Sometimes small is big. This is an Eastport pram, built from a kit by Chesapeake Light Craft. It sails well and is very light but its capacity limits utility. An inflatable is required as a supplement .
I’m old and I’ve never sailed…always fancied it but didn’t swim til in my 30s so water wasn’t my thing. I did plenty of other stuff though. Now the boat thing is back in my head. If I built one of these, could I read a book or two, watch some RU-vid videos and just take to the water and learn intuitively?
@@peterdelmonte9832 Yes. It's easy to learn. Everything is out there. Start low wind and rent or borrow as small sailing boat. If you like it, then build something, you will know more what you want.
Ok, I’m sold. Swallows & Amazons ! To hell with this sad deflatable* dinghy I’ve been battling with for the past year. I’ve tried everything..various marine adhesives , prayers, and even fix-a-flat goo... bollocks, I say.. I’m taking the children Pram shopping & micro sailing this spring , by damn, I shall! ;) Just gotta find the right size for an adult and two children and also for storing on deck my 29 foot sloop
Check out the Sailboat Story channel, he has a nesting pram that fits well on his small sailboat. (or pickup bed) Although the channel consists of two adults and a child, I don't recall seeing him sail it with more than two. It's plenty for everyone for regular dinghy transport though.
Take a look at the Chesapeake light craft Passagemaker pram. My wife and I fit into it ok. I don't see why one adult and two kids wouldn't be great. I'd like to sell mine, ready to go with the sailing kit.
The Chameleon that Ben built on his Sailboat Story channel is what I am building. Sailright has a sail kit for it.... Haven’t got mine in the water yet but building it with the kids will for sure be a memory they share for ever. It does take time and dedication, the plans leave you to figure out a fair amount. Check out the PT11, a bit more coin but a lovely boat, easier build too....
"When we trim our sails to the breeze there is, not the breeze there ought to be... It brings us home." ~Christian Williams Such powerful words... Thank you :)
Thanks Christian for sharing and visualising your thoughts. It brought back memories on sailing my lap strake nordic folk-boat in the Oslo fjord. The sound of the water against the hull. Even when at anchor the specific sound made you dose and sleep in a split second.
This video brings me back over 50 years when I learned to sail an El Toro. Even at 11, I could lift her by myself, rig her in a couple minutes and have an afternoon of fun. I bought a trailer sailor a couple months ago and am fitting her for camping. Thanks for your video/
That wonderful sound of the water against the wood is called "chuckling." I'll never forget a English guy I worked with on Lake Chiemsee in Germany (I can't remember his name of course but I remember the moment) he was on the dock and I had released the lines and was sailing off. He heard that sound, smiled at me and said..."ah, she's chucklin' atcha" lol. Meaning I was doing it right, and the English accent made it even better. I sailed daily all summer long.
Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I have NEVER sailed, I have almost completed building a small pram, a Chameleon designed by Danny Greene. I am sewing the sail, a kit from Sailright. You have described exactly what I am seeking. I’ll start from this, let the pram show me what is what and then move to lessons on a larger boat.
This is a terrific video! I sail a Chesapeake Light Craft Eastporter Pram or Passage Maker - she's 11 feet with a lug sail - in Jamaica Bay NYC. And I sail for all the reasons you mention. It keeps my sanity in this crazy world. Thank you!
Another gem from you, Mr. Williams. I'm "between boats" at the moment, relegated to chartering on the weekends and always hoping to catch of glimpse of you on Thelonious II for the chance to say, "Hi." Building a pram looks like a fun project for me and the kids this winter. Thank you for the inspiration.
... and when we trim to the breeze that there is and not to the breeze that ought to be it brings us home! ...what a beautiful way to explain simplicity!
Actually, my 60 year old fiberglass dinghy does make musical sounds when sailing across ripples, and bubbles from the stern when moving 'right along'. I'm glad Mr. Williams can enjoy the sail that much in an urban marina; my sailing is around a cove on the coast of Maine - more trees and rocks than houses or boats. That helps explain 'why we sail' too.
I became interested in sailing about a year ago, took lessons this summer as a week long vacation, found your channel through a search that turned up your solo trip to Hawaii, and just recently finished reading "Alone Together". Thank you.
I always enjoy your sailing and travel videos. I just finished building a "pollywog" dinghy and now will look at building an Eastport Pram. I sail a Pearson 303 on the waters of Rhode Island.
I read what you wrote, i listened to the audio you recorded and watched videos you did. No matter, i always crave for more. Call it greed or what you will :). Thank you for sharing most solitary moments and making very public and open and inclusive. Hello from RYC in NJ
Great video and commentary. I built a Norwegian pram earlier this year as a tender for my sailboat. Haven’t decided if I will add the sailrig to it or not. I get the same peacefulness slowly rowing it around.
The most joyous sailing I have done is on a Beetlecat. I have two other boats, 22ft and 44ft. The beetlecat is pure joy and my endgame when I am done with the expense and maintenance of my journeying sailboats.
There is no other soothing sound than water slapping on the side of a boat I don't know why that sound intrigues me that's probably why I like being near the water and boats
Great beauty here, Poetry in the sound of the words In the sound of the waves slapping against the hull And in the sound of the wind on the sails. OK it’s a little bit short on the sound of the wind! Thank you.
Thanks for sharing Christian. Interesting stuff here. Enjoyed reading Raratonga a few days ago, but would probably have been more enjoyed had I been dockside in sunny California instead of my home in Canada.
My yellow single-skin fiberglass daggerboard Sabot made exactly those same sounds in exactly those same waters, up and down Basin F in Marina del Rey when I was a 10-year-old kid living on a boat there during the Seventies. As far as I know, sailing a minimum-sized dinghy with just a mainsail is the purest form of sailing. Could be I'm wrong, though: I've never tried windsurfing. Good times.
