Country & Coast: Sad decline of coastal skills threaten future of the coble

Cobles have the same DNA as Viking longboats that were a common sight along the Yorkshire coast many centuries ago. Their clinker-built design is more or less the same, and they also inherited the longboat’s flat bottom for beach launching and the high bow which allows them to set off against the surf without half-drowning their occupants.

While the Vikings powered them with oars and big lug sails, today’s cobles have diesel engines. They are still ubiquitous in harbours from Staithes down to Bridlington, but sadly the skills required for building them are dying out.

Hornsea boat builder Joe Gelsthorpe says his efforts to get young people interested in continuing the tradition of constructing cobles have come to nothing. He and a friend, John Clarkson, recently restored a 100-year-old sailing coble, The Three Brothers, and enjoyed it so much they decided to revive the tradition of coble building. “We thought we’d show some lads how to do it,” says Joe, “and went round all the local colleges to see if we could find some apprentices, but no one was interested.” So they ended up building two 25ft-long sailing cobles themselves.

The men had no design or template to follow, just a knowledge of how a coble should look and an idea of its length, width and depth. They also knew that unlike most boats, which are built around a set of ribs, cobles are built from the inside out which meant putting the planks together first and then later on adding the ribs.

They finished off their sailing cobles with a coat of varnish and painted the interiors “Flamborough orange.” It seems that all cobles at North and South Landing traditionally had orange insides.

Unfortunately, though, the two new boats - named Misnomer and Free Spirit - have not found buyers, and rather than delighting visitors to the coast they now languish in a shed at Aldbrough. The problem isn’t so much the price-tag of £15,000 apiece but rather the lack of berths available for them. Every harbour and landing is full up and interested purchasers are waiting for one to become vacant before committing to buy.

An advantage of owning a sailing coble is that they don’t need a license to fish, a requirement that applies only to engine-driven crafts. But they do require a fair amount of skill to use in the unpredictable North Sea, particularly in what’s known locally as a “jowl” - the effect of the wind blowing in a contrary direction to the swell, creating water turbulence.

This August, there may be a chance to see an armada of cobles at Bridlington if Joe’s plan to organise a Coble Festival succeeds. He is hoping to bring boats which now operate elsewhere in the UK back to the Yorkshire coast.