Sid Skiff: Navron
Sailing the Sid Skiff is an adventure all it's own!
Boat Type
Location
Year Built
ca. 1970s
Beam
4.9
LOA (Length Overall)
14.5
Boat Plans
Project Sponsors
Website Link
Oral History
The Sid Skiff's planking is Red Cedar over steam-bent White Oak frames, copper fastened. Navron is an excellent rower and gets lots of use in the livery. Last year she was given new copper fastenings, and this year she received a new centerboard trunk.
Boat Story
Sid Foster was the harbormaster of Richardson's Bay at Sausalito, California in the 1960s. A British expatriate experienced with heritage boats, Sid sailed and sculled along the 3-mile harbor and bay in a classic lapstrake skiff. While checking out the boats moored or at anchor, people often admired his boat. Ray Speck, a Sausalito boatbuilder, got permission to make replicas. Speck took the lines off of Sid's boat, which was about 12½ feet, and built a series of similar designs up to 16 feet in length.
There is no provenance of the original Sid Skiff, but we do know that Sid has a good eye for a proper boat, based on his waterfront experiences in Britain's waters. This boat represents the standards of design and construction that Sid valued.
