Classic Boat April 2025

STORMY WEATHER

STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES, EDITOR

The anniversary trade

Funny things, anniversaries. If you accept that we appreciate milestones, arbitrary though they are, then we can agree that 100 is a big one. It’s how we mark the passing of history after all. The Rolex Fastnet is 100 years old this year. It’s probably the biggest, best known yacht race in the world, albeit that most of its fame stems from the tragic disasters of the 1979 race. The club that it founded – the Royal Ocean Racing Club – is also a century old this year. But how about the Royal Thames Yacht Club? An astounding 250 years old. That’s older than the America’s Cup. Come to think of it, it's older than America. King’s Boatyard in Suffolk (who built Arthur Ransome’s yachts) is 175 years old this year. This is a demisemiseptcentennial, quartoseptcentennial or terquasquicentennial or (in slang!) a dodransbicentennial anniversary. Why have one ridiculous word that no one uses when you can have four? And finally, it’s the 85th anniversary of Operation Dynamo, the Dunkirk Little Ships. There’s no silly word for 85, but if Operation Dynamo were your wife, you’d give her a moonstone. Either way, the fleet will return to Dunkirk this year, for the first time in a decade. See all this and more in our big events guide in this issue.

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COVER STORY

4 . STORMY WEATHER

Catching up with a Fastnet legend and one of the world's most loved yachts

12 . ROYAL THAMES AT 250

e year of celebrations has begun...

18 . SAOIRSE

Raised-topsides yacht restored for the Gills, of yellow oilskin fame

28 . MEET THE INSURER

Simon Hedley is an insurance guy at Pantaenius... and a good laugh too!

30 . RUSTLER DOES POWER

First motorboat from venerable English sailing yacht builder

36 . 8-M WORLDS

e buoyant 8-M class thrashing it out in Scotland last autumn

COVER STORY

40 . EVENTS GUIDE 2025 e big events, races and regattas

48 . REGATTA HISTORY

e trials, the tribulations, the date clashes... it's always been this way

54 . CANVAS ART

Photographer Kos Evans and her project printing photos on famous sails

58 . THE YARN OF YARN

A rigger's life in rope, and a guide to cordage available to buy today

72 . BARUNA REBUILD PART 4

4

30

e end of our in-depth look at the rebuild of the big S&S inboard yawl

chelseamagazines.com/marine

One of Olin Stephens’ favourite designs has raced offshore and in regattas around the world for nearly a century and shows no sign of slowing down

STORMY WEATHER

It was in 2007 in Argentario that Olin Stephens, then aged 98, last sailed on Stormy Weather, the yawl which he had designed almost three quarters of a century earlier and which was said to be one of his favourite designs. “It got quite windy towards the end of the race,” recalls Stormy Weather’s owner Christopher Spray, “and he was getting a bit wet from some breaking waves. I asked him if he was alright and he said ‘I have been on this boat in far worse conditions than this’!”

Stormy Weather was built by Henry Nevins at City Island, New York, and launched on 14 May 1934. She was a direct development of another yawl, Dorade, which Olin had designed at the age of just 21 and which had won the 1931 transatlantic race from New York to Plymouth, as well as the Fastnet Race that year and again in 1933. Slightly longer and with proportionally more beam than Dorade, Stormy Weather was built under the watchful eye of Olin’s brother Rod, in just four months. She had Philippine mahogany planking on steamed New England white-oak frames, an oak keel, stem and stern post, and a Port Orford cedar deck laid on deck beams of spruce and oak. Her commissioning owner was Philip LeBoutillier, the proprietor of a chain of department stores, and it wasn’t until his new boat’s launch was imminent that he chose a name for her. After hearing Lena Horne sing the song Stormy Weather while he was dining with some friends at a restaurant in Long Island, his new boat was duly christened by his daughter Polly. Uffa Fox, when later analysing Stormy Weather’s hull lines, wrote that she “should glide along with the effortless grace of a bird soaring through the air.”

And glide along she did. In 1935, with Rod Stephens as her skipper, she repeated the successes of Dorade four years earlier by winning the transatlantic race (this one from New York to Bergen in Norway) and the Fastnet Race. Before leaving New York her Graymarine 35hp petrol engine was removed along with its stern gear. Amongst her innovations was a permanently installed thermometer for sea-water temperature readings, and The Yachtsman reported that “the success of Stormy Weather in the recent race to Bergen was largely due to

skilful navigation. Thanks to frequent wireless reports her navigator was able to note the approach of depressions, make his own weather charts, and find a passage through the ice, to say nothing of shortening the voyage.” Music may also have helped as various members of the crew played harmonicas, accordions, a tin whistle, a guitar and a kazoo during the course of the voyage. The 70ft ketch Vamarie won line honours and her crew thought they would be declared the winners on handicap as well, but just as they were finishing their victory dinner, they heard that Stormy Weather had finished barely five hours after them and so won by 42 hours on corrected time.

Previous Page: Racing in light airs off Cannes

Above: Stormy Weather was a development of the design of another famous S&S yawl Dorade

Main image right: Fully crewed or singlehanded, Stormy Weather’s hull is designed to glide

After leaving Bergen with the King of Norway’s cup, Stormy Weather cruised along the Norwegian coast, through the Dutch canals and then to the Isle of Wight. That year the Fastnet race started in Yarmouth for the only time in its history, and in a predominantly light airs race, Stormy Weather finished third and won by over six hours on corrected time. L Luard, who was sailing on another Olin Stephens-designed yawl, Trenchemer which came second, later wrote in The Yachtsman that “Stormy Weather deserved her win. She was sailed better than any other boat; her gear, perfect for its task, never failed; her crew, a trained team, skippered by Rod Stevens, were flawless in efficiency.”

Back on the other side of the Atlantic, Stormy Weather continued her winning ways. She won her class in the 1936 Newport to Bermuda race, and then from 1937 she won five consecutive Miami to Nassau races. In her first 20 years and with various owners after LeBoutillier – Bob Johnson, Bill Labrot and Fred Temple – she took part in 31 major ocean races, winning 12 overall and coming first in class 15 times. In 1947, Fred Temple took Stormy Weather to the Great Lakes where she came fifth in class in the Chicago to Mackinac race; and in 1954 he sold her to James J O’Neill who mainly sailed her in New England. From 1957 she was owned by FC Cunningham who was a member of the Seawanhaka YC and kept Stormy Weather in the British Virgin Islands. In 1977 he died suddenly of a heart attack, intestate and with Stormy Weather moored in West End Harbour with no official documentation on board. This put the British authorities in a difficult situation, and so they appointed American architect Doug White and his wife, Sue, to look after the boat. They were given permission to run Stormy Weather as a charter boat but she was in poor condition, and they found they were losing money. The authorities had also appointed Briton Paul Adamthwaite – who had previously served in the Royal Navy – as Ship’s Husband, and in 1981 he did a deal with Doug whereby he became sole owner. “I think I only paid him a couple of thousand dollars,” Paul told me.

Paul had already begun to restore Stormy Weather, initially in the US Virgin Islands but then in the British Virgin Islands. Most of the frames were broken and so were replaced with new ones in laminated oak; a two-layer plywood subdeck was fitted with a teak deck laid on top; and the Mercedes diesel engine was replaced by a direct drive Yanmar 3GM.

At some point, the original mast had been damaged in a lightning strike and had been replaced with an aluminium one from a 12-Metre, and may have been slightly reduced in length. Paul was keen to replace it with a timber one and

so he flew to the west coast of Canada to source some suitable Sitka spruce which was shipped to Camden. William Cannell Boatbuilding then built a new mast which was identical to the original except that – on the advice of Rod Stephens – its section was half an inch bigger fore and aft and a quarter of an inch smaller athwartships. It was shipped to the British Virgin Islands where it was completed and stepped. By January 1984 Stormy Weather was sailing again but with no interior and limited deck fittings. Almost all of the original joinery panelling had survived and was subsequently refitted, but the aft cabin was almost entirely rebuilt.

Paul and his wife Betty Ann then spent many years living on board Stormy Weather and sailing her extensively, typically spending winters in the Caribbean and summers in Europe, mainly in France where he had been a student. Paul crossed the Atlantic 36 times on Stormy Weather, three times solo and 14 times with his wife amongst the crew. They occupied themselves with heritage projects, youth sailing, museums and yachting archives, and were heavily involved in establishing the Douarnenez Festival. They raced Stormy Weather regularly, taking part in the Fastnet Race seven times (finishing 6th overall in 1995 – the 60th anniversary of her first victory – and winning the Iolaire block, for the oldest competing boat, four times); through their friend Don Street – the owner of Iolaire, of course – they first became involved in the Glandore regatta in Ireland and then took part in it about a dozen times; and they also competed in many Caribbean races including Antigua Race Week numerous times.

In 1997 the Adamthwaites took Stormy Weather up to Lake Ontario where they had a home and from where they day-sailed her for the remainder of their ownership. Then, one day in the spring of 1999, Paul had a call to say that the Italian Giuseppe Gazzoni who had just had Dorade restored at Cantiere Navale dell’Argentario, was looking for a similar boat to buy and restore. Paul was becoming all too aware that he was unlikely to ever cross the Atlantic again in Stormy Weather and that she “was unhappy in the fresh water of the Great Lakes and in the freezing conditions we experience during the winter”. He soon agreed to sell her to Gazzoni, albeit with some

regret. “Stormy Weather was the love of my life,” he told me.

Stormy Weather was shipped to Italy where, despite being in poor condition, she raced at Argentario in 1999 and came first in class. She was then taken to Cantiere Navale dell’Argentario for work to begin. Her whole deck was renewed with 28mm thick teak laid directly on the deck beams, and all new deckhouses were built to the original design. Many of her deck fittings were recast and then chromed, and a new mizzen mast was made as the existing one was badly split. With the work complete she took part in the Argentario regatta in 2001, coming first in class again but this time with the 94-year-old Olin Stephens on board for every race. She was then brought to the UK to compete in the America’s Cup Jubilee regatta in which she was skippered by the yacht designer Doug Peterson. She was the winner of the Vintage Division 3 class and was also shortlisted for the Concours d’Elegance, after which Andrew Bray, the editor of Yachting World and chair of the judging panel, wrote: “It was a privilege and a treat, the experience of a lifetime to walk the boards of such a distinguished yachting hall of fame…to wonder at the perfect sheer line and balanced overhangs of (various boats including) Stormy Weather.” By this time, Gazzoni had decided to sell her as he was keen to buy and restore another S&S yacht, the 1935 53ft sloop Sonny.

A couple of years earlier, Christopher Spray, whose only previous boat had been an Enterprise dinghy, had started looking for a classic boat that would be suitable for family cruising and racing. “I probably looked at almost all of the boats that are on the dock here at some point,” he told me when we were at Regates Royales in Cannes recently. He realised that a Sparkman & Stephens yawl would suit his needs and seriously considered Dorade before deciding that she would be “a little bit too narrow or too small”. So he contacted the yacht broker Mike Horsley to see if Stormy Weather might be available. Mike was initially doubtful, but about six weeks later he phoned Christopher to tell him that she was.

So Christopher went to look at her in Cowes where Doug Peterson showed him round, and soon afterwards he made an offer which was accepted. “About a week

Above: During the 1980s and 1990s Stormy Weather crossed the Atlantic at least twice a season

Clockwise from top left: The mizzen sheeted at the end of the A-shaped bumkin; Waiting for the wind off Cannes; The mainsheet horse straddling the cockpit; Functional galley; Buttoned leather saloon seating; The aft cabin has its own companionway; Chromed halyard winch; Passerelle support clamped to the bumpkin

STORMY WEATHER

LOA: 53ft 11in (16.4m)

LWL: 39ft 9in (12.1m)

BEAM: 12ft (3.7m)

DRAUGHT: 7ft 11in (2.4m)

DISPLACEMENT: 20.3 tonnes

SAIL AREA: 1,332 sq ft (123.7m2)

later 9/11 happened and I wondered if I had made the right decision to make a relatively expensive purchase just as the world was going pear shaped,” he told me. “But I decided to press on and have never regretted it.”

By the summer of 2002, Stormy Weather was back in the Mediterranean and that is where Christopher, his family and his friends have mostly sailed her since. One year they took her to the Caribbean – with Christopher and his son William on board for the crossing – to race in Antigua Classics. They have taken part in numerous classic boat regattas where their results are generally “there or thereabouts in most regattas, we are reasonably consistently on the podium, depending on the makeup of the class,” said Christopher. Over the years Stormy Weather’s competition has included several other S&S designs including Dorade, Comet, Argyll, Skylark and, more recently, Baruna

In 2015, Stormy Weather was trailed to Cherbourg and then sailed to the UK to race there for a season. She took part in the RORC series in which she was 3rd in class and also won the Freddie Morgan Trophy for the first Classic Sailboat, and she raced in the Fastnet on the 80th anniversary of her initial triumph, “The RORC were superb in terms of getting the boat through the safety requirements,” said Christopher. Dorade was also taking part and these two boats spent about a day –

including the rounding of the Rock itself – just a few boat lengths apart, prompting Yachting World’s editor Elaine Bunting to write: “two elegant welterweights slugging it out in raw, troubled seas and sweeping rain.” Stormy Weather eventually lost out to Dorade but came 4th in IRC Class 4 and 11th overall.

Although Stormy Weather has had regular minor refits during Christopher’s ownership, last winter it was time for a more significant one. For this she was taken back to Cantiere Navale dell’Argentario where at least half a dozen people who had contributed to her 2000 refit worked on her again, including the head carpenter Piero Landini who was now 70 years old. The work was supervised by Tarquin Place who has been Stormy Weather’s captain since 2005. The ballast keel was removed and about half of the bronze keel bolts were replaced; about 25 linear metres of underwater planking, which was “getting a bit soft”, were replaced with African mahogany; all the fittings were removed from the spars which were stripped back to bare wood, and then benefited from plugged holes, new fastenings, some new fittings and a revarnish; and the rudder, which was waterlogged, was replaced by a new one designed by John Corby to the original profile, from Alaskan yellow cedar reinforced with stainless steel tangs.

On the day I was invited to sail on Stormy Weather at Regates Royale in Cannes there was to be disappointment in that we motored around for a few hours – with not a breath of wind, quite heavy rain and an uncomfortable swell – before the race committee officially cancelled the race. Nevertheless, it felt like a privilege to be aboard this historic yacht, with the words of Paul Adamthwaite ringing in my ears. “It isn’t just legend that Olin considered Stormy Weather to be his favourite design,” he said. “It is the truth. He wrote exactly that in a book that he gave me.”

Above: Last winter’s big refit included taking all the spars back to bare wood

18th -20th July 2025

THAMES TRADITIONAL BOAT FESTIVAL

From 18th -20th July, 2025

we will mark the 46th anniversary of the THAMES TRADITIONAL BOAT FESTIVAL with the biggest and best event yet!

The feedback from 2024’s “TRAD” was so immensely positive that we could be tempted to rest on our laurels. However, we know we can do better!

While the format and layout will be familiar, we will tweak and improve where we feel it is necessary. Admin will be even simpler, access for cars and visitors better marshalled, slight changes to catering facilities, more “posh loos”, more luxurious Members’ Enclosure: the long-promised on-site shop for essential supplies as well as a few new souvenirs.

When Lady McAlpine took the helm at the TRAD, using her Motor sport background she said: “Our aim is that if people see Henley Regatta as the “Festival of Speed”: the “TRAD” should be compared to the “Goodwood Revival Meeting.” Such a terrific gathering of beautiful old craft should be celebrated rather more loudly and publicly than it has been in the past: I would like to see an instant recognition of “The TRAD” among the public at large. At present, I’m afraid it is still too little known; even around Henley! If people are prepared to spend the time and effort involved in bringing their boats to the TRAD: they deserve a large and appreciative audience: and, of course, we need to show a younger generation the pleasures of messing about in old boats!”

So please book your boat in NOW: on-line. www.tradboatfestival.com

If you want to sell something to the 15,000 visitors we know we will get, and possibly more, please book a trade stand: booking is open on-line at www.tradboatfesitval.com

We have a few Premium spots for those who have beautiful boats to sell or just want to attract owners of beautiful boats. These can be booked by discussion with Sue via: exhibitors@tradboatfestival.com

Ticket sales are now open on-line too and we hope that a lot of you will want to join our supporters “Club”. Not only do you have use of the Members’ Enclosure with complimentary coffee or tea, dedicated bar, loos and food service but you will be invited to a Members’ party or two so that you feel part of the TRAD all year.

Like all such events, we are always trying to find SPONSORS.

We are lucky to have been supported by the Shanly Foundation for many years and others have come and gone. Hobbs Boatyard and GRUNDON are loyal sponsors “in kind” We feel we should have more Marine Trade sponsorship! Please try!

WORDS AND PHOTOS CLARE MCCOMB

The Royal Thames gathered at St Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge on 15 January for a service of blessing, including an inspiring sermon delivered by the Club chaplain, Canon Alan Gyle. ‘Eternal Father Strong to Save’ and ‘Jerusalem’ rang out to the roof beams: (Hubert Parry, composer of the latter’s tune, was a member.) Looking around, grey hair was everywhere, and I could not help wondering what marvellous stories all those seasoned sailors could tell, if they could be persuaded – what oceans they had crossed with the Blue Ensign fluttering, what adventures and near misses…

Back at the Clubhouse the bubbly flowed, thanks to event sponsor Nyetimber, as did the speeches. With 250 years to look back on, and a bright future ahead, there was much to celebrate. An antique painting, also from the founding year, had been sold to the Club that very afternoon (an o er which could not be refused), and was on display; as a brand new addition to the Club's famous collection it attracted considerable interest. Contributors to the new book commissioned for this major event mingled with the 150 present: it is a substantial volume incorporating much new research, approaching the Royal Thames’ history from six distinct angles, with a section on the Club treasures.

The newly commissioned cased models of the King's Fisher (owned by 18th century Commodore, Thomas Taylor), and half model of Cambria, with which the Royal Thames challenged for the first America’s Cup, were much admired; one example of the silver versions of King’s Fisher which are presented to each of the “superpatrons” whose generosity has done so much preserve the Royal Thames’s heritage this anniversary year, was held up for all to see. The wonderful and newly restored 18th century King’s Fisher flags, contemporary with the Club’s founding in 1775, draped with Sonar spinnakers, were unveiled by Olympic gold medallist and Club Cupbearer Iain Macdonald Smith, and there was much marvelling at them. They are the oldest such flags in the world – a unique treasure.

Later, at dinner, the food was, as always, delicious: I chose crab and cod loin with steamed spinach. Royal Thames editor, Richard Bundy, sitting opposite me, was stoically sticking to his “dry January”. We chatted on, freely, long into the evening. The traditions of such gatherings stretch back literally centuries – the Royal Thames is the oldest continuously operating yacht club in the United Kingdom, and 2025 will be celebrated on the water and o .

Now it is “ropes o for the Club’s passage through its 251st year” declares Head of Heritage, Andrew Collins.

