Eight And A Half
Gábor Majthényi with his son Mátyás, a well-known sailing personality in Hungary.
When we decided to call this website Southern Woodenboat Sailing, we assumed that we would be creating interest almost entirely amongst enthusiasts in this corner of the world.
How wrong we were! In the first month since the launch we have had followers from 39 countries on every continent (except Antarctica!). From Pakistan to Portugal, Bulgaria to Bermuda.
The Photographs and article below came all the way from Hungary. The images speak for themselves of family bonds, of patient learning, of persistence and of dreams. The words have obviously been affected by Jóka and my (and Google’s) attempts at translation but I’m sure you will glean the heartfelt sentiments from both the pictures and the words. Wooden Boats are surely a global passion.
Editor // Mark Chew
EIGHT AND A HALF,
a Hungarian Dream.
“….he began building the eight-and-a-half-meter long sailing boat in his five-meter-long apartment…”
Twenty years ago, as Gábor Majthényi walked beside Lake Balaton, about one hundred kilometres south west of Budapest, he saw an old boat rocking from side to side in the reeds.
It was a typical classic, clinker planked design. Its beautiful form gave him the impetus to embark on making a dream he had long cherished into a reality: to build a boat designed by himself. The dream is now a boat called EIGHT AND A HALF and should be launched next autumn.
Construction began on the fourth floor of his tiny apartment in Budapest, in a five-meter-long room. He had already drawn the plans for this dream vessel but many of the details are still under development to this day. There is always a new solution, a different mooring point, a sweeter design – changes occur as the boat becomes reality.
Gábor's son, Mátyás, is a well-known sailing personality in Hungary. He is passionate about the sport and blessed with a talent that allows him to move successfully between boats as diverse as Nacra catamarans and International Dragons. He never boasts about the myriad championship titles he has won and is a key member of both the Opel Fifty-Fifty catamaran program and the Wild Joe Racing team. This year, however, he completely gave up racing. Long before the virus took over our lives, he decided that this year, all that mattered was that his 77-year-old father’s boat would be ready to put in the water, so they could sail together on the lake.
Gábor in his working life had been responsible for making detailed architectural models so he already understood many of the technical aspects required to make the boat and more importantly possessed some of the manual skills to undertake the project. And the need to continually learn and explore has always run deeply in his family.
The very first sketches and descriptions from which he found inspiration were from a Scientific Dissemination Society booklet in an article on Baltimore Clipper Ships. These boats were used by fishermen on the east coast of America. Larger versions were also used for trading and some even became fighting vessels during the War of Independence. The same design was used during the slave trade, as they could escape heavier three masted ships and were even used to paddle when the wind dropped out.
These first plans were followed by more detailed drawings, this time influenced by the Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters. Based upon bulkier, less nimble fishing boats but modified for use in the strong tides, winds, currents and coastline of the Bristol Channel, their purpose was to quickly ferry local maritime pilots to and from large ships to assist in safe navigation into or out of port cities in the Channel. The speed and manoeuvrability of the cutters allowed a minimal crew in almost any weather. They could quickly arrive at and easily lie alongside larger ships for safe transfer of pilots. The craft was equipped to remain on station for days or even weeks, awaiting arrivals outside the channel.
The EIGHT AND A HALF is a scaled-down replica of these vessels and, like the cutters, the bowsprit cannot be retracted. With its reduced dimensions, it will be a boat specifically suited for lake sailing. It is 8.5 meters long, 2 meters wide, its mast carries what is by today’s standards a complex gaff rig 10 meters high. The righting moment is provided by 500 kg internal ballast make up of lead ingots. As the lake that it will sail on is shallow, it’s important to keep the draft small, so there is no external ballast. The timber keel, keelson and bow of the boat are made of swamp oak, the ribs are pine, and the planking is planned to be larch however this timber is hard to source in Hungary and Gábor is still trying to find some. He has hand made all the fastenings and fittings himself with traditional techniques and materials, and many pieces of old furniture and other timber have been recycled and repurposed for use in the boat.
The pandemic brought an unwelcome break for some weeks just as the work was proceeding well. Gábor decided that he needed to isolate and without him no significant progress could be made. But recently the father and son have begun working together again, deciding that their completely closed way of life working only on the boat, no longer posed any danger to their health. They started to build with renewed energy, in a more appropriately sized workshop rented in Agárd near Budapest.
Seeing the pair of Matyi and Gábor working together, I have the feeling that it is not the completion of the ship, but the journey that is really important to them. Father and son, working together at a steady but purposeful pace, heading towards an identical goal. There is no rush, there is only collaboration and time to work on the finer details. Every rib, every fitting, every stroke of the plane is another experience.
But there's also a little girl involved, a wide-eyed granddaughter - she already wants to sit there on Grandpa's lap at the wheel. If they can get good red pine for planking and enough lead for the keel, the boat can be launched on Lake Venice in the Autumn. Gábor is not one to ask for financial help, but he is happy to take any offers - his granddaughter and time know no compromise.
And of course, in the words of Gábor, you will be only be a true sailor, when you have built your own boat.
photos and text: Jóka Gémesi
Marketing manager of Wild Joe Sailing Team, photographer, film maker
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