My recent post about riding the waves in Brittany one afternoon included a photo of this sweet boat, owned and navigated by my friend. This darling boat headed us out from the harbor of Paimpol with a safe return later that day. My friend recently sent me more information about the boat and I thought you might be interested in knowing more about it.

My friend named the boat, FANNY.

These are her comments: It was built in Paimpol (northern Brittany village) to a specific local design with the length of it being 4.8 meters (or approximately 15 ft 9 inches long).  It was called a “Canot Paimpolais” and built to sail the coastal waters. 

It had what they call a ‘Gaff Rig’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaff_rig). That is a sort of squarish sail that was raised up the mast with a piece of wood called a ‘Corne’. It is not a fast sailing boat but easy for one person to manage. (We did not have the sail up that day. We were motoring around the sea.) 

The actual boat was not very deep but quite broad with a sort of “bulgie bottom” to hold the fish.  In the old days, often women were given one if they lost their husbands at sea.  They would then use them to go fishing and also to sell fish to help feed their families. 

They were then referred to as ‘Pee Boats’!  Because the women would pee in the boats when out to sea!!!  I am happy to say I never had to follow in their footsteps.  I was very sorry to sell her but two wooden boats were just too much work.