Snipa, pointed and rounded

You often hear the name snipa on a boat, a name that is often mistaken on some boats. But the name is associated with the older open boats that were very slender in their lines and pointed in front and stern. These boats were light-rowed and really adapted for more protected water, but despite that we find many snipa used in the open sea. Like Ölandssnipan, Gotlandssnipan, Skånesnipan in southern Sweden. In the lakes we find Vänersnipan and Vättersnipan. The most "pointed" boats are found in Norway's fjords and coasts, such as Oselvern and the <>Nordland boat, extremely slim boathull for rowing and sailing.

The use of the boat has played a big role, for fishing with heavy gear out at sea, the slender snipa was not bearing enough. The boat builder was filling up with a more mellow stem and stern, but now the boat was not as a pointed snipa anymore, and we call this boat for rounded. Such developed in Bohuslän with its rough sea, where the boat type also got its own name, the Kosterboat.

In the Koster Islands there were formerly skilled boat builders who probably named the boat type. Early, they started building deck on the boats to increase safety, which also spread south of the country. In Blekinge there have been many talented boatbuilders, and at the end of the 1800's they began to build rounded boats that were also covered with a deck. Strangely enough they got the name Kosterboats or even Blekingekosters.

Unfortunately, we are losing the real name on our boat types and sometimes we hear "kostersnipa" for example. What is it? A rounded or pointed boat?

The snipa has originated in our nordic boats from earlier times. Viking boats were snipor, very slender and really pointed, typical for the time when the stems were high, which is something left in most of our boat types, but not so high, the stems is just a little bit above the boat hull, and this is only to be beautiful. The nordic snipa is beautiful.