Bay Skimmer
"Sure, she's small but shallow on the draft. That's important when you travel the Bay, son. Skimmer'll get places your larger ships won't, even if it means carrying less cargo. 'S not always about efficiency. 'Sabout getting where you're going in one piece and undrowned."While trade is important across Aurora Bay, the size and location make the waters inhospitable to larger vessels for most of the late year. The further out into the sea's water a ship travels, the more likely it is to be lost in a seasonal storm. At the same time, the shallower reaches of the Bay are remarkably hard to gauge the depth of. This meant it is not uncommon for inexperienced captains to run aground in water which looked like it wasn't going to be a problem. Smaller boats would navigate the waters just fine in fair weather, but often were tossed about and lost when even a mild wind would pick up. Thus locals around the Bay created a vessel they called the 'bay skimmer', which was designed to ride the safer waters within sight of the shores. The 'skimmer' part of the name became popular on watching the boat move at speed in the water, almost gliding over the surface. The design became popular due to being relatively inexpensive and quick to build, while maintaining a decent cargo capacity for aspiring merchants. Similar designs have become popular for use along the western coast of Erisdaire, due to water currents being unsafe once out of sight of the shoreline. However, those designs tend to have alterations necessary for ocean-going vessels.
There are three known places where new bay skimmers are built within the Bay's confines: The town of Frostwater, the Imperial-owned city of North Harbor, and the dwarves' Coldstone Hall. All three places put their own unique flourishes on the design, such as the dwarves reinforcing the underwater hull with thin plates of metal or the Imperial shipwrights adding aesthetically-pleasing contours along the sides. Most bay skimmers come from Frostwater, as they have honed their craft over countless generations and can build a functional skimmer in half the resources and a third of the time compared to the competition.
Characteristics
Like larger sailing vessels, the bay skimmer uses two triangular sails to catch the wind, with the larger sail being maneuverable to make corrections. Some versions of the skimmer include places to use oars, but this is not present in traditional designs. The deck space is mostly left open for the crew to work when underway, or to sleep on during the nights. The below-deck usually is separated into three chambers: the cargo hold, the captain's quarters, and a smaller area which contains tools and supplies for repairs and operation. At times of inclement weather, the crew can use these areas for sleeping, but any experienced sailor on the Bay will tell you "it's not really possible to sleep when the waves won't let you".Commonly, the larger part of the wood used in building a bay skimmer is softwood due to how common it is around the northern parts of Aurora Bay. Imperial-build skimmers may use hardwood exclusively, giving them a slightly heartier reputation, but this is offset by the expense and weight. The sails are made from linen, which can be found in many places adjacent to the Bay, but only the three major builders retain people experienced in making sails out of the material. It should be noted skimmer sails are not as thick or durable as those used on ships, partly as a weight-saving measure and mostly to allow more sails to be made overall.
Due to the compromises made in the design and construction, most bay skimmers can be said to last for a lifetime with the usual preventative maintenance given to water faring vessels. This charitably can be a number of decades counted on one hand, but with more invasive measures of maintenance one skimmer can become passed down through generations of owners. A notable example of this is "Aurora's Kiss", a bay skimmer serving trade routes from Frostwater to North Harbor during the reigns of three different Emperors. Despite the more robust measures dwarven shipwrights use in their efforts, their skimmers are not known to last for longer (or shorter) times than standardly-constructed boats.
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