Corribee
Of course, this site wouldn’t be complete with a page dedicated to the mighty Corribee. š
My MK1 Corribee, 'Kudu'
The Corribee is a 21ft sailing boat designed by Robert Tucker. Three versions were built, in the form of the Mk1, Mk2 and MK3, with the original prototype being of wood clinker construction.
There is a junk rigged version of the Corribee known as the Coromandel, but there were also some Corribee’s converted to junk rigs.
The MK1 Corribee (my boat) has more room in the cabin than the later designs which sacrificed cabin beam for wider decks outside. The Mk1 also has a compression post under the tabernacle, where as the later boats had a laminate beam across the coachroof.
The Corribee was built in both bilge and fin keel versions, but surprisingly, according to what I’ve read at least, the bilge keel is the stuffer of the two. There are documented complaints about the stiffness of the fin keeler as well as a number of people that have added extra ballast to correct it. The bilge keel version seems to not have suffered these complaints.
As far as I can make out, the Corribee (Mk3) was built right up until the demise of Newbridge yachts in 1987.
This little wonder boat has been getting quite a lot of attention over the last decade. First off all Ellen MacArthur sailed her’s around Britain, followed some years later by Katie Miller in her MK2 (Electra), and more recently by Jonny Moore, but the mighty Corribee is much more than the defacto round britain boat of choice.
Some people take it a little bit further and turn these boats, with relatively little work I might add, in to full blown ocean crossing, unsinkable adventure machines. I’m thinking of course of Roger Taylor, who’s Junk rigged Corribee, ‘Ming ming’ seems to be about as solid a boat as they come. Check out his website here or even buy is remarkably impressive book, here.
More information about the Corribee and it’s fellow enthusiasts, see corribee.org or, of course, take a look around this blog since it’s all about my own boat.
The Adventures of Kudu 
David said,
November 11, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I used to have a Corribee (Mk2 fin), part of me still regrets selling her. Did daydream about a MK1 a while back as every little bit of extra room down below is useful……but I do prefer the looks of the later models (yeah, I am shallow!)………on the unsinkability I would go for displacement of water over foam, with sealable lockers (you can still use them for storage) and maybe even including the 1/4 berths. Could also put fixings in to rig a cargo net accross the forecabin to hold an inflated air bag (or dinghy?!)