Ideal 18
Laser
Norwalk Island Sharpies
San Juan 24
Sonar
Trinka 12
Custom Design
Master List
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Norwalk Island Sharpies
The Norwalk Islands Sharpie is a line of boats from 18 ft. to 31 ft. designed as a shoal draft weekender/cruiser
by Bruce Kirby. He used the traditions of the Sharpie and the advent of modern building materials to draw a boat
easy to build for the inexperienced. The simple cat ketch rig with unstayed masts is prevalent on most of the
designs except the 18, where a single cat rig is used. Despite the shoal draft and internal ballast,
Kirby showed in stability tests that the NIS concept is surprisingly more resistant to capsize than originally thought.
I've never sailed on an NIS boat so I can't attest to sailing ability or seakindliness, but I do take comfort
that the ancestral sharpies were very seaworthy in nasty weather and were banned from racing events because
they were too fast. |