Truly beautiful sailing workboats, these Pilot cutters absorb our belief once again, that the dated architects using only wooden half models could in fact perform without a computer. Lovely episode, simple marvelous cinematography and editing.
we love them , and always try to get a photo or video of them when we come across them. Currently in the Caribbean and we see the local boat boys and fishermen with very light planked skiffs with high bows (for the big ocean swells ), they are sadly no longer sailing, (just big outboards) but we did come across some whaling boats on Bequia which are still sail and oar powered for tradition whaling . Surprise to us but they are still allowed to catch whales ,only by manual/sail power, only males, and a maximum of four per yr and only for local consumption. (They've only caught one in the last two yrs). Jury out on if it's really necessary but at least it's heavily controlled. Hoping to put together a RUclips on them in the future.
I really enjoyed listening to this… I’ve been lucky enough to sail on a Pill built Pilot cutter and all I can say is they must have been made of hard stuff! There’s an account which my son read out in our local church last year to celebrate the 100 years of steam taking over from sail and it’s hard to believe. A Pill Pilot Skiff was off the foreland seeking work in heavy weather and put the pilot on a ship.. as the westerman was making his way back to the skiff a wave washed him away and he was gone! The young boy was left on the skiff and he took the cutter back up to Cardiff Roads where he met his father working on another Pill Cutter. His name was William Berry and he was 12.
If anyone would like to get a better understanding of the beauty of the Pilot Cutters, look for the series of Leo Sampson rebuilding the Tally Ho (series title). Its a brilliant series (still in the making) by an incredible boat builder (Leo) and his endeavors to get this historic vessel back into the water where she belongs.
Yes fantastic series... but unfortunately they rebuilt the boat from new totally. From the original Tally Ho I think has been remained just the name and maybe some casted original piece of bronze left. Actually a copy of Tally Ho. Anyway Leo's team made a fantastic job. 👏👏
@@fernandogagliardo6618 Yes. Leo really had an internal battle with himself over the choice between refurbishing and rebuilding. I know it must have broken his heart, but the reality is that had he simply refurbished it, it would never have been seaworthy.
I have a 44ft Essex Smack that is very similar.. Slightly less draught as the Smacks had to contend with the shallow waters of the Thames estuary.. There is a legend that the West coast boys actually came up to Essex to see how the Smacks were built and they adapted the Smack design for the Pilot Cutters...
The Bristol Pilot Skiff (cutter) is generally believed to evolved from Pill, Somerset where the pilots would speak to the boat builders after being away to fine tune the vessel.. The end product is what we see in this video. If you read Peter J Stuckeys book on the Bristol Channel Pilots it will tell you that the origins of the Pilot service from Bristol is 1497 for John Cabot’s, Matthew to be piloted by James Ray and James Shepherd of Pill. Unfortunately this is undocumented but both surnames have had a long history within the piloting service! 1611 show conclusive evidence of Bristol and the merchant ventures appointing Pilots which were from Pill. John Rich, another publisher has recorded most of the Pill Pilots over the centuries in his book.. so I suppose we will never know either way when people make these claims Steven but Pill was building boats and producing seaman and pilots for hundreds of years. If it is true, well then it’s not that bad as the Essex smack is a true beauty of the sailing classics!
Lots of interesting stories around these fine vessels . I guess designs must have been refined at each shipyard they were built in , and then inevitably skippers would discuss the finer points and race each other for work . Pill certainly figures in the development histories I’ve seen . Oh to have been a fly on the wall as they were discussing a new build eh ? We were in the Scillies where the closing days of sailing pilot cutters finished as steam vessels competed for trade . Such a shame the vessels got overtaken by technology .
@@Aequitas-sailintothesunset my great great grandfather who was a Bristol Pilot served as a boy on a Sicilian pilot cutter called the new prosperous! Being a Pill lad I’m not sure how he ended up working on her but it must have been another world in the blue waters of the islands.. Pill was a rough old place to live with dirty stinking mud at low water and flooding on big springs! Unfortunately Pill always gets overlooked when people talk about these fine craft which is why us Pill Sharks tend to get a bit defensive! Lol Anyway, as I’ve previously mentioned.. you did a great job and I really enjoyed listening!
