17' Herreshoff Coquina Class Cat Ketch (2008) - CUCKOO

I built CUCKOO from pre-cut plywood planks I purchased from Doug Hylan after his shop built the first two boats of this design. I’d dreamed of owning a duplicate of N.G. Herreshoff’s COQUINA ever since looking at that evocative photo of her, with sails up, alongside his larger cat yawl, CLARA. The original drawings don’t include rigging details, so I’ll be forever grateful to Joe Youcha for loaning me one of the Coquina’s he built for an entire summer so that I could work out the best way to rig this design. By the time Doug began building, we had confidence we were on the right track. At first, I sailed COCKOO without ballast, but later, with a couple of hundred pounds of lead in the bilge, she stiffened noticeably and was far steadier to tramp around in. I love sailing her while sitting on the thwart just aft of the centerboard trunk where I’m completely clear of the main boom and can see all around. Steering is by pushing or pulling on a line connected to the rudder that runs all around the cockpit and can be reached even when you go forward to pick up the mooring. If you sit to windward and pull this steering line, the boat heads down; pushing makes her head up or tack. Hands off, there’s enough friction for a steady course. I never secure the main sheet; it’s ready to run in the event of a puff. CUCKOO is, after all, a shallow centerboarder that can be capsized.