A Celebration of The Wagtail Dinghy

"If you've moved onto bigger boats and have forgotten what fun dinghies can be, the Wagtail is the boat to remind you" - David Harding of the Practical Boat Owner Magazine.

These hand-crafted Solent dinghies are now a rare find having been withdrawn from manufacture around 5 years ago. We had our wagtail Dinghy built in 2001. A lot of research was done before we decided on this particular dinghy. We went to various boat shows, and did a lot of research online, and by other means, but we decided that the Wagtail would be the best dinghy for the type of sailing we had in mind.

Here is a promotional flier, giving details and a description of the craft:

As mentioned above, Salterns Boatbuilders of Bursledon is no longer trading, as it wound up in about 2015, so please do not try to ring the telephone numbers shown, or try to contact them by any other means!

My partner at the time, Chris, and I became well acquainted with Greg, the owner of the Boatyard, during the period that the build was ongoing, and we have stayed in touch with Greg over the years.

When we took delivery of the boat, we were given an “Owners Manual”.

Here are some extracts from it:

Dear Wagtail Owner,

We have prepared these notes to help answer the questions we get asked most frequently about how to rig the craft and to give a few guidelines on upkeep.

We will be happy to answer any questions that arise as you get to know your Wagtail, and can also give you suggestions on suitable reading material if required.

A Health Warning about Sailing:

The Wagtail is a very easy boat to sail and is stable and forgiving, an ideal trainer... but there are never any guarantees in sailing, wind, weather and tide being fickle on occasion, so safety precautions such as wearing lifejackets etc should be taken. Obviously, one should never deliberately go out in conditions unsuitable for your craft or your competence!

For the novice there are numerous courses which teach basic skills in safe and controlled conditions and they have lots to recommend them. If these are not available to you, we would strongly recommend you take an experienced sailing friend for the first few sails in your new Wagtail to ensure safe and fun sailing... we are sure your friend will not object to being offered such a treat!

Happy Sailing:

Everyone from Salterns Boatbuilders wishes you a long and happy life with your Wagtail and very happy sailing.

As you can see, it was a very informal introduction to the manual, and well written. Owners Manual extracts

And another: Owners manual extracts

The Wagtail had even been used as a piece of art, given centre stage at the John Hansard gallery in Southampton by artist Stuart Brisley. The exhibition was called 'Touching Black Ice' as an unlikely collaboration to convey two maritime tragedies, The RMS Titanic and MV Estonia. A modern looking craft wouldn't do and with Salterns being based in Hamble were local to the gallery and more than happy to loan a Wagtail for the installation.

This completes the first installment and introduction to the Wagtail, sailing adventures of her will follow! You can find all Sailing Dinghies for sale here.

A Celebration of The Wagtail Dinghy

"If you've moved onto bigger boats and have forgotten what fun dinghies can be, the Wagtail is the boat to remind you" - David Harding of the Practical Boat Owner Magazine.

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