Emma, my 1870 New York Sloop gaffer

[@drewgibbons7245]

Your tender windows and the purpose had me happy laughing tears. Never before that one, never before.

[@williamhoskins7818]

Admirably done joinery! Good on you for your forthright skills. Thank you.

[@DroneGirl1]

Wow from a wreck to a beauty! WEll done! Thumbs up and Greetings from Ireland! :)

[@P61guy61]

I loved it! Great details. I guess I'll go out on my Catalina 27 and dream of a gaff rig. Thank you for posting.

[@smacksman1]

She is still for sale. I'm 82 now and definitely 'swallowed the hook'. She is in a boat shed near Colchester, Essex on a launching trailer. Rent is under £200 a year! and club members are encouraged to work on their own craft. Water and electricity (within reason) included. She has all sails, spars, running and standing rigging, 6hp Kingfisher Seagull outboard, tender, in fact everything you see on the video bar the borrowed kit. I'm now going to advertise her as a bit of history for £3,000 to the right person who will get her back on the water and have fun.

[@danoyes1]

Excellent video! Where is Emma today?

[@smacksman1]

I still have her in a shed near Colchester waiting for a young enthusiast to take her on. I'm too old now at 80.

[@danoyes1]

@@smacksman1 wow! Thanks for stewarding this boat, have you had any correspondence with Mystic Seaport about this boat? A historically significant small craft, very few of these boats have survived.

[@danoyes1]

@@smacksman1 I'm going to share this video with folks at the Traditional Small Craft Association, they have a yearly grant program specifically designed to help record and preserve significant Small boats like Emma

[@smacksman1]

@@danoyes1 It would be great to see her fishing in New York again! I contacted Mystic Seaport Museum 30 years ago for information and they helped a bit. The New York Yacht Club were very helpful and allowed me to research in their library. Roger

[@theburnhams2925]

Enjoyed watching this comprehensive documentary of Emma's "resurrection" and subsequent sailings on England's east coast. Many of the places visited brought Maurice Griffiths "The Magic of the Swatchways" to mind. This has been my favorite narrative of Estuary and East Coast sailing for many years. As most know, "M.G." was very instrumental in directing the focus of British yachtsmen towards long-shore coastal and river cruising (what we sometimes refer to "gunkholing") and less towards "blue-water" cruising (which few can afford time or investment in proper craft for doing...) We're proud of the direction recreational sailing took once "American" shoal-draft vessels "caught on." And Emma is a "prime example" of the type. Kudos for a long and hard "slog to windward" restoring her; you deserve many gratifying adventures in her! By the way, my surname is "Burnham" so I take more than a casual interest in your part of Great Britain...

[@smacksman1]

+The Burnhams Burnham on Crouch is a great center of local yachting with the Royal Burnham Yacht Club very hospitable. When I bought my old Sylvia G on Ebay and flew to New London, Connecticutt to pick her up I was pleasently suprised to find that coastline very similar to my home waters. Shallow, reedy, marshy inlets ideal for taking time out on the mud and watching the wildfowl. Another author to read is Hervy Benham who was editor of our local newspaper. Must be a connection with journalism as 'M.G.' was editor of Yachting Monthly for decades. The swatchways are useful but don't get on the sand. It is like concrete!

[@theburnhams2925]

+smacksman1 Thanks for your reply! I have "poured over" M.G.'s writings and learned due respect for those "merciless Sands" where a vessel could easily perish without leaving any trace of her ordeal. Crossing the Thames estuary isn't "child's play" by any means---I would not attempt it without a knowledgeable local guide! M.G.'s accounts of the rivers, bays and especially "enchanted" creeks however, appeal much more (although as a Florida sailor I cannot understand when, exactly, between wind, cold and rain British skippers find much time for pleasurable sailing...) Our cruising grounds here in the "Big Bend" (home port Carrabelle) demand shoal draft craft. Otherwise one must stick strictly to the "ditches" and necessarily miss so much. The "skimming dishes" ("sand-baggers") such as your Emma would work well here (although I don't know about the "no ballast" thing...) And one cannot always line up enough "rail meat" to sail a boat like her... Personally, I'll "settle for" less speed and self-righting. I don't mind looking at transoms (and have viewed quite a few, actually, as a Catalina 22 sailor...) Sometimes it's nice having a larger, deeper boat smooth the waters for you (and show you where the "skinny spots" are...ha ha) I enjoyed your "Sailing the ICW" series as well. Thanks for the tip on your author Hervy B. I shall try to find some of his work. Can you suggest any leads? bob b

[@smacksman1]

