SALES, CHARTER & MANAGEMENT

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125 ft Classic Sailing Yacht

MARIQUITA
MARIQUITA is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful classic yachts sailing today. Year: 1911
Designed and built for industrialist Arthur Stothert by William Fife III she was launched in 1911 at Fairlie on the Clyde Designer: William Fife III
river in Scotland. As a gaff rigged cutter of the 19 Metre Class MARIQUITA is a direct link to the historic Big Class and Builder: W. Fife & Son, Fairlie
a precursor to the J-Class that would follow in the 1930s.
Type: First International Rule 19 Metre
When launched MARIQUITA caught the imagination of everyone that followed sailing just before the First World War
and, over a hundred years later, she still does since being entirely restored by Fairlie Restorations in 2003 following Length: 38.10 metres
the highest standards in wooden construction. The same year she set sail once again and is now one of the stars of Beam: 5.30 metres
the Classic Circuit. Over the last decade she has sailed on the Clyde, Cowes, Falmouth, and countless Mediterranean Sail area: 6,171 sq ft upwind
regattas including Monaco Classic Week, Regates Royales de Cannes and Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez.
Keel: 36 ton of lead
Photos credit Ben Wood

She represents a unique opportunity to enter into the exclusive classic sailing yachts circuit and enjoy the excitements
of racing on such a legendary magnificent yacht.
She also offers great comfort and refined interior accommodation for cruising in the Mediterranean Sea or else where.
Winning the Panerai Big Boat Mediterranean Series in 2014 and the UK Series in 2015.

FRANCE: Montpellier (Head Ofce), Paris, La Ciotat MONACO BERNARD GALLAY Yacht Brokerage
ITALY SWITZERLAND SPAIN: Palma de Mallorca RUSSIA: Moscow 1 rue Barthez - 34000 Montpellier - France
TURKEY: Ismir HONG KONG CARIBBEAN: Grenada USA: California Tel. +33 467 66 39 93 - info@bernard-gallay.com
www.bernard-gallay.com
ROB PEAKE, EDITOR

WHOSE PARTY IS THIS?

The 1968/69 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race is as much etched in the minds of French sailors
as British, but the concept, sponsorship, most of the competitors and the eventual winner all
came from Britain. However, when the organisers of next years anniversary event (a re-run of the

L
PP
original race in 1960s yachts and kit) approached locations on the English south coast with the idea
of hosting the start, to their surprise the response was far from warm. Negotiations stalled with rst
Falmouth and then Plymouth, the reasons ranging from a lack of interest to demands for money and red
tape. So now the race will start and nish in Les Sables dOlonne. The French will do it proud. But meanwhile
Falmouth and Plymouth, both with historic links to the race, have missed out in dismal fashion on hosting an event
that would attract thousands of visitors and commemorates something central to our maritime past.
COVER PHOTO: MARK LLOYD
ISSUE No 354

classicboat.co.uk
Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place,
CONTENTS 44
COVER STORY
SONATA STYLE

London, SW3 3TQ

EDITORIAL
4 . SONATA
Editor Rob Peake
+44 (0)207 349 3755
A beautiful Alden design brought back
rob.peake@classicboat.co.uk to life by the dedication of one family
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steffan@classicboat.co.uk COVER STORY
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CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 3

 PERFECT
COMPOSITION
The 1937 Alden sloop Sonata was found dead
in a Mallorcan forest. Just look at her now
WORDS STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES PHOTOGRAPHS NICO MARTINEZ
SONATA
O
n an April day in 2005, Jordi Cabau drew
back a plastic tarpaulin on a makeshift
wooden hangar among the Mallorcan pine
trees, to see what lay inside. The forested
interior of the largest island in the Balearic archipelago
must have veiled many secrets over the years, but this
one was extraordinary. Inside was the 1937 masthead
sloop Sonata, drawn by Carl Alberg of the Alden design
ofce. It was enough of a nd in itself, but what made it
doubly interesting was the similarity to the yacht Jordi
and wife Heidi had found on the same island, where they
live, ve years earlier.
That yacht was Mercury, designed by Sam Crocker (a
fellow disciple of the Alden ofce) and built in 1938, to
the same construction method and with the same rig,
offset companionway and double carvel build method, at
just 70cm longer. Both boats were built in Boston,
Massachusetts, a few miles away from each other. The
Cabaus bought Mercury and had her restored by local
shipwright Mateo Grimald, and she was re-launched in
2002. We covered the story of Mercury in 2013, after
sailing aboard her with the Cabaus at the Puig Vela
Clssica regatta in Barcelona. I had always wondered
what would possess a family to own two boats of such
striking similarity, and vowed to return to learn about
the second boat, Sonata. And so it was that this summer,
I shipped once more aboard with the Cabaus, motoring
out of Barcelonas busy inner harbour to the Catalonian
coastline, for a day of racing on Sonata. This time we
sailed unreefed in 25 knots of wind, and for those of us
switching from weather rail to weather rail as we tacked
6 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Top row, l-r: the upwind, it was a hell of a ride, all of us completely
original compass soaked, but happy enough in 35 deg C of heat.
binnacle; She needed rescuing, is Jordi and Heidis simple
spinnaker pole answer to the question of why he and the family decided
and hatch; jib to take Sonata on. Clearly Jordi is captivated by her
sheet track lines, which he describes as harmoniously shaped and
Bottom row, l-r: with a very delicate sheer. The American designer was a
new windlass; master at creating vanishing lines between the curves of
original wheel the deck camber and deck house; the different elements
and nut; new of the tackle result in incomparable harmonies. The
mainsheet blocks cockpit is of the typical Alden shape, and there are no
edges anywhere. Any potential hard edges and corners,
such as on the coachroof and coamings, are nished with
half-round lids.
Although the boat is attributed to the Alden design
ofce, the American in question was, in fact, Carl
Alberg, who worked at the Alden ofce from 1929-
1941, during which time he drew the lines for many
beautiful, race-winning yachts like 53ft yawl Tioga Too
and 39ft ketch Staghound, two-time winner of the
Transpac (1953 and 1955). His work there was marked
out by moderate proportions and clean lines, in the
traditional mould. After the war, Alberg went on to
design a series of well-regarded and popular GRP classics
like the Alberg 35 but thats another story.
Back in 2005, in the wooden hangar in someones
garden set among the Mallorcan pines, that clean-lined
Alberg aesthetic must have been hard to understand. It
always takes vision to see the swan in the ugly duckling
(whether we are talking houses or boats), but having
restored Mercury C, Jordi knew that he was looking at
 SONATA

DESIGNER
John G Alden
BUILDER
FF Pendleton,
1937
LOA
49ft (14.9m)
LWL
34ft 6in (10.5m)
BEAM
12ft (3.7m)
DRAUGHT
6ft 3in (1.9m)
SAIL AREA
1,335sq ft (124m2)
DISPLACEMENT
14.2 tonnes
SONATA
something of similar loveliness. Wed never have done it
again without Mateo, he added, who masterminded
both restorations.
Sonata was in a pretty advanced state of decrepitude,
her former owner having taken her apart to start a
restoration that then stalled. The rst job was to the hull,
which like that of Mercury is of the rare (although not so
much in American yachts) construction method of
double carvel. The idea is intriguing, something like a
prototype of cold moulding, with two layers of thinner
carvel planking taking the place of one. The inner layer
is in red cedar and the outer in mahogany, the two skins
totalling 32mm, less than many wooden yachts in this
size range have in a single thickness. So any initial
thoughts of the method creating a heavier boat must be
set aside. As the planks overlap, there is no need for
caulking, and less movement topsides. Both layers rebate
into solid, 40mm-thick, single mahogany garboards that
connect the hull to the wooden keel. The result is smooth
topsides, and a strong, lightly framed hull (all timbered
with many oors) that weighs just 14 tonnes. It is an
interesting method that might be worth considering for
anyone building a new boat traditionally today.
As the boat was too delicate to tow, Mateo and team
did the rst phase of the work in situ, making the hull
strong again by replacing the frames. It was basically
some wood, recalls Tanit with a smile, the youngest of
the three Cabau daughters sailing with us. It could have
been worse: only partial replanking was needed, and a
lot of work to the keelson, but the original lead keel still
hangs off the bottom. After that followed bulkheads,
panels, deckbeams and deck, to the swept-teak-over-ply-
substrate method that has become pretty much de
rigueur. Its a sort of deck that causes much controversy
because, say the detractors, water can seep between teak
and plywood, spread by capillary action and rot out
large areas. In the case of Sonata (and Mercury for that
matter, whose deck was laid 15 years ago), it looks as
good today as it did new.
The hollow spruce mast, boom and spinnaker pole
were made by Wesley Massam of Noble Masts in
England, who drove it to Spain with a modied trailer
behind a pick-up truck. It was a long mast, recalls
Wesley, who inherited the business from his father
Richard Noble (now 77). Richard bought the patent for
8 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
this kind of mast from its inventor (around 1980) Barry
Noble, and these days, the method is well-known as the
birds mouth method, which produces an almost
unbreakable spar (they have lifetime guarantees, but so
far none has been sent back).
Interior, rig, sails and systems followed, including a
new centreline-installed Yanmar diesel driving the prop
shaft through an aperture in the deadwood. Originality
was a keyword from the get-go, and the Cabaus were
lucky enough to be able to source the original Alden
ofce plans (shes design number 648, originally built for
a Robert R Williams in Detroit).
The masthead bermudan sloop rig has remained the
same, as has the interior, with the two-tiered (inboard
and outboard) saloon bunks, separate aft cabin and
galley up forward to port. The only thing that has
changed is a little space-saving (by virtue of a smaller,
modern diesel) in the aft cabin.
ORIGINAL FITTINGS
Many of the interior and deck ttings remain original.
Thanks to the precision of Sonatas drawings, those that
had been lost could be replicated precisely in bronze by
GD Boote in Germany. Detailed, scaled drawings of
every tting make a huge difference to the authenticity of
a restoration, and after even just a few years use, the
new parts are indistinguishable from the old.
The whole steering system, from the wooden rudder
to the wheel via the mechanism, has remained original.
Its my job to grease it, says Tanit, who knows it well.
The day came in 2008, when it was time for Sonata
to make her way to her berth, next to the other yacht,
Mercury. Trafc stopped and people stared to
watch an apparition slowly winding along narrow
roads, 12 miles from the sea. The lift and the journey
Below: on the were among the most nerve-racking operations of the
bottom right is entire process.
shipwright Mateo By 2008, Sonata was up and running and celebrated
Grimalt. Reading her return to the element in style, taking a well-deserved
left from him are: concours delegance at that summers Puig Vela Clssica
Tanit (youngest in Barcelona, not to mention rst place overall in the
daughter), Marc racing not bad at all for a regatta of this stature, which
(Tanits nephew), sees around 50 of the best known and hardest
then owners campained classic yachts in the world hit the racecourse
Jordi and Heidi in earnest. And the Puig is no driftathon either its
almost always windy. The 25 knots of wind we
experienced are not unusual at this race.
These days, the Cabaus keep both boats themselves. If
you shudder at the thought of maintaining two 50-foot
wooden yachts in concours condition (and they both
are), in the hot Spanish sun, you might be surprised to
hear that it only takes Jordi and Tanit a week once a year
to re-varnish both of them. If you keep your boat in
good condition, its easier to keep up with it, Tanit
points out.
Every May or June, Tanit goes over the boat with
220-grit paper and no power tools. The most shell use is
a simple sanding block for the straight runs not that
there are many on boats as beautiful as this and Jordi
follows with the varnish brush. He uses Awlgrip
Awlbright, a three-pack nish that lasts at least one
Mediterranean season of blistering sun, salt water and
movement on deck. Everything exposed to the
 Top: the interior is mostly in rich
mahogany, which is offset nicely by the
painted white panels. In terms of layout
shes much the same as designed; the
original plans were consulted at every
stage of the restoration
Above: Sonata (to leeward) sails with
Mercury at the 2017 match-race
Right: original loo and mirror in the heads

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 9

SONATA
atmosphere gets renished annually and the cockpit,
which usually wears a cover, is done every two to three
years. It helps if you enjoy it its my hobby says Tanit,
who is reading architecture in London. As a Mallorquin
with sea in her blood, she nds it a joy to escape from
London to the sun to work on the two boats every year.
Mateo, who also lives on Mallorca, is very busy with
high-end bespoke carpentry at the moment, but he has
remained a part of Sonata and Mercury, covering the
more complex jobs that come up from time to time and
occasionally sailing with the Cabaus.
So thats the how, which still leaves the why. Boat
collectors are nothing new in the classic world far from
it. But to have two boats that are so very similar seems
puzzling. The primary reason was, as Jordi and Heidi
have both told me, because they couldnt bear to see a
boat as beautiful as Sonata dying in secret in a pine
forest. Beyond that, its taken the Cabaus some time to
work out what to do with each.
These days, Sonata has become the primary yacht to
use for regattas, which is why we were all out that day
off the Barcelonian coastline, just two months before the
city became the centre of a bloody bid for Catalonian
independence. Barcelona was experiencing something of
a heatwave at the time, with temperatures the highest
that have ever been recorded, mutitudes of souls weaving
peacefully around the great city on skateboards,
hoverboards, bicycles and scooters. Sonatas regatta
pedigree comes simply in the fact that she rates much
better under CIM than Mercury. However, both boats
have been restored with cruising in mind, which is the
Cabaus favourite activity the regatta racing is an
adjunct to that.
Its often noted how serious classic yacht racing has
become, with unsympathetic boat modernisations,
professional crew and some pretty odd attitudes at times.
One gets the impresson that the Cabaus have found it all
a bit OTT. Nevertheless, a new suit of sails, designed by
Guido Calavazi of North Sails, has helped Sonata stay in
10 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Above, clockwise the silver she won the Puig Vela Clssica overall in
from top left: the 2016, which is no mean feat at all.
original frames As for the difference between the two well, in the
still in place; the grand scheme of things, there arent many. But of course,
planking coming when you know boats well, each dances to a slightly
off; the hull different beat. Mercury is bigger I always think of her
complete; as the more masculine boat, says Tanit. Sonata is more
dry-tting the feminine in nature. Shes lighter, and dances on the waves.
cockpit coaming; Shes harder to control in fact Mercury just tracks
consulting the through the waves more easily. In terms of handling, the
original plans; only signicant difference (both are masthead bermudans
starting the with running backstays on Highelds) is placement of the
interior and deck mainsheet winch. Sonatas is in front, with Mercurys at
the aft of the cockpit. Sonatas arrangement is more
comfortable, says Tanit, as it keeps the mainsheet
operator away from the helm, giving the helm more space
to manoeuvre.
In terms of appearance, there is again little to choose:
both are from good American naval architects at the
peak of one of the golden ages in yacht design. Mercury
is a little beamier and has noticeably less freeboard, and
perhaps for that reason, when push comes to shove, both
Heidi and Tanit concede she might have the edge in
elegance, although asking any Cabau which one they
prefer is like asking a parent which of their children they
prefer, so it must be asked with a little trepidation!
A month after the Puig Vela Clssica in Barcelona,
Tanit and her two sisters held a suprise joint birthday
party for their parents at home in Mallorca. The surprise
was a match race between the two boats, to celebrate 15
years of boat ownership and Sonatas 80th birthday.
Everyone who had been part of Mercury and Sonata
over the years was present, including the all-important
Mateo, whod carved a trophy from local almond wood
of the two yachts for the occasion. On Sonata, Jordi and
Tanits sister Lara were rst to the windward mark,
where they waited for Mercury , sailed by Heidi and
Mateos almond Tanit, which won the downwind leg back home. Next
wood trophy year, when Mercurys 80, theyll do it all again.
 MEMBER OF THE ROBBE & BERKING FAMILY

VA R U N A
( e x W H I T E H E AT H E R ) NJORD
1909 A. R I C H A R D S O N 12 M R G A F F C U T T E R 1918 J O H A N N A N K E R 8 M R
LOA: 18.02m B E A M : 3.48m D R A F T : 2.28m P R I C E : 375.000 LOA: 13.80m B E A M : 2.39m D R A F T : 1.75m P R I C E : 150.000

WOLKUSE THULA
1908 I N T E R N AT I O N A L S O N D E R C L A S S 72 R O YA L H U I S M A N K E T C H 1985
LOA: 10.40m B E A M : 1.98m DRAFT: 1.60m P R I C E : 95.000 LOA: 21.90m BEAM: 5.00m DRAFT: 2.90m P R I C E : 890.000

+ 4 9 ( 0 ) 4 6 1 3 1 8 0 3 0 6 5 | B A U M + K O E N I G @ C L A S S I C - YA C H T S . D E | W W W. C L A S S I C - YA C H T S . C O M
Logbook Out and about

Maine magic
PHOTOGRAPHS BY BENJAMIN MENDLOWITZ

The New England classic eet gathered in Maine in August for

the annual WoodenBoat Series, which is made up of the Castine 5

Classic Yacht Race on Thursday, the Camden Classic Yacht

Regatta (the feeder race from Camden to Brooklin) on Friday,
and the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta on Saturday. This year, the
30th anniversary of the Camden Classic, the sailors were treated
to some misty conditions and light winds, not that that
dampened events shoreside, especially the famed Eggemoggin
barbecue. The eet ranged in size from 25ft to 90ft with a wide
variety of boats, from classes like the NY32s, NY30s and
Concordia Yawls to one-of-a-kind designs. The series was
preceded by a symposium at Maine Maritime Academy on the
career of Danish designer Aage Nielsen. An historic Nielsen eet
assembled for the event more in a future issue of Classic Boat.

