WoodenBoat’s Boatbuilding & Rowing Challenge (BARC)

The Coastal Rowing Project, WoodenBoat’s Boatbuilding & Rowing Challenge and the Traditional Small Craft Association...



It has been a year since the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association assembled on the beach at Anstruther Harbour to witness the launch of the prototype St Ayles Skiff.

Whole communities have become involved in building new boats to be rowed. Members of those communities also became involved, many for the first time, in using the sea for fitness, friendship and competition.

In the first season of boat building and regattas around the Scottish coast hundreds of people new to these activities enjoyed the teamwork required to build and race hand built skiffs.

The design chosen for this project was the St Ayles Skiff, commissioned from Iain Oughtred by the Scottish Fisheries Museum at Anstruther, Fife.
Jordan Boats, also in Scotland, made a “one design” kit.


Who would have guessed that the prototype splash only a year ago would promote such a brilliant journey? All credit due to the enthusiastic people who have become involved.

The project has been a remarkable success, with more than thirty boats either in use or being built in Scotland. The Coastal Rowing Project has now attracted worldwide attention. In addition to enquiries from Australia and Europe, the building of the St Ayles Skiff has now migrated to Maine.

Carl Cramer, publisher of internationally renowned Woodenboat Magazine, announced details recently of the newest effort to stimulate boat building and rowing skills among Maine high school students. The boat chosen for this program is the 22-foot St. Ayles Skiff, which has a crew of five people, four rowers and a cox. The program is billed as the Boat Building and Rowing Challenge or BARC.

WoodenBoat has donated one boat kit each to the programs from Deer Isle – Stonington High School and Sumner High School.
Hewes & Company of Blue Hill, Maine, the company that produces the kits, is donating one to the program at George Stevens Academy.
A representative from The Landing School will visit each group of Maine high school students to offer educational guidance and encouragement

Thus begins the St Ayles skiff project in the US.

I had a conversation with Alec Jordan of Jordan Boats recently about how this project has grown and he leaves the distinct impression that, though he is rightfully pleased about these developments, he would prefer the emphasis be more family oriented.

Alec sees the St Ayles Project as having no age barriers. I agree and submit that the success of the project in Scotland has much to say about the commitment of a full community and a sense of camaraderie developed from friendly sportsman-like competition.

This is the provenance of the Traditional Small Boat Association. The TSCA probably has the greatest concentration of wood boat building and traditional boat handling expertise in the country. If someone needs advice on anything concerning wood boat building or traditional boat handling, where better to look than the TSCA? The TSCA should support this project and facilitate the development of new community building efforts through building the St Ayles skiff nation-wide. The sense of community comes not only from local efforts but also from identification with a global project.

I congratulate Carl and WoodenBoat for bringing this project across the Atlantic and encourage the Traditional Small Craft Association Chapters to facilitate its development from coast to coast.

As the current President of the Traditional Small Craft Association I would like to invite anyone interested in this project for their community or schools please contact me here at Doryman, in the comments below.

Image of the Ulla Skiff and crew courtesy of the superlative Chris Perkins -- thank you brother!
Image of Iain Oughtred critiquing his creation by Charlie Hussey.
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St. Ayles Skiff North American Championship

The St. Ayles Skiff North American Championship race will happen July 1, 2012 at the Mystic Seaport WoodenBoat Show.

WoodenBoat’s Boatbuilding And Rowing Challenge (BARC) is sponsoring a Maine State Championship race in Belfast, Maine May 30 @ 10am.

For information on each of these events, visit WoodenBoat's BARC site.

There are currently sixteen St. Ayles Skiffs built or being built in the US:

Mount Desert Island High School, ME
George Stevens Academy, ME
Belfast Alternative High School, ME
Deer Isle Stonington High School, ME
Sumner Memorial High School, ME
Washington Academy, ME
Vinalhaven High School, ME
Peekskill, NY
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, VT (two)
Renbrook School, CT
Chariho Tech School, RI
Moravian Academy, PA
Wind & Oar Boat School Women's Rowing Club, OR
Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage, FL (two)

In addition there are twenty-five St Ayles already built in Scotland with twenty-three on the way.

Four boats are under construction in the Netherlands, one in England and I hear the Australians are getting in on the action.



The competition is heating up and you don't want to be left out, so submit your order for a Skiff and get to work!









If you wish to see more photos of these sleek rowing vessels, visit the website for Scottish Coastal Rowing.

For previous DoryMan posts on this topic, please click here.

Jordan Boats, in the UK, is the source for the St Ayles Skiff.

Hewes & Company Marine Division, the North American distributor of St Ayles Skiff kits, can be found on Facebook.
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Wind and Oar Boat School

In Portland, Oregon there is a new wooden boat building school. The Wind and Oar Boat School is not-for-profit and community oriented. At present the school is in the middle of it's first build. The St Ayles Skiff is the boat and it is being constructed by a team of women who have never built a boat before.









I've told you about this group previously. At that time, the school was awaiting approval of it's application for non-profit status.





Now it's official and the Wind and Oar Boat School is on it's way.





Founder, Peter Crim keeps us up to date:


"The molds are all mounted and aligned using the string through the alignment holes method. The stem supports are attached. We are scraping and sanding excess epoxy from the frames we glued last Saturday so they can be mounted back on the molds."





"We built a scarfing jig for the keelson and we have a rough cut done on the first scarf. Students practiced planing yesterday on a piece of plywood.
The goal is to be planking by next Saturday."








