£4.95 US$10.99
JUNE 2022
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
END OF A DYNASTY The last ever Fife yacht FINDING ENDURANCE Shackleton shipwreck
EVENTS GUIDE This summer afloat THE SAILMAKER
Jim Lawrence
THE BIG NIGHT OUT
CB Awards evening
MISSING LINK Pain Clark yacht found WEST COUNTRY YARD
Mylor Yacht Harbour
www.classicboat.co.uk
S TUART K NOCKABOUT L. Francis HerresHoFF Design no.53
a
P air oF cLassic D aY
HerresHoFF
saiLing anD coM
Designs For
P eT iT iV e racing
DOUGHDISH N.G. HerresHoff 12 reproductioN
traditioNal aNd moderN coNstructioN
| i N t e r N at i o N a l s H i p p i N G a va i l a b l e
stuartKNocKaboutllc.com | douGHdisHllc.com
STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES, EDITOR
SUMMER IS ON ITS WAY
PAGE 23
EVENTS GUIDE For the first year since 2019, there is a sense that this summer might be something to look forward to without PAGE 42 complication. That’s a pretty brave statement in the face of global conflict, the dying embers of a pandemic that might reignite at any moment and a cost of living crisis that is impoverishing everyone. But when the days get longer and the flowers start appearing everywhere, in northern Europe at least, the sense of hope and optimism is nothing short of a miracle – albeit one that happens every year. In Britain at least, I think we can afford to be optimistic – not with any sense of trust in how summer will be, meteorologically, but simply because we know our way around disappointment so well that we are confident we can take the fall if it comes, with little more than a quiet “oh well...” And even at its worst, summer means holidays, travel, adventure, bare feet on decks and grass... We publish our annual events guide in this issue. I wonder... are you racing this summer? Or cruising? Or both? Whichever it is, let’s pray for sunny, breezy days. We’ve all earned a cracking summer this year. COVER PHOTO: NIGEL SHARP
ISSUE No 407
CONTENTS
classicboat.co.uk Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ
COVER STORY
EDITORIAL Editor Steffan Meyric Hughes +44 (0)203 943 9256 steffan@classicboat.co.uk Art Editor Gareth Lloyd Jones Group Editor Rob Peake Publisher Simon Temlett Publishing Consultant Martin Nott ADVERTISING Andrew Mackenzie +44 (0)207 349 3779 andrew.mackenzie@chelseamagazines.com Advertisement Production Allpointsmedia +44 (0)1202 472781 allpointsmedia.co.uk Published monthly ISSN: 0950 3315 USA US$12.50 Canada C$11.95 Australia A$11.95 PUBLISHING Managing Director Paul Dobson Director of Media James Dobson Chief Financial Officer Vicki Gavin Group Sales Director Catherine Chapman Head of Sales Operations Jodie Green Publishing Consultant Martin Nott
Subscription and back issues
Tel: +44 (0)1858 438 442 Annual subscription rates: UK £75 ROW £87 Email: classicboat@subscription.co.uk
Online: www.subscription.co.uk/chelsea/help Post: Classic Boat, Subscriptions Department, Tower House, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 9EF Back Issues: chelseamagazines.com/shop/
The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ +44 (0)207 349 3700 chelseamagazines.com ©Copyright The Chelsea Magazine Company 2020 all rights reserved ISSN 0950-3315
Follow the Classic Boat team on Twitter and Facebook THE
CHELSEA
MAGAZINE
COMPANY
LTD
Classic Boat is part of the Chelsea Marine Magazines family, along with our other monthly titles NEW SAILING SKILLS SECTION
4 . SONATA Meet the last Fife yacht built from scratch to an unmodified Fife III plan 18 . CB AWARDS The big night out for our annual awards, and the opening address reproduced COVER STORY
26 . PAIN CLARK’S MISSING GEM A late Pain Clark yacht has been discovered alive and well 38 . TOM CUNLIFFE Why a windvane might be a better bet than a powered autopilot 40 . JIM LAWRENCE Meet the well-known east coast bargeman and sailmaker
4 26
SONATA–THE LAST FIFE
PAIN CLARK MISSING GEM
42
COVER STORY
42 . EVENTS GUIDE 2022 The major events happening this year around the world COVER STORY
48 . FINDING ENDURANCE Finding Shackleton’s shipwreck in the Antarctic Ocean 54 . FAST MAHOGANY LIMO The 1950 Swiss-Craft is a rare survivor now living on Lake Como in Italy 62 . DECK AND RIGGING GEAR A brief guide to the shiny metalware available for classic yachts 74 . JEWEL IN THE WEST We visist Mylor yacht Harbour
48
FINDING ENDURANCE
54
with MULTIHULL SPECIAL LATEST CATS AND TRIS
MAY 2022 £4.95
YOUR SUMMER OF SAILING
TOM CUNLIFFE Channel crossing: best lesson I learned
REGULARS
47 regattas and events Plot your season here!
SHOAL WATER DRIFTERS
CLUB OF THE YEAR Who got your votes
CHICHESTER MARINA What visitors need to know
9 771367 586148
One foot under the keel
HI-TECH FOULIES New sailing kit for 2022 SOLENT SPRING TIDE Perfect weekend guide 05
TIME FOR CHANGE Hannah Mills on creating pathways for female sailors
Coverv4 - May.indd 1
15/03/2022 14:56
For cruising and racing sailors
To subscribe, chelseamagazines.com/marine
EVENTS 2022
12 32 34 36
. . . .
TELL TALES SALEROOM OBJECTS OF DESIRE ADRIAN MORGAN
38 78 80 82
. . . .
CRAFTSMANSHIP
BOSUN’S BAG LETTERS NEXT MONTH STERNPOST
70 . YARD NEWS 74 . YARD VISIT 76 . BOATBUILDER’S NOTES
SWISS CRAFT
Adria Morgan n
Benign neglect P AGE 36
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
3
THE LAST FIFE Sonata is a yacht with an audacious claim – and she’s sailing as well today as ever WORDS AND PHOTOS NIGEL SHARP
SONATA
T
he last boat to be built from scratch to a William Fife III original design. That’s a bold statement, but the words are chosen carefully and take into account other boats that might make such a claim if it was put slightly differently. Madrigal II, for instance, was built later, in 1951, but with the ballast keel and strap floors that had been used in the 1939 Madrigal that had subsequently been condemned by Lloyds, as much of her timber structure had fallen into a state of decay; and, following Fife’s death in 1944, other designs of his were modified by Archie McMillan – who had taken over the Fairlie Yacht Slip – before they were built. So it is Sonata – built by Woodnutts on the Isle of Wight in 1950 – which can claim this audacious accolade. Her first owner was Yorkshire newspaper proprietor Robert Breare who, it is thought, had approached Fife before the war and had to swear that he would definitely have the boat built before Fife would sell him the plans. The fact that it took so long to do so was partly, of course, because of the war but may also have been because Breare needed to raise the funds to pay for her (which included, it is thought, selling some of his family’s prized possessions like the grand piano). Built with a teak centreline and teak planking on a combination of galvanised steel and American elm frames, Sonata was a near sistership to the 1937 Evenlode and the 1940 Solway Maid, although the former had a canoe stern and the latter a masthead rig. Robert kept Sonata for five years during which time he seems to have raced her regularly. In her first season, for instance, she took part in the races from Plymouth to Santander, then from Santander to Bell Ile, coming 4th and 6th in Class II (with Myth of Malham winning both races) and with Yachting Monthly describing her as “a very capable ship”; and at the end of the CowesDinard race, according to Yachting World, “almost on the stroke of midnight on Saturday a dramatically close finish took place when Sonata, Joliette and Myth of Malham crossed the line almost simultaneously.” In 1958, Robert sold Sonata to DW Morphy who exchanged her petrol engine for a Penta 30hp diesel, and from 1960 there followed a trio of owners who kept her in Cork Harbour in Ireland. First came Robert A Hall, then H Perry Goodbody who, soon after he bought her, gave her a masthead rig, supposedly to optimise her performance in an attempt to gain selection for Ireland’s first Admiral’s Cup team in 1965. Although she failed in that, she did race in the Fastnet that year – probably the only time she has done so – finishing 23rd and coming 74th on corrected time, out of 146 finishers. The following year she won Class I in the Irish Sea Race from Anglesey to Cork. In third place was Moonduster owned by Denis Doyle, who over the years had four boats of that name which were part of the Irish Admiral’s Cup team seven times and which took part in 17 Fastnets. It was perhaps Sonata’s performance in that 1966 Irish Sea Race that drew her to the attention of Denis’s brother Tom, who bought her a year or so later. The Doyle family had (and still have) a thriving stevedore business in Cork Harbour and elsewhere in Ireland; and Tom had previously been commodore of
6
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above: Sonata at the start of the Cowes to Dinard race in 1950
the Royal Munster YC and Denis would subsequently become Admiral of the Royal Cork YC. Tom wasn’t as keen a racer as his brother but he did occasionally race Sonata locally, and he cruised her extensively in Brittany and northern Spain. “Sonata was a joy,” Tom’s son Conor, who frequently sailed on the boat and co-owned her for a while, told me recently. Originally, Sonata’s interior was split into two by a solid, doorless bulkhead. Aft of this was the owner’s cabin which was accessed through the companionway hatch and doghouse, and which contained berths to port and starboard, with the engine box on the centreline between them. A separate hatch in the coachroof led to the remainder of the accommodation which consisted of (from aft) a heads compartment to port and chart table to starboard; the saloon with seating port and starboard and a pilot berth to port; the galley; and the forepeak with two pipe cots. Soon after Tom bought the boat, he commissioned Crosshaven Boatyard to make various changes, including the removal of the solid bulkhead, moving the galley aft and fitting a new doghouse with two seats in it. Conor remembers that, at the time, the yacht designer Robert Clark was at the yard supervising the build of Gipsy Moth V, Francis Chichester’s last boat, and he gave some advice on Sonata’s modifications.
CARIBBEAN BOUND However, in the late 1970s Tom’s poor health and Conor’s preoccupation with Dragon racing persuaded them to sell Sonata. In fact, she had been laid up for just over a year by the time her next owners, Brendan Long and his new wife Marian, bought her in 1980. After fitting an Aries windvane steering gear and a cool
Main image: Sonata sailing off Mayflower Marina, Plymouth last year inset: The race crew concentrating at Dartmouth Classics last year
SONATA
box (she had no fridge), they decided to take her on an extended honeymoon, and they sailed her via the Canaries and Cape Verdes to the Caribbean with a view to selling her there after a year or so. At some point after they arrived in St Lucia, Dieter Assmann flew there from Germany to meet up with a charter boat called Blue Racket on which he and his compatriot Sigmondo Sacc were due to spend two or three weeks. Dieter needed to get some sea miles under his belt to gain some sort of sailing license, and he was also keen to explore the Caribbean. However, Blue Racket didn’t appear at the agreed time and place (it later became apparent that she had been stranded elsewhere with engine trouble) and, while wondering what to do next, Dieter happened to bump into the Longs. After explaining his predicament, they invited him to sail on Sonata. Dieter was immediately taken with the boat, later writing that “it was too magical. She is a true thoroughbred of the seas and wherever we went she was always the centre of attention.” For two or three weeks they cruised among the islands between St Lucia and Grenada, during which the Longs talked openly about their plan to sell Sonata, and it wasn’t long before Dieter decided he would buy her. There was a condition on both sides, however: that the Longs could continue sailing her in the Caribbean for another three or four months – “as we wanted to finish our adventure,” Brendan told me – and that they would then deliver the boat to the Med, which they did, via Bermuda and the Azores, arriving in Alicante in the summer of 1982.
BACK IN THE ORIGINAL FAMILY In 1989, the original owner Robert Breare’s son, also called Robert, saw an ad for Sonata in Motor Boat and Yachting. Having formed a strong attachment while sailing on her as a small boy, he immediately recognised her, and he and his wife Susie bought her. She was in “shocking condition” according to Susie, so after they sailed her back from the Mediterranean, a lot of work was done to the boat at Cowes Yacht Services. The engine was removed from its centreline position and, to free up some space, a new Perkins Prima 50hp was installed in a locker to starboard of the companion and connected with a hydraulic drive to a shaft offset to starboard. All the interior joinery was completely rebuilt with a new layout consisting of (from aft) a quarter berth and outboard-facing chart table to port and the galley 8
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above left to right: An original Lewmar sheet winch; Bronze stemhead fitting; Another original Lewmar winch on the mast
to starboard; then partial side bulkheads where the solid bulkhead used to be; the saloon with a settee/berth and pilot berth each side and a central table; the heads to port; and a passageway to starboard leading to a twin cabin forward. He also replaced the aluminium masthead rig with a Proctor fractional rig to match the original sail plan. Robert and Susie raced and cruised Sonata for a few years before his business commitments began to take precedence and he found he wasn’t using the boat much. So he decided to look for a co-owner and that was when – in 1999 – Patrick and Robin Caiger-Smith arrived. They hadn’t previously known the Breares but “we knew lots of people in common, and Robert was at university with Robin’s brother-in-law,” said Patrick. As it happened, from then on, Patrick and Robin more or less had Sonata to themselves. When Robert died in 2013, they took her over completely. Sonata is the first boat that Patrick and Robin have owned (“and probably the last!”). They first started sailing in Robin’s father’s 1938 Robert Clark-designed John Dory (“a lovely boat, beautifully balanced”) and from then on had regularly chartered other boats.
RECENT WORK During their ownership, the Caiger-Smiths have done a great deal of work to Sonata. About five years ago the original teak decks were replaced by Traditional Sail in Salcombe. The original deck planks were 1¾in (45mm) thick but had worn down to the extent that the cotton caulking and fixing nails were exposed. After they were removed, a 18mm plywood subdeck was fitted and 14mm swept teak planks were laid on top. Two years later, the Perkins diesel – “which had become chronically unreliable and had rusted quite badly”– was replaced by a Volvo Penta 55hp, still in the starboard locker and with renewed hydraulic drive system. The propellor is still offset, giving the boat “very peculiar handling characteristics.” As for the steel frames, “keeping on top of them is a major, major challenge, because they do rust,” said Patrick. Initially they needed repainting every three years or so, having first, of course, removed everything in their way, including the engine and tanks, to allow every part of every frame to be accessed. “Then we read an article about a new paint system with a 30-year life being used on the Forth Bridge,” said Patrick, “and we started using that.” The paint in question is Macropoxy
LAK II
Clockwise from top left: The interior joinery was completely rebuilt in 1989; The engine to starboard of the companionway with the offset prop shaft; Sonata has been raced regularly; Original steering gear; The forepeak; Secondary sheet winch
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
9
SONATA
SONATA LOA
52ft 4in (16m) LWL
35ft (10.7m) BEAM
10ft 10in (3.3m) DRAFT
7ft 6in (2.3m) DISPLACEMENT
17.1 tonnes SAIL AREA
1,067sqft (99m2)
(formerly Epigrip) epoxy and Resistex acrylic urethane gloss, both produced by Sherwin-Williams in Sheffield. “It’s a pretty filthy chemical mix but we’re very happy with it. We last did it eight years ago.” The steel frames were originally fastened with bronze bolts but these have gradually been replaced with galvanised steel ones; while about half a dozen pairs of the elm frames (originally fastened with copper rivets) have been renewed and fastened with bronze bolts. Other than that, the mild steel tanks have been replaced by new ones in stainless steel, the standing rigging has been renewed by Spencer Rigging, and One Sails have made new fore and aft sails. The primary winches and those on the mast, all Lewmar, are original. Patrick and Robin have kept Sonata at various times on the Hamble, at Shotley, in Scotland and latterly in Plymouth. From those bases they have cruised her to
10
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above: Patrick and Robin often sail Sonata two-handed Below left: Patrick at the helm and Robin behind him, with race crew Below right: Robin and a crewmate wrestle with a problem at the mast
northern Spain, Brittany, Ireland, Scotland and Norway, effectively circumnavigating Britain in the process. They also regularly race her and have taken part in the Fife regatta three times, the America’s Cup Jubilee in 2001, the Classic Channel Regatta four or five times, the Glandore Classic regatta (“particularly nice if you like Guinness”), the Scottish Islands Peaks Race twice (“It’s the runners who make the winners, not the sailors”) and the Plymouth to La Rochelle race. In total, they have sailed about 40,000 miles in her. “She is a really, really solid boat,” said Patrick, “we have never had to worry about her integrity. And what’s so lovely about her – bearing in mind she is a heavy 52-foot boat – is that it is possible for the two of us to sail her quite happily, yet there’s enough space for eight or nine if we’re racing. And she is very fast and points beautifully.”
Thendara Alfred Mylne | 1936/2014 | 36.5m/120ft 6 guests | €2.25m VAT paid
The Edmiston Classic Yacht Fleet The No.1 specialists for classic yachts proudly presents THENDARA from its peerless fleet. Beautifully maintained and presented, beaming with exceptional history, keenly for sale and available to view. Contact Mike Horsley and the Classic Yacht Team today and allow us to introduce you to some very special vessels. Mike Horsley: Tel: +33 6 09 53 16 56, MJH@edmiston.com
MONTE CARLO
+377 93 30 54 44
NEWPORT
LONDON
+44 20 7495 5151
MEXICO CITY
+52 55 52 80 95 74 +52 624 247 5852
NEW YORK
+1 212 792 5370
SAN JOSÉ DEL CABO
MIAMI
+1 786 977 4358
edmiston.com
+1 401 619 2200
Tell Tales
Classic Boat’s address: Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ cb@classicboat.co.uk
Images: Paul Wyeth
Follow the Classic Boat team on Twitter and Facebook
CHANNEL ISLANDS
First Spirit Yachts regatta this July The first ever Spirit Yachts regatta will run from 25 June to 2 July in
owners and crews, so whilst the racing will no doubt be competitive,
Guernsey, in the Channel Islands.
the socialising will also be a lot of fun.”
The event will see a fleet of Spirit yachts take on a six-race series from St Peter Port. Previously the modern classic designer and builder, which is based
yachts to Guernsey. Our famously tidal waters and navigational
in Ipswich on the English east coast, has enjoyed its own class at
challenges will make for a competitive series and a spectacle on the
regattas, but this will be the first Spirit-only regatta, a mark of the
water.”
company’s sustained success since it was founded in 1993. Sean McMillan, Spirit Yachts CEO, said: “The idea for the Spirit
The event is run in partnership with Locate Guernsey, established to promote the benefits of Guernsey to relocators. The event’s lead
Regatta was driven by our owners expressing interest in the
sponsor is WEST SYSTEM, accompanied by supporting sponsors
opportunity to race and socialise exclusively with other Spirits. There
Lewmar, Oceanskies, OneSails GBR (East), Raymarine and Torqeedo.
is a fantastic community spirit and friendship amongst the Spirit
James Dodds glass window Marine painter James Dodds has designed a stained glass window for the annexe of St Mary’s Church in Wivenhoe, on the River Colne on the English east coast. The east window work is called Dove and Blue Boat and has been made by Andy Brooke and Pascale Penfold, a four-year project overseen by the church organist Graham Wadley. The featured boat is “a type that would have been built locally, a type that James helped build when he was an apprentice boatbuilder”, the church says.
12
Guernsey Yacht Club Commodore Anna Rivers said: “We are thrilled to be welcoming Spirit Yachts and its fleet of stunning modern classic
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Entry is open at spirityachts.com/regatta
TELL TALES
200 years of livesaving for HM Coastguard The UK Coastguard is marking its 200th
The Coastguard responded to more than
birthday this year, having been formed in
33,000 incidents in 2020 and its marine
1822 to help combat smuggling.
surveyors carried out almost 4,500 surveys on
Coastguards across the four nations
UK and non-UK registered ships. The service’s
that it serves – England, Scotland, Wales
duties have broadened and during the
and Northern Ireland – cast traditional
pandemic, coastguards supported the UK’s
throwlines into the sea as a symbol of the
National Health Service, they attended the G7
service’s ongoing work.
summit meeting and COP26 in 2021 and they
Today Her Majesty’s Coastguard
have responded to flooding and other national
co-ordinates rescues and other activities
emergencies.
from one main centre centre in Hampshire,
HM Coastguard provides training to search
nine maritime rescue coordination centres
and rescue authorities around the world and
around the coast and one maritime rescue ‘sub-centre’. There are 310 Coastguard rescue teams, made up of 3,500
shares knowledge on a mutual basis with others. It is a key player with the International Maritime Organization and offers insight into the practical application of SOLAS (The
volunteers, using 10 search and rescue helicopter bases.
International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea).
Birth of HM Coastguard
officer and chief boatman are experienced naval seamen or fishermen.
1790s
In bad weather they form a shore patrol. The Preventative Water Guard
Henry Greathead designs the first lifeboat in South Shields. Twenty
quickly acquires extra duties, taking on responsibility for shipwrecks to
other locations place orders.
safeguard cargoes and vessels from looters. It is also trained with
1808
lifesaving equipment.
Captain Manby experiments with firing mortars to carry lines offshore
1821
to stricken ships. The Elizabeth, 150 yards out at sea, sees the first life
The Preventative Water Guard is recognised as a major force against
saved due to this method. Cots hung below safety lines soon follow.
smuggling.
1809
15 Jan 1822
The Board of Customs forms the Preventative Water Guard to fight
Three services set up to prevent smuggling are amalgamated: the
smugglers, using boats to patrol bays and coves.
