Soclaine 1/50 Petrel 3-Masted 1908 Cancale Fishing Smack Boat Kit

These smacks trawled off Saint-Brieuc, Saint-Malo, Granville, and Cancale and were unique to the English Channel. These boats had the greatest number of sails of any fishing off the French Atlantic Coast.

The surface area of the lower sails was 45 times the width of the hull at its widest point; total sail area was 60 times this width. The difference in draught between the bow and stern, half the total draught, enabled these boats to turn practically in place. Once the sails were raised, only 2 or 3 men were needed to maneuver the boat.

The fan-shaped arrangement of the sails allowed for a larger sail surface, which makes it possible to change tack without using the lug sail. These boats were the last to use 'coasting lugger' type of sail arrangement.

Once a year, forming was called the 'caravan', the smacks went out to dredge for oysters on the Grand Banks off Cancale and Granville. The last of the Cancale smacks disappeared off the French Atlantic coast around 1950, but their fame lives on in the many tales still told of the fiercely competitive annual regattas in which they raced. In French, these smacks were called bisquines. The name comes from the Bay of Biscay.

The Soclaine range of ship model kits features:

• All wood construction
• Pre-cut frames
• Woods specially chosen for each type of ship model
• Detailed plans to scale with diagrams for each stage of assembly