1. Club members attend St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge for a service of blessing; 2. Event sponsor Nyetimber produced sparkling wine back at the clubhouse; 3. 18th Century flags on display belonging to club commodore Thomas Taylor (1780-1816); 4 & 5. Club members enjoying the hospitality and the Vice Commodore's speech; 6. A sail displaying the RTYC club burgee; 7 & 8. The celebration drinks were followed by dinner; 9. A brand new unsigned artwork bought by the club on the day of the event is believed to depict the Club’s first ever race in June 1775. In the foreground is a barge, presumably with the Duke of Cumberland on board, the Club's founder. Note the enormously enlarged Cumberland Cup on the roof of the cabin; 10. Specially commissioned cased model of Thomas Taylor's yacht King’s Fisher; 11. RTYC knows how to throw a party. Over 150 members were in

Tell Tales

RORC and Fastnet celebrate centenary Classics Day sail-past planned

The Royal Ocean Racing Club, known to all as RORC, celebrates its centenary this year and will be marking the event in a number of ways, not least by holding a classics day in Cowes, Isle of Wight, on 19 July. The RORC is calling for yachts built in the first 50 years (1925-1975) and that have raced with RORC, to participate. The event will comprise a sail-past and salute for the

RORC followed by a short race (subject to sufficient interest), followed by a welcome of participating crews to the evening centenary party. Any yachts interested in participating are requested to email racing@rorc.org to register their interest (including whether they would participate in a short race) by 30 April 2025. For more regattas, see our events guide in this issue.

Admiral’s Cup returns

From 1957 to 2003 the RORC Admiral’s Cup was one of the most prestigious sailing contests in the world, competed for by national teams, and won the most times (nine) by Britain. This year it returns as part of the RORC’s centenary celebrations and will run, as it used to, biennially on odd years. The first race of the Admiral’s Cup series was, and will again be, the world-famous Fastnet Race, sailed, in those days, from Cowes (Isle of Wight) to the Fastnet rock off Ireland’s south coast, then back to Plymouth (Devon). Since 2021, the race has ended in Cherbourg instead of Plymouth.

The Fastnet will be celebrating its own centenary, as it was first raced in 1925, the year the RORC was founded. On 26 July, the overall winners from seven of the last eight races will be on the line, including Ran 2 (a rare double winner… 2009 and 2011) and Caro (defending champion).

The race has a rich history, most notably the tragic 1979 event in which 15 competitors died and 10 yachts were lost. It’s also known for the great yachts and famous sailors who have won it over the years. They include Rod Stephens (three wins – two on Dorade , one on Stormy Weather , of which more in next month’s issue), John Illingworth (two wins, both on Myth of Malham ), Eric Tabarly (a win for Pen Duick II ) and Ted Turner, who won aboard Tenacious in 1979. The race’s first ever winner was EG Martin on the legendary pilot cutter Jolie Brise in 1925. Martin and Jolie Brise went on to win in 1929 and 1930, making both skipper and boat the only triple winner in the race’s history. Another early winner was Tally Ho in 1927, recently and painstakingly restored by Leo Goolden, and about which you’ll be hearing a lot more in these pages.

There are usually a few classics in the 400-strong fleet, although registration seems to be akin to buying tickets to Glastonbury these days, such is the race’s draw.

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Classic success in Sydney Hobart

The spirit-of-tradition yacht Oroton Drumfire has won her class in the 79th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race for the second year running. Drumfire , a Truly Classic 78 model from the Hoek design office in the Netherlands, raced in PHS Class 1, in a field of 17 modern yachts. She was built in the Netherlands as an

ocean-going performance cruising yacht in 2007 and belongs to an Australian sailor. Dutch Olympic and Volvo Ocean Race sailor Carolijn Brouwer was part of the crew, as was Jessica Watson, the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the world.

Photo ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi

Celebration of Scottish yacht design

Crafting Elegance, a new exhibition at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine, celebrates the “golden age of Scottish yacht design” through its three most famous proponents, the families of Fife, Watson and Mylne. This trio made the West Coast ports of the River Clyde the cradle of maritime innovation in sailing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The exhibition, which runs until 25 May, illustrates how George Lennox Watson, Scotland’s first dedicated yacht designer, revolutionised the field by introducing scientific principles to what was once purely intuitive craft. The legacy of the Fife family, known as the ‘Wizards of Fairlie,’ is honoured for their mastery of design and craftsmanship, which set new standards in yacht building. And the remarkable journey of the Mylne dynasty is also on display,

whose designs graced waters from the Clyde to distant shores across the globe.”

At the heart of the exhibition are artefacts from the Mylne and GL Watson archives, including original drawings, models that and more, from yachts that raced in the America’s Cup to luxury vessels commissioned by European royalty and high society.

Interactive displays and compelling narratives show how these designers shaped the America’s Cup contests, from Watson’s pioneering designs for  Thistle  and the  Valkyrie  series to William Fife III’s creation of the legendary  Shamrock  challengers.

The exhibition also explores how the River Clyde’s unique geography and Scotland’s rich maritime heritage created the perfect conditions for these designers to flourish.

From the pages of history

Waterwitch 1938

Designed by Knud Reimers and built by U a Fox in 1938, Waterwitch was the first 30-Square Metre to be built in the UK. This photo, showing several innovative features, appeared in The Yachtsman soon after she was launched. Reflecting on a growing class, they reported that “there are now 18 of them in the British Register, with five cups and prizes competed for in British waters.” Waterwitch ’s last entry in Lloyd’s Register of Yachts was in 1973.

The Association of Yachting Historians has digitised 92 volumes of The Yachtsman (1891-1940) and the complete Lloyd’s Registers of Yachts (1878-1980) and these can be bought on memory sticks. www.yachtinghistorians.org

CORRECTION

Apologies to photographer Tyler Fields, who was not credited for his photos of the Rockport Marine-built yacht Mar Amore (Little Wolf 38) in last month’s issue. See tylerfieldsphotography.com. In the text, “African cedar” was mentioned in the build of the hull. This should have read “Alaskan cedar.”

Classic Regatta

Classic Regatta

FRIDAY 20TH JUNE - SUNDAY 22ND JUNE 2025

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.

FRIDAY 20TH JUNE - SUNDAY 22ND JUNE 2025

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

Su olk Yacht Harbour presents the 23rd annual Invitation to classic motor boats to join the weekend

To enter online and for event details, visit www.syhclassicregatta.co.uk

To enter online and for event details, visit www.syhclassicregatta.co.uk

Entry forms via email or post can be requested from jonathan@syharbour.co.uk

Entry forms via email or post can be requested from jonathan@syharbour.co.uk

Photos: Toby Essex

Photos: Toby Essex

SAIL ON,

Now in her 10th decade, this little boat has defied the odds to remain afloat and in commission

WORDS AND PHOTOS NIGEL SHARP

SAOIRSE

In 1933, T Harrison Butler – the professional eye surgeon and amateur yacht designer – entered a design competition organised by The Little Ship Club. His entry was a 25ft 6in (7.7m) Bermudan cutter, the first of which was built in Hull the following year and named Bogle (after Butler’s daughter-in-law, the actress Joan Bogle Hickson who subsequently found fame playing Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple). Two years later, another boat to this design, but this time a Bermudan sloop, was built in pitch pine on oak by RJ Prior in Burnham-on-Crouch and was named Myfanwy She had a Stuart Turner 2-cylinder petrol engine and The Yachtsman reported that she “represents a compromise for a 6-tonner on a fifty-thirty basis, the thirty per cent belonging to the engine. She is a sailer first…The owner desired week-end comfort for two, and boldly decided to take the cabin top right across the ship. This arrangement not only slightly cheapened construction but in addition, provides full sitting head-room on bunks, strong construction and the elimination of the leaks between working decks and cabin top. The judicious handling of the rubbing strake and special cast ports have accentuated the shear and length and avoided the ‘boxy’ effect due to increased height of topsides.” The magazine’s correspondent also wrote that Mr Prior “undertook to build the craft to a first-class specification at a reasonable figure, and it is understood that he is prepared to keep the moulds until the end of the season, in case some reader may fall to this little lady.” Although no other boat to this class was ever built by Priors, it is thought that a total of six Bogles were produced by various other builders.

Myfanwy’s first owner was HWT Thatcher who kept her in Burnham and, it is thought, used her to take his new wife on a honeymoon cruise. At some point during the Second World War or immediately afterwards, she was sold to WJD Perkins and then in 1952 to WG Royse, both of whom also kept her in Burnham. In 1972 she was lying abandoned in the Belsize Boatyard in Southampton and facing an uncertain future, when the Domican family – Jim, Eugenia and their children Michael and Jennifer - found her there. They had previously spent a few years sailing their Elkins-built 24ft Withy “but my sister and I were getting bigger and the boat wasn’t,” Michael told me recently, “and there at Belsize was this magnificent much larger yacht.”

The previous owners – who seem to have left the boat “with all their possessions on board, including Admiralty charts of the Channel Islands and Mediterranean with pencil markings all over them, and dried up provisions in the larder” - were, apparently, not contactable, and so the Domicans effectively bought Myfanwy from the boatyard. They took her to Lymington where they kept her on a council mooring between two piles and for the next five summers they cruised – along with their border collie Bobbi - to the Isle of Wight and along the south coast of England. “Nothing really super adventurous, but great fun,” said Michael. But eventually Jennifer became less interested

Previous page: Saoirse is one of just six boats built to T Harrison Butler’s ‘Bogle’ design

Above: The full height cabin top extends the full width of the boat creating plenty of headroom but avoiding a ‘boxy’ look

Below: Chart table

and Michael went to university and became more involved in racing other boats (and went on to sail on Britain’s America’s Cup challenger Victory 83) and it was time to put Myfanwy on the market.

Her next owners were Mr and Mrs RW Parrott – “super people and very enthusiastic owners,” recalls Michael – who took Myfanwy to Portsmouth, changed her name to Cariad, replaced the original engine with an Arona diesel, and converted her to a cutter with the addition of a bowsprit. When Michael learned recently about the latter modification, he wasn’t in the least surprised as he had never understood why Myfanwy had had excessive weather helm given that Harrison Butler was renowned for being a strong advocate of the metacentric shelf theory to ensure his designs were well balanced.

There is some uncertainty about the boat’s history over the next few years but it seems that she was owned for a while by Keith Towne, had a major refit at Nash & Holden’s yard in Dartmouth, was converted back to a sloop (albeit retaining the bowsprit)and at some point

her name was changed back to Myfanwy. In 2002 she was purchased by Bernie and Pat Yendell (and for a short time John Fallows was their co-owner) who kept her in the Fal estuary. Bernie was a professional boatbuilder and during his five years of ownership he carried out a great deal of work to her. He replaced the rudder, two bulkheads, three deck beams, the forehatch carlins, the whole of the deck with two layers of epoxy sheathed ½in plywood, the toerails and rubbing strakes; fitted four new lodging knees; scarphed in a new 3ft section of stem; fitted twenty sister frames; installed a reconditioned Yanmar GM8 diesel engine; removed the iron floors under the engine and had them shotblasted and zinc sprayed before refitting them; rewired the whole boat and installed a solid fuel stove.

Myfanwy remained in Falmouth with her next owner, Paul Bidmead. Paul sailed her almost entirely singlehanded, and took part in the three local classics regattas – Falmouth, Fowey and Plymouth – “most years”. He took her to Cockwells to have new garboards fitted (in larch) and new bronze keel bolts.

Below: The interior looking forward

He told me that he was “never happy with the reconditioned engine as it sounded like a tank”. In 2014 Paul decided to buy another boat that had been restored by Bernie Yendell (Matanga, “a small pocket schooner”) and so he put Myfanwy on the market. She was then sold to Irishman Brian Redmond who kept her in Gillan Creek just to the south of the entrance to the Helford River and renamed her Saoirse. But sadly it wasn’t long before Brian began to suffer from poor health, as a result of which Saoirse lay neglected in a mud berth for several years.

Having founded the marine clothing company in his own name in the mid-1970s, in 2014 Nick Gill sold half of his shares and then finally retired in 2020. Living locally, he and his wife Caroline often walked along the shores of Gillan Creek and couldn’t help but notice Saoirse. “There’s a project,” he said at some point, to which Caroline said “well do something about it”. So he contacted the Sailaway St Anthony boatyard which administers the moorings, and was told that Saoirse would probably be for sale. One day at low tide he climbed aboard and, although he was pleasantly surprised to find that the planking seemed solid, he could see that she was “in a terrible state down below”. At some point she had lain on one side after a leg broke and there was silt all the way up the insides and everything, including the engine, had been submerged for some time. “Despite this I could see character and could imagine what she might look like,” he said.

So Nick then tried, with some difficulty, to find an expert to survey the boat, and eventually came across Clive Curnow, a retired shipwright who had worked for Falmouth Boat Co. “He had a look at her and said ‘she is a real mess, but seems pretty solid overall’,” said Nick.

So he contacted Brian who sadly couldn’t remember anything at all about Saoirse, but a good friend of his helped the transaction go through to allow Nick to take her on in May 2022. By that time she had been abandoned for at least five years.

Nick decided to take her to Gweek Boatyard to do the work. But to get her there he first needed to float her off on a high tide and then tow her round to the Helford River and leave her there overnight before taking her up the river on the next tide.

“We set up an electric bilge pump as it was a worry whether she would take in water,” said Nick, “but she seemed to be fine.” She was then lifted out of the water for the first time for seven years and the hard work began for Nick and for Clive who had agreed to help.

Firstly everything that could be was removed from the interior, and much of it went to the tip. The inside of the hull was pressure washed with the excess water pumped out through the heads – a Baby Blake which was salvaged but with renewed plumbing. The wood burning stove was very rusty

but was removed for sandblasting before being reinstalled. The engine was a write-off but was replaced by a new one of the same model. Other than that the work mostly consisted of a massive amount of scraping, sanding, painting and varnishing (with all the removable parts being done at Nick’s home), “but the more we scraped paint away, the more we unearthed more issues and the to-do list grew longer and longer,” said Nick.

In the autumn, Saoirse was moved into a rudimentary shed to give some shelter from the winter weather. In January, just as Nick’s morale was “already at a low ebb, as we had been working on her for six months with little sign of much progress,” the project suffered a major setback when Clive first contracted Covid and then deep vein thrombosis. “I think if someone had offered to take Saoirse off my hands at that point, I would have let her go,” said Nick. But Clive gradually recovered and the small team was also augmented occasionally by James Pardoe, a shipwright who was working on a neighbouring boat, and then they managed to make noticeable progress.

With regard to the rig, a new boom was needed –Ben Harris produced this, in spruce, but the mast was fine after everything was stripped off it, a few local repairs were made and eight coats of varnish applied. Although the stainless-steel standing rigging was in good condition, all the running rigging was renewed. By the summer of 2023, Saoirse’s hull was clearly drying out and so Nick and Clive were desperate to get her afloat. Eventually, she was relaunched in August and it wasn’t long before she took up. “Without Clive this wouldn’t ever have happened,” said Nick. “Although we did the work together, he was the brains and the brawn.”

Nick also owns a Southerly 42 and it so happens that he took her away for a month’s cruise as soon as Saoirse was launched but he began to sail the smaller boat as soon as he got back. “I had never sailed a long keeled, heavy displacement boat like this before,” he said, “and I was staggered at how well she performed.” He continued to sail her until the end of October when he was obliged to vacate his swinging mooring in the Helford River, and he laid her up afloat with a cover on her at Port Pendennis Marina. Then in the spring he had her lifted at Sailaway St Anthony and spent a month – “dodging the showers” – painting the topsides, antifouling and sound proofing the engine space.

After a month of weekend sailing, he entered her for Falmouth Classics for which he recruited Clive as crew, but that was when disaster struck. On the first day when it was already blowing quite hard, the competing boats were hit by a brief but ferocious 40-knot gust during the second race. This resulted in the sinking of a Falmouth Working Boat (happily she was successfully raised the next day) and the dismasting of four boats, one of which was Saoirse.

Understandably, Nick and Clive were devastated but since then Nick has taken a philosophical view and decided to take the opportunity to improve the rig. A new sail plan with a modified full-height genoa and a

SAOIRSE

DESIGN Dr T Harrison Butler

BUILD Priors, 1933

LOA 25ft 6in (7.8m)

LWL 22ft (6.7m)

BEAM 8ft (2.4m)

DRAUGHT 4ft 2in (1.3m)

DISPLACEMENT 6 tonnes

as “staggering”

Above: The new sail plan

shorter bowsprit was drawn up, dispensing with the inner forestay to allow easier tacking. Ben Harris was commissioned to make a new mast and bowsprit, and new sails were ordered from Falmouth-based SKB Sails. Saoirse was taken to Ben’s yard in Gweek so that the chainplates could be moved to suit the new rig, and it was while this work was being carried out that further issues came to light. Much of the plywood deck was found to be rotten, as were parts of deck beams, frame heads, the stem and the foredeck bulwarks. Ben and his team soon set to work to rectify all this and so, after these unfortunate, but temporary, setbacks, it won’t be long before a new and improved Saoirse will be back in action.

Top: Saoirse’s current owner, Nick Gill, describes her performance

Saoirse Harrison Butler

SAILPLAN

Yacht Brokerage

SALE, CHARTER & MANAGEMENT Also specialises in Transoceanic Charter

97ft Alan Buchanan Ketch TELSTAR VI

1968. Rebuilt 2019. TELSTAR VI is a classically designed, auxiliary ketch with all the character and style of the 1960s, but the luxurious comfort, amenities, and advantages of a modern yacht. Her strength and long range will provide endless enjoyment for local and world cruising. TELSTAR VI is carvel built of mahogany and oak. She underwent a substantial €13 Million refit in Malta from 2012 to 2019 where she was completely stripped out. Her all-new equipment also includes carbon spars. The extensive refit enables MCA coding.

80ft Long Range Gentleman’s Yacht THEMARA

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.

60ft Gentleman’s Yacht KIWI

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 manageable size. A rare opportunity to own a beautifully vintage historic yacht, with authenticity yet practicality and an unmistakable aesthetic.

1983 WHITEFIN was designed by Californian Bruce King. The result is an exquisitely proportioned mix of agility, lightness, and grace. WHITEFIN was given a complete refitting in January 2020. The heart of life on board is the open-plan area in the widest part of the boat which includes the galley, partially recessed, the nav station, the bar, and the saloon with fireplace and piano. The boat consists of four cabins: the owner suite, all aft; the VIP guest cabin with a queen-sized bed and two twin guest cabins.

84ft WINDWEAVER OF PENNINGTON

1998. Refit 2021. WINDWEAVER OF PENNINGTON is a solid, seaworthy, go-anywhere sailing yacht rigged as a ketch. She has a huge range including under engine with 2,500 NM to go at 8 knots cruising. Inside, she has a lovely, cosy interior which allows her to face all sorts of weather and climates. She can accommodate up to 8 guests and 3 crew.

Classic 20 DOLCE VITA

2004. Refit 2022. The hull and superstructure are made of wood, mixing traditional construction and design with the latest techniques. She truly resembles the timeless elegance of more traditional classic yachts. DOLCE VITA has been designed with enjoying comfortable holidays in mind, sailing peacefully, easily and safely. Her fuel range stretches to further extended coastal trips.

2023 Classic runabout replica from a François Camatte design (1926) with modern construction and equipment. Ideal for a day trip as well as suitable as a large yacht tender. Economical to use, and easy to run and maintain.

