Softwing
is a 1900 24ft 3in Truro River Oyster Dredger, registration number TO4. Very full in the bilge with a rounded forefoot and is considered by many to have the ultimate hull form for her trade. She is one of only a few Falmouth “working boats” to have retained something close to their original rig, as those that race in the summer months are now specifically rigged for racing. When Softwing was built these boats would have been dredging in the winter then racing in the summer when the fishery closed. She is an open boat with a foredeck to the mast, narrow side decks outboard of the coaming and a narrow deck across the transom. She is a gaff cutter with a bowsprit and was designed to be worked by one man. Based in Falmouth and sailed by volunteers of the Cornish Maritime Trust charity, whose vessels also sail from Newlyn and Mousehole. The yearly membership is from £30 each for u30’s to £40 a family. She’s skippered by Ian Woodford. www.cornishmaritimetrust.org