Mike Field turned a lifelong love of the books of Arthur Ransome into a reality when he bought the traditional 15' clinker dinghy, Aileen Louisa Sourcing and fitting period fittings for her in the late 1990s sparked a parallel career for Mike, and since then he has run Wooden Boat Fittings, now a leading supplier of traditional deck fittings for classic boats. The company’s motto is, “We Help People Complete Classic Boats Authentically”.
Mike Field bought his first boat when he was in his fifties. Having thrived on a diet of Arthur Ransome books as a boy, Mike wanted not just any boat, but a wooden boat—in point of fact an open clinker boat like Swallow or Amazon. And after some searching he found one.
Aileen Louisa, as his boat is now called, is 15' long, has a 5' beam, and draws about 6" with the centreboard up. With her wineglass transom, fine quarters, straight stem, and long keel she is an excellent pulling boat (moving along nicely with about one stroke for every boat length).
But she is also sloop-rigged for sailing, with a sprit mainsail of 100 square feet and a flying jib of 20 sq ft, set on a removable bowsprit. Apart from the antifouling underneath, she's varnished inside and out. She is a very burdensome boat, having been known to ferry six adults, two teenagers, and a two year-old on a three-mile river cruise using her outboard motor, while maintaining a freeboard of twelve inches. She is normally sailed though, and for this purpose carries inside ballast in the form of six small sandbags under the burden boards.
She is Mike's pride and joy.
"...a fast little boat and a steady little boat, in fact the best little boat that was ever built."
Arthur Ransome on Swallow
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