The Drascombe Lugger is a British trailerable

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

that was designed by John L. Watkinson and first built in 1968. The Drascombe Lugger design is the basis of a large range of similar Drascombe boats with different hull, cabin and rig configurations.

Production

The design is built by Honnor Marine Classics and also by Churchouse Boats, now called Drascombe Boats in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Production started in 1968, with more than 2,000 boats completed and the design remains in production.

Design

The boat was designed by Watkinson, who was a former Royal Navy officer. In the early 1960s he wanted to build a small boat for his own family use. His design goals were for a

day sailer A daysailer, day sailer, or dayboat is a small sailboat with or without sleeping accommodations but which is larger than a dinghy. Dayboats can be monohull or multihull, and are typically trailer-able. Many dayboats have a small cabin Cabin ...

with trailerability, that would be stable and safe, but still exciting to sail for experienced sailors. The prototype was built of wood on a farm in Drascombe Barton. The design was based upon the fishing boats used on England's northeastern coast, which trace their lineage back to the

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and s ...

longship Longships were a type of specialised Scandinavian warships that have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by the Nors ...

s. The first boats had a lug rig, for which it was named, later switching to a

Gunter rig Gunter rig is a configuration of sail and spars used in sailing. It is a fore and aft sail set abaft (behind) the mast. The lower half of the luff (front) of the sail is attached to the mast, and the upper half is fastened to a spar which is ...

. The design was put into production, made from

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

and proved a commercial success. Boats have been built commercially on a production line and also by amateur builders. Plans for home construction have not been available since the death of the designer in 1997. The Drascombe Lugger is a recreational open sailboat, built predominantly of fiberglass, with wooden spars and trim. It is a Gunter rigged

yawl A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan), to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put. As a rig, a yawl is a two masted, fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast p ...

with and a boomkin for the

mizzen The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation li ...

sail. It features a spooned

raked stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

, a raised transom, an internally mounted fold-up

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw a ...

controlled by a

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder ...

and a

centreboard A centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a ''centreboard trunk'' (UK) or ''centerboard case'' (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised to ...

. It can be equipped with a

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestays. The word ''bowsprit'' is thought to originate from the Mid ...

and

cutter rig A cutter is a type of watercraft. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan) of a sailing vessel (but with regional differences in definition), to a governmental enforcement agency vessel (such as a coast guard or bor ...

. It displaces and carries of ballast in the steel centreboard. The boat has a draft of with the centreboard extended and with it retracted, allowing beaching or ground transportation on a trailer. For docking and maneuvering, the boat is normally fitted with a small

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method o ...

, located in an aft well.

Operational history

David Pyle and David Derrick completed a voyage from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

to Australia during 1969 and 1970 in the Drascombe Lugger ''Hermes''. The boat was a standard production model with a raised foredeck and other minor modifications built at Kelly and Hall's boatyard in

Newton Ferrers Newton Ferrers is a village and former manor and ecclesiastical parish in the English county of Devon; it is now in the civil parish of Newton and Noss. It is situated on a creek of the River Yealm estuary, about south-east of the City of Pl ...

, by John and Douglas Elliott. From 1978 and 1984, Webb Chiles almost completed an open boat circumnavigation of the world in his two Luggers ''Chidiock Tichborne I'' and ''Chidiock Tichborne II''. He started the trip in California with ''Chidiock I'' and crossed the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

, the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

and entered the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

. In the Pacific near

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

, the boat capsized in heavy weather and then drifted for two weeks, as he was unable to bail it out. After becoming damaged in the Red Sea the boat was seized by the

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

n government and Chiles was arrested on suspicion of being a spy. After being released Chiles had a new Lugger, ''Chiddiock II'', shipped to him in Egypt and he restarted the voyage. He sailed back south to intercept his previous track and then turned towards the Suez Canal and passed into the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

and into the Atlantic to

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Mo ...

. Leaving the boat there to visit

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the Archipelago, archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitant ...

, he returned to find that the boat had capsized on her mooring during a storm. With the loss of much of his gear, Chiles decided to end his open boat circumnavigation attempt. A review in ''Small Boats Magazine'' by Audrey and Kent Lewis stated, "We think the Drascombe Lugger is one fthe most versatile small boats ever built." A 2008 review by John Kretschmer in ''Sailing Magazine'', noted the boat's stability and ability to deal with high winds by reducing sail. He wrote, "Luggers have pleasant lines, with a nice sheer and comfortable seating. A bronze stemhead, wood gunwales, Sitka spruce mast and a set of belaying pins at the base of the mast give the boat a bit of a salty air." He concluded, "Should I say you really shouldn't take off to Tahiti on your Lugger? Well, you shouldn't. They are unballasted, open boats. But they come with such good manners and are endowed with so much enjoyment you may find yourself heading that way. Don't say I didn't warn you."

References

External links

* {{Trailer sailers and Trailer yachts worldwide Keelboats 1960s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Trailer sailers Sailboat type designs by John L. Watkinson Sailboat types built by Honnor Marine Classics Sailboat types built by Churchouse Boats Sailboat types built by Drascombe Boats

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links