2 3
 6 7

1 1944 Luders 24 Leaf, skippered by Chris Bouzaid, Castine

to Camden 2 1936 S&S NY-32 Falcon, skippered by Bob
Scott, Castine to Camden on the helm is Maine sailor
Courtney Koos, who also crews on NY50 Spartan in the
Med 3 1953 S&S Loki yawl Fofer at the Eggemoggin
Reach Race nish 4 Start line with Herreshoff design
Nellie (sail no3) 5 Young crew on 1983 Ted Brewer
Friendship sloop Lucy Bell, ERR nish 6 1950 Folkboat
Niva rowing to the anchorage after the wind died at the
ERR nish 7 Immo van der Linde atop the gaff of 1904
Herreshoff NY30 Alera, skippered by his father Claas van
der Linde, ERR start 8 1902 Herreshoff Buzzards Bay 30
Mashnee, skippered by Jan Rozendaal, en route from
Camden to Brooklin

8
Tell Tales
LES SABLES DOLONNE, FRANCE
Golden Globe Race re-run goes to France
There was disappointment for British
sailors as it was announced that the
2018 Golden Globe Race will start
from France. The race, celebrating the
50th anniversary of the original event
in 1968/9 that led to the rst solo
non-stop circumnavigation, will start
from Les Sables dOlonne on Sunday
July 1, 2018.
The race organisers' initial plans
were to have the start and nish on
the English south coast, but
negotiations with rst Falmouth in
Cornwall and then Plymouth in Devon
fell through, despite both ports
having strong historical connections
to the race.
In the original race, all of the
competitors started from the English
south coast, except for John Ridgway,
who left from Inishmore, Ireland.
The French, however, have
welcomed the event with open arms
and Les Sables dOlonne will host a
two-week celebration of the origins
of solo sailing in the port prior to the
start of the round-the-world odyssey.
Yannick Moreau, President of the
Sables dOlonne Agglomeration, said:
SAINT-TROPEZ, FRANCE
Tilly XV takes the Centenary Trophy
Tilly XV
1912
NIGEL SHARP
14 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Classic Boats address:
Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place,
London, SW3 3TQ
cb@classicboat.co.uk
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"The Golden Globe Race 2018 could
not have chosen a better port in
Europe to organise the start and nish
of such a legendary race that has
attracted sailors and adventurers
from all over the world.
The Sables dOlonne
Agglomeration, the city and the
Vende partners will be happy to
offer the Vende Globe channel and
public support to these adventurers
who will take off 50 years after Sir
Robin KnoxJohnston, Bernard
Moitessier and their companions on
the 'long route'."
However, before the start of the
2018 event, the entire eet of
traditional long-keeled yachts will
participate in a Suhaili Parade of Sail
PPL MEDIA
in Falmouth, Cornwall, on 14 June to
mark the day that Sir Robin Knox-
Johnston set out 50 years earlier.
Above: race The port of Les Sables dOlonne, Sir Robin, on Suhaili, will lead
chairman Don home of the Vende Globe, is happy Bernard Moitessiers Joshua, Sir
McIntyre (left) and to welcome the Golden Globe Race, Francis Chichesters Gipsy Moth IV
Yannick Moreau the father of all the solo round-the- and Sir Alec Roses Lively Lady in a
Top: RJK returns world events, a pure race that places sail around Falmouth Harbour, to be
victorious to man and not the machine at the heart saluted by the Golden Globe Race
Falmouth in 1969 of this maritime adventure. skippers and other spectator craft.
The Sonderklass yacht Tilly XV has won the Centenary Trophy, organised
annually by the Gstaad Yacht Club at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, which
took place in October. The race is for boats a century or more in age and is
run with a staggered start, with the aim of a group nish.
Tilly XV has had an exciting season, having raced at Antigua Classic
Yacht Regatta in April, where she lost her mast on day one. Woodstock
Boatbuilders worked day and night to get her a rig back and she was
racing again on day four.
After Antigua, Tilly XVs season continued as she was transported to the
Med, where she has been causing cameras to click wildly as photographers
spot her unusual dimensions 19ft (5.8m) on the water, very low freeboard
and a sizeable 550sqft (51m2) of sail.
As ever, she was sailed expertly at the Rolex-sponsored Saint-Tropez
regatta, where in the Centenary Trophy she had some hot competition, not
least Bruno Troubl in his newly restored P-Class Chips.
Tilly XV was built in 1912 for the brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia.
She was designed by Willi von Hacht. She has been in the same ownership
since 1992 and last year won the North American Panerai series in the day
racer class.
The Centenarians Race was founded in 2011 by the Gstaad Yacht Club.
CANNES, FRANCE
Panerai challenge Med
winners announced
The winners of the 2017 Panerai
Classic Yachts Challenge were
announced at Rgates Royales de
Cannes in September. The event is the
nal regatta in the Panerai European
series and the overall winners take
home a much-coveted Panerai watch.
This year, ve races were held in light
breezes, and the eventual winners
were Halloween in the Big Boats,
Linnet in Vintage and Ganbare in the
Classic class.
Victory was especially sweet for
the crew of the 1926 bermudan cutter
Halloween, as she nally took the top
step on the podium for the rst time
in her 10th year in the Panerai Classic
Yachts Challenge. Designed and built
by Wm Fife III and launched in 1926,
she set a record for the Fastnet Race
in 1927 that stood for 12 years and is
variously referred to as the rst
cruiser/racer and the most beautiful
boat ever built. The 71-footer (21.7m)
has belonged to a syndicate of Irish
owners since 1999.
This year she was manned by a
non-professional crew from Europe,
New Zealand and Australia, under the
experienced eye of long-term skipper
Inigo Strez.
Her closest rivals were Moonbeam
III (1903) and two-time winner
Cambria (1928), making for an all-Fife
podium.
Herreshoff designs also featured
prominently. Patrizio Bertellis
1905-built NY30 Linnet triumphed in
the vintage category which was the
most ercely contested group with
the NY40s Rowdy and Chinook,
which between them have won the
season an unprecedented ve times.
The NY50, Spartan, was also vying
for the top spot in every race. Linnet,
for her part, had the honour of being
helmed by a slew of legendary sailors
in the course of the season, not least
Max Sirena and Torben Grael. Linnet is
a 43ft 6in (13.2m) racing gaff sloop
designed and built by the Herreshoff
Manufacturing Company for the New
Photographers York Yacht Club, as were the NY40s
James Robinson and NY50.
Taylor, Kathy The 34ft 6in (10.5m) bermudan
Manseld and One Ton sloop Ganbare, built from
others escaped red cedar at the Carl Eichenlaub in
unscathed after San Diego in 1973, made it two in a
this slow-speed row when she repeated her 2016
crash with season victory in the Classic Yachts
Germania Nova category. This is the rst time since
2007 that a yacht has won the
category for two consecutive years,
proof if it were needed of the talent
of Californian designer Doug
Peterson, who died in June.
Ganbare skipped only the Mahon
regatta and at Cannes fended off
tough competition from the 66ft
(20m) Il Moro di Venezia II (1976) and
the 36ft (11m) Ardi (1968).
CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 15
TELL TALES

FAVERSHAM, KENT

Iron Wharf up in ames

A huge re broke out at the Iron Wharf Boatyard at 1.30am on 14 September. Eight boats have been destroyed, as well as three
temporary cabin buildings and a workshop. Six re engines and other vehicles attended the re. Dan Salter from the nearby shop
Creekside Vinyl was on hand to snap this picture on his phone, after being awoken by the re engines. I was moved on by police
due to fears of exploding gas bottles, he said. The re was still raging when I left at 3am. The cause of the re is still unknown,
but Kent Police have since arrested a man in his 30s on suspicion of arson. Iron Wharf Boatyard is home to what must be one of

DAN SALTER
the greatest concentrations of traditional wooden boats under restoration anywhere in Britain. At present, staff at the yard were
unable to conrm the names of the boats lost in the re, but we will update this story as soon as we have more information.

CLASSIC BOAT AWARDS 2018

Looking for the year's best

Last year's winners
Left to right: Oliver
Berking, Yachtsman
of the Year; Artemis,
Traditional New
Build; Toby Marris
and Cindy Schnrich
for Centenarian of
the Year, awarded to
Jolie Brise (pictured)
CALL FOR
In the spring of next year, the Classic Boat
NOMINATIONS We will publish the shortlist in the February issue,
Awards 2018 will celebrate the best of things which is when voting will start on our website. The
in the classic world. We will publish a shortlist
in our February 2018 issue, listing boats and
2018
Awards winners will be announced in the June issue.
Over the years, winners have ranged from the
people to vote for. But before then, we are grand (122ft/37.2m gaff cutter Lulworth, our rst ever
inviting nominations for the shortlist. Restoration of the Year) to the small but perfectly
This is the rst part of the process, and anyone formed (12ft/3.6m Irish trawlers punt Droleen) and from
can nominate boats or people by email to the the inspired (the boatbuilding and sailing adventures of Leo
associate editor, steffan@classicboat.co.uk. Goolden) to the heroic (Tim Jarvis, in Shackletons wake) and
Please restrict your nomination to 100 words or fewer for each everything else in between.
category and type CB Awards 2018 as the subject line.
Remember to include basics like length, year of build, designer, THE CATEGORIES
builder, hull material and rig. A good photo (in high resolution ie Best Restoration, Traditional New Build, Spirit of Tradition,
over a megabyte in size) is a huge bonus. The deadline is Powered Boat, Yachtsman of the Year (can be a non-sailing
15 December, midnight (GMT). achievement).

16 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

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 TELL TALES

INDUSTRY NEWS

Wooden boatbuilding: 8 million a year in Britain

A new industry report from British Marine (formerly
British Marine Federation) conrms a feeling that weve
had at CB for a couple of years: boatbuilding is on the
rise in Britain. Wooden boatbuilding accounted for
about 8 million in revenue for Britain in the last year
and the sector in general is buoyant, despite the
current economic uncertainty.
The UKs leisure marine industry as a whole is worth,
according to British Marine, 3.01 billion, more than a
third of which now comes from boatbuilding. In the last
year, the UK boatbuilding sector grew, with unit
production climbing by 1.5 per cent to 9,907 units.
Revenue increased by a similar amount, generating
850 million (turnover) in 2016. Exports were up by a
staggering 35 per cent, due partly, one suspects, to a
weaker pound. The industry report also shows that
Britain continues to be a leader in the global dinghy
market, and that RIBs and mid-sized motor yachts are
showing particularly strong growth.

INSWORKE QUAY, CORNWALL

Historic home for
Tamar barge
The restored Tamar barge Lynher has moved
from Mashford Boatyard in Plymouth, where she
has been for the last 13 years, to a new home in
neighbouring Cornwall. Insworke Mill Quay is a
historic 16th-century site, recently restored in
keeping with its Grade II listing. Lynher owners
Dominic and Barbara Bridgman describe it as a
paradise for historic vessels. As reported
previously, Lynher was re-launched in May, after
a long, chequered history that includes 37 years
abandoned on the mud and another previous
restoration. The boat is now nearly nished, but
work to her interior, the second phase, has now
begun, to ready her for a programme of
sail-training and events next year.
Lynher is a rare surviving example of a Tamar
barge, a sailing cargo ship that took cargoes
upriver from Plymouth. She is 51ft (15.5m) long
NEWHAVEN, EAST SUSSEX and was built of timber in 1896.

Worlds oldest sailing cargo ship

brings olive oil to England
As we went to press, the 1873 engineless ketch Nordlys was en route for the port
of Newhaven, to deliver 1,000 litres of premium Portuguese olive oil, from where
it will be taken by bicycle courier to the doors of consumers in Brighton and
Hove, as well as to collection points in London. Its the latest in a growing trend
for small-scale transport by sail. This cargo has been put together by The Sail
Cargo South East partnership, with Recharge Cargo bike couriers, and New
Dawn Traders and Fair Transport NL, who sail Nordlys. Nordlys is a c70ft (22m)
ketch built of timber on the Isle of Wight in 1873. Shes thought to be the oldest
operating sailing cargo ship in the world, and sails with three full-time crew
members and six trainees. Her previous cargoes have included wine. The olive oil
is similarly ecological and is produced by the Reigado family who grow their
olives without use of chemical fertiliser or pesticides in the nature reserve of Faia
Brava in Portugal. They harvest only about 3,000 litres of olive oil annually.

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 19

 FEEL YOUR HEART RACE AGAIN
BROKERAGE CHARTER NAVAL ARCHITECTURE REFIT

ONNE VAN DER WAL

CLASSIC YACHT LISTINGS

FIDELIO COURAGEOUS W E AT H E R LY
39 SPARKMAN & STEPHENS CLASSIC YAWL 1956 39 SPARKMAN & STEPHENS CLASSIC YAWL 1956 LUDERS 12 METRE 1958
CONTACT CA HARRY MORGAN, CPYB +1 (516) 551-6224 CONTACT CA HARRY MORGAN, CPYB +1 (516) 551-6224 CONTACT CA PAUL BUTTROSE +1 (954) 294-6962

WWW.SPARKMANSTEPHENS.COM
EISCA AUCTION
10 boxes of mystery
archive treasure for 35
In TVs Auction Hunters, locked storage units are bought
sight unseen, in the hope that valuable treasures lie within.
Jane Shaddick (below), the Morgan Giles family archivist,
did just this, bidding for 10 large box les at the recent
EISCA auction: the catalogue just showed a couple of
Exeter Maritime Museum brochures but she took a 35
gamble and bought the heavy, numbered dark-blue les.
Among the 300 items in the 10 boxes was a mixed hoard
of booklets, leaets, monographs and magazines Boatman,
Mariners Mirror, and early Classic Boat. There were
detailed brochures for museums and exhibitions in Britain,
the USA, Australia and Norway.
At least 30 dusty National Maritime Museum technical
monographs appeared, along with the OGAs 1980 Register
of Gaff Rigged Boats and the bicentenary publication for
the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights 1782-1982.
The Morgan Giless also secured four of the familys
dinghies from the auction: 1908 WEC Imp, 1931 Prince of
Wales Cup-winning Catherine, and two International 14s
from the 1920s.
NEW BOOK
History of electric boats
The latest book from CB
contributor Kevin Desmond
charts the history of electric
boats, the earliest form of
powered propulsion, from
1835 to the present. It
includes a section on the
golden age of electric
launches from 1880-1910.
The book is published by
McFarland and is available
online for US$39.95.
WORD OF THE MONTH
Dead reckoning
You probably already know that its the navigational
method based on plotting your position based on course
and speed travelled. But it has an interesting etymology
that is not as well known: according to chart historian John
Blake, writing in The Marine Quarterly, it was originally ded
reckoning, a contraction of deduced reckoning.
Q&A
Olof Hildebrand, Classic Swedish Yachts
The Swede 55 has siblings! Have you
been able to reproduce the magic?
Yes, I think so. In the 1970s I worked
as a lawyer and sailing was my hobby.
I wanted a good family cruiser but
couldnt nd one. We developed the
Swede 55 and it turned out 40 were
built without any marketing. The
newer designs for Classic Swedish
Yachts the 41, 52 and 68 are in
principle the same boat, giving the
same feedback and the feeling of
speed, the same fun, the same strong
build, but today with sophisticated
sandwich construction and a modern
underbody and rig.
You drew on the Skerry Cruisers as
inspiration for the 55. What were the
inuences for the new yachts?
Their beautiful sleek lines, long
waterlines, tall rigs and sailing
abilities. Ive been sailing Skerry
Cruisers since 1936. I call it the
mother of all designs. We developed
the concept, so the Swedish Classic
Yachts range has more interior space,
but the sailing abilities are still there.
Swede 55s won the Transpac and the
Newport-Bermuda. Are your designs
aimed at racing or cruising sailors?
Denitely cruising sailors. People said
the 55 was too narrow for ocean
sailing but the guy who won the
Transpac said it was stable to steer in
any seas downwind. I was more
interested in family cruising. Beauty is
one of the virtues that is so important
in a yacht, but also I try to emphasise
safety and simplicity. You should be
able to sail any boat yourself.
TELL TALES
From where are you expecting to see
most customers the modern boat
world or the classic?
The classic. People who love beautiful
things and who love sailing, who are
not worrying about whether or not
the yacht is going 7 knots or 7.2
knots. The rst priority is not to win
the race, it is to sail a boat that really
responds, a boat that you can trust
and one that gives you lots of fun.
That moment, sitting by the rudder,
feeling the boat really sailing. The
people who understand this and
those who appreciate superb
craftsmanship will be our customers.
What do you like about the Spirit of
Tradition concept?
A modern classic offers so much
more than your average GRP cruiser.
If you look at a boat like a Jeanneau
or a Bavaria, you rarely see people
sailing them. They dont seem to offer
any joy, any fun. So people motor! Its
a oating summer house. The market
for a classical style of yacht will
expand for this reason. Here in the
Baltic, new classic designs are
becoming ever more popular.
The greatest ever yacht designer?
In Sweden I would say it was Gustaf
Estlander (1876-1930). After him, Knud
Reimers (1906-1987). He had the
feeling of beautiful hull lines. Today
Hkan Sdergren is the leading
designer and he has the gift to create
beautiful lines. With the design of the
Swede 68 he has proven his greatness.
classicyachts.se
CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 21
TELL TALES

CLARE MCCOMB
HULL, EAST YORKSHIRE

2017 UK Maritime Heritage Forum

Nearly 100 delegates and speakers
met in Hull in October for the annual
UK Maritime Heritage Forum, run by
National Historic Ships, reports Clare
McComb. They represented national
and local museums, local authorities,
the Heritage Lottery Fund, archives,
universities, private and public boat
preservation organisations and more.
The forum opened with a trio of
assessments of the potential maritime
heritage impact of City/Capital of
Culture schemes, past present and
future (Liverpool 2008, Hull 2017 and
Belfast and Derry, which have applied
for 2023). Later talks described
Above left: Dave successful outreach and HLF training
Parker on the schemes nationwide; and there was
subject of an inspiring account of local plans to
Humber Keels bring Hulls surviving steam trawler
and (right) peace and World War One ghting ship
campaigner Jim back to her home port from South
Radford Georgia, near the Falkland Islands,
followed by a wonderful outline of the
Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation
Societys activities. Jo Byrne from
Hull University gave the human side
through her doctoral project,
interviewing the shing community of
the city, in the wake of the Cod Wars.
A highpoint of the conference was
the launch of a new Maritime Subject
Specialist Network, which aims to
connect expertise. Another was the
hall falling silent to hear Jim Radford,
songwriter and lifetime peace
campaigner, singing about the
merchant seamen who crewed the
deep-sea rescue tugs in World War
Two. Jim, 89, Hull born and bred, is
the youngest D-Day veteran and sang
his song The Shores of Normandy about
his experience as a 15-year-old galley
boy on the Empire Larch, sent to build
the harbour at Arromanches. You can
hear Jim sing that song at the Albert
Hall by visiting classicboat.co.uk and
typing Jim Radford in the search box.

