Ottawa Area Model Yacht Club

Greg Grant of the Ottawa club sailed his model of Cariad which was built by E. Rowles at Pill, near Bristol, in 1904. Greg has recently built an exquisite row boat which he towed with Cariad. Greg built his model Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter over the course of two winters, finishing spring 2014. Plans were purchased from Christopher Wynn Brown, Cardiff, Wales. It is built to 1:15 scale; hull is fully planked red cedar on hollowed out plywood frames and covered outside and in with 1.5 oz glass and epoxy. Deck is 5/64" poplar planking over 1/32" ply subdeck. Pine deck beams. Sails are sewn from fine weave light weight cotton, dyed light tan colour, hemmed and bolt roped. Sail marking is Cf (Cardiff Register). The topsail is easily removed when the wind comes up. Control is by one sail arm servo for all sails: HS 815 BB, and rudder servo: HS 425 BB. Rudder area was increased on the model by about 25% over scale to improve steering response. CARIAD was the last working sail-powered pilot cutter in the Bristol area by 1922, when powered pilot boats replaced them. Later, CARIAD was privately owned, then fell into disrepair, was restored in 1997 and relaunched in 2006. She presently sails in UK waters. These vessels typically were built to sail well in the harsh conditions of the Bristol Channel, a busy shipping area in the 1800's and early 1900's. Many of these vessels were built for this highly competitive business, but only a few from that period survive today.

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