Looking for the Back Eddy


Tings are always changing. As my buddy Steve Haines says, we have two choices: we can evolve, or we can celebrate our extinction. It’s probably fair to say that by its nature, small-boat sailing and cruising evolve slowly, but they evolve nonetheless. Looking back over the 21 years we’ve published this magazine, it’s interesting to consider changes in the small-boat zeitgeist. Have reader tastes and interests changed over these last two decades? What’s different about small-boat sailing and cruising these days? A couple of years into publication a reader wrote, objecting to our “becoming


a rag about nothing but Potters.” Some years later we heard a similar complaint about all of the “constant Sea Pearl content.” A decade aſter that it was, of course, “too much SCAMP!” While we haven’t had a lot of material on those boats over the last few years,


this issue coincidentally includes a double dose, with a SCAMP Reader Boat and an updating of our original Sea Pearl Boat Review. As I’ve said previously, what we publish is largely a reflection of what we receive (who’s out there doing cool stuff in their boat) —rarely from our trying to steer the content. Want to see your boat type in the magazine? Send us an article. As for the present state of things in the small-boat world—the latest trend or hot


topic seems to be sail-and-oar boats. A few issues back, Marty Loken’s Shallow Draſt column celebrated some of the best sail-and-oar designs. Last issue was another good example, with a review of the exciting new Salish Voyager from Gig Harbor Boat Works, and the release of John Welsford’s highly-anticipated Long Steps design. In this issue we launch our new Five Questions series by interviewing sail-and-oar proponent Francois Vivier, and simultaneously we’ve just launched our own 10-foot micro sail-and-oar kit-boat called Scout. Why the renewed interest in sail-and-oar boats? Simplicity seems to be resurgent


in a subset of the population—from people making their own clothing and furniture to building tiny homes. And how peaceful not to require an outboard with all of its attendant headaches— to take only what the wind and currents will give and to get some exercise along the way. I relate this counter-cultural movement to a counter-current. As technology


advances at Moore’s Law speeds and everything goes “online,” folks like us tend to look for the back-eddy, a contrary current that takes us back in time, closer to where we started. Te old ways appear alive and well. —Joshua Colvin


CR FT SM


LL I Published by Small Craſt Advisor Inc.


Publisher Joshua Colvin


Associate Editor Marty Loken


Technical Editor Paul Esterle


Art Director Anika Colvin


Photographer Debra Colvin www.debracolvin.com


Office Tammy Rumpel


Editor-at-large Larry Brown


Regular Contributors Bruce Bateau, Marlin Bree, Joseph Buchanan, Doug Cameron, Dudley Dix, Robert Ellis, Brian Gilbert, Paul Guajardo, Steve Haines, John C. Harris, Dick Herman, Mike Higgins, Hugh Horton, Bill Jacobs, Steve Ladd, Chuck Leinweber, Emiliano Marino, AG Monaco, Tom Pamperin, Don Person, Howard Rice, Scott Sadil, Jerry Tompson, John Welsford, Stu Whitcomb.


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Coming soon: An O’Day Mariner is transformed into a mini-trawler. 8


Disclaimer: Although we try to provide accurate information, we make absolutely no warranty that anything in the pages of SCA is completely accurate. Tis is also true with regard to equipment, technique and especially safety. While we all enjoy reading the adventures of contributors and interview subjects, readers should not take this information as an implication these activities are safe. Please exercise good judgment.


SMALL CRAFT ADVISOR


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