My friend, and Acorn builder, Peter Furze built Selkie about four years ago.

He added an extra strake on top which has the effect of making his look a little finer than some of the standard to plan ones I have seen. (It's now incorporated into the drawings)

Peter has an outboard motor on his, hung on a bracket to one side of his own design and manufacture. It works, but for me the jury is still out on that one. He got Don Lucas to do the sails in traditional materials, and it looks truly majestic. I had a very happy day sailing with Peter and his friend and mine, Ronald Jesche (who has built a very good 'Shearwater' and a Bruce Kirby Norwalk Islands Sharpie 31 and most recently an Iain Oughtred Grey Seal) a couple of years ago.

I took a video camera and made a small film which we have since sold a couple of dozen of to interested builders around the world. Peter's boat also has featured on the cover of Australian Amateur Boat Builder, accompanying a two page colour centrespread on the building and sailing of Selkie. My impression was of an easily trailed and surprisingly roomy boat with real sea capability and a wonderful pocket cruiser for two people, four people day sailing. Selkie moves in the slightest breeze and stiffens nicely when the wind pipes up. Best of all, like all her sisters, she makes a wonderful chuckling sound as she moves, with the tickle of water under her lands. We recently saw Wee Seal with a small inboard motor; fitting it seemed to be the work of Houdini but, apart from the fact that it was a petrol motor, it seemed to point to the ideal solution for auxiliary powering of this vessel.

Now Andy Cianchi is building one from a kit in Hobart. These are available as either a Yawl , Gunter Sloop or sloop rig.

The design is a 'boatbuilder's plan', i.e. not fully detailed for amateur construction. However a determined builder of limited experience could certainly build the boat.

The hull is really that of a big dinghy, with no difficult curves anywhere. She looks very fine, and builders have been delighted with her performance and handling. The Islander is well balanced and responsive, and feels well able to handle and normal sailing conditions.

The lines show a firm-bilged hull of moderate displacement, quite fine-ended at the waterline but with plenty of reserve buoyancy in the ends. The elegant transom is quite broad; it is clear of the water at low speeds but with the tum of the bilge carried right aft it gives her something to lean on when hard pressed. In this way the hull really makes full use of its waterline length; she is quite a big 20 footer. But although drawing very little, she gets herself to windward quite capably, with the fine entry.