Hello. I am looking for a few individuals who are willing to provide technical information that I will use in a fiction novel. Basically, I just recently started a new
project and the main character will be sailing in various places. The problem: I know absolutely nothing about sailing. The good news: neither does the main character. That being said, I still need to know how to make a fool of the character as he learns on his trip.
So, to start, I need to know what type of sailboat I am giving my character. There are a few necessary features that I need in order to fit with the other elements of the story. They are as follows:
1. The sailboat needs to be small enough that it can be sailed by one person, but large enough to have some presence.
2. It needs to be of a type that is wooden and could have been handcrafted.
3. Similar to an 18th century design.
4. Have that decorative long pointy thing that juts out from the front. (I know--I don’t even have a clue as to what that is called. Call me pathetic, but please give a name for it.)
The back story for this item is that it was made by the main character’s now deceased father, who never sailed it--as he didn’t know either. He was just fixated with the idea of sailing. Therefore, since it was designed by someone who ultimately only knew the theory of sailing and not the actuality, there’s a lot of room to make this a truly odd but functional sailboat.
Any suggestions as to what kind of sailboat might
work? If so, can you point me in the direction of some photos? My brain is numb from searching through photos and having no idea what will fit and what won’t.
PLEASE HELP.
Once that’s figured out, I’ll have a lot more questions, but it’s probably good to start here.