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NOVEMBER 2026

£6.75 US$14.30

L E G AC Y · C O M M U N I T Y · P R E S E RVAT I O N · S T Y L E

YARD REPORT 2026 Health, challenges and outlook 14 boatyards from across the world

Broads One Design

When to Reef?

Powerboat Pioneers

24ft success story 125 years in the making

Shortening sail when the wind kicks in

The story of Dorothy Levitt & Joe Carstairs

www.classicboat.co.uk

ALL POINTS NORTH

IRINA VII

After 76 years on the water Berthon Boat Co’s fast cruising yacht Northele has survived intact through a series of owners and changes of name to end up with a family in Eire that loves to cruise and race in style WORDS AND PHOTOS NIGEL SHARP

CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2026

IRINA VII VIVA

AQUA VIVA Designed by Sonny Levi, Viva Tridanté! had a short racing career and then spent nearly 30 years out of the water. Now under new ownership she has survived Covid on the hard and mellowed into a new role as family cruiser WORDS AND PHOTOS BY NIC COMPTON

atthew and Ronnie Reed were looking for a family boat to cruise the local waters near their home in Kingswear, in Devon, UK, when they spotted a rare – some might say collectable – boat for sale. Viva Tridanté! was a 23ft speedboat designed by Sonny Levi which raced several times in the Cowes-Torquay Race – the European equivalent of the Miami-to-Nassau Race – and won her class in the Torbay 100 race in 1970, beating the likes of Sir Max Aitken on his famous (and much bigger) Gypsy Girl. There’s even Pathé news footage of her holding her own amongst some of the top racing boats of the day, a plucky little pocket rocket battling against the elements and helping to cement the Levi legend. Despite all this history, a 1960s offshore racing powerboat isn’t an obvious choice for a family with two young children, but then the Reeds weren’t looking for ‘obvious’. Matthew grew up messing around on boats on the River Dart, starting with a Mirror dinghy and moving on to a variety of open launches fitted with small engines. He joined the Royal Navy aged 18 and by the age of 28 was captain of a 68ft patrol boat capable of over 25 knots. Since then, his boating has been almost entirely of the sailing variety, including competing in six Fastnet Races, several Cowes Weeks and a Sydney-to-Hobart. His most recent campaign was racing the 1963 Maxi Kialoa II in the 2023 Fastnet. Matthew and Ronnie both have an interest in retro objects – indeed Ronnie owns a Renault 4 van, of which she estimates there are only two original ones left in the UK, making it rarer than a Ferrari – so a vintage boat appealed to them both. They looked at classic British motor launches such as Fairey Huntresses and Fairey Huntsmen, but they all needed too much work, and they could find “nothing exciting” in GRP. Matthew was amazed when he spotted the old Cowes-toTorquay race veteran for sale a few miles up the coast in Poole. Even though it was a much racier boat than they had imagined and CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2026

IRINA VII

CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2026

BROAD & STRONG To date more than 80 of these miniature international racing yachts have been built, almost all of which remain in Norfolk and Suffolk where Broads One Design racing remains extremely popular WORDS AND PICTURES RICHARD JOHNSTONE-BRYDEN ADDITIONAL PHOTOS TRUMAN FAMILY ARCHIVE

he Norfolk and Suffolk Broads are home to one of the world’s oldest fleets of One Design keel boats. Conceived for competition on coastal and inland waters by amateur helmsmen, the 24ft gaff rigged Broads One Design (BOD) has been a much loved part of the East Anglian regatta circuit for 125 years. The advent of a GRP version in 1987 to compete on equal terms against the surviving wooden BODs has triggered the biggest sustained building spree in the fleet’s history as it continues to appeal to some of the region’s most successful sailors. The BOD’s story began in 1900 when Frank Corbett and his brother Tod sponsored the development of a class of identical keel boats. They believed that the new class would offer clear cut racing at a much lower cost than the professionally crewed racing yachts that were being built to cutting edge designs to compete on the Broadland regatta circuit. The Corbett brothers commissioned the Naval Architect Linton Hope to produce a design that could be built to their requirements for £50. He responded by drafting the lines for a miniature international racing yacht of the period that is arguably the most elegant of all the One Design classes to have been built for the Broads. The hull’s long flowing lines culminate in a shallow spoon bow and a flat counter stern. Amidships, there is a surprisingly spacious cockpit capable of taking three adults – class rules restrict the number of crew to a maximum of three adults (1 helm and 2 crew) while racing, although each adult member of crew can be replaced by two children to help encourage the next generation of BOD sailors. The mast is mounted in a tabernacle to ensure it can be easily lowered and raised to negotiate the various bridges that cross the Broadland rivers, while the simple sail plan merely consists of a mainsail and jib. All halyards and the topping lift lead through the deck and are made fast below. The Corbetts managed to persuade three other sailors to place orders for the new BOD. However, they could not be built for the target price of £50, without compromising on the standard of finish, so the first five owners accepted a doubling of the costs to £100. The five craft were built by the Burnham Yacht Building Company and delivered to Oulton Broad by rail in early 1901. With the notable exception of the third BOD, Flittermouse, which was named after a bat, all of the BODs were named after birds found on the Broads – a tradition that continues to be observed to this day, although the scope has since been CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2026

REEFING

CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2026

KNOT THAT EASY Tom offers some valuable advice on reefing with plenty of first hand experience

Lester McCarthy

WORDS AND PHOTOS TOM CUNLIFFE

ays are growing shorter and autumn is upon us with winds piping up. Some boats are already being laid up for winter, but plenty of us keep on sailing, hoping to grab that chance when the air is crisp, the breeze strong and fresh, and there’s nobody else out there. Apart from having to stoke up the cabin bogey stove for a proper warm-up once the anchor’s down, CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2026

BOATYARDS

CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2026