Revenue Cruisers; the Riding Officers; and the Preventive Water Guard.
1816
The Treasury accepts a proposal that the new force will be called
The guard is placed under the Treasury. At each station the chief
‘Coast Guard’.
Fridtjof Nansen, 1919 Seas Your Future, a youth development charity and owner of the tall ship Pelican of London, has acquired a second tall ship, the Fridtjof Nansen, to satisfy increased demand. The second ship more than doubles the charity’s capacity for taking young people on sail training, developing maritime careers and ocean science voyages for personal and character development. Seas Your Future was founded in 2008 to support the development of young people. Its tall ship Pelican of London sails for 46-48 weeks each year with up to 35 young trainees and 12 professional crew and volunteers. The Fridtjof Nansen was built as a gaff-rigged freight schooner in 1919 under the name Edith. In 1992 she was converted into a three-masted topsail schooner and christened Fridtjof Nansen at the Peene shipyard by the granddaughter of the Norwegian researcher Fridtjof Nansen. Seas Your Future CEO Adrian Ragbourne said: “Please come and visit us over the weekend of the Bristol Harbour Festival on 16-17 July when Pelican will also be there.” seasyourfuture.org
FRIDTJOF NANSEN 1919
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
13
TELL TALES
AUCKLAND
101st Lipton Cup continues unbroken record The 101st Lipton Cup was raced in near perfect conditions in March by the L Class Mullet Boats, the class featured in Nigel Sharp’s August 2021 issue of Classic Boat, writes Janet Watkins. The trophy is rare because it has been raced for in every year since the competition was started, 1922. The Mullet boats were a fishing fleet in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf in the 1800s, before the mullet stocks became depleted and the boats became private vessels. The 2022 event was regular crews depleted because of Covid, so crew numbers were limited to a minimum of five and maximum of six. It was an 11th win for Orion II and Martin Robertson and the 12th win for the Ponsonby Cruising Club. Martin’s crew were Orsa Levent, Grant Ewing, Reg Sparrey, Graham Andrew and Chris Ward.
OBITUARY Colin Turner, 1935-2022 East Coast sailors of a certain age will mourn the passing of Colin
and permission was granted to raft
Albert Turner, a sea dog of the highest pedigree who died in Ireland in
up alongside HMS Belfast, where
March, writes Jo Burge.
repairs were made, using the
Born in Wivenhoe, Colin grew up in a fabulously sea-faring family. His grandfather Captain Albert Barr Turner was skipper of King George V’s yacht Britannia, and his father too. Colin’s first command wasn’t quite J-class but an aircraft fuel
warship’s considerable workshop. Colin had many yachts in his sailing career. He always favoured the classic, timber and steel, and despite
drop-tank; salvaged, sliced and fitted out with lug-rig, this was the
never being in the least bit sniffy
ideal boat for a young lad putting to sea with the war over at last.
about boats, he would say: “I draw
Many other craft followed, some featuring make-do construction
the line at anything without a drinks’
methods such as roofing felt over clinker, his native seamanship and
locker.”
ingenuity making up for any shortcomings the vessel might have. His resourcefulness led him to be recruited into the RAF and see
Some he lived aboard, all he sailed with pleasure and twinkle-eyed accomplishment. Not a club yachtsman, he was to be found cruising
duties as navigator on Short Sunderland flying-boats. He spoke of the
and sounding the swatchways; a natural and gentle teacher, never
fascinating sight of lightning over the Atlantic, travelling up the
happier than when passing on the skills of boat handling and
aircraft’s radar system. Back in civilian life Colin followed an
seamanship.
engineering career with Paxman Diesels and numerous maritime businesses, including commissioning Sir Donald Gosling’s yacht, Brave Goose. Leaving Tough’s Yard at Teddington, the 126ft vessel developed engine problems in the Thames; strings were pulled in urgent fashion
Not so long ago, he was teaching my son, then aged nine, to navigate “properly – with a pencil”. Colin married Brenda in 1962 who predeceased him. He spent his last years in Ireland with their daughter Emma.
Falmouth Classics
Entries are flooding in for the 35th edition of Atkins Ferrie Wealth Management’s Falmouth Classics, from 17-19 June. The event will include racing on Friday and Saturday, public access to the pontoons on Saturday, a rowing and sculling competition at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club from 4.30pm on Saturday, two parades on Sunday and a Maritime Village on Custom House Quay over the whole event. The regatta takes place at the same time as the Falmouth International Shanty Festival with its 71 groups providing musical entertainment around the town. Meanwhile leading marine coatings manufacturer Teamac will sponsor the Saturday race on 18 June, which will be known as the Teamac Race. falmouthclassics.org.uk
14 14
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
FOR SALE
Photo Gallery
$3 million
Broker Participation
M/V NYMPH M/V NYMPH
HISTORIC, 1913 Early American Motor Boat with Edwardian Old World Charm Last of a special breed, beautiful fiberglass hull, 30yr T&T hauls with 50 ton travel lift. This amazing vessel has been meticulously restored over a eight-year period. Originally built in 1913 by The Matthews Boat Company in Clinton, Ohio.
1913
75’- 0”
For more information: samwright0887@gmail.com
www.nymphyacht.com
TELL TALES
CORNWALL
Pirates ship to meet 'blue health' demand Cornish charity Sea Sanctuary has taken ownership of Irene, the tall ship featured in the film Pirates of the Caribbean. The 100ft tall ship, built in 1907, arrived in
well as corporate charters”. Charity CEO Joseph Sabien said: “Our sailing days and residential therapeutic voyages are perfect for organisations
Falmouth in April to help support the charity’s
looking to improve the mental health and
work in ‘blue health’ – the concept that blue
wellbeing of their employees.
spaces, like the sea, are profoundly beneficial to people’s mental and emotional wellbeing. Irene replaces a smaller boat, a move
"Those who participate in our programs are not the only ones to benefit as any profits from the operation will subsidise the
which “reflects the increase in the demand of
cost of people in the local community who
these critical services and the evolution of the
need our support but cannot afford it. We
charity who expertise and services are
are looking forward to a busy summer.”
growing year on year from private clients, as
seasanctuary.org.uk
Classic regatta support for youth charity British Classic Week has announced the
to circumstance, an accident, or mental health,
launch of a fundraising campaign for its
Tall Ships Youth Trust instigates a step change
charity partner Tall Ships Youth Trust.
for young people when they are most in need.
The UK’s oldest and largest sail
We are calling on British Classic Week
training charity, Tall Ships Youth Trust
attendees and classic yacht enthusiasts to
brings together crews aged 12-25, of
donate to this invaluable charity and help
different social backgrounds, for
support their life-changing sailing voyages.”
residential sailing voyages which often
People can donate via justgiving.com/ fundraising/britishclassicweek2022
transform their lives. Organised by the British Classic
Donations can also be made throughout the
Yacht Club, the 20th edition of British
regatta week using the charity’s contactless
Classic Week will take place in Cowes
payment machines and by taking part in the
from 16-23 July 2022. Club commodore
prize-giving dinner fundraising activities.
Jonathan Dyke said: “Whether it’s due
britishclassicweek.co.uk
Film about engineless sailing A project to shoot a 12mm movie about engineless sailing will go ahead after it won a UK Arts Council grant. Wind, Tide and Oar will premiere in 2024 on the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. The launch will be followed by “a 10-week, sail-powered, screening voyage” onboard the Thames sailing barge Blue Mermaid (pictured below), which is operated by the Sea-Change Sailing Trust. Around 120 young people and adult trainees will join as crew to deliver the barge to English ports, where the public will be invited onboard for screenings. As well as Blue Mermaid, the film will feature the ketch Birubi, Looe lugger Guide Me, gaff-rigged Defiance, Leigh bawley Helen & Violet and Essex smack Fairy. Director Huw Wahl, who is making the film with sailor Rose Ravetz, describes the project as “an artists’ documentary film that will explore the absorbed attention and artistry of
16
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Eros on YouTube
Eros, the US-flagged schooner that was built in Lowestoft in 1939, now has its
engineless sailing”.
own YouTube channel, with regular videos documenting life aboard for the
windtideandoar.com
crew when not on charter. Search for ‘Sailing Eros’.
5 6 M
|
B L U E
I I
YO U R YACHT, D E SIG N E D, E N G IN E E R E D, CR AFT E D fo r E X PLOR AT ION
YO U R WOR LD of D ISCOVE RY
I S TA N B U L M O N A C O F T
L A U D E R D A L E
turquoiseyachts.com
Logbook Out and about
1
Awards 2022
2
3
4
Classic Boat Awards 2022
3
5
PHOTOS JOSH ISKANDER
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
SUPPORTED BY
18
Nearly 200 guests came from around the British Isles, Europe and the US to collect their trophies or just to soak up the atmosphere at the Classic Boat Awards, held at the Royal Thames Yacht Club in London on 12 April. The audience of boatbuilders, owners, sailors, designers, historians and more was rewarded by a brilliant overview of classic sailing from John Lammerts van Bueren, reproduced overleaf. Congratulations to all!
6
1 Classic Boat’s Rob Peake presented the ceremony 2 The Royal Thames YC kept the drinks flowing 3 Anticipation for the unveiling of the winners is always high! 4 The trophies were handmade by Classic Marine in conjunction with Suffolk Yacht Harbour 5 Steve Morris of Kilrush Boatyard (right) and fellow boatbuilder Fabian Bush 6 Paul Horton of Harbour Marine Services (centre) whose restoration of Dunkirk Little Ship Lazy Days was Highly Commended
7 Winners (l-r) Fionan de
Barra; Stephen Morris; Marcus Lewis (behind)
15
5 7
16
10 12
8
13
17
11
14
9
18
12
whose restoration of Barbara was a category winner; Hal Sisk (kneeling); Jeff Rutherford (with trophy); Katie McCabe;
11 Penny Leander, who raced the
New Powered Vessel category 15 Owner of the
restored Fairey Huntsman Flower
100-year-old Albert Strange Firefly, Jamie Clay,
Power, a category winner, in Cowes-
with William Riordan of the Gstaad Yacht Club;
Torquay races in the 1960s 12 Young
Firefly won the Gstaad YC Centenarian of the
16 For the Dublin Bay 21s, Fionan
Penny Leander; Jamie Clay (with
Classic Boater of the Year Katie McCabe, who
Year trophy
Centenarian’s bowl); Matt Lis (kneeling); John
sailed around Britain solo aged 14 in a Morgan
de Barra, Hal Sisk and Steve Morris 17 Jeff
McShea; Carter Richardson (with trophy); Karen
Giles design 13 Lincoln Redding, navigator on
Rutherford, over from California with his wife
Underwood; with Spirit 30 owner Robert
Highly Commended Stormvogel in last year’s
Gladys Fleitas, accepted the trophy for Viveka,
Rolex Fastnet Race, with David Cheesman,
Restored Sailing Vessel of the Year 18 Jonathan
owner of Tenacity, Highly Commended in the
Dyke of the event’s title sponsor Suffolk Yacht
New Powered Vessels 14 Carter Richardson of
Harbour (centre) with The Hon Lady Judy
East Passage Boatwrights, whose EP24 won the
McAlpine (left) and Classic Boat’s Martin Nott
Gillespie 8 Classic Boater of the Year was Hal Sisk 9 Spirit Yachts MD Karen Underwood accepts the Highly Commended prize for the Spirit 30 10 Matt Lis of Woodbridge Boatyard
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
19
CLASSIC BOAT AWARDS CEREMONY
OPENING ADDRESS, GIVEN BY JOHN LAMMERTS VAN BUEREN
L
adies and gentlemen: As Cambria’s captain Chris Barkham would say: “beautiful boats attract beautiful people” and, as I look around, how right he is. Thank you all for being here tonight to honour and celebrate the most beautiful boats in the world. Thank you for the honour of having me speak tonight. I would like to start by taking you back to 1982, to Lymington, and an old Thames barge stuck in the mud near the bridge. I was told the man on board had some old winches I could use for my boat so I went below to meet him and have a look. As I climbed down the companionway, a phone rang. I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation and it went like this: “Hi Harry, Joe here! Hey, I heard you broke up with Sue. That’s too bad. But you know, once you’re married the boat gets in between and you have to make a choice, well, you chose for the boat, you did the right thing believe me!” Well, that set the tone as we chatted and I showed him a picture of my boat. “Ahh, she’s a real beauty and I can tell you what these things are all about too, you see, once you get used to the smell of dry-rot, you can’t live without it”. She was a 31ft Teal Class, designed by Luke, pitch pine on oak, built by Eddy Williams. She came on the market in 1980 and I fell for her, but like every normal student I was broke and couldn’t afford her. Until the moment her owner realized I was the only one who came every couple of months, just to dream and say hello to a pretty boat. No offer came forward, but for some reason he entrusted the boat to and let me have her for a song. She was my first really beautiful classic boat. So let’s define beauty. Let’s for now agree to disagree. You see, we all look at things differently, judge differently, enjoy different aspects. To me, beauty goes beyond the lines, beyond craftsmanship and the choice of materials. To me it includes personal memories of friends on board, of stories told under the cabin lamp, of fun and laughter. To me beauty is also defined by the courage, the madness and passion to own, create or preserve something unusual. At least to me, without the latter, beauty has no meaning. So here we are: we judged each other’s boats and projects, judged craftsmanship, dreamed away with stories told and untold, gazed through the shortlist, and like me, you probably realised we are about to make a few people happy while disappointing even more. So how do we judge? Does effort and determination count? How about the ‘one-man band’ in a tin shed, hanging upside down in the bilge to replace a broken
20
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above: John in full flow at our awards. The speech was by turns funny, informative and moving – an ode to the classic boat revival
frame while his mates are getting drunk in the pub? How about the person fortunate enough to just write a cheque to get the job done? Who and what are we awarding? Is it just beauty, is it the yard, the architect, the owner? What about vision? Should those breaking new ground be awarded or should we award authenticity and tradition? Is the project where the yard is able to exceed the budget more valuable than the kid who saves an old wooden dinghy from the boneyard and fixes it up on a shoestring budget? All of us weigh things differently and most of us weigh things differently on different days. This evening we celebrate those who the majority admired and inspired most. But not so long ago it would have been unthinkable for us to be here at the Royal Thames to celebrate classic and wooden boats. Less than 40 years ago the usual reason to buy a classic was simply that you could not afford to buy a proper fibreglass boat! Another reason could be that you needed a cheap home. Stuck in canals and mud berths were some lovely J-Class yachts, 15, 12 and 8-Metres and of course lots of cruising boats of the early 20th century. They were saved from the scrapyard because their scrap value was lower than the cost of moving them. So, off to the DIY to get some two by four and a sheet of tarpaulin, add a heater and that old boat suddenly was a comfy home. With the notable
exception of Scandinavia, wooden boat traditions had faded around the world. I remember the nicknames for the old 8-Metre fleets like “The Rentokil Fleet” and “The Rotting Row”. Still, many of them survived. What saved them was their inherent beauty and the thrill of driving them to windward. What fun it was to pity the guys who pitied you when you raced an old clunker in a modern fleet and finished ahead of them all. What saved them was the low cost; you could buy them for a song, slap some glassfibre on the planking and have fun. Sure enough, some were butchered, transoms were cut to get a better rating under RORC rules, rigs were changed, doghouses were added to get headroom, engines were added, old interiors were replaced by nice fashionable Formica ones. Winches were added, rigs were reinforced, keels and rudders were changed. Of course the rust of the steel frames leaked through the planking and the steam-bent frames broke. Gradually, planking became soft and the bilges were filled with concrete and epoxy to stop the leaks. Labour cost was high so the owners and crews learned to maintain their boats and keep them afloat. I am ever so grateful to these people as they saved many of the boats we admire and celebrate this evening! Now let’s imagine that there would be a magazine covering the lives of these old boats. Imagine that the Royal Thames opening its doors for ‘the beaten-up old
Above: Cambria, a pivotal yacht in the classic boat revival, and one close to John’s heart
boats awards’. Something had to change to make that possible. That change came with a lady named Elizabeth Meyer. She decided to do the unthinkable and in 1984 she bought the remains of Endeavour, widely regarded as the most beautiful J-Class ever built. Elizabeth was 31. Old enough to have childhood dreams, young enough to be not realise what she was getting in to. The first one to sum it up was TOM Sopwith, the man who raced her for the America’s Cup. When Elizabeth told him about her plans to restore his old boat, she didn’t expect his first words to be: “You’re a darned fool!” But Elizabeth was determined to follow through and three years later the world was in awe. The most beautiful J was no longer stuck in the mud, no longer a house boat. The unthinkable happened and Endeavor sailed again! She took the boat around the world and entered regattas. Elizabeth Meyer’s passion for Endeavour and her dynamic personality changed the yachting scene for decades to come. She had shown the world that old boats are worth saving, that they can be restored, be raced and cruised and yes, that they can bring huge satisfaction and joy. With Endeavour, Elizabeth inspired a generation of sailors and encouraged them to restore forgotten classics to a scale and standard unthinkable on that rainy day at Calshot. In the Mediterranean, men like Luigi Lang played a pivotal role in creating rules under CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
21
CLASSIC BOAT AWARDS CEREMONY
which classic boats could race. Naval architects like Olin Stephens, Doug Peterson, Jacques Fauroux and German Frers came to the scene and enjoyed sailing the old boats again. Forgotten techniques of the past were brought back to life. Young sailmakers called up the old fogies to help them learn to design and cut Dacron sails. Wooden spars had to be built again, forgotten timber species had to be sourced once more. Riggers who just finished their course in PBO and composite splicing had to learn what seemed an ancient art; splicing galvanized wire. And what about the crew? I remember our first days on Eleonora. We were overwhelmed by the huge sails and complexity of the running rigging. Most of the sailors on the dock knew how to race a Farr40 but few knew how to sail a classic schooner using transfer lines, jiggers, queens and jackyards. But the movement was persistent and so what once was a small and lone group of old boats became a fleet of well over 1,000 and the focal point of the sailing season in places like SaintTropez, Cannes, Argentario, Cowes, Brest and Maine. And when you think about it, who would have ever imagined we would run out of wrecks to restore? That lost boats of the past would be built again? Ed Kastelein led the way with his reconstruction of Westward, the schooner Eleonora. Soon the schooners Elena, Germania, Wolfhound, Columbia and Atlantic followed. What about the 20 or more 6, 8 and 12-Metres yachts, built brand new to 90-year-old plans? All that and more inspired a new type of yacht, a hybrid of the old and the new. Sean McMillan led the way in promoting what we now call ‘Spirit of Tradition’ yachts. The feel of a real wooden boat, lines inspired by the past as much as the present, resulting in designs that are in a class of their own. Covid-19 didn’t bring much good to the world. But, if for us sailors, something good came out, then it has to be the revival of club racing in small boats. And so a whole new movement has started with wooden Stars, Finns, OK dinghies and more being restored and raced around the world. Away from the crowds, even professionals like Rod Davies and Paul Cayard once more enjoy sailing and racing wooden dinghies. When I was a kid, I gazed at the photos made by Beken, Levick, Kirk and Rosenfeld. I read the stories of pre-war racing in what I regarded as the most beautiful yachts ever built. As a kid I always thought I was born at the wrong time, that I would never see them race like they did back then. I didn’t dare even to dream about witnessing more than 100 restorations from close by, crossing the Atlantic on a schooner or racing aboard Cambria. What about the idea to build a sawmill in Alaska and cut Sitka spruce for wooden spars? I can hear my late father whisper; “Wake up Johnny, time to step out of the dream”. Well, ladies and gentlemen, look at where we are tonight, look at what we are looking at, look at the nominees we are honouring and the winners we are celebrating. Trust me, dreams come true, they really do. Thank you and congratulations to all nominees and winners of tonight. 22
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Eleonora, the first of the big schooner replicas
Spirit 44E, examplar of the spirit of tradition
Yacht Brokerage 212ft New Classic Schooner
ATLANTIC
SALE, CHARTER & MANAGEMENT
Also specialises in Transoceanic Charter 2010. Replica of the legendary ATLANTIC which was commissioned by New York Yacht Club member Wilson Marshall, and which was launched in 1903. After owning, restoring, rebuilding or recreating a number of famous yachts, her owner built on his vast experience and has once again constructed a yacht that no-one thought would ever sail again. Her original lines were honoured to the finest detail and her sail plan is identical to that of her victorious 1905 Transatlantic Race which made her immortal in yachting history. Above all, she is again breathtakingly beautiful, turning heads wherever the wind takes her. Her dimensions are simply incredible; 65 m overall, 56 m over deck and 42 m at waterline. Thanks to her spars which tower some 45 meters above the waterline and support a staggering area of 1,750 m² of sail, she performs unmatched speed under sail.
80ft Long Range Gentleman’s Yacht Themara
60ft Gentleman’s Yacht Kiwi
87ft Wishbone Ketch Tamory
71ft Laurent Gilles Ketch Aitor
65ft Sangermani Marconi Yawl Giannella II
52ft Q Class Classic Bermudian Sloop Jour de Fête
1962. Refit 2022. Designed by the Scottish naval architects G.L. Watson & Co. and built along traditional lines to Lloyds class by Ailsa Shipbuilding, Scotland. She has a top speed of 11 knots and boasts a maximum range of 4,000 NM, thanks to her twin Gardner engines. She has cruised extensively in all latitudes including a circumnavigation. She was also a support vessel for the filming of Luc Besson’s Atlantis. Her interior has been rebuilt using varnished mahogany, in a timeless style, with modern details for comfort.