YACHTING JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION

Young bloggers
Are you under 21 and enjoy blogging about sailing? A
new competition has been launched by the Yachting
Journalists Association (YJA) to encourage fresh talent
into the world of marine journalism. The winner will
have his/her work published online and can win a Go
Pro video camera or iPhone. More importantly,
C/O NMRN

promising entrants get the chance to work alongside

leading media gures within the industry including
yachting photographers like Rick Tomlinson, gain
PORTSMOUTH HISTORIC DOCKYARD experience covering a major Olympic event, powerboat

Nelsons lost diamonds recreated
On the eve of 21 October, Trafalgar day, the National Museum of the Royal Navy
(NMRN) unveiled the rst authentic replica of Lord Nelsons fabled lost jewelled
chelengk, given to Nelson by Sultan Selim III of Turkey after the 1798 Battle of
the Nile. It became a symbol of Nelsons prowess, worn on his hat like a turban
jewel. In England, drawings and paintings of it in the press started a fashion
craze. It was stolen in 1951 and has never been seen since.
Thanks to research published in Martyn Downers book Nelsons Lost Jewel,
the NMRN was able to commission an exact replica from a London goldsmith
using traditional techniques. It contains 300 diamonds and cost an undisclosed
six-gure sum. The central diamond Ottoman star rotates by clockwork, with
13 rays emanating from it to represent French ships captured or destroyed. It
will be displayed in the Nelson Gallery by HMS Victory until later in 2018, when
it will be auctioned to raise money for the NMRN.
or ocean race like the 2018 Golden Globe Race, and take
up work experience opportunities with boating
magazines and media. Send your creative stories in
audio, jpeg, text or video format to bloggercomp@yja.
co.uk. Files larger than 10Mb should be sent via
wetransfer.com. Include your full address details and
date of birth. Every entrant has the opportunity to join
the Yachting Journalists Association as a student
member and receive an official press card. Entrants
must be under 21 on 31 December 2017. Entries close at
Midnight GMT on 30 November 2017. Entrants can
submit multiple entries to the competition. Winners will
be announced at the YJA Yachtsman of the Year Awards
lunch in London on 8 January 2018.
See yja.co.uk

22 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 TELL TALES

VIAREGGIO, ITALY

Tuscan sun for the seasons last hurrah

Fifty-three classic yachts took part in the
13th Vele Storiche Viareggio from 12-15
October, reports Nigel Sharp. For many, it
is the event that marks the end of the
Mediterranean classic regatta season and
crews enjoyed beautiful weather, albeit
with very light winds. On every one of the
three days the conditions forced the race
officer to postpone the start to allow
some breeze to ll in, but once it did, the
breeze held steady and allowed all boats
to nish. In three of the classes the overall
winners won all three races. The 1913
Sonderklasse Tilly XV won class 1,
followed by two newly restored boats, the
1937 Jensen 10-Metre Kipawa and the
1925 Mylne-designed Gometra. In class 2
the 1937 Dickies-built Vistona won, with Above left: C&N
Oneone, owned by Enrico Zaccagni, schooner Orion
commodore of the hosts, Club Nautico needed more
Versilia, in second and 1946 William wind
Atkin-designed Ilda, owned by the Above right:
president of the organising committee, Scilla under
Gianni Fernandes, third. Winner of class 3 spinnaker
was 1952 Sangermani sloop Alcyone. But Right: on board
in Class 4, the 1964 Robert Clark- Gometra with
designed sloop Alice didnt have it so Kipawa crossing
easy her overall victory was secured

PHOTOS: NIGEL SHARP

after one win and two second places, just
getting the better of the modied
Folkboat Scilla. Among the recipients of
special prizes were the Trofeo Vele
Storiche Viareggio to Kipawa for her
recent restoration.

AARHUS, DENMARK

12-Ms in culture capital

For the third time the growing Baltic eet of 12-Ms gathered at the Wessel & Wett
Cup in early September, reports Joakim Refn. This time the venue was the waters of
Aarhus bay. As European Cultural Capital 2017, Aarhus gave the perfect setting for
the event, providing high-standard facilities, spectators and nightlife.
The three days of sailing took place in very light conditions that proved to be
favourable for last years winner Trivia (K10), a 1937 Nicholson design. She was
pushed by the 1918 Johan Anker design Thea (D1), competing with a new, race-
optimised rig. The boat was designed to the Scandinavian S-Formula during the
First World War, but was converted to the second International Rule from 1919.
The spectacular 11-strong
eet of 12-Ms unfortunately did
not include the European
champion and this years
newcomer in the Baltic eet
Wings (K15), after the 1937
Nicholson yacht dramatically
lost its mast at the Risr
(Norway) event earlier in the
JOAKIM REFN

summer. No one was hurt, but

Wings was put out of racing for
the rest of the season.

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 23

TELL TALES
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND
Back-to-back regattas on Narragansett Bay
The nal round of Panerai's north American series incorporated
the Herreshoff Classic Yacht Regatta to create a four-day series of
regattas in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, in August.
Presented by the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS),
the 38th annual Panerai Newport Classic Yacht Regatta (PNCYR)
served as the nal race of the 2017 Panerai North American
Classic Yachts Challenge, a series of ve regattas held throughout
New England. The Herreshoff Regatta, based at the Herreshoff
Marine Museum, is open to Herreshoff designs and all classics.
GEORGE BEKRIS
24 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Ruweida V,
restored by
IYRS students
(R-Class)
TYLER FIELDS
For the rst time, we collaborated with the Herreshoff Classic
Yacht Regatta and added a distance race from Bristol to Newport
to link the two events, said Newport Classic Yacht Regatta
co-chair Carol OMalley. We look forward to building on this
foundation to continue to grow the Newport Classic Yacht
Regatta and classic yacht racing on Narragansett Bay.
From the eet of nearly 40 yachts, notable nishers included
Valiant (12-M), Sonny (54ft S&S sloop), Ruweida V (R-Class) and
Marilee (NY40). Ruweida V was the overall winner.
GLOUCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
33rd Gloucester
Schooner Festival
The story of the commercial shing eet and maritime
heritage of Gloucester, Massachusetts, was on display over
the Labor Day Weekend as the Gloucester Schooner
Festival celebrated its 33rd year, writes Tyler Fields.
The festival was organized with the help of Maritime
Gloucester a working waterfront museum some 50 miles
north of Boston and included youth programs, daysails,
and more than 20 schooners in attendance.
As the shing industry around Cape Ann boomed in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries, the large schooners
sailing from Gloucester built up reputations for the speed
with which they sailed too and from the shing grounds of
the Grand Banks.
This often resulted in informal races for both pride
among the eet and the best price for their catch upon
their return. As a salute to this past, the eet of schooners
made up of large and small, old and new participate in
the Mayors Race outside of Gloucester Harbor.
The well known Maine-based schooner American Eagle
performed well and was awarded the Esperanto Cup.
Columbia a modern replica built in 2014 of the famed
shing schooner by the same name won the 1923
Columbia Trophy.
The 34th Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival is
scheduled for 31 August 3 September, 2018.
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recently restored Herreshoff #625
Currently under
restoration

Snediker Yacht Restoration, LLC

22 Mechanic St., Pawcatuck, CT 06379 tel: (860) 599-0800 fax: (860) 599-4626
boatshop@snedikeryacht.com www.snedikeryacht.com

Discover more at www.tnielsen.co.uk +44 (0)1452 301117

Scarph repairs to planking on Brave Challenger. www.tnielsen.co.uk

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 25

 2-10
DEC 2017
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 TELL TALES

ADMIRAL'S CUP

5Oth anniversary of Caprice of Huon

Australia's rst
Admiral's Cup win
In December, regular CB contributor Nigel Sharp will be
taking part in a regatta in Sydney to commemorate the
50th anniversary of Australias rst Admirals Cup win.
British teams had won four of the ve Admirals Cups
that took place before 1967, Nigel writes, but this time the
Australians at only their second attempt were all-
conquering. Their three-boat team of Mercedes III
(Australias rst cold-moulded ocean racer), Caprice of
Huon (already 15 years old in 1967) and Balandra (designed
by Peter Nicholson of Camper and Nicholsons) won each of
the four races and their overall margin of victory was an
impressive 107 points.
The anniversary regatta is open to any yacht that has
represented Australia in the Admirals Cup itself or taken
part in the countrys selection trials, or has a special
connection to the history of the Admirals Cup. Mercedes
III and Caprice of Huon will play the starring roles (while
Balandra is undergoing a thorough restoration which will
not have been completed) and there are currently another

BEKEN/ANMM
14 denite entries and 9 more possibles. Three races will be
held between 1 and 3 December, with a trophy named after
each of the 1967 team going to the winners.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

Sydney on top in the Couta championships

There was an upset in the Couta Boat Championships
in Australia, as a Sydney team sailing at home in
Sydney took victory. Don Telfords Tenacity claimed
victory after the four-race series held in Pittwater, in
October. It was not only the rst time the annual race,
hosted this year by the Avalon Sailing Club, was held
outside the state of Victoria, but the rst time it has
been won by a non-Victorian team. A second New
South Wales boat, Larry Eastwoods Sylvia, nished in
second place.
To take it to the Victorians was absolutely
magnicent, said winner Don Telford after the race.
Long-time team mate and tactician John Steamer
Stanley, aged 70 added: We just worked out you had
to be in the top 10 in every race.
Speaking on the class in general Telford
Don Telford and commented: Steamer was saying for 'old guys' this is
crew on the the only class left! Everything else is sailing on the
winning boat water, not in the water. These are beautiful and very
Tenacity hard boats to sail.
The likes of professional yachtsman Steve
McConaghy, coach Rod Hagebols and Moth sailor Josh
McKnight raised the bar at what was already a very
serious class meet. Serious enough for 10 Victorian
owners to transport their Coutas on double artic rigs
JANE LIZZY PHOTOGRAPHY, C/O THE ORGANISERS

from the Mornington Peninsula and one to send his

boat the length of the continent from Perth, for which
the co-owner of Eclipse, Jim Wilshire, was awarded a
special trophy for the furthest travelled.
In terms of over-the-line results, it was a Victorian
whitewash with the top six from the Sorrento Sailing
and Couta Boat Club, led by Nick Williams Wagtail.
In the Wattle Cup, Kelly Holders syndicate-owned
Kathleen Mary (1988) from the Royal Motor Yacht Club
in Broken Bay collected the main trophy while Tim
Phillips century-old Muriel nished second and Jeff
Richardsons Georgia placed third.

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 27

 SHES A
TERROR
A Paul Gartside design built by a nancial
insurance manager turned boatbuilder
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS NIGEL SHARP

T
he name of a boat can say much. It can say
something about the owners sense of humour,
or perhaps about their sense of history. In this
case, a touch of both is present, as although
giving a 20ft wooden daysailer a name that
might bet a battleship could be seen as somewhat tongue-in-
cheek, it has in fact more to do with Sir John Franklins
ill-fated expedition to transit the Northwest Passage in 1845.
Whereas Franklins Terror met an unhappy end in the ice,
eventually sinking, the same fate is unlikely to befall her
modernday namesake. The last time I enquired, says her
builder Jonathan Lloyd-Davies, it was not possible to
become icebound off Dorset.
Jon built her at the Lyme Regis Boat Building Academy,
Dorset, after 30 years in the nancial insurance industry.
I had always harboured a desire to do something with
my hands, he says of the life change. I was a senior global
manager in the insurance business and as rewarding as it
was, with the family grown up and independent, it felt like
TERROR
the right time to make the move. The woodworking was
inherited from my grandfather, who also had a career in
banking, but who spent many hours in his garage
working with wood. I still use some of his tools.
The name of the boat, Terror, originally comes from
her designer, Paul Gartside, who drew the sprightly
gaffer in September 2014, at the same time as the
wreckage of Franklins ship was discovered in Queen
Maude Gulf off the coast of Canada. Gartside was
inspired by the story and drew a comparison between
Franklins Victorian era and the new designs Victorian
lines. The wreckage, in fact, turned out to be not Terror
but Franklins other ship Erebus. As Gartside said,
Erebus just doesnt have the same ring.
Gartside designed the boat for either traditional
carvel or epoxied strip-planking construction, and Jon
chose the latter as he knew the boat would spend long
periods out of the water which would allow a
traditional hull to dry out too much.
After full-size lofting, a base frame on which the boat
would be built (upside down) was constructed and xed
to the workshop oor. The rst part of the boat to be
produced was the harpin. The word harpin is common
on the west coast of the USA and is probably little
known to UK readers. It runs around the perimeter of
the deck and in this case was an 18mm thick by 100mm
wide strip of Douglas r, made up each side of six pieces
joined by halving joints and, at the aft end where the
fantail stern requires it to be heavily bevelled, it was
doubled in thickness. Each part of the base frame on
which it lies had to be precisely the right height as this
would create the sheer line in prole.
30 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Above, clockwise Seven temporary moulds were then set up and the seat
from top left: risers 30mm x 70mm Douglas r were tted into
tiller and notches in their edges. The internal centreline
mainsheet horse; components were then made and assembled, comprising
furler at the bow; a stem and horn timber in laminated khaya, a hog in
outboard bracket sapele and two pieces of deadwood (one inside and one
by Rustler outside the horn timber) in khaya.
Yachts; ash Once the harpin, seat risers and centreline
halyard blocks components had been bevelled to fair them with the
moulds, it was time to start planking. The planks
were machined out of western red cedar boards after
they were half-jointed together to run the length of the
boat, and then converted into 16mm x 25mm strips
with tongue and groove proles along their edges.
The Gartside plans clearly show where the rst plank
should be laid (amidships and at each end) to allow the
rest of the planking process above and below it to go
smoothly and without the need to taper any planks, and
Jon was full of praise for this valuable guidance. The
planks were edge-glued to each other with Lumberjack
polyurethane glue and with epoxy to the centreline
components. Throughout most of the boat they were
xed to the moulds with plastic nails which could later
be partly cut off and planed, and otherwise just left
embedded in the planking but in the stern sections,
where there is more bend and twist, they had to be held
more rmly with steel screws and penny washers.
After the steel screws were removed, the outside of the
hull was faired, initially by planing diagonally with the
plane parallel to the planks (a sort of 1980s disco dance
move, said Jon) and then by sanding with long boards,
(much better for you than any gym exercise).
TERROR
LENGTH ON DECK
20ft (6.1m)
LWL
17ft 3in (5.26m)
BEAM
6ft 2in (1.86m)
DRAUGHT
1ft 7in; 4ft 9in
(0.5m; 1.45m)
DISPLACEMENT
976kg
TERROR
The outside of the hull was then sheathed with two
layers of 300g biaxial glass cloth and the outer stem
and the wood keel (leaving a gap for the later tting of
the ballast keel) were tted. The hull was faired and
painted, nishing with International royal blue gloss
on the topsides, a white antifouling boot top, and
Coppershield below the waterline.
The hull was then carefully turned over and set up
level on a specially built cradle, and all the internal
components were removed. In the case of the harpin and
seat risers, another option would have been to glue the
cedar straight onto them during the planking process,
but it was decided not to, and so brown parcel tape had
been applied to their outer edges to ensure that they
could now be temporarily removed leaving the inside of
the hull completely clear to clean it up, fair it and then
apply two layers of 300g biaxial cloth.
The interior t-out now began with the tting of
eleven sapele oors and the centreboard case, each
side of which was made from three layers of 9mm ply
with Formica on their internal faces, all vacuum
bagged and glued with epoxy. The seat risers and
harpin were then re-tted and epoxied into place, and
an aft bulkhead was added. This was not on the plans
but one of Jons co-owners thought it would provide
somewhere to keep the beers.
The deck structure consisted of twenty-one Douglas
r beams and half beams (the tops of which are
level with the top of the harpin) and a laminated red
cedar carlin. A 9mm plywood subdeck was tted over
the beams and the harpin, followed by 15mm thick
oak cockpit coamings (which had to be steamed at
their forward ends to allow them to follow the curve of
the carlins) and then a 6mm thick teak deck was
straight-laid and caulked with Sikaex. An oak
rubbing strake was added and seals the end grain of
the plywood subdeck.
By now the 365kg lead ballast keel cast by Irons
Brothers had been tted. It has a slot for the
centreboard which lines up with a corresponding slot
in the wood keel and hog. The centreboard itself is
plywood with a void inside it to take some lead and
with glass cloth on the outside. Gartside designed this
to have 30kg of lead, but one of Jons fellow students
32 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Above, l-r: fantail calculated that it would need only 16kg to ensure it
stern and sitka lowered under its own weight. The rudder consists
spruce spars; of a Douglas r blade with a custom-made stainless
distant echo of steel stock and tangs inside it.
an ill-fated Many of the deck ttings including the gooseneck,
expedition hounds, mainsheet horse and pin rails were custom
Below: jib sheet made in bronze by Bronzework in Woodbridge, while
jammer the 25 ash blocks came from Davey and Co. Jon
particularly liked the removable side-tting outboard
bracket that is used on the Rustler 24 so he arranged for
Rustler Yachts to supply him with one. The spars were
all built in Sitka spruce by Jon and his fellow students,
while the sails were made by Rowsell Sails in nearby
Exmouth. Jons boat has a gaff sloop rig with a small
removable bowsprit for an asymmetric spinnaker, but
Gartside has since drawn an alternative gaff cutter rig.
With Gartsides permission Jon christened his boat
Terror when she was launched at the end of his course. It
was a blustery day and despite some teething problems
(the centreboard wouldnt go down properly at rst,
there was a leak through a hole in the centreboard case
which was hastily stopped with some gum wrapper, and
the mainsail didnt set well) and a certain amount of
overcrowding (there were ve on board, all enjoying the
celebratory nature of the day) Jon was delighted with
Terrors performance. She really ew along he said.
Also on board that day was Mark Bestford, who was
responsible for commissioning the design in the rst
place. After graduating from the Boat Building Academy
himself, Mark had set up a company, Boatwork Ltd, but
approached Paul Gartside looking for a boat to build in
his downtime. Hed seen a steam launch on Gartsides
website and asked if he could design something similar,
with a straight stem and fantail stern in the Victorian
style, but as a sailing boat, with a gaff rig. Gartside
obliged, but as it happens, Boatwork Ltd has had no
downtime at all, so Marks own Terror is yet to see the
light of day. His experience of sailing Jons in Lyme Bay
(still not icebound) was more than encouraging. She
was going well with just the main and jib, but even better
when we put the topsail up, he said.
He very much hopes, at some point, to nd the time
to build a Terror for himself. The name might not
suggest it, he said, but shes very well behaved.
Saleroom

