Introduction

Purpose

A9m "Freebird" A011 in Baltimore (IRE)
Photo John Lashbrook.

The purpose of this site is to provide a repository for information and articles useful to owners, operators and prospective owners of Achilles yachts.

Posting

To reduce work load on admin(s) there are facilities for anyone to post, subject to moderation. 

Straightforward posts are best submitted by e-mail, as described below, but individual users who want to provide a more complex post and who have a Google account can request access to post as a "guest author" or, by agreement, send unformatted text, word documents, pictures etc by email, for admin to format for the blog or a page.

As and when time permits admin(s) will index posts sent to the blog into one of the categories shown on the menu above or on the right side bar. Admin(s) may also consolidate a series of posts onto a dedicated page or, if a series of posts becomes separated by many others, they may edit the blog posts to link them together. 

The site is not intended for a couple of happy snaps and a comment about how nice it was sailing xyz boat at abc location, that is more appropriate for Flickr or Facebook. It is for more thoughtful pieces on maintenance, restoration and sailing Achilles boats or longer pieces (or series of pieces) on voyages that may be of interest. However a piece, short or long, giving information about an anchorage, marina or tricky piece of pilotage will always be welcome either as a dedicated piece or a short post with a link to a blog.

To get a feel for things and perhaps for some further guidance please review the appropriate index pages before posting, at the time of writing the main ones are "Maintenance & Restoration", "Seamanship, safety & equipment" and "Trip Reports". 

Subject to moderation, text only comments (including links) can be made on any post or page and a respectful post with an alternate view will be accepted, but this is not intended as a discussion space so questions and posts clearly intended to generate a discussion will not be accepted, again those belong on Flickr or Facebook. If you have a Google account sign in and use that whilst posting and you will be able to edit the item, anything posted anonymously can only be edited by admin.

Anyone with an Achilles related blog is encourage to send a link to admin so that a link can be put on the site, a reciprocal link will be expected and that will help promote both sites in google searches.

If you have good picture of an Achilles boat, preferably on the water, email it to admin and it will probably be found a place somewhere on the site, if a sufficient number are sent in a "Gallery" page be will set up to display them.

Posting to the Blog by email:

This is appropriate for fairly straightforward posts to the Blog that are likely to be candidates for indexing on one of pages on the menu bar at the top of the page. 

This is not appropriate for reference pages in pdf format, Excel spreadsheets etc. they can only be handled by admin(s)

Click here for an example and more info

Remember that this will be emailed to an admin who may be at sea with limited bandwidth so adjust the picture to the size of a reasonable monitor then compress it.

e-mail the post to AchillesYachtOwners@gmail.com,  assuming it is not spam and conforms to the rules the admin with forward it to the blog.

Introduction to Achilles Yachts.

A very early star cut spinnaker
with the 3 digit sail number.
Photo John Lashbrook.

About 800 yachts of several types were produced by Butler Mouldings between the early 1970s and late 1980s. This site is a reference site for information about all of the recreational boats by Butler Mouldings boats except for the dinghies, mainly 505s and Finns made in the early days (IIRC they were well made but heavy and the 505 was, like my wooden Mk I, only competitive in heavy weather when the extra stiffness helped). 

For Chris Butler's view of the origin and development of the Achilles range of boats see the page "Origins of Achilles Yachts".

If you have any information which is not included please get in touch, a comment below will reach an admin or e-mail.

The builder did not put hull numbers on all of their boats so they referred to boats by the sail number using 3 digits although later sails may omit the leading zeroes.

On the Flickr site and elsewhere a short hand description has evolved for the main types and is used extensively on this site, they are self explanatory! The number of pages per type (or types on a page) depends on the amount of information available, see the menu bar above.

Rules, Disclaimers, etc.

• The information contained on this site is for guidance only.
• Owners should take professional advice if they are unsure of any action.
• Pictures are copyright of the owners but may not be known.
• No commercial adverts.
• No questions - those should go to Flickr or Facebook.
• WIP!