Tina An 11' Flat-Bottom Catboat By William & John Atkin
An 11 Foot Catboat for Begginers in Sail
Marked by simplicity and freighted with character the design this month shows a most practical and useful kind of little sailing boat. From her flat bottom to the tip of her un-stayed mast. Tina, despite her modest dimensions, is very much of a little ship and, by the same token, very little of a toyish cockleshell. And, Shipmates, the latter is a matter which deserves serious consideration. She is, therefore, an excellent craft in which to learn to sail; not only to sail, but to become, at least in some measure, a seaman or, in these modern days, a seawoman. She is a boat in which one may sail safely in rough windy weather, and not only safely but in a spirit of confidence and joy. An old Viking would enjoy her and the fishermen I used to know when sails were power, would love her.
Many boating folks think of a flat-bottom boat as a tub-like craft good only for boat liveries and rough work around docks. On the other hand there are many well designed and built flat bottom skiffs, inexpensive, easy to build and altogether excellent little, and sometimes big, boats of this simple model. The many sailing sharpies, for instance, the Thames barges, the astonishing craft of the Netherlands, the clamming and fishing skiffs of Long Island Sound, and the Great South Bay, to mention only a handful.
The design this month shows an able sort of flat-bottom cat-boat. In overall length she is 11 feet; in breadth, 4 feet 5 inches; in draft, slightly less than 5 inches. The freeboard at the bow is 1 foot 11 inches, the least freeboard, 1 foot 1 1/8 inches, and at the stern, 1 foot 3 1/2 inches. She has pleasing flare, assuring dryness and reserve stability, a shipshape sheer line and a full deck line forward. The breadth of the bottom is wholesome without bluffness; the sweep of the bottom matches the general characteristics of the design as a whole.
Our skiff Tina is not as small as she appears in the plans. She will carry two heavy persons and not be overloaded, and three average-weight youngsters. I cannot think of a boat so well suited to the training of junior members of a yacht club and one which at the same time can be used for racing and all-around pleasure sailing. Her rig is the rig of a little ship. Her handling will teach not only racing; but the essentials of seamanship, splicing, reefing, the care of sails left on the spars all summer, bailing, balance, rowing, landing on an unfriendly beach and all the elements that contribute to the knowledge of owning and handling a small sailing boat properly.
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