Packet Rat
Eleven Plus dinghy – © UKHBBR
Packet Rat
What with growing up, settling down, starting a family and work commitments, it wasn’t until middle life that I was able to consider taking up sailing again. A modest start seemed in order, so I looked around until I found an attractive little dinghy on a trailer.
She was an Eleven Plus and I bought her for £120 in 1983.
Blessed with a vivid imagination, I christened her “Packet Rat”.
“Liverpool packet rat,” hairy and wild and drunken, the prey of crimps and dive-keepers ashore, brave and toughened to every hardship afloat, climbing aloft in his red shirt, dungaree breeches, and sea-boots, with a snow-squall whistling, the rigging sheathed with ice, and the old ship burying her bows in the thundering combers.
Technical Data
| Dimension | Measurement |
|---|---|
| Length | 3.40m (11ft 2ins) |
| Width | 1.37m (4ft 6ins) |
| Sail Area | 6.5 sq m (70 sq ft) |
| Designer | Eric Parkin |
| Design Year | 1956 |
| Builder | Kit |
