Ain't She a Beauty?

As a showcase for Mattis Voss's talents, look no further than the Shetland boat he built (with a little help from me) at Viking Boats in Ullapool, and which is due out of the yard at the end of the month.

She overwintered under a white, canvas, breathable cover - the only kind that should be used on a clinker boat. And emerged unscathed from rain, snow and wind.

This is no more than an excuse for showing some photos of Sula in the sun. And the designer? Iain Oughtred, who should be encouraged, after half a lifetime espousing plywood and epoxy, to draw more traditionally-built boats like Sula and the Woodfish faering, of which I have built two.

Many of Iain's details were changed, the line of the planking, framing and thwart positions for example, but that's the beauty of building traditionally, and we added a daggerboard rather than a pivoting centreboard. The rig is balanced lug.

By the way, can anyone see a single knot in any of the planks?