When you contact me, preferably by the ENQUIRY FORM, you can be relaxed, knowing you will have the satisfaction of achieving what you set out to do.
I say this because many customers have told me of their satisfaction with my BUILD-A BOAT Courses and ADVICELINE - see those pages. The owner of the 22ft. day-boat I am now building to order has told me that he would not consider any other builder because of the extraordinary attention to detail and quality of the Acorn 12 I built for him. Curriculum Vitæ
I have a lifetime`s experience of wooden boats. - Born 1943.
- Started sailing & rowing 1951, Upnor Y.C., River Medway - see photo, my back to camera.
- 2 years (`61-3), officer training in Royal Navy at Dartmouth and in H.M. Fleet.
- 4 years (`64-8), B.A.(Hons.) French, University College, London, including one year in France.
- 18 years (`69-87), teaching Modern Languages, latterly as Head of Department.
- 1988 started trading as Sail & Oar
Sailing & Other Experience from Age 8
1951-7 Amazon 12` 6" lugsail dinghy & Sprite 18` gaff dayboat, River Medway.
1957-61 Chartered from Maldon to cruise Thames Estuary, France, Belgium and Holland.
1965-75 Catspaw 21` Blackwater sloop built Maldon 1962-3. Cruised Channel Islands to Denmark.
1977-87 Elizabeth Mary 26` Polperro Gaffer built 1908. Sailed engineless and much rebuilt over 10 years.
1992 - Syrinx 16` 6" Joel White designed Shearwater `færing`, built Sail & Oar 1991-2. Sailed & rowed South Devon, River Thames, Suffolk estuaries and Brittany, including exhibiting at Brest `92.
Royal Navy
Engineering training, driving motor boats and sailing the College 38ft Morgan Giles yachts at Dartmouth & in H.M. Fleet. Teaching
I had 18 successful years teaching French, German & English as a Foreign Language. A good language teacher becomes adept at explaining complex ideas and giving you practice in ways that ensure your success. These are necessary skills for teaching sailing and boatbuilding. Both use a `foreign` language and depend on the gradual build-up of skills - e.g. constant awareness of where the wind is coming from, or the ability to plane a rolling bevel on a plank edge - just like learning a language. Boatbuilding
My skills as a boatbuilder started early - I built & flew many model aircraft in my teens. Reading plans became second nature. Working out how to make the various parts of the structure strong enough while keeping the weight low was greatly informed by taking Physics & Maths to A level. Maths gave me a good grounding in mechanics. Physics and a year`s A level Chemistry practicals required me to observe carefully what actually happens in order accurately to record an experiment. These two skills are vital for building boats that are light but strong, for finding a leak and what has caused it, or for working out the cause of a structural failure.
I have acquired considerable knowledge of boat construction through watching and asking other boatbuilders, both British & French. I learnt an enormous amount from Raphaël Janzi, a very talented Swiss, who was with me for six months, actually on work experience! I have had a subscription to Wooden Boat magazine since soon after its start and to Chasse Marée from the first number. They have authoritative articles on the strengths & weaknesses of structures, hollow masts & oars, gluing & laminating, fastenings, wood treatments, sealers, paints & varnishes. I have an extensive library of books like `The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction` (the brothers are the powerhouse behind the West Epoxy System). I can interpret the plans and tell you what any particular design is likely to be good for, and her drawbacks.
I am interested in traditional types and construction, but also keen on modern materials & techniques where they improve the structure of a boat, or answer the needs of the customer. So I have taken advantage of the University of Plymouth Advanced Composites Manufacturing Centre to do a course in Vacuum Bagging. This puts me right up to speed with carbon fibre reinforcements enabling the 22ft gaff cutter that I`m now lofting to be specified with hollow mast and all spars stiffened with carbon on the inside - a substantial reduction in weight aloft. I will be putting up pictures of her progress in due course.
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