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What defines a skiff?

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JimC View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: What defines a skiff?
    Posted: 29 Feb 16 at 10:42am
We're getting old Rupert...
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iGRF View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote iGRF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 16 at 11:45am
So the minisail is a skiff then?
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Cirrus View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Cirrus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 16 at 11:54am
... well what is a 'dinghy' for that matter ?
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Post Options Post Options   Quote ventus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 16 at 12:03pm
Think a minisail is a scow. Am sure Rupert will correct me if I am wrong.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 16 at 12:38pm
The Minisail, Piccolo and the other sailing surfboards caused a naming issue back in the 60s. Skimmer was the best they could come up with. Scow works for me, though.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote andymck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 16 at 5:40pm
Skiff: A flatbottom open boat of shallow draft, having a pointed bow and a square stern and propelled by oars, sail, or motor.
Scow: same with two blunt ends.
According to the dictionary anyway.

Edited by andymck - 29 Feb 16 at 5:41pm
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Rupert View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 16 at 5:50pm
Dictionaries don't do well at specialisms, whether it be science or sailing. The definition we are looking for is for boats based on the working skiffs of Sydney harbour, which turned into the flyers of today. In many ways, it is a heritage thing, as the skiffs of yesteryear don't fufill the criteria of today, if we are talking, fast, flat planing tea trays.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote SUGmeister Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 16 at 6:15pm
n. "small boat," 1570s, from French esquif (1540s), from Italian schifo "little boat," from a Germanic source (e.g. Old High German scif "boat;" see ship (n.)). Originally the small boat of a ship.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote andymck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 16 at 6:30pm
To understand heritage. You have to know what it was they derived from. The post was to show the difference between a skiff and a scow.
A high performance sailing dinghy can be either, and neither.
Quite clearly as you have said a true skiff is one derived from working boats of the skiff type, wherever in the world and time and therefore complexity that the sailors agree on.

A

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Post Options Post Options   Quote zippyRN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 16 at 8:58pm
Originally posted by salmon80

In sailing terms:

1/ Flat bottom, wide beam, single chine to slightly flared sides. Relatively large sail area and light weight giving high power to weight ratio

2/ Not built by Topper International in the late 1990s ;)

 so where does that put the 4 and 5 tonner ?
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