ELDREDS
CHARLES MILLER LTD
Whale of The Queen,
God bleshhh
a price her [hic]!

ELDREDS
BY DAVE SELBY It was Black Tot Day when on
31 July, 1970, sailors donned
The grim and bloody trade that inspired sailors to fashion art from death also claimed the black arm bands to mourn the
young life of its most celebrated practitioner, Edward Burdett. In 1833, at the tender age of passing of more than three
28, the Nantucket seaman met a grizzly end when he became entangled in a line and was hundred years of Royal Navy
dragged to his death by a whale. tradition with the abolition of
Nearly 200 years on in a Massachusetts saleroom a masterpiece fashioned by Burdett on the daily rum ration. It
his penultimate voyage achieved whats believed to be the highest price ever paid for a piece happened on the watch of
of scrimshaw. Bidding at Eldreds commenced at $100,000, sped to $200,000, then settled First Sea Lord Sir Michael Le
down to a tense battle between two bidders, both in the room. To a burst of applause the 8in Fanu, or Dry Ginger as he
tooth was knocked down for $456,000 (351,120), well over twice its pre-sale estimate. became nicknamed on
When genuine scrimshaw can be bought for a few hundred pounds, what made this tooth account of his colouring.
so prized? Part of the answer lies in the simple inscription: Engraved by Edward Burdett of Really, Britains Navy was
Nantucket Onboard the Ship William Tell. Its rare enough for scrimshaw to be identiably one hundred years behind the
signed by a named artist, let alone one of Burdetts standing. Other than that, the subject, times, as the US Navy had
size, condition, exceptional detail, and the fact that it can be tagged to time and place some ended the daily tot ration in
time between November 1829 and February 1833 on Burdetts penultimate voyage on the 1862. The practice in the Royal
whaler William Tell in the Pacic whaling grounds mark this piece as something exceptional Navy began with beer, then
in this highly specialised collecting arena. rum of prodigious strength,
Eldreds next marine auction is on 16-18 November. and also a diluted grog
concoction. You could raise a
toast to tradition with a drop
ladled from this 51in high
(129cm) Royal Navy oak grog
cask which sold for 976.
Charles Millers next sale is
on 7 November.
BONHAMS

BONHAMS
The grunge artist of the glorious grimy Thames
CHARLES MILLER LTD

British artist Charles Edward Dixon (1872-1934) had friends in high places. He was chums with Sir
Thomas Lipton and travelled with him on each of his ve Americas Cup challenges. Nonetheless hes
best known for his port scenes, particularly the Thames. Barge fans with a penchant for the grimy glory
of the twilight of working sail should seek him out. This 1904 watercolour, The Pool of London, was
estimated at 1,500-2,500, but fetched an impressive 4,000 at Bonhams latest London marine sale.

34 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 ARTISAN BOATWORKS
CUSTOM YACHT BUILDERS

50 years of building and designing

Brion Rieff Boat Builders Inc.

76 Flye Point Rd. Brooklin Maine 04616 www.rieffboats.net
Tel. 207 359 4455

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 35

 For True Adventurers
and Mariners
... or those who wish to become them.
Conceived from fresh thoughts and
built by hands that were marked by
the sea, the LCPC is the ship for
sailors who yearn for the pristine and a
connection to nature.

RUNNER-UP

Awards
2017

Be your own pilot : www.pilotcutter.ch

Lake Constance Pilot Cutter - Marked by the Sea

Classic boat expert craftsman Tim Gilmore is

resident at The Pool
Fully equipped marine trade centre including
GRP repairs, painting, antifouling, general boat
maintenance and marine engineering
Undercover storage up to 14 metres
Crane up to 30 tonnes
Winter storage both ashore and aoat
NEW MARINE TRADE WORKSHOPS TO RENT

info@birdhampool.co.uk
www.birdhampool.co.uk

36 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 Objects of desire

BEN MENDLOWITZ
Twelve new images by top US classics
photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz, with
captions by Maynard Bray. Size 30cm x
60cm (12in x 24in). Price $16.95 (12.90)

woodenboatscalendar.com

DEN PHILLIPS BEKEN

Marking an anniversary, Den includes some Classic images of Waterwitch, Westward,
of her favourite shots from the past 30 Endeavour, Astra, Saunterer, the Solent
years, from smacks and barges to epic East Sunbeams and more from the golden age.
Coast seascapes. Size A3. Price 17 Size A2. Price 22

denphillipsphotos.com beken.co.uk

SPOT THE PIRATE!

More than 200 piratical things to spot in
the packed pages of this hardback book,
which comes with a magnifying glass. For
children, or those waiting for the tide.
Published by Quarto. Price 14.99

quartoknows.com

SILVER SAILORS
PENDANTS ROLL-NECK
These silver boat in a bottle pendants The rst of a new range of seafaring
are created by Classic Boats Ullapool- oiled-wool garments from chandler
based illustrator Charlotte Watters. Arthur Beale, this Beerenberg pullover
Inspired by boats seen on sailing trips is named after a volcano on the Arctic
and those of Charlottes home port in island of Jan Mayen freezing outside
the northwest Highlands. but toasty warm inside. Made from
Price 95 each British wool. Price 97.50

charlottewatters@yahoo.co.uk arthurbeale.co.uk

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 37

 Preana
1896 Steam Powered Yacht

For Sale!
This one-of-a kind vessel is now For Sale (AUD$495,000). The Preana
Trust is seeking opportunities to discuss her many attributes with interested
parties who will be in a position to maintain and use Preana either com-
mercially or privately, in the manner to which she has become accustomed.
International shipping can be arranged.
For more information on the sale of Preana, including inventory, contact Yacht
Sales Australia on +61 414 236 337. Email jeff@yachtsalesaustralia.com or
go to our web site www.yachtsalesaustralia.com

ROCKPORT MARINE
CONSTRUCTION RESTORATION DESIGN & BROKERAGE
1 Main Street | Rockport, Maine USA | 207-236-9651 | www.rockportmarine.com

TRADEWIND: 1938 John Alden Motorsailer

Restoration by Rockport Marine 9Alison Langley

38 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017


CHARLOTTE WATTERS
Do you deserve her?
Hard-standing and wooden boats dont go together
T
he squalls became more frequent, the seas steeper
until, a mile or so into the short, but increasingly
windy, stretch of exposed water between Isle
Ristol and Rhu Coigach the turning point towards
Lochinver, sailing alone I began to wonder what would
happen if Sallys keel fell off. She was 80 this year, after
all and the last time the keel bolts had been checked was
soon after I bought her, over 20 years ago.
Davey Elliott of the Elephant Yard in Bursledon had
held one of the old ones suspended on a length of string,
and it had looked ne until tapped with a hammer. The
dull clink of bronze was all he needed to know. They
would have been the originals, tted by Reg Yeabsley,
the shipwright at Elkins who built her over the winter of
1936-7. Which meant they had lasted around 60 years,
so the new ones would surely last as long.
And yet when you are alone in a small boat with a
very low freeboard, bashing to windward in seas that
had travelled unhindered for over a week from the
Arctic, you do begin to wonder. And no sooner had the
thought been put, partially, to rest, a glance aloft brought
me back to earth, so to speak. If the keel was pretty
secure, at least for the next ve miles until we rounded
into the shelter of Lochinver, what about the rigging?
Sallys mast is well stayed, low stressed, with forestay,
inner forestay, lowers, cap shrouds and what Laurent
Giles called a preventer backstay, attached to a quaint
Adrian Morgan
CRAFTSMANSHIP
iroko protuberance called a bumkin,
which we pretend doesnt exist
when negotiating harbour dues.
And runners too, the weather of
which was set up tight against the
working jib, and helping to support
the deep-reefed mainsail: a snug
combination, quite powerful
enough to be smashing nearly ve
tons of pitch pine and oak headlong
into a rising succession of long but
steep waves. In fact she was
thriving, with only a little help from
Yanmar-san, the trusty Japanese
fellow in the bilges, shouldering
aside the water with a belligerence
that made me appreciate afresh all
those tales of Vertue.
As an aside, the rigging is all 7x7
stainless, apart from the fore and
backstays, served and parcelled to
form soft eyes, an arrangement that
seems sensible to me as the wire
forms a spliced loop around the
mast. All of which had been
replaced a year before I discovered
her on a mooring on the Hamble
River with a For Sale sign and a
phone number. And yet
Sally is now 80 winters, 80
summers and goodness knows how many miles old.
How long should I subject her to the kind of thrashing
that day? When should any boat of a certain age be
retired from brutal combat with high seas?
The answer can be found throughout these pages. The
centenarians; the racing boats such as Whooper, pre-war
but winning still; Dorade, of course and Cambria;
Cetewayo the X boats and original J boats Velsheda,
Shamrock and Endeavour. Harbours may rot sailors,
hard standing sure as hell rots wooden boats. The biting
east winds open their seams; the rains of autumn seep
into their covering boards but by far the worst danger is
benign neglect as enthusiasm wanes; the long car journey
down to the boatyard; the expense. And not long
afterwards the yard owner is offering her to anyone with
the price of his unpaid bills or, more often, free.
Wooden boats need constant use, which means
regular care. Whereas a glassbre boat can be left to
languish in a marina, as the vast majority are, for months
without a soul aboard, a wooden boat rewards attention.
Not a lot, just enough to keep on top of the little things
Wooden that turn into bigger things which turn into major
boats need problems. Unless you are prepared to devote that time,
you do not deserve to own an old wooden boat.
constant use, Which reminds me that next year I will drive out one
which means of those bolts Mr Elliott tted and give it a tap, for peace
regular care of mind before next we head north to Lochinver.
CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 39
 FOR THE WORK OF MARTYN MACKRILL, VISIT MARTYNMACKRILL.CO.UK OR MESSUMS GALLERY, MAYFAIR, LONDON. MESSUMS.COM

MARTYN MACKRILL Son of a marine engineer and grandson of a trawlerman, Martyn is Honorary Painter to the Royal Thames Yacht Club and the Royal Yacht
Squadron. His depictions of classic boats, from clinker rowing boats to Edwardian schooners, have made him one of the most sought-after marine artists and his
work is part of major collections worldwide. He and wife Bryony sail the restored 1910 gaff cutter Nightfall (CB328).

40 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017


BOSUNS BAG
PRACTICAL TIPS FOR THE TRADITIONAL BOATER
WORDS TOM CUNLIFFE ORIGINAL DRAWING MARTYN MACKRILL
THE HONEST FISHERMAN
The honest sherman. No such thing? You might have a point,
except that we are not talking about the chap quietly attending
to his pots or the midnight trawler skipper protected by the
Colregs and his green over white who alters course across our
bows. The sort of sherman that should be of interest to all
classic boaters isnt out there terrorising the pelagic population,
its the anchor that bears his name.
A hundred years ago, Fisherman anchors were standard issue on
yachts and small commercial craft. Today, their reputation has been
besmirched and they are often missing altogether from lists of
desirable ground tackle in yachting text books, which is a pity. The
rst reason for this disappearance is the understandable though
erroneous conclusion that, compared with modern patent anchors,
the sherman can be awkward to handle and tricky to stow. The
second is that the Fisherman doesnt actually work.
If you want a self-stowing anchor that you never have to
touch, and operate a boat capable of such an arrangement, the
rst of these objections may hold a pint or two of water. The
second reservation is pure balderdash, always discounting the
Christmas-cracker anchors sold as the Fisherman in certain
chandlers. For ukes, these wretched creations have nothing
more than the palms banged out at from the bent bar of the
crown. If you are lucky this will have a bit of a point on it. You
are unlikely to nd an example weighing more than a bumper
bag of Big-D peanuts, while the holding power compares
unfavourably with a bent pin in a bucket of ne dry sand. No
wonder the Fisherman has ended up with a bad name.
A real Fisherman anchor is substantial and properly forged. Its
shank is long, elegant and probably rectangular in cross-section.
The crown sweeps round so that the ukes, or palms, end up
nearly parallel to the shank, while the stock, which can be
dismounted and stowed in line with the shank if necessary, is a
meaty bar of pure iron with a short right-angle at one end and,
perhaps, heavy iron balls at the extremities. Pulled along the
seabed, the stock presents the ukes correctly to the ooze and the
lower one has no option but to dig in, and dig in deep.
When I took possession of Hirta, my 1911 pilot cutter, in
1982, she was blessed with numerous original features. Among
these was a one hundredweight (112lb) Fisherman anchor,
date-stamped 1895. It was backed up by 45 fathoms (82 metres)
of half-inch (12mm) chain. The boat displaced around 35 tons.
I owned her for fteen years and sailed her far and wide.
Hundreds of nights passed at anchor and never once did that
Fisherman drag. In the clear Caribbean Id swim down and
NEW SERIES
marvel at the sight of the uke driven into the sand, the shank
lying at along the bottom and the stock controlling the whole
business. So effective was this, that when I built the 20-tonne
Westernman to replace Hirta, I specied a 75lb Fisherman
and 7/16 inch chain. I couldnt nd a suitable vintage anchor, so I
commissioned a new one from the people who still made them for
lifeboats. It wasnt quite as elegant as the original, but in ten years
of mixed, long-range cruising, that one never dragged either.
Thats how good the Fisherman is. It looks lovely too, and
totally appropriate for our craft. The burning question is, how are
we to handle it in the absence of a small army of weight-lifters on
the foredeck?
The system I inherited on Hirta was so effective I never felt the
need to alter it. The chain and the vital windlass were sited well aft
on the foredeck, feeding a cable locker just forward of the mast.
The pilots liked it this way because it kept weight out of the ends of
the vessel. The anchor stowed as follows: a hardwood pad was
built into the topsides immediately below deck level, a few feet
forward of the chain plates. One uke was placed on this pad, the
shank ran forward and the stock was laid across the oak bulwark
capping. The upper uke protruded above the capping, but created
no issues and looked rather good. Once in place, the anchor was
secured by two lashings. The chain cable led sweetly over the
bowsprit whisker shrouds, thence to the bow roller on one side of
the stem head and inboard to the windlass. The arrangement
proved perfectly safe and crossed the Atlantic twice without
mishap, including an interesting session with the Greenland Sea.
To hoist this hefty anchor and chain into place on the rail, the
shank carried a balance lug in the form of a ring. With the pick
up-and-down under the bow, wed grapple this from the deck with
an old-fashioned grabbit on the end of the boat-hook.
This enabled the user to snap a stout hook with a rope on the
end into the ring, then remove the boat-hook pole. The grabbit
rope was now attached to the staysail halyard and a few fathoms
of chain were surged out to give the anchor enough slack to be
hauled aft as well as up. A likely lad was deployed on the halyard
purchase while a lesser mortal bore off as the halyard, the grabbit
rope, and nally the anchor rose to capping height. It was guided
and lowered into place, then lashed.
Nobody had to manhandle anything heavy and the process
took only a minute or two. Its standard practice on many big
classics to this day. As for us, if we werent going far and we felt
lazy, wed just hook the trusty Fisherman under the bobstay
and sail like that. No problem.
So whats all this fuss about Fisherman anchors for proper
boats? Bring them on, I say, and kiss that dragging feeling goodbye!
CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 41
 WINCHES
ONE GOOD
TURN...
Herreshoffs 1903 Americas Cup defender Reliance carried
the rst. Since then theyve gone through a few iterations.
We look at what classic winches are available today
WORDS NIGEL SHARP
L
arge, ungeared capstans may have been used to
raise sail on ships in Nelsons day, but winches
as we know them, to control sails underway,
have only been around in the mass market since
the 1950s. Herreshoffs revolutionary Americas Cup
defender Reliance, of 1903, was tted with winches
below decks to control her vast cutter rig. But block and
tackle remained the common means of adjusting sail
trim until the 1930s, when winches started to become
more compact. Post-war, many Classic Boat readers will
be familiar with names such as Barlow, Barient,
Merriman and Gibb, manufacturers of what might be
called classic winches. All those companies ceased
trading some time ago, but todays marketplace still
provides a good choice for the classic boat owner.
Perhaps the main consideration is the material in
which the visible external components are made. While
some owners might be perfectly happy with a chrome,
stainless steel or even aluminium nish, for others the
right choice is bronze, or at least a bronze appearance.
With regard to bronze appearance winches, this is
essentially a reference to stainless steel winches which
have been coated by a process known as Physical Vapour
Deposition (PVD). This is considered to be considerably
longer lasting than chrome plating, which will wear after
a time and need re-applying. PVD coating can be applied
in a variety of colours but the appropriate one here gives
the permanent appearance of newly polished bronze.
There are at least half-a-dozen companies which
currently manufacture bronze or PVD-coated winches.
42 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Facing page: The most readily available are manual top-action
bronze winches, self-tailing and non-self-tailing, with a socket to
spinnaker sheet take a standard 11/16in 8-point removable winch handle,
winch on the and we will consider these rst.
1949 Sparkman Harkens Italian-made portfolio includes two
& Stephens yawl different types: the Radial and the Classic, both of
Circe, tted in which include ve non-self-tailers or plain top as
2001 and made they call them and nine self-tailers. Its Radial Bronze
by LVJ Winches winches are part of its more economical production
range. While they have aluminium bronze drums, the
tops and the bases are made of a composite material
which is bronze-coated. This does, however, have the
same properties as solid bronze, in that unless it is
polished, it will go green in the same way when
exposed to the atmosphere. These winches also have
an incongruous red line between the drum and base, a
cosmetic nishing piece which can be removed.
The smaller production runs of Harkens Classic
range are reected in their price. All of the external
components are aluminium bronze, apart from the
tops of the two smallest plain-top winches, which for
reasons of economy are standard aluminium
components from other Harken ranges.
All of Andersens Danish-built winches have
external components in 316 grade stainless steel. They
can be PVD-coated, but this increases cost signicantly
(see price comparison chart on p50).
There are ve sizes (four of which are two-speed) in
their non-self-tailing Classic range and 13 (all but two
of which are two-speed) self-tailers.
 Sails Canvas Local Service
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www.hscboats.co.uk 508.693.3312 30A Beach Road, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568







