Winchelsea Lugger

CLIVE MARSH discovered small boats while working for Canadian Pacific Steamships and is a past Commodore of the Merchant Navy Association Boat Club. In this series he shares tales from his 50 years of boat ownership.

Sussex beach boats and their Flobart sisters on the other side of the channel are amongst my favourite luggers. In Normandy they have a following but here in the UK we do, perhaps, take them a little for granted.

There are those among the fishing community who would use no other boat and it is still possible to get a GRP version built. They can often be purchased second-hand for a bargain and, over the years, I have owned five of them.

They are beamy boats characterised by their lute sterns which,