A Boat Called Scamp

Many of the chapters in this book were abridged from articles written for Small Craft Advisor magazine. I was hoping to read about John Welsford's motivation & criteria during his work on the SCAMP, the details of design, the 12 foot LOA licensing limit for the state of Washington. This book covers little of that. The author's brief mention of Mr. Welsford is cursory at best, and could easily be confused as hearsay. There was little information about the design and construction of the boat itself other than a handful of photos. I simply tired of reading about the color of person X's eyes, person Y's hair, and the effervescent personalities of both. I just wanted to read about SCAMP, its development on paper and in the shop, and its subsequent sailing trials. There is a plausible account of sailing the SCAMP down a river, with its inherent trials and tribulations. But it lacks details about the actual sailing on the river. I was looking for a clever book similar to Herreshoff's The COMPLEAT CRUISER or John Isaacs' An AEROPLANE AFFAIR. This book reads more like a marketing portfolio of Small Craft Advisor's staff.

A good read of how the Scamp came to be and the players that made it happen. Real life stories of skippers and their travels in this craft. Only negative is that it's to short, more scamp stories please! Lol.

Got the impression they were trying to sell me one.

Largely reprints from SCA magazine. It does put it all in one place, so I don't have to try and remember where to find specific information.

Great story outlining the birth of a new family of sailboats. The book highlights the designers and contributors to the creation of a new sailboat. ThisSailboat exhibiting excellent sailing characteristics beyond what is to be expected of such a small craft.

Love this boat and met Mike Monies one time. I love the twin stories of the builds and makes me want this boat even more.

You just can not beat Herman when it comes to writing about boats, or the folks who sail them.

Great boat, great book

Look elsewhere if you want to learn more about the design of the boat. This book is all about the people linked to the launch of the boat and includes no new information on the design brief or detail regarding the design.

a short tale a out the birth of a short boat.at times the tale runs into shallow waters, short on fun long on tedium. but at other times, the narration. soars; two men in a small boat sailing down an isolated river, camping ashore overnight. if you spend long moments thinking about building or sailing small sailing boats then get this book. its a lovely, albeit brief, read. 4 out of 5 only because i wanted more.