"There's talk of a second women's boat and ADX has offered the location for it. We might start that one in August and with a youth boat build in September at OMSI, we could have a fleet by next June."







"A friend of Kelley Roy's [co-owner of ADX] has a partially finished river dory that's been sitting for many years at another community shop space and that she would like finished. Kelley has offered ADX for the project and there are people interested in working on that so we may make a boat shop of it yet."




Photos courtesy of Jann Lane.





In a recent conversation with Garner Pickering I learned that there are currently five St. Ayles Skiffs being built in the US.
Garner is the Marine Products manager at Hewes & Co., the producers of the boat kits for the entire United States.
Four more kits are on order.

Hewes & Co. are located in Blue Hill, Maine and they have arranged for Brandon Davis at Turn Point Design in Port Townsend, Washington to cut kits for interested parties on the west coast. If you'd like to get in on the action contact Garner Pickering, gardner@hewesco.com.

So far all but one of these boats are in Maine. Each of the boats in Maine is built by high school students although one of the kits on order is for an elementary school! Three St Ayles Skiffs are very close to being finished. Mt. Dessert Island High School, George Stevens Academy and Sumner High School are in a dead heat to be the first St. Ayles to be launched in the United States and are supported by WoodenBoat's BARC program.

We will keep abreast of developments concerning the splash of each new St Ayles in the US.

Stay tuned!
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The St Ayles Project comes to Portland

Here's a homework assignment for you. If you haven't been following the progress of the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project you have a lot to catch up on.

The concept of building the St Ayles skiff as a community effort is best described as an epidemic. If you have the time, please follow the links here and here to see what I mean.







The Scottish Coastal Rowing Project was adopted last year by WoodenBoat magazine with a new west Atlantic project called BARC or "Boat Building and Rowing Challenge".







Now - if you haven't drowned in internet links - behold, the newest St Ayles skiff - built in Portland Oregon!





One third of the globe away from it's birth, this project has incubated into an enthusiastic community project.

Peter Crim is the spark plug for this effort and it was my pleasure last winter to host him and some friends at our local Boathouse Youth Maritime Project to talk about the St. Ayles skiff and community boat building.
















Mary and I visited the St. Ayles Project in Portland last weekend and we were mightily impressed. This project is unique in that it is the first St Ayles built entirely by women. The crew, recruited by Jann Lane is possibly the most enthusiastic group of boatbuilders I have ever encountered.

The pre-cut kits come from Hewes and Company in the US, on contract through Alec Jordan in the UK.
I've never built a boat from a kit cut on a CNC machine but the advantages are obvious. Every piece necessary to build this boat comes precision pre-cut, including wooden clamps, framing molds and plank scarf joints.







The teachers of this build are volunteers trained at the WoodenBoat School. If you want to learn to build a boat, how much better can it get?








I asked Peter how he got to this point and it was an interesting story:

"The idea for a school has developed over a six-year period. It started with a concept for a gap year school where students would live aboard a large sailing vessel for about nine months and they would learn everything from diesel maintenance to marlinspike seamanship, including biology, ecology, literature, ship repair and building a small gig. I did a lot of research on other similar programs but somehow it just didn't seem right at the time and it was probably fortunate that I didn't go there, given subsequent economic developments."

"My long-term goal was to go to the WoodenBoat School in Maine. In June of 2010, I called WB on a Thursday and by Saturday I was on a plane east. The first class was a two week course in small boat repair where we did major fixes on a Beetle Cat, a Herreshoff 12.5 and a Joel White Haven 12.5. I then took one week off and hung around various other classes. It happened to be a week in which Iain Oughtred was in residence so I spent a bit of time with him - a truly amazing and unique person."


"The next class was a design class taught by Graham Byrnes, who had just been awarded a prize for best design in WoodenBoat Magazine's design contest. It was in this class that I met Travis. He told me that he and his girlfriend were moving to Portland." [Travis is a volunteer teacher on this project. ed.]

"By the time I was done, I had become a friend with most of Brooklin, ME and the people at WoodenBoat. The atmosphere they create is transformational and watching week after week of students metamorphose from anxious city folk into a community of like minded maritime aficionados was inspiring."



It is obvious that Peter is interested in re-creating this transformational experience in his hometown. He has partnered with a new design studio, termed ADX, for space to build the St Ayles and the women are hard at work.

Doryman will be anxiously following this project and keep you posted.

I can't express how excited I am about this process and it's intrinsic impact. Anyone who has taught a group of former neophytes to realize their potential as boat builders will understand the satisfaction of witnessing the transformation. Imagine the impact of such community building on a global scale!?



The design space ADX Portland deserves mention. This is a private enterprise that promotes creative individual exploration.

New kids on the block, they have set up shop area for metal shop activities, a wood shop and a digital media station. The focus is on creative construction and teaching with an emphasis on design creativity, coupled with production.
Imagine a shop class for geeks.
There is no hype here. I felt perfectly at ease while visiting ADX. No one tried to sell me anything, yet I bought the whole truck load.




People in the Portland, Oregon area owe it to themselves to visit the old warehouse at 417 SE 11th Avenue.


Please tell them Doryman sent you.

St Ayles Skiff in Portland, Oregon from doryman on Vimeo.

If you are interested in how well these skiffs perform in heavy weather, visit the Scottish Coastal Rowing site for photos of last weekend's Regatta at Anstruther. Racing in force 4-5 winds!
Those skiffs are truly amazing ocean boats.
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