 
  



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44 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 WINCHES

Polish company Wilmexs range includes nine Clockwise from BIGGEST AND SMALLEST
non-self-tailers and nine self-tailers, all with manganese top left: early Among the smallest of all the manual winches available
bronze drums; Antals Italian-made six non-self-tailers capstan winch from the manufacturers above are the Andersen 10
and 15 self tailers have UNI6138 brass drums; and (Lewmar's rst non-self-tailer (drum diameter 57mm), the Hutton 6
Australian company Hutton-Arco produces high top-action winch non-self-tailer (58mm) and the Wilmex K2-008S
tensile bronze winches in 13 non-self-tailing and 13 came in 1959); self-tailer (60mm), all of which are single speed and
self-tailing models. bronze-coated un-geared. Among the biggest are the Harken B111.3
British company Lewmar has nine models of non-self- winches on S&S non-self-tailer (drum diameter 280mm and a power
tailers and of self-tailers, some with CZ121 brass drums Skylark; Harken ratio of 81:1 in the slowest speed), the Harken
and others with HTB1 brass. It has another range of winch based on B1150.3ST self-tailer (410mm and 80.4:1), and the
bigger winches with stainless steel drums and these, too, a Herreshoff Lewmar 88 (228mm and 88:1), which is available in
can be PVD-coated. original for NY50 both self-tailing and non-self-tailing versions.
It is worth knowing that within all of these ranges, Spartan; J-Class
there are some winches of the same physical size that Sveas hydraulic POWERED WINCHES
can be specied with different numbers of speeds and winches by All of the above-named companies can provide electric
various gear ratios. Harken and hydraulic versions of their larger winches (and, in

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 45

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 WINCHES

some cases, conversion kits to adapt existing manual Clockwise from other above. To give an idea of the relative motor sizes
winches). Antal does not have its own hydraulic motors top left: replica of, for instance, the size 50 winch, the underdeck
but can obtain them elsewhere when required. In the coffee grinder Compact Motor protrudes 182mm below the top of the
case of the electric winches, all can supply horizontal drum made by deck and barely extends further than the winch base
under-deck motors. Wilmex, Antal, Harken and Lewmar for 1938 itself in any horizontal direction, while the conventional
Hutton-Arco also have vertical under-deck motors, S&S Blitzen; underdeck motor protrudes 191mm below the top of
which may suit some boats better, depending on space mast winch on the deck and about 270mm horizontally from the centre
restrictions in the area under the winch. Hutton-Arco 1914 schooner of the winch. With the same model of winch, the
can also supply motors to suit other makes of winches. Morwenna is above-deck Compact Motor raises the height of the
Three companies go one step further in terms of original; Harken winch by 85mm. Hutton-Arco has similar options.
electric motor options, which help installations where classic range; Harken has a UniPower 900 winch at present in just
internal space is particularly restricted. Andersen has a Harken Radial one size, the equivalent to the conventional size 46
range of Compact Motor winches which have a variable Bronze electric winch, but there are plans to expand the range
speed and come in two versions, one with the motor self-tailers for in which the motor is partly installed inside the drum.
below deck (but taking up less space than its equivalent 1937 Tore Holm
winches with conventional electric motors) and the Havsornen Continued on page 50

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 47

WINCHES
What winches do classic boats use?
Clockwise from top: Cambrias powered mainsheet winch; Wilmex
on Alva; Trasnagh has Hutton-Arcos; Gibb bottomed-actioned
sheet winches for Orzel; Andersens on the Fairlie 55; 1913 yawl
Snippets mast drum; Merriman with handle on Sonata
48 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Fife cutter Cambria of 1928 has chrome-plated Lewmar
winches, in keeping with the chrome/stainless steel theme she
has had all her life. Why? You would have to ask either Mr
Fife or the original owner Lord Camrose, says skipper Chris
Barkham. Maybe they wanted to have the look, or maybe
they wanted to assist the crew by not having bronze winches
to polish so often!
J-Class Shamrock V of 1930 had ve ungeared capstans at
launch and today has Lewmar winches. Twenty of them were
tted in 2000, all PVD coated. Simon Lacey, Shamrock Vs
captain, says the coating has lasted extremely well, but warns
that the one drawback is that it is very difficult to get a
colour match as new hardware is added over the years.
12-Metre Sovereign of 1964, which challenged for the
Americas Cup, now has Lewmar winches, tted fairly
recently, with a mixture of chrome and black aluminium
nishes. This is in contrast to her Cup predecessor, Sceptre
of 1958, which still has some of her original winches including
the Gibb bronze mainsheet winch and the aluminium genoa
sheet winches, which were specially designed and made by
Leyland Motors.
Schooner Mariette of 1915 boasts a winch collection that
includes Lewmar stainless steel 88s and 111s, tted in 2005
and 1995 respectively, but they were recently bead-blasted
and PVD-coated to give them a dull bronzy effect,
according to Mariettes captain Charlie Wroe. Charlie was also
project manager for the recent restoration of the schooner
Kelpie of Falmouth of 1928, which now has bronze Antal
winches mostly because they are well priced.
Canoe yawl Snippet of 1913 has Merriman sheet winches and
mounted on the mast she has a pair of wooden drums, with a
gypsy to starboard, which owner Paul Spooner believes are
original. He uses them for raising and lowering the mast.
Alden design Sonata has Merriman winches with handles.
Island One Design Trasnagh of 1913 has Hutton-Arcos.
Other classic boats which favour bronze, or a bronze nish,
are NY40s Rowdy and Chinook, three-masted schooner
Adix, Herreshoff replica schooner Elena, 1904 Nicholson
gaff cutter Merrymaid and the 1938 N-Class Serenade.
The slightly more modern 1956 Laurent Giles Pazienza,
however, has Andersen winches with
a stainless-steel nish.
Spirit of Tradition yacht the Fairlie 55, Fairlie, has Andersens
with a stainless-steel nish, while traditional new build,
the 2011 Gartside-designed gaff cutter Alva has bronze
Wilmex winches.
Folkboat Orzel of 1963, owned by the author, has Gibb
bottom-action sheet winches with permanently mounted
handles which have mahogany knobs on them.
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WINCHES

This means that it protrudes below the top of the deck Right: Repairs
by just 105mm (and, in plan view, is easily contained to the
within the base circumference) compared with 155mm mainsheet
for the conventional horizontal motor and 391mm with winch on 1958
the vertical. Finally, Harken also offers a range of Americas Cup
Rewind electric winches, which allow sheets and other challenger
lines to be eased, while they remain secure in the Sceptre
specially designed self-tailing jaws.

OTHER TYPES OF WINCHES

Apart from the top-loading winches designed for a
standard 11/16in, 8-point winch handle, there are various
other, perhaps more traditional, types of winches on the
market. Wilmex does a small (63mm drum diameter)
un-geared winch which takes a at handle in the top.
The company also offers a range of wire halyard
winches, demand for which must be considerably smaller
than in the past. Andersen does two sizes of un-geared
winches with removable handles in the base, while the
larger of these (83mm drum diameter) is also available
with a through-deck drive shaft (in three different
lengths) which allows under-deck handle operation.
Murray also has a range of eight bottom-action winches,
Servicing winches
some of which have a choice of base plates for a at Like anything mechanical, winches will perform
surface or the rounded side of a spar. more reliably and for longer if they are regularly
While many people might consider a ratchet block serviced. Different companies recommend varying
to be the best way to hold a loaded rope, snubbing servicing intervals: Lewmar, for instance, suggests
winches are still available from a number of companies that winches should be stripped, cleaned and
including Wilmex (two sizes in bronze), Barton (one in re-lubricated two or three times during an active
glassbre-reinforced nylon with anodised aluminium sailing season, with a more thorough service and
ribs), Davey and Co (one in Tufnol) and Port inspection at the end of each sailing season and
Townsend Foundry (one in bronze). before starting the new one; Andersen
recommends that, for normal use, its winches
should be dismantled, cleaned and lubricated once
PRICE COMPARISONS (please note delivery costs may vary) only every second year.
Non-self-tailing, single-speed, gearless winches of around the same drum size Ex-Lewmar employee Cliff Mogridge of
Make Model Drum dia (mm) Retail price excl VAT Solent-based company winchservicing.com, which
Andersen 18 60 1,003* services all makes of winches, says that essentially
Harken Classic B6BBA 60 234 winch technology has barely changed over the
Hutton 6 58 US$160 (approx 121) years. A big problem can be lack of availability of
Wilmex 8 61 159 parts and Cliff says that it is essential to always
*PVD coated use the right manufacturers parts even, at times,
Two speed, self-tailing winches of around the same drum size for the older models no longer manufactured by
Make Model Drum dia Power ration Power ratio Retail price companies that are still in business. Australian
(mm) (1st speed) (2nd speed) excl VAT company Hutton-Arco not only manufactures its
Andersen 40ST 75 8.9:1 40.0:1 1,426* own ranges of winches, it also owns the tooling for
Harken Radial 35.2STBBB 80 13.5:1 35.9:1 1,399 Barlow, Barient and Maxwell, all companies which
Lewmar 40BBST 74 13.2:1 40.2:1 1,104 are no longer in business, and claims to be able to
Hutton-Arco 30ST 84 14.2:1 31.0:1 US$780 (592) supply 95 per cent of parts for those ranges of
Wilmex 31S 76 6.5:1 25.0:1 930 winches. Two specic tasks that Cliff recommends
Antal XT40 80 12.8:1 40.0:1 754 when servicing is to change the pawl springs as
*PVD coated they are cheap and do all the work, and ensure
CONTACTS that any drain holes at the bottom are clear.
wilmex.com winchservicing.com
lewmar.com porttownsendfoundry.com
Essentially winch
huttonwinches.com improducts.co.uk (Andersen distributors)
andersenwinches.com marineware.com (Antal distributors) technology has barely
harken.co.uk lvjwinches.com changed over the years,
antal.it
but the big problem can
toplicht.de (Wilmex, Hutton-Arco and Murray distributors)
classicmarine.co.uk (Wilmex and Murray distributors) be availability of parts

50 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

EXPERIENCE
GREENLAND
on the electric schooner opal

7 AMAZING DAYS
SAILING IN THE NATURAL WONDERS

OF SCORESBY SUND

WWW.NORTHSAILING.IS
 PHOTOGRAPHY
COMPETITION
Winners
The ninth National Historic Ships UK
photography competition, run in partnership
with Classic Boat, attracted many dramatic
images. Here are the winners

A TRUE CLASSIC OUR HISTORIC VESSELS

CATEGORY CATEGORY
WINNER WINNER
Haul Together, Butty boat Ilford breaks the
by Sophie Hunt from September Dawn, by Teresa
London. Fuller from Stone, Staffordshire.

SKILLS IN ACTION
CATEGORY
WINNER
Artist in Action,
by Paul Lenz from
Offenbach, Germany.

52 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 2017
Overall
winner

WISH YOU
WERE HERE
CATEGORY
WINNER
Lines,
by Niels
Koornstra, from
Harlingen,
Netherlands.
MARITIME HERITAGE
IN MOTION
(FILM CLIP CATEGORY)
WINNER
Spartan and Carola,
by Alan Kempster from
Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire.

