A woman win a major Globe Girdling Yacht Race, bravo Wendy 
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Women can sail, who knew?
Best skipper Iâve sailed with, was a lady skipper with the OYC in Scotland Tim 
Here is one excellent sailorâŚ
Father was a merchant navy captain and built his own boat, he couldnât get my mother anywhere near it even on the Norfolk Broads.
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Wow⌠what a clever chap⌠any photos of his boat ??..
The Norfolk Broads⌠brings back happy memories including âRoys of WroxhamââŚ
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Clever chap he might have been but the boat was a pain in the arse, it took him years to build and involved bending wood to shape in the bath which meant having to wait until the shaping was correct before cleansing onself, the boat was kept outside my bedroom in the winter and blocked all the light, I never knew whether it was day or night when I woke up!
No photos as theyâre in the UK with my mother, surprised she hasnât burnt them all as she hated the thing.
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Poor fella, quite an achievement.
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I appreciate that the âboat-buildingâ part of your childhood⌠may not have left the happiest of memories⌠but I rather wish we could see your Dad working on it⌠a YouTube video⌠I reckon that would be fascinating⌠
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A guy near where i lived built his own sea-going boat in his back garden,from concreteâŚnot as mad as it sounds,Aeriated concrete DOES float! unfortunately he hadnât realised the size of the finished articleâŚas well as having to hire a massive crane;he had to demoilish an extension he built after starting the boatâŚ
Just a minor folly compared to the man who refitted his round the world yacht with re-claimed mahogany;when they inspected it for its seaworthyness test,he was informed it wasnât marine-grade and he couldnât even launch itâŚ
Concrete is no âmadderâ than steel Ian (which I built my 22ton boat from), seen a lot of ferrocrete boats, never heard of aerated concrete though, what is it?
Where was this boat built, that had to have a âseaworthynessâ test?
As far as i know it was some special foaming additive added to normal
concrete.it was about 30trs ago on Merseyside,at the back of small
semi in,i think,Whiston.a few streets away from where my in-laws
family lived.it gave the neighbours a chuckle.
The mahogany mess was being inspected by the insurers for
sea-worthyness,before they would give it cover for another loop around
the globeâŚthe owner, i was told,had already done the trip TWICE!
Not heard of the foaming agent Ian, I gave serious consideration to concrete before I settled on steel, definitely a lack of forward planning there, re the extention 
I wonder if it was not marine grade ply? referred to with the other boat?
Mulberry Harbour for D Day Landings was essentially composed of concrete âboatsâ . Well floatable units. Itâs just a matter of getting the displacements right.
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Right Dave, some thought, building iron ships was âmadâ
Uncle of mine was Skipper of one of the tugs hauling the Mulberries to Normandy.
This Boaty-McBoatface conversation stirs something in my blood, though I was born in the Midlands and am not an Old Salt like you others.
But my great grandfatherâs brother George Goble built famous schooners on the Great Lakes so thereâs a twitching matelot gene somewhere in my make up. I did sail little toy yachts in a local pond as a tiddler, it used to be a popular Saturday morning past-time for little boys, I wonder if it still is?
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Did the schooners operate on the Great Lakes Peter? I thought Baltimore was the main building centre.
Sailing model boats is a popular pastime with âbig boysâ on the Etang at Questembert 56, there is a thriving modeling club there.
There seems to be a lot of similar stuff on-line about the Goble shipyard and the old manâs schooners here, Bill. I sort of thought it might have been Baltimore too, but Iâm no expert and my Dad and all his siblings are long gone now.
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What a shame you canât find out more Peter, seems the yard were significant builders.
I am curious, what trade these ships were engaged in, a lot of American schooners were employed on the Grand Banks, cod fishing.
A famous one was âBluenoseâ, beautiful, fast, gaff rigged schooner 