+The Burnhams Hi Bob, I spent a few days weather bound in lovely Carrabelle at C-Quarters Marina. Their large stoop (verandah) with a row of rocking chairs epitamised the laid-back atmosphere of the area. Try this link for Hervey Benham books - www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/author/hervey-benham/ My 'bible' was his 'The Stowboaters' which is what my old smack is, as in my avatar. My series of videos sailing a 27 foot Albin Vega from Woodbridge to London records the first time ever I have responded to a Mayday call for help from a poor blighter who had lost his rudder on one of the sand bars in the Thames Estuary. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6OZe5xtZtOSras Fair winds, Roger Walker

[@billhanna8838]

Raced on an old snub nose gaffer ,best time ever, owner ended up putting a 12ft bow sprit on it & lengthened the boom 8 ft, he never new the word reef, one day the top mast carried away & said to him " that's a timely reef Colin" what a look I got . Well done , enjoyed the vid , thanks makes me want to bring out my oilys

[@smacksman1]

Thanks Bill, Gaff rig has many advantages over bermudan; low CofG; ability to reef the main off the wind; scandalise the main to quickly reduce power; and more. A local sailmaker put gaff rig on an Etchells 32 and she pointed like a witch!

[@billhanna8838]

There's a great picture on the yacht club wall of our 75 yr old gaffer winning the Tuesday night series with 43 Bermudan rigged sloops behind us as we were crossing the line. I'm still very proud of that day & its still talked about to this day with great amazement,9th at the last mark & won by 29 seconds at the finish,all sail set.

[@smacksman1]

That's classic, Bill. The reach / run to the finish is the gaffers star move. Emma won many races like that - five sails set on a single mast (1000 sq.ft. on a 24 ft hull!), centerboard up, rudder up, a crew sitting on the foredeck to get the transom out of the water, and creaming through the fleet. Very, very happy memories.

[@ВикторЯзыков-п1ч]

Great Man, nice boat, congratulations from Russia!

[@smacksman1]

Спасибо

[@janjbowman]

Emma is so lovely.

[@drewgibbons7245]

Long live Emma

[@patricktremblay9029]

She's beautiful.

[@smacksman1]

+Patrick Tremblay Thanks Patrick. She's great fun to sail and a great feeling when you leave modern 30 footers in her wake!

[@benadvincula369]

@@smacksman1 in

[@BUENOSAIRES4K]

its very smilar to Sandbagger sailboat from lake geneva USA ( like Nettie )

[@smacksman1]

I agree. The wide beam and flared topsides are very similar. Emma is very fast.

[@smacksman1]

Emma is now for sale. Open to offers from enthusiasts. She will fit into a container for shipping anywhere. She is an old workboat so no paperwork. She needs work but all the bits are there. I'm over 75 now so she needs the love of a younger man.

[@kellyhunt3958]

Do you have a price in mind? Many Thanks and kind regards.

[@spymaine89]

very interesting. old post dont know current

[@smacksman1]

Yes, Emma is still looking for a new owner to put some love into her. I haven't really tried hard to sell as she is well protected in a shed and I did hope to get her going again. However, now cancer has made me 'swallow my hook' so time to let someone else to have fun with her. The right person is more important than money but there is more than £2000 of bits on her. Old boats have their own 'street cred'! I remember sailing past a huge 'gin palace' parked off the Royal Burnham YC and a shout on board 'Hey you lot! Come on deck and look at this!' Makes you feel good.

[@danoyes1]

@@smacksman1 wow, incredible boat and story, what's the story with Emma, is she sold and to where? Incredible boat and a important piece of history.

[@smacksman1]

@@danoyes1 Still in a shed and still waiting for the right person.

[@rman5033]

Kind of a cat boat with mast and rig in winter dress God bless

[@newenglandergray3002]

Congratulations on your thorough restoration of a rare survivor and your decision to return the boat to the half-deck configuration of the original. The rig would appear to be the biggest departure from the originals, which would have either had a taller mast or longer hoist for the main and not have carried a topsail. Your approach would make it more practical to add square footage to the rig without carrying an even larger main. The sandbags would have weighed between about 25 - 50 lbs and had sturdy canvas or leather "handles" to help the crew move them from leeward to windward. The few paintings and models extant show the bags placed outside the cockpit coaming. As Traditions and Memories of American Yachting makes clear, the first cat-rigged small boat (Una boat in the UK) was also shipped from the New Jersey/New York area.

[@smacksman1]

Lack of funds put a big restraint on getting Emma going again. I used the spars that came with the boat and bought second hand sails that almost fitted.. So she is back to a workboat rather than a racing sandbagger. Ok, I have added an old (set upside down) jib as a tops'l and an old $10 spinnaker for some fun racing but she is basically a New York Sloop in 'summer' mode. And great fun. Sadly turning 80 and some illness has made me want to find a sympathetic buyer. Roger

[@984francis]

Presumably Hyacinth is a bucket😬