Doodlebug Prototype

East African flatbaord design inspires a new Cornish Doodlebug sailboard.

TV reporter David Mudd interviews Cornish boat builder Charlie Hankin about a new venture called the Doodlebug at his yard in Polruan. The boat company secretary returned from travels in East Africa with a new idea for a boat design based on fishing boats he had seen. The design is meant to be light and portable and combines sailing and surfing rather like windsurfing which came about in the USA when Darby invented sailboarding with a pivoting rig.

A Doodle Bug was also a type of hydroplane boat with outboard motor and the terrifying Vergeltungswaffe 1 (V 1) Second World War bomb so named because it whistled towards the ground and then the sound would stop and an indiscriminate explosion would occur. Perhaps manoeuvrability is what they all have in common.