ABC of Boat Bits: An Introduction to Sailing a Winkle Brig (Mystic Seaport) - Softcover

Dodds, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0939510731 ISBN 13: 9780939510733

Publisher: Mystic Seaport Museum, 2000

Synopsis

ABC of BOAT BITS is all about the bits and pieces of a Winkle Brig. A Winkle Brig or Bumpkin is an open clinker built, gaff rig boat that is an excellent boat in which to learn the art and science of sailing. Wonderfully illustrated with linocuts, this book will bring back the great joys of learning to sail. An excellent primer for novice and expert alike.

About this title

From the Author

This book is all about the Winkle Brig. The Winkle Brig or Bumkin is an open clinker boat with a centreboard, 15ft to 18ft long, rigged with a gaff on the mainsail and one headsail called the Jib. This rig is called a Gaff Sloop. There are several variations on this rig. One is with no bowsprit and the jib is attached to the stemhead. Another, the simplest of all is with a standing lugsail with or without a jib. The Winkle Brig is a strong forgiving work boat with a simple rig: a great boat in which to learn the rudiments of sailing.

As a young boy I learnt to sail in a Winkle Brig with my best friend and his brothers. We camped on Ray Island behind Mersea (the fictional home of Baring-Gould s Mehalah) and sailed out on the early morning ebb tides to explore the many veins of the creeks that intersect the marshes of the Colne and Blackwater Estuaries. Later at fifteen I was apprenticed to a boatbuilder making clinker Barge and Smack boats and the occasional Winkle Brig.

Now with children of my own, I wish to teach them to sail and to share with them the many secret places of my youth. The Alphabet of Boats and this book where firstly conceived as an introduction for my children to sailing and the sea.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mystic Seaport Museum
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0939510731
• ISBN 13: 9780939510733
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 30