90ft New Classic Yacht WHITEFIN

34ft Runabout LA MAGICIENNE

BY DAVE SELBY

Russia’s iron-clad coracle

Shaped like a gigantic soup-bowl, the Russian Imperial Navy’s revolutionary war ship turned out to be even more revolutionary than intended – it kept going round in circles. But that was only one of the foibles of the 1874 round-hulled, 101ft-diameter (30.8m) iron-clad that was intended as a formidable gun platform. With its 18in (46cm) freeboard and minimal draft, designed to present a minimal target, the heavily armoured Novgorod was as wayward as a soap dish and swamped just as easily in any sort of seaway. In “pursuit” mode the Novgorod could manage all of 6.5 knots in flat water, despite being powered by six massive steam engines driving six propellers, which at full chat consumed 200

ELDREDS

Presidential cat

There’s a long line of sailing US presidents, from Abraham Lincoln to John F Kennedy. One-time ferryman Lincoln is the only one to hold a patent – for an external buoyancy device to raise boats over shoals. War-time naval hero JFK took respite from responsibilities in a string of yachts, but lesser known is the passion of Grover Cleveland, twice president from 1885 to 1897.

Cleveland, a man of modest tastes, was equally modest on the water, taking his pleasure at his Cape Cod summer home in a cat boat, the beamy, gaff-rigged boats derived from working craft. A rare find is this half model of Cleveland’s boat (estimate $700-1,000), which reveals a man of simple tastes, and of whom it was said: “He is immoderate in only two things – his desk work and his fishing.”

tons of coal per hour. With little to no grip on the water the unwieldy white elephant took 40-45 minutes to turn full circle, and on the rare occasions when the Novgorod managed to line up a target the recoil from the massive guns sent her into a dizzy spin. A contemporary report of a sea trial noted that the Novgorod “whirled helplessly round and round, every soul on board helplessly incapacitated by vertigo.”

Scrapped in 1911, the failed experiment fully deserved its place of honour in the book, The World’s Worst Warships . The model (top right) of the Novgorod made £496 at Charles Miller Ltd, whose next London marine sale takes place on 29 April.

ONSLOWS

Survival rations

With not a single life lost among a crew of 28, the story of Ernest Shackleton’s 1916 small boat voyage to South Georgia and rescue of those left behind on Elephant Island is an epic feat of survival and leadership.

Yet the polar adventurer had another talent – for publicity –and even before he made it back to Britain his sponsor Bovril was making capital with a jokey ad that read: “Bovril & penguins – the staple sustenance of Shackleton’s men on Elephant Island.”

How much Bovril meat paste the men ate in their four months awaiting rescue is open to question, but they certainly devoured a lot of penguins. Apparently, they taste a bit like chicken.

The advert also went down well in the sale room, making a lipsmacking £2,000.

The model of the Novgorod (right) seems a school boy fantasy, the reality (left) even more so

Half-model of Cleveland’s cat boat (top); model of similar (above) shows typical rig with single gaff sail and stout mast set forward

CHARLES MILLER LTD

ELDREDS

CHARLES MILLER LTD

Adrian Morgan

In Davy Jones’ Locker

Why do we fixate on what lies beneath?

There’s this shackle that keeps me awake at night, or rather used to. A hefty shackle, and moused –but I’ll come to that later. I won’t be alone in having shackles on my mind: the singlehander whose forestay relies on one, scanning the masthead as a storm approaches, with a pair of binoculars, knowing they really should haul themselves aloft and check. In their mind’s eye they can see hands on a wrench, giving the pin a last twist, before threading the monel through the eye. Or had they made that up? The coil had been down to its last inch, that they can remember. No, they’d asked a guy at the yard to do it, and had been assured that it had been done. Yet still they can’t be totally sure. It’ll be fine, won’t it?

My shackle is 40ft under the sea. I can’t see it, even with binoculars. The ground chain – which I have no issues with, is good for a battleship, or at least the trawler that laid it five years ago. No, it’s the shackle that connects the ground chain to what we call the scrub chain, the 3m or so of chain designed to take the chafe as the yacht veers in the current, which is in turn shackled to the heavy Sea steel riser.

That’s fine; I can see most of it at dead low springs, even to the top shackle which I know is good, because I fitted, tightened and moused it myself using heavy coated wire. Tantalisingly close, but lower lies that shackle, the one that kept me awake during last year’s winter storms.

“Out in the Minch it was very, very windy, ferry cancelled, small fishing boats tied up”

All was well, as it turned out; my fretting was needless, and yet, how much sounder would I have slept if there had been a camera focused on that shackle. How would it have recorded the movement, the abrasion, the corrosion? The thing is, I didn’t dive the shackle, grind out the bar in the ground link and fit the shackle. I only have the word of whoever did it. But that’s not the same as doing it yourself. Besides, then you have no one but yourself to blame, which is scant comfort when you drive to the opposite side of the loch to where she’s lying, or was lying, to find she’s gone.

One aluminium yacht in the bay did break free, and was found miraculously poised, her keel wedged between two rocks, high and dry when the tide fell. Some yachts save themselves, find the only soft patch in a shoreline of boulders. Others seem intent on self destruction, generally those that have been neglected, but not always. In January we had a storm, not the first that winter, or the worst. When the south has a strong gale, they call it a storm and don’t the journalists love a storm. “Who wants to take a pool car to the promenade, and talk to camera? Pick up a Musto jacket from the newsroom cupboard and get down there. Make it sound dramatic. Look windswept” (despite the absence of serious waves in the background.) Getting wet and tousled will add to the effect. Ideally a deck chair, or failing that a bit of a sign can be induced to fly past. Like adding a child’s doll to a scene of devastation in a refugee camp.

Here it was just very windy. Out in The Minch it was very, very windy, ferry cancelled, small fishing boats tied up. And Sally ashore, not as in blown ashore, but as in propped up at the yard, braced fore and aft, side to side, tucked in out of the weather, cockpit cover on, sails stowed. And me sleeping peacefully as the slates rattled, no visions of shackle pins unscrewing, or strands unravelling, let alone boats upwind breaking free and dragging both to a lee shore, as has happened in the anchorage when a mussel barge fled from its mooring and collected a small yacht on its way east, the yacht fetching up on a beach, the barge stranded and now a rusting, holed hulk, days of carnage over.

As for that shackle, the one I used to agonise over, on inspection it was found the pin had worked loose, and the mousing, far from being monel, or heavy coated galvanised wire, was just a cable tie. There might have been a couple. But still…

2 Southford Road, Dartmouth, South Devon TQ6 9QS Tel/Fax: (01803) 833899 – info@woodenships.co.uk – www.woodenships.co.uk

32’ Lyle Hess Gaff Cutter built in Malaysia in 1991 from Chengal, a very durable tropical hardwood. New deck, interior and systems in 2007. Complete new gaff rig in 2018. 5 berths including double cabin forward. 6’2” headroom. Professionally maintained yacht with lovely lines set off perfectly with her recent gaff rig.

Wales £68,000

34’ Bermudan Cutter designed and built by her professional shipwright owner to German Lloyds standards, launched in 2015. Finished to a very high level and maintained to the same exacting standards. Cruised from Norway to the Med. 4 berths in a stunning interior. A very classy and elegant spirit of tradition yacht.

Germany €208,000

18’ Nick Smith Clinker Motor Launch launched in 2021. Planked in mahogany all copper rivet fastened to steam bent oak timbers. Beta 14hp diesel. Open boat with no fore or aft decks maximizing the inside volume. Beautifully yet simply finished. Used gently for 2 seasons only. Complete with fitted cover and road trailer.

Devon £34,000

46’ Fred Shepherd Bermudan Cutter built in 1903 on the IOW. Major rebuild finished in 2004 including significant hull repairs, new deck and interior. Sailed around the Irish Sea with gentle cruising then laid up for the last few years, sensibly priced taking into account the commissioning work that will be required.

Wales £38,000

28’ GRP Gaff Cutter designed by Percy Dalton and built by Cygnus Marine in 1979. Heavy duty hull built to Whitefish Standards based on a Falmouth working boat. Teak decks and coachroof. New rigging and Beta engine in 2022. 4 berths with 6’ headroom. Pretty boat with exceptional sailing qualities and a traditional look.

Devon £29,000

28’ Yachting World Seahorse designed by Van De Stadt and built in 1974. Refitted and used for classic regatta racing in recent years, she can be set up as either gaff or bermudan rig. In her gaff rigged guise she is a real bandit racer for classic regattas. Vire inboard petrol engine. Twin axle road trailer.

Hants £12,000

36’ 12 ton Hillyard launched in 1961. Perhaps the most practical size of yacht ever built by Hillyards. Major refit 2018-2021, full surveys available. Well presented, very well equipped and ready to go cruising. Incredible value for money given the quality of the boat with lots of comfortable live aboard space and volume.

Kent £25,000

62’ Steel Gaff Cutter launched in 2017. Professional build designed by Mylne Classic Yacht Design based on the Lowestoft sailing drifters. Voluminous interior with 8 berths and 2.1m headroom. Steyr diesel with hydraulics and twin props. Cruised extensively around the Baltic since launch and now well proven.

Sweden €275,000

ACTS OF GOD SIMON HEDLEY

An engaging, humour-filled conversation… about insurance! Steffan Meyric Hughes talks to Simon Hedley, head of commercial partnerships at Pantaenius UK

It’s hardly the first subject people want to talk about. Underwriters, brokers, risk, death, destruction, disputes and confusion might be the first things that spring to mind. The marine world seems to have a great humanising influence on all things though, and it seems that insurance – at least the way Pantaenius does it – is no exception. “We don’t have any chat bots or automated phone systems” says Simon. “When you phone us, someone who actually knows boats will pick up after a few rings.” In today’s world, that’s reason enough to sign up; in fact a few Pantaenius customers have signed up just on the strength of that. This is doubly important for owners of old, wooden boats – that’s you perhaps, dear reader. You might not know the year of build, the builder, or the designer, which makes filling in online forms a kind of hell without recourse to that phone line and the human at the end of it. Pantaenius, although one of the biggest names in marine leisure insurance, is still a family firm, owned by the German Baum family, since 1970 having been founded in 1899. The name, in case you’re wondering, is not the Greek god of broken skin fittings, but simply the surname of the original founder. They’ve been in UK leisure boat insurance for 35 years now and have been expanding in the last five years into one-off and classic boats. This involved some light sponsorship of British Classic Week last year (the British Classic Yacht Club annual bash) and sponsorship at the Spirit Yachts Regatta in Guernsey. It’s part and parcel of the sailing life Simon has always known, from his first forays sailing aged four on the Isle of Wight, on Optimists and the venerable roto-moulded Toppers, later Wayfarers; the classic progression for a certain age group (Simon is 54). “My first boat was a plywood Oppie” he remembers. “We had some brown paint in the garage, so that’s what we used, and the boat ended up being named Hot Chocolate.” He spent his 20s racing with a friend of the family on a mahogany, cold-moulded, varnished half-tonner called Pinball Wizard, presumable named after The Who’s 1969 hit single (Pete Townsend is a classic boat owner today) and various other yachts during this prolific time of yacht racing –“Being able to make a half-decent cup of coffee and doing what you were told was enough to crew” Simon remembers. “You started at the pointy end and worked your way back with experience.” It was a classic Cowes upbringing: Simon’s classmates included the sons of rigging and spar-making legend Harry Spencer, and his first job after school was as a marine joiner at Souters, having got the bug from his grandfather, whose retirement jobs included repairs to Frank Beken’s big, wooden, plate-glass camera, and making the miniature rocking chair trophy for the Island Sailing Club. One memorable incident came at the America’s Cup Jubilee in 2001, when the Mylne yacht The Blue Peter broke her boom and Simon helped fashioned a new, temporary boom from an old telegraph pole to get owner Matt Barker and crew out racing again the next day. “We did a load of work on [Herreshoff schooner] Mariette. The owner Tom Perkins turned up at Spencer Thetis Wharf in a McLaren F1 and took us for a sail. That’s when I really got the bug for classics. He was an amazingly kind, humble man for all his wealth, and he was the

first I heard describe himself as a custodian rather than an owner. Everyone says it now, but perhaps he was the first? Anyway, it made a real impression on me at the time!”

After nearly 20 years insurance broking, there followed a long spell in running marine events, before Simon moved back into yacht insurance, the last four years of which have been at Pantaenius. “I was tempted back into having a proper job by the quality of the company,” he said. And it certainly seems like a happy place to work. There’s the travel, the friendships, the chats (“some people phone for a restaurant recommendation in Cowes or English Harbour in Antigua!”) and the never-ending fascination with people’s motivations. Simon tells of one client who keeps a yacht as a moveable office and sails off to warmer climes to work in English winter months, for instance. Experience of this sort is vital when it comes to assessing risk, which is done on a bespoke basis. “It’s different to house, car and pet insurance” Simon points out. “Most people live in a house, drive a car and have had experience of a pet, after all.” I give Simon a marine equivalent scenario to the “17-yearold insures super car in central London” scenario and discover that the company would not insure a weekend dinghy sailor to circumnavigate the globe south of the capes in a leaky Folkboat single-handed; but that’s not necessarily because of a lack of qualification. A recent example was a relatively unskilled sailor who turned out to be a helicopter pilot, so he was considered insurable. Generally speaking, the attitude at Pantaenius seems to be one of inclusion; the company sponsor all kinds of barrier-free boating, including The Wetwheels Foundation (for wheelchair users among others), the Disabled Sailing Association in Torbay and more. Of course, you might say, it makes sense to encourage sailing as a sport when it’s your lifeblood to insure it, but actually, the genuine desire goes hand in hand with the commercial imperative. And, Simon says, the need to encourage and include goes for all of us in the marine world, in whatever capacity. Even my fictional Captain Calamity of the leaky Folkboat and the grand ideas would not necessarily be turned down flat. He might be given limited cover initially: daytime only and a limited area, for instance. And stopping the leaks wouldn’t be a bad idea.

And what about acts of God, you might wonder? Among the more than 100,000 boats Pantaenius insures around the world, are those that get struck by lightning in far-off places, an occurrence that has woken Simon a few times over the years, when he’s been manning the 24-hour emergency claim line. “It’s a bit of a red herring, this ‘acts of God’ thing” says Simon. “Storms are acts of God too, as are orca strikes. And we insure for these causes.” The high number and spread of insured boats means there are enough policy holders to share the costs evenly, without too much volatility in the cost of the insurance. So sailors around the world will share the load of the victim of storm or terrible creature, just as those sailors will be there to pay out for the English yachtsman who runs aground in fog on a calm day. You could see insurance as a benign form of gambling (some see a lack of insurance as a sort of gamble too), or you might just see it as a necessary chore. But at its heart, all insurance, when it’s fair and working well, is simply a formalisation of the fellowship of the sea.

The brand new Rustler 41 is a reminder that performance has always been part of the marque

WORDS NIC COMPTON

WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING

Rustler Yachts has developed a global reputation for building a long line of comfortable sailing yachts which err towards the comfortable and traditional, rather than the new and trendy. Its current range includes six sailing yachts, ranging from a 24ft dayboat to a 57ft world cruiser – although to some they will still be best remembered for building the indomitable Rustler 36, which finished in first, second and third place in the 2018 Golden Globe round-theworld race.

With that kind of record, the company might have been forgiven for resting on its laurels and sticking to building sailing yachts. But, with many of their loyal clients reaching an age when they would prefer to press a throttle rather than grind a winch, there was a steady clamour for a Rustler motorboat. But what exactly would that look like?

To an outsider, the obvious route might have been a traditionally-styled semi-displacement yacht, in the vein of Dale Yachts in Wales and Cockwells in Cornwall. But company directors Adrian Jones and Nick Offord had other ideas. For 15 years they batted the idea around, first considering a 37ft design by their in-house designer Stephen Jones and then a 45ft long-andnarrow design by Ed Burnett and Nigel Irens. Neither was quite right. Eventually they approached Tony Castro, better known for his range of swanky superyachts and modern sailing yachts than classic motor launches but who nevertheless described their proposal as “delicious”.

The design he came up with is an interesting mix of old and new. It combines an essentially modern hull shape – far more modern than those retro semidisplacement boats that have become ubiquitous on both sides of the Atlantic – with traditional styling and a rather unfashionable concern with seaworthiness. It’s a surprisingly contemporary look from one of the last bastions of traditional yacht design, until you remember the other key feature of Rustler Yachts: performance. Just as Rustler sailing boats are a bit faster than you might expect (not by chance did they sweep the board of that Golden Globe Race), so its motor boat needed to perform exceptionally well.

“We asked our clients what they wanted,” says Adrian. “And they said they wanted comfort and seaworthiness, but also efficiency. We approached Castro with a set of performance figures and he said he could do it if we built the boat under a certain weight. We weighed everything before it went in and weighed each corner of the boat all way through, so we have a map of the weight and the weight distribution.”

The result is a boat with a displacement of 11,000kg, which rises to the plane at 18 knots and has a maximum speed of 35 knots. Fuel consumption at 23 knots is around 75 litres per hour, giving the boat a range of more than 400 miles. By contrast, a more traditional semi-displacement hull, such as a Hardy 42, displaces 14,000kg and at 24 knots consumes about 180 litres per hour.

“We’re not reinventing wheel – it’s all been done

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The varnished teak capping rail glints in the sun – a classic touch

before,” says Adrian. “But the configuration that Castro and CJR Propulsion came up with, with the engines quite far forward, combined with a pair of small, light and well-packaged engines, has created this quiet, efficient thing. We could have used a Z-drive and put an extra cabin down there, but that’s not what we do. We want to produce something an owner could walk up to proudly and say, ‘That’s my boat.’”

During a rare lull in the bad weather last November, I went down to Mylor Harbour to see the new Rustler 41 for myself. The phrase ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ immediately sprang to my mind, as the yard have done a great job of disguising that efficient, modern hull form with a lot of well-crafted joinery – not least the distinctive varnished capping rail, laminated from sustainably managed teak, which catches the eye immediately. It’s a look designed to appeal to the heart first and the brain second.

On board, the immediate impression is of an ergonomic space, with a large uncluttered aft deck providing a focal point for activities. The back end of the saloon / galley opens up to create a sociable area, with comfortable seating aft – though I’d be tempted to add a small drinks table on either side. The aft gate opens onto the obligatory swimming platform, with huge storage lockers on either side for all those water toys, as well as fenders and lines. Moving forward, the deep bulwarks give a feeling of safety on the side decks, while a gate on each side of the boat gives easy access to the dock.

Inside, there’s a comfortable saloon area to port, with C-seating opposite a well-appointed galley to starboard. Forward of the galley is a double helm position, with all the necessary nav gear and a large, full-width sunroof overhead. Down a few steps, there’s a large double owner’s cabin forward with triple overhead skylights, and a surprisingly large guest cabin to port. Opposite that is the heads, with separate shower compartment and, hidden behind a watertight door, a control compartment, where all the electronic gismos are kept safely away from the engines. The interior is beautifully fitted out using walnut and walnut-faced plywood – although the owner of the next boat has specified pale oak, which would give a slightly airier feel.

All in all, everything flows together nicely and it’s easy to imagine a family and friends enjoying themselves here. The Rustler 41 is nothing if not a sociable boat.

As for the power drive, Adrian lifted a hatch in the aft deck to reveal the two 370hp Yanmar engines, which really are placed quite far forward – effectively under the sliding door to the saloon. That leaves a large amount of relatively empty space aft, giving easy access to propeller shafts, rudders etc.

