Thursday 11 April 2013

If Your Mother Comes From Buckie


Dory man commented on the last post that The Scaffie looked quite Doryish. I'm quite sure he knows full well that she is far from being Doryish below the water line and much closer to her Shetland Yole cousins.

The Scaffie in fact hails from the north east corner of Scotland along the Moray Coast.  Like the Shetland boats the Scaffie is double-ended with a curving stem and a straight stern post.  She also has a deep straight keel with deep bilge keels to keep her on the straight and narrow. 


There isn't a centreboard, which leaves the cockpit uncluttered. There are a couple of removable thwarts for rowing with two rowing positions, and there's a well which solves the perennial problem of how to hang an outboard on a double ender. 





















The original Scaffies were built anything up to 60ft long and were used along the Moray Firth for long lining and herring netting. So these modern GRP versions are really very small in comparison to their predecessors. 

The rig is a loose footed, high aspect standing lug on an un-stayed mast.  Very quick to rig and safe to handle.  I'm told that getting to windward can be a bit of a challenge though. 
Here's an image from the Churchouse Boats Drascombe web site of a Scaffie under sail.  



So, although we're not sure who Harry was his Girl has spent much of her time down in Devon, but her ancestors definitely come from the North East. 

So altogether, to the tune of The Road to the Isles;

If your mother comes from Buckie 
You should think it very lucky 
If you've never done the tango w' the piles. 



1 comment:

doryman said...

Looking forward to seeing this one on the wing...