Windsong Boats
Designed by John Owles
Summer Boat Design
Burnham Overy Staithe
North Norfolk
UK
WELCOME TO WINDSONG...
Windsong is a unique, hand-crafted sailing dinghy that blends traditional craftsmanship with high-performance design. Its powerful lug rig and lightweight hull create a fast, responsive and deeply rewarding sailing experience.
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Classic Boat Magazine called Windsong:​
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"The Coolest Wooden Boat Ever Built"​​​
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As well as being pleasing to the eye, a boat should be functional and a pleasure to sail - and, most importantly, getting on and off the water should never feel like a chore. Windsong was designed with exactly that balance in mind.
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Explore rigging guides, sailing tips, events, and photos documenting the boat in action and its build journey.
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THE LUGGER
After the advent of the gaff rig in the 1700s, the dipping lug continued to be developed by the fishing boats of West coast of Brittany and the Western Isles of Scotland, specifically Loch Fyne, where they had a long slog to windward before reaching the fishing grounds. The lugsail’s power and efficiency outweighed the ease of handling of the gaff rig. The peak was raised and mast rake increased. Some mast steps even allowed the mast rake to be adjusted while underway, to take advantage of weather conditions and/or wind direction.
In the early 1990s, Nigel Iren's fast, wave piercing cat fame, had seen the advantages of the lug and produced the successful yachts, Roxane and Romilly, with their twin, high peaked, fully battened lugsails.
John Owles’ designs have always looked to the “spirit of tradition” and following “Barinthus”, a 15ft gunter rigged boat based on a Grand Banks dory, he started playing with designs utilising the lugsail and was hooked.
For information about other boats that John Owles has designed please contact jayoh@windsongboats.co.uk
Catering for sailing in shallow, winding creeks and
negotiating the numerous shallows where a boat needs to be agile and quick to tack, while also providing exhilerating sailing.
Within her design we incorporate the best of the old
with the best of the new. She has a cedar strip planked hull, epoxy/glass twill sheathed, with a double
layer on the bottom panels for additional wear resistance. Internal framing is light weight spruce, with Gaboon plywood bulkheads.
Windsong's sails are by Michael McNamara (X Sails) and the bulk of the fittings from Allen Brothers, with the balance from RWO Marine Equipment. Our choice of epoxy resin is the boat builder friendly resin, Mas Epoxy, from epoxy.ltd in the UK
FINELY CRAFTED
PERFORMANCE LUGGER
The mast and yard are of light weight carbon fibre tube for stiffness and strength. The centreboard is constructed from laminated, light weight, cedar and carbon fibre. Buoyancy tanks and deck are of high quality, light weight, 5mm Gaboone plywood.
​The backbone, along with the centreboard case framing, thwart, mast partner and transom etc, are all of solid sapele timber. Windsong can be sailed sloop rigged, with the jib flown from the removeable bowsprit, or swiftly converted to cat rig for single handed sailing.
While the lug rig is an almost forgotten rig in today's mainstream boats, it is not, as some say, “naught but a bed sheet hung from a broom stick”.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth, the lugsail is a very powerful and efficient rig, and at the heart of Windsong's performance.
TAKING TRADITIONAL SAILING TO A NEW LEVEL
A PLANING LUG RIGGER CAPABLE OF 12 KNOTS
A 'planing lugger' is perhaps a contradiction in terms, it traditionally being the domain of heavy working boats, fishing craft and small tenders.
Given the raw power of the lugsail and the ease of rigging, it seemed a wild but logical step to turn the tractor into a racing car!
Aiming to produce something different, that was easy to rig, and that wasn’t “just another boat”, John Owles saw here the possibility of creating something new and exciting for the dinghy world, hence Windsong was born.
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Windsong can be sailed sloop rigged, with the jib flown from the removable bowsprit, or swiftly converted to cat rig for single handed sailing. Her fine entry flowing into flat aft sections provide stability and, along with the raked rig, allow the boat an early and smooth transition onto the plane.
Windsong short tacks with agility and is quick to power up. With the traditional lug rig providing plenty of power with a relatively low centre of effort. She is powerful enough to make ground against the tide and has the ability to beat off a shallow lee shore.
The sail balance has been designed such that, with one third to half centreboard down, she has the ability to make way to windward when crossing shallow sandbanks on a lee shore. In deep water, with the board fully down, full windward efficiency is restored.
During early sailing trials in a f5 breeze, we achieved a planing speed of 12 knots.
​However Harry Cory Wright has now surpassed this record
with a logged speed of 13 knots.
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Imperial Metric
Ft M
LOD 14.20 4.33
LOA 15.87 4.84
LWL 13.20 4.022
Beam 5.00 1.52
BWL 4.21 1.282
Waterplane Area 40.13 ft2 3.688 m2
Wetted surface area 40.13 ft3 3.729 m2
Design Draft 0.33 0.1
Draft CB Down 3.00 0.83
Approximate Weight (Unladen) 138.0 lbs 62.6 kg
Approximate Weight (Laden) 446.00 lbs 202.30 kg
Sail Area 101.68 ft2 7.94 m2
Main 71.71 ft2 6.66 m2
Jib 29.97 ft2 2.78 m2
WL Speed 4.87 kn
Hull Resistance at Waterline Speed 17.50 lbs 7.97 kg
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SPECIFICATIONS
INTERESTED IN WINDSONG?
Now we have seven of these amazing boats on the water and enjoyed some fantastic sailing, it is time to introduce Windsong to the World.
If you would like to find out more about any aspects of Windsong then please contact Harry on the email address below
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