1952. Designed & steel built by Koser & Meyer in Germany. She is a very nice ketch with a special character. She is ideal for long cruising period while easy to manage even with just one crew. She accommodates up to 6 guests in 3 cabins and up to 3 crew in 2 cabins.
1966. Refit 2010. This Eugène Cornu’s design has been built by the legendary Cantieri Sangermani, one of the best wooden boat shipyards in the world. She is a wonderful classic sailing yacht ideal for family cruising in absolute comfort. She has won many regattas including The Voiles de St Tropez. She features lovely interiors!
FRANCE: Montpellier (Head Office) - Paris - La Ciotat - Antibes Palma, Majorca • Monaco • Moscow • New Zealand • Hong Kong • California
1914. Born from the drawing board of Herbert White and built by the Brothers Shipyard in Southampton (UK), despite her name - in recognition of her Kauri pine construction from New Zealand - KIWI was launched as an English gentleman’s yacht with an incomparable, but a manageable size. A rare opportunity to own a beautifully vintage historic yacht authentic yet very practical and unmistakably aesthetic.
1964. From a Laurent Gilles Design, AITOR is a very nice Gentleman’s classic yacht for blue water cruising and live aboard thanks to her cockpit and deck house. She has a special character thanks to her classic style. She is easy to handle with 2 main engines.
1930. Refit 2017. Built as Falcon by George Lawley & Sons (Boston, USA) and designed by famous naval architect Mike Paine. She is optimised for racing. Since she became JOUR DE FÊTE in 2011. she campaigned very successfully in the Mediterranean classic circuit, earning a name for herself for her immaculate level of maintenance and her outstanding beauty on the water, as well as her ability to win.
Bernard Gallay Yacht Brokerage
1 rue Barthez - 34000 Montpellier - France +33 467 66 39 93 - info@bernard-gallay.com www.bernard-gallay.com
FIFE REGATTA 2022
FIFE REGATTA 2022 This 10-17 June, the biggest gathering of Fife yachts ever seen will gather on the waters of the Clyde estuary in only the fifth ever iteration of the Fife Regatta
T
he event is, of course, the occasional spectacular known simply as ‘the Fife Regatta’. It has been held previously in 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013, and this year has a new sponsor in the form of luxury watch brand Richard Mille. Those occasions saw, respectively, fleets of 11, 22, 20 and 20 yachts partaking, but this year, there are 24 on the entry list, making it probably the largest fleet of yachts built by the Fife boatbuilders ever gathered. In fact, with the exception of one or two boats, all those on the list (and most ‘Fife’ yachts worldwide) are the creations of the third, most famous of the family of yacht designers and boatbuilders – William Fife III. The first two William Fifes, however, should not be overlooked. It was the first of the them who, in the early 19th century, started the boatbuilding tradition, moving across from his work as a mill and cartwright. He built not only fishing and other working vessels, but the big yacht Lamlash as early as 1812, and Industry (a steam paddle ship) just two years after that, before settling down to concentrate on “fast and bonnie” sailing boats, the quotation that became the title of May Fife McCallum’s book about the Fife dynasty – as well as the mantra that would drive the business forward, through the next two generations. These days, Fife yachts are venerated around the world for their beauty and craftsmanship, and have been the subject of perhaps more big restorations than vessels from any other designer. The Fife Regatta is a peripatetic one, with the fleet starting, and eventually returning to, Largs. From Largs, the boats race around Great Cumbrae and home on 11 June. The next day, they race to Rothesay, where they stay until 14 June, when they have a parade of sail
24
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
to Kames before the Kyles Race to Portavadie, where they remain for two days. On 16 June, they partake in the Bute Race from Portavadie back to Largs, with the final race of the regatta, the King’s Course (Largs to Largs) on 17 June. The oldest boat in the fleet of 24 this year is Red, a 19ft Clyde Class yacht, built in 1886. Ayrshire Lass (24ft LWL), built the year after, is notable for being a rare extant Wm Fife II creation. Both the famous, big Moonbeam gaff cutters will be present: Moonbeam III (1903) and Moonbeam IV (1914). The largest boat in this year’s fleet will be Kentra, the gaff ketch of 68ft 10in (LWL) built in 1923. Also present will be the ‘last Fife’ Sonata, cover feature in this issue. For more information, see fiferegatta.com
Classic Regatta 20 Classic Regatta years
Suffolk Yacht Harbour presents the 20th annual
years
F R I D AY 1 0 T H J U N E - S U N D AY 1 2 T H J U N E 20 22
The main regatta will be a three-race series held over Saturday and Sunday in Dovercourt Bay, Harwich Harbour, and the Orwell and Stour estuaries. An optional early evening race will take place will1compete for prizes. F R I Don AYFriday 1 0 T HinJwhich U N E -entrants S U N D AY 2TH JUN E separate 20 22
Photos: Cliqq Studios. Photos: Cliqq Studios.
The main regatta will be a three-race series held over Saturday and Sunday in Dovercourt Bay, Harwich Harbour, and the Orwell and Stour estuaries. An optional early evening race will take place on Friday in which entrants will compete for separate prizes.
Invitation to classic motor boats to join the weekend To enter online and for event details, visit www.syhclassicregatta.co.uk
Invitation to classic motor boats to join the weekend Entry forms via email or post can be requested To enter online and for event details, from jonathan@syharbour.co.uk visit www.syhclassicregatta.co.uk syhclassicregatta.co.uk
(0)1473 659 465 | Suffolk Yacht Harbour, Levington, IP10 0LN Entry forms via email |or+44 post can be requested from jonathan@syharbour.co.uk
THE MISSING MASTERPIECE The yacht Lola is now thought to be the last designed by J Pain Clark. And she’s restored and ready for another 100 years WORDS AND PICTURES NIC COMPTON
LOLA
W
hen John Leather wrote an article about the amateur yacht designer J Pain Clark in the January 2000 Classic Boat, he traced the history of most of the 15 designs he is thought to have created – from the 1899 ‘single-handed cruiser’ Rani III to the 1924 cruising sloop The Hind. Along the way, he introduced readers to a series of elegant yachts with names such as Lora, Lona (three of them), and Rani (five of them!), most owned in quick succession by the designer himself. Leather described Pain Clark as “one of the most talented amateur designers of small cruising yachts before 1914” and ranked him alongside the likes of Albert Strange and George Holmes. Leather concluded his article by saying: “So far as I can discover, this [The Hind, 1924] was the last of Pain Clark’s designs to be built,” adding that “J Pain Clark’s personal life and his end seem impossible to discover.” Pain Clark’s designs were undeniably beautiful, as were his lines drawings, many of them beautifully annotated with art décor lettering. I admit I got quite hooked on ‘the elusive Mr Clark’ and, over the years, managed to sail two of his designs, Lona and Lona II, and visited a third, Lona III, while she was on land for sale. You could say I became a bit of a Pain Clark-spotter. Imagine my delight then, when I was strolling through Baltic Wharf boatyard in Totnes and spotted a boat with the distinctive spoon bow and canoe stern so beloved of Clark. There was a ladder propped up on one side so I clambered up and, after a couple of knocks, the head of local boatbuilder Charlie Hussey popped out of the companionway. Regular readers will recognise him as the restorer of the Fred Parker motor-sailer Fortuna II. Charlie confirmed that his latest charge was indeed a Pain Clark and built in Burnham-on-Crouch in 1925, a year after the last design in Leather’s article. This time the boat was not called Lora or Lona, but Lola. She was the ‘missing’ Pain Clark; my excitement knew no bounds. Charlie was halfway through the latest stage in what turned out to be an ongoing restoration project for the new owner, engineering consultant Tim Thurnham. Every winter, Lola was lifted out and put under cover for Charlie to work on, and every summer she went back in the water for Tim to sail on. This was year three: the stem. Once the boat was back in the water, Charlie said, he was sure the owner would be delighted to take me out for a sail. What none of us knew, of course, was that we were about to be engulfed by a pandemic. It would be a full 18 months (after year four: the anchor) before I saw Lola sailing. Meanwhile, Tim obliged my curiosity by sending me snippets of information – not least, photos of Lola’s Blue Book, with a full list of owners up to 1992. The documents showed that Lola was built by William King & Sons for Robert Pershouse, a “gentleman” from Aldeburgh, Suffolk, and a member of the Royal Thames YC. She displaced 8.79 tons (gross) and was fitted with a 12hp four-cylinder engine from Bergius & Co in Glasgow.
28
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Below: Even the bathing ladder is retro – though that self-steering belongs to a later era
She then went through a succession of owners, including noted Birmingham architect Samuel Cooke (better known as SN Cooke). Her third owner was also an architect, Claud Reid, of East Portlemouth near Salcombe. She was then owned for 20 years by Keith Wilson, a probationary flight officer in the Royal Navy Air Service during WWI, who raced and cruised her extensively on both sides of the Channel. Lola’s main claim to fame at this time was co-starring in a BBC documentary about the 1968 Tobermory Race, a three-day event starting at Port Bannatyne on the Clyde and finishing at Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. Lola had by this time been bought by larger-than-life character David Rombach, who later lived in the Cloch lighthouse on the Clyde, where the boat was based. More than 100 boats took part in the race that year, but the BBC film (see tinyurl.com/j8598j67) focuses on just three: the 8-M Christina, the 35ft (10.7m) ketch St Mary, and Lola. Christina streaks ahead into first place, St Mary hits a rock, and Lola turns out to be deceptively fast. But the best bits of the film are when presenter Magnus Magnusson chats to “that relaxed philosopher” Rombach about the romance of sailing and the latter answers, in his thick Scottish accent, with such gems as: “There’s more thrill in doing six knots to windward in a yacht than there is in doing 80 miles an hour in a car.” Rombach went on to sail Lola extensively in northern Europe, including to Norway. At some point he broke the original wooden mast and replaced it with an aluminium one. He also fitted a bowsprit, presumably to reduce weather helm. After 14 years of ownership, Rombach sold the boat to Neil and Marie McDougall, a surgeon and a doctor from Glasgow. They too sailed Lola far and wide over the next few years, cruising as far north as the Shetlands Isles and as far south as La Coruña in Spain, winning many trophies along the way, including the Blue Water Trophy in 1984. Painting the boat annually with a small child proved too onerous and they sold Lola the next year and bought a sensible family boat, though the memory of their beloved old yacht lingered on. “Nobody admired our boat any more,” she says. “People would always say how lovely Lola was, but that changed when we bought a fibreglass boat.” After a brief, fallow period back in Brighton, Lola was acquired by Simon Helliwell, a former English naval architect who had downshifted to become a carpenter on the Isle of Eigg. Lola was by now almost 70 years old and, after being raced and cruised hard for several decades, was starting to show her age. Helliwell embarked on a major restoration, including replacing her deck with 1in solid iroko and building new hollow wooden masts. He also rearranged the interior to her current layout, moving the galley to starboard, creating a proper quarter berth and chart table to port, and moving the heads forward, complete with an articulated door he describes as “the tardis”. Not having access to a slip, he built a cradle and used a tractor to pull Lola out of the water every winter.
Main image: In her element on a breezy day off Dartmouth. Inset left: Owner Tim Thurnham lashes down the liferaft. Inset right: The elliptical cockpit was one of the main reasons Tim bought the boat
LOLA
Over the next 26 years, Helliwell sailed the boat – by now painted racing green – over 30,000 miles, including to the Baltic and France. “She loves being sailed hard,” he remembers. “She comes into her own in a strong wind. Upwind she isn’t as fast as modern boats, but off the wind she will show any similar-sized boat a clean pair of heels.” Eventually, the toll of continuous maintenance got to him too, however, and he decided to sell Lola and buy a sensible plastic boat (a Contessa 32, in his case). Tim Thurnham was in many ways an unlikely buyer. Brought up near Windermere, he sailed mostly in modern dinghies and often chartered out of Plymouth. His big adventure was rowing across the Atlantic as part of the 2001 Talisker Challenge, when his team came 6th out of 36. His interest in traditional boats grew after his girlfriend (who has restored a Laurent Giles Peter Duck and a Harrison Butler Z4) bought him a subscription to CB. One August bank holiday he found himself on Lola, then in Dartmouth under the watchful eye of Richard Gregson of Wooden Ships. He was immediately captivated by the oval cockpit set inside the canoe stern – but was put off by the bad deck leaks. “Too long, too old and too wooden,” he wrote to his mother; yet a few weeks later he became the proud owner of his first wooden boat. You’d think that buying a 90-year-old, 36ft wooden boat might be an ordeal for a rookie, but Tim seems remarkably relaxed when I finally meet him on board during a lull in the pandemic. This is in large part thanks to the reassuring presence of Charlie Hussey, who’s guided Tim through the perils with a steady hand. Key to this has been keeping the boat in use, working on selected areas every winter and sailing every summer.
30
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above left to right: Elegant glass panelled doors instead of washboards; The new self-launching anchor; New brass rails protect the main skylight Below left: The much altered interior Below right: Lola loves a breeze
Year One was re-caulking the deck, repairing the mast and sorting out some of the interesting mixes of metals that had accumulated in the boat in her lifetime. Year Two was repairing and resealing the coachroof, which had rotted around the perimeter. Year Three was, as noted, repairing the stem, which was damaged in a collision during Rombach’s ownership, and rebuilding the starboard side of the cockpit. Year Four was fitting a new windlass and bow roller so easier anchor handling, and rebuilding the port side of the cockpit. At some point a new 35hp Beta engine replaced the old Perkins. Year Five (now!) was yet more refastening and a discussion about the heads, which Tim describes as a “death trap”. With a boat as old and as well used as Lola, ‘originality’ is almost irrelevant. So many owners have changed so much over the years, that you would have to completely rebuild her to take her back to original. And what would be the point of that? Instead, Tim, like the owners before him, has taken a pragmatic approach. “When I bought the boat, it was sold as cruising yacht, and that’s how I use it,” he says. ““I’m not trying to create a museum piece. I love the fact the boat has been changed by almost every owner, and I love trying to work out what previous owners did.” Watching Lola sailing in a lumpy sea off Dartmouth, it’s clear she is still every bit the practical cruising yacht that Pain Clark intended when he designed her nearly 100 years ago. It’s entirely possible that more Pain Clark designs will emerge in future years, but if Lola does represent the culmination of his career, then she has certainly done him proud. And, for Pain Clarkspotters such as myself, she was well worth the wait.
2 Southford Road, Dartmouth, South Devon TQ6 9QS Tel/Fax: (01803) 833899 – info@woodenships.co.uk – www.woodenships.co.uk
40’ Millers MFV built by James Miller and Sons of St Monance in 1953 for George Clark of Clarks Shoes. Refitted to current standards in present ownership with a nicely proportioned gaff ketch rig with new rigging and sails in 2011. Gardner 6LX 110hp diesel in lovely condition. 5 berths with double cabin forward and large wheelhouse. Tidy yacht, well equipped and fit to put to sea this season. Isle of Man £75,000
84’ West Country Trading ketch built in 1904. Currently run as a very successful charter vessel under UK flag. Licenced under MCA to Cat 0 for 12 passengers, Class VI passenger licence and 50 ton cargo licence. Maintained to a very high level with fully up to date systems, a very rare opportunity to obtain a top class traditional charter vessel in ready to go condition. UK £599,000
37’6” Alan Buchanan yawl built by G.F. Smeeth of Essex in 1966 to Lloyds 100A1. Planked in afromosia and mahogany on CRE timbers with solid teak decks. Perkins 4108 diesel rebuilt in 2016. 5 berths with 7’ headroom in the saloon. Recent spring refit and rig check. An easily managed cruising yacht with good internal space. Cornwall £45,000
45’ Saunders-Roe Medina Class motor yacht designed and built by Saunders-Roe of Cowes in 1937. Major rebuild in 2010, since cruised over 20,000Nm from the Med to the Baltic. Nominated for Restoration of the Year in 2011 by Classic Boat, described as ‘the epitome of the gentleman’s motor yacht....immaculately restored.’ An exquisitely beautiful motor yacht with a superb history and pedigree. Isle of Wight £245,000
41’ Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter replica built by RB Boatbuilding, Bristol, in 2017. Traditionally built boat with all non-ferrous fastenings, pine planking on grown oak fames. 6 berths including aft double cabin and 4 singles. 6’3” headroom in the saloon. Used as a private sailing yacht since her launch, not for commercial sailing. 2021 survey available. France €220,000
42’ Luke Powell Gaff Cutter launched in 2012. Usual robust construction of larch and oak on sawn oak frames, all bronze fastened. 5 berths including a private double. Used as a private yacht, she has covered over 25,000Nm mostly with a husband and wife crew. Maintained to a very high standard and presented in lovely condition, fully equipped and ready for new adventures. British flagged vessel. Sweden €250,000
North Quay 19 built by North Quay Marine in 2008. A well respected design with great performance and sweet lines, perfect for day sailing and coastal exploration. Epoxy strip plank Cedar hull, the complete boat weighs only 975kg. On a 2016 road trailer, easily towed behind a moderate car. complete with camping awning giving 4 berths. Very smart fun family boat. Cornwall £16,950
28’ Laurent Giles Peter Duck Ketch built by Porter and Haylett in 1964. Major refit in 2017-2018. Volvo Penta 2030 20hp diesel engine installed new in 2010. 4 berths including a double berth up forward. A safe and spacious cruising boat of well known pedigree. 2017 survey available. Isle of Wight £9,750
Another fascinating selection of traditional and classic yachts only from Wooden Ships. Call for true descriptions, genuine honest values and a service from people who know their boats.
By Dave Selby
MECUM, USA
Saleroom
MECUM, USA
Runabout rivals go head to head As the roaring 20s raced full pelt for the precipice of the Great Depression, John Ludwig Hacker and Garfield Wood vied with each other to deliver grace and pace on water to the wealthiest sporting Americans. Hacker, an early proponent of planing vee-hull technology in pure race and record boats, is widely credited with being the father of the American runabout, placing the engine amidships, control cockpit forward, and passenger accommodation aft. Gar Wood was no slouch either, becoming the first man to break 100mph on water, claiming the world waterspeed record five times and bagging a huge trophy haul with 10 legendary Miss Americas. The rivalry of these two self-made men drove the development of the high-speed runabout to new heights, and with five Hacker-Craft and Gar Wood boats coming up at auction from a single owner on May 19 you can decide for yourself which brand delivers the ultimate expression of the form.
Above Left Of the 26ft (8m) Triple-Cockpit Runabout Hacker-Craft ads claimed: “This is not only the fastest bona fide boat of its size and power produced, but it will outmanoeuvre all rivals.” This 1929 example with desirable Kermath in-line, six-cylinder engine is estimated at $90,000-110,000. Above Right “Pleasure craft from the shops of the raceboat king, that are built side by side with the Miss Americas, have always had the reputation for being the softest riding of all speedboats.” So ran an ad for the new 1930 line-up of Gar Wood boats. This 28ft (8.5m) example is estimated at $110,000-130,000.
BONHAMS
Hemingway’s last hurrah Though the sea coursed through Ernest Hemingway’s work and life, never was his writing more connected to it than in The Old Man and the Sea, the 1952 novella that was his last full-
RM SOTHEBY’S
Hark the Herald engine swims
32
length work and helped restore his reputation. The fable of Cuban fisherman
There was a time when Amphicar values seemed to be treading water, but now they appear to be
Santiago who “went
riding the crest of a wave. The 1960s German-built aquatic novelty car critiqued in print as “a
out to far” in his
vehicle that promised to revolutionise drowning” is nevertheless the world’s most successful
Ahab-like struggle
civilian amphibian vehicle, with around 3,800 of these
with a giant marlin
Triumph Herald-engined curios built. Today it’s doubtful
earned Hemingway
there are as many as 500 in seaworthy condition. As a
the Pulitzer Prize for
result, such limited supply means there is a certain illiquidity
Fiction and was
in the market – but a lot more if you forget to fit the bung
cited in awarding
plug before launching onto water. This bare-metal restored
him the Nobel Prize in Literature in
1961 example fetched $93,500 in what appears to be a very
1954. This first edition was expected
buoyant market.
to fetch £400-600.
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
BONHAMS
RM SOTHEBY’S
Collectors Sale
OTHER UFFA FOX CRAFT THYME Int 14 K523. The last traditionally built 14 made for Captain Porteous, Commodore of Tamesis Club in 1948, pictured sailing 1970. Newly varnished, nearly new mast and sails, plus spinnaker and spare suit. Still very fast inland. £3,000 ONO
The Uffa Fox Collection - Remember the Uffa Fox Regatta, Cowes 19-21 August HUFF OF ARKLOW - Flying 30 45ft overall. Planing Ocean Racer Newly Restored. 2 suits sails, spinnaker and genniker. Lying Portishead Marina. £75,000 ONO
Mid 30’s Int 14 Hull only by Uffa Fox in reasonable condition. POA 12ft Frostbite dinghy, either Runt or Squall as featured in Uffa’s books. Hull requires repair. Complete but no sails. POA
For restoration by Coastal Marine Holdings Ltd CARITANA One Design 22 square metre no 131. Newly restored with new trailer. Nearly new mast and sails. Excellent day boat. Accommodation for 2. Fast boat for classic regatta. £17,500 ono Edwardian 12 ft rowing dinghy. Newly restored and varnished. Rows like a dream. £5,000 ono
CHADRAK 22 square metre K3. Fast boat, new mast, good sails. Needs refastening and painting. £3,000 ono
We have a revolving collection of old sailing dinghies available fully restored or for restoration.