Owner Peter Harvey was on board, so I was able to quiz him on what inspired him to take the plunge and commission Rustler Yachts’ very first motorboat. It turns out that he is a serial Rustler owner, having previously bought three new Rustler sailing yachts. The

Clockwise from above left: Modern, gleaming fittings on a classic capping rail; The wide open aft deck is sociable; A fully equipped dash at the helm; The electrics and electronics nerve centre is separate from the engine room; Walnut faced ply adorns the master cabin in the bow; Twin five-blade shaft-drive props provide a top speed of 35 knots; Natural light, easy access and good all-round views in the galley/dining area, which connects the helm and the aft seating areas

first was a Rustler 42 he acquired in 2010, on which he competed in the AZAB (Azores and Back Race) and cruised extensively as far afield as Spain and Scotland. In 2018, he and his wife decided they wanted to spend more time at home and down-sized to a Rustler 33. By then, the couple had bought a 27ft motor launch (along with various land and air vehicles) and decided they were “over-toyed”, so they downsized even further to a Rustler 24. Meanwhile, the motorboat was replaced with a 38-footer.

“The sailing boats were getting smaller,” Peter says, “and the motorboats getting bigger.”

Peter matched exactly the customer profile Adrian and Nick had in mind when they decided to add a motorboat to the company’s range: a loyal customer transitioning from sail to power. Peter’s reasons for swapping his old motorboat for a new one also struck a chord: “The old boat had old technology and much thirstier engines, so it was more expensive to maintain and keep going.” But there was more to it than economy and comfort: the Rustler 41 also offered the family different kinds of boating.

“The beauty of living in this part of the world is that you don’t have to go far to get away from the crowds,” says Peter. “My son and my grandson came down at half term, and we went all the way to Helford for lunch, then all the way up the river to Malpas to spend the night. My grandson is six and he thought it was the best adventure in the world. On the other hand, the boat cruises at 20-25 knots comfortably, so if you get a flat calm day like today, you can go to the Scillies for lunch – and L’Aber Wrac’h is only four hours away.”

Scillies for lunch? L’Aber Wrac’h only four hours away? Now that puts a whole different spin on this motorboating malarkey, doesn’t it? Suddenly, I was raring to go.

Perhaps surprisingly, the speed limit on the Carrick Roads is 30 knots, so as soon as we were clear of the moorings, Peter handed the helm over to me and, slightly apprehensively, I opened up the throttles. My

Above: The Rustler 41 was designed and built with strict weight limits to aid performance, getting up on the plane at 18 knots

experience of motorboating is mostly limited to the 48ft classic motor yacht I grew up on in the Med and bombing around on small speedboats, either as crew on large yachts or as a passenger on camera boats, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

In fact, the transition from semi-displacement mode (ie under 12 knots) to planning mode (designed to be at 18 knots, though it felt like it might come a bit sooner) was remarkably smooth. That’s because of the placement of the engines, which means the boat comes on the plane sooner, while the shaft drive gives a smoother ride. Soon, we were cruising along effortlessly at 25 knots. It was certainly a lot quieter than most motorboats I’ve been on – to the extent that there was no need to raise your voice to have a conversation. It wasn’t difficult to imagine carrying on like this for four hours and, et voilà, we’d be in France!

It was probably just as well we all needed to be home that evening, however, as once we got out from under the lee of St Anthony Head a big easterly swell soon quelled such fanciful notions. I eased the throttle back to 15 knots and pointed the boat straight into the waves. The spray was spectacular, leaping from one end of the boat to the other, but there was none of the slamming that so many planing boats suffer from. Turning away from the waves, with the wind on her quarter, the motion was much more comfortable, though even then you wouldn’t necessarily want to do that for four hours. Our trip to L’Aber Wrac’h would have to wait for another day.

Back in the shelter of the Carrick Roads, we opened up the throttle for one last blast, reaching 29 knots at 2,700rpm. We then eased back to a comfortable 8 knots and headed back into harbour. I’m not about to give up my sailing boat, but I could see that you could have a lot of fun on this boat with a clutch of children, grandchildren and friends. And when your wine rack is empty, it would be a quick trip across the Channel to top up your supply of vin rouge

What’s not to like?

BACK ON THE CLYDE

The 8-Metre class revels in its traditional Scottish waters, embracing new designs with a focus on youth

WORDS DAVID SMITH

PHOTOS JAMES ROBERTSON TAYLOR

The 8-Metre World Cup 2024 was held 17-24 August in Helensburgh, Scotland under the auspices of the historic Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club and Mudhook YC. Thirteen yachts from Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, UK and even a team from Canada had a windy and wild week of racing and perhaps an even wilder week of social events.

The Class is noted for its dedication to sailing perhaps the world’s most beautiful and affordable boats, in outstanding locations offering opportunities to take families and friends along and still compete at the highest level. The Clyde event proved no exception and competitors found out why the history of Eight racing runs deep in this area. The waters of the Clyde near Glasgow are the home of the great William Fife dynasty of yacht designers and the boatyards around its shores are where many of the competing yachts were built. Silvers yard at Rosneath just 1km away from RNCYC is also next to the site of McGruers yard, and around the local coastline you can find names from the past including Robertsons at Sandbank in the Holy Loch, Milne’s yard and of course Fairlie where the Fife yard was based.

So the return to the Clyde of Fife-designed yachts

Above & above right: Neptune

Class 8-M yachts enjoying some challenging conditions

Below: No holding back despite gusts of 30 knots

Below right: And no holding back at the ceilidh evening either

Saskia, Severn, Carron II, Falcon and Fulmar was a sight to behold and a great opportunity to imagine the races of almost 100 years ago when the class was developing and trialling new designs and shapes, and pushing the boundaries.

The Neptune Class prevailed in terms of providing eight of the entrants. These are the more traditionallooking boats typically with 100-year-old wooden hulls and classic white sails including spinnakers. The line-up of Fife boats’ bow dragons made visiting mouths water and hopefully will bring more enthusiasts into the redeveloping Clyde fleet.

The racing was extreme with 20-knot winds, gusting 30 knots, every day. The fact that these conditions were accompanied by driving rain didn’t seem to deter the teams who were out in enthusiastic form for every day and every race. It is true that the number of thermals bought in mid-summer from the local chandlers was a surprise to us all, but the dedicated Eight teams definitely were up for six days of hard racing.

The two Modern Class Eights of Yquem 2 and the old Yquem 1, now renamed Spirit, were ready for a fight. Jean Fabre previously owned both boats and was

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The Fife designed Carron II

keen to see how the new owners, Richard and Stuart Urquhart’, had prepared the boat in the short time since bringing her across from Canada. With new sails and a new mast this was a steep learning curve.

A great initiative proposed and supported by the 8-Metre Class Association (IEMA) was to sponsor a youth team. The very kind and generous owners of Athena, the Earl of Cork and Orrery and David Parsons, offered this 1939 Tor Holm designed boat for use by a suitable team. The Etobicoke Yacht Club from Canada rapidly found some regular 8-M sailors who are also sailing instructors with a high level of competence, to crew the boat. They excelled in their ability to master the boat in only a couple of days before the event and safely and successfully compete throughout the regatta. Hopefully IEMA can repeat this opportunity in other World Cup events around the globe.

The social events will be a hard act for any future host clubs to follow. The week started with a civic reception in the historic town hall, then teams were invited to a seafood extravaganza serving Scotland’s excellent shellfish, a whisky tasting hosted by the

Below right: Paolo Manzoni’s team Vision won four of the remaining six awards

Urquhart brothers of Benromach whisky and of 8-Metre yacht Spirit (aptly named), a mini-highland games with caber tossing, and finally a Scottish night with haggis, bagpipes and highland dancing. The success and feeling of the week was totally embraced by the class and the more than 50 volunteers who helped make it all happen.

Yquem II won the World Cup; Vision won four of the remaining trophies; the Corinthian Cup was won deservedly by the Canadian youth team on Athena, while Njord of Cowes took the First Rule Cup.

Results

World Cup Yquem II, Jean Fabre & Société Nautique de Genève

Sira Cup Vision KC3, Paulo Manzoni

Neptune Trophy Vision KC3, Paulo Manzoni

Coppa d’Italia Vision KC3, Paulo Manzoni

Generations Trophy Vision KC3, Paulo Manzoni

Corinthian Trophy Athena K36, Etobicoke Yacht Club Youth Team

First Rule Cup Njord of Cowes K13, Jason Fry

Above: The Canadian youth team aboard Athena

Below left: Team Yquem II celebrates winning the World Cup

CLASSIC EVENTS 2025

Clockwise from top left: Racing on England’s Broads; a rally in London; aboard Spartan in the Mediterranean; 12-Ms Northern Light and Thea battling it out; Calmer times at the Thames Trad; Antibe’s blue seas

Britain and Ireland

The classic sailing scene continues to prosper around the established centres of the Solent, East Coast, West Country and further. This summer sees the return of the 8-M Worlds, a revamped British Classic Week and a new Channel sailing series, as well as the usual line-up.

SOUTH COAST

17-18 MAY

Cowes Spring Classics Cowes, Isle of Wight (IOW), cowesspringclassics.com

Broad-church regatta, sail and power

23-26 MAY

Yarmouth Gaffers Festival oga.org.uk. Flagship OGA bash IOW

30 MAY – 2 JUNE

Cowes Classics Week IOW, cowesclassicsweek.org

100+ boats in many classes

07 JUNE

Round the Island Race IOW, roundtheisland.org.uk

One of the world’s most popular yacht races

11-15 JUNE

Royal Thames Yacht Club

250th Anniversary Regatta Cowes, IOW racing.royalthames.com

A unique celebration of the first 250 years, from different locations around Cowes, and featuring classic yachts, Darings, Dragons, Redwings and Seaview Mermaids among the modern fleet

4-6 JULY

Taittinger RSYC Regatta Yarmouth, IOW, royalsolent.org

Popular for mixed classics

6–11 JULY

British Classic Week Cowes, IOW, britishclassicweek.org

Five days’ racing including round-the-island and GRP classics

19 JULY

RORC Classics Day Cowes, IOW rorc.org

Special one-off Royal Ocean Racing Club regatta to mark club centenary. For yachts built 1925-1975 that have raced with RORC. Sail-past and salute for the RORC, then short race and evening party. Register interest by 30 April.

26 JULY

Centenary Rolex Fastnet Cowes (IOW), Fastnet Rock,

Cherbourg, France rolexfastnetrace.com

The race that founded the RORC

2-8 AUGUST

Cowes Week

IOW, cowesweek.co.uk

Mixed event, many classic classes including Sunbeam, Daring & XOD

31 AUGUST–1 SEPTEMBER

Hamble Classics Regatta

RAF Yacht Club, Hamble hambleclassics.co.uk

EARLY SEPTEMBER (TBC)

Bosham Classic Boat Revival

Chichester Harbour, boshamsailingclub.com

Concours dinghies and day boats

EAST COAST

21-26 MAY

Dunkirk Return

Ramsgate-Dunkirk-Ramsgate Association of Dunkirk Little Ships adls.org.uk

Dunkirk returns are always a big deal, occurring only once every five years. This is the first in a decade, having skipped the 2020 return for Covid, and it’s shaping up to be the biggest yet.

MAY-SEPTEMBER

Barge matches thamesbarge.org.uk

JUNE: Medway (Kent)

JUNE: Southend (Essex)

JUNE: Thames (Essex/Kent)

JUNE: Pin Mill (Suffolk)

JULY: Blackwater (Essex)

AUGUST: Swale (Kent)

SEPT: (DATE TBC): Colne (Essex)

20-22 JUNE

Suffolk Yacht Harbour Classic Regatta

Levington, Orwell, Suffolk syhclassicregatta.co.uk

Popular regatta for sail and power with a separate Stella class

12 JULY

Heybridge Basin Regatta

Nr Maldon, Essex jenny@pa-angels.co.uk Friendly, low-key sailing regatta

26 JULY – 4 AUGUST

OGA Summer Cruise

North Essex and South Suffolk oga.org.

East coast cruise in company

9 AUGUST

Whitstable Harbour Show

Showcasing local marine trades: boatbuilding, sail-making and restoration projects whitstablemaritime.org.uk

16 AUGUST

West Mersea Town Regatta

Mersea Island, Essex mersearegatta.org.uk

Has been running since 1838

SEPTEMBER (DATE TBC)

Maldon Town Regatta River Blackwater, Essex maldonregatta.co.uk

BROADS

31 MAY – 1 JUNE

Three Rivers Race Ant, Bure and Thurne rivers 3rr.uk. Wild 24-hour Broads race

THAMES

18–20 JULY

Thames Traditional Boat Festival tradboatfestival.com Henley, Upper Thames Big traditional river craft event, 46 this year

20 SEPTEMBER

Great River Race greatriverrace.co.uk

Millwall to Richmond Upon Thames: London Marathon afloat

WEST COUNTRY

23-25 MAY

Brixham Heritage Regatta brixhamheritageregatta.uk Sailing trawlers and more, including two tall ships this year

6-8 JUNE

Dartmouth Classics Regatta Devon, dartmouthclassics.org.uk

13-15 JUNE

Falmouth Classics Cornwall, falmouthclassics.org.uk Big trad regatta, 170+ boats.

20 JULY

Clovelly Maritime Festival Devon, clovelly.co.uk

25-27 JULY

Looe Lugger Regatta welcometolooe.com/events

25-27 JULY

Made in Looe Regatta Adjunct to Looe Luggers (above) for any classic Looe-built vessels, from Mirrors upwards. Paul Pengelly, office4luggers@ btinternet.com

29 JULY – 1 AUGUST

Fowey Classics Cornwall, foweyclassics.com

SCOTLAND

MAY/JUNE (TBC) Mini Sail Caledonia Raid for small craft sailcaledonia.org

27-29 JUNE

Glenglassaugh Scottish Trad Boat Festival Portsoy, stbfportsoy.org

SEPTEMBER (DATE TBC)

Clydebuilt Festival Glasgow, clydebuiltfestival.com River maritime festival

WALES

16-19 JULY

Conwy River Festival conwyriverfestival.org

Includes Nobbys and Gaffers

21 JULY – 02 AUGUST

Menai Strait Regattas Nr Beaumaris, Anglesey menaistraitregattas.org.uk

IRELAND

AUGUST (DATE TBC) Galway Trad Boat Festival galwaytourism.ie Ireland’s famous working boats

PHOTO:

C/wise from top: Three Rivers Race, Broads; On the wind at the Ricard Mille cup; Smack racing on England’s east coast; Champagne o’clock at British Classic Week in Cowes; Wivenhoe ODs

The Mediterranean

The centre is holding

Things are heating up in the Mediterranean, which has forever been the world’s epicentre of classic yacht racing. The reinvigorated CIM now allows some glassfibre yachts into the fleet. This year, a similarly revitalised AIVE (Associazone Italiana Vele d’Epoca) is staging its new series on Italy’s west coast. And the year will end with the popular, biennial spectacular that is the Monaco Classic Week.

MAY TO OCTOBER

AIVE series

All the major Italian classic events can be found in one place, thanks to L’Associazione Italiana Vele d’Epoca (AIVE) aive-yachts.org

10-11 May: Trofeo Ammiraglio Francese (in Viareggio)

23-25 May: Vele d’Epoca Alto Tirreno (Le Grazie Porto Venere)

28-31 May: Grandi Regate Internazionali (San Remo)

31 May – 1 June: Trofeo Portopiccolo Classic (Sistiana)

12-15 June: Capraia Sailing Rally (Capraia)

20-22 June: Raduno Città di Venezia (Venice)

26-29 June: Randi Vele a Gaeta (Gaeta)

28-29 June: XII Trofeo Principato di Monaco (Venice)

3-6 July: Le Vele d’Epoca a Napoli (Naples)

2-6 September: Vele d’Epoca di Imperia (Imperia)

26-8 September: VII International Hannibal Classic (Monfalcone)

4-5 October: XXVIII Trofeo Città di Trieste (Trieste)

11 October: XIX Barcolana Classic (Trieste)

10-12 October: Vele d’Epoca in Passeggiata Morin (La Spezia)

22–28 APRIL

Les Dames de Saint-Tropez

Saint-Tropez, France, societenautique-saint-tropez.fr/snst

27-31 MAY

Giorgio Armani Superyachts Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy, yccs.it

03-09 JUNE

Les Voiles d’Antibes France, voilesdantibes.com

25-28 JUNE

Superyacht Cup Palma, Mallorca, Spain thesuperyachtcup.com

26-28 JUNE

Spetses Classic Yacht Regatta Spetses, Greece spetsesclassicregatta.gr

28 JUNE – 12 JULY

Trophée Bailli de Suffren Saint-Tropez – Bonifacio – Trapani – Malta. tropheebaillidesuffren.com

08-13 JULY

Vela Classica Costa Brava L’Estartit, Spain velaclassicacostabrava.com/en

9-12 JULY

Puig Vela Clàssica Barcelona, Spain puigvelaclassicabarcelona.com Back in its usual place in July

13–17 AUGUST

Regatta Illes Balears Classic Mallorca, Spain velaclasicamallorca.com

19-28 AUGUST

Corsica Classic Corsica, France corsica-classic.com

21-28 SEPTEMBER

Régates Royales Cannes, France yachtclubdecannes.org

27 SEPTEMBER – 5 OCTOBER

Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez Saint-Tropez, France lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr

10-13 SEPTEMBER

Monaco Classic Week

Monaco monacoclassicweek.com Biennial for power and sail

Top: The Fife III yacht Viola, at Puig Vela Classica Barcelona

Right: Competitive class racing is the aim of the game

14TH CENTENARY TROPHY REGATTA

Thursday, 2nd October 2025

The only race in the world for centenarian yachts

gyccentenarytrophy.com

Photo:

© Gstaad Yacht Club / Juergkaufmann.com

Northern Europe

Festivals and races

The north of Europe is a mixed bag with everything from huge maritime festivals to the sleeker side of yachting... Metre yachts and Skerry cruisers. This year, being an odd year, sees the Semaine du Golfe du Morbihan, essentially a raid carried out by everything from dinghies to yachts to tall ships. And a new event that sees classic yachts return to the lovely old Dutch port of Enkhuizen.

SWEDEN AND FINLAND

29 JUNE – 4 JULY

Gotland Runt (Around Gotland Race)

Stockholm-Visby-Sandhamn, Sweden; 220nm passage race ksss.se

LATE JUNE/EARLY JULY

Sandhamn Regatta Sandhamn, Sweden Offshore race for classic yachts ksss.se

14-17 AUGUST

TPS Airisto Classic Regatta

Abo Batvarf, Turku, Finland airistosegelsallskap.fi

AUGUST (TBC)

Viaporin Tuoppi Helsinki, Finland Big wooden boat regatta english.viaporintuoppi.fi

22-24 AUGUST

HSS Baltic Classic Masters Champagne Regatta Helsinki, Finland

Classic sail-racing regatta helsinkisailing.com

NORWAY

07-09 AUGUST

Risør Traditional Boat Festival Risør, nwmaritime.org

FRENCH

ATLANTIC & CHANNEL COAST

21-26 MAY

Dunkirk Return Ramsgate-Dunkirk-Ramsgate Association of Dunkirk Little Ships adls.org.uk

Dunkirk returns are always a big deal, occurring only once every

five years. This is the first in a decade, having skipped the 2020 return for covid, and it’s shaping up to be the biggest yet.

