Adventures - Small Boats Magazine

The BETTY Effect

Nic Compton — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 21:05:54 +0000

“When you approach towns and villages through rivers, you see them totally differently. You wouldn’t think they’re the same place. Rowing a river, you’re starting high up and working your way down every day; there’s always a different vista, always something different. It’s the loveliest way to see the countryside and nature.”

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Sailing on Lake Roosevelt

Bob Van Putten — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 18:46:19 +0000

I sped a few miles north along the western shore, mostly downwind, sometimes on a broad reach. Water streamed up the leeboard, topping the gunwale; small waves broke around me, and I was getting wet. I was still in control but I’m a conservative sailor, so when I spotted a small beach curving in between rocky shores I shifted my weight aft and ran the boat up onto it at speed.

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SCHERZO Does the Skookumchuck

Murray C. Walker — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 18:37:25 +0000

Four times a day, 200-billion gallons of water pour through the Chuck reaching speeds of 17 knots, making it one of the fastest tidal rapids in the world. The rapids, 16 nautical miles to the north of us, were to be the first destination in our four-day trip.

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A Sacramento River Adventure

James Kealey — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 17:48:06 +0000

The manager and I were finally settled in for the evening. The Sacramento River loped by, strong and loud, the exact color of school-lunch chocolate milk. Bats pirouetted in the remains of a sherbet sunset; herons winged overhead, every bit as sharply shaped as their pterodactyl ancestors; everything was going somewhere and doing something fast except, finally, us.

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The Sea of the Sámi People

Mats Vuorenjuuri — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 15:58:25 +0000

Lake Inari is the third largest lake in Finland and lies within the Arctic Circle in Northern Lapland. Its 420 square miles stretch from the village of Inari in the west to the Russian border in the east, and to the Vätskär wilderness reserve 43 miles northeast of Veskoniemi. The lake is dotted with more than 3,000 islands and has several wide-open stretches of water that can be hazardous for small vessels in strong winds.

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A Solar-Powered Cruise on Lake Nipigon

Tim O’Meara — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 20:58:41 +0000

An hour into the crossing, I saw that the “house” battery, which stores the power from the solar panels, was not feeding the motor battery as it should to replace the power drawn by the motor. I turned the motor off and inspected all the electrical connections while Eric checked the fuses. Nothing seemed amiss. I dug the clamp meter out of the port seat locker and began testing each part of the electrical system. The meter’s digital readout showed that the solar panels were feeding the house battery properly, and the house battery was fully charged, but no power was going from the house battery to the motor battery. We looked dumbly at each other for a long moment as the boat rocked awkwardly in the waves. We had exhausted our limited electrical know-how, and we both knew we couldn’t continue the trip if the motor battery couldn’t recharge. We began checking everything again…and again…testing and pondering and cursing in vain as the boat drifted broadside to the waves.

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A Sail-and-Oar Cruise in the San Juans

Sean Grealish — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 20:00:13 +0000

My plan was simple: make for the northern string of islands in the San Juans that stand as diminutive guards against the Strait of Georgia, and spend a few days on the water shaking down the camp-cruising setup onboard my family’s 25-year-old Haven 12 1⁄2, LAZYDOG.

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Return to the Texas 200

Roger Siebert — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 13:56:52 +0000

When I cleared Port Mansfield, the wind in Red Fish Bay remained light but became steady from astern. A scattering of cumulus clouds hung just above the horizon. It was already hot, but the breeze coming across the water was refreshing. The water gurgled against the hull and trailed away in a flat, weak wake. Half a dozen other sails dotted the offing ahead, and two boats astern still worked their way out through the fluky breezes in the harbor.

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The 2007 Small Reach Regatta

Tom Jackson — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 16:46:03 +0000

For the 2007 Small Reach Regatta, the waters off WoodenBoat swarmed with small boats for three days. Read the recap of that inaugural event.

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Boatbuilding in the Woods

Greg Goodman — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 13:54:02 +0000

I did the first bit of heavy stock removal with my drawknife, which peeled away long, thick curls of wood that crinkled into spiral sculptures around my feet. It was good fun, and I was excited by the fast progress, but to finish with a fair surface I needed to use my jack plane. The plane sliced long twin ribbons of oak and pine, and the wavy surface was quickly flattening. I was close to finishing the beveling when the plane hung up slightly, though it didn’t feel like grain tearing. I pushed through and the plane left behind a long oval of brilliant bronze in the middle of the cut. The sharp steel blade had sliced through one of the bronze ring nails holding the garboard to the chine. I was clearly getting better at sharpening, but I’d driven in the nails too close to where the bottom would meet the chine. Many of them were going to be exposed if I continued planing. If I left a little of the chine log unbeveled, I could save myself from cutting into the nail-filled chine and still have a wide enough landing for the bottom planking. Despite the ease with which the plane had sliced through the one nail, it would be foolish to keep forcing the blade into more of them, and I switched to the Shinto rasp. Even though the hacksaw blades form which it’s made can cut metal, it otherwise is not as well suited to the job as a plane, and the beveling took much longer than I’d hoped. Finally, I smoothed the rough surface left by the rasp with a sanding board and was ready to attach the bottom planking.

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