Call 01173 634 410 or 07402 095 236
Objects of desire THE EYE Artist Marina Syntelis launched at the Southampton Boat Show last September, where she sold 54 paintings. Visitors will have also seen her ‘hyper-real’ works on show at BoatLife Live, in Birmingham, England. The Papillon Gallery has a virtual 3D gallery of her work on its website. This painting, The Eye, “causes a lot of emotion in men”, says the gallery. Better on your wall than in front of your bow. From £884
thepapillon.gallery
NAUTICAL WATCHES The Solent watch takes inspiration from the “story of ambition and determination” of Sir Alec Rose, says manufacturer Marloe, while its sibling the Dart watch features the lat and long of the mouth of the River Dart in Devon, UK. £349
marloewatchcompany.com
BRASS FOG HORN Rather than bellowing at fellow regatta competitors, at moments when they need reminding of the rules, consider bringing out this brass fog horn, a replica of a traditional style, to awaken them from their competitive slumbers. Useful, too, when crossing the English Channel or navigating the coast of Maine. £21
SHIPPING FORECAST PUZZLE A must for all those who can recite the BBC Shipping Forecast areas off by heart, which includes most UK sailors, this is a colourful, 1,000-piece puzzle designed and made in Devon. Size 66x50cm. £25
hannahwisdomtextiles.com
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
One of two sailing puzzles we take enjoyment in featuring this month, this 1,000-piece one “will transport you to a coastal town harbour complete with boats, a lighthouse and sunbathers on the beach”. The puzzle also comes with a matching poster of the finished design and a trivia sheet “to expand your knowledge”. Size 68cm x 49cm. £18
talkingtables.co.uk
thenauticalcompany.com
34
HARBOUR PUZZLE
CHARLOTTE WATTERS
Adrian Morgan And of course Sally, which caught my eye hanging to a mooring off Hamble with a notice on her shrouds pleading to be bought – like a seaborne Paddington Bear – a smart, white five-tonner from the board of Laurent Giles in 1937. Our childhood dictates so much of our lives. Early influences are powerful. If your father was a pilot, chances are you will know about lift/drag long before you master quadratic equations, whatever they are. With exceptions, the earlier you start the better you will be, whether it’s at chess, violin or sailing. Start ‘em young; but this is where the great debate rages – how much should you encourage, and how much to allow natural development? Do we want young sailors who, like that wretched Russian figure skater, are pushed beyond their limits? For every Yehudi Menuhin there must be scores of fiddle players who hate the sound of a violin; and young Optimist sailors who will never go near a dinghy again, having been shouted at, coached and circled by a parent’s RIB from a (too) early age. We can’t return to the days of pottering about in old wooden boats, all white plimsolls, Peter Storm smocks and the yellow Crewsaver buoyancy aids we were all supposed to wear, but seldom did. “In my day there was none of this safety nonsense. Arthur Ransome was my sailing guide. ‘Better duffers, etc’” is a common complaint from a post-war generation whose parents – and grandparent in my case who, luckily for me, did manage to swim – had a more robust attitude to risk. At our club in the 60s the Swanage lobster fishermen, most of them lifeboat crew, would keep an eye if you strayed too close to Peveril Ledge. They all sailed beautifully varnished YW Dayboats, attuned to every nuance of the bay’s counterintuitive tidal currents. They were our mentors, godlike, and if in a blue moon we beat them, in my National 12 Fesquie, or my brother in Saffron, his yellow Firefly, we would feel like heroes. It’s natural for every generation to look back fondly. We need nostalgia to convince us – albeit through rosetinted, wraparound £150 RayBans – that summer days were always sunny, blessed by gentle breezes. They were not. We were, however, left largely to own devices, and they weren’t iPhones. Can I remember ever getting help rigging my dinghy, or dragging it up to the dinghy park after a race? Did my father rush down the beach, or were he and crew Bill Walworth in the bar, celebrating second place in their Albacore. You decide!
Left to their own devices
There was something to be said for benign neglect...
W
hat was your first memory of sailing? A clinker dinghy called Greenfly, perhaps, with a tan lugsail at Emsworth ? Unlikely unless you knew my grandfather, whose boat she was, a retired RN commander, deaf from clinging to a spar after his ship was sunk in the North Sea by a salvo from a German cruiser in 1916, his deafness not so bad that he could pretend not to hear my grandmother’s constant chattering. “Vaccinated with a gramophone needle!” was her explanation. That’s by the by; Greenfly was a sturdy stem dinghy, probably no more than 14ft, but to a four-year-old a mighty craft with endless, piratical possibilities on the boundless main (Emsworth Harbour). In early spring we would flip her over to scrape and paint her peagreen bottom until one time, might have been the year of the hurricane that swept the land in 1957, she was lifted by the wind, carried a remarkable distance, and smashed to smithereens. Did that early encounter with wood shape my preference? Certainly, aside from a Laser dinghy, my boats have always been wooden, from the Gull built in the garage in Hampstead, the National 12, through to the little Waarschip 570 Yellowhammer that I still miss, last seen in 1999 heading for the west country where for all I know she still lives. Given her plywood construction – albeit best Bruynzeel – she may have rotted long ago up some lush, tree-lined Devonian creek.
36
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
“We were left to our own devices, which weren’t iPhones”
BOSUN’S BAG PRACTICAL TIPS FOR THE TRADITIONAL BOATER
WORDS TOM CUNLIFFE ILLUSTRATION MARTYN MACKRILL
Readers might wonder what on earth windvane self-steering has to do with classic boats. The answer is, quite a lot. One vane-steered yacht whose pedigree nobody would question is the late Col ‘Blondie’ Hasler’s Jester. She was a Folkboat – one of two in the inaugural 1960 Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic Race. Various innovative self-steering options were tried among the five entrants, including Sir Francis Chichester’s Miranda. This took the form of a large sail that pulled the rudder directly, but it was Hasler’s pendulum-servo system that came out tops. Those us who sail classics short-handed face the same challenges as Chichester and Hasler, but more answers are available today. A cheap, cheerful and surprisingly effective solution for small, well-balanced yachts, can be a simple cockpit autopilot of the generic ‘tillermate’ variety. The great advantage of these is that when not in service they can disappear below decks and nobody knows the difference. For longer-range use, experience has taught me to carry a spare: they don’t last forever. Hefty below-decks autopilots are fine – again, for well-balanced boats – but they are power-hungry and after a week or three, the quiet buzzing starts to drive me nuts. That’s because I’m worrying about the 75 amp hours it could well be eating every day, the complex ‘brain in a box’, the windings of the motor and the rest, until the noise finally stops. The batteries can then breathe a sigh of relief and I’m back to the tiller. The windvane does away with all this anxiety. Blondie Hasler sailed the Atlantic in complete silence and probably only used his battery to power a chart table light to read an improving book. When Roz and I set sail for the southern hemisphere in our 1903 Colin Archer-built gaff cutter Saari, it was 1975. Windvanes had been around for a few years and had been quickly accepted by the relatively small band of ocean wallopers then plying the deep seas. One or two other successful forms had arisen, but I kitted Saari out with a secondhand pendulum-servo gear based on Hasler’s original, made by a man named Max Gunning. I don’t suppose Gunning had a factory. For all I know, he knocked them up in his garage, but it was a strong, galvanised, agricultural sort of job. If anything should fail, it could be fixed by the user or some pliable local blacksmith. In my case there was no need. It worked from day one and kept on working through thousands of miles, in rough weather and calm, storms and zephyrs. Once it was fitted, we never steered again. Remember, this was a twelve-tonne gaffer, which are not always the most delicate craft on the helm. The
38
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
pendulum-servo gear uses water flow to beef up raw wind power. The windvane is adjusted so as to feather when the boat is on course. When she wanders, the vane receives wind on one side or the other. It reacts by pivoting. This activates the servo paddle which is a deep blade cutting through the water below it. The paddle is hinged fore and aft, so that as it is twisted off the ‘feathering’ position by the vane, it is kicked up sideways like a pendulum by the water flowing past it. If you doubt the power, try it with an oar as you buzz along in the dinghy. This swinging movement to one side is transferred to the helm by lines joining the paddle to the tiller or to a drum on the wheel. As the paddle is displaced, it drags the helm with it. This steers the boat until she is once again sailing at the original angle to the apparent wind. Vane, and hence paddle, now return to the ‘feather’ position. The result is a surprisingly straight course in most conditions. I advise anyone unused to it to avoid being trapped between tiller and cockpit bench with the gear in full cry. I have suffered nasty bruising, and one wild night I almost ended up with a squeaky voice. There are two unavoidable downsides for a gear like this: it doesn’t enhance the appearance of the stern, and mean-minded harbourmasters may bang you for an extra pound or two for the added overall length. As to ongoing maintenance, my Gunning used turning blocks. The pins did wear out from the constant working but I’d sourced my blocks from a boat jumble and new ones would probably have fared better. The tiller lines also chafed a bit, but they were cheap enough. A dab of oil here and there, and that was maintenance done with. The vanes themselves are ‘fit and forget’ items on a modern yacht with a short boom, but on what about on Saari or, I expect, your boat, with a respectable overhanging boom? In my case, the vane stuck up higher than the boom end and well inside it, so I had to whip it off each time I tacked. A bit of a nuisance. That’s all. If I forgot, it snapped off, so I just sawed up a new one from a sheet of ply carried under the main bunk. Ply has a hundred uses in emergencies. This is just one of them. In terms of the closeness to the boom end, I never fathomed what was going on with the apparent wind across the vane when close-hauled, but I knew that if I set it more or less fore and aft, the boat would settle down at around 45-500 off the true wind. One final word... I’ve noted that windvanes do little for a boat’s looks, but most can be dismounted and sent below in an hour or two for regattas. If yours can’t, wear it as a badge of honour. How many of the concours yachts have sailed in from Greenland?
Squadron. His depictions of classic boats, from clinker rowing boats to Edwardian schooners, have made him one of the most sought-after marine artists, and his work forms part of major collections worldwide. He and his wife, Bryony, sail the restored 1910 gaff cutter Nightfall (CB328).
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
FOR THE WORK OF MARTYN MACKRILL, VISIT MARTYNMACKRILL.CO.UK OR MESSUM’S GALLERY, MAYFAIR, LONDON MESSUMS.COM
MARTYN MACKRILL Son of a marine engineer and grandson of a trawlerman, Martyn is Honorary Painter of the Royal Thames Yacht Club and the Royal Yacht
39
JIM LAWRENCE
The sailmaker
Jim Lawrence is a living icon of the days of sail, and although best known as a sailmaker, he started off as a barge hand on England’s east coast WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY CATHERINE LARNER
40
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
W
ith his red neckerchief, crisp white shirt and tan When he worked on the barges, he’d spend downtime on deck waistcoat, Jim Lawrence cuts a distinctive figure sewing repairs by hand. He knew how a better cut of the cloth and at 88 he’s a fit and active one too. Sailing would result in improved performance and his attention to detail from his home in Brightlingsea, Essex every day and eye for quality meant that later he was sought after by – “well, not in winter any more” – he stops off for a chat and a museums and heritage organisations and TV and film companies song at the pub midday, then he’s home to work on his second as well as boat owners and sailors. volume of memoirs, this time recalling his sailmaking career – “I think by being a keen sailor, that gave me an eye for the cut volume one was about Thames sailing barges. of a sail,” he says. “People used to come and say ‘look at this Jim’ “I thought that would be a modest little book just of interest and if I could see where I could make an improvement, I would to a few barge enthusiasts,” he says, “but it sold like wildfire and cut it up and resew it.” it’s on a third reprint. I won an award for it!” His first sail loft measured 19 by 42ft (5.8 by 12.8m) he says, The next book is also likely to have a large and appreciative but he soon needed somewhere bigger. “After four years with a audience, such is Jim’s name and reputation. He founded James growing order book and an expanding workforce, we were Lawrence Sailmakers in the coastal town in 1970 and, though he becoming cramped.” retired more than 20 years ago, the business maintains its reputation He remembers one occasion when he needed to lay out some internationally as leading traditional and classic sailmakers. particularly large sails and didn’t have the space, so he closed his Jim clearly delights in recalling corner of town to traffic and laid the incidents from the past... the people he canvas out on the street. met, the places he went, the jobs he “I made up two trestles with Road completed. And sitting in his garden on Closed BTC (Brightlingsea Town a beautiful spring day, he opens a letter Council), painted on them in cream that has just arrived in the post, magnolia. I put one at each end of the responding to his call for more stories. road. Then I spread the sails out to “I didn’t really save records,” he repair them. Cars knew to back up and says, “because everything became go another way. But this old policeman history the next day. I tackled everything came along. enthusiastically and when I finished one “‘What are they doing here, mate?’ thing, I’d look to go on to the next.” So he said about the road signs. ‘I don’t “The Dutchmen used he’s invited former colleagues, staff and know,’ I said, ‘I just thought I’d take the clients to share their memories with him opportunity to do these sails. They’re to come to my door at and the letters are coming in from all going to finish tonight.’ ‘Oh,’ he said, 11pm to make orders over the world. Men he trained are now ‘they usually tell us if they’re going to running their own lofts in Australia, close a road.’ And off he went. He was and chat” Canada and Wales, and many join him happy. This was 1970. Things were for a Christmas get-together, even now. different then!” Jim knew he had to get A multitude of pictures and souvenirs fill Jim’s tiny end-ofjobs done when he could and often worked 60-70 hours a week. terrace house, and the shed holds his tools and those early Singer “I worked terrible long hours,” he says. “And the Dutchmen sewing machines. Now he’s plumbing many years of memories. used to come to my door at 11 o’clock at night to chat and make He was just 15 when he started work on the Thames barges orders. I was a bit of a glutton for it. But at one time we moved as a third hand, and quickly became one of the youngest skippers. out of Brightlingsea to live in the next village just so that I could Then when the earnings from transporting cargo were no longer get away. I thought the little time that I’m not there, they don’t enough to support a young family, Jim turned to chartering. He need to get me so I wouldn’t let anyone have my telephone number.” enjoyed meeting people and would regale them with tales and With his growing reputation, Jim was taking on square riggers songs, often sitting on deck hand-sewing while the crew worked. like Lord Nelson, Kaskelot and Soren Larsen. He was employed “The trading days had been lonely, but chartering was very by museums and TV companies to create historically accurate social,” he says. “I heard one lady say ‘Jim was so moral but he sails for ‘Scott of the Antarctic’ and ‘The Onedin Line’. There was get [sic] his breakfast cooked by a different woman every morning’.” also a recreation of Shackleton’s ship where all the original repairs Ultimately though, he decided to come ashore, setting up his and the number and size of the stitches had to be reproduced exactly. own sail loft in Brightlingsea and initially focusing on the Larger premises, still in Brightlingsea, made these jobs easier barge fleet. and Jim was able to produce a full suit of sails for Sea Cloud, “All bargemen had a second interest,” says Jim. “And the one believed to be the largest square-rigged yacht in the world – 30 thing I missed when I was barging was doing something creative. sails with a total area of 32,000sqft (3,000m2). And though Jim So that’s why I took up sailmaking, meeting all the old has had to visit the ships to measure them for sails, he’s never sailmakers and learning the job thoroughly.” desired to stray far from the creeks and coastline of East Anglia. He had first started making sails at school when he and his “When you get up in the morning, there’s always something friends were eager to go to sea. They would create ‘make exciting to look forward to. “I would say my greatest pleasure has believe’ barges from empty fuel tanks and he would sew sails been the people I’ve met,” Jim says. “And to know they are very, from barrage balloons and parachute silk pilfered from the very reliable friends. I think that would be the most important dump at Colchester. thing. And the fact that they know that of me, I believe so.”
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
41
CLASSIC
EVENTS 2022 The British isles The classic sailing scene in the British Isles continues to grow, around the established centres of the Solent, East Coast, West Country and further. This summer sees some special events and one-offs to celebrate Uffa Fox, William Fife III, the venerable Folkboat.
