Badger

Benford 34ft Junk Rig Dory

After a summer cruise to the West Coast of Ireland Annie and I decided that Sheila (ex 6m racing yacht) was not really suitable for long distance voyaging. I had seen a small sketch in a yachting magazine describing a Benford plywood dory plan. This looked easy to build, roomy, seaworthy and would enable us to try a junk rig. Badger took us three years to build, in the open, in Lancashire. We both had jobs to pay for the materials and work whenever we had free time while living on the incomplete boat. She proved to be an excellent choice and took us to many remote places over the years. We were enrolled with the junk rig.

📄 Building Badger — Full account by Pete Hill

Posts about Badger

A Passage South

1 January 1998 Badger VOYAGES

Cruising seems to be feast or famine. After the non-stop conviviality of the splendid RCC Azores Meet, we now planned to spend nearly three months on our own, sailing down to Cape Town with only a short stop in Brazil to have a break and replenish our water and supplies of fresh food. On 3 […]

Meta Ursa Incognita

1 January 1997 Badger VOYAGES

This cruise was awarded Juno’s Cup by RCC. Annie and I crossed the Atlantic to the West Indies for the winter in 1996 and sailed up to Nova Scotia from the Virgin Islands the following April. When we arrived in early May, we were a little surprised to find it frosty and that all the […]

A Penguin on the Foredeck

1 January 1995 AWARDS Badger VOYAGES

This is the cruise for which the RCC Challenge Cup and the Goldsmith Exploration Award were presented. It was with some trepidation that we sailed from Stanley in the Falkland Islands, outward bound for the Antarctic. Our original plan had been to visit South Georgia and then sail on to Cape Town. In the winter, […]

Badger to Beaver and Back

1 January 1994 Badger VOYAGES

We don’t usually take crew along on our cruises, but Steve Spring is an old friend and he expressed a desire to visit the Falkland Islands. He thought it unlikely that he would ever get there in his own boat and so the arrangements were made. Steve lives in Ohio and, after trying several travel […]

South to Stanley

1 January 1993 AWARDS Badger VOYAGES

The cruise for which the RCC’s Romola Cup was awarded. Although we had intended to leave England directly after the Beaulieu Meet, it was not until 26 September that we managed to sail from Falmouth. A minor overhaul of Badger’s motor had turned into a major re-engine job, when the cost of repairs turned out […]

Aboard Badger

1 June 1992 Badger BOAT BUILDING

Pete and Annie Hill We have found Badger performs at her best to windwards with a F4-5 and wind over tide – e.g. beating up a river against the ebb, because in a chop the foremast starts to ‘pile drive’ and ruins her progress. We have tacked through 85°, but in the above conditions would […]

Inter Coastal Waterways – BVI

1 January 1992 Badger VOYAGES

Pete & Annie Hill We spent some time in Halifax, Nova Scotia. From there we’ve been working our way south. At present we are in St. Michaels. We stayed around a few days and then set off South. It was very cold and we had ice on the dinghy in the mornings. We decided to […]

North to Uummannaq

1 January 1991 Badger VOYAGES

It was either Greenland or Greece; we hadn’t decided just where to go for our summer cruise. Annie, who dislikes being cold, wet and frightened, felt that Greenland would give her too much of all three; I reminded her that ‘strenuousness is the path of immortality’. She wasn’t impressed. However, we had the good fortune […]

Cuban Coffee

1 January 1990 Badger VOYAGES

Pete and Annie Hill sailed Badger from the Solent to the Caribbean via the Algarve and the Azores, re-crossing the Atlantic to visit family in Scotland and thence to Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The return journey to Warsash nonstop from Limfiord was marred by a F 9 gale in the German Bight during which Annie hurt her back. In eleven months they covered 13,634 miles. This article concentrates on the Cuban section of their marvellous cruise.[…]

Badger Heads South Again

31 December 1985 Badger

We left our winter berth in Skippool Creek, Fleetwood at the end of May. There was a gale force warning in force, but then, there usually is, and anyway, the tides would be falling soon, and we wanted to get off while we could. Twelve hours later, we were hove to off the Isle of Man in a steady force 8. [by Annie Hill]

Badger – Shoal Water Cruising

4 January 1985 Badger VOYAGES

In the Caicos and the Bahamas the water is crystal clear and most of one’s navigation is what the Americans describe as “Eyeball”. This was just as well because our echo sounder chose to pack in two days before our arrival in the Turks. Our first anchorage was in Cockburn Harbour, which we shared with […] by Annie Hill

Badger - Virgin Islands to the UK

1 May 1984 Badger

We left the British Virgin Islands on 23 May 1984 and headed due North. In fact our course towards Shelburne, Nova Scotia, took us directly across Bermuda, so that we had to make a slight detour to avoid that particular hazard. [by Annie Hill]

Badger Scotland to Canaries

3 January 1983 Badger VOYAGES

The week before we left La Palma we had the most appalling weather there. Due to the way moorings were laid for local boats, we were all anchored so that we tended to lie across the wind. The anchorage was extremely crowded, as Sou’westerlies were still prevailing, with, as yet, no sign of the Trades. […] by Annie Hill

Building Badger

1 January 1983 Badger BOAT BUILDING

We want to add more about building Badger but that is still work in progress. It was a long time ago. Our next major undertaking was the removal of Badger’s keel and the fitting of a new one. The most difficult bit was getting the old one off, as we had glued it on with […]
📄 Building Badger — Full account by Pete Hill

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