John Welsford designs cute little VERSATILE boats. I think that’s what we need more of these days. When you go out for a little sail and the wind dies, why fool around with sitting there? Why not ship your well-made oars and enjoy a pull? A well-made boat fitted with the right oars just glides along like a bike rolls or like skis glide: it gives you free-feeling fun. You get more out than you put in. But you do have to put in. That’s the magic of life. Bothering is always worthwhile. You give a pull and a good boat just GLIDES.
I’m personally not big on overbuilt boats. I think that a fragile thing is actually far stronger than we think. But John can give you BUILT, too—as with his 10-foot Fafnir—named after a mighty dwarf of yore. But I’m probably not ever going to go so very far. And when I do get out and about I’m doing my best to realize that less is more in the world of human power. Or nature power. Wind can only do so much. Wind hates clutter and excess weight, so does nature. You can have clutter in the back seat or trunk of a car. For awhile. But organized systems are darn handy no matter how you roll.
So here’s John’s webpage for FAFNIR: www.smallsailboats.co.uk/jwdesign/jwdesign_files/fafnir.htm
The home page for this site is a super resource for smallboats of a huge range: www.smallsailboats.co.uk
Anyway, I find that I’m going light even in boats these days. If you bring a buncha junk a small boat will go a LOT slower. A friend says that sea kayaking is cool coz you can bring so much good stuff along. That’s not for me! There are bikers and even hikers who also have the kitchen-sink approach. It’s true that you can roll along with a heavy bike. The efficiency zone might still be easily managed—a heavy bike still rolls easily at 12-14mph. But these days I most enjoy that tasty glide payback feeling and I find I only get it when I go minimal.
