ILDA Graham Stafford
is a Norwalk Island Sharpie 23 (7m) designed by Bruce Kirby – a naval architect who also designed the Laser, the Sonar Olympic class yachts, and America Cup yachts for Canada.
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irby originally designed a Norwalk Island Sharpie 26 (8m) for his own use to sail on Chesapeake Bay, Delaware, USA. There are now a range of these boats from 5.5m to 13m designs which are distributed by Robert Ayliffe via his Straydog BoatWorks, Mt. Barker, South Australia. The Norwalk Island Sharpie (NIS) are based on the traditional Chesapeake flat bottomed work boats for fishing in the relatively shallow Bay and also worked in the Carolinas. They have swing centre board and
lifting rudder to allow them to work the shallows if required. The design is also quite seaworthy as shown by Commodore Ralph Munroe in his extensive ocean cruises in his 28’ sharpie Egret in the late 1800’s which popularised the sharpie design for recreational boating in the USA. The technique in a storm is to raise both the centreboard and rudder with a drogue, and let the boat be taken along with breaking waves. The NIS’s will self-right up to 140˚ heel. This technique was proven by Robert Ayliffe when enduring cross-
ing of Bass Straight in Charlie Fisher (an NIS 23) where he encountered a 60 knot gale. They sailed from Port Welshpool in Victoria to Hobart in Tasmania without any problems.
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he maximum waterline beam is 2/3 the maximum deck beam which make the boat a ‘bit tippy’ initially but stiffens up once the boat heels a bit which also lets the leeward chine to cut through the waves. The boat is ketch rigged with two unstayed masts with three reefs in the mainsail and one in the
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