This diminutive 8′ simple flat bottomed scow developmental racer seems to be a type of boat I keep coming back to.  Not because the design is inherently better than others, quite the opposite in my experience, but because of the great community of people who build and race these boats.  Not to mention the opportunity to experiment with rigs!

I have built 3 Puddle Duck Racers and don’t doubt that a 4th boat will show up in this blog as a new build.  First one I built in two days in my parents garage in Houston, TX using my own design and sailed it to a third place with in the 2006 Puddle Duck Worlds before giving it away to a father and son before flying back to Ohio.

Second one was again to my own design with a windsurfer rig.  I  won first place in the red-top regionals then placed 5th at worlds despite missing the first race.  I won the two races I did participate in.  I gave this boat away before driving back home to Georgia.

The third Puddle Duck was the ECDuck built to do the Everglades Challenge in 2012.  It was the toughest year and I was the last sailboat to drop out with only two class 4 boats finishing that year.  Still have this one.  You can see my adventure in the Everglades Challenge at: