Galatea, a 15' Gunning Dory

I wrote this report to the manufacturer of my newest boat. "Galatea" is a 15 foot fiberglass Gunning Dory. Gunning Dories got their name from their use as transportation to and from duck hunting sites on the shore of the New England coast. Roger Crawford makes fiberglass boats by hand, one at a time. His shop is famous for the Melonseed. See http://www.melonseed.com/

"Galatea" has a fixed seat and 8 foot spruce oars. It's not really 'sculling' but it gets me out in much rougher conditions than I ever could in a sliding-seat scull.

Roger,
My boat arrived safely on Wednesday. By that afternoon she was battling a roaring, windy afternoon on the Pacific Ocean. Then I took her out again on Saturday. Two outings and six complements. Everyone thinks she's beautiful, including me.
But the prettiest boat in the world won't hold my interest if she fails to offer something valuable in performance. The Gunning Dory does.
Maiden voyage was under very windy conditions. Even inside the harbor it was windy, making it hard to navigate a straight course to the harbor mouth. Gale force winds offshore meant that it was howling outside the harbor. I aimed for SC7, a buoy about 1.6 nm from the harbor mouth. It's also outside of Monterey Bay and in the open ocean. I knew it would be a good test. After a mile or so directly upwind I saw I was making about 2 knots. I know it seems slow but the wind, chop and swells were all pushing against me. After a half mile the wind was roaring. After a mile it was screaming. The wind was so strong that my oars were vibrating on the feather! I turned back less than 100 yards from SC7. But it was enough of a test for a maiden voyage. I tracked to all points of the compass, checking out the handling in the rough seas. By the time I was back at the dock I had logged well over 5 nm. This is a very seaworthy craft. Chop was 4 to 6 feet and breaking into whitecaps about 50% of the time. Swells were 6 to 8 feet in addition. The only water in the boat came from my own splashes -- barely a puddle.
Saturday's test was also under very rough conditions, but not as windy. Again it was in the afternoon when rowers and kayakers don't usually go out. Chop was again 4 to 6 feet and breaking about one-third of the time. When you get in those conditions and it's not too windy it's an amazing sound as the chop breaks over -- like the suction of a giant drain. Underneath the swells were a little bigger, at least 8 feet. I took her to SC7, Mile Buoy and back to the harbor. She is an amazing little boat, handling breaking waves together bigger than her length without even a shudder. On one upswell stroke I launched her off the top of the waves with 2/3rds of her length out of the water. She landed with a whack but it was a solid feel and I can attest to the stiffness of the construction. On the downswell, beam and quartering courses I quickly learned her handling characteristics. I am a big, strong guy and she really responds to my directions. I was surfing, keeping a good course, dodging sailboats and everything I cared to try. I broached significantly once, but only because I was learning. Often, I could surf at about 8 knots.
Her second voyage averaged 3.7 knots, including rest stops, and totalled over 5 nm again. She can probably sprint over 4 and maintain 3.9 sustainably until I take a break. Once again the only water inside was from my splashes - just a few millimeters in the bottom.
I am really impressed with her nerves of steel. Her design does exactly what I had hoped. She handles enormous breaking waves, chop and swells. Even upwind rowing is impressive.
Her flat bottom allows a good rower to "skid" her sideways down the fronts of the waves instead of broaching. Her narrow stern allows her to point a narrow target at the oncoming whitecaps when quartering or running down swell and down wind. She's corky enough to happily lift up with the tallest of waves yet streamlined enough to make deliberate progress across them. Her construction is tough and strong and yet still not heavy.
I am using 8 foot spoon blade spruce oars. I have ordered 7.5 foot wide spoon blade oars, too. I may also end up with some 7 foot spoon blades for the upwind slogs like her maiden voyage. They're set up with less than one handle of overlap.
The foot brace brackets work really well. It's a great idea and nice design. They're much stronger than I expected. The seat's comfortable. I use a pad with a tailbone notch cut out.
She fits in the bed of my truck, sticking out quite a bit, of course. It's nice to move her without a trailer. The launch dolly fits in there, too, easily with the wheels off. Where I usually launch her, its only a couple dozen yards to the water.
By the end of the summer, I hope to have taken her on some long journeys of 20 nm or more.
When people ask, I give them your name and your company's name. I don't know of anyone on the west coast who could build a boat like this as well as you did.
The colors are well-chosen. The green boot stripe is perfect. The Cetol finish looks great and the inside paint is a good color for avoiding sunblinding reflections.
Thank you for crafting a sturdy, beautiful, seaworthy boat. You have thought out a lot of design and construction which make it perfect for what I have planned. I have the utmost confidence in her now after two very challenging cruises in the Pacific and Monterey Bay.
Best regards,
Tim