SOUTH COAST 20-22 MAY Cowes Spring Classics
Cowes, cowesspringclassics.com Broad-church regatta for classics
1-5 JUNE Yarmouth Gaffers Festival oga.org.uk. Flagship OGA bash with an additional separate Queen’s Jubilee race
25 JUNE Round the Island Race
IoW, roundtheisland.org.uk The world’s most popular race
25 JUNE – 1 JULY Cowes Classics Week
IoWight, cowesclassicsweek.org 100+ boats in many classes
25 JUNE – 2 JULY Spirit 2022 Regatta
Guernsey, Channel Islands spirityachts.com First regatta for Spirit yachts
16–23 JULY British Classic Week
Cowes, britishclassicyachtclub.org One of the top British classic regattas
18–21 JULY UF50
Cowes, Isle of Wight, uf50.org Three days of dinners, talks and dinghy racing to commemorate 50 years since Uffa Fox’s death
22-24 JULY Taittinger Regatta
Yarmouth, Isle of Wight royalsolent.org Popular for mixed classics
42
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2021
30 JULY – 6 AUGUST Cowes Week
SEPTEMBER (DATE TBC) Maldon Town Regatta
SCOTLAND
3-4 SEPTEMBER Bosham Classic Boat Revival
NORFOLK BROADS
Loch Fyne, scottishseries.com Some classics in IRC
IoW, cowesweek.co.uk
Chichester Harbour, boshamsailingclub.com Classic dinghy regatta, 10 this year
10-11 SEPTEMBER Hamble Classics Regatta RAF Yacht Club, Hamble rafyc.org.uk
17-22 SEPTEMBER Folkboat Nationals
Lymington, Solent, rlymyc.org.uk Nationals and Sessan Cup – 80th anniversary year for the Folkboats
EAST COAST MAY-SEPTEMBER Barge matches
thamesbarge.org.uk 21 MAY: Medway (Kent) 18 JUNE: Thames (Essex/Kent) 1-3 JULY: Passage Match (Medway to Ipswich) 09 JULY: Pin Mill (Suffolk) 06 AUGUST: Blackwater (Essex) 28 AUGUST: Southend (Essex) 03 SEPTEMBER: Colne (Essex)
10-12 JUNE Suffolk Yacht Harbour Classic Regatta
Levington, R Orwell, syharbour.co.uk Sail and power. 20th year
11-14 JULY Fifes at the RYS
Cowes, Isle of Wight, rys.org.uk Racing and social events for Fife yachts returning from Scotland
16 JULY Heybridge Basin Regatta
Nr Maldon, Essex, jenny@pa-angels.co.uk Small regatta, over 150 years old
24-31 JULY Annual OGA East Coast Race and Rally
Blackwater, Stour, Orwell, Deben Essex and Suffolk oga.org.uk
13 AUGUST West Mersea Town Regatta
Mersea Island, Essex mersearegatta.org.uk Family friendly regatta since 1838
Essex, maldonregatta.co.uk
28-29 MAY Three Rivers Race
Ant, Bure and Thurne rivers 3rr.uk. Wild 24-hour Broads race
THAMES
15–17 JULY Thames Traditional Boat Festival
3-6 JUNE Scottish Series
28 MAY – 4 JUNE Sail Caledonia
Raid from Atlantic coast to North Sea coast, sailcaledonia.org
10-17 JUNE Fife Regatta
Fairlie and the Clyde Estuary fiferegatta.com
17-19 JUNE Scottish Traditional Boat Festival
tradboatfestival.com Henley, Upper Thames Biggest gathering of traditional river craft event in Europe
Portsoy, stbfportsoy.org Rowing, sailing, 100+ boats
10 SEPTEMBER Great River Race
3-4 SEPTEMBER Clydebuilt Festival
greatriverrace.co.uk Docklands to Ham, 21-mile race for rowed or paddled vessels
WEST COUNTRY 28-29 MAY Brixham Heritage Regatta brixhamheritageregatta.uk Sailing trawlers and more
17-19 JUNE Falmouth Classics
Cornwall, falmouthclassics.org.uk Huge traditional regatta, 170+ boats
1-3 JULY Sea, Salts and Sail
Mousehole, Cornwall seasalts.co.uk Small, lively biennial sailing regatta
3 JULY Clovelly Maritime Festival Devon, clovelly.co.uk Shoreside with some racing
26-29 JULY Fowey Classics
Cornwall, foweyclassics.com Friendly event in a scenic setting
14-19 AUGUST Fowey Royal Regatta Cornwall, foweysailing.org
24-27 AUGUST Dartmouth Royal Regatta
Devon, dartmouthregatta.co.uk Modern regatta with gaffers class
Glasgow, galgael.org River maritime festival
WALES 18-25 JUNE Sefair Haven
Pemprokeshire, oga.org.uk Raid the Milford Haven waterway
8-10 AND 16-17 JULY Conwy River Festival
conwyriverfestival.org Includes Nobby and Gaffers races
1-13 AUGUST Menai Strait Regattas Nr Beaumaris, Anglesey menaistraitregattas.org.uk
27-29 AUGUST Clywedog Rally
Llanidloes, Wales, oga.org.uk Dinghy sailing 1,000ft up a mountain
IRELAND 21-22 MAY Galway Traditional Boat Festival
galwaytourism.ie Ireland’s famous working boats race
11-15 JULY Volvo Cork Week
corkweek.ie. The big tricentennial planned for 2020 for the Royal Cork YC was cancelled, but this year’s event has a new classics class
CLASSIC EVENTS
Clockwise from top: Colne Smack and Barge Race; Hamble Classics; Henley Traditional Boat Festival; Galway hooker racing in Ireland; Racing at British Classic Week
CLASSIC EVENTS
The Mediterranean Centre of the classic world After confusion last year, when the early summer events deferred because of covid, things are back on track for the first year since 2019. And, since Panerai’s departure three years ago, there is a new series gathering pace. It is called the Mediterranean Champions Cup Series and is being run by the newly-formed Vintage Classic Yacht Club. The series takes in Antibes, Argentario, Vela Clasica Menorca, Imperia and Regates Royales Cannes. vintageclassicyachtclub.com
Top: Tuiga at the Monanco Classic regatta Right: Dockside at the Voiles D’Antibes
20–22 MAY Les Voiles de Cassis La Ciotat, France portdecassis.com
1-5 JUNE Les Voiles d’Antibes
France, voilesdantibes.com
9-12 JUNE Porquerolles Classique Porquerolles, France yachtclubporquerolles.com
10-12 JUNE Vela Classica Costa Brava L’Estartit, Spain velaclassicacostabrava.com
15-19 JUNE Argentario Sailing Week
17–19 JUNE Calanques Classique
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2021
INGRID ABERY
29 JUNE – 2 JULY Superyacht Cup
Marseille, France lanautique.com
Palma, Mallorca, Spain thesuperyachtcup.com
17-19 JUNE Les Voiles du Vieux-Port
1-3 JULY Grandi Vele a Gaeta
Marseille, France, lanautique.com
22-26 JUNE Vele d’Epoca a Napoli Naples, Italy, ryccsavoia.it Classic sailing regatta
23-26 JUNE Spetses Classic Yacht Regatta Spetses, Greece spetsesclassicregatta.gr
23 JUNE – 9 JULY Trophée Bailli de Suffren
Saint-Tropez – Mahón – Carthage – Malta. tropheebaillidesuffren.com Classic Med passage race
44
GUIDO CANTINI / PANERAI
Porto Santo Stefano, Italy argentariosailingweek.it
Gaeta, Italy, aive-yachts.it
13-16 JULY Puig Vela Clàssica
Barcelona, Spain puigvelaclassicabarcelona.com
8-11 SEPTEMBER Vele d’Epoca di Imperia Italy, veledepoca.com
19-25 SEPTEMBER Régates Royales
Cannes, France yachtclubdecannes.org
25 SEPTEMBER Coupe d’Automne du Yacht Club de France
Cannes – Saint-Tropez, ycf-club.fr
11–14 AUGUST Regatta Illes Balears Classic
25 SEPTEMBER – 8 OCTOBER Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez
24-28 AUGUST Vela Clasica Menorca
8 OCTOBER Barcolana Classic
25 AUGUST – 2 SEPTEMBER Corsica Classic (France)
13-16 OCTOBER Vele Storiche Viareggio
Mallorca, velaclasicamallorca.com
Menorca, velaclasicamenorca.com
corsica-classic.com
France, lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr
Italy, aive-yachts.it
Italy, aive-yachts.it
Join Snark Sailing Holidays on a new
British voyage
once-in-a-lifetime experience
Imagine surging through the waves on a sailing barge and watching a pod of dolphins leap out the water, tucking into a delicious home-cooked dinner on deck under a blanket of stars • No previous sailing knowledge necessary • Learn how to navigate and operate an 84-foot vessel • Beginning and ending in Plymouth • Different legs depending where guests want to start and finish their journey, visiting all four nations • Qualified skipper with more than 35 years’ experience • Choose a wilderness cruise and explore remote beaches, picturesque ports, and secretive wildlife; or pick a cultural cruise and visit a museum, join in with a whisky tasting, and delve into local markets. 1 June – 8 June 11 June – 20 June 22 June – 27 June 30 June – 7 July 10 July – 17 July 20 July – 27 July 30 July – 10 Aug 13 Aug – 20 Aug 23 Aug – 31 Aug 3 Sept – 13 Sept
Plymouth to Eastbourne Eastbourne to London London to Gt Yarmouth Gt. Yarmouth to Whitby Whitby to Edinburgh Leith to Inverness Inverness to Belfast Belfast to Caernarfon Caernarfon to Cardiff Cardiff to Plymouth
For more information and to book, please visit www.snark.limited or call 01962841411
XI
G S TA A D YAC H T C L U B C E N T E N A RY T R O P H Y 2 9 TH S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2
The only race in the world for centenarian yachts gyccentenarytrophy.com
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
45
Photo: © Gstaad Yacht Club / Juergkaufmann.com
English Channel White Cliffs The Thames Anglia Northumbria Herring Coast Scottish Lochs Irish Sea Cymru West Country
CLASSIC EVENTS
Northern Europe Something for everyone The north of Europe is a mixed bag, more so than the Med, with everything from huge maritime festivals like Brest to the sleeker side of yachting, this year embodied by world championships in the evocative 12-M and 8-M classes, as well as a European championship in the 6s. The spectacular Golfe du Morbihan was sadly cancelled due to covid just as we went to press – but there’s still plenty on
SWEDEN AND FINLAND
GERMANY
3-9 JULY ÅF Offshore Classic Race (Around Gotland)
24-28 MAY Voiles Classiques du Morbihan
Flensburg, fsc.de
Stockholm-Visby-Sandhamn, Sweden; 220nm passage race race.ksss.se
28-30 JULY Airisto Classic Regatta Abo Batvarf, Turku, Finland airistosegelsallskap.fi
4-6 AUGUST Sandhamn Regatta
Sandhamn, Sweden Offshore race for classic yachts ksss.se
13 AUGUST Viaporin Tuoppi
Helsinki, Finland Big wooden boat regatta english.viaporintuoppi.fi
NORWAY 4-6 AUGUST Risør Traditional Boat Festival Risør, trebatfestivalen.no
Top: The 12 Metre Flica II and Robbie and Berking motor launch at Flensburg
CB ARCHIVES
FRENCH ATLANTIC COAST
Quiberon, Brittany yachtclubclassique.com
10-16 JULY Classic Channel Regatta
Dartmouth-Paimpol-Camaret-La Rochelle classic-channel-regatta.eu
14-17 JULY Douarnenez Maritime Festival Douarnenez, Brittany tempsfete.com
26-27 JULY Voiles Classiques des Sables Les Sables d’Olonne, Loire yachtclubclassique.com
SPAIN 13-19 SEPTEMBER 6-M European Championship Sanxenxo, Galicia 6metre.com
16-19 JUNE Robbe & Berking Sterling Cup 16-19 JUNE Kiel Rendezvous fsc.de
13–14 AUGUST Hamburg Summer Classics fky.org
18-21 AUGUST German Classics Laboe, fky.org
SWITZERLAND 25-31 JULY 8-M Worlds
Geneva, 8mrworldcup.com
DENMARK 12-13 AUGUST Svendborg Classic classicregatta.dk
NERTHLANDS 1-3 JULY Dutch Wooden Boat Festival Den Helder, dutchwoodenboatfestival.nl
8–11 SEPTEMBER Dorestad Raid
Echtenerbrugge, natuurlijkvaren.nl Right: The hugely popular RoundGotland Race
BELGIUM 19-22 MAY Oostende Voor Anker oostendevooranker.be
TALL SHIPS RACES 7 JULY – 7 AUGUST Tall Ships Races 2022 46
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2021
Esbjerg (Denmark) – Harlingen (Netherlands) – Antwerp (Belgium) – Aalborg (Denmark) sailtraininginternational.org
Sarisbury Green - Southampton
Luxury apartments exclusively for the over 55s
Call 01489 858 338 to book a tour Visit meadow-court.co.uk for more information
Café • Hair & Beauty Salon • Residents Lounge • Guest Suite • Landscaped Grounds • Allotment Area
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
47
CLASSIC EVENTS Top: Eggemoggin Reach Regatta Rockport Maine Below: Thelma A10 overtakes Waitangi A6 at start of Duder Cup 2020
USA, Australia & NZ The sun never sets on classic events With classic yacht racing all around the world, it’s always the season, somewhere, from the schooners and classics of the USA to a vibrant racing and social scene in Australia and New Zeland.
UNITED STATES 13 JUNE Race to Alaska
Port Townsend, WA to Ketchican, Alaska r2ak.com 700-odd mile race in a motley array of watercraft through some of the most savage seas and scenery on earth.
8 JULY Great Schooner Race
greatschoonerrace.com Penobscot Bay, Maine 20+ vessels in the most evocative rig of them all
15-21 JULY Salish 100
Port Townsend, Washington nwmaritime.org Puget Sound: “The largest organised small-boat cruise in the USA”
9-10 JULY Vineyard Cup
Mass, sailmv.org/vineyard-cup Mixed fleet of classic and modern
11 JUNE Belvedere Classic Regatta and Great San Francisco Schooner Race
27-29 AUGUST Herreshoff Classic Yacht Regatta and Rendezvous
24-26 JUNE WoodenBoat Show
4-5 SEPTEMBER IYRS Newport Classic Yacht Regatta
San Francisco Bay, California sfyc.org
Mystic Seaport, CT thewoodenboatshow.com Big exhibition of wooden boats and related craft at the Museum of America and the Sea. 30th year
JULY (DATE TBC) Stuart Knockabout Regatta
Megansett Harbor, Mass stuartknockaboutllc.com Regatta for LF Herreshoff-designed dayboats
28–30 JULY Camden Classics Cup
Camden, Maine camdenclassicscup.com Fourth year in this lovely location
6 AUGUST Eggemoggin Reach Regatta Rockport, Maine erregatta.com 125+ boats – one of the big events in the American calendar
13-14 AUGUST Corinthian Classic Regatta
WEXFORD FILMS LTD.2020
Marblehead, Mass corinthianclassic.org
48
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2021
13-21 AUGUST Nantucket Race Week nantucketraceweek.org Classics and moderns
21 AUGUST Opera House Cup
Nantucket, operahousecup.org The jewel of the east coast classic regatta scene. 50th year!
Bristol, RI, herreshoff.org Herreshoffs and other classics organised by the Herreshoff Museum
Newport, Rhode Island, iyrs.edu 43nd year for the race
9-11 SEPTEMBER Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival
Port Townsend, Washington woodenboat.org 300+ boats, main west coast event
AUSTRALIA 26-27 JANUARY 2023 Australia Day Regatta
Sydney, New South Wales australiadayregatta.co.au Claimed to be the world’s oldest continuously conducted sailing regatta, with moderns and classics mingling in the celebrations
1-13 FEBRUARY 2023 Australian Wooden Boat Festival
Hobart, Tasmania southernwoodenboatsailing.com Established 1994, this biennial event is probably the biggest for classic boats in the southern hemisphere
NEW ZEALAND 31 JANUARY 2023 (DATE TBC) Ports of Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta Auckland (New Zealand) classicyacht.org.nz Sailing and watersports clubs get together for this epic event
Tour of English Castles & Mansions A magnificent journey through the South East of England and the Heart of England Join us on a small group tour unlike any other
A 9 day tour in the South East of England with the option to extend to 14 day to include the Heart of England (Days include 3 days international travel) • 5 nights in Canterbury and 4 nights in Worcester
No daily unpacking and packing! Don’t forget our popular Tour of the English Cotswold, our Isle of Wight, our English Channel Isles and our Isles of Scilly MIX & MATCH! for an extended vacation Enjoy you own Private Tours Customize your private tour with family or friends. in the Garden of England. Ask for more information A gardeners paradise For brochures and more information on the above call Barry Devo on 330 284 4709 EDT Canton OH email barrydevo@prepcotravel.com or visit www.prepcotravel.com and click on Start Planning
Join our 2022/2023 small group tours in
The Four Corners of Cornwall An Historic County in the Southwest of England Like all our tours, no daily packing and unpacking, just leisurely daily excursions from a base hotel 2, 5, or 8 day pre-organized, custom-built and private tours. Including Poldark and Doc. Martin locations plus ask for more information on our Cornwall Gardeners Paradise Tour Transfers from anywhere in Britain plus international flights if needed.
Castles & Mansions
Relaxing Coastal Villages for a pint and Fish and Chips
The traditional Cornish Cream Tea
Rain Forests and other wonders at the Eden Project IMAGES COURTESY OF LOUISE WEST
Your specialist for Vacations and Tours in Britain Call or email Barry Devo for brochure. Call 330 284 4709 EDT Canton OH Email barrydevo@prepcotravel.com or visit www.prepcotravel.com and click on Start Planning
ENDURANCE
NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK The expedition to find Shackleton’s amazingly well preserved ship on the Antarctic Ocean floor WORDS JOHN GREEVES PHOTOS FALKLAND HERITAGE TRUST/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
T
he recent discovery of Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance has revealed once again the irrepressible and determined story of one of the most charismatic leaders who in a moment of tragedy, when all seemed lost, showed how strong resolve, optimism and humanity can reign supreme in overcoming even the darkest times. The ship was lost 107 years ago and was discovered in March of this year below the surface in the Weddell Sea, at a depth of 3,000 metres, four miles south of the position originally recorded by its Captain Frank Worsley. The 144ft (44m) ship was crushed by sea ice and on sank 21 November 1915, but was found wonderfully preserved sitting in an upright position on the seabed. Endurance22 mission’s leader, the veteran polar geographer Dr John Shears said “The discovery of the wreck is an incredible achievement,” and then added “We have successfully completed the world’s most difficult shipwreck search, battling constantly shifting sea-ice, blizzards, and temperatures down to -18C. We have achieved what many people would say was impossible.” One could argue that all four Shackleton’s Antarctic expeditions ended in failure, but this diminishes the man and says little of his immeasurable courage, determination and incomparable endurance he displayed throughout his life. Ernest Shackleton was born in County Kildare in Ireland to an English father and an Irish mother. When he was 10 years old, the family moved back to London and he was schooled at Dulwich College in south-east London. Although his father hoped his son would become a doctor, Ernest had other ideas and joined the merchant navy aged 16 in 1890 to satisfy his passion for the sea and adventure. On the first expedition in 1901 to 1904, Captain Scott chose him as third officer for an attempt on the South Pole but Shackleton was sent home on grounds of ill health. He failed to finish the expedition much to Scott’s annoyance who made some harsh remarks about his performance. According to Scott’s unedited diary found on his body months after he perished in Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf, Shackleton wasn’t alone in being singled out; many others also incurred Scott’s fickle displeasure. Five years later, Shackleton led his own expedition to the south pole but turned his party back when he was only 97 miles away, knowing that while they had sufficient food supplies to reach the pole, they did not have enough to make it back. He and his three companions set a new record of 88°23’S in being the most advanced to the pole in exploration history at that time. They had come the closest CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
51
ENDURANCE
to the south pole in 1907, but as Shackleton later wrote: “I chose life over death for myself and my friends.” For these achievements, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII on his return home. Roald Amundsen reached the pole in December 1911 five weeks before Scott in January 1912. Now Shackleton looked around for a new challenge and resolved to make the first crossing of the Antarctic via the pole. The plan was to cross the vast Antarctic ice sheet to the south pole, and then keep going to the Ross Sea on the other side of the continent. The Trans-Antarctica Expedition as it was called is perhaps one of the greatest story of exploration, peril, leadership and survival ever told. Shackleton famously lost his ship but saved his crew of 26 men. When recruiting for this expedition, Shackleton received over 5,000 applicants. Among his many requirements (mostly to do with personal abilities and skills) was the ability of the candidate bizarrely to hold a tune in his head. Shackleton also recruited 69 dogs for the expedition. Macklin was one of two surgeons on Endurance and helped train the dogs. Macklin also kept a detailed record of what happened after the ship became trapped in the ice. The Endurance set sail from South Georgia in December 1914, heading for Vahsel Bay on the eastern side of the Weddell Sea but soon encountered polar pack ice. By early January the ship had become stuck off the Caird coast and drifted for 10 months before being crushed in the pack ice. Macklin wrote in his dairy: “Shackleton, at this time, showed one of his sparks of real greatness. He did not rage at all, or show outwardly the slightest sign of disappointment.” “He told us, simply and calmly, that we must winter in the pack; explained its dangers and possibilities; never lost his optimism and prepared for winter.” The crew had to decamp on the ice after they had removed the ship’s stores and provisions and more importantly three open life boats, before Endurance finally sank on 21 November 1915. The party continued to camp on the ice floes for a further five months. Even in moments of despair, Shackleton maintained spirits and nurtured a strong team 52
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above: Provisions and equipment were off loaded from the ship; In April the crew finally took to the lifeboats and rowed to the uninhabited Elephant Island
ethic. He encouraged singing, seal-scouting trips, exploratory hikes and lantern slide lectures and games and for his men to look out for one another. He inspired loyalty and overcame any dissent with a calm demeanour while he maintained a quiet discipline throughout the crew. Most importantly, he instilled in them the belief that they would survive despite being stranded on the ice for months. On Mayday, the sun disappeared entirely and was not seen again for the next four months The following April the crew finally took to the lifeboats, rowing to the desolate and uninhabited Elephant Island. The men were exhausted, some afflicted by seasickness and others with dysentery. After nine days of convalescence Shackleton, Worsley and four others set forth again, sailing in the open lifeboat James Caird across 800 miles of rough seas and freezing winds to South Georgia. It took 16 horrendous days in an open boat where they combatted huge turbulent waves and grey threatening skies. The feat was replicated in 2013 – search ‘Shackleton Epic’ at classicboat.co.uk to read that story. Despite this extraordinary effort to reach South Georgia, their journey wasn’t over and Shackleton and two other of the men then crossed peaks and glaciers to reach the whaling station on the other side of the island. In recounting this experience Shackleton said: “When I look back at those days I have no doubt that Providence guided us, not only across those snowfields, but across the storm-white sea that separated Elephant Island from our landing-place on South Georgia. I know that during that long and racking march of thirty-six hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers of South Georgia it seemed to me often that we were four, not three. I said nothing to my companions on the point, but afterwards Worsley said to me, ‘Boss, I had a curious feeling on the march that there was another person with us.’ Crean confessed to the same idea. One feels ‘the dearth of human words, the roughness of mortal speech’ in trying to describe things intangible, but a record of our journeys would be incomplete without a reference to a subject very near to our hearts.” In August, the remaining crewmen were rescued from Elephant Island with no loss of life.
Clockwise from top left: The chance of finding the wreck was very remote; Crew lower the Sabertooth AUV; Photo, video and laser pictures on the monitor in the control room; Mensum Bound, Endurance 22 director of exploration; Historian Dan Snow (middle) looks at a map of the Weddell sea; Sabertooth AUV is recovered from the Weddell Sea
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
53
ENDURANCE
In 1922, Shackleton launched a new expedition to the Antarctic, called the Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic Expedition. The goal was to circumnavigate the continent, but while his ship was docked at the harbour in South Georgia he died of a heart attack, 5 January aged 47 and is buried at Grytviken on the island.
FINDING ENDURANCE A century later on the anniversary of Shackleton’s death, the SA Agulhas II – a South African ice-breaking ship – left Cape Town on 5 February, with a crew of 46 and a team of scientists, engineers, surveyors and a media unit including Dan Snow who was on board to document the Endurance II Expedition set off to find Shackleton’s Endurance. A previous attempt to find Endurance three years ago had failed. The project to find the lost ship was mounted by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust (FMHT) and was financed to the sum of £8 million by an anonymous donor. Donald Lamont, Chairman of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, said: “Our objectives for Endurance 22 were to locate, survey and film the wreck but also to conduct important scientific research and to run an exceptional outreach programme.” Scientific research centred on climate change and related studies, with research into ice drifts, weather conditions of the Weddell Sea and sea ice thickness. Even the mapping sea ice from space was undertaken. Meanwhile the FMHT partnered with Reach the World, the US-based educational organisation, and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) successfully connected with tens of thousand of children throughout the expedition via live streams and materials produced for classroom use through their educational outreach programme. The search team used advanced underwater technology to locate the wreckage. Specially built hybrid Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) called Sabertooths were fitted with high-definition cameras and side-scan imaging capability. These can search and map huge patches of the ocean floor at depths of up to 4,000m. Endurance was discovered by the Sabertooth-hybrid underwater search vehicles after an extensive two-week search at a depth of 3,008 m. Dr John Sears, mission leader, described the discovery of the wreck as an “incredible achievement.” “We have successfully completed the world’s most difficult shipwreck search, battling constantly sea-ice, 54
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above left: The taffrail, ship’s wheel and aft well deck are clearly visible; Above right: The starboard bow of the wreck of the Endurance Below: First day cover celebrating the discovery of the wreck
blizzards, and temperatures dropping down to -18. We have achieved what many said was impossible.” The ship looks much as it did when it was photographed for the last time by Shackleton’s film-maker Frank Hurley in 1915. For the onlooker there’s damage to the bow and the rigging is tangled, but the hull remains largely intact. “We are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance. This is the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen. It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see the ship’s name Endurance arched across its stern directly below the taffrail. And beneath, as bold as brass, is Polaris the five-pointed star, after which the ship was originally named,” says Mensun Bounds, marine archaeologist and director of exploration. The timbers are extremely well preserved as the Antarctic seabed does not have any wood-eating microorganisms and the clarity of the water is quite remarkable. The ship is, according to Dr Michelle Taylor from Essex University, like a ghost ship and “sprinkled with an impressive diversity of deep-sea marine life – stalked sea squirts, anemones, sponges of various forms, brittlestars, crinoids (related to urchins and starfish), all filter-feeding nutrition from the cool, deep waters of the Weddell Sea.” Apart from these creatures, no one is allowed to touch, or attempt to lift the Endurance or any of its artefacts from the seabed. The search will remain non-intrusive and no samples will be taken from the ship or surrounding seabed. Here it will lie as a designated monument under the international Antarctic Treaty, just as it sank to the seabed over 100 years ago with its last movement literally freezeframed in time. Dr John Shears in summing up the success of the current expedition, said: “The Endurance22 has reached its goal. We have made polar history with the discovery of Endurance, and successfully completed the world’s most challenging shipwreck search. In addition, we have undertaken important research in a part of the world that directly affects the global climate and environment. We have also conducted an unprecedented educational outreach programme, with live broadcasting from on board, allowing new generations from around the world to engage with Endurance22 and become inspired by the amazing stories of polar exploration, and what human beings can achieve and the obstacles they can overcome when they work together.”
