An overnight cruise in early Spring, deep in the shallows of the Rade de Brest, featuring lots of drizzle, wading about on muddy saltings, cooking and musing on American and European table manners.
INTERESTED IN DINGHY CRUISING?
Read my book, "The Dinghy Cruising Companion" - new second edition out this year!
www.bloomsbury...
And join the Dinghy Cruising Association:
dinghycruising....
MY NEW VENTILE BOAT TENT
Ventile is the trade name for a tightly woven long staple cotton developed in the 1940s by the Shirley Institute in Manchester and originally manufactured by Talbot Weaving in Chorley. It was used in the production of immersion suits for pilots forced to ditch in the sea during WW2, and continued to be used for this purpose long afterwards. As the Lancashire cotton industry began to decline, Talbot Weaving partnered with Stotz & Co in Switzerland to dye and finish their products, and eventually Stotz & Co started weaving their own cloth to a similar specification, branded EtaProof. Then Talbot Weaving began buying fabric from Stotz & Co, branding it as Ventile for sale in the UK - until Talbot Weaving was finally dissolved in 2019. Stotz & Co had purchased the Ventile brand name in 2017 though, so the fabric continues to be manufactured in Switzerland - called Ventile in the UK and EtaProof in continental Europe.
ventile.co.uk
I purchased my Ventile cloth on the roll from Pointnorth in the UK. Pointnorth are very helpful in the selection of outdoor fabrics, and I recommend them.
www.profabrics...
AVEL DRO
Do you want a boat like mine?
Avel Dro is an Ilur designed by François Vivier, and built of clinker plywood by Les Charpentiers Reunis of Cancale in 1994. I bought her in France to import her into the UK, and more recently returned her to France again before the Brexit trade restrictions were imposed.* The design is based closely on the traditional inshore fishing boats of Brittany in the early years of the twentieth century, hence her single boom-less lugsail rig and lack of a mainsheet horse, (sometimes controversial among my viewers). Although rare in Britain, Ilurs are relatively common in France. The name Avel Dro is Breton, and basically means a whirlwind.
Length 4.44 m
Sail area 12.2 m²
Beam 1.70 m
Draught 0.25 / 0.86 m
Design category C3
François Vivier's website (in English):
www.vivierboats...
Similar dinghies can often be found for sale on the website of the French magazine Le Chasse-Marée:
www.chasse-mar...
Or try Le Bon Coin, (where you can buy anything in France):
www.leboncoin.fr
*Since January 2021, Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland) residents who buy a boat in France or elsewhere in the EU, with the intention of importing it into the UK, need to pay VAT and other duties on the import. This also applies to UK boats exported to the EU.
MUSIC
Footprints in the Sand - Roots and Recognition featuring Melanie Bell
from Epidemic Sound
15 окт 2024