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 53

 HAMBLE CLASSICS
A FRIENDLY FLEET
The second edition of the event was as successful
as the rst, cementing its place as a season-closer
for classic boats of all shapes and sizes
A
wonderfully varied eet of classics ranging
from Dragons to Lutine to Jolie Brise
gathered for the second edition of Hamble
Classics, hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht
Club in September, a strong turn-out of 64 boats
cementing the two-day events place as the season-closer
for all classics within reach of the Hamble River.
The eet, based at the Royal Southerns Prince Philip
Yacht Haven, was split into eight classes, with tight
racing out in the Solent.
As well as a Regatta Class for traditional designs,
organisers created a new IRC Zero division this year, for
two Spirit Yachts, the new 52D Oui Fling owned by
Irvine Laidlaw and Michael Houghs 65ft Chloe Giselle,
which went up against Richard Loftus Sparkman &
Stephens Swan 65 Desperado, a yacht designed at
around the events pre-1971 eligibility benchmark.
Light northerlies a contrast with the windy
conditions of 2016 produced new winners in some
classes, while in others established performers showed
consistent form. Giovanni Belgranos all-conquering
Whooper again dominated IRC1, the class boosted this
year by the much-admired Sparkman & Stephens-
designed 43ft Firebrand, as well as Lutine of Helford,
Barney Sandemans S&S Laughing Gull, David Murrins
Laurent Giles Cetewayo, Brian Smullens McGruer
Cuilaun and Andrew Pearsons Bojar among others.
Racing on the green course with race ofcer Stephen Gordon Bonney;
Parry and team, Fenton Burgin sailing Sioma won the
all-Classic 6-Metre class from Tom Richardsons Thistle
and Andy Shorts Nancy. Simon Russell scored four
wins in the XOD class, while Adrian Green in Aurora
pipped Rupert Streets Tschuss in the classic Dragons,
54 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Top row: Laurent with newcomer Anthony Talbot in third place. On the
Giles vs James red course for the larger yachts, with PRO Peter
McGruer as Bateson in charge, Oui Fling won both her races.
Cetewayo and The engineless gaff yawl Cormorant, owned by MD
Cuilaun go head of Ratsey & Lapthorn Steve Meakin, was returning to
to head in IRC1; the site of her build for almost the rst time since she
concours was launched in 1911. The Royal Southern building
delegance stands on what was the Lukes yard on the banks of the
winner Lutine; Hamble. The boat won the Gaffer 1 class.
1907 Sea View Meanwhile in the 19-strong Regatta class, Tim
Mermaid Mizpah Yetmans West Solent One-Design Suvretta won overall.
Main: Cornish As sailors enjoyed the Elephant Boatyards rum party
Crabber Alice on the Saturday afternoon, the Concours dElegance
Pellow (to judging team of David Aisher (owner of Thalia, see
leeward) and overleaf) with Jane Coombs, co-chair of Antigua Classic
1904 one-off Yacht Regatta, and Classic Boat editor Rob Peake, got to
Aeolus were class work inspecting the yachts entered. IMAGES BY NICK GILL EXCEPT SUVRETTA (BOTTOM LEFT) BY PAUL WYETH
rivals The overall Concours dElegance award went to the
Bottom row: Laurent Giles-designed Lutine of Helford owned by
West Solent OD Rachel and James Youngman. The authenticity award
Suvretta topped went to Laughing Gull and best-presented GRP yacht
the Regatta was Gloriana, a Hereshoff 12 built in 1977 and owned
Class; organisers by Ian Armstrong. Crewed by his seven-year old son
Jonty Sherwill Rory, the boat also won the Gaffer 2 division.
and Vicki Weston A charity prize-draw at the Saturday night dinner,
on Cockleshell held at the Royal Southern, raised 1,000 for Wetwheels.
with Flash Organiser Jonty Sherwill thanked the event sponsors
Spinlock, Ratsey and Lapthorn Sailmakers, Performance
1939 one-off Rigging, Classic Marine, Sandeman Yacht Company and
design Maresta the Elephant Boatyard. He said next years focus would
be to encourage even more classic-style yachts, dayboats
and gaffers to visit the Hamble for the event.
Racing on Thalia at Hamble Classics see overleaf
HAMBLE CLASSICS
MARK LLOYD
RACING ON THALIA
Sailing en famille at Hamble Classics on an
1888 gaff cutter...with a puppy dog?
STORY ROB PEAKE
P
iercing screams, then a roar of dismay, echo up
the companionway. Are the galley crew
revolting? wonders helm Bill Blain.
The gaff cutter Thalia, which in her 129th
year is playing host to a raucous childrens card game in
the middle of the rst race at Hamble Classics, heels with
the breeze and sails on.
Owners David Aisher and Kristi Roger have invited
me to join their family outing on the boat, one of the
oldest and nest classic yachts in British waters. Were
lucky to have her she was saved from the axe, literally,
by 11th hour reprieves in 1969 and then 1997, when
previous owner Ivan Jeffries undertook a restoration that
we celebrated back in CB165. David bought her in 2010
and gave her a new mast, boom and sails. These days,
Thalia is just your average family cruising boat as far
as average cruising these days comes with block and
tackle and a tiller the size of a table leg (but considerably
more elegant).
If Thalia is spectacular, our crew for the two-day
regatta is hardly average. Jane Coombs, known as
co-chair of Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, owns a
Harrison Butler, Cora, which is 80 years old and safely
tied up somewhere in Antigua, a far cry from the sunny
but nippy Solent today. Calling course is Wendy
Laynton, who spends most of her summer, she delights
in telling me, racing from the Hamble. She has that
comfortable on the foredeck look to her.
And then the aforementioned Blain, the man behind
the Batsh series of Solent race yachts that have twice
been RORC champions and won a fair bit in between.
Bill, who gave each of his Batsh yachts the tag scourge
56 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Opposite of the Solent, as he set out to demolish all opposition,
clockwise from brings a degree of boisterous IRC-mongering to Thalia
top left: Kristi that the old girl might not have experienced in Victorian
Roger and David times.
Aisher leave it to The weather wasnt what we ordered, he remarks,
Penny Roger to snifng the light northerly breeze disapprovingly as we
steer Thalia motor out of the Hamble.
home; Jane We are one of 64 classic yachts entered for the second
Coombs; chalky edition of Hamble Classics. The event was launched last
Solent waters; year by Jonty Sherwill and his partner Vicki Weston, and
luffing Nomad; perhaps to the surprise of some attracted more boats in
Sophie Aisher on its rst year that most events take a decade to work up
the bowsprit with to. The appetite for a season-closer was clearly there, but
friend Ryan; as Sherwill says, its strange that Hamble, the cradle of
Wendy Laynton UK yacht racing in so many ways, has not had its own
checks our dedicated classic regatta before.
course; Bill Blain Would I have volunteered for the good ship Thalia,
prepares his had I known we were going round Cape Horn? our
pirate bandana man Bill bellows to nobody in particular as the bite in
the wind deepens and we zip our jackets to the neck.
Our start isnt absolutely textbook but were in
amongst Jolie Brise, Aeolus, Ivy Green, Sophie and a
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS OPPOSITE BY ROB PEAKE
smattering of Harrison Butlers. Not unsightly company.
Jolie Brise doesnt take long to power through below us,
her crew pointing their smartphones in Thalias direction
as they pass.
If in doubt, just pull on the brown rope, advises Bill
as I stand over a snakepit of traditional coils on the
stern. My role today is mainsheet, and its a good thing
the second year of Hamble Classics is proving a light airs
event. Admiring the eet from my position perched on
Thalias counter, my reverie is broken by a main in call
HAMBLE CLASSICS
from David. He comes back to haul in while I tail onto
the cleat. Doing this for Thalias sizeable mainsail in
strong winds would take some welly.
Our efforts are rewarded as Kristi delivers sausage
baps and Bill breaks into a mellow tenor: I love the
sausage, the bonnie little sausage
Do you know the sausage song? he asks between
bites. Nobody does, but the culinary and musical
interlude is quickly overshadowed by a sighting of the
lesser-spotted pink unicorn, which pops its head up the
companionway after deciding mid-morning is a good
time to get up. Ten-year-old Penny Roger, dressed in a
glamorous pink onesie crowned by a unicorns horn, is
hands-down the best dressed sailor in the regatta. She
and Davids daughter Sophie, 13, enjoy a relaxed day on
board. They are both as at home on the mighty Thalia as
they are, no doubt, in their shore-based home. Do they
care that Davids grandfather won the 1951 Fastnet and
helped set up two British Americas Cup challenges? Do
they care that Davids uncle won an Olympic medal in
1968 in the 5.5-metre class? Do they care that David is,
ahem, not too shabby a sailor either and a former
Commodore of RORC? Why bother with such
irrelevancies when theres a bowsprit net to be clambered
over and a boom to be balanced upon? Although not, as
David sternly points out, while going downwind.
Thalia is a hardly a stripped back race machine
(unlike the new Spirit 52D that moored alongside us in
Hamble, just 13 decades between the two boats launch
dates), but it doesnt take much to power her up and
unlike the Spirit, we have the voluble Blain to aid our
progress.
Hike like badgers! he commands, as Thalias
12-tons of oak leans with the wind. The youngsters
dutifully take a pew on the side decks.
Do I have an issue with these logs? Bill calls to
David, who is directing from the bow. Logs oating in
the Solent? All I can see is the small boat eet, some
Darings and XODs. Further references to speed bumps
follow, as Thalia thunders between them and someone
suggests to Bill: You could get three on the bowsprit.
The eet is converging on the line and Thalia is
crossing with a 1920s cutter on starboard. Will we make
58 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Above from top it? Im coming up, yells Bill as he follows Davids
left: David Aisher directional advice. Its my reputation, but its your
gives course boat!
advice; Thalias We pass safely in front, but the nal straight dodgems
bowsprit was is far from over as yet another boat crosses our path.
carved in 1997; This time its time to take our medicine, as Bill says,
paddle steamer pulling the hefty tiller towards his chest and aiming
Waverley passes smartly for just aft of the yachts stern. Im going to
through the eet take a paint sample, advises Bill. Im going to make
the skipper kiss the puppy dogs tongue!
Thalia has the head of a dog carved onto the end of
her 14ft bowsprit.
As we pass inches off the yachts stern, her crew smile
benignly in our direction. Its impossible to tell if they
can hear Bill or not; perhaps better not. Kiss the puppy
dogs lips! he roars, offering a few yip, yips to the
wind as we carry on and David calls for a match-racing-
style turn: Okay, Im doing my sixpence act, gasps Bill,
reddening in the face as he puts every ounce of his weight
behind Thalias tiller.
We cant keep up with Jolie Brise, but weve outdone
more modern boats and nish a respectable fth in class
cheers all round as we cross the line and the girls come
up from below. Dad, can I go on the bowsprit now?
asks Sophie.
If Thalia was on the Med circuit, theres every chance
shed be crewed by a team of strapping blokes in
matching white cotton smocks. Nothing wrong with
that, but here she is sailed regularly by a family of four.
The Aishers and the Rogers, it is little surprise, value and
respect her heritage as much as anyone, but at the same
time Thalia is simply the family boat, a situation to
which, after 22 owners, she seems entirely suited.
With Sophie installed on the bowsprit, Penny
suddenly comes aft and says: I am going to helm.
Our collective delight at seeing the next generation
on the tiller is tempered as Penny steers straight for the
nearest big ship wake and we realise the real reason she
wants to helm an entirely natural, sisterly desire to get
Sophie soaked. As the wake hits, Thalias nose plunges
downwards and shrieks reach us from the bowsprit. The
look of glee on Pennys face says it all. Thalia is in good
hands.
 BEN HARRIS & CO
Wooden boat building in Cornwall
Newbuild, Restoration, Repair

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info@benharrisboats.co.uk
tel: 07570 780 864

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CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 59

 TOM NITSCH

The Beken
of lm
The man who shot the
classic yacht revival is still
documenting the world he loves
WORDS SAM FORTESCUE

60 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 H
es been called the Beken of the classic yacht revival,
but when I put this to him, he shakes his leonine
mane. Im honoured by the comparison, of course,
says Tom Nitsch, but Beken used a large-format
camera. I shoot video.
Its a fair point, but perhaps beside the point. More than
anyone else, Tom Nitsch has documented the revival of the
yachts that Beken photographed in a career spanning four
decades. He was in Saint-Tropez during the late-1980s and
1990s as the classic community came together to shake its
collective tailfeathers at the Nioulargue. And hes recorded the
building, reconstruction or sailing of boats from the Skerry
cruisers (his lm won the Special Jury Award at Worldfest
Houston this year) to Fife 15-M The Lady Anne. A long-standing
partnership with his namesake has married these images with
the distinctive voice of Tom Cunliffe as regular narrator.
Today, hes working on a major project for pianomaker
Bechstein not as far from boatbuilding as you might think. As
he always has, he works from an office in the western
Blankenese district of Hamburg; a leafy village with long-
standing links to the sailors and ship captains who plied the
River Elbe which ows at its feet. It was here as a teenager in the
1960s that he faced his fathers ire when he returned home with
a battered sharpie that cost him the princely sum of DM150
(75). He was shocked I could spend so
much, Tom recalls. Navigating the River
Elbe, with its strong tides and erce chop,
was a new thrill for him then. The moment
For me,
you stepped on deck, you left normal city life true classics
totally behind you our destination
depended on the tide and on the wind.
nished with
The boats he sails may have changed World War II
since then, but the motivation is the same:
To get into harmony with the elements; this
and after
feeling that it couldnt be any better. that they lost
He progressed via an H-jolle (20ft 4in
[6.2m] LOA, 160sq ft [15m2] sail area) to a
some of their
Danish-built 30-footer with Folkboat looks. charm
With his wife Angelika, he undertook some
work to the boat, but it was never the idea
to return her to her original state.
Even then in the late-1970s, he describes a nascent classic
boat scene in north Germany. Between Hamburg and Kiel, there
was a hardcore of enthusiasts who would meet from time to
time. The skills to work these wooden boats still existed in
pockets, but most of the work was done by the owners
themselves, with varying success. The couple cruised up to
Grenaa in Denmark, where they came across a vast wooden
yacht. It was incredible, Tom says. A boat so large. At the time,
I had never heard the name Fife. The boat was painted a dark
navy colour and had no rig, but inside, she was beautiful. The
owner showed us around and we couldnt believe our eyes. I
took lots of photos. She was the rare 15-M Mariska, and perhaps
this was the moment that planted the seed for Toms later
career. That same holiday, his own mast broke in Sweden. The
double tang for the lower shrouds was simply not strong
enough, Tom says. We were going to windward in Force 5 or
C/O TOM NITSCH
6. Returning home by ferry, he and his wife chanced upon an
advert in a sailing magazine for a 125SqM Seefahrtkreuzer and
decided to have a look. Thats how it always starts, Tom agrees.
The boat had belonged to Henry Rasmussen, built in 1936 to
showcase the Abeking and Rasmussen yard. Simply called AR,
she still belongs to Tom and Angelika.
For some years, Tom was a member of a raucous
alternative sailing club called Glameyers Wahn constituted
solely so that a group of artists would be allowed to moor their
boats on the Elbe. They had to hold an AGM and publish a
constitution to win recognition from the German Sailing
Association (DSV), which was grudgingly given. During these
years in the early 1980s, Tom started his own lm production
business, with commercial projects for brands like Mercedes.
But it wasnt until 1989 that he discovered the Mediterranean
scene, invited by chance to spend a week in a holiday house
near Saint-Tropez. Watching the classics strut and race during
the Nioulargue, Tom vowed to return the following year with his
camera. I said: Someone has to make a documentary of this.
It was hard to get access to the boats, Tom admits. But I
had an opening through [J-Class] Endeavour, and owner
Elizabeth Meyer was interested in publicity. He tried to sell the
lm to the main German TV channels, but was told that there
was no audience for classic boats. He kept at it: 1992 was not a
good year at all, but in 1993 I was allowed to lm on board
boats where the atmosphere was really fun.
He singles out the 95ft Fife Belle Aventure in particular.
I used a big Betacam and stabilisation was very difficult,
Tom says. I shot from the shoulder and
everything had to be wide angle,
otherwise the footage was too bumpy.
He deplored the problems with editing
on this medium, so all but La Nioulargue
was edited digitally on a Mac a
pioneering move back in 1993.
One of Toms best-known lms is
Enchanted by the Dragon, documenting
the 1998 Fife Regatta and featuring
much of his distinctive lingering camera-
work backed by mood music. (Its no
surprise to learn he was inuenced by
the documentary Jazz on a Summers
Day, showing scenes from the 1958
Newport Jazz Festival interspersed with
match-racing from the concurrent Americas Cup in the
harbour.)
Documenting the Fife regatta brought him into contact with
Albert Obrist and Fairlie Restorations, which restored The Lady
Anne, and also with Donn Costanzo of Wooden Boatworks.
Tom returned to Costanzos Long Island yard recently to lm
the replica of the Fife 8-M Invader and her sister ship Defender,
a lm that is forthcoming on DVD.
Tom is not dogmatic and is generous with his interpretation
of a classic. It could include modern yachts with long overhangs
and beautiful sheerlines, he says haltingly, as if considering the
question for the rst time. Though for me, true classics nished
with World War II after that, they lost some of their charm.
He has also been hired to document modern boats, even the
590ft (180m) Azzam, the worlds largest privately owned motor
yacht. The classic world hasnt lost its own Werner Herzog yet.
Superyachts pay the bills, Tom smiles, but its a different
feeling.
Visit tom-nitsch-images.de for all Toms lms, including his
latest about the Skerry Cruisers and a forthcoming Dragons lm
CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 61
 WINNER

AWARD
Jenny Mo
rgan
RSMA

ROYAL SOCIETY OF MARINE

ARTISTS ANNUAL EXHIBITION

CANVAS
DREAMS The winner of the Classic Boat Award at the Royal

We select ve works from the 2017 Society of Marine Arists exhibition, at the Mall Galleries in
London in October, was Jenny Morgan (above right), with

edition of the RSMA show, the biggest her depiction in oil of one of the celebrated duels
between the Herreshoff cutter Navahoe and GL Watsons

so far, with more than 398 exhibits, Britannia, in 1893, the year Britannia was launched. The
work is called They Raced in an Easterly Gale. RSMA

chosen from a submission of 1,333 president Liz Smith (above left) presented Jenny the
trophy, hand-made by Astins Sailing Sculptures.

62 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 West Kirby
Sailing Club,
watercolour
Neil Faulkner
RSMA
1,500

Moonbeam of
Fife Returning
to St Tropez
after racing, oil
Rowena Wright
RSMA
2,700

They Raced in
an Easterly
Gale - Britannia
and Navahoe
1893, oil
Jenny Morgan
RSMA
3,150

Grand Banks Schooners, oil Before the Race, oil

Paul Wright RSMA Sheena Bevis-White
8,000 1,150

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 63

 The Loch Long eet at Aldeburgh is well travelled, but the idea of
ONE DESIGN 80TH ANNIVERSARY
marking the One Designs 80th anniversary with a private regatta on
Lake Como was greeted with a few raised eyebrows. Perhaps a

LOCH
1,600-mile round trip, trailing boats across the Swiss Alps and
organising an event from a distance with an unknown club was
somewhat crazy. But 16 boats went and the trip surpassed all of our
previous expeditions, demonstrating what can be achieved by a classic

LONGS keelboat class with enthusiasm, camaraderie and good organisation.

Initially we ew out to meet Walter Ghezzi, regatta director for
AVAL-CDV, the Gravedona sailing club, who was won over by our

ON COMO proposal to hold a Scottish evening for the local community. Then two
great ideas cemented support for the trip. First, a group of retired
Essex police officers and remen was recruited to drive some of the
cars and boats to Como. This made it easier for working owners to
participate. Secondly, following the regatta, Verdis opera Aida was
going to be performed in the Roman arena in Verona, only a train
A birthday bash with journey away. This sealed the deal for any wavering Loch Longers.

