Rowing boats

"Form follows function" was the guiding principal behind the modernist movement as practised by the great designers and architects of the early 20th century.

But the fact is that traditional boat builders had understood that principal for centuries and it was perhaps reflected best in rowing craft which had to be fast, easily driven, carry a heavy load while at the same time be safe and stable.

Above is a delightful boat from the English west country, you can look at those lines and know she will run cleanly through the water, yet shes able enough for the sometimes choppy waters of the estuary where she was built to work.

Closer to home this slightly neglected yacht tender resembles a local punt or working boat; stable and designed to carry a heavy load.

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Vertue Sally

Sally II is the second of the so-called Vertue class, not that the name was given to this Laurent Giles 5 tonner until after the war when she won the Little Ship Club Vertue trophy for an extraordinary voyage in and around the Western Approaches.



Since then Vertues have crossed oceans and circumnavigated a number of times.



Sally II is in the care of Adrian Morgan who can be found building boats and blogging about boats. he comments "however more modest in her achievements, having circumnavigated the Isle of Wight, (sally has) cruised Brittany and the Western Isles. She is best in a gale of wind..."

Thanks Adrian she is lovely and we miss her on the Hamble.

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