Curious and curiouser, something to think about from Old Salt Blog, and Dick Dorworth muses...
The first time I went cruising, you might say things were a little different...
I remember very clearly, while we loaded a 90-foot schooner with food, climbing gear, and a plethora of surfboards, that the world seemed to stand still when the radio quit playing music and broadcast Dick Nixon's resignation speech, then we all went back into fast forward when we realized we did not exactly have a dinghy and needed one pronto.
The dinghy issue was resolved by passing the hat and buying a plywood Optimist wannabee in a somewhat sad state of neglect for $25.
Things were different back then... Dinghies were made of wood, had oars, and almost no one had outboard motors. Fact is, I remember once being seriously impressed when we shared an anchorage with John Wayne and his converted mine sweeper whose dinghy sported a shiny new British 2HP Seagull outboard. If someone had told me at the time that in my future I'd live in a world where 30-foot sailboats sported ten-foot RIBs with 15HP outboards that cost thousands of dollars, I'd have suggested we go to the local free clinic to ride out what appeared to be a very, very scary trip...
So, the idea that six big guys sailing towards Mexico on a 90-foot schooner with a little leaky seven-foot plywood dinghy was very much the norm and not the idiocy people would think it was in the year 2013.
I mention all of this because I was looking at this Barros Caravela 1.7 dinghy design yesterday and it makes sense...
It's a small unsinkable plywood pram that will get a crew to shore and back. Which, after all, is the whole point of having a dinghy, is it not?
Roberto Barros is a pretty smart guy and all of his designs reflect that. Sure it's small but, being small, it will actually fit on even the smallest sailboat. It's unsinkability makes it safety gear, and it is affordable/buildable by just about anyone.
Even better, the plans are free...
Check it out!
Listening to Mike Cooley
So it goes...
