OCTOBER 2021
£4.95 US$10.99
T H E W O R L D’ S M O S T B E A U T I F U L B O A T S
SPECIAL 400th SOUVENIR ISSUE
TRUE TO FORM
Clarionet back to original
SAIL IT LIKE A HIRE CAR Broads race for charterers!
PLUS
EXPERTS PICK THE GREATEST CLASSIC EVER
PALACE OF POWER Lake Como’s motorboat museum FROM MUD TO GLORY Houseboat to yacht
THE PERFECT NOTE The famous S&S one-tonner has been maximised for every rule change in her life. Now, she’s been ‘miminised’ to original WORDS PHOTOGRAPHS NIGEL SHARP
CLARIONET
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his is the story of a boat that has managed to achieve a truly impressive and consistent racing record over a period of 55 years, undeterred, it would seem, by nine ownership changes and having to comply with four different rating rules. Clarionet was designed by Sparkman and Stephens and built (alongside her near sistership Roundabout) by Lallows in Cowes in 1966. She was produced for Derek Boyer who had previously owned Clarion of Wight (another S&S/Lallows collaboration) which, in 1963, had won the Fastnet and been the top-scoring boat in the victorious British team in the Admiral’s Cup. Both Clarionet and Roundabout – which came to be known as “the heavenly twins” – were designed as One Tonners, rating 22ft under the RORC rule. They were both developments of the S&S Diana III, which had won the One Ton Cup the previous year, with Yachting World reporting that “S&S have developed still further the idea (of) a separate rudder at the after end of the waterline and an even smaller fin keel than ever before.” Both boats were selected, along with Yeoman XIV, for the British One Ton Cup team, having excelled in the British trials just a week after their launch – “a sensational first appearance,” according to Yachting World – but when they got to Copenhagen for the One Ton Cup itself, the British team “proved a sad disappointment”. Twenty-four boats from nine nations took part and, although Clarionet was second in the double-scoring long offshore race, she was sixth overall after her performance in the two inshore races let her down. Things didn’t go any better in the One Ton Cup in Le Havre the following year when Clarionet was 13th out of 21, but her many successes in those early years included overall victory in the Cowes to St Malo race in 1966, second overall in the Round the Island race and second in class in the Fastnet race in 1967, and class victories in the Lyme Bay and Cowes to Dinard races in 1968. A year or so after Clarionet was built, Derek Boyer asked Lallows to carry out a fundamental modification to her deck to improve her rating. At that time the “I”
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CLASSIC BOAT OCTOBER 2021
Above: Clarionet taking part in the BCYC regatta in July 2021 Facing page: Paul Spooner (right) and Mike Barnes (left) discuss the new sails with Daryl Morgan of Bainbridge International during sea trials
measurement was taken from the masthead down to a virtual point where the mast and side decks would intersect on the centreline in the absence of a coachroof. To decrease the “I” measurement, the side decks were raised about 2in (50mm) in this area (and faired back to the cockpit and forward to the stem) as a result of which the forward ends of the coamings were halved in height and the foremost windows were blanked off. As it turned out, this was all for nothing as the rule was changed around the same time, so no rating advantage was gained. In 1971 Boyer put Clarionet on the market and she was then successively owned by Martin Boyce, Midland Bank and JJ Rainworth, all of whom kept her in the Solent. At some point, possibly when the Midland Bank owned her, her original tiller steering was replaced with a wheel. In 1977 she was bought by George Playfair who took her to Queenborough on the River Medway for one season before bringing her back to the Solent. She was mostly sailed by George’s son Nick whose regular crew included Doug Neville-Jones, Colin Campbell and Duncan Munro-Kerr. During Cowes Week in 1979, the wheel steering was giving some concern and so Nick drove home to Kent to pick up the original tiller to keep on board as a precaution. This proved to be extraordinarily judicious because the steering seized up altogether during the subsequent Fastnet race. With the boat hove-to, the situation was resolved by cutting the steering wires, unbolting the steering pedestal, then deploying the tiller. Luckily all this happened before the big storm arrived during which Doug recalled, “we had various excitements but Clarionet looked after us very well. She was the right boat to be in that night.” They lay ahull for twelve hours and got within 55 miles of the rock before retiring. “We thought we had nothing to prove,” said Doug, “and we wanted to get back to let people know we were OK.” That was Nick’s last race on Clarionet, which was then laid up in a mud berth at the Elephant Boatyard for a year or so before Doug, Colin and Duncan decided to buy her. They campaigned her for two seasons – “winning lots of silverware,” said Colin – before Doug sold his
Logbook PUIG VELA CLASSICA
Catalonian sunshine WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS CLASSIC BOAT After cancellation in 2020, the Puig Vela Clàssica Regatta held its 14th edition at the Real Club Náutico Barcelona from 15-17 July. Despite reduced attendance due to the pandemic, a cast of boats and crews competed in the ‘Classics’ and ‘Epoch’ classes, after passing an antigen control before the first regatta. It turned out to be “one of the best” iterations of the Puig, with the Garbi blowing above 12 knots, allowing a punctual start on all three days. As the thermal wind barely raised a swell, the fleet enjoyed unbeatable conditions along the coastal routes that passed in front of the beaches and coast of Barcelona, El Masnou, Montgat and Badalona. From the start, it was clear that Andrés León’s Yanira (Bjarne Aas, 1954) and Damián Ribas’ Alba (Phillip Rodes, 1956) were going to be the protagonists in the Classics, with three wins at this regatta already
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notched up by Yanira and five by Alba. Two partial first places took the leader Yanira to the decisive day, with Alba lurking. In the decisive regatta on the last day, Alba’s victory was not enough, and Yanira hung on to win on points and raise a new Puig trophy. In the same class, Sea Fever, Emeraude and Altamar were tied before the last race, with Altamar eventually prevailing to take third place. The Vintage class was led by Scott Perry’s Fjord III (Germán Frers, 1947) and Ricardo Albiñana’s Islander (Dickie & Sons, 1937). Good crew work and a competitive boat allowed Perry to renew the victory achieved in 2019 and enter the select group that holds a double win at the regatta. The Enrique Puig Trophy, awarded to a team formed by a Classic and a Vintage, went to Islander and Yanira.
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CLASSIC BOAT OCTOBER 2021
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1 Final day racing in the Classics Class 2 12 knots+ every day made this year’s classic... a classic!
3 Ricardo Albiñana’s Islander (Dickie & Sons, 1937), co-winner of the Enrique Puig trophy
4 The crew of
Yanira (Bjarne Aas, 1954) celebrate after winning the Classics Class – the fourth Puig trophy for the yacht over 6
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5 Racing, as always, was mostly in front of Barcelona’s skyline and beaches 6 Yanira, bound for eventual glory 7 All yacht crews had to pass an antigen test before competing in the regatta 8 The crew of Fjord III, winner of the Vintage Class - a second trophy for this yacht 9 Fjord III Kathleen 10 Islander 11 Yanira
the years
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