Wow , great family history to have , we were in the Scillies last year anchored in Helens pool and a working boat french fishing smack came and anchored beside us riding out a blow using what I call a old style fisherman’s anchor and then dragged , (not enough scope ). Reanchored with lots more chain out and was then fine in the 40 knots we had . Just goes to show it’s the chain that holds u ,not so much the anchor .
A couple of bits of additional info. The design of these boats was based on 3 vital characteristics: seakeeping ability, speed, ease of handling. They had to leave the harbours where they were based and go out into the Western Approaches, one of the most exposed sea areas in the world, with frequent westerly gales, and very unfriendly land to leeward. The fastest cutter got the job. Often they would wait out at sea for their next job. The pilot was transferred to the ship using a small dinghy, and then the cutter would be sailed back to harbour by the crew. 5 or 6 men? No, mate and a boy, hence ease of handling. The oft quoted fact that the small dinghy was brought back on board by attaching the painter to the main boom and then gybing, is in fact not true 😉 The mast was indeed two part, main mast and top mast (not "upper mast"), and the top mast is referred to as "fidded". Finally, the cutters had transom sterns as well as counter sterns. A famous sailor/mountaineer/adventurer, Bill (H.W.)Tilman, owned 3 pilot cutters in total, and made some incredible voyages in Mischief, his first. They threw away the mould when they made him! His books (I think 4 or 5 in total covering each of his adventures) are really worth reading.
Many thanks for that, even I knew it was a top mast and I'm a Tupperware boy.... Actually eight books all in one, and they are brilliant! Mischief in Patagonia, Mischief Among the Penguins, Mischief in Greenland, Mostly Mischief, Mischief Goes South, In Mischief's Wake, Ice with Everything, Triumph and Tribulation.
@@waterboy8999 Thanks for reminding me. I have all the books collected in one volume, and this inspired me to get it out and start re-reading. A friend of mine in the Royal Marines, Ian Duckworth, crewed for him on the fateful trip to Greenland when Mischief was lost, and doesn‘t come off well in the book. But descriptions of Ian by Tilman don‘t match with what I knew of him. Tilman was a remarkable man, and as hard as nails, but I suspect he was difficult to get along with.
@@billfromgermany you're welcome. I certainly think you are right about him being difficult to get along with. I'm going to read the books again over the winter.
Yes, the later deep keel cruisers are lovely vessels...but the cutter design is so much prettier and purposeful looking and practical ...they are just utterly perfect sailing boats.
Beautiful wooden design classic sailboats. I m buying wooden classic BRISTOL CHANNEL CUTER 26 thank you for sharing so pretty seeing video.Greetings from beautiful tropical paradise island Kauai, HAWAII.About 40years living in Hawaiian islands . I discovered Hawaii islands from the sailing books living Europe .
Hi Gary , yes your probably correct for sharp get aways when they were competing for work. I’m thinking full sail was just easier to set in a situation at St Mawes where they were just up anchor and heading for a start sequence , so no pressure till the start gun , then it’s top speed , so full sail would be required .Also the wind that day was fairly light so the more sail up the higher the boat speed until at max hull speed or wind increases and over canvased.
Absolutely fantastic boats...absolutely romantic ! 👍👍👏👏👏👏
Truly beautiful sailing workboats, these Pilot cutters absorb our belief once again, that the dated architects using only wooden half models could in fact perform without a computer. Lovely episode, simple marvelous cinematography and editing.
Couldn’t agree more, works of art , culmination of hundreds of yrs of experience and all using mostly manual tools and techniques 👍🏻☺️
Pilot Cutters are very beautiful as well as powerful!
Thank you for a great video and your insights ⛵️😎
we love them , and always try to get a photo or video of them when we come across them. Currently in the Caribbean and we see the local boat boys and fishermen with very light planked skiffs with high bows (for the big ocean swells ), they are sadly no longer sailing, (just big outboards) but we did come across some whaling boats on Bequia which are still sail and oar powered for tradition whaling . Surprise to us but they are still allowed to catch whales ,only by manual/sail power, only males, and a maximum of four per yr and only for local consumption. (They've only caught one in the last two yrs). Jury out on if it's really necessary but at least it's heavily controlled. Hoping to put together a RUclips on them in the future.
