Photos

In Friesland 'Skûtsjes' were used to transport peat and manure to the farms over the lakes and canals.
While the ships had to navigate trough often shallow waters the skûtsjes are long flat sailing boats with mostjy brown sails and no keel but leeboards.
Nowadays these old boats are often restored and used as touring ships or house boats. The best ones are even used in regular sailing compatitions. Each village of some importance has its own race boat and the competition is subject to lots of heated discussions.
Hereby i post a rather unusual picture of two of these so called 'flat-bottomed' sailing ships.