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Sailing this Finn dinghy in Weymouth, local hero Ben Ainslie won his fourth successive Olympic Gold Medal at the 2012 London Games. Ben owns several Finns, but used the same boat in the Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, and London 2012 games. Following his win in 2008 he commented, “I suppose most people like newer boats…

Born in 1901, Percy Mitchell, of Portmellon, near Mevagissey in Cornwall, was variously described by some of his more technically qualified contemporaries as “one of the finest traditional boat builders in the world” and as “an artist in wood”. He left elementary school at the age of 14 just after the outbreak of World War…

Ian Proctor (1918-1992) possibly did more to influence small boat design and small boat sailing than any other designer. His innovative designs and ideas in hull shape, mast design and manufacture, production methods, and yachting equipment modernised the whole concept of small boat sailing and made a vital contribution to the popularising of the sport.…

Offshore cruising in an open boat can be hard, cold, wet, lonely and occasionally miserable, but it is exhilarating too. To take an open dinghy across a hundred miles of sea, taking weather as it comes; to know that you have only yourself and your mate to rely on in an emergency; to see the…

The tradition of boat building in Cornwall goes back many centuries. Generations of boat builders and shipwrights have used their skills and imagination to create boats that have become works of art as well as functional vessels. Born in 1927 Vic Angove, master shipwright and traditional boat builder of Falmouth, started his apprenticeship at the…

The story of Donald Campbell’s death on Coniston Water, whilst attempting the world water speed record in Bluebird, is well documented. Less well known is that, up to the time of his death in 1967, Campbell was commercially developing a 13ft (4m) fast runabout, using the latest water jet technology. The prototype craft Jetstar was…

During the 1950s and 60s the British population was discovering new leisure activities: people had more time and a bit of money to spare, package holidays and outdoor pursuits were becoming popular. Boat designers found a ready market in the thousands of people who wanted to get on the water in a well-built, cheap boat.…

In 2003 British Explorer Pen Hadow became the first person in history to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole. He dragged his entire supplies including all his food, clothing and shelter with him 480 miles across the floating, disintegrating sea ice of the Arctic Ocean from the Canadian coast. His sledge weighed 19…