Italian air for the June 14, 2017, saw four convoys of Loch Longs leave Aldeburgh for
Como via the Channel Tunnel. The planning paid off and three days
Suffolk eet later all were aoat on Lake Como. The rst day of racing saw an
atypical 20-knot southerly Bora. The boats revelled in it, while the
sailors welcomed the cooling spray of fresh (not salty) water. The eet
WORDS JAMES POWELL had a single start with two divisions, spinnaker and white sail. The large
windward/leeward courses with plenty of water and no tide were a
refreshing change for sailors used to the connes of the river Alde.
Our Scottish ceilidh evening saw the 64-strong company of sailors
and family, wearing Loch Long tartan, process through Gravedona led
by piper Dougie Wotherspoon, who gathered the local populace as he
went. At the town hall the haggis was piped in and addressed by
reeling master Ron Smith in true Robbie Burns style. The ceilidh began
and with the aid of a dram or two the evening was an overwhelming
success. There were one or two sore heads the next morning, but the
racing continued, as competitive as ever.
On the last day the eet set off to do battle to the strains of
bagpipes and the ring of church bells. The lake was calm with a light
breeze. The surrounding mountains, with snow in the gullies, hot sun
and brilliant blue sky made for a perfect setting champagne sailing!
Victor Ludorum after nine races went to Skye (20-year-old helm
George Hill with father Patrick), from Tantrum (2nd) and Vela (3rd)
with Hussar and Aeolus equal behind them. Skye led the spinnaker
eet, while Aeolus won the white sail eet. Main picture: Tight racing in a spectacular setting
ALEXANDER PANZERI

Race officer Walter Ghezzi closed his prize-giving speech by saying: to mark the One Designs 80th anniversary.
We have never met a class like you. You race competitively on the Above: Overall winners on the podium were
water, but are friends back on shore. (top to bottom) Skye, Tantrum and Vela
The Loch Long class could not have asked for a better tribute, nor Bottom: In traditional style, the haggis is piped in
could we have wished for a more hospitable host club than AVAL-CDV.
 LALLOWS
A HISTORY
As the Cowes yard marks its 150th birthday, we look
back at the people, boats and events that shaped it
WORDS CLARE MCCOMB
W
hen Henry Lallow (otherwise Lillow),
mariner of his Majestys ship
Greyhound, signed his last will and
testament in 1756, he wrote:
Considering the dangers of the seas and the
uncertainties of this transitory life, and to avoid
controversy, I am leaving all my worldly estate to my
brother, Clear Lallow, mariner, of Newport in the Isle of
Wight, and my body to the earth or the seas as it shall
please God. The siblings were descended from Issacc La
Lau, who had ed to London from Clermont in
Picardy, France, in the late 1600s, to escape religious
persecution. Perhaps thats how the Clare name
originated. Issacc was a Huguenot refugee who were
typically devout decent folk, often skilled weavers and
woodworkers, proud of their craftsmanship. His
descendants had gravitated to the Island where their lives
became heavily involved with boats and the sea.
Initially times were rough: in the very early 1800s
there was a bankruptcy Clear Lallow, sailmaker of
Sun Hill West Cowes, whose goods, chattels and
property were up for auction, while furious creditors
alleged he had already sold a wooden tenement off
cheap to avoid it being seized to pay his debts. On the
auction lists were Sundry lots of good r and oak
timber, consisting of ships beams, planks etc, which
sounds like boat-repairers stock. In 1802 (presumably
the same) Clear was convicted and ned heavily for
having more than 200lb of gunpowder in his possession
with extensive notices in local papers citing his bad
example as a trader in explosives!
By mid-century there were several branches of the
Lallow clan, living and working around Cowes.
Sometimes they were hauled up before the magistrates
for arrears of rates it was never their fault! John
Lallow, sailmaker, stands out as a tough customer, for
both East and West Cowes in those times were places
where you needed a strong st, as well as a business
head, to survive. One foolish fellow took John to court
displaying a leg injured by the owner of Lallows sail
shop; luckily loyal customers came forward to prove
he was lying. There were other reports of sticuffs,
with John coming out the victor. The 1841 census
shows a John Lallow, sailmaker, living with his brother
66 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Charles, ships carpenter, at Medina Terrace, West
Cowes. In 1861 Charless son, Clare Lallow, aged 18,
is described as boatbuilder, then Master boatbuilder
(1871) and nally boatbuilder employing one man
and two boys a decade later. Family tradition has it
that in 1867, in his mid twenties, Clare had taken on a
bet to build a wooden boat for 10 in just 10 days.
The yard was founded after that simple challenge and
is still trading, 150 years on.
SPECIALISED IN SMALL BOATS
From the start Lallows apprentices raced four-oared gigs
at local regattas with a good deal of spirit and the
custom persisted well into the 20th century; one early
boat was simply called Lallow win or lose the contests
made for great advertising. The business specialized in
small boats, tenders, rowing gigs and other minor craft,
but always the best quality. A new Cowes Rowing Club
founded in the early 1880s had 40 members. Clare built
Hilda for them, a 30ft four-oared cedar galley, launched
with a ceremonial eggshell lled with wine amid much
cheering, because Mr Lallow has spared no pains to
bring her to perfection and she does great credit to him.
Clare allowed the Club to settle up when they had funds,
but with ne boats and increased membership, their
debts were soon discharged. Lallows growing popularity
and reputation for high standards led to ever increasing
orders, as the yard prospered.
By 1891 Lloyds listed: Clare Lallow Yacht, Steam
Launch and Boat Builders of 5 Medina Terrace West
Cowes, but was this true? According to the ofcial
records so-called yachts came few and far between;
although their rst attempt was very much praised. In
1873 Clares son Sidney had done the honours at the
launch of as smart a little 20-tonner as we have seen for
many a year. The local paper noted: As a boatbuilder
Mr Lallow has been very successful, and this is the rst
yacht that he has built but from the manner in which
he has turned her out it strikes us as very probable that
she will not be the last. Her dimensions are length 38ft,
extreme beam 11ft 1in, tonnage 20 internally the
available space is so well utilised After the launch
about 30 of Mr Lallows friends gathered at Humbys
Commercial Inn close by, where a most enjoyable and
 CLARE LALLOW

IAN LALLOW

Sidney Clare Lallow (third from left), with fellow boatbuilders Sibbick (to his left) and Marvin (behind
binnacle) and their wives and crew, out for a Whitsuntide sail on The Charm in 1898
CLARE LALLOW
social evening was spent. The new owner, Alfred
Sartoris, named her Nixie and she raced triumphantly on
the Hamble, beating off all-comers apart from one
occasion when the jaw rope of her gaff broke,
necessitating a hasty lowering and re-raising of the
mainsail. She was described as sister ship to the Dolly
Varden and much admired.
Typical of rich men of those times, Sartoris sold Nixie
in 1875, commissioning Lukes of Itchen Ferry to build
him a new 60 ton version with the same name, which
soon appeared in the members lists at The Squadron;
Lallows Nixie was renamed Margery Daw, passing then
from hand to hand until she disappeared in the mid
1920s, over 50 years from her launch. Her most notable
owner was Thomas Sopwith, long before he achieved
aeronautical and Americas Cup fame; he had sailed
from childhood and she was his very rst yacht,
purchased for 100 in 1910, and (in true engineer style)
tted with two different parafn engines before he let her
go a couple of years later.
Lallows clients were not the great and the good, the
lords and princes drawn by Queen Victorias presence to
an increasingly fashionable Cowes; they were lesser-
moneyed folk whose quiet cruises didnt make the news
in the same way as the great yachts. Margery Daw only
caught the headlines when she snagged on draining pipes
off Lymington in 1892, tilted and lled with the tide,
before being pumped out and towed, ragged, into
Yarmouth. Little three-ton Puddleduck never made any
waves at all. By the time Clare Lallow died in 1904, he
had owned a series of boats, presumably for getting
around and hiring to customers. The 23-ton Kingsher
and 20-ton Vera were of his own making but others were
second-hand, including two design-and-build Sibbicks
and a Michael Ratsey. Local yards didnt need
professional marine architects in those days just rule of
thumb and years of experience in the making. The boats
were probably none the worse for it, in the end.
1890 brought an exciting 83 foot steam launch plus a
commission for altering the barque, White Heathers,
boats. 1894 found Lallows making boats for a new 550
Below: early ton twin screw steel yacht Zoraide in Hull, designed by a
penny farthing Liverpudlian architect. They were also providing tenders
racing for JS White and American Franklin M Singers new
68 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
533-ton Xarifa, bound for New York. Tellingly, 1894
also involved an extensive Admiralty order of whalers,
gigs and cutters; repeat business from the Navy was to
be the bread and butter of the yard, from then on, seeing
them through all the ups and downs, providing security
for their increasingly skilled workforce in both World
Wars. An advertisement in 1903 called for a specialist
sawyer to take charge of horizontal and circular sawing
machines, to thoroughly sharpen, set and gullet saws
with emery wheel it proved how far Lallows had come
from the days of one man and two boys.
GIVE A NEW IDEA A GO
Clare, with his stalwart sons, Sidney, Arthur and Harold,
was clearly willing to give new ideas a try. In a works
Penny Farthing race round the Princes Oval in 1887,
Lallow had to retire after an accident which had bent
his solid (either metal or hard rubber) tyre. Ratsey also
retired they may well have crashed together. This was
very early for organized bicycle racing, and probably
extremely wobbly! Equally innovative was an
experimental vessel the yard built and tested in 1890 for
the RNLI, which was trying to research an unsinkable
to prevent the horrendous loss of life of Northumberland
coble shermen. This lifeboat was 18ft long, 6ft beam,
and 2ft 6in in depth. Along each side there were cases
containing cork concrete, with a further similar case at
either end, involving about 28 cubic feet of the stuff.
After nearly 15cwt of metal had been put in, the bung
was taken out and the boat lled with water the
oating power of the concrete proved sufcient to keep it
aoat, notwithstanding the weight of water and metal
a cheap and handy means to give open boats the
advantages of a lifeboat.
In 1899 Sidney gave evidence as a partner in the
business in yet another lively court case. This time the
appellant was Samuel Baker, a hapless paid hand,
originally engaged by Lallows for the dastardly London
pantomime actor, and Opera Comique Theatre Lessee,
Arthur Elliot, when he rented their screw schooner
Kingsher for a month. Elliot had lied to Baker about
having purchased the boat when he retained him to
caretake her over the following winter for a pound a
week. Those wages were never paid. Giving evidence,
Sidney Lallow was tough, honest and straightforward:
Yes they had hired out their Kingsher to Elliot... Yes
Elliot had negotiated to buy it... No he had never paid
up... Yes, presumably Kingsher still belonged to
Lallows... No, he did not know if they were going to
sue! Lamentably poor Samuel Baker lost his case.
During the hearing, Council for the Defence revealed
that Kingsher had not been registered as she ought,
which may explain Lallows meagre Lloyds Register
listings between 1886 (when the Builders and Designers
section commenced), and 1906 when Lallows entries
disappear altogether. Perhaps they didnt bother with
unnecessary paperwork!
A wonderful photograph from 1898 shows the
boatbuilding friends Sidney Clare, GJ Marvin and
Charles Sibbick with their wives out for a Whitsun sail in
The Charm. Two of the ladies have The Charm ribbons
around their boaters, and the hand, Jim Day, has her
 CLARE LALLOW

Top: the great Lallows re

Above: devastation post-re
Right: damage to the street side of the yard
Below: Sidney Lallow (third from left) surveys
the damage

PICTURES COURTESY OF IAN LALLOW

CLARE LALLOW
name proudly embroidered on his jersey yet there is no
trace of this yacht in the records, nor for the preceding
and successive years. No doubt many vessels existed
unrecorded at that time.
ARMAGEDDON STRUCK
After the turn of the century great change came. In 1904,
Clare Lallow died and was quietly buried in Northwood
cemetery among his forebears. He was only 60. His sons
took over the yard, quickly selling off the three boats
they had inherited, which was quite a shift from their
fathers business model. Then in February 1907,
Armageddon struck. One of the ercest res Cowes has
known broke out, the reections in the night sky visible
from Southampton, Portsmouth, Ryde and Newport and
all over the island. The blaze started late afternoon in the
home of a tenant of Lallows at the back of the Medina
yard, and within half an hour, with a fresh offshore
breeze driving the ames seaward, the whole quayside
was a furnace. People trying to save their possessions
had to run when the wind shifted.
Sidneys son Clare, just a year old, remembered
watching the blaze while clutched in his mothers arms,
as she stood outside their house. What she was feeling
one can only imagine as wood stores, exploding
ammunition, tall wooden warehouses and her husbands
yard and wharf disappeared into the restorm.
Fanny Lallow was not alone: from every vantage
point, and along the shores of East Cowes opposite,
people had gathered quietly to watch. Being coastal-folk
they knew that if the wind direction turned, nothing
could prevent the devastation of the town.
Mr Aitken, manager of the adjoining Mitcham
Motor Company had managed to dump all his petrol
containers over the wharfside, after rolling a valuable
car down a slipway into the water; he also put six motor
boats aoat, but four were abandoned, as well as three
valuable motor engines in cases. Acts of bravery were
commonplace that night and miraculously no personal
injury resulted. The Squadron lost the chairs and rugs
used in summertime on the castle lawns, and a large tea
tent. Sir Allen Young CB had been storing his collection
of relics from his four Arctic expeditions everything
was reduced to smoking ash.
BEKEN OF COWES
70 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Come morning, despite the best efforts of local
brigades, marines and bluejackets, naval cadets and a
hose attached to the pump of a steam tug, the losses
were heavy. The gear of many yachts and in some cases
the yachts themselves were no more than cinders.
Marvins had been sharing storage at Lallows yard,
which was totally destroyed. The extent of the blaze was
an area of 450 feet by 300, bounded by dwellings on one
side, and the sea and high walls on the other.
It is interesting that Lallows lost 35 new boats that
night, although a handful were saved. All had been built
ready for the coming summer and included some motor
launches; from the description we can get a sense of the
yards typical output. In addition, vital stocks of
seasoned timber were destroyed. The total insurance
payout was over 16,000, a fortune in Edwardian times,
although even this didnt cover peoples losses. Lallows
received something in the region of 5,000. It is apparent
that the thrust of their business activity had been
constructing minor wooden craft, motor, oar and sail,
none large enough to be named in accounts of the re,
nor to gure in Lloyds yacht builders listings. Perhaps
the bankruptcy of their friend Charles Sibbick in 1903
had raised a fear of overextending into giant projects:
Sibbick and Marvin were both big players compared to
the Lallow brothers, but they were happy working
smallscale. After the re, tools and timber were quickly
replaced, and their output of ne neat vessels, often in
silver spruce, with teak ttings, resumed. The Lallows
were unpretentious and offered expert craftsmanship for
a decent price which in the end proved a very resilient
formula.
FOOTBALL CLUB
The family, especially the womenfolk, was heavily
involved with the local community, including St Marys
Church, where it played a full part in fund-raising
festivals, concerts and religious services. There was also a
strong Freemason tradition in the family, going back to
the mid-1700s, and they lived up to the Masonic
Below: philosophy of quiet service to others for the greater good
Admiralty of all. Arthur Lallow served the local football club for
whalers at ISC many years, give or take the occasional hiatus when rules
built by Lallows were broken and he took the blame! He had no wish to
run the club, although his work as Hon Secretary
enabled it to ourish. When new stands were needed in
the 1920s, with no funds available, he and his brother
Harold built them with their own hands, heading off
after work: one is still sheltering Cowes football fans
today. Meanwhile brother Sidney gave decades of service
on the local council, heading the works committee.
During economic downturns, when the islands
unemployment numbers soared, he campaigned to avoid
skilled men suffering the shame of lining up for the dole;
they were similar to his own employees and he minded
about their feelings.
Perhaps there is no such thing as bad publicity. After
the re, increasingly wealthy and prestigious owners
brought their yachts to Lallows for hauling up and
alterations. In 1909 and 1910 a couple of Earls, a Baron,
two Knights and a Lady, the occasional Reverend and a
veritable stream of plain Misters laid their yachts up on
 CLARE LALLOW

C/O PETE JEFFERY

Above: Successive Lallow generations were heavily involved in the community and Arthur Lallow (sitting,
far right) and brother Harold built Cowes football club stand in the 1920s, which still shelters fans today

