The bay of Fundy has about as big a tidal range as you'll find anywhere in the civilized world (if you call it civilization.)
My first sailboat was a twin bilge keel model made to stand upright when left moored in an area with high tidal fluctuations. Regular keel boats would lay down as the tide went out and might take water before they stood upright again or damage their hull if they settled down on a rock.
It was an English made boat, an auxiliary sloop by Silhouette Marine. Its inboard auxiliary engine was a Stewart Marine sea water cooled 1 1/2 HP @1500RPM 4 stroke hand cranked Lucas magneto fired little lump of cast iron that always worked, sort of. It could push the 17 foot cabin model cruiser up to about 5-5 1/2 MPH.
It would have been quite at home at Fundy. It had a fairly short mast and small sails indicative of being designed for an area with ample wind and of course the twin keel feature that allowed it to stand upright when fully abandoned by the sea at low water.
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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