Key details

Current boat name
Jack
Boat class
7262
Sail number
CK 91
Function
Sports and Leisure
Type
Open boat

Dimensions and specifications

Propulsion
Sail

Design and build

Designer
John Kidby
Design date
1920
Date of build
1920
Place of build
Brightlingsea

Current status

Present use
Leasure, occasional oyster dredging

History

Open, clinker boat with a centreboard, 15ft to 18ft long, rigged as a gaff sloop and used as a general runabout. These boats, which were originally old ships' boats with a gaff rig added by the Essex fisherman, were called winkle brigs at West Mersea and Bumkins on the Colne. In about 1912 Charles Kidby built a new type of boat to work in the creeks and on the flats to replace the 20ft 'haul and towing' boat at West Mersea. The new winkle brig was clinker built, but sometimes had grown frames so that they could carry the weight of the oysters and winkles in bags. (Inshore Craft: Traditional Working Vessels of the British Isles by Basil Greenhill) (Photographs by Chrissie Westgate Photography)