GLAMOUR... SWISS STYLE Tom VI is a rare, perhaps unique, example of an early 1950s ‘Express Cruiser’ built by SwissCraft and kept on Italy’s Lake como WORDS GERALD GUETAT PHOTOS HENRI THIBAULT ARCHIVES C/O FRANZ FAUL AND THE FAUL FAMILY COLLECTION
SWISS-CRAFT
C
lassic cruisers from the 1930s to the 1950s were produced in small series. Today they are quite rare, like this 1950 Express Cruiser badged Swiss-Craft, the brand of the Faul boatyard which celebrated its 125 anniversary last year on Lake Zurich, Switzerland. One hundred and twenty-five years is quite a venerable age for a boatyard. The Faul House, owned by the founder’s family since its debut, celebrated that unusual anniversary last summer. One would come to wonder whether the waters of Lake Zurich might not contain some specific longevity molecules, when looking at the concentration of century-old boatbuilding firms in the region such as Boesch, or even bicentennial such as Portier. Over the decades, much like his colleagues, John Faul then his descendants built all kinds of boats; transport, fishing, rowing, sailing and motor before focusing on luxury runabouts and cruisers. One of the originalities of Faul comes from historical links with the automobile industry. As early as the 1920s, the original boatbuilding workshops were completed with a garage and petrol station, located on the roadside along the lake. Faul then distributed the American car brands Graham Paige and Chandler as well as the Saurer and even Hispano-Suiza engines from Paris, where John’s son, Frantz, was trained by the famous aeronautical and automobile firm. The Fauls launched more than 1,000 boats of all types until the boatbuilding activity was brought to a final stop following the 1973 oil crisis. Today, in addition to the maintenance, restoration, storage facilities and mooring at its private marina, Faul is a dealer of brands such as Sea-Ray, Chris-Craft, Bavaria, Windy and Nimbus. Back in the 1920s, John Faul made a trip to the United States that gave the decisive impetus to the future direction of his activities. At the time, even though many reputed companies across the Atlantic embarked on serial boatbuilding, Chris-Craft, the
58
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Below: Early marketing material Bottom left and right: Tom VI in 1950 and 1951. The boat was part of a photo shoot to illustrate the boatyard’s 1952 catalog. Tom VI is the centre boat
pioneer, remained firmly installed at the top as a world reference. So, back to his country, John Faul proudly launched his brand Swiss-Craft, while not hiding his American source of inspiration by gradually creating a range of motorboats produced in small series, always of the finest quality possible. Like the automotive industry that set the pace and dictated the early marketing trends, Chris-Craft and Swiss-Craft were going to invent a whole range of model names to offer different versions developed on the same base or ‘platform’. At the beginning, this platform was most commonly a classic runabout hydroplane hull of 25-30ft (7.6-9.1m) in a ‘utility’ configuration, that is to say, open from the back of the front seats, with a central engine under a hood. Adding a profiled or ‘streamline’ roof above the cockpit created the ‘sedan’ style, the same word used to describe a family four-door enclosed car in the United States. This type of model could not be considered a cabin-cruiser because its enclosed cockpit was not equipped with berths, rather with seats as in a comfortable limousine. In the late 1940s and 1950s, Swiss-Craft/ Faul built around 50 boats of its ‘Cruiser’ range (Sedan type with enclosed cockpit) from 8-11.5m (26-37ft), coining the model name ‘Express Cruiser,’ a reference to the luxurious commuter boats of the New York region back in the 1930s. The 9m-long model, a wellequipped and finished version of the Express Cruiser, featured a six-cylinder Gray Marine that drove it comfortably at about 45kmh (28mph). In 1950, two copies were made on request from residents of the Zurich area, including hull No 830 named Tom VI, commissioned by Mr Hermann Rüegger on 17 February 1950 and delivered a few weeks later on 25 May, an ideal date to enjoy the new boat and prepare for the summer season. Unlike most of the enclosed cockpit models from several other makers, this Swiss-Craft was equipped with two complete wheelhouses, one of which was
Clockwise from top left: The Faul boatyard, Horgen, Zurich Lake, in the early 1900s; Hull testing in 1916; Faul’s racing team in the late 30s; Franz Faul on board a Swiss-Craft runabout in the late 1940s; Tom VI in spring 1950 and 1951; The Faul boatyard’s main workshop for Swiss-Craft runabouts in 1938
SWISS-CRAFT
raised and located behind the cabin bulkhead, somewhat like a future ‘Sport-Fisherman’ type. The original three-page 1950 purchase order showed the care taken in the construction and equipment of this beautiful unit. Notably discreet and luxurious in general, the Swiss-Craft boats would be often prized by stars such as actor Yul Brynner, of Russo-Swiss origin and star of the movie The Magnificent Seven by John Sturges (1960). More family-friendly, the Express Cruiser Tom VI stayed several decades on Lake Zurich before being transported further south on Lake Lugano where it became the property of the most renowned Italian female star singer, Mina, who had settled in Switzerland in 1966. Famous all over the world, Mina has sold more than 100 million records and had long appreciated the possibility to move anonymously on the lake Ticino thanks to its comfortable enclosed cockpit-cabin. It was in 2014 that Tom VI left Switzerland for the first time, a move caused by a love at first sight. Patrick Droulers, resident on Lake Como and a long-time classic boat connoisseur was looking for a rare, practical and beautiful boat to anchor at the bottom of the garden of his lakeside villa. During a visit to the port of Lugano, this descendant of Ferdinand de
60
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above and below: Note twin helms, unusual on a boat this size, and stepless access to cabin Bottom: At her mooring and at speed on Como
Lesseps, the diplomat who became builder of the Suez Canal, spotted this elegant Swiss-Craft which was, by then, in need of restoration. Tom VI was carefully moved to Italy and the restoration work was entrusted to Riva, but not the famous Sarnico shipyard or even to a lucky namesake. It was simply the Ernesto Riva boatyard, the original. Today, this workshop is run by Daniele Riva, a direct heir to a long lineage of boatbuilders who have lived on Lake Como for centuries. It happened that in 1842, some members of his family left Lake Como to go to work on Lake Iseo to rebuilt commercial boats destroyed in a storm. They stayed there, never returned home and the rest is history. Thus, a complete overhaul of the hull and varnish was carried out by Daniele Riva as well as the installation of a bow thruster to facilitate handling at pontoons and moorings in the often choppy waters of Como’s bay. Only three copies of this type of Swiss-Craft Express Cruiser were built between 1950 and 1952. Tom VI now benefits from all the care and protection of a true lover of classic boats, a guarantee of longevity and transmission of the tradition so dear to the Faul family.
CLEAR PENETRATING EPOXY SEALER THE WORLD’S FINEST WOOD PRIMER Makes varnish or paint last Glues the top coat to the wood Glues wood fibres back together Waterproof but breathable Made largely of wood resins Penetrates deeply Stops tannin bleed
Christian Carleton used Epifanes varnish over CPES on Taurus (pictured right) in 1991. He writes: “You are welcome to use my name, my experience, and any photos of the boat in your testimonials. I am a true believer in your CPES product. I have been using it since 1991 on every piece of wood I put into a boat.”
www.makewoodgood.co.uk
Support and advice on: +44 (0)1732 824 700 CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
61
CHANDLERY - DECK AND RIG GEAR
DECK AND RIG GEAR Blocks, cleats, chainpipes, Dorade vents and more... it can be a bit of a maze, and it’s important to get these expensive things right first time WORDS NIGEL SHARP
N
owadays it is possible to source a great variety of deck and rig fittings for classic boats. While many of those are available as off-the-shelf items, almost anything can be custom-made if you know where to look. With regard to materials, the more traditional classic boat owners will probably favour bronze, brass or galvanised (or a finish visually resembling one of those), while others will be happy with stainless-steel or chrome plating.
WINCHES Various makes of bronze and chrome plated winches – self-tailing and non-self-tailing - are readily available from several manufacturers, including British company Lewmar, Harken and Antal (both Italian), Hutton-Arco (Australian), Murray (made by White Star Products in New Zealand), Wilmex (Polish) and Classic Winch Company (based in the Netherlands). The purist may not like the fact that the bronze winches produced by some of these companies are not visibly not completely bronze, typically having the central drive shaft – the top of which, where the handle is inserted, is visible – in chrome or stainless-steel; while Harken winches have an incongruous red line between the drum and base (although this, apparently, is a cosmetic finishing piece that is easily removed). Lewmar winches are completely bronze in appearance with the exception of the barely-noticeable dark coloured plastic rope-friendly self-tailing jaws and stripper rings. 62
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above left to right: Winches by Classic Winch Company on the new S&S yacht Scarabee; aft deck on a San Marco runabout; Various deckware on the schooner Naema Below: Shroud plates on Saecwen
The drums for Lewmar’s larger winches are actually made from stainless steel, for additional strength, and then coated with a Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) to resemble bronze. PVD is a process by which a solid material is vaporized in a vacuum and then deposited onto a surface. It is normally available in a variety of colours and is generally reckoned to be more durable and hard wearing than chrome plating. Danish company Andersen’s winches are all made from stainless-steel with a polished finish as standard. But they can also be PVD coated either in black or a bronze effect colour (or, by special order, any other
PVD colour); or, by bead blasting the stainless steel, the ZT Finish replicates the look of galvanising or titanium. Instead of a more conventional “peened” surface on the surface of the drum where the rope is wound, Andersen winches have distinctive vertical Power Ribs which, the company claims, provide a superior grip on the rope without causing excessive wear. Andersen’s Classic range includes winches with bottom-action handles, in some cases locating in the winch base, in others at the bottom of an under-deck drive shaft. Harken recently produced a set of winches with under-deck handles for a Second Rule 6-Metre. Although these were done to special order, they are now part of the company’s standard range. Murray winches also have bottom-action handles, and some of them are available with a cleat on the top of the winch. This is not intended to be a self-tailing device in the conventional sense, but allows singlehanded tightening of a rope without the need to uncleat. As it happens, White Star Products are now reducing their production of Murray winches due to slow sales and increasing costs, and are now only manufacturing the smaller models. Lewmar, Harken, Antal and Hutton-Arco can all supply electric or hydraulic power units, generally for their larger winches, and with some companies able to provide electric motors in horizontal or vertical configuration to allow for different space availability below deck. But Hutton-Arco not only provide power units for all their own winches, they can also do so for various other makes, including winches such as Barient and Barlow winches which are no longer manufactured.
Below: The smallest and largest bronze cleats cast by Davey & Co
OTHER DECK AND RIG FITTINGS Off-the-shelf fittings are available in bronze, brass, stainless steel and/or chrome from numerous companies such as Davey & Co, Classic Marine, Proboat, Brookes & Adams, Sea Sure, Perko, Antal, Lewmar and German company Toplicht. Lewmar and Antal are able to PVD-coat their stainless-steel fittings, and about half a dozen of Sea Sure’s pressed stainlesssteel products are PVD-coated in a bronze colour exclusively for Classic Marine. But if you can’t find exactly what you want from any of those companies, it is highly likely that you will be able to find someone to make whatever it is you want, although that is likely to have cost and time implications. You are probably never very far away from a stainless-steel fabrication company but let us take a look at those companies who can cast and fabricate bronze fittings. To cast any fitting, a pattern is needed. Patterns are traditionally made out of timber and they are used to form a sand mould, into which molten bronze is poured. So a certain mount of investment will be required and this will give many people the impression that a one-off casting, or a small batch of castings, will be prohibitively expensive. However, that need not be the case. To start with, it may well be that a suitable pattern already exists. For instance, Colin Frake, who produces a great variety of bronze fittings in Faversham, has “dozens and dozens and dozens” of patterns that he has accumulated over the past forty years or so. “I have never really listed what we can do, and that is probably my loss,” he said, “I just say to people let me know what you want and if I can help I will.” Most companies are happy to modify an old pattern to suit a new request and this is normally a relatively straightforward thing to do with timber. Sometimes it is easiest to use an actual existing cast fitting as a pattern, and Davey & Co, Colin Frake and East Coast Metalworks are all used to doing that. However, as CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
63
CHANDLERY - DECK AND RIG GEAR
bronze shrinks when it cools, the new fitting will be slightly smaller than the original, which may or may not matter according to the application. Ian Bloomfield at East Coast Metalworks says that sometimes they modify an old casting by gluing a piece of timber on to it to form a new pattern, but that is generally only effective when casting no more than a handful of new fittings as the composite pattern may not last very long. East Coast Metalworks also occasionally use 3D printing to produce plastic patterns: “a quick way of getting an accurate pattern”. USA company Port Townsend Foundry have something like 35,000 patterns, some of which are over a century old. Proprietor Pete Langley told me that knowing what they have got and where they are is “one of the fun challenges” which is helped by an alphabetical system and limiting the number of staff who are allowed to access them. Davey & Co were recently approached by a customer who asked if they could produce twenty-five copies of the original fittings on a 1920s boat which he was restoring. As it happened, Davey were able to do so very easily, after establishing that they had not only
64
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above left: Sand casting Above right: Dorade box on Scarabee Below left and right: Two classic winches, newly made, and in silver metal and yellow metal
made the original fittings but also had the century-old blueprint drawing filed away, allowing them to economically produce a new pattern. Toplicht represents another Germany company which has a large number of patterns which were originally made by shipbuilders Abeking and Rasmussen 50 or more years ago, and their fittings are now being cast by the third generation of the same family that first did so. All of these companies can also fabricate bronze fittings as well as cast them, and sometimes the best solution is a combination of the two. The collective message is that these companies can’t possibly put everything that they can supply in their catalogues or on their websites, so if you think they might be able to help them, just ask. “It’s all about flexibility, and understanding what the customer wants and its functionality,” said Davey & Co’s Jeff Webber.
3D PRINTING In a joint venture between Paul Spooner Design and Dutch company Ording Blockmakers, 3D printing is being used to great effect to make stainless steel and
titanium fittings “which look a little bit more at home on spirit of tradition boats and appeal to people who care about how these things look,” said Paul Spooner. Ordinarily a 3D printer typically works by laying down very, very thin layers of plastic in the right profile, and then building them up to create a 3D shape. In this case, after the desired shape of a component is created on a computer, a set of lasers fires at a box full of very fine metal powder. Wherever the laser beams cross, the metal melts and fuses together into a solid piece. It is much more versatile than casting or machining as there are no limitations on the shapes that can be created, and it is also possible to programme the system to create honeycomb structures (made out of the same metal) on the inside to save weight without loss of strength. Unfortunately bronze fittings can’t be created in this way because the bronze powder would just reflect the laser beams away, but it is possible to PVD-coat any stainless-steel fitting to replicate the appearance of bronze. The Spooner/Ording project is in its early stages and, while there are plans to produce a standard range of fittings such as blocks and track cars, its real potential is in the fact that it is totally customizable. “If it can be created in 3D on a computer, then it can be made,” said Paul.
GALVANISING
Above: Laserprinted deck gear from Spooner/Ording Below left: Ronstan block in stainless steel for a new 12-M yacht being built to a 1940 design Below right: Bronze cleat in the open style from Davey & Co
cost saving over bronze but Jeff Webber thinks the difference is now only about 15%, and also that iron foundries and galvanisers tend to be reluctant to do one-off or small volume jobs. Furthermore, there also seems to be a general feeling that the quality of galvanising isn’t what it used to be. Sooner or later, galvanising will wear and the base casting or fabrication will start to bleed rust, and no one wants rust contaminating a beautiful laid deck. An increasingly popular alternative is to have a fitting fabricated or cast in stainless-steel and then bead blasted to give a dull finish which replicates a galvanised appearance.
TYPES OF BRONZE There are, of course, many different types of bronze, several of which are suitable for marine applications. Their common characteristic is that they are all predominantly composed of copper, but other than that they have relatively small quantities of lead, tin, zinc, aluminium, manganese, silicon, phosphorous, nickel and/or in iron in varying proportions. Probably the most commonly used bronze for boat fittings is gunmetal (or LG2) which in its polished state has a warm browny-gold colour. It can be easily cast, machined and polished, is relatively strong and very resistant to salt water. Aluminium bronze (or AB2) –
Some boat owners are likely to want new galvanised fittings to match the appearance of existing ones. Years ago galvanised fittings may have shown a significant
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
65
CHANDLERY - DECK AND RIG GEAR
which has a paler yellow/gold colour - has about double the strength (and a roughly equivalent strength to stainless steel) and so lends itself to high-load fittings such as rigging screws and chainplates. Fastenings are commonly made from silicon bronze and Port Townsend Foundry also favour its use for submerged items such as rudder fittings and bobstay fittings. Brookes & Adams use manganese bronze for its single-piece forged fittings because it is not possible to forge gunmetal, and manganese bronze is also commonly used in propellors. Phosphor bronze has a reddish-brown appearance and has great wear resistance and stiffness. Brass is much softer and weaker than any of the bronzes and also has poor salt water resistance, so should generally only be used for cabin fittings.
DISTRIBUTION AND SALES OUTLETS Some of the aforementioned companies will sell direct to the public but others will only deal with the trade. Classic Marine, for instance, was originally founded by Murray McPhail and for many years manufactured and sold its own products to anyone. When Murray wanted to concentrate on manufacturing rather than retail sales, he sold Classic Marine to Suffolk Yacht Harbour and formed Bronze Works. About three years ago East Coast Metalworks bought Bronze Works but only sells to the trade while Classic Marine continues to serve as the company’s retail outlet in the UK. Classic Marine also sell products from Timage,
66
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Above: Lewmar PVD blocks Above right: Bronze chain pipe from Classic Marine Below: Deckmounted block from Ronstan
Brookes & Adams and Holland Yacht Equipment, among others. Davey & Co, 90 per cent of whose products they manufacture themselves (much of the remainder being Brookes & Adams products), also only sell to the trade while their UK outlets in the UK are Arthur Beale, Classic Marine, Norfolk Marine and Marine Store. Toplicht don’t manufacture anything themselves but they make a point of keeping large stocks of fittings from many different companies, including Davey & Co, Wilmex, Spartan, East Coast Metalworks and Murray amongst many others. “It is our job to stock it and push other people to produce it,” said their representative Jochen Gnass. The UK agent for Andersen winches and Ronstan is International Marine Products and they sell to the public through Classic Marine, amongst others. Marineware is the wholesale UK distributor for Antal while Harken have their own UK company in Lymington. Hutton-Arco, Colin Frake and Port Townsend Foundry all normally deal direct with all customers.
CONTACTS sea-sure.co.uk classic-marine.co.uk ording-blocks.com paulspoonerdesign.com andersenwinches.com/aw/default.asp eastcoastmetalworks.co.uk colinfrake-classicyachtfittings.co.uk/index.html davey.co.uk toplicht.de/en lewmar.com whitestarproducts.co.nz arco-winches.com harken.co.uk/en/home porttownsendfoundry.com antal.it/eng/default.aspx proboat.co.uk banda.co.uk classicwinches.com marineware.com
YOU BRING
PASSION & ENTHUSIASM WE SUPPLY
A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE For our full list of courses and to book, visit www.ibtc.co.uk or contact us: info@ibtc.co.uk 01502 569 663
Achieve two City & Guilds qualifications within 12 months at IBTC Lowestoft (Level 2 Bench Joinery & Level 3-2473 Boatbuilding)
pm - 10:00am to 4:00 September pm & 24th JulyJuly s: 9th er - 10:00am to 4:00 n Day Ope & 24th Septemb s: 9th k your place. n Day boo to Ope ys n-da ope rse/ cou ortVisit www.ibtc.co.uk/sh
With 30 yearsheritage of experience specialising in traditional Exceptional classics from Henley Salesand and electric boats we will do our best to find the ideal craft to Charter celebrating 30 ayears infor 2022. suit your individual needs — for day or a lifetime. With 30 years of experience specialising in traditional and Forwill more electric boats we doinformation our best to contact find the ideal craft to suit your individual needs — for a day or for a lifetime.
