Draws close to various sailing vessels (8)
I believe the answer is:
sketches
'draws' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'close to various sailing vessels' is the wordplay.
'close to' says to take the final letters (the 'close' to the word).
'sailing vessels' becomes 'ketches' (ketch is a kind of sailing vessel).
The final letter of 'various' is 's'.
's'+'ketches'='SKETCHES'
(Other definitions for sketches that I've seen before include "maps" , "work for artists" , "Outline drawings or short comic plays" , "Preliminary drawings" , "Short comic routines or humorous scenes" .)