The Minto: nice-looking nine-foot tender that sails

[Greenheart]

I once had a friend from - if I remember - a place near Sydney, called Minto. When I looked it up today, I discovered there was a nine-foot sailing dinghy of that name, designed sixty years back but revived recently. It looks like the perfect sailing tender to me...

...particularly for smaller yachts whose owner doesn't want a tender too big to stow on davits.

Has anybody ever sailed one of these? It looks like a serious little craft, with as much sail area as a Topper, despite its tiny size. But I'm not sure if any of them ever travelled (as tender or under its own sail!) any further than the Pacific North West where it was designed and built.

 

[snowleopard]

I've never sailed a cat rig but I've heard they can be pretty hard-mouthed.

 

[Chrusty 1]

Hmmmmm! I like that, very pretty!

 

[Judders]

I'll take one!

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

You can build this one yourself.

 

[Tranona]

Have a look in Watercraft. There are many similar designs available either as plans for home build or kits. Not exactly the same but designed to a similar brief. Widen your horizons a bit more and get into the US/Canada small boat scene (Woodenboat is a good start) and you will find even more - plus whole books devoted to designing and building small traditional looking sailing and rowing craft.

You could lose yourself for weeks, Dan, drooling over what you find.

ps similar scene in France, particularly west coast with many small builders and home builders.

 

[Greenheart]

Thanks Tranona, I'll take a look.

Good grief! Has that chap had a Quint-style encounter with a Great White? Or does the boat have greater draft than LOA?

Very convenient little ship, I'm sure - fits in the car's glove-box when you're done for the day. It must be possible to build a boat like that in the spare-room, midwinter, without changing out of one's pyjamas.

 

[Achillesheel]

He's walking on the bottom.

 

[rich]

Here is our Fairy Duckling we restored last year, we towed it to Paimpol, 7 hrs, and not one drop of water in her,

 

[vas]

if you're looking for something small and light, you could also try the Snark
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snark_sailboat (or check snark images on google and you'll get a good idea of what they are like.

Been given one as a present from a v.good friend and planning to use it as a sailing tender (well not quite...) on my 43ft mobo. V.light, easy to handle so hoping I'll get a way to lift and store it at the f/b.

cheers

V.

 

[Sybarite]

I once had a friend from - if I remember - a place near Sydney, called Minto. When I looked it up today, I discovered there was a nine-foot sailing dinghy of that name, designed sixty years back but revived recently. It looks like the perfect sailing tender to me...

...particularly for smaller yachts whose owner doesn't want a tender too big to stow on davits.

Has anybody ever sailed one of these? It looks like a serious little craft, with as much sail area as a Topper, despite its tiny size. But I'm not sure if any of them ever travelled (as tender or under its own sail!) any further than the Pacific North West where it was designed and built.

Lovely. I really enjoy pottering around in a dinghy when I get to a destination. eg in the Glénan Islands. However with advancing years, I don't want one that is too skittish and yet will still serve as an all round tender capable of carrying say 4 people. I also like the idea of sailing rather than using an o/b. This determines a certain size which must not be disproportionate in size to the mother boat if you are carrying it on davits or storing it on deck. There is also a very nice nesting 9' dinghy that looks a bit like the Minto.

http://www.nestawayboats.com/page39.htm

 

[Greenheart]

Why limit your tender to drudgery?

I also like the idea of sailing (the tender) rather than using an o/b.

I reckon that is exactly where lots of the fun is lost by sailing people today. There's an unpersuasive, oily utilitarianism about outboards - they're noisy, weighty, bulky, costly and not invariably reliable - and they only justify their downsides by achieving what all yachtsmen used to manage easily enough, under oars or sail.

Sailing to and from the quayside ought to be a little thrill, but a small outboard makes it as pleasurable as a noisy elevator ride.

And there's nothing exclusive about fitting the dinghy with a sail - you can still use an offset engine, rather than beat the half-mile to your mooring. Even if you only use the sail downwind, it adds plenty to the sense of reward which you bought a yacht in order to enjoy.

Considering the flavourful atmosphere and hands-on experience which most of us hope our guests and ourselves will derive from our boats, a sail on the tender is the easiest, quickest, most instantly available fun there is. Why limit a resource we already have?

And who ever heard of opportunist thieves stealing a mast and sail? They don't appeal to crooks, the way outboards do.

 

[Sybarite]

I reckon that is exactly where lots of the fun is lost by sailing people today. There's an unpersuasive, oily utilitarianism about outboards - they're noisy, weighty, bulky, costly and not invariably reliable - and they only justify their downsides by achieving what all yachtsmen used to manage easily enough, under oars or sail.

Sailing to and from the quayside ought to be a little thrill, but a small outboard makes it as pleasurable as a noisy elevator ride.

And there's nothing exclusive about fitting the dinghy with a sail - you can still use an offset engine, rather than beat the half-mile to your mooring. Even if you only use the sail downwind, it adds plenty to the sense of reward which you bought a yacht in order to enjoy.

Considering the flavourful atmosphere and hands-on experience which most of us hope our guests and ourselves will derive from our boats, a sail on the tender is the easiest, quickest, most instantly available fun there is. Why limit a resource we already have?

And who ever heard of opportunist thieves stealing a mast and sail? They don't appeal to crooks, the way outboards do.

Spot on.