HENLEY SALES
AND
CHARTER LTD
For more information contact
+44 (0) 1491 578870 | sales@hscboats.co.uk www.hscboats.co.uk HENLEY S ALES AND CHARTER LTD
Short Courses also available: Glass Reinforced Plastics (GRP) Introduction to Woodworking Painting & Varnishing Splicing & Ropework Lofting Theory Router Course Woodcarving Caulking
for classic boat lovers
... all a sailor’s heart can wish for. equipment for traditional ships, classic yachts, boatbuilders and shipyards
Yacht Designers & Naval Architects with an Eye for Detail. Specializing in Classic and Spirit of Tradition Yachts
280422_PSDesign_Advert.indd 2
Paul Spooner Design Ltd
01794 328 174
Romsey
enquiries@psdesign.uk.com
Hampshire
paulspoonerdesign.com
TOPLICHT GmbH Notkestraße 97, 22607 Hamburg, Germany +49 40 88 90 100
28/04/2022 17:59
toplicht@toplicht.de
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
67
BOATS FOR SALE
Boats for sale Looking to sell your boat? Reach over 50,000 readers each month
To advertise call Andrew Mackenzie +44 (0)207 349 3718 or email andrew.mackenzie@chelseamagazines.com
SPIRITUS FB605.
26ft Classic British Folkboat. Built by John Perry in 1983, she is arguably the prettiest wooden competitive/cruising Folkboat around. New Collars mast, new sails, new echo and log. Yanmar 1GM, Loo. Repainted and varnished this year. Laying Lymington. Price: £21,000 Email: stephen@short-films.com • Tel: 07836 282888
PLUS For more boats to buy go to
classicboat.co.uk/buy-a-classic-boat
RAFAELLE, 43’ MASTHEAD SLOOP
Robert Clark design, Berthon built in 1962. 10’1” beam. Beautiful lines and fast. Teak topsides, pitch pine below waterline, swept teak decks. Major, keel up re-fit in 2015 so in excellent condition. Rebuilt engine with modern injection system. Immaculate internally with new cooker and modern electrics/hot water. Runner up in 2015 Classic Boats ‘Restoration of the Year’ awards. Lying: Beaulieu river. Price £87,500 Contact: stephen_bisset@yahoo.co.uk Tel: 07725 983300
DRAGON FOR SALE – CHIME – 1959 BORRESEN. Former very successful Wooden Dragon for sale. Requires major refit. Lying Aldeburgh. No mast and trailer not included. Price £500. Tel. 01420 538799 • E-mail: timcstreet@yahoo.co.uk
TRADITIONAL WOODEN OBAN SKIFF This is a beautiful example of a traditional wooden skiff was made to order to a very high quality by traditional wooden boat builder A&R Way Ltd. The boat has been stored with the boat builder since purchased and hasn’t been used. Genuine reason for sale. Cost £22,500.00 to build, will accept £20,000.00 Ono. Trailer and cover included. Contact: alhudson123@aol.com or 07936 106020
‘AMALI’ 47’
1947 37FT PARKER ONE DESIGN
Mahogany on oak. Built in Poole Boatyard in Dorset. Lead keel. Mast and boom hanging in shed. Galvanised standing rigging. Cooker, VHF, portlights, rudder has to be remade. Pushpit and pulpit. Opening portlights have to be rechromed. New cockpit floor. New unfinished teak decks. Built to Lloyds spec. €6,800 ono Contact: 0035 3862 549 416
Beautiful elegant wooden classic with unique charm, sweeping lines and topside flare. Privately commissioned and constructed using modern techniques in 1991 by Sean McMillan (now Spirit Yachts). Cedar Mahogany Teak & Ash. Fully equipped and offered in excellent condition. Two helm stations, ample entertaining areas on deck and an interior with spacious and well thought out accommodation. Sleeps 8. Semi displacement. Cruising 8 KNOT (max 12). Twin very fuel efficient Volvo Penta diesel engines. Range 500NM. £185,000 Contact: jvg@amalioflondon.co.uk • Tel: 07785 954 900
SIBYL OF CUMAE
For sale Sibyl of Cumae, a 51 ft. William Fife from 1902. She is a very beautiful and fast boat. She sleeps 5. Sibyl has always been maintained to a high standard. Recently all the electricity and navigation instruments have been renewed and updated. She is double planked mahogany and ceder under the waterline, oak frames and a lead balast keel. She will be ready to sail in the Fife Regatta in Scotland in the Spring of 2022. Laying in S.W. England. Asking price £235.000. For more information, please contact Cornelius van Rijckevorsel on 0044 (0)7816932312 or email at: corneliusvanrijckevorsel@ googlemail.com
Looking to sell your boat? Reach over 50,000 readers each month plus 30k web visitors There are two styles of Boats for Sales adverts to choose from and with our special offer, if you buy two months, your third month will be FREE. Pick the style which suits your requirements and email: andrew.mackenzie@chelseamagazines.com with your text and image or call +44 (0)207 349 3718 68
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
GRIMA. 1972 EX SCOTTISH CAR FERRY.
Built to Lloyds A1 spec. High quality steel displacement hull with retro fitted bilge keels. Completely overhauled. Excellent condition. 12 Berth. 2 x English Electric Kelvin TA6 engines driving twin Ulstein gearboxes with VPP. £170,000.00 as seen. NO TAXES. River Severn, Gloucester. Email: Ken.Lovegrove@outlook.com
LE TEMPS PERDU
French gaff cutter, LOA 12,60m, length on deck 9,60m, Beam 3,30m, Draft 1,80m, engine Volvo Penta. Built in Granville, Normandy 1964. Hull iroko on oak frames, coachroof mahagony, teak deck. Successes in several Classic Boat regattas. Well maintained with boatsmancare and in first class condition. Owner selling now for reasons of age. Location Andratx, Majorca. GBP £49.900. Contact: canvey@hagengrote.de Phone: 0034 606379226
Brokerage listing
C L A S S I C A N D V I N TAG E YAC H T S We hope that you enjoy our selection of vintage and classic sailing yachts. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further information on any of the yachts featured here.
71ft William Fife III Bermudan Cutter
1926/2009
41ft William Ferris Gaff Cutter
1889/2016
Wanhill 45ft Gaff Cutter
1889/2001
Mere mention of her name imparts a legendary tone to any yachting conversation: HALLOWE’EN was always guaranteed fame by pedigree - she is among the most beautifully proportioned of all Fife yachts - and subsequently earned it in four quite distinct lives. Starting with a record setting line-honours win only two months from launching in the second edition of what became the Fastnet Race, and more recently in winning overall the Panerai Mediterranean Championship. Moreover, while most Fifes of this size are gaff rigged, HALLOWE’EN’s beautifully conceived Bermudan rig, as original, allows relatively easy sail handing for short-handed racing and cruising with friends instead of a team of professionals.
The handsome gaff cutter LITTLE WINDFLOWER has enjoyed long and caring ownerships over many years, cruising waters around Ireland, Brittany and Channel Islands, the English East and South coasts and the Baltic. Currently she is Mediterraneanbased with a mooring near St Tropez - the rental of which can be made available by separate negotiation. Remarkably, when her current owner decided she deserved a refit, her basic structure was found to be so sound that little of that needed replacement; albeit she received a comprehensive fit out with new deck, spars, rig, new systems and one of the most charming and cosy interiors you can ever imagine. LITTLE WINDFLOWER is a Victorian gem.
THALIA is an astonishing throwback to the earliest, 19th-Century days of organised yachting, yet she’s a thoroughly practical, easily handled classic yacht. Wanhill of Poole is a name etched in the history of that period, and THALIA carries that direct lineage with her, together with the old world charm and amazing looks that have rescued this characterful cutter more than once from the chainsaw. Her Millennium restoration undertaken with skill and passion, honoured and enhanced in current ownership, has ensured a long future life, surely well into her third Century. In recent years THALIA has taken part in transatlantic adventures her original designer and builder couldn’t have dreamed of, and she’s been a cherished family cruiser-racer closer to home.
€975,000
£265,000
£265,000
Lying France
48ft Philip Rhodes Bermudan Cutter
1930/2018
Lying France
52ft Sparkman & Stephens Sloop
1944
Lying UK
40ft Charles E Nicholson Bermudan Cutter
1930
SKAL, second only to DORADE in the 1931 Transat Race never received the accolades conferred upon the winner. In so many ways however SKAL was the remarkable contender - considering that she was the smallest among the fleet of ten, had an old fashioned gaff rig, and a poor handicap rating. Racing apart and she has won some over the years - she is a versatile and comfortable yacht; well rigged and equipped for cruising, and has proved to be a dry boat whatever the weather. Enjoying a substantial restoration, and re conversion to a lighter and more manageable bermudan rig, SKAL is now a finely tuned sailing yacht with a beautifully enhanced interior fit-out offering generous accommodation with modern systems sympathetically installed.
CICLON was designed by K. Aage Nielsen while at Sparkman and Stephens in New York. Olin Stephens considered Neilsen the best designer they ever had – moreover stating that if he was ever going to have a yacht built for himself, he would most surely have wanted an Aage Nielsen design. Nielsen’s manic attention to detail extended to his demanding the best from his builders and CICLON was no exception - and benefitting further from being the yard owner’s own boat ! Launched in Cuba in 1944 she was rarely off the podium – beating such legends as STORMY WEATHER and TICONDEROGA. Of course beautiful and fast, is it time now to reintroduce her to her sisters ?
Any yacht featured in the superb pre-Second World War series of ‘Uffa Fox books’ is without question a special one, and DRIAC may be best known these days from her inclusion in Fox’s ‘Sailing, Seamanship and Yacht Construction’ (1934). From a time when the design of the ideal offshore sailing cruiser was still evolving and much discussed, Uffa waxed lyrical about this characterful Charles E. Nicholson design which had comfortably reeled off well over 5000 miles in her first two seasons, including Portsmouth to Malta and back, under the command of her redoubtable first owner, A.G.H. Macpherson. DRIAC is still taking people on sailing adventures and, as she has always done, entrances with her looks, presence, and no-nonsense sailing ability.
€270,000
£195,000
£82,500
Lying Greece
For further information please contact: +44 (0)1202 330077 info@sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk
Lying Cyprus
Lying UK
Our classic and vintage yachts & motor yachts are available to view at:
22 Market Street, Poole, Dorset BH15 1NF, UK
– www.sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk –
MEMBER OF ABYA
Craftsmanship
Edited by Steffan Meyric Hughes: +44 (0)207 349 3758 Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk
C/O CMBB
Yard News
SECTION HEAD SUB SECTION
MARYLAND, USA
State ship launched after three-year build Nearly three years after beginning the largest construction project they
maintained by the Historic St Mary’s City Commission. An earlier version
had ever taken on, shipwrights at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
of the ship, built in the 1970s by Cambridge’s Jim Richardson, was
watched the roughly 43-tonne Maryland Dove being craned into the
nearing the end of its useful life and decades of new research meant
Miles River on 28 March, the biggest vessel to have been launched in St
that a new ship could be designed to be a more historically accurate
Michaels since 1904. It’s a major milestone in the project, which is due
representation of the original Maryland Dove.
to be complete this spring. Maryland Dove, a two-masted vessel of 57ft
“I am incredibly proud of my team’s accomplishment” said CBMM’s
(17.4m) is a representation of the late-17th-century trading ship that
lead shipwright, Joe Connor, who has managed the build from the start.
accompanied the first European settlers to what is now Maryland. The
“We have assembled some of the most talented shipwrights I’ve ever
ship is owned by the state of Maryland and will be operated and
worked with, and we’re all looking forward to seeing the ship sail away.”
FALMOUTH, CORNWALL
Ben’s hattrick Contributor Nic Compton recently took this photo of all
three of Ben Harris’s newly-built boats under one roof. “Alva, NIC COMPTON, SALTY DOG MEDIA
Panacea and Constance are in
70
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
the shed now and we have other boats being worked on too” said Ben. Alva is a 30ft (9.1m) Paul Gartside design; Panacea a 23ft (7m) Ed Burnett yacht; and Constance is a 34ft (10.4m) yacht from the lines of the famous Curlew.
WOODBRIDGE, SUFFOLK
Arthur Ransome’s Peter Duck restored The IOD yacht Falcon, highly commended in this year’s awards in the
While replacing a section of bridgedeck and mizzen tabernacle, the
‘restored sailing vessel under 40ft’ category, left the yard in April 2021, to
cockpit layout was also subtly tweaked, improving engine access,
be replaced by Arthur Ransome’s Peter Duck, which came in for a major
drainage, stowage and allowing for a new water tank to be fitted.
refit. The yacht, known to all as ‘PD’, ever since she was so named by
Peter Duck’s hull was largely left alone, requiring only some raking and
Arthur Ransome, has been on the River Deben many years and these days
caulking on her starboard side, a butt block refastening and a heel repair.
belongs to the maritime author Julia Jones, who usually carries out annual
She emerged looking transformed, with new paint above and below the
maintenance.
waterline shining below new bulwarks, freshly painted decks, varnished
Since her construction at Harry King’s yard in nearby
cabin sides and rig. Peter Duck has not seen such
Pin Mill, PD’s layout and arrangement has remained
extensive works since 1999 when, upon her return from
largely unchanged as subsequent owners have been far
being left in the ice in St. Petersburg, Julia again employed
more satisfied with her performance and handling than
the help of Woodbridge Boatyard, then still Everson &
Mr Ransome famously was but it was decided to make
Sons, to bring her back to a seaworthy state. With her
some subtle, practical changes this time around. PD’s
latest body of work complete Peter Duck is ready to
mizzen horse has always been fastened to a short timber
cruise East Anglia for decades to come. This summer she
atop her transom rather than to her transom itself,
will be joined by another of Arthur Ransome’s yachts,
causing repeating problems with movement and water
Nancy Blackett at Suffolk Yacht Harbour as part of the
ingress to the aft deck. Now an extended bronze horse,
Felixstowe Book Festival where Julia will be presenting
securely fastened, and a rebuilt aft deck should have
one her latest book Uncommon Courage – The Yachtsman
resolved the issues.
Volunteers of World War II.
CORNWALL
First all-new Hardy designs in build Since listing the Hardy 42 part-built by Cockwells in our recent awards (see pages 18-22 in this issue), the builder has confirmed the sale of two of its all-new Hardy designs. The first of these is the the Hardy 45AD, designed by Andrew Wolstenholme, which does away with the flybridge (that configuration is available on the Hardy 45, also a new design) and replacing it with an aft deck helm position and removing the internal helm option to maximise saloon space. It’s due for delivery in spring 2024. The Company’s first Hardy 50DS is also in build at its new yard at Ponsharden. Inspired by the original Hardy 50, this sea-going explorer yacht is the larger version of the Hardy 40DS. It’s due for delivery in spring 2023. CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
71
MARINE DIRECTORY
To advertise call Andrew Mackenzie +44 (0)207 349 3718 or email andrew.mackenzie@chelseamagazines.com
Marine Directory BOATBUILDERS
Seahopper . . . easy on the earth Beautiful folding wooden boats for this generation and the next
Photo: www.luckybeanz.com
Yacht Restorers
BOATBUILDERS
www.harbourmarine.co.uk
Unit 4 Dainton Manor Estate Ipplepen Devon TQ12 5TZ
Call: 07860 488544 Email: info@seahopperfoldingboats.com
Visit: www.seahopperfoldingboats.com
Harbour Marine
Hayling Yacht Hayling Yacht COMPANY COMPANY
DAVID MOSS BOATBUILDERS
Established as wooden boat builders in 1935, and trusted to refurbish and repair yachts such as Lively Lady and Robertsons Golly, we are a family run business that takes pride in refurbishing new and old boats - from simple re-caulking to full refurbishment and teak decking.
Hayling Yacht Co
Quality boatbuilding in wood 8’-50’, clinker, carvel or strip-plank, spar-making, painting , welding, lay-up facilities
Hayling Yacht Co
Repairs - Restorations
31ft gaff cutter Polly
15ft Sea Otter
Photo: Keith Allso
Call 02392 463592 for a chat with friendly, experienced staff. www.haylingyacht.co.uk Photo: Peter Chesworth
DESIGN
Skippool Creek, Wyre Road, Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancs FY5 5LF Telephone: 01253 893830 Email: davidmossboatbuilders@gmail.com
www.davidmossboatbuilders.co.uk
SELWAY FISHER DESIGN
��������� ������������� ����������������� ���������� ������� ����������������� Visit our web site at
www.selway-fisher.com
to see our full range of 440 yacht and boat designs, plus boat building manuals and DVD’s.
Paul Fisher BSc. MRINA 24 Lancaster Drive, Lydney, GL15 5SL Tel. 07887 495847 enquires@selway-fisher.com
Don’t miss our sister title
with AUGUST 2020 £4.95
Sell up and sail Advice from sailors who've done it Britain Roundlifetime Cruise of a
NG RE OF SAILI FUTU What are UK expert predictions
THE
5 from Stan Honey +charter options? RIGGING SAFETY TIPS
�������������� ����
Woodford’s
Yacht Restorations, Repairs &Refits
Craftsmen in timber and Grp Traditional shipwright service Teak decks, Painting & Varnishing
ALAN S.R. STALEY
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
23/06/2020 15:26
EQUIPMENT
Combwich Marine Enterprises Specialist Suppliers of Silicon Bronze Fastenings
• Shipwright • Boat Building • Spar Maker • Repair & Restoration of wooden boats • Surveys of wooden ships
Tel: 01795 530668
72
SAIL FASTER!
RP.indd 1
A Division of Anglia Stainless Ltd
www.alanstaleyboatbuilders.co.uk 07754 490672 • 01202 939844 www.woodfordyachtrestorations.co.uk Unit 12 Cobbs Quay Marina, Poole BH15 4EL
KIT SPECIAL ISSUE
chelseamagazines.com ST+Y&Y AUGUST Final
For the latest photos of SFDesign boats go to our Fb page and the Blog page on our web site
BOAT TEST
Solaris 47
Ultimate cruiser-racer
PRACTICAL
visit www.classicboat.co.uk
Woodscrews • Bolts Nuts • Washers Machine Screws • Coach Screws • Coach Bolts Fin Bolts • Studding • Plain Rod Copper Boat Nails & Roves Delivery Worldwide Major Credit Cards Accepted
Tel: 01359 251414
www.angliastainless.co.uk
Unit 3–4, Parkway, Elm Farm Park, Thurston, Suffolk, IP31 3TB
MARINE DIRECTORY EQUIPMENT
MASTER CRAFTSMAN
TRADITIONAL BOAT SUPPLIES LTD Traditionally carved decorative work for all craft Interior decoration - Sculptures - Gilding - Restoration Trailboards - Sternboards - Billetheads Tafferels to Figureheads tel. +44 (0)7836 32 34 31
+44 (0)1173 305950 • www.traditionalboatsupplies.com
TRA D E
M A RK
DAVEY & Co
TIMBER TRA DE
M A RK
LO NDO N L I M I T E D ˚ E s t . 1 8 8 5
ROBBINS ELITE MARINE PLYWOODS MARINE TIMBERS ACCOYA® & TRICOYA® CEDAR STRIP CLASSIC TEAK DECKING MACHINING SPECIALISTS MARINE FASTENINGS CAULKING & EPOXY
TRADITIONAL BOATBUILDING FITTINGS, TOOLS & MATERIALS www.davey.co.uk Robbins Timber, 8-18 Brookgate, Bristol BS3 2UN Tel: +44 (0)117 963 3136
Email: timber@robbins.co.uk
www.robbins.co.uk
WANTED with AUGUST 2020 £4.95
Sell up and sail s Advice from sailor who've done it
BOAT TEST
Solaris 47
Ultimate cruiser-racer
PRACTICAL
Britain Roundlifetime Cruise of a
ILING RE OF SA FUexpeTU What are UK rt predictions ns?
THE
5 from Stan Honey +charter optio RIGGING SAFETY TIPS
Yacht Insurance INSURANCE
Yacht Insurance Yacht Insurance
ST+Y&Y AUGUST Final
Simon Winter Marine Classic yacht & pleasure craft insurance
Winter Marine SimonSimon Winter Marine Classic yacht & pleasure craft insurance Classic yacht & pleasure craft insurance
For a quotation please call
0344 545 6132
www.simonwintermarine.co.uk
For a quotation please call
0344 545 6132
Simon Winter Marine Limited is an Appointed Representative of Winter & Co (Marine) Ltd Winter & Co (Marine) Ltd is authorised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority
www.simonwintermarine.co.uk
1902 Classic Gaff Yawl – Insurances by Simon Winter Marine
KIT SPECIAL ISSUE
SAIL FASTER! 23/06/2020 15:26
RP.indd 1
Don’t miss our sister title chelseamagazines.com
WANTED Traditional, clinker built, wooden launch around 11/12 ft. For estuary & coastal pleasure only. Any condition considered.
