind driving you should definitely consider the "more fun" boat ...

---

Click here to have a look at the various designs of Classic Moth - including some you can build!

---

Photos of some of my Classic Moths:

My Gen II Energizer (mod Stockholm Sprite -plywood) showing some blue masking tape remaining post-painting.

My Gen II Tweezer (strip planked - own design).

My Gen I Maser (Laser cut-down to fit Classic Moth rule).

---

Why is a Laser faster than a Classic Moth?