Open Ocean Dinghy Cruising; Scrapping the Junks

Ahoy! Did you ever think that if Bob Ross was into sailing, the world would be full of happy little sailboat paintings?

Anyways, here’s what caught our eye this week in the sailing world:

• Scrapping the Junks: Vietnam bans historic sailboats.

• Race Updates: Olympic season begins.

• Open Ocean Dinghy Sailing: The crazy couples that were pioneers.

• Sailing Snippets: IMOCAs & Mimosas, Tech Decks, Grand Theft Sailboat, and New Hull, Who Dis?

Scrapping the Junks

Thousands of years old, incredibly well designed with iconic orange sails that funnel wind into each other, and a keelless hull that lets them withstand cyclones and explore shallow rivers, the Junks are about to be extinct in part of the world. Many of the junks in Vietnam and Cambodia were converted from fishing boats to cruising vessels, but after a series of fatal accidents, the Vietnam government condemned them to be phased out. Exploding tourist demand in the area and lack of oversight led to poorly maintained boats, or owners dangerously adding levels to hulls that could’t support them, so by the end of this year, the Junks will head to the scrapyard. Read more from Nikkei Asia about the history and downfall of these beautifully-ugly sailboats.

What We’re Reading

Crossing oceans in open dinghys, getting rolled mid storm, and sleeping under oilskins, these are the adventures of the most niche of cruisers. On the bookshelf this week are two books from couples who survived the gales and lived to tell the tale.

read time approx. 10 mins each

Frank Dye took his 16’ open dinghy Wanderer from Scotland to Norway multiple times, and never had room for women in his tiny crew on his outsize and capsize prone adventures, until he met Margaret. They got married, and the two of them pioneered open dinghy cruising, eventually upgrading to luxuries like an oilskin boom tent, which Margaret dubbed their “Hilton”. Read an extract from the Dye’s book Ocean Crossing Wayfarer, To Iceland and Norway in a 16ft Open Dinghy here.

Ken Duxbury recounts surviving a Sirocco storm off the coast of Italy with his wife ‘B’ in their 18’ open Drascombe Lugger Lugworm. In between managing whitecaps death marching towards them, being lost, and a snapped mast, he still has time to admire how beautifully Lugworm handles the seas. Read how they survive the storm by a tactical grounding in an extract from The Lugworm Chronicles here.

Sailing Snippets

The weird, the wild, the wonderful, and the ever so clickable from this week.

IMOCA’s & Mimosas: When you want a mimosa in the morning but an IMOCA in the evening, you get…the Raven, built by Baltic Yachts, a foil assisted sailing yacht designed to sail partly on her leeward chine. Raven has begun sea trials, and will soon have the foils attached. Now, where do you put the fenders?… Check out the pics and more info here.

Tech Decks: Another week, another press release about a cruise ship that will use sails. This one will be fully carbon neutral, and also use…hydrogen cells. I guess since it worked out so well for Nikola, it must work on ships. See what you think here.

Grand Theft Sailboat: Man jumps in sailboat and steals it at gunpoint. Authorities noted it was a “very, very unusual crime”. You really do have to be crazy to want all that extra maintenance. Check it out here. 

New Hull, Who Dis? Jeanneau, maker of the Mono-Cat that flopped in the charter industry, is breaking out the hull again for their new Jeanneau 55. The Mono-Cat got a bad rap for an odd layout and design that was meant to pack 12 people into a boat, but left nowhere to sit while under sail, and was prone to sea-sickness-inducing rocking. This totally unofficial observation is based on us asking charter base managers, “hey, whats up with those funny boats over there”, and them giving us their brutally honest opinions. Check out the pics of the new boat here. 

Sailing Celebs: Singer Dua Lipa posted pics of her sailing in Greece. Bow pulpit pics do indeed seem sail-boat-ey.

Stay safe out there, we’ll ketch ya’ next week.