Contact Mark at brechinsouthwest@ gmail.com
The Directory listings page for all your classic boat needs, this is a chance to be able to reach an audience that you can take control of really promoting who you are. You can update this as many times as you like throughout the year to stay up to date with what you’re doing and any promotions you have. For more information contact:
Andrew Mackenzie +44 (0)207 349 3718 or email andrew.mackenzie@chelseamagazines.com
Simon Winter Marine Limited is an Appointed Representative of Winter & Co (Marine) Ltd Winter & Co (Marine) Ltd is authorised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
73
CRAFTSMANSHIP
MYLOR YACHT HARBOUR YARD VISIT
FORMER NAVY YARD In 25 years, Mylor Yacht Harbour has become a real yachting hub WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY NIGEL SHARP AND ANTHONY GREENWOOD
I
Facing page,
of London to a better place to bring up their two
clockwise from
winter were a 42ft (12.8m) sailing boat built in Germany in
small children. At that time, Dinah’s parents ran Bar
top left: Oyster
the late 1940s which was virtually rebuilt at Mylor about 20
Creek Yacht Station on the Truro River and so they
dredging
years ago and has been maintained there annually since; the
Falmouth
36ft (11m) 1906 Luke Brothers Ciris which is now having a
Working Boats
lot of engineering and electrical work, including a strip and
was, in the 19th century, England’s most westerly (and
laid up for the
revarnish of her spars; Magyar, a 48ft (14.6m) Saunders-Roe,
smallest) naval dockyard – was for sale, they decided to
summer; The
Dartmouth-based canoe-stern motor yacht which, after a
buy it. They saw the hugely significant potential, not least
sawmill; The
structural rebuild elsewhere, came to Mylor for some
because it is so sheltered from prevailing south-westerly
Seaview
significant seasonal maintenance; and Naomi, a 1922 Seaview
winds. A quarter of a century on, Mylor Yacht Harbour is
Mermaid Naomi
Mermaid rebuilt at Mylor nearly 40 years ago and celebrating
one of Cornwall’s most popular sailing destinations, with a
(near) and the
her 100th birthday having had all her paint and varnish
180-berth marina, 240 swinging moorings and space to lay
Sunbeam Misty;
stripped off and recoated. Later this season Mylor will also
up about 600 boats in the half-mile-long ‘valley’ that runs
Laying a new teak
be restoring a lightly-built 1905 wooden clinker rowing
behind the boatyard and workshops. The marina, which
deck; The
dinghy with huge sentimental value, having been built as a
was built in 2000, is secured in position with the Swedish
Saunders-
wedding present for her current owner’s grandparents.
Seaflex system rather than piles or anchors, “and this
Roe-built Magyar;
allows it to have a unique curved outer breakwater which
Shipwright at
a Sunbeam, both designed, of course, by Alfred Westmacott
gives it so much of its character,” said Ollie Graffy, son of
work
within a couple of years of each other. Mylor Yacht Harbour
knew the Fal Estuary well. When they heard that Mylor Harbour – based at what
At the time of my visit, Naomi was lying alongside Misty,
Roger and Dinah who is now one of the directors of the
has developed a close relationship with the Sunbeams,
company working closely alongside MD Neil Salter. Ollie, a
having built three new wooden ones in the early 2000s. The
qualified naval architect, brings with him a wealth of
first of these was for Roger Graffy and launched in 2000, and
experience and boat knowledge, having worked in a number
her name Milly not only respects the class’s tradition of
of boatyards before taking up an active role in the
names ending in Y but also had a nod to the new millennium.
company two years ago. The site also now includes a modern sanitary block,
The Solent Sunbeam class subsequently decided to allow GRP boats of which 14 have now been built. The Falmouth
launderette, eight self-catering holiday cottages, a café and
class is considering allowing GRP Sunbeams and will be
restaurant, a sailing school, boat hire, yacht club, chandlery
treating this year as a trial run. Mylor Yacht Harbour already
and rigging company. Until 2011, Mylor YC had a small
have two GRP Sunbeam hulls and decks ready for
clubhouse at the end of the main quay. But both the
completion, just needing the addition of timber covering
building and the listed quay’s foundations were falling into
boards and coamings, interior fit-out and deck fittings.
disrepair and so to preserve the quay a new building was
Mylor has a 35-tonne travel lift which, at the time of my
built for both the club and Café Mylor. Meanwhile the quay’s
visit, was busy launching about 15 boats a day. Each boat
foundations have been strengthened and a new marina
(and its cradle) is brought down the valley to the dock with
office has been built on the end of it.
one of the company’s two Roodberg trailers (23- and
With ongoing investment over the past 25 years, the
38-tonne capacity) which are towed by tractors. These can
company has gradually expanded its boatyard facilities and
be submerged at the bottom of the slipway to allow wider
now employs about 45 full-time staff (collectively known as
beam (and bilge keel) boats to be launched, adding greater
The Marine Team) including marine engineers and
flexibility to the yard’s lift and launch capabilities.
electricians, shipwrights, painters, GRP specialists and a
Mylor is the base for a number of small, local commercial
dedicated yard team. The Marine Team has recently
fisherman – including most of the Falmouth Working Boats,
completed significant refits on four classic boats, three
which still dredge for oysters under sail. The traditional punts
GRP sailing boats and two commercial fishing boats.
are also moored and berthed here and have called Mylor
Ollie thinks that Mylor Yacht Harbour has established a good reputation, especially for its engineering and electrical work (particularly because they employ their own
74
Among the classic boats the company was working on in
n 1997, Roger and Dinah Graffy were keen to move out
home for many years. “We have a great connection with them and we love having them here,” said Ollie. Mylor Yacht Harbour’s services and boatyard continue to
specialist staff rather than relying on subcontractors), but
serve their customers with seasonal boat maintenance
in the last few years there has been more focus on offering
along with managing a steady stream of traditional and
‘the full package’ to allow complex refits to be carried out
modern refit work which continues to grow the company’s
by multiple trades working closely together.
services infrastructure.
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
CRAFTSMANSHIP
CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2022
75
CRAFTSMANSHIP
Boatbuilder’s Notes
By Robin Gates
Cleaning cramp threads When you need a G-cramp in a hurry you may only have one free
open, anti-clockwise to close). The cramp’s heavy frame will rotate
hand yet both hands will be needed to adjust it if the threads are
about the screw propelled by its angular momentum.
clogged by grime. Clean using paraffin or a stiff brush. Alternatively
On a large cramp not designed to close fully the swivel jaw can be
‘plough’ the grime out by holding a pointed stick in the root of the
immobilised for cleaning by tightening on a wine bottle cork.
thread while turning the screw. 1 Thread clogged by grime
Next apply a suggestion of light oil to the screw and you should be able to ‘spin’ the cramp to the required opening. Holding the top of
2 Clean with a stiff brush
the screw, rotate the wrist as if stirring a mug of tea (clockwise to
3 Stabilise the swivel jaw against a cork for cleaning
1
3
2
Idigbo’s supporting role Woods for weathering the rough and tumble of the
oak top until planed, revealing the African timber’s
sea must be resilient, durable and rot resistant, but
natural yellow-brown colour. Comparing end grain,
a wood’s appearance figures more prominently in
diffuse porous idigbo is soon distinguished from
protected living areas. Although show surfaces may
the prominent annual rings and medullary ray of oak
feature rare species with spectacular grain, the
but might easily be confused with iroko. Idigbo is
supporting structure is often of a less interesting
identified by a lemon-yellow dye released when
but more stable, workable or lighter timber.
wet. Test for this by wiping the wet surface with a
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
2Idigbo end grain (1cm scale)
dense than oak but strong and more stable. It is
3 Oak end grain (1cm scale)
also more easily worked and stains and polishes well.
4 Soaking idigbo shavings releases a yellow dye
a dark-stained table was indistinguishable from the 2
76
1 Idigbo revealed from beneath dark stain
west African tropical hardwood. Idigbo is less
This sample reclaimed from the undercarriage of
1
white rag or, as here, soaking the shavings in water.
furniture may be idigbo (Terminalia ivorensis), a
3
5 Long grain of flat sawn oak (left) and idigbo (right) 4
5
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS ON THIS AND FACING PAGE: ROBIN GATES
On a traditional vessel the supporting role in oak
SECTION HEAD SUB SECTION
Traditional Tool By Robin Gates
1
BADGER PLANE Some rebates or ‘rabbets’ in a small
above the edge whose job is to break
1 The badger
iron is also rotated by 10 degrees
boat are best cut using a chisel, for
the emerging shaving, thereby
plane cutting a
from vertical so its cutting edge beds
example where the edge of one
eliminating tearing and leaving a
rabbet
down parallel with the sole. Despite
clinker plank sinks into another
smoother surface. Besides planing
nearing the stem or transom. But for
square-sided rabbets the badger
2 The corner of
workaday square-ironed wooden jack
the longer, wider and straighter
plane may also be used to cut the
the iron’s
plane, the geometry of the skewed
rabbets of a more substantial vessel
bevelled field of a fielded panel, so
emergence is
badger is exceptionally precise.
one of the several types of rabbet
finish is important.
crucial
plane often does the donkey work.
superficial resemblance to the
While the badger is pictured
Also note that the corner of the
cutting a 1in (25mm) rabbet, a
The largest rabbet plane is the
iron emerges flush with the side of
3 Skewed and
common single-iron rabbet plane lies
badger, and the fact of it having
the plane, hence the tiny opening in
square irons of
among the shavings. Either plane
sprung from that hive of edge tool
Mathieson’s ‘Best Waranted’ beech
badger and jack
could be used to cut this rabbet, but
industry once servicing the Firth of
stock protected by an inlaid copper
planes
for heavy or prolonged work on a
Clyde shipyards is no coincidence.
wear plate. This ensures the iron
large vessel the stability and
This example was made around
reaches into the very apex of the
momentum conferred by the badger’s
1920 by Alexander Mathieson & Son
rabbet. Since the iron is fixed by a
5lb (2.3kg) bulk are welcome.
of the Saracen Tool Works, Glasgow.
wedge fitting behind projecting
Its closed handle represents a small
abutments in the stock, the skewed
NEXT MONTH: Saw rasp
improvement on the usual open type, but in other respects this badger displays all the essential features of the species which centre on its double iron. You’ll notice the iron is skewed by about 18 degrees. This steers the plane against the shoulder of the rabbet, helping to keep it running ROBIN GATES
true, while also achieving a cleaner cut when working across the grain. The iron’s doubleness comes from the second or cap iron clamped a fraction
2
3
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
77
Letters LETTER OF THE MONTH SUPPORTED BY OLD PULTENEY WHISKY
Franklin, cannibalism… and a rubber dinghy Re: Sternpost (Articles in India Rubber) in the April issue (CB406). Dr John Rae’s rubber boat from his expedition to find Sir John Franklin is to be seen in the Stromness Museum, Stromness, Orkney. It is smaller than the one you illustrated from the Great Exhibition. John Rae, a local hero and name somewhat whitewashed from history, did make it back and reported the likely demise and approximate location of Franklin’s ships Erebus and Terror. He fell foul of Lady Franklin and her friend Charles Dickens and the RN establishment for hinting at cannibalism among the crew. The last survivors were later found to have died of lead poisoning from defective tinned foods and exposure. And yes, cannibalism among the last survivors. The John Rae Society is working hard to set all records straight on the Franklin, Rae and NW passage history. Maybe it’s a case of inverse size matters with 19th-century rubber maritime technology? Keep up the good work. Rod Daniel
Seeking the 12-M Baranquilla I am writing to you seeking some help, as I’m busy with an enormous task doing research on all 12-M yachts and their whereabouts, and eventually the owners. I am looking for the owner of the boat the Barranquilla K12 which was owned by mister Harry Hyams. Unfortunately, the owner passed away several years ago but there is nothing to find about the boat, nor does the foundation mention the boat based in the UK, perhaps
Radio-controlled pilot cutter
someone has some
I am rebuilding a 1/12 scale nine-channel RC pilot cutter (enc so far with temporary sails). It had the
information on her?
name Herga 2 on it and I know the original Herga was built in 1902 but cannot find any photos or
Robert Henry de Haer,
drawings or other information. Does anyone know anything about the original Herga?
12mR Registrar
Ian Nash
anywhere. As the boat was
78
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
© Johnny Rolt
Bristol Classic Boat Company
Tel: 01173305950 • Email: roltsboatyard@gmail.com
www.roltsboatyard.com
Working Sail Ltd.
Traditional Shipwrights Newbuilds, Restoration & Repairs
www.workingsail.co.uk 07949 805274 . 07790638084 CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
79
Next month SAILING TODAY WITH YACHTS & YACHTING
THE SUNSET OF WOOD This fabulous 49-footer
AMERICA’S CUP VENUE: WHAT BEN THINKS
from 1973 is one of the last three wooden yachts built
with
by McGruer, and probably
JUNE 2022 £4.95
GET READY FOR THE SEASON
among the last wooden yachts built in the age of
BOAT TEST
Sleek and easy short-hander CRUISING Suffolk and Isles of Scilly
Tech upgrades Sailing skills Holidays afloat
timber. After a big refit,
FAMILY WINNERS “How we won Cowes Week”
she’s as good as ever. IAN WALKER Keeping kids and teenagers sailing ROUND THE WORLD Doing it as a rally
BEACH CLUB TIPS How to have a great week
9 771367 586148
But where will it end?
06
SAILGP THRILLS
Cover - Junev3.indd 2
15/04/2022 07:23
IN THE JUNE ISSUE Boat test: sleek and easy short-hander Getting ready for the season: tech upgrades, sailing skills and hols afloat
FOLKBOATS FOREVER
JUST ADD WATER
What can one say that’s not already
These BayCruiser 23 water-ballasted trailer
said about the most popular cabin
sailers have been selling like hotcakes for
yacht ever, at 80? We look at its wins
years. Finally, we get out with builder
in the Round The Island Race.
Swallow Yachts for a proper test.
PLUS…
JULY 2022
The yachtsmen volunteers of World War Two; a visit to a new
On sale Friday 10 June,
English boatyard specialising in metre yachts; meet Debbie
2022
Purser; and more
Or why not subscribe?
30 YEARS AGO JUNE 1992, CB46
What a gorgeous cover shot we had in June 1992! And just as in this issue you’re holding today, the cover boat is a Fife. This month of course, it’s the ‘last’ Fife. Back in 92, the cover boat was Kelpie, a 30ft (9.1m) gaff cutter from 1884, so one of the William Fife III’s earlier creations. She was living in Sydney then, and the article was sent to us by none other than Larry and Lin Pardey – sailing royalty almost! The second yacht in the mag is Gulvain, a proper contrast. Built in 1949, the largest racing yacht built in Britain since the war (55ft), she represented the best and most modern thinking from the two British giants of ocean racing design at the time – Laurent Giles and John Illingworth. She is also, we thought, the world’s first aluminium yacht, built by the Sussex Shipbuidling Company. She’s thought to be still afloat. Mark Fishwick concludes his beginner’s guide to ‘Topsails for the Timid’. It’s an apt title, as topsails can be terrifying. John Beale looked at ‘the navigator’s dilemma’. RDF, Decca, Loran or GPS? Well, we all know who won that race! This is also the issue that features a ‘notice to mariners’ about our move to Link House in Cornwall, a far cry from lovely Falmouth. 80
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
Family racing... winning at Cowes Week Ian Walker: keeping kids and teenagers sailing Rally around the world Beach club tips - how to have a great week Available online or order now post-free from chelseamagazines.com/shop
Considering an Electric Outboard? “Using a well-engineered electric outboard has been a revelation.’’ TOM CUNLIFFE Classic Boat
Quiet, Convenient, Reliable and Easy-to-Use In the popular 2-4hp category, the latest electric outboards – with their integral and rechargeable lithium batteries – have transformed the market, rendering petrol motors all-but obsolete. Advantages include: From £1650 Epropulsion Spirit PLUS 1276Wh battery Faster to charge Battery floats if dropped Foldable tiller means only one cable to connect › Three shaft length options › Direct drive (no gearbox) › › › ›
› Ease of Use Switch on, twist the tiller handles, go. Almost anybody can do it; no experience, strength or mechanical knowledge is needed. › Ease of Handling The batteries are removable, and the “pass up and down” weight (the shaft/motor assembly) is then 10kg or less. › Ease of Storage These electric motors divide into components, don’t leak oil or petrol, and don’t mind which way up they’re stored. › Quietness & Smoothness Electric motors are a delight to use.
From £1750 Torqeedo 1103 › 916Wh battery › GPS data on tiller gives speed & range indication › Removable tiller (more compact for storage) › Near‐silent direct drive › Much more robust than the previous model (Torqeedo 1003)
› Power Forget slow speed “trolling motors”, these 1kW electrics have huge torque (more like a 3hp petrol). › Range There are many variables, but most users achieve at least 9 to 10 nautical miles per charge, at 4 to 5 knots (2.5m inflatable dinghy). Much more if you slow down a little. › Reliability Many outboard motors don’t get used very often, and small petrol motors hate this. Electric outboards have fewer parts in general, and in particular there’s no carburettor to “gum up”.
Of course, it’s not all perfect. The range may still not be enough for some users. And they’re undeniably More Expensive than petrol outboards, mostly because lithium batteries are expensive. But that extra upfront cost is largely offset by their Lower Lifetime Running Costs, including (almost) No Servicing.
NESTAWAY BOATS is the UK’s number one retailer for both Torqeedo AND Epropulsion. You can find out more on our website, and we are always happy to discuss further – and offer advice – by email or phone. If you’d like to see them before making a purchase, we are based in Christchurch, Dorset (UK).
www.nestawayboats.com mail@nestawayboats.com Tel 0800 999 2535
Sternpost We’re going to need a bigger shed Storing half-empry tins of stale varnish and other rubbish takes a big shed, says Dave Selby
S
ailors are essentially collectors. At sea we collect anecdotes – mostly of the “there I was holed by a whale and taking on water fast and being driven on to a rocky lee-shore at the base of a 200ft cliff in a force 10 gale on Rutland Reservoir” variety. On land we collect things. And that’s why although psychologists may understand human nature, they’re out of their depth when it comes to understanding the mind set of the sailor. Take the average man in the street – and I’m afraid it is most usually a man – who upon seeing a skip in the road will satisfy one of four basic urges, all of which take place in pyjamas between 10pm and 3am. The first is to throw your own rubbish in the skip; the second is to take something out; the third category, of which I’m a prime example, is to take Based on the evidence of four men in a boat shed all staring at out some overlooked treasure, realise in the fullness of time that their own precious stores of date-expired rusty tins and it’s rubbish, then throw it in the next skip that comes along. And wondering if the contents have really gone off, there can be no the fourth and most primeval is to relieve yourself against the other explanation. You see, I know from personal experience side of the skip, because that’s what men are like when it’s dark that there’s nothing wrong with a Pot Noodle with a pre-decimal and no one’s looking. All of these behaviours, apart from the price sticker (although there’s not a lot right with it either), and last, lead to feelings of loss and regret. the four of us have the same healthy scepticism about the Sailors though, are both different and more so, for no matter so-called ‘use-by’ dates of marine products. This, of course, how many times I’ve measured my 18ft trailer-sailer, I’ve never presents more than one dilemma. If you open that old tin of once managed to park it in the 60ft by 20ft boat shed which I varnish and find the centimetre at the bottom has gone hard, rented and shared with chums for 13 years until the lease ran out you’ll be filled with those feelings of loss and regret. If, on the last month. It’s not that I’m particularly bad at reversing. The other hand, you open it and find it’s OK, you’ll be filled with real problem is that a shed that size is only really feelings of regret and loss, because you’ve let air in big enough to accommodate the paraphernalia of a and it may well go off when you re-seal it. “A 60ft by 20ft Mirror dinghy as long as you keep the spars, sails, As men, our views on counselling and talking sheets and anchor in your bedroom, and all your therapies are pretty much in line with our convictions shed is only nearly empty and nearly full cans, tubes and blister about expiry dates, but nevertheless we gave it a go big enough to packs of essential stuff in your kitchen cabinets. and went to the pub. We formed a support group, accommodate I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I blame the talked through our anxieties and came up with a marine industry, for why does everything to do with the paraphernalia strategy that involved hiring a skip and the three us sailing come in a can, tube or bottle that’s just a prising rusty cans from the fourth, and two of us of a Mirror little bit too small for the job? As to what’s in the holding him down while the third one tossed the can dinghy, if cans, bottles and tubes, I’m more than certain that in the skip. And thus we achieved closure. you keep half marine chemists in full biological warfare outfits By midnight on the eve of the expiry of the lease, of it in your and working in underground bunkers have secretly the boat shed was empty and the skip was full. By developed a nerve agent that short-circuits our house, that is ” the following morning the skip was empty, leaving neural pathways and rewires us as squirrels. us with those old familiar feelings of loss and regret.
82
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2022
AWARD WINNING
S U P E R YA C H T BUILDER
As proud
Dutch yacht builders
with a passion for perfection, we realize dreams
that enter history books.
+31 (0) 85 48 66 210
www.hollandjachtbouw.nl
info@hollandjachtbouw.nl
EXHILARATING. LUXURIOUS. INNOVATIVE. SPORTY.
HULL #2 JUST LAUNCHED
HULLS #1 AND #2 UNDER CONSTRUCTION
ALL CLASSICS. What does owning a Lyman-Morse yacht mean to you? Perhaps it expresses your individuality. Maybe it’s how you unplug and reconnect to a simpler way of life with family and friends. Or it could be the thrill of enjoying performance and quality on a boat with soul. Let Lyman-Morse show you why owning one of our yachts will change you forever.
BOATBUILDING | SERVICE | BROKERAGE | MARINA | FABRICATION | TECHNOLOGIES Thomaston, Camden, Northeast Harbor, Maine | Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A. +1 207.354.6904 | www.lymanmorse.com | info@lymanmorse.com