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By Rod Bruckdorfer
The origins of the Flicka go back over 100 years to the work boats which sailed out of Wickford, Jamestown, Point Judith and Newport, Rhode Island. These working boats evolved to meet the needs of the fisherman who sailed out to Block Island Sound to work the fishery. These work boats had a reputation for being fast, seaworthy and bringing their crews back to port safely. This is no easy task considering the weather these fishermen faced when they were days at sea. Block Island Sound, except for the summer, can go from a calm to a raging gale in a matter of minutes.
The origin of the present day Flicka goes back to the 1950's, when Bingham discovered two derelict wooden sailboats on a river just south of Wickford, Rhode Island. He did some quick sketches and walked off their rough dimensions. Later, he learned these were workboats and referred to as Newport boats by the local fishermen. Their size ranged from 22' to 28'.
Bingham found line drawings of a Newport boat in Howard I. Chapelle's American Small Sailing Craft, New York: W.W. Norton, Marine Publishing Co., 1951. The lines of the two work boats he discovered on a backwater of Rhode Island were very similar to those shown in Chapelle's book. The Flicka's heritage is clearly that of a workboat - strong sheer, bluff bow and low freeboard for hauling nets. Comparison of the Flicka's lines to those shown in Chapelle's clearly shows the lineage of these seakindly boats is related to the Newport boat, circa 1840, shown in American Small Sailing Craft.
Bingham liked the character and ruggedness of the two work boats he had found abandoned and started working with the lines of these very
seaworthy craft to create a new design. He kept the length at 20 ft. LOD, so it was affordable to the amateur builder. In the March 1972 issue of RUDDER, the first line drawings were published, "Flicka - 20 - ft. Knockabout Sloop".
The line drawings for ferrocement construction, as published in RUDDER, March 1972, are shown.
The reported specifications for the boat were LOD 20'0", LWL 18'2" (less rudder), beam 8'0", draft 3'3", displacement 10,000 lb., ballast 3,200 lb. (approx.), sail area 270 sq. ft.
As shown in these two drawings, the boat has changed. The first
published drawings show a fractional rig and a boom which
overhangs the stern, as well as a club-footed jib. The interior
shows a galley to port with a two burner cooker forward, a locker
and settee/berth to starboard and a slightly different v-berth arrange-ment than the current production boat. Although it is hard to see in the layout drawing, a drop-table is shown to starboard by the companionway ladder and extends forward across most of the settee. The forward hatch is also shown on deck, whereas in the Pacific Seacraft Flicka, the hatch was moved to the cabin top just forward of the mast.
In September of 1972, RUDDER published the first of a six part article on building a Flicka from ferrocement.
In the six months since the first line drawings were published in the
March issue of RUDDER, the designer had further refined the
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