September 4th, 2015
5 Sept 2015 · page 520 of 1306
This dang boat is one of the trickiest things I've ever drawn!
Cast: Henry Barber, Isabelle Holt, Victor Cunningham
Comments (42)
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"Hey, Winston! Pedal faster!"
Oh my !
It's so cute! They have the greatest modes of transport.
There are two things I want to know. (1) What summons does Mr Cunningham use to make it fly (2) How is he going to get it out of the garage? (Hopefully the mast folds down).
Given the comments on not wrecking this one and the fact that Ms Ashwin finds it difficult to draw, I'm giving the sailfin a life expectancy of 3 pages.
Don't care. Want.
The wall behind Vic is essentially a big door, you can see the green kinda :)
Generally, boats that size have masts that can be unstepped and stepped as needed.
The wherrys that worked the goods trade in the Norfolk Broads had masts that coukd be dropped and raised while in motion to pass under low bridges.
(Arthur Ransome describes the process - though not in great detail - in either Coot Club or The Big Six.)
Really? I thought cranking down the mast before going under a bridge was just one of those impossible tasks they give to newbies, like watching for the mail buoy or fetching a can of relative bearing grease
Nope - how you gonna move stuff up and down a river with boats with tall masts and low (non-draw) bridges?
This is Albion, the last surviving working wherry:
Lowering the mast (at leisure - also a different boat, a "pleasure wherry"):
[http://lh4.ggpht.com/-DKV1s...](http://lh4.ggpht.com/-DKV1s3d7mD0/Ul6fGnRbycI/AAAAAAAAFPI/rkoE1xJk5y8/IMGP5090_thumb.jpg "http://lh4.ggpht.com/-DKV1s3d7mD0/Ul6fGnRbycI/AAAAAAAAFPI/rkoE1xJk5y8/IMGP5090_thumb.jpg")
And, quoting [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_wherry "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_wherry"):
{When i found that by googling, it was the first hit - the second was my own post here.
=====
Damn, i hate doing HTML by hand in a teeny little comment box.
My guess on what powers it if it is summons powered, is a HIGH SENSE OF ADVENTUUUUUUUUURE!
All the summons I can recall are human traits or emotions. So my guess is that into the circles, Victor summons Pomposity or Loquaciousness or some such. The boat is then propelled by the continuous stream of hot air.
I was really looking forward to seeing the sailfin, and you didn't disappoint!
I see this is the salmon variety of sailfin.
In this story, it needs to be. It's definitely going to have to leap upstream.
Man, this reminds me of everblue lol. Flying sailboats are awesome.
Beat me to it. For those who don't read Everblue, the Skyward looks like this: [http://everblue-comic.com/?...](http://everblue-comic.com/?id=88 "http://everblue-comic.com/?id=88").
Even though I called it and already said it in the last page, I felt compelled to mention it again since I can actually see the ship now.
"So... Cunningham shipped it. Literally."
Hmmmmm is this a good time to mention I flew through a thunder storm once? Because I have a feeling that's the kind of thing that happens when Henry Barber takes the wheel.
That would enable Henry to get appropriately soaked without having to actually crash in the ocean . . .
Or enable him to get appropriately soaked, then catch on fire and THEN crash into the ocean.
Don't give him ideas!!!
Between the difficult drawing and the catastrophic foreshadowing, I fear this lovely craft won't last for long.
(And I hope that Henry's pipe survives the crash. I like how it stars in every frame.)
Let the ship set sail!
Are the wings hand operated? Is it a...row-WING boat? B)
hsss
Okay. I see mainsail, jib and centreboard, all more or less conventional.
So, do the side sails make it fly, or are they hydrofoils?
And is it named Swallow? (Or, actually, Amazon would likely be more appropriate.)
Sailfin is its name! The sides are indeed the part that makes it fly. I based it largely on a wayfarer, since my husband sailed one a few times, so he's been my boat consultant :3
Is Wanderer a one-design class?
(And i threw the [Swallow and Amazon references](http://amzn.to/1VFSkPe "http://amzn.to/1VFSkPe") in to see if i'd get any bites from fellow fans)
"These magical circles are the wind beneath my wings!" -the boat
Doomed. Oh, so doomed. xD
It's a Law or something: "the more impressive the gadget, the bigger the fireball". :P
You know, i swear i remember Michael Bay having a San Francisco cable car explode in The Rock; if a cable car can explode, so can a sailboat.
It's a law of nature. If you are in a work of fiction and own some form of aircraft, the absolute last thing you want to do is let the protagonist ride in it. Not only will it crash, every damn time but you can guarantee that out of all the occupants of the vessel, the protagonist will be the only one who survives the impact. Even an aircraft full of nothing but nameless, faceless, lineless, 100% expendable red shirts has a better chance of landing safely with all its occupants alive and in one piece.
The Protagonist's love interest, if present, also has a 50-50 chance of survival, but if so, it's even odds which of them will be injured.
Well, we know this one survives.
Or, as our dear friend Murphy used to say, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."
And it was totally worth it!
Couple of observations over the past three pages.
The device Vic was trying to imbue Hope into was a clockwork 'test engine' whether it was a 'jack-in-the-box' or whatever others have speculated. What made me think that was an episode of Transformers: Prime, where Ratchet tests a formula of synthetic liquid Energon in a simple Cybertronian engine. As the Sailfin shows, it's easy to apply summoning circles to sailcloth... not so much to imbue metal cogs, springs and wheels.
On the crate with the FRAGILE warning, there is a book, along with a plate, fork and mug. There's also what looks like a can(?) on its side. This indicates that Vic has toiled long and hard on this project and has at least had working lunches in his garage.
Also, it just occurred to me the irony of the FRAGILE crate being shown just as Henry hopes that this Sailfin is less fragile than the last one.
Glad someone noticed the plates and such :D He is much less fussy than later generations of his family.
Dang everywhere I go there's fairportfan
Though Idunyken deserves a keelhaul for that pun.
Ooh, I do hope there's going to be a boom gag at some point...
Was that Yes/Roger Dean reference "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragile_(Yes_album)") intentional or accidental?
Yep, a flying boar
I can't believe NO ONE has EVER thought of that.
And the design, too. So ORIGINAL.