Fowey Ahoy!

About

From August 5th to August 7th something special is happening in Fowey. It’s a celebration of an ages-old skill, boatbuilding. Fowey has a unique cluster of highly skilled traditional boatbuilding businesses, probably more in this one place than any other location in the Southwest. They build and restore boats from the famous pilot gigs and local classes of yachts to well-known international racing yachts, steel fishing boats and a traditional Thames barge.

Ever wondered what goes into building a pilot gig or a yacht? Well on this weekend you can see for yourself in a rare opportunity to visit seven workshops around Fowey harbour, see their work in progress, hear from the boatbuilders and appreciate their craft skills. Book your tour and transport to the workshops at Fowey Gallants Sailing Club in Fowey from 2.00 to 5.00 pm on Friday, 5th August or from 10.00 to 12.00 on Saturday 6th August. There will also be displays and shanty singing in the clubhouse and yacht racing in the harbour, so plenty to see and do.

The featured boatbuilders are: Hunkins Boatyard, Tom Owen Classic Yacht restoration, Marcus Lewis boatbuilding, Kim Furniss boat maintenance and repair, Peter Williams’ Bodinnick Boatyard, Graham A’Lee’s Fowey Boat Yard, and C Toms and Sons of Polruan.

These boatbuilders, several of whom are now third and even fourth generation family businesses, are in a long tradition of boatbuilding in the Fowey area. Their predecessors made warships for medieval English kings, eighteenth century privateers for private gain, trading vessels for Britain’s nineteenth century commerce, and much more. Here were built ships which challenged the mighty Spanish Armada, pirate ships which preyed on commercial traffic in the English Channel, fishing boats that crossed the Atlantic to reap silver harvests of cod from the Grand Banks off Canada’s coast, and trading vessels that carried fruit from the West Indies and Azores and took Cornish pilchards to Spain and Italy.

Fowey Ahoy! is a special event to celebrate a special set of traditional Cornish boatbulding skills. Come and discover them for yourself.

For further information, contact Graham Slack 0788 972 2711 or ghslack@hotmail.com