BEKEN OF COWES

Clockwise from top left: customers Baron Von Above: Dolly Varden 1872 described as
Eckardstein; Alfred Sartoris; Arthur Elliot, an actor sister ship of the rst Lallows 1873 yacht
playing the Mad Hatter; Sir Philip Hunloke Nixie, which was renamed Margery Daw
CLARE LALLOW
Lallows mud, or brought them in for maintenance and
alteration. One client was notorious for (apocryphally)
having forgotten the password on returning to his
agship after a banquet on shore in Jamaica. When
challenged he protested he was Admiral de Horsey, in
charge of the North Atlantic Fleet. I dont care if you
are Admiral de Donkey, came the stalwart reply, rather
spoilt by what followed: If you dont give me the word
London, you shall not pass! Lallows would always
have been genuinely respectful of the Admiral, who was
chairman of Isle of Wight magistrates for many years,
despite the covert sniggers which have dogged his
reputation, then and since. By 1920 even Sir Philip
Hunloke, the Kings sailing master on Britannia, was
bringing his own yachts to Lallows for overwintering
and servicing. Once when his auxiliary cutter
Mavourneen had been run into by a steam hopper she
was returned to him, fully mended with a new bowsprit
and rail, just days later. At Cowes there were always
yachts needing repair and the yard worked night and day
if necessary to meet customer needs.
Two years after the 1914-18 conict, during which
Admiralty Work kept most of the workforce together,
Sidneys son Clare, aged 14, started his apprenticeship.
He was quiet but a determined sailor quite unlike his
father and uncles who were rarely out on the water
except for work purposes; Sidney had driven in a couple
of motor launch local regatta races pre-war, but nothing
after that. Clare enjoyed racing his delicate 6-Metre 2:12
scale, 70in LOA yacht Princess Olga at the local Model
Club and was competitive enough to be elected deputy
captain of the Cowes Lawn Tennis Club, where he
caught the eye of Sybil, a local girl from the William
White boatbuilding family, who understood his aims and
dreams. His fathers relationship with the famous Island
72 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Above: Norris Sailing Club consisted of building and repairing its boats,
Castle was built often as a favour, but by the mid 1930s Clare and Sybil,
for Red Funnel now married, were full members, racing ISC dinghies
in 1938, and and scows. In 1937 Clares Curlew is reported beating
requisitioned by Franklin (Ratsey) Woodroffes Crevette into third place
the Admiralty in the 14-footers. Theirs was to be a critical sailing
in 1939 rivalry after the fast approaching war.
NORRIS CASTLE
During the 1920s and 30s the Lallow brothers took on
every sort of job going, in addition to storing and
servicing sailing boats. In 1922 Red Funnel
commissioned the rst passenger boat to operate
between East and West Cowes from them, and this was
followed in 1938 by the much larger Norris Castle which
carried up to 100 passengers back and forth across the
Medina. In 1929 Lallows built Eirene IV, the Mission
for Seamen vessel, replacing Eirene III which had been
smashed by winter storms.
They used salvaged parts, including the engine,
presumably to keep costs down. They also won the
contract for building a new mooring lighter for Cowes
in 1935; their tender had come in above spec and 30
cheaper than the nearest rival, so the Harbour
Committee did not hesitate. Flexibility, reliability,
courtesy, craftsmanship and fair prices ensured the
orderbooks stayed steady through the depression years
which hit the island hard.
Then, after a war constructing small naval
motorboats, Sidney Lallow died and his son Clare
stepped up to revolutionise the family rm, and launch
the Lallow name far across the world.
Next month
Lallows post-war to the present day


BEKEN of COWES
2018 CALENDARS
& LEGENDARY SAILBOATS BOOK
plus FINE QUALITY ENLARGEMENTS
www.beken.co.uk
01983-297-311

IRUWKHQHVW%ULWLVK$OSDFDVRFNV

perilla.co.uk
tel: 01886 853615
CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 73
 TOM CUNLIFFE
SOUL STARTER
Another bump and the whole ship shuddered.
It was now or never....
ILLUSTRATION CLAUDIA MYATT
T
he days when I studied the law of the land seem
centuries ago now, yet many an incident from my time in
Arcady is as clear in my mind as trundling out the bins
this morning. One of my lecturers was a senior barrister
with a gloriously double-barrelled name. He dressed immaculately
in the uniform known in the trade as black and stripes - a black
jacket and waistcoat with watch-chain, striped formal trousers, a
stiff collar and a perfectly knotted silver-grey tie. Never short of an
opinion on the decisions of judges, he boldly announced one
morning in 1966 that, The Court of Criminal Appeal, like the
Times Newspaper, is not what it was. Goodness knows what
shortfall in the justice dispensed by that learned tribunal caused the
outburst, but theres no doubting that The Times changed its
front-page format that very morning from small advertisement
columns to a conventional
headline-and-story
layout.
74 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
Publishing progress was undoubtedly made, but it led to a wave
of nostalgia for a more colourful age when, instead of being
greeted over breakfast with Bishop in boarding house affair with
actress during synod, one could choose between 1930 Rolls-
Royce, titled lady owner, well serviced, POA, and Elderly but able
yachtsman seeks willing lady crew ready for anything. Send colour
photo.
Over the intervening decades, boat engines have also been
transformed. Unlike the radical rip-up of The Times front page,
however, this hasnt been an overnight trauma. Instead, by courtesy
of half a century of careful development, any well-maintained
marine diesel will now start at the turn of the key and run until the
tanks are dry. Its progress all right, but for the classic boat owner
who appreciates individuality, the modern diesel
denitely lacks attitude. Just as anyone with a
heart loves to see a closehauled
Falmouth Working Boat
eating the breeze out
of some slack-
winded modern cruiser, were poorer in spirit if we
forget such engineering monuments as the
magnicent Scandinavian hot-bulb semi-diesel.
I once shipped out with a 2-cylinder example in
an old trading ketch. The Vlund had soul in
bucketfuls. Surrounded by mysterious piping,
tanks and valves, it lived in a shadowy space lit by
a single electric light. It stood nearly as tall as I did
and delivered a nominal 70hp at full power. That
doesnt sound much to push a 90-ton cargo vessel,
but they must have measured horsepower differently
in those days because the beast swung a serious
propeller that would have pulled the back wheels off a
Scammel truck. Coaxing it into life was more of a
negotiation than a process. On one occasion the job fell to
me, and if ever there was a case of, Dont panic, Mr
Mannering! this was it.
The mate, who usually took care of the machinery, was
otherwise engaged in saving the ship from a lee shore. In between
heaving in the mainsheet and encouraging the hands to ake out
anchor cable for the last resort, he was hollering down the hatch at
me to get on with it. But, as he well knew, there was more to
starting this giant of early engineering than pressing a button.
These engines worked on a simple, two-stroke principle. In
theory, all it needed was diesel, a cylinder head pre-cooked to
running temperature and the means of giving the crankshaft a spin.
This would leave it with little choice but to re. Unfortunately it
hadnt operated for a day or more and, just when we needed it
most, it was stone cold. Turning the engine over on a room-
temperature combustion chamber was never going to succeed, so,
as the footfalls on deck grew ever more frantic, I resorted to the
cold-start procedure. This involved a pair of old-fashioned
blowlamps permanently mounted to warm up hollow iron bulbs
on the cylinder heads. If youre too young to have come across a
blowlamp, they work on the same vapourised-parafn principle as
a traditional Primus stove, so they must rst be primed. I knew the
mate kept a bottle of methylated spirits jammed behind the ddle
on an oily shelf, so I groped for it, slopped some at the priming
bowls under the burners and tossed in a match.
As the meths heated the torches I pumped up the pressure in the
parafn reservoirs and waited. Doing nothing wasnt easy because
a light bump under my feet told its own awful story. We were right
on the edge of a shoal and wed scant chance of clawing off under
sail alone. Power was urgently needed if we were to sleep in our
bunks that night and not in a tent on the beach. As the burning
meths died down, I opened the pressure valves, praying the nozzles
were clear and that the lamps would catch. They ignited with a
satisfying roar and, thanking the patron saint of machinery,
whoever he might be, I breathed again. While they did their stuff I
grabbed a crowbar kept for the purpose, shoved it into a hole in
the enormous ywheel, heaved it round until a mark indicating my
best chance of a start coincided with the top of its turn, then lifted
it clear. The torches roared on in the gloom but it wasnt time yet.
From up forward came a despairing shout of Leggo! The anchor
chain rumbled out and all seemed lost, but nothing I could do
would speed up the process. I just had to sit watching the hot bulbs
until nally, they glowed cherry red. Another bump and the whole
ship shuddered. It was now or never.
High on the engine-room bulkhead hung a four-foot cylinder of
compressed air. This connected to the engine with a valve which I
opened, crossing my ngers rmly. We had a single chance.
Compressed air hissed into one cylinder, driving the piston down,
the ywheel turned, the glorious sound of a power stroke followed
and, in no time, that beauty of an engine had settled down to a
steady beat of two strokes per second. A mufed cheer rang out on
deck followed by a clatter as the skipper slipped the anchor cable.
A thud or two came from the keel and then I felt the blessed scend
as the old girl lifted her head for the open sea and freedom.
Once running, with fuel in the tanks and lubricating oil to top
up the multiple sight gauges, the Vlund wasnt going to stop. It
typied its breed. I knew a sherman from North of Bergen who
broke his leg at sea while single-handed in his one-cylinder boat.
Somehow, he made it back to the town dock where he was carted
off to hospital, leaving the one-lunger idling at what sounded like
100rpm. It was still turning sweetly when he came back in plaster
two weeks later.
Another example of tireless mechanical service saved a pal who
sailed his yacht to the Caribbean, then had the misfortune to strand
her on a reef. Hed tried all he knew to get her off and was losing
heart when his dad happened by with an old friend in an ancient
Norwegian shing boat powered by a two-cylinder semi-diesel.
They oated a hefty line down to the yacht and started to pull. At
cruising revs the hawser stretched out bar taut. The water was
wringing out of it, but the casualty didnt shift. That engine hadnt
been run above half-speed for years, but now it was asked to give
its all. As the rhythm quickened, the exhaust stopped blowing
smoke rings and belched dense clouds. The mighty propeller
thrashed the Caribbean into foam and slowly the yacht began to
come clear. Just as she suddenly surged into deep water, one of the
straining cylinders gave up the struggle and blew its head clean off.
The heavy disc of red-hot metal smashed straight up, splintering a
large hole in the coach roof, to land in the scuppers where it
smouldered alarmingly until quenched with multiple buckets of
clean tropical sea. Meanwhile, the engine continued to turn on one
cylinder, propelling the heroes to an anchorage, blacker in the face
than stokers on the old Lusitania. Using on-board tools, welding
gear, heavy duty taps, dies and a good deal of ingenuity, they
repaired the engine. It went on to deliver sterling service to the end
of the cruise.
Like the original Times newspaper, they dont make em like that
anymore.
CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 75
 Custom Yacht Works Ltd
Unit 12 Lycroft Business Park
Park Lane, Upper Swanmore
Southampton SO32 2QQ.
Our reputation for quality service and an
uncompromising attention to detail creates Office: 01489 877133
info@customyachtworks.com
a finish that exceeds our clients' expectation
www.customyachtworks.com

www.naturalmatmarine.co.uk
01392 877 247
Bespoke Mattresses and Beds for Yachts and Superyachts Odhams Wharf, Topsham, Devon EX3 0PD, England

76 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 New Classics

Handline
This 13ft (4m) Handline Dory is painted
traditionally with Dory buff and green, the
same colours theyve been painted in for 100
THE DORY years. Its the Dory Shops bestseller, light
(325lb/147kg), good to be rowed by one or two
The iconic workboat still and with a payload of 1,700lb (770kg). Cost is
CAD 5,580 (3,670) for the rowing version or
in build 100 years later CAD 8,140 (5,060) with sailing rig and rudder.

The dory is among the best known of

any small boat type ever, famed for
its seaworthiness, huge load capacity
and distinctive crescent moon sheer
style and high ends.
These were the boats chosen by
the impossibly tough men of the cod
schooners that put out from north
Americas shores into the wild north
Atlantic in great numbers in the 19th
and early 20th centuries. A 20ft (6m)

ALL PICS: C/O THE DORY SHOP

open dory was the rst craft ever to
take a solo sailor across the Atlantic
Alfred Johnson in Centennial, in Black Rocks
1876. If that werent enough, the dory Sitting between an old dory (left) and a sailing
type can add extreme stability, low Handline (right) is an 11ft (3.4m), 220lb (100kg)
draught and very low cost to its list of Black Rocks, priced at CAD 4,650 (2,890)
virtues. Moreover it can be sailed,
rowed or motored. In Lunenburg on
Canadas east coast, the aptly named Semi Dory
Dory Shop is celebrating a century of Modied dory
building these boats this year. with at planing
Its rst craft were built quick and sections aft for
dirty in two days by a large team outboard power.
these days they take two weeks to It comes in sizes
build and are nely nished. All boats from 12ft (3.6m)
come with a set of oars, tholepins, to the 19ft 8in
rope beckets and a brass plate with (6m) version
the hull number on it. pictured. Price is
CAD 9,775
See doryshop.com or (6,080). Weight
tel: +1 (902) 640-3005 is 800lb (360kg).

See boats for sale at classicboat.co.uk/type/buy-a-boat

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 77

 Den Phillips 2018 Calendars
CLASSIC YACHT CALENDAR EAST COAST CALENDAR

Columbia replica of historic fishing schooner at Antigua Classics. Sunset sail on the River Blackwater in Maldon.
Den is producing two calendars again, its the 30th year for her stunning East Coast featuring images of Traditional and Classic boats and seascapes from her native
East Coast. The Classic Yacht Calendar, in its 17th year features breathtaking images from Antigua Classics and the Les Voiles de St Tropez. Greetings Cards also available.
CALENDARS: Prices remain the same as 2015! (A3) 17+4.50 postage UK. Available for Companies at competitive prices, with overprinting company logo for your clients, please contact Den for costs, and postage outside UK.

DEN PHILLIPS PHOTOGRAPHS - The Old Pump House Studio, 6 Head Street, Goldhanger, Maldon, Essex, CM9 8AY, UK.
Tel: 01621 788471 Mobile: 07957 856242 www.DenPhillipsPhotos.com Email: Den@DenPhillipsPhotos.com

 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 /M\\QVOIWI\

PREANA

Australias oldest operating steamer

The restoration of the magnicent steam launch Preana has taken more than 17 years. She was launched in 1896 for William
Gibson, a wealthy Tasmanian our miller and parliamentarian, by Hobart shipwright Robert Inches to his own design, as a
commuting steam launch. Shes 55ft (17m) long with a Huon pine hull, blue gum keel and Tasmanian oak ribs. The slender
(13ft/4m) hull led to her name: an Aboriginal word for spear. She was powered by a 60hp triple-expansion steam engine made by
Simpson Strickland and Co of Dartmouth, Devon, giving her 12 knots, with reputedly no wake. After Gibson, she suffered a period
of decline, with the addition of a ybridge to convert her to leisure shing. Jim Butterworth came upon her in 1992, derelict on her
side among the tide wrack. Seventeen years later, shes stronger than ever, and still powered by steam this time a 40hp US Navy
Type E engine from 1905. She has a pride-of-place mooring in Hobarts Constitution Dock from where she operates an upmarket
charter operation. After devoting much of his life to Preana, Jim is retiring and has put her up for sale.

Asking, AUD$495,000 (c294,000), lying Hobart, info@preana.org

CANOE
Stripped
for action
This cedar-strip canoe looks
very fetching in white with
her varnished interior and
canework seats. Shes 15ft
SUSANNA 8in (4.8m) long and weighs
about 44lb (20kg), so its
Not just a pretty face easy to heft around, but with
One of those boats that is so sweet on the eye it is difficult to pass epoxy sheathing on both
comment and pick out one element that makes her so special, says sides and an additional build
broker Barney Sandeman of this spectacular 33ft 6in (10.2m) up underneath to minimize
bermudan cutter. Susanna was built by Kings of Burnham-on-Crouch grounding damage, she
in 1936 to a Norman Dallimore design and has cruised extensively should go the distance. She
since then, including a Biscay crossing in 1957. Shes just as happy on was built by Will Stirling and
the racecourse and is often sailed singlehanded, although has four Son last year and needs a
C/O STIRLING AND SON

berths in her cosy interior. Sails and covers are all 2013-2016, and a new owner.
new Bukh 24hp diesel was tted in 2009. Shes well equipped, in
good nick, and ready to go. Asking 5,140 incl VAT,
lying Devon,
Asking 69,500, lying Guernsey, tel: +44 (0)1202 330077, stirlingandson.co.uk
sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk

See boats for sale at classicboat.co.uk/type/buy-a-boat

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 79

BOATS FOR SALE

Boats for sale

Looking to sell your boat?
Reach over 50,000 readers each month
To advertise call Hugo Segrave +44 (0) 20 7349 3700
or email hugo.segrave@chelseamagazines.com
Copy Deadline for next issue is 16/11/2017

40 FT. 1962 CURTIS & PAPE T.S. CRUISER ELEGANT 42FT GENTLEMAN YACHT
Burma Teak hull & deck. Grown oak frames, copper fastened. Twin BMC Commodore diesels, refurbished and very economical. Extensive Elegant 42ft gentleman yacht of 1940, by Devries Amsterdam,
inventory, much new electronics, Typical Curtis & Pape Built by the best - with the best In commission Clyde, owner retiring, being sold impeccably maintained and equipped. Very comfortable, ideal for
with everything. Now available ashore for any inspection or survey. coastal cruises and moorings, and for the river. New engines.
Full details and contact. www.arranroseforsale.co.uk Very keen seller, so nal price reduction from 79,500 to 57,500 Photos, details and contacts on www.tzy.be 198,000

STOREBRO ROYAL
43 BUILT 1973
Advertising my boat in
Much loved, widely travelled, mahogany
on oak Storebro Classic now reluctantly Classic Boat led to nding
for sale. Excellent sea boat equipped for
independent cruising, well and regularly
maintained, currently wintering
a good buyer very quickly
Preveza.

Full details email OCEAN RAKER

miketomkinson@btinternet.com
VAT exempt, 79,500 or offers.
1965 Halmatic Ocean 25, based on Fairey Christina offshore
racing hull, Perkins 4.236 turbo-diesel 180hp, extensive
professional ret 2014/15, superb condition, well equipped, new
electronics, 2014 survey. All GRP, classic powerboat, looks lovely,
easy maintenance and ready to launch. Lying Emsworth. 29,950.
Contact 07711 519257 or clivebrandon@yahoo.co.uk.

E
  
   L 
Looking to sell your boat?
Reach over 50,000 readers each month plus 25k web visitors
There are two styles of Boats for Sales ad to choose from and with our special offer, if you buy two months, your third month will be
FREE. Pick the style which suits your requirements and email: hugo.segrave@chelseamagazines.com with your text and image or call
+44 (0) 20