Beautiful episode filming 🎥 thanks for sharing Greetings from beautiful tropical paradise island Kauai, Hawaii. ⛵️
Love seeing these boats, I live in Falmouth and have a small RIB. I often see them racing whenever I am out and about!
Yes great to see these old greyhounds of yesterday still strutting there stuff . 👍🏻☺️
such beautifull boats thank you for posting.
Thanxs , we really enjoyed them sailing around us , great to see them still in use , and so fast 👍🏻☺️
I really enjoyed listening to this… I’ve been lucky enough to sail on a Pill built Pilot cutter and all I can say is they must have been made of hard stuff!
There’s an account which my son read out in our local church last year to celebrate the 100 years of steam taking over from sail and it’s hard to believe.
A Pill Pilot Skiff was off the foreland seeking work in heavy weather and put the pilot on a ship.. as the westerman was making his way back to the skiff a wave washed him away and he was gone!
The young boy was left on the skiff and he took the cutter back up to Cardiff Roads where he met his father working on another Pill Cutter.
His name was William Berry and he was 12.
well done video. thanks so much
Fine explanation and great views. Let's keep our wooden boats working worldwide.
Couldn’t agree more 👍🏻☺️
Very interesting...thank you very much...
Glad you enjoyed it. We’ve just seen another pilot cutter down here in Spain , will post pic/video on our Facebook page “sail into the sunset”
Funny that your sketch show s the topmast attached to the aft side of the main mast 😊
Yes, you are right , top mast wrong side - artist license lol 😂
If anyone would like to get a better understanding of the beauty of the Pilot Cutters, look for the series of Leo Sampson rebuilding the Tally Ho (series title).
Its a brilliant series (still in the making) by an incredible boat builder (Leo) and his endeavors to get this historic vessel back into the water where she belongs.
Yes fantastic series... but unfortunately they rebuilt the boat from new totally. From the original Tally Ho I think has been remained just the name and maybe some casted original piece of bronze left. Actually a copy of Tally Ho. Anyway Leo's team made a fantastic job. 👏👏
@@fernandogagliardo6618
Yes. Leo really had an internal battle with himself over the choice between refurbishing and rebuilding. I know it must have broken his heart, but the reality is that had he simply refurbished it, it would never have been seaworthy.
I have a 44ft Essex Smack that is very similar.. Slightly less draught as the Smacks had to contend with the shallow waters of the Thames estuary..
There is a legend that the West coast boys actually came up to Essex to see how the Smacks were built and they adapted the Smack design for the Pilot Cutters...
Cheeky boys!!
The Bristol Pilot Skiff (cutter) is generally believed to evolved from Pill, Somerset where the pilots would speak to the boat builders after being away to fine tune the vessel.. The end product is what we see in this video.
If you read Peter J Stuckeys book on the Bristol Channel Pilots it will tell you that the origins of the Pilot service from Bristol is 1497 for John Cabot’s, Matthew to be piloted by James Ray and James Shepherd of Pill. Unfortunately this is undocumented but both surnames have had a long history within the piloting service! 1611 show conclusive evidence of Bristol and the merchant ventures appointing Pilots which were from Pill.
John Rich, another publisher has recorded most of the Pill Pilots over the centuries in his book.. so I suppose we will never know either way when people make these claims Steven but Pill was building boats and producing seaman and pilots for hundreds of years.
If it is true, well then it’s not that bad as the Essex smack is a true beauty of the sailing classics!
Lots of interesting stories around these fine vessels . I guess designs must have been refined at each shipyard they were built in , and then inevitably skippers would discuss the finer points and race each other for work . Pill certainly figures in the development histories I’ve seen . Oh to have been a fly on the wall as they were discussing a new build eh ? We were in the Scillies where the closing days of sailing pilot cutters finished as steam vessels competed for trade . Such a shame the vessels got overtaken by technology .
@@Aequitas-sailintothesunset my great great grandfather who was a Bristol Pilot served as a boy on a Sicilian pilot cutter called the new prosperous!
