Natasha Darling!

In Festival Boats 2021, Festival Boats 2022

This is a strip version of a tandem Annapolis Wherry built from plans by Chesapeake Light Craft. 18 months of build time. Probably 1200-1500 hours. Not proud of that, but the boat works great. I would call it a very sweet and composed ride. My wife, who is new to rowing, loves it.

I built my own rigs rather than drop-ins. Took as long to build the rigs (both single & double) as it took to build the hull. Carl Douglas (UK) did the custom sliding seats, slides, and Axior adjustable-pitch pins. C2 oarlocks & carbon sculls. H2row shoes. I got lots of advice on rig setup from Carl Douglas, Maas Racing, also a former Stanford coach. The hull & decks are 1/4” cove & bead red cedar with 4oz glass on both sides. Joe Greenley (Red Fish Kayaks) cut the strips for me. The rest is Makore (heavy but I love the color). Yellow cedar pin-striping.

I articulated the riggers (wings) for two reasons: strength—was able to fasten them to the sliding seat frame as well as the gunwales (& significantly reduce the size of the hull frames), and aesthetics—the oarlocks need to stand quite a bit above the gunwales. Having the riggers as a flat plane all the way across would look pretty awkward sitting atop a very shapely hull. It takes about 30 minutes to convert it to a single or vice versa. The hull weighs 75lbs. Rigged as a single 99lbs. Rigged as a double 118lbs. Cruises at about 4- 4.5 kts. Casual sprints get it up to 5.3-5.5 kts. I have to say, I absolutely love being in the swing as a double. Intoxicating!