Description
The First Mate and Phoenix III are closely related 15-foot beach cruiser / sail-and-oar designs by Australian designer Ross Lillistone (Bayside Wooden Boats). Both are highly regarded for solo or two-person adventures: daysailing, camp-cruising, rowing in calm, or light outboard use in shallow coastal waters, bays, or lakes. They're lightweight, trailerable, and excel at multi-mode versatility (sail/oar/motor) with excellent performance, easy capsize recovery, and roomy cockpits for sleeping under a boom tent.
The Phoenix III (original, more popular design) came first, inspired by a larger boat from Ross's father. It's built using glued-lapstrake (clinker) plywood construction—elegant with overlapping planks but more challenging for beginners due to bevels, gains, and needing a strongback/mold setup.
The First Mate was developed later as a simplified "sister ship" for easier building, requested by an owner who wanted the same performance but less complexity. It uses stitch-and-glue (taped-seam) plywood construction—no strongback required, quicker assembly, and more forgiving for amateur builders while delivering nearly identical on-water behavior. They share sail plans.
