Jenny Wren is three sheets, 1 @30" x 36", 2@ 24" x 36"

click picture above to enlarge

Sometimes, dreams get passed through generations. Here's a pleasant one that was conceived by Charles G. Davis somewhere around 1905 and remembered by Weston Farmer in 1976. No doubt she'll spawn more fantasies.

click to enlarge

Jenny is a 21' 8" canoe-stemed yawl of a type that seems to stir the romance in many sailors' souls. She's small enough that we can think of clearing out the back yard and laying her keel. She certainly would be easy to daysail and yet capable of serious cruising.

Davis gave her easy bilges and, by today's standards, extraordinarily symmetrical waterlines. Farmer took the trouble to calculate that the little yawl has a nearly perfectly balanced metacentric shelf. There should be no complaints about Jenny's manners under sail. However you might explain the phenomenon, symmetrical waterlines tend to produce balanced steering.

click to enlarge

Jenny will surprise some contemporary skippers with her handiness. Her solid stance and spread-out canvas will let us show off in tight quarters. By backing the jib and mizzen in various combinations, we'll be able to put her right where she wants to go. And she'll have the power and momentum to be a fine ghoster. Light weight might be well and good, but it won't help us punch through powerboat wakes after the sea breeze fades.