Being a Pill lad I’m not sure how he ended up working on her but it must have been another world in the blue waters of the islands.. Pill was a rough old place to live with dirty stinking mud at low water and flooding on big springs! Unfortunately Pill always gets overlooked when people talk about these fine craft which is why us Pill Sharks tend to get a bit defensive! Lol
Anyway, as I’ve previously mentioned.. you did a great job and I really enjoyed listening!
Wow , great family history to have , we were in the Scillies last year anchored in Helens pool and a working boat french fishing
smack came and anchored beside us riding out a blow using what I call a old style fisherman’s anchor and then dragged , (not enough scope ). Reanchored with lots more chain out and was then fine in the 40 knots we had . Just goes to show it’s the chain that holds u ,not so much the anchor .
A couple of bits of additional info. The design of these boats was based on 3 vital characteristics: seakeeping ability, speed, ease of handling. They had to leave the harbours where they were based and go out into the Western Approaches, one of the most exposed sea areas in the world, with frequent westerly gales, and very unfriendly land to leeward. The fastest cutter got the job. Often they would wait out at sea for their next job. The pilot was transferred to the ship using a small dinghy, and then the cutter would be sailed back to harbour by the crew. 5 or 6 men? No, mate and a boy, hence ease of handling. The oft quoted fact that the small dinghy was brought back on board by attaching the painter to the main boom and then gybing, is in fact not true 😉 The mast was indeed two part, main mast and top mast (not "upper mast"), and the top mast is referred to as "fidded". Finally, the cutters had transom sterns as well as counter sterns. A famous sailor/mountaineer/adventurer, Bill (H.W.)Tilman, owned 3 pilot cutters in total, and made some incredible voyages in Mischief, his first. They threw away the mould when they made him! His books (I think 4 or 5 in total covering each of his adventures) are really worth reading.
Many thanks for that, even I knew it was a top mast and I'm a Tupperware boy....
Actually eight books all in one, and they are brilliant!
Mischief in Patagonia, Mischief Among the Penguins, Mischief in Greenland, Mostly Mischief, Mischief Goes South, In Mischief's Wake, Ice with Everything, Triumph and Tribulation.
@@waterboy8999 Thanks for reminding me. I have all the books collected in one volume, and this inspired me to get it out and start re-reading. A friend of mine in the Royal Marines, Ian Duckworth, crewed for him on the fateful trip to Greenland when Mischief was lost, and doesn‘t come off well in the book. But descriptions of Ian by Tilman don‘t match with what I knew of him. Tilman was a remarkable man, and as hard as nails, but I suspect he was difficult to get along with.
@@billfromgermany you're welcome. I certainly think you are right about him being difficult to get along with. I'm going to read the books again over the winter.
Yes, the later deep keel cruisers are lovely vessels...but the cutter design is so much prettier and purposeful looking and practical ...they are just utterly perfect sailing boats.
Didn’t think the top mast was on the back of the mast !
Nice
Beautiful wooden design classic sailboats. I m buying wooden classic BRISTOL CHANNEL CUTER 26 thank you for sharing so pretty seeing video.Greetings from beautiful tropical paradise island Kauai, HAWAII.About 40years living in Hawaiian islands . I discovered Hawaii islands from the sailing books living Europe .
We’re so envious of your new boat , wishing you fair winds , following seas and great adventures 👍🏻☺️
I'm surprized that the cutters wern't sailed of with a scandalized rig . This was always used as a quick getaway.
Hi Gary , yes your probably correct for sharp get aways when they were competing for work. I’m thinking full sail was just easier to set in a situation at St Mawes where they were just up anchor and heading for a start sequence , so no pressure till the start gun , then it’s top speed , so full sail would be required .Also the wind that day was fairly light so the more sail up the higher the boat speed until at max hull speed or wind increases and over canvased.
The second biggest and fastest one is missing Elley Grey 65 lod
Szép a futása ,gyenge szélben is , kutter
'Promosm' 😊
Megic
The « Austin Haley » styled Motorboat at min 18:00 is a Dutch Mulder Favorite 1500. Also a beautifl craft