19-22 JUNE

La Belle Plaisance Benodet, Brittany yco-voile.fr

12-14 JULY

Voiles Classiques de la Trinité Brittany snt-voile.org

26 MAY – 1 JUNE

Semaine du Golfe du Morbihan Brittany semainedugolfe.com

Big biennial regatta that sees the fleet travel from port to port

10-13 JULY

Voiles de Legende Dunkirk voilesdelegende.fr

This year welcoming the Tall Ships fleet as part of the regatta

GERMANY

15-23 JUNE

Classic Week Kiel, kieler-woche.de

10-11 AUGUST

Hamburg Summer Classics hamburger-segel-club.de

14-17 AUGUST

German Classics Laboe, german-classics.info

NETHERLANDS

1-3 JULY

Dutch Wooden Boat Festival Willemsoord, Den Helder dutchwoodenboatfestival.nl

24-27 JULY

Dutch Classic Yacht Week Enkhuizen dutchclassicyachtweek.com

Return of the Dutch Classic Yacht Week, sponsored by Ventis, back in the lovely town of Enkhuizen

SEPTEMBER (DATE TBC) Dorestad Raid Echtenerbrugge, natuurlijkvaren.nl

BELGIUM

22-25 MAY Oostende Voor Anker oostendevooranker.be

Popular harbourside maritime festival

TALL SHIPS RACES

4 JULY – 09 AUGUST Tall Ships Races 2025 sailtraininginternational.org

4-7 July, Le Havre, France 10-13 July, Dunkirk, France 19-22 July, Aberdeen, Scotland

30 July – 2 August, Kristiansand, Norway 6-9 August, Esberg, Denmark

Top: Swedish 12-M yacht Princess Svanevit

Right: The concours d’elegance is tightly fought and strictly judged at some regattas

Rest of the world

Endless summer

With classic yacht racing around the world, it’s always summer somewhere from the schooners of the USA to a vibrant scene in Australia and New Zealand. Like the Mediterranean, the USA has a classic racing series across 11 regattas, organised by the CYOA – see classicyachts.org

CARIBBEAN

15-21 APRIL

Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta West Indies, antiguaclassics.com

UNITED STATES

4 JULY

Great Schooner Race greatschoonerrace.com

Penobscot Bay, Maine

20+ vessels in this evocative rig

11-13 JULY

Vineyard Cup Mass, sailmv.org/vineyard-cup Mixed fleet of classic and modern

23 AUGUST

Belvedere Classic Regatta

San Francisco Bay, California sfyc.org. Includes Great San Francisco Schooner Race

24-31 JULY

Salish 100

Port Townsend, Washington nwmaritime.org

Popular small-boat cruise

27-29 JUNE

WoodenBoat Show

Mystic Seaport, CT thewoodenboatshow.com

Big exhibition of boats and crafts

24–26 JULY

Camden Classics Cup Camden, Maine camdenclassicscup.com

Fourth year in this lovely location

2 AUGUST

Eggemoggin Reach Regatta Rockport, Maine eggemogginreachregatta.com

125+ boats – one of the big events in the American calendar

9-10 AUGUST

Corinthian Classic Regatta Marblehead, Mass corinthianclassic.org

13-17 AUGUST

Nantucket Race Week nantucketraceweek.org Classics and moderns

17 AUGUST

Opera House Cup

Nantucket, operahousecup.org

The jewel of the east coast classic regatta scene

22-24 AUGUST

Herreshoff Classic Yacht Regatta and Rendezvous Bristol, RI, herreshoff.org

Herreshoffs and other classics organised by the Herreshoff Museum

30-31 AUGUST

IYRS Newport Classic Yacht Regatta Newport, RI, iyrs.edu

Staged by the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS)

5-7 SEPTEMBER

Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival

Port Townsend, Washington woodenboat.org

Main west coast event with over 300 boats taking part and loads going on shoreside as well

AUSTRALIA

26-27 APRIL 2025

South Australian Wooden Boat Festival

Sydney, australiadayregatta.com.au

Claimed to be the world’s oldest continuously conducted sailing regatta. Moderns and classics

26-27 JANUARY 2026

Australia Day Regatta

Sydney, australiadayregatta.com.au

Claimed to be the world’s oldest continuously conducted sailing regatta. Moderns and classics

5-8 FEBRUARY 2027

Australian Wooden Boat Festival

Goolwa, sawoodenboatfestival.com.au

australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au

Big event with racing in many classes

NEW ZEALAND

25 APRIL 2025

Anzac Day regatta

Auckland, classicyacht.org.nz

Late-season regatta

JANUARY 2026 (DATE TBC)

Ports of Auckland

Anniversary Day Regatta

Auckland (New Zealand) classicyacht.org.nz

Sailing and watersports clubs get together for this epic event

MARCH 2020

MARCH 2026

Wooden Boat Festival

Auckland, classicyacht.org.nz

Famous celebration of New Zealand’s classic yachts

Top: The 1949 73ft S&S yawl Bolero

Below: Port Townsend on the coast of Washington State is the destination point for the Salish 100

HOLDING

The story of how the YRA became the world’s yacht racing authority

The Royal Yachting Association can confidently define itself as “the national governing body for all forms of sail racing” amongst other responsibilities for cruising and sail training. But in 1900, under its original name, the Yacht Racing Association, (YRA), had no such secure position. Its aspiration to control the regulation of yacht racing was challenged constantly by maverick groups of angry owners who could not afford to build new boats when the rules changed, and desired either the excitement of racing in classes which would survive more than a couple of years, or a universally accepted and efficient system of handicapping, operating within a carefully organised timetable for

regattas where everyone felt their dates had been fairly allocated.

In addition, a growing enthusiasm for dinghy racing around the coasts, particularly in the South West, produced sailors increasingly disgruntled for being overlooked by committees that legislated only for larger craft. There was trouble in the offing, and the YRA was about to suffer a series of impromptu, but nonetheless vehement, attacks.

Since the YRA’s inception in 1875 a series of “rules” had resulted in designers eventually taking things to extremes, producing different types of what were described as “unhealthy boats”, “skimming dishes”, and mis-shapes of all

FAST

WORDS CLARE MCCOMB

kinds. Even at dinghy level there was great debate, and indeed rows, over design regulations and what type of craft they produced: one side wanted rules that produced “good useful suitable boats”, capable of sailing from port to port, as well as in regattas; the other faction felt that developmental racing classes should be allowed to evolve to maximise speed. At the 1900 West of England Conference a right royal row broke out over just this matter: it was declared that some designs were “little more than floating eggshells”, and a specified minimum weight was suggested, excluding centreboards, to put a stop to the trend. The motion was defeated with an accompanying roar of opposition. Outraged racing sailors believed that class rules existed for competition alone, and that adding weight would make their sport much less exciting – people would be suggesting cabins next!

Main: A busy

Above: An isolated yacht, ignorant of its chance of winning until the handicap was calculated

hatched

small-boat regatta at Coombe Cellars on the River Teign in Devon C1900

Right: The Royal Thames YC 1903 where many plots against the YRA were

Someone reportedly declared that “if men wanted to build brown paper boats and drown themselves, it had nothing to do with the Conference – the lighter the dinghy the better.”

Scaled up to yacht-sized proportions, the same issue was causing similar explosive anger against the YRA. The governing body’s lack of clear instructions on scantlings (the dimensions of a yacht’s structure), or requirements for internal fittings on the larger racing yachts, created much negativity behind the scenes and in public. The problem was financially based. Not everyone could afford a luxurious steam yachttender to sleep aboard after a race: it was far more cost-effective to live on your own vessel.

However, if your boat was so equipped, when your competitors’ craft had been designed to minimise weight with slighter, lighter timbers, and minimal sleeping or cooking facilities, your chances of winning would be greatly diminished.

Many moderately wealthy racing sailors wanted a boat which could be sold on as a cruiser when her racing days were over, and ex-American Cup challengers were cited as famous examples of built-in redundancy. In addition, a change to YRA legislation could render your yacht obsolete shortly after it was launched. Even the German emperor had been heard to remark that it would be foolish to commission a new yacht when the YRA could so easily change the rules.

At the time there had been a marked decrease in the building of big yachts, and the larger classes were no longer the pride of the South Coast yachting season. Handicapping formed the basis of many regattas, mostly organised by individual clubs. The relatively small 52ft linear raters now, by default, bore “the task

of keeping alive the sacred fire of class racing” nationally, but their very size deemed them unfit for representing the supposed supremacy of British yachting, at home and abroad.

What had produced this state of affairs? The number of men absent fighting the Boer war, the national mourning for the late Queen, the ever-shifting rating rules, or even bad luck were said to have had “their evil influence”, but the YRA was also frequently blamed. It was perceived to have shown a complete lack of leadership by not providing a nationally workable yacht handicap system. The YRA Council were seen to be “sitting on their hands” as people grew angry, which the press politely described as “a healthy interest in yachting legislation spreading among the YRA members”.

Something had to give. In December 1902 there was a formal attempt to steamroller the YRA Council. A large group of owners racing in the handicap classes presented themselves to the Council meeting, along with their proposal for a better system for dividing the existing vessels into classes, based on proper measurement, with certificates issued under a LWL x Sail Area / 6000 classification.

The formidable list of famous names backing this defiant scheme included Ward Humphreys, Douglas Kerr, Quilter, “Fiddler” Payne, George Terrell, Kenneth Clark, and Sharman Crawford amongst other highly influential yachtsmen. These were key players of the time, practically lodging a takeover of the YRA’s role – a public criticism that the Association was failing in its duty to the sport of yacht racing. It was widely acknowledged that the conspiracy had been formed amid the comfortable armchairs and cigar smoke of the Royal Thames Yacht Club and the Hon

Main: The famous class of 52-footers

Sonya, Moyana and Britomart off Cowes

Below: The German Kaiser

Sec of the Club, Lieutenant Colonel Dick had agreed to present their ideas.

Did they prevail? Not on this occasion. At a YRA general meeting, called in the new year, votes were held and lost, by both sides. The voting system was weighted to negate any action, because of the high percentage of “ayes” needed to pass any motion.

George Terrell had put the owners’ proposal forward, generating an animated discussion. William Burton then proposed an alternative solution which was defeated. W. Baden Powell then proposed another which supported the current YRA classification system. This did not get a single vote. The chaos was set to continue. Nothing had been decided. The YRA eventually (and unsurprisingly) decided to preserve the status quo, by leaving handicapping matters to the individual clubs organising their own regattas. Dissatisfaction was rife. The setting up of a rival association began to be mooted by powerful voices.

The papers claimed that the owners’ side had lost, because their proposal had “fizzled out.” Strong

Above: Three typical anti-YRA challengers (left) George Terrell, (centre)

Lieutenant Colonel Dick Hon. Sec. of the Thames (right) Sherman Crawford

Below: by 1908, handicap matches like this had been largely superseded by International Rule Class racing

feelings do not tend to fizzle out; setbacks often strengthen them.

Early in 1904 there was another attack on the YRA council at the AGM, in the form of a circular outlining dissatisfaction, issued by YRA members who had met on 7 January. The disgruntled wished to point out that of the 27 members of the YRA Council, excluding those representing the Solent Classes Association, only four were even owners of racing yachts. In effect they were incompetent old fuddy-duddies, while those with the intelligence, determination and clout to want to sort things out were not being given the executive power to do so.

The demand was that a third rather than a sixth of the Council retire annually, with AGMs empowered to vote to fill those vacancies. Otherwise it was feared that “amiable and well-meaning gentlemen, so comfortably seated at the Council table” would express “mild surprise”, but then “disregard the circular entirely” with their usual answer: non possumus (we cannot).

On a national level the YRA tried to assert their power in early 1906 by calling a national fixtures meeting to avoid regatta date clashes. Unfortunately an “old fashioned” (handicapping not Class racing) club, the Royal Cinque Ports, deliberately and defiantly ignored a polite request from that meeting, to prevent its regatta day clashing with the Royal Thames. The YRA had failed again, and the situation was to get worse before it got better.

In the following season the Thames, as ever a club brimming with energy and efficiency, reverted to sorting out their own fixtures, getting in early, hoping not to inconvenience greatly. However, that November various Royal Thames “yacht owners” tried to persuade the Irish Royal St George YC to fix the following 1908 season’s Kingstown regatta date to suit them. In March 1908 an editorial in The Yachtsman reported a clash between the Irish Clubs and the Plymouth regattas, asking “Who is to blame?”. By this time the “Metropolitan Clubs” had arranged dates for their River matches, without consultation, but so late as to cause other clubs to have to “scramble for dates”. There was a danger of the Clyde and Irish organisations

setting up their own independent system in disgust. It was felt to be “clear as a pikestaff” that “wire pullers” from the Royal Thames with connections to Ostend Week were influencing these inconvenient dates being fixed for regattas, and the club stood out starkly as the “chief sinner”. There were calls for the YRA to flex its muscles and sort the mess out.

This provided the solution. In November 1908 all the key players from the clubs and individual owners of the larger yachts were summoned to a Fixtures Conference to arrange the upcoming 1909 regatta program. Once again a “very long and tedious discussion” with much squabbling was anticipated. The Royal Victoria and Royal Albert Yacht Clubs refused to attend at all. The situation was described as “a pretty kettle of fish”.

Amazingly all fears proved unfounded as, under the unexpectedly skilful chairmanship of YRA vicepresident Mr Augustus Manning, “insurmountable difficulties were resolved to everyone’s satisfaction”. His masterstroke was to give delegates an “individual vote”, so they were not obliged follow their own Club’s interests. This allowed for generosity and manoeuvre. Manning seems to have appealed for consensus, rather

Above left: 1914 The Kaiser (Meteor V) and Herr Krupp (Germania) happily racing at Kiel

Above right: New Royal Thames YC clubhouse 1911

Below Left: June 1910 Class racing restored: 15-metres Tuiga, Vanity, Hispania and Ostara

Below Right: YRA chair, Augustus Manning, was hero of the hour

than telling off the hotheads. Delegates realised that the YRA alone, as manifest by everyone in the room, did have the power to make final decisions, and individual feelings gradually evolved into a mood of compromise.

“From first to last the harmony of the room was unbroken”, although the missing clubs were roundly censured and allocated dates in their absence. What a triumph for the YRA. The Yachtsman described it as a “feather in their cap.” The mess had been sorted out by the wisdom, diplomacy and common sense of a seasoned chairman. People felt their votes could influence decisions, and their voices would be heard. From then on, the YRA and the recently formed International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU) seized their power and used it wisely.

A rebellion did arise with the 1913 formation of the Boat Racing Association (BRA), involving the dinghy racers, including that aforementioned feisty West of England contingent, but their movement was clobbered by the War and brought under the YRA’s wing in the early 1920s. Now, as the sport evolved globally, respect for the rule of law developed alongside it, and disputes over regatta challenges from many countries were adjudicated by the YRA – now firmly the acknowledged authority for yacht and small boat racing.

Shipwright (Heritage Carpenter) £29,993 - £33,872

We are recruiting 3 experienced Shipwrights to join our expanding Conservation & Collections team based in Portsmouth. The successful candidates will be part of a friendly, multidisciplinary team of museum professionals, conservators and maritime industry specialists committed to high quality professional work maintaining and conserving historic ships, with a focus on HMS Victory. Closing date for applications: 31st March 2025

Apply here: https://jobs.nmrn.org.uk/job-advert/ For further details please email: Leonardo.Bortolami@NMRN.org.uk

1926 Alfred Mylne Glen-Coats Sloop

Price: £35,000 EU & UK VAT PAID Location: Lymington, UK

Originally a 6m, and rates as a second rule 6m with her Bermudian rig. Also has gaff rig for vintage cup collection which she has done with aplomb. Competitive and eligible for the 2026 Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy in St Tropez.

1991 / 2022 CORBY – Spirit of Tradition

Price: POA Location: Lymington, UK

Based on the famous ULDB JOYRIDE by John Corby, she is a contender for the Spirit of Tradition classes and exhibits the wooden construction skimming dish hull, bulb keel and twin rudders all discovered and in evidence more than 100 years ago.

SAIL ART

A

unique series of exhibitions spanning five years aims to preserve the history of sailing by preserving sails as canvases and turning them into works of art

ART WORK KOS EVANS

By using dead sails from famous old boats, the well-known yachting photographer Kos Evans has been hard at work creating everlasting pieces of art or “photographic sculptures”.

These artworks capture the history of sailing in a series of one-off collectables, from the Cutty Sark and Britannia, to Shamrock V in the J-Class era, to the America’s Cup-winning Stars & Stripes, right up to the current era with Alinghi and INEOS, and Vendée Globe and Olympic classes. Each sail is signed and identified by the donor and includes a quote about the life of the sail. Many great historic sails like this are now thrown away into landfill but Kos feels their stories need to be preserved.

“The story becomes full circle with this project, as the sails become vehicles of communication through art, to help create the awareness of the plight in our oceans, its destruction by man, but creating a positive backdrop through art to provide a positive mood for engagement and discussion and understanding” says Kos.

The first exposé was created to celebrate the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona last year, all pieces printed on America’s Cup sails dating from 1934 (one of the last remaining pieces of King Geroge V’s scuttled yacht Britannia) to the present day: 90 years of yachting heritage. “Sails have empowered humanity to explore, discover, and better understand the world, shaping our history and evolving into a

Above: Courageous, US New York Yacht Club Size: 168cm high x 281cm wide Courageous, the yacht that carved its name into the heritage of the America’s Cup, is celebrated through this 1977 sail. The Pop Art-style images show Ted Turner, Dennis Conner, and Alan Bond – titans of the sea who not only defended the Cup but also etched their legacy into the fabric of sailing history. This sail, a silent witness to those epic battles, was salvaged from a fading sail loft in Newport, narrowly escaping oblivion. It now stands as a symbol of perseverance, carrying with it the echoes of a time where legends are made.

Js 547 Montage J-Class Size: 153cm high x 182cm wide. The image is of J-5 Ranger hand printed on a piece of 70-year-old cotton sailcloth from J-4 Endeavour, mounted on a backdrop of modern carbon-fibre sail belonging to J-7 Velsheda. The image, taken by Kos from a helicopter is printed using the very early cyanotype process on the cotton cloth by Ratsey & Lapthorn of Cowes – the world’s oldest sail loft and a key player in the America’s Cup for over a century. Velsheda’s Carbon Canvas jib illustrates the advancement of these giant racing machines, while competition remains fierce: a testament to modernisation

prized sport,” concludes Kos. “To honour and preserve the beauty of these remarkable materials, I’ve decided to transform them into works of Art,” she says. “With thanks to BWA Yachting, Jordi Puig and the Real Club Náutic de Barcelona and Cadogan Tate, I have had the opportunity to launch the start of this five-year global project”.

The more historically recognised sails will be sold for private ownership, but will be required at some point to be offered for exhibition in museums, or as a more permanent exhibit in a gallery. These will be funded by individual investors or recognised brands, and an NFT (non-fungible token – a form of digital artwork) offered to the public for a part-ownership. Varied NFT package options will be available, such as private visits to the art piece in the museum, and/or a printed offer of the sculpture.

ABOUT KOS

Award-winning photographer Kos Evans has built a reputation as one of the world’s most courageous women sports photographers over four decades of shooting on our oceans, having regularly swung from the dizzying heights of a yacht mast or dived under the keel of a race boat to capture the perfect photograph. She has been commissioned by royalty and celebrity worldwide. Her client list includes Rolex, McLaren, Bentley, Henri Lloyd, Musto, North and Ratsey & Lapthorn.

She picked up a camera at the age of five and never looked back, and once her parents taught her to sail, yachts became the focus of her work.

“The sea is a constantly moving canvas” she says. “Shooting from a moving platform to capture a moving subject is a challenge. The sea is unforgiving and you must respect it; I love the unique images you can achieve from this environment”

Above: Predator - Swiss Team - Alinghi Red Bull Racing Size: 169cm high x 129cm wide

In the shallow, crystal-clear waters of the Rangali Atoll, Maldives, a baby shark darts through the azure seas, chasing a shoal of shimmering fish. This is a dance of predator and prey, a timeless cycle of survival, an endless circle where the rhythm of nature should be unchallenged. Imprinted on the Alinghi Red Bull training jib for the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona, the sail transforms into a living canvas. It’s a tribute to the raw, untamed beauty of the ocean — like the stealth of this America’s Cup team, poised to strike and claim its victories with every calculated force.

Opposite top: Graffiti - The Jib from Team New Zealand Size: 188cm high x 206cm wide

The image is of the immense red spinnaker of Team New Zealand as the IACC yacht glides over San Diego’s silver waves at the 28th America’s Cup in 1992. A symbol of ambition on the open sea, becoming a new challenge for Sir Peter Blake. Now, in 2024, that spirit finds new life in Barcelona, a city where creativity pulses through every street. This original jib of team New Zealand from the 32nd America’s Cup, was donated by Alinghi Red Bull Racing, (it was their training sail) and has been blended with graffiti — the vibrant energy of Barcelona — a place where the art of sailing meets the soul of the city.

Right and Far Right: Rule Britannia - Sir Ben Ainslie INEOS Britannia Size: 299cm high x 199cm wide

Sir Ben Ainslie — the Challenger of Record — a true athenian and gold medallist. This unique art piece weaves together a century of sailing heritage, incorporating one of the last fragments of King George V’s scuttled 1934 yacht, Britannia stitched into the 21st century of the 36th America’s Cup Challenge sail cloth. The unique mount enables the back side to be viewed too (far right image).

A LIFE ON THE ROPES

American rigger Courtney J Andersen shares a lifetime of experience with natural and synthetic ropes, including rigging for Hollywood movies Pirates of the Caribbean and Master and Commander. Then, Nigel Sharp gives us an overview of products available today

WORDS AND PHOTOS COURTNEY J ANDERSEN

Nigel Sharp’s article “Learn the Ropes” [CB432 – and reproduced in the following pages in concise form] made me recall some of my history and choices as a traditional ship rigger working with various types of three-strand line on sailing vessels.

When I began working on wooden ships in 1991, I sailed the replica Bounty up the east coast of the USA. She was rigged with both natural manila and polyester line. I quickly learned the difference: polyester has soft synthetic yarns, while manila left little splinters of banana plant in my hands which soon festered. The infected splinters would shoot out after a couple of days like little rockets when I squeezed my hand around a line. Manila ratlines also had a tendency to break under foot when climbing the shrouds.

Next, I worked on Half Moon, a replica of Henry Hudson’s 1609 Dutch exploration ship. She had some weather-hardened greying polyester, a bit of soft, spun Dacron that had been dyed dark brown, one or two pieces of nylon, and a fair amount of light brown Roblon polypropylene – probably around eight years old at that point – made to resemble old hemp rope.

THE POLYPROPYLENE ERA

Polypro is rather plastic, but with much use and UV exposure, it softens, and small fibres begin to grow from it, giving the look and feel of manila. On the US East Coast in the 1990s, this material was the norm, used on Kalmar Nyckel, Susan Constant, Discovery, Godspeed, Elizabeth II, even Constitution. It’s light,

Main: Hempex rigging has a convincing traditional look

Below: Genuine cannabis hemp from Hardanger Fartoyvernsenter. Note the long fibres

buoyant, and lasts for several years. On Half Moon, I grew to love Roblon polypro, for the ease of unlaying one of its three strands and then laying that back up into a circular grommet. The strand would maintain its helix, its ‘memory’. At the same time, I grew to hate nylon and polyester because they were incredibly forgetful and stymied all my efforts to make them into a circle. Polypro was more prone to chafing though: where a particular Roblon halyard rubbed against the wooden rim of the fighting top, the line was worn and powdered, while a similar polyester line instead made a small groove in the wood.

But all the different rope materials lent a messy appearance, and we eventually decided to switch everything to another long-filament brown polypro called LeoFlex. This was appropriate for the replica of a Dutch ship since G Van Der Lee Ropemakers were the oldest family business in the Netherlands. They had supplied rope to the beautiful replica of Batavia; when Willem Vos approached Van Der Lee with the request for rope in the 1990s, they found the previous order for the original Batavia’s rigging from 1628 in the archives!

In 2002, I was hired to design and build all the ship rigging for the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Everything was meant to look like it was the late 1700s, so I ordered miles of yet another long-filament brown polypropylene, NavyFlex from RandersReb.

SYNTHETICALLY AGED

I thought we had been clever by getting the synthetic hemp for the period movie; what I didn’t realise is that on a movie, even though the ships would have been new in the time being portrayed, the art department wants everything to look ‘olde’. Imagine my surprise when they dipped full spools of our rope into huge bins of dark paint, then attacked the rope with electric sanders! The line came back to us stiff with paint and chafed, tangled and hockled, but we muddled through.

When I was hired again to do the rigging for the next two Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, I learned my lesson and used the short-filament, polypro hemp-lookalike by Langman, called Hempex. The production designers all loved it, and the painters found it easier to colour than the slick, long-filament Roblon/Navyflex/Spunflex/LeoFlex; I loved it because it kept its memory and was easy to splice, and the only way to tell it from real hemp was by the smell. It also did not need sanding. Chafe and UV are its enemies, but I’ve used it ever since on film productions, right up through Our Flag Means Death and the upcoming Chief of War, as well as for indoor museum ships like Nonsuch in Winnipeg.

The standing rigging for the Black Pearl (Pirates of the Caribbean), a seagoing vessel, was composite

four-strand Hempex with a Dyneema core, also made by Langman, to reduce stretch. This allowed us to duplicate what proper hemp shrouds looked like, while keeping all the safety and strength of a wire rig.

When it came to replacing the lower shrouds on one of the vessels we hired, my old friend Bounty, I was concerned with the poor chafe resistance of the Hempex shrouds. I found a company in Thailand which manufactured a Dyneema core with four strands of brown, long-filament polypropylene laid around it, having better chafe resistance and a slightly higher breaking strength than the composite shroud material from Langman. With proper crossed turnbacks and throat seizings, those shrouds performed beautifully.

ENTER THE POLYESTER LOOK

Above: Black Hempex, white Hempex, Roblon polypro, POSH polyester and two sizes of English Braids Buff Polyester in a special dark colour

Below: Antique supplies of tarred hemp

Because the Black Pearl was intended to stick around for several years, instead of Hempex for the running gear, we used a rope I had previously encountered doing rigging for Master and Commander: English Braids’ Matt Buff Polyester. I love this line, for its strength, feel in the hand, appearance for historic vessels, and chafe resistance. Spun poly doesn’t grow stiff like long-filament poly, and buff or beige line just looks more and more like old hemp as it ages.

Other spun-buff polyesters I’ve used include Langman’s POSH and New England Ropes’ Vintage 3 Strand. I’ve found the Vintage 3 Strand always to be consistent in my experience, and here in the US is easily available in 1in and under. All of the polyesters are significantly heavier than polypropylene.

My general rule on line selection is that if a person is going to be hauled up or stand on the line, or if the line carries a heavy weight overhead, it should be polyester for strength, chafe and UV reasons. If it is running rigging, long-filament, brown polypro used to be my preference for duplicating the look of manila line (mid-1800s onward), with Hempex being ideal for the look of hemp rigging before manila became the norm.

PRODUCT GUIDE

Polypropylene

A number of beige-coloured polypropylene ropes are still produced today including Marlow’s Hardy Hemp, Liros’s Historic, Master Ropemakers’ Synthetic Hemp (no longer available in ‘traditional tarred’ dark brown colour), Cousin’s Hemp Like, Hempex which is produced by both Kingfisher and Gleistein, English Braids’ Hemtex 3, and FSE Robline’s Spunflex and Classic-Tex, and Langman Ropes’ Polytex and others.

Polyester

It was in the 1980s that rope specialists Jimmy Green Marine commissioned Bridport Gundry to produce a hemp-coloured three-strand polyester – stronger and less stretchy than polypropylene and with better UV properties – and when Bridport Gundry ceased trading, Liros began to make a similar product, Classic 3-Strand. Although three-strand ropes are generally less popular these days, not least because they are tough on the hands and harder to coil than braided alternatives, beige-coloured three-strand polyester ropes are also still available from Kingfisher, Marlow, Langman Ropes and English Braids, and the latter two companies also produce a prestretched version.

Braid-on-braid

In the early days of braid-on-braid ropes they typically had continuous filament inner cores (providing most of the strength) and a spun yarn cover. They are now also available with continuous filament (or high tenacity) covers, although this results in a shiny finish which many classic boat owners may reject in favour of the spun-yarn matt/furry finish that more closely resembles traditional hemp. Braid-on-braid products with continuous filament (or high tenacity) covers include Liros’s Herkules and Top Cruising, Kingfisher’s Braid On Braid Polyester Classic, Gleistein’s Tasmania Hemp-Coloured, English Braids’ Braid-on-Braid; and Langman Ropes’ Hamilton Classic; while Kingfisher’s Matt Polyester, English Braids’ S-Range and Liros’s Seastar have spun covers; and FSE Robline’s Double Braid Classic’s cover is a blend of continuous filament and spun yarn. To give an indication of the relative strengths of the two types of cover, in some diameters the breaking load of English Braids’ Braid-on-Braid is about double that of the S-Range.

Braided covers with various cores

Typically, these products are designed with a core to provide better strength/stretch characteristics than braid-on-braids while

BY NIGEL SHARP

retaining a braided cover to protect the core and to give an overall diameter which allows easier handing. They can be made from a variety of individual materials, or blends of materials, to suit the application according to how much abrasion, UV or heat they might experience. The most common cover material is good old polyester, not least because it is relatively inexpensive but also because it has good resistance to abrasion and UV. There are now more than 50 different hemp-coloured rope products on the market, all of which – in fact many more – are also available in white, which may also be acceptable to some classic boat owners. Amongst the oldest-established of these, and still available today, are Marlowbraid (with a 3-strand polyester core), and Gleistein Cup (with a parallel continuous filament polyester core to minimise constructional stretch, but notoriously difficult to splice), while English Braids’ Ebraid 3 also has a 3-strand polyester core.

Dyneema cores are 12-strand, although some smaller diameters are 8-strand. Covers can be made up of 16, 24, 32 or even 48-plait. Some ropes have an intermediate layer – sometimes called a traction jacket – between the core and the cover. Sometimes this is incorporated into a rope with a small Dyneema core where strength is not too crucial, to fill the space and make up the outside diameter, and it can also work better in clutches because there can be more cohesion between the three layers. Amongst these products are Liros’s Classic Dynamic Plus (which the company supplies exclusively to Jimmy Green Marine), and Gleistein’s MegaTwin Dyneema. Gleistein also has another product with an intermediate layer, Relite Hemp, which has a recycled polyester cover.

The most common of the high-tech materials used for cores is Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, or HMPE (the best known of which is Dyneema which is supplied by Dutch company DSM) and Vectran. Both have minimal stretch properties and that is where ‘creep’ –non-reversible elongation at high load over time – becomes an issue: Dyneemas have minimal creep but Vectran has none.

Amongst the Dyneema cored products with beige coloured covers are English Braids’ Racing Dyneema, Marlow’s D2 Racing 78 and MGP Tech 50 (the latter has a Technora cover for improved abrasion resistance), Cousin’s Dynasty Pro SK78 (also known as Dynasty 613) and Kingfisher’s Racing Dyneema 78. FSE Robline’s Globe Pro has a Robtec core, which is an alternative HMPE to Dyneema.

With regard to rope construction, cores are traditionally described as being made up of strands, and covers of plaits. Almost all

With such high tech materials it is all too easy to find a rope with strength and stretch characteristics which are more than adequate for the role intended. In fact problems often begin when existing ropes are upgraded to higher tech ropes which are too strong and not stretchy enough, and which then put loads on boats and their deck and rig fittings which were not designed to take them. This, of course, can be particularly the case with traditionally built classic boats, with which there is a far greater risk that an existing rig or deck fitting will break or, worse, a boat will suffer structural damage, than a rope breaking, and so extreme caution should be exercised when selecting high tech ropes. This applies to braid-on-braid ropes as well as higher tech ropes such as Dyneema, because even they may have significantly higher strength and lower stretch than the ropes originally used. In the case of modern, spirit-of-tradition boats, consideration may well have been given to modern ropes at the design and build stages. Spirit yachts, for instance, routinely use Dyneema ropes for halyards and other applications.

Natural products

A number of companies still produce natural products. Three-strand hemp, for instance, is available from Liros, Kingfisher and Langman Ropes, although Master Ropemakers’ Chatham Hemp which is actually a flax with similar properties to hemp, is more readily available and complies with naval regulations (hemp comes from the same plant as marijuana!). While the strength properties of natural ropes are inferior to equivalent synthetic ropes, surprisingly that is not necessarily the case with regard to stretch. Master Ropemakers produce Manila, Coir and Sisal products, while Sisal, cotton and manila ropes are also produced by Langman.

Unfortunately, around 2015 I began to notice that any manufacturer’s new long-filament brown polypro line was decaying much more rapidly than it used to and turning an odd greenish colour within six to eight months. Previously, I worked on ships that had the same line for eight to ten years before it began degrading. Apparently the manufacturers of the actual filament changed their recipe. To my knowledge, it has never been switched back, so I haven’t continued using this once-standard rope, preferring Hempex for uses where chafe and UV aren’t an issue, and spun polyester for all others.

NEW SHORTER FIBRES

As for hemp, none of the commonly produced line labelled hemp today is actually cannabis sativa. It’s flax or linen (linum usitatissimum), and therefore shorterfibred. When it comes to long-fibre (or filament) versus short-fibre (or filament), the important thing to remember is that short fibres have about half the strength of long fibres. True hemp, like old manila, is a long-fibred thing of beauty. The finest real hemp rope manufacturing is still kept alive by people like Sarah Sjogreen, who hand-make rope with an archaeologist’s appreciation for technique and method in every stage of the construction.

The Plymouth Cordage Company catalogue of 1919 describes 30 different constructions of manila rope (everything from houseline, hambroline, roundline, spunyarn, ratline, and deep-sea hand line, to whale line,

bolt rope, and fisherman’s anchor cable); 15 types of hemp; as well as three types of ‘New Zealand’ flax (phormium tenax), which is described as midway between sisal and manila for strength.

What sells as manila Grade 1 today does not come close to what was available in the 1800s, or even the 1990s when I worked on Bounty.

IMITATION IS A POOR SUBSTITUTE

Materials have changed quickly over the past 75 years – especially compared to the previous 10,000 years of natural fibre – and are still changing.

There was a period from the 1970s to the 1990s when hemp rope or marline of any sort was unobtainium. Long filament brown polypro had its rise when hemp wasn’t available, and now even that seems to be on the wane due to manufacturing issues, while natural fibre is making something of a come-back, with several companies making beautiful tarred ‘hemp’ twine and marline.

The demand for ‘classic’ sailing rope is a very small market when compared to the tree-climbing, superyacht, racing yacht and towing sectors, which demand higher strength and lower stretch, and as materials go out of style or economics intervene, quality and price vary dramatically.

In many ways it wouldn’t be bad to get away from petroleum-based plastics and back to organic materials.

After all, it worked for a very long time.

Above left: Spun polypro (top and middle) and long filament below

Above right: Old spun polyester bears a strong resemblance to old hemp

Christian Carleton used Epifanes varnish over CPES on Taurus (pictured right) in 1991. He writes:

Glues

Glues

Waterproof

Made

Penetrates deeply

Stops tannin

“ 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.”

Tom Cunliffe

The good fight

In praise of honest boatbuilders

One of the surprising things about traditional boat building is the variation in levels of sophistication. I have deep admiration for those who create a curved deck beam out of a single piece of oak, cut dovetails into the ends, then lower it into the cutouts in the beam shelf. It fits to the millimetre first time. How do they do that? And what about shaping the close-seamed planks for a Tumlare yacht or a Mevagissey Tosher? Water-tight without caulking, built in short order, often by men with little in the way of formal schooling, the skill level baffles educated understanding.

Equally effective at the other end of the scale was an operation I shared in the Caribbean not many years ago. The boat was Genesis , built on the beach in Carriacou by Alwyn Enoe and his boys in 2005 for Alexis Andrews. She’d been sailing in Antigua Classics, racing against her peers and had been startling some of the fancier yachts with her speed, when Alexis found he had what seemed more weather helm than the usual hefty helping. It soon dawned on him that the weight of the pull didn’t match the angle of the tiller and it wasn’t having the usual effect on the course steered. The rudder stock had gone spongy.

The crew hauled her out that night to take a look, and the bad news was that the stock had been supplying a comfortable homestead to a family of hungry shipworms. In short, it had served its day and needed immediate replacement. Lesser boatbuilders might have held up their hands and called time on the regatta, but not the men of Carriacou. The bottom gudgeon was wrestled off the back end of the keel and the tiller unshipped. The whole rudder was dropped and carried across the yard to an open-fronted shed. They worked all night fashioning a new stock and fixing it to the blade using the most basic of tools. One guy I knew well from another life in the islands 40 years ago did confess to taking a couple of hours kip in a dinghy around midnight, but most of the gang cracked on straight through until the sun rose over the hills behind them.

The trade wind blew steadily on and, half an hour before the preparatory signal was due at the start line, the completed rudder was carried across the yard by the two biggest guys, to be offered up to the trunk. It went in easily enough until the bottom bearing was fastened in place. This produced some interference between wind and water so that the shaft was stiff to turn. Off came the gudgeon in quick time. The rudder was lowered a few feet, revealing where the proud area had marked itself. Alexis took a sharp hatchet and proceeded to slice off shavings. Chop, chop, chop, and the job was done. Back up went the rudder, the gudgeon bearing was bolted into place again and the tiller was shipped as Genesis was lowered back into the water. We were only 10 minutes late for the start gun. Undismayed, we spent

the day chasing the flying fish as we caught up with most of our rivals through the dancing trade-wind seas. There hadn’t been a spokeshave to be seen that night. Instead, the job was done wit h hatchets, augurs and many a merry laugh so that Genesis could sail on without delay.

Things weren’t so very different when I arrived in America one time with my old pilot cutter. Like many of her ilk she sported a lovely counter stern. One evening we were moored in Mystic Seaport Museum when Roz and I happened to be rowing under the stern in the dinghy.

‘That archboard doesn’t look too fusty,’ she remarked, prodding it with an up-stretched index finger. She was right. I fetched my knife out of my pocket, clicked it open and made a tentative prod. I was rewarded with the boat-owner’s worst nightmare. The blade disappeared up to the hilt with barely a push. It was as ripe as a pear. Since we had just beaten to windward most of the distance from Greenland, there was more than a lick of sense in her next remark.

‘It’s amazing, the strength in rotten wood,’ she said as we rowed away deep in gloom.

A week later we were hauled out in the shipyard below the town bridge. The archboard was a good way up with eight feet of draught, one-foot keel blocks and three or four feet of freeboard to round it off, but we organised some staging and ripped into the job with wrecking chisels. Removing the offending piece didn’t take long and mercifully only two of the planks had caught the disease. There was enough of them left to use as patterns, so even for an amateur like me replacing them wasn’t a great problem. The original pitch pine supplied by J Slade and son in Fowey in 1911 was probably improved upon by the clear-grained long leaf yellow pine from Georgia.

The challenge of the archboard was on a different scale. Someone at the museum kindly found us a massive chunk of oak with the right overall dimensions. We offered it up with a forklift, drew round it to get the basic shape, cut it roughly then bolted it in place. My long-term memory has kindly expunged the details of what came next, although I seem to remember it involved a lot of sculpture. What I will never forget is the kindness and foresight of the man in Cornwall 80 years before me who covered the end grain of the vulnerable horn timber in thick pitch. Water had never penetrated it and it turned up its nose at the rot in the archboard. The oak was as sound as the day he’d stood it up in place.

To quote from my old school hymn book. ‘Our harvest may be garnered by ages yet unknown.’

Outlaw Part of the British 1963 Admiral’s Cup winning team, now based in the Mediterranean

ADMIRAL’S CUP LEGEND

OUTLAW

On 6 April, 1963, two new boats were launched in Cowes, both with the same purpose in mind: to win the Admiral’s Cup. Outlaw was launched at Souter’s, and 25 minutes later, less than half a mile downstream, Clarion of Wight was launched at Lallow’s. The two were joined by Noryema , and all three passed into the history books by winning the cup that year, having lost it to the USA in 1961. Outlaw also won the RORC Class One cup that same year.

She was designed by the forward-thinking designer John Illingworth, famous for his light, modern, offshore racing yachts in the 40s, 50s and 60s, and built in eight layers of mahogany veneer for Sir Max Aitken. Outlaw was described by Yachting Monthly as “the largest coldmoulded yacht in the world” at the time, and featured laminated structural components as well as hull, quite radical in 1963. She’s as notable for her appearance as her performance, with a reverse-sheer hull and distinctive steering wheel at the front of the cockpit. She has belonged, since 1983, to Mike Horsley of the well-known Edmiston yacht brokerage, who had her restored, and took her to the Mediterranean, where she has been ever since, racing in the many regattas, not least the Voiles de Saint-Tropes, which she won in 2016. She has been subject to a continual maintenance programme in this period, including a big revamp in 2017.

Owner Mike says: “ Outlaw is almost 100 per cent a delight at sea – she handles beautifully to windward, rides the waves, heels quite quickly but then finds her angle and stays there. Her deck layout, beamy deck and large cockpit, tardis-like interior – providing good accommodation for crew at sea or in port – and the ergonomics of her layout are all remarkable for a 39ft LWL boat. There was originally a 6ft 9in daggerboard that came down under the cockpit, but when I bought Outlaw it had already been taken off, although the housing is still there. I’ve never met anybody able to tell me if it worked. But I can live with that deficiency. There have been many other adventures, cruising and racing. I did my first Med regatta with Outlaw at the Nioulargue, now Les Voiles de St Tropez, in 1990, and haven’t missed an edition since. I still do between four and eight regattas per season.”

Outlaw is a big part of British sailing history, and her future clearly holds the possibility for more wins in the modern era.

Lying Cannes, Asking €250,000, sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk

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TRADITIONAL WOODEN NORDIC FOLKBOAT BUILD PROJECT

Partly built at IBTC Lowestoft. Siberian larch on oak. Includes enough Larch to complete the hull, approx 2 cu metres. Retail value approx £7000. First three class measurement tests passed, see NFIA class building rules. Lowestoft. £7000 Contact: Chris 07525 759305 email eacb.barker@yahoo.com

FORERUNNER II

The last of the composite Nicholson 36’s, 1966 GRP Hull. Extensive refit 2021-22 including full new deck and redesigned interior. 2022 Nanni 30 (35 hours) . All new Z-spars rig including in-mast furling for easy shorthanded cruising, or participation in classic races. Ashore SE Cornwall. £49,950 Contact: Jon on 07970 835550 or jonelwell@btinternet.com

HUGH ANGELMAN, ‘GRAND OLD MAN OF PACIFIC YACHTING’

Designed Ariel 1950 as a Transpac contender. Keenly eying fast boats of the day, like Sonny and Stormy Weather, he created ARIEL, a dream to sail, of near effortless beauty and balance. 52’ X 12.8’, Draft 7.5’, Net 16t. Built 1953 in Costa Mesa, Ca. Fully rebuilt by 2018. New laminated frames, Western Red Cedar/ Mahogany hull. Ply and Teak Deck. New Mahogany deck hatches and beautiful interior. New hollow Sitka Spruce mast and Spinnaker pole. New mainsail and furling headsail. Jib for inner forestay. 8 foot Oughtred lapstrake dinghy with mast and sail. 2.5-HP outboard. New Westerbeke 55D, 120 hrs. Fridge and Induction cooker. Baby Blake manual toilet. Survey January 2023. Contact: Franz Hartstein via frhartstein@gmail.com

IOD “LOST CHILD” GRP - 2014“IN MINT CONDITION” Yanmar Engine 6,5 Hp + maxprop 3 blade / cockpittent (2023) / mahogany & teak finish. Sails in crème cloth from 2020. Original gelcoat hull. Custom made boom. Boat has only been used for two seasons. Don’t hesitate to ask for more info and picture’s. Easy single-handed sailing through modifications. Transport within Europe is no problem to organize this for you.£98,000 Contact: G.van Veen: 0031 653 444 661 or e-mail: info@clementine.fm

BILLIE BEAN

Award winning 13’ Selway Fisher Electric Launch. Craftsman built cedar strip launch. 48v Motorenergy 5kw motor with Sevcon controller. Sapele interior with chrome finish. New batteries Aug. 2024. BSS Certification to Aug 2028. Fitted cushions ,covers and custom built road trailer. Viewing Lymington.£12,500 Contact: Philip 07752 723908 or philippad1275@ gmail.com

32FT KING’S AMETYST, SUZELLE, 1965, HULL NO.66

Polish-built Bermudan cutter, centre cockpit and aft cabin, long fin and skeg. 5 berths in 3 cabins. Honduras mahogany on laminated oak frames, carvel. Builder: Stocznia Gdanska. Sea-kindly yacht, sails beautifully, very well balanced. Easy single-handed sailing. Full suite of sails, mainsail / rigging, 2022. Stackpack, sprayhood, cockpit canopy and cover and cockpit table. Garmin chartplotter, Raymarine VHF fixed radio, tiller pilot, solar panel, Nasa depth sounder, AIS receiver and electronic compass. Currently afloat at

KAJSA

Malar 30 square metre racing yacht built in Sweden in 1936. She was designed by Lage Eklund, and built by Eriksson, she carries sail no M30. Her construction is carvel, and the rig is Bermudan. Her current owner has given her an extensive re-construction. She comes on a purpose built Harbeck trailer in excellent condition. Since her reconstruction she has had success at both local and Cowes based regattas including BCYC. £20,000 ono Contact: Noah at 07955679404 or via noah@demonyachts.co.uk

16 FOOT MAYFLY ELECTRIC LAUNCH

Teak decking on fiberglass hull. Regularly maintained, with new batteries and cover, and repainted hull, within the last 7 years. Moored in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire. £10,000 Contact: robin.leigh@lateralcapitalgroup.com

WINDFLOWER

Westmacott Gaff rigged cutter built by Woodnutts of Bembridge in 1932. Extensive refit work has been carried over recent years which includes a new Collars mast, rigging and 20hp Beta engine. Windflower has been sailing mainly in the Solent area and is a regular participant in local regattas. Windflower is in excellent condition and comes with her own cradle and full winter cover. Lying Lymington. Asking price: £19,500 Contact: malcolmmckeon@gmail.com

NAUSIKAA 30 FOT, BUILT 1976 IN NORWAY

Colin Archer double ended gaff catch. Hull organepine oak frames teak deck new sail and cover. Engine Saab diesel 18hp. Blacktoyler gally. Dickinson fire. All mahogany and leader inside. Keel all outside 3 ton, lead. Nausikaa first class condition, laying south parth in Norway £36000. Contact: Harald, teddysorensen2014@ gmail.com or 0047 48282634

Brokerage listing

CLASSIC AND VINTAGE YACHTS

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.

Altair

Altair

William Fife III Gaff Rigged

William Fife III Gaff Rigged

William Fife III Gaff Rigged

108 ft Topsail Schooner 1931

Offered for sale

“ʻALTAIR”

WILLIAM FIFE III 108FT GAFF RIGGED SCHOONER 1931/2007

Lloyds 100A1

EUR 6,000,000 Central Agents

Named after one of the brightest of stars, the William Fife III schooner ALTAIR’s near mythical status in the classic yacht world is all for very good reason - this yacht has become the standard-bearer for the cause of authenticity since her landmark restoration in 1987. While important as the yacht that started what has become the classic yacht revival, that role is as nothing to her own status at the top of this hierarchy. ALTAIR is the ultimate vintage yacht – and surely one of the world’s most beautiful works of mind and hand. Always the darling of the classic regatta fleet and often winning her class, in more recent years she has succeeded in paying homage to her original owner’s unfulfilled desire to safely sail to the South Sea Islands. Her dimensions have allowed for the modern comforts that a smaller classic will not; all discreetly concealed and allowing her to cruise anywhere. Above all, she is blessed with the spirit engendered by her original designer, the incomparable William Fife III. As one of the very few classic yachts of her vintage afloat with unbroken Lloyd’s ✠ 100A1 classification, having passed survey again with flying colours in 2021, ALTAIR is in her element - as ready to cruise the world as she is for racing.

ALTAIR’s near mythical status in the classic yacht world is for good reason – she has become the standard bearer for the cause of authenticity since her landmark restoration in 1987. William Fife III may have saved his best until last; commissioned as an ocean going cruising boat for the southern seas and her designer’s last big boat, Fife could not help but create a blend of breathtaking beauty; fast, safe and totally capable.

ALTAIR’s near mythical status in the classic yacht world is for good reason – she has become the standard bearer for the cause of authenticity since her landmark restoration in 1987. William Fife III may have saved his best until last; commissioned as an ocean going cruising boat for the southern seas and her designer’s last big boat, Fife could not help but create a blend of breathtaking beauty; fast, safe and totally capable.

ALTAIR’s near mythical status in the classic yacht world is for good reason – she has become the standard bearer for the cause of authenticity since her landmark restoration in 1987. William Fife III may have saved his best until last; commissioned as an ocean going cruising boat for the southern seas and her designer’s last big boat, Fife could not help but create a blend of breathtaking beauty; fast, safe and totally capable.

ALTAIR’s near mythical status in the classic yacht world is for good reason – she has become the standard bearer for the cause of authenticity since her landmark restoration in 1987. William Fife III may have saved his best until last; commissioned as an ocean going cruising boat for the southern seas and her designer’s last big boat, Fife could not help but create a blend of breathtaking beauty; fast, safe and totally capable.

For further information please contact:

+44 (0)1202 330077 info@sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk

Always the darling of the classic regatta fleet and often winning her class; ALTAIR is the ultimate vintage yacht. While important as the yacht to have started what has become the classic yacht revival, that role is as nothing to her own status at the top of this hierarchy.

€6.5M EUR | Lying Spain

Always the darling of the classic regatta fleet and often winning her class; ALTAIR is the ultimate vintage yacht. While important as the yacht to have started what has become the classic yacht revival, that role is as nothing to her own status at the top of this hierarchy.

Always the darling of the classic regatta fleet and often winning her class; ALTAIR is the ultimate vintage yacht. While important as the yacht to have started what has become the classic yacht revival, that role is as nothing to her own status at the top of this hierarchy.

Always the darling of the classic regatta fleet and often winning her class; ALTAIR is the ultimate vintage yacht. While important as the yacht to have started what has become the classic yacht revival, that role is as nothing to her own status at the top of this hierarchy.

Her dimensions have allowed for the modern comforts that a smaller classic will not; all discreetly concealed and allowing her to cruise anywhere. Above all she is blessed with the spirit engendered by her original designer the incomparable William Fife III.

Our classic and vintage yachts & motor yachts are available to view at: – www.sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk –

Her dimensions have allowed for the modern comforts that a smaller classic will not; all discreetly concealed and allowing her to cruise anywhere. Above all she is blessed with the spirit engendered by her original designer the incomparable William Fife III.

Her dimensions have allowed for the modern comforts that a smaller classic will not; all discreetly concealed and allowing her to cruise anywhere. Above all she is blessed with the spirit engendered by her original designer the incomparable William Fife III.

Her dimensions have allowed for the modern comforts that a smaller classic will not; all discreetly concealed and allowing her to cruise anywhere. Above all she is blessed with the spirit engendered by her original designer the incomparable William Fife III.

22 Market Street, Poole, Dorset BH15 1NF, UK ABYA Member

Craftsmanship

Yard News

Edited by Steffan Meyric Hughes Email steffan@classicboat.co.uk

Harry King and Sons turns 175

Ipswich-born George Garrard set up a boatyard in Pin Mill on the River Orwell in 1850, and soon became known for ‘foot boats’ – clinker dinghies of 12ft or so, predominantly used by Thames barges and fishing boats. They were also used in annual rowing competitions, with Garrard-built boats often winning. One local paper at the time described George Garrard’s yard as the best place to obtain a foot boat.

In 1898 one of Garrard’s apprentices, Pin Mill-born Harry King, took over the running of the yard after George’s sudden death. For several years the wooden sign above the small workshop displayed George’s name as well as Harry’s, while Harry built up a reputation of his own.

Until his own death in April 1963, Harry King continued developing the boatyard, with the help of sons Norman and Sam. Harry built a larger workshop in the front yard for yacht building and took over the old, red-brick maltings to build dinghies and day boats, as well as storage for sails, spars, and wood.

King’s built dozens of yachts, motor sailing vessels, day boats, work boats, fishing boats, over 500 boats for war efforts in the two world wars, and thousands of clinker dinghies adapted from George Garrard’s original foot boat design.

Many of the yachts still survive, in all corners of the world. Five of them are regularly kept in the yard, including Selina King, commissioned by Arthur Ransome in 1937/38. Having sailed far from her home to Bermuda the same year that

Sam’s son Geoff was the last member of the King family to run the boatyard, alongside his wife Yvonne. When wooden yacht building came to an end in the 1970s, Geoff tried his hand at building and fitting out GRP hulls, but having trained with wood and not having the finances to set up purpose-built facilities, the venture was short lived. When Gus Curtis joined Geoff and his brother-in-law in 1989 the yard was mainly focused on winter laying up and general yacht maintenance and fitting out.

Geoff and Yvonne retired in August 2005 having worked throughout with Gus, who in turn took over the boatyard with his wife Sarah. Twenty years on and the business remains strong, growing in laying-up numbers from around 45 to over 150, as well as buying Tony Ward’s mooring business in 2008 and extending the laying-up yards.

While maintenance and fitting out is high on the job sheets, there are also several annual restorations and major repair work. Of the 150+ yachts stored over winter, around 60 are wooden, so skilled boatbuilders and shipwrights continue to practise their age-old craft.

Gus and Sarah’s children continue the skills, with Tom setting up his own boatbuilding business in the yard and daughter Poppy working as a sailmaker at nearby Dolphin Sails in West Mersea. Among many projects, Tom continues to build clinker dinghies in the same style as generations of Pin Millers before him.

Harry King died, she finally returned to where she was built in 2022.

PIN MILL, SUFFOLK

Above left: Harvest Moon Above: Tom’s clinker dinghy Below: Stem, stern and keelson laid up

WOODBRIDGE, SUFFOLK

A little Schokker

For many, the name Dulcibella conjures Erskine Childers’ Riddle of the Sands. However, in this case, we are not exploring the Frisian Islands but the River Deben in Suffolk. Dulcibella, a 30ft (9.1m) Schokkerdesign, flat-bottomed steel yacht originally hails from Deil in the Netherlands but her recent decades have been spent along the UK’s East Coast. Now preparing for sale as her dedicated owner can no longer use her, she has been to Woodbridge Boatyard for a major overhaul and is ready for fresh adventures.

Her charming lines and large beam make her a very spacious yacht for a boat of only 30ft on deck. At Woodbridge Boatyard a new bottom has been scarphed on to her mast, one leeboard has been

CHERTSEY, SURREY

repaired whilst the other has been made anew in oak, her bowsprit has been repaired, all standing and running rigging has been replaced by TS Rigging, her engine has been serviced and everything wooden has been stripped, prepared and re-varnished to get her back to her best.

A good-sized project already, almost all of the works were carried out, under careful supervision, by Woodbridge Boatyard’s apprentices including the making and shaping of the new leeboard by boatbuilding apprentice, Euan, and the dressing and stepping of the rig by Boatyard and Marina Operative apprentices Thalia, Joe and Daniel.

For purchasing enquiries about Dulcibella, contact Woodbridge Boatyard, Suffolk.

Princess Anne visits Dunkirk Little Ships

There was a good crew gathered at Michael Dennett Boat Builders on the upper Thames on 7 February, for the occasion of HRH Princess Anne’s tour of the boatyard, an official visit made in recognition of Dennetts’ services to British heritage preserving historic vessels. Steve and Heather Dennett were joined by Steve’s father Michael Dennett, 83, founder of the yard, and their boat-loving son Elliott, 10. Kevin Finn and Howard Brooks were present, representing the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships, as well as the usual full crew of boatbuilders.

The sailing princess (she’s a serial Rustler owner) showed a real interest as she toured the yard, taking in various of the many projects, including no fewer than nine Dunkirk little ships – the yard’s speciality – in various states of repair. Of particular interest was the 78ft (23.8m), 1934-built Camper and Nicholson motor yacht Llanthony and the 1912 ex-Admiralty pinnace Sundowner, famed not only for her Dunkirk story, but her owner Charles Lightoller and his links to the ill-fated Titanic Other key vessels were Jolly Britt, an open Jolly boat used on HMY Royal Britannia and a 1907-built, 25ft (7.6m) canoe of great elegance, aptly named Princess Beatrice, belonging to the Rose Toop Collection. At the end of the visit, all present gathered to watch Her Royal Highness unveil a plaque commemorating her visit.

“We were delighted to have the chance to show The Princess who we are, what we do and how important it is to retain these practical skills and knowledge, without which, boats of significant historical and cultural importance are at risk,” said Stephen Dennett.

HIGH SOCIETY

Part four of our four-part series, talking to Captain Tony Morse about restoring Tara Getty’s 1938 S&S bermudan yawl Baruna – describing here her rigging and sails; discussing the decisions and choices taken over materials, design and engineering and her first sail after seven years in the shed

CB: What was Baruna’s rig like originally? What materials were used?

TM: Reviewing photos and plans of Baruna’s yawl rig during my initial visit, it was clear every fitting remained true to the original design, though some were rebuilt over the years.

Her spars were Sitka Spruce with bronze hardware. Removing them was quite a job! Her mast step was so filled with rust the main mast was stuck, requiring us to cut through it. The spars were too far gone to be saved. We removed the hardware and cut them up. There were no sails on board, she would originally have had cotton canvas sails, I can’t find any records of who originally made them.

CB: How did you design her new rig?

TM: This was one of the most challenging yet rewarding stages of the restoration, and it ties back into that beautifully built hull, the engineered stiff deck structure; every single detail matters.

We asked ourselves what we wanted to achieve? To follow in the footsteps of those before us competing in the Newport to Bermuda race or the Transpac race, both of which she had raced in competitively? It was a starting point, but we also aim to race under IRC and CIM here in the Mediterranean.

We welcomed Jim Gretzky of Sail Spars, based in Connecticut, USA, to design Baruna’s rig, hardware, and

Above: Designing and building a new rig for Baruna was “one of the most challenging yet rewarding stages of the restoration”

everything it attaches to. Jim’s ideas, knowledge, and experience were on another level, and I will forever be grateful for his involvement.

Our goal was to maintain the rig dimensions, however we opted for a two spreader plus jumper configuration instead of the original three spreader plus jumper setup. This optimised the sheeting of the overlapping head sails, among other things. Modern glues enable us to engineer wood in ways that were not possible when Baruna was built. We used these to optimise the mast tube shape and cross section – it’s more aerodynamic than the original, while still retaining a classic shape and tapering like a traditional wooden mast.

TWO MASTS FROM ONE TREE

The booms were constructed as box sections, like the original, but with a larger section to accommodate a 3DI loose-footed mainsail, a new mainsheet setup, and a potential downhaul. The main boom was originally designed to rotate, and we continued with that to reduce torsional loads at the gooseneck and allow the mainsheet bridles to distribute loads more equally.

Running rigging is now internal within both the main and mizzen masts. Exit sheave boxes for the halyards are designed to eliminate screws that could allow water to penetrate the wood fibres, making maintenance a breeze!

Every force had to be accounted for: compression, bending, shear loads, the dynamic stresses from wind and sea – ensuring the woodwork could handle the immense strain.

WORDS DAN HOUSTON PHOTOS KOS EVANS

It was problem-solving at its finest – a blend of engineering and craftsmanship.

We had the best mast designer in the business, now we needed the best mast builder. We contracted Dillon Plantinga of Ventis Shipyard and Brasker Masten to build the complete spar package. For the timber, we reached out to John Lammerts van Bueren, for a beautiful Sitka Spruce tree specifically for Baruna. Both the main and mizzen masts would come from this single tree, just like the original.

Now things got truly interesting. Only after the wood was cut could we determine the actual mechanical properties of our specific tree. Following the cut, we found we had a stronger and lighter tree then average, OK! So back to the drawing board to use that information to our advantage.

Both masts were constructed in two halves, with lengths scarphed together to complete the overall strakes. As much work went into the inside of the mast as the outside, including doubling, backing plates with threaded receivers, GRP sleeves for sheave boxes, threaded inserts, and conduit for wiring. Not a single glue line could be seen over the 95ft (29m) main mast – flawless workmanship and exemplary spar building!

APPLYING THE PERFECT FINISH

After the shaping of the masts, bronze fittings, already made, were fitted, using custom bronze screws to match the fitting and the thickness of the material in that area. Epifanes one-part gloss varnish was used to finish all the spars. Fourteen coats were applied, each sanded between applications, and the result is stunning!

Baruna is reinforced, stiff, strong, and built to handle the loads, so we can take full advantage of modern sail technology. With 3DI sails and Dyneema halyards and sheets, there’s virtually no stretch, meaning every ounce of power from the wind is transferred directly into forward motion. Dyform rigging was chosen for the standing rigging, while Technora-covered Dyneema is used for the running rigging. North Sails’ Jean-Philippe Gallois and Tim Corben developed and designed all 22 sails for Baruna: a traditional Dacron set with split panels just like original; vertical cut spinnakers; 3DI racing sails; masthead tri-radial cut spinnakers and storm sails. Baruna’s design number 222 is her new sail number.

Above left: Bronze fittings use custom screws to match the thickness of the wood

Above: The new rig only has two spreaders instead of three

Above right: Not a glue line in sight

Below: After seven years in the shed “Baruna was back where she belonged, ready for new adventures”

The masts were stepped, and two coins were placed under her main mast: a 1938 Silver Half Dollar and a 2022 British Gold Sovereign. Our first sail trial was off St Tropez on a beautiful spring day, 21 March, 2023.

CUTTING THROUGH THE WATER

The light, 10-knot breeze proved ideal and as we hoisted the main and a headsail, Baruna began to find her rhythm, gliding effortlessly through the water. A gust of 12 knots filled the sails. Heeling slightly, she surged forward with newfound energy.

With my hands on the helm, Baruna felt alive –responsive, eager, and ready to stretch her legs. After years of dedication, countless hours, and long nights spent bringing her back to life, this was the moment it had all been leading to. She was sailing again, cutting through the water with purpose. Every detail we had laboured over now came together in perfect harmony. The wind, the sea, and Baruna – everything just clicked. We had done it. Baruna was back where she belonged, ready for new adventures.

Marine Directory

DAVID MOSS BOATBUILDERS

Quality boatbuilding in wood 8’-50’, clinker, carvel or strip-plank, spar-making, painting , welding, lay-up facilities Repairs - Restorations

Skippool Creek, Wyre Road, ornton-Cleveleys, Lancs FY5 5LF Telephone: 07572 926460 Email: davidmossboatbuilders@gmail.com www.davidmossboatbuilders.co.uk

12ft Smacks Boat

All rigging completed and sail supplied. GRP hull. Trailer and a cover. Ready to sailaway, £9250

New Whitehall Rowing Skiff 14ft 6in Rowing or E outboard. GRP hull, trailer, rowing gates. Ready to go, £5500 ex oars.

sallyboatsales@btopenworld.com Tel. 01206 331212 Mob. 07745 173908 www.briankennellboatbuilders.co.uk

KITTIWAKE BOATS

• Moulds , plans, and all exclusive building rights for 16 , 14 , and 10 sailing dayboats,

• Grp hulls with ne timber t out, full buoyancy etc

• Over seventy built.

• Est 1986

Due to retirement Roger Wilkinson is selling KITTIWAKE BOATS.

• Great little business for a one man operation. Contact Roger@kittiwakeboats.co.uk

Tel: 01795 530668 www.alanstaleyboatbuilders.co.uk

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

Boatbuilder’s Notes

By Robin Gates

A plain white plane sight

While sighting down the sole of a hand plane, it can be hard to tell if our subtle tweaks to the blade’s depth of cut and lateral position, via wheel and lever respectively (photo 1), have been effective. Attempting to judge the desired smidgeon of blade projection by eye alone, the situation is not improved by the background clutter of tools and offcuts lying about the bench.

Stack the odds of success in your favour by arranging a plain white background, perhaps propping up a piece of card in your line of sight (photo 2).

Then make a practical check on the evenness of cut by planing the corners of a wooden block clamped in the vice, paying attention to the quality of shavings taken at both sides of the blade (photo 3).

1 Depth adjustments can be made by wheel and lateral lever

2 Improve accuracy by sighting against a plain white background

3 After checking by eye, examine the test cut at both sides of the blade

The drawknife – a versatile handful

The drawknife is among the oldest and most versatile of shipwrights’ tools. Stripping bark, roughing out, squaring up, hollowing, rounding or smoothing, this tool can take an entire log or waney-edged plank virtually to the finish. Use it bevel up or bevel down as befits the job and personal preference, raising or lowering the wrists to adjust the pitch for making chips like curly fries or slivers fine as watch springs. So that’s the work of the scrub plane, jack plane, spoke shave and smoother covered, and it’ll even shave a dainty chamfer equal to a block plane.

That hefty naked blade may appear intimidating but with handles disposed at its ends the hands are always out of harm’s way and – as with a carving chisel – the trick is not to force the issue but work with one

foot on the brake, so to speak. It helps that this is a very sensitive tool, feeding back to the worker with minimal interference.

A straight blade with handles perpendicular is the usual style but down the years length, width and curvature have varied widely. Those used by coopers making barrels for the salted ‘silver darlings’ (herring)

1 Working a light spar, bevel down

2 Chamfering an arris with bevel up and ‘grog tubs’ (for Royal Navy rum) could be almost semi-circular.

Clamping the work can pose a problem because you need access all around. But a big spar is often stabilised by its own weight, while smaller stuff – a sounding pole or boat hook perhaps – may be cantilevered, that is gripped at one end leaving the other free to work.

Traditional Tool

By Robin Gates

YANKEE 1445 DRILL

Cordless power drills have transformed construction work, not least the task of boring the multitude of pilot holes required when fastening a clinker hull. But how dispiriting it is when the battery, whose ampere hours may have dwindled unnoticed to mere ampere minutes, finally reports in sick on the charger. Cordless, keyless and brushless the drill may be but with a dud battery it is useless. And should we discover that, in this fast changing world of power tools, our once dependable workhorse has been discontinued, the anticipated hour of easy progress at 2000rpm falls victim to wandering the DIY stores in bafflement at so many makes and models in vibrant colours competing for attention. But let’s not overlook the tool we may already have somewhere below the bench and which remains so solidly right for the job – the hand drill.

Ten years ago (CB 315) we described the Yankee 1530 made by North Brothers of USA, possibly the cutest and cleverest hand drill ever made. Its in-line gearbox offers plain drilling, left-hand ratcheting, right-hand ratcheting, a gear lock,

and the remarkable double ratcheting by which pumping the handle back and forth maintains constant forward motion. Likewise superbly engineered yet more rugged, the Yankee 1445 is the 1530’s larger stable-mate which does what the power drill does, just more slowly, with seamlessly variable speed and torque supplied by the human arm.

The 1445 disappeared from North Brothers’ product line in the 1930s so this one must have nigh on a century of work behind it, yet the gears mesh with smooth precision and she purrs like a well-fed tabby cat. Talking of feeding, when did you last see a hand drill with oil ports? The 1445

1 Yankee 1445 and the diminutive 1530

2 Sliding gear selector

3 Bits are stored inside the handle

has four, no less, and may be fully disassembled for proper maintenance. Note the neatly housed selector for fast (outer drive wheel teeth engaging forward pinion), slow (inner drive wheel teeth engaging middle pinion) or gear lock. Other hand drills without this lock have trapped many a little finger in their gears while bits were changed. The rearmost pinion is an ‘idler’ which keeps the drive wheel running true. Last, but not least vis-a-vis swapping bits for clearance and pilot holes, the shapely top handle is also a bit magazine – a feature sadly lacking from power drills.

NEXT MONTH: Grease box

LETTER OF THE MONTH SUPPORTED BY MYLNE YACHT DESIGN

Too much horsepower!

I slipped the mooring where my Scottish Island class Gigha lies at Port Bannatyne, Isle of Bute and sailed round to the idyllic East Kyle of Bute on one of the few afternoons last season that was warm and pleasant.

We anchored o Colintraive Church, the meeting of the tides, and in the gloaming saw wonderful wildlife close at hand.

The short passage was marred by several ‘infernal buzz boxes’, to quote the late George Millar of SOE and Amokura fame, whanging through the narrow Kyles causing me to put the helm down each time to mitigate their steep wash, planing hulls or not.

I am Jaap Ording from Ording Blockmakers and I read Classic Boat every month.

I am happy to see that there are often yachts in the magazine that use my blocks and other products I supply.

I have also been following the story about the special restoration of Baruna with interest. I do have a comment on parts of the last article, which I think are not correct. In the article it says that wooden blocks with the current rigging would have to be very bulky to be able to withstand the forces created by the rig with modern materials. That is nonsense.

You always need the correct amount of material for each force. It does not matter whether it is a modern or traditional block. The material must have the right thickness, width and pin diameter. What does matter is how you shape it. My colleague blockmakers and I could have made nice, compact, classic looking ones without them looking bulky.

Probably more suitable for a classic yacht than modern stu .

It also says that nickel aluminium bronze is di cult to process. I process it almost daily, and I work with a number of companies that CNC machine nickel aluminium bronze for me and they find it no more di cult to

While I admire many classic motor yachts I believe the time has passed to encourage the production of new powered vessels, certainly those with large horsepower. Two of the vessels featured in your Awards have a combined horsepower of 2,240hp!

I am still haunted by an incident when I had a summer student job aboard Highland Seabird a passenger ferry with twin 1,100hp. Heading to Tarbert 50 years ago at 26 knots down the same East Kyle of Bute a VHF call came from a nearby elegant ketch ‘I say you b...ers you’ve spilt our gin’. Quite!

Scott Raeburn

A chip o the old block

process than stainless steel. Actually, easier as it is not as hard but still has the same strength.

They also make winches from that material and I have just supplied large nickel aluminium bronze winches to the Willow Wren, a predecessor of the Cariad – built a decade earlier – for which the same company also supplied the winches.

Tom Cunli e was also on the project last year to give rigging advice.

Again Baruna is a beautiful project. It is important that it was done and I have a lot of admiration for that but I think these two small things have not been correctly described by the author.

Jaap Ording, Ording Blokken

Lockheed log

I have recently had sight of a logbook for motor cruiser Lockheed which featured in ‘Tell Tales’, Classic Boat December 2024.

The logbook outlines summer cruising in 1939 from May to August when she was as far west as Mounts Bay in Cornwall. I have been lent the logbook by the book’s owner in case it was of archival interest here at St Michaels Mount. The logbook is in brilliant condition. It is amazing how they have managed to keep it in such good condition whilst being on board the boat. By chance, I showed it to a fellow boatman, who is a long-time reader of Classic Boat, and spotted the connection. It may be possible to find further details of the logbook’s provenance.

If possible, please would you pass this information on to Lockheed’s owner, perhaps with a respectful enquiry as to whether he knows any details of the original owner?

I look forward to hearing from you. Many thanks,

Josh Sedgeman

Head Boatman & Harbour Master

Next month

AWARDS 2025

The best boats of the last year

REDECKING CAMBRIA

The world’s only surviving 23-M yacht, Fife III’s great Cambria , was a project bigger than building a lesser boat from new

30 YEARS AGO

APRIL 1995, CB82

UNIVERSAL APPEAL

The recent surge in restorations of the exciting, dangerous American P Class yachts

PLUS…

Small, Greek and unique – the junk-rigged Nootka ; Tall Ship sailing in the Baltic; the 90-year-old disabled explorer; Liuzzi/Dior runabout glamour

MAY 2025 ISSUE ON SALE

09 April, 2025

Or why not subscribe?

If you were to put together a top ten list of the most beautiful sailing yachts ever produced, it’s quite likely that, like mine, yours would be dominated by boats of the 1920s and 30s. My list would also include Marigold – easily. Her wildly opulent Victorian lines (the whole boat seems to be a single pen-stroke of sheer) have to be seen in the flesh to be believed. But the story of how she came to be restored is something else, the story of a young man, Greg Powlesland, and an impossible dream way beyond his budget. It took him a decade just to find a financial backer to restore the wreck of Charles Nicholson’s 60ft gaff cutter from 1892. One response to his plea came in the form of a letter from an MS Gooding, who replied with the following words: “Sir. I read with interest the article concerning the young man’s bid for people to subscribe to enable him to follow his hobby of boat restoring. Sir, am I missing out on something? My hobbies are chorus girls, wine, women and song. May I please ask you to appeal for subscribers on my behalf, in order that I may follow my hobbies to the full?” Time may have altered the context, but the only ‘chorus girls’ I know sing in the local village choir, and they’re all over 70. As for Marigold , I saw her recently in Barcelona, afloat but looking a little tired. Even in that state, she’s enough to stop you in your tracks, and I hope her future remains bright. Elsewhere in the magazine, we pay a visit to the Mystic Seaport museum in Connecticut. Have you been? If not, it’s more than worth the return trip.

IN THE APRIL ISSUE

 High-latitudes sailing in Greenland

 A practical guide to launching your season

 Scotland in Spring? Solo to the Outer Hebrides

 New yacht test: Beneteau Oceanis 37.1 from France

 Triumph and tears: the tale of this year’s Vendee Globe

 Charter sailor’s guide to Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica

Available online or ordernow post-freefrom chelseamagazines.com/shop

To have your boat and eat it too Sternpost

Martin van der Wal chooses from the menu of sailing experiences

Boats and food, no, this is not a treatise on provisioning your vessel for a voyage, although some cross-over might be attempted. No, it is an attempt to reframe the most common impressions surrounding boat ownership. I’m drawing parallels between two activities: sailing your boat and sitting down to eat a meal. When we go out to a restaurant, we expect a bill at the end of the meal. We judge the meal as worth the cost or not. One thing we don’t expect is that we are in some way going to make a financial profit from our meal. We accept the fact that we have paid for the satisfaction the meal has provided us with. It seems obvious when framed in such a way that owning a boat relies on a similar cost-satisfaction ratio because let’s face it: very few of us will make a financial profit from boat ownership.

What makes a satisfying meal? Fortunately, everyone has different tastes. So it is with boat ownership. Sailing is a smorgasbord. Some people are the meat and three veg types; others want it hot and spicy. For some, fast food is the only meal worth eating, others have joined the slow-food revolution. Most, however, fall in the middle, they want their cake and eat it, too. Both comfort and speed are desired. Tradition has it that our vessels are of the feminine gender. Some unkind comparisons are sometimes blurted out as owners fossick in the bilges for elusive parts or pull on a corner in the vain hope of retrieving a sheet. With ever-increasing numbers of female owners, it’s only fair that they might characterise their boats as of the male gender. Derogatory language must also be excused as sails come down in a heap, and the centre board refuses to enter the slot. I digress, where was I?

Comfort and speed: they say you can’t have both. Comfort food is slow-cooked, rich in taste, warm, and filling. It has a high ballast ratio, a low centre of effort, and an easy motion. Fast food slides around the plate, trying to blow away or land in your lap. It’s wrapped in plastic, tastes like cardboard, gives you a quick sugar hit and a spasmodic motion.

Tastes differ, but they do fall into categories: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savoury. And then there’s the elusive umami. If you own a boat for any length of time, all of these tastes will have passed your palate in different proportions; a fine balance makes an agreeable meal or a good boat.

‘Flavour,’ is the combination of taste on the tongue and the tickling of the olfactory nerves combined. We have all been on fast boats of the plastic persuasion. Seeing that wake peel off behind us as we stand under the firehose coming from the foredeck, is, let’s face it, a sweet sensation, but like most sweet things, the palate tires of it. We go below to have a rest, what do we smell? An unappetising odour of artificial resins still lingers. For the type of foodie who prizes authenticity, local ingredients

and natural products, the flavour is lacking. So, what does such a person desire? Perhaps the slippery umami, a subtle mix of salty and meaty, with a lingering perfume of old wine barrels? You can see where this is leading can’t you?

Negotiating worn wood with bare feet we step below decks, she’s an old one; imagine if we could read the story her wake has traced out across deep waters over a long and eventful life? She’s full and bye in a fresh blow, gently heaving her graceful body through the swells, parting the combing crests effortlessly. A quiet shush envelopes us as we descend, gripping handrails worn smooth by generations of calloused hands, the history speaks wordlessly. A sensitive restoration based on antiquarian principles has been careful to preserve her historical and aesthetic values.

You’re off the middle-watch tucked into a snug lee-side berth, a last thought that crosses your weary mind is the powerful link between the sense of smell and our memories. It’s a drifting thought, a question really, when I remember this wonderful moment in the future, will I also remember the warm woody, salty tang that accompanies it? The soft rush of water past the planking by your head carries you swiftly away to never-never land.

Stepping up on deck, hot mug in hand, you cast an eye over the weather horizon as the just-risen sun pierces bright beams through low clouds over grey-blue water. The morning watch is reluctant to leave the helm. She has entered a state of fusion with the rushing water, the sighing breeze, the easy motion, the expanding light. Giving her the hot mug you go below to pour yourself another from the old copper kettle.

There’s no doubt, long-term ownership of this old yacht has been a sacrifice. A not insubstantial amount of money, time, and effort has disappeared in her wake. But what a meal it has been, a fine dining experience with multiple courses. Everything on the plate has not only looked succulent but tasted exceptional. The delightful flavours linger long after leaving the table.

Steak and kidney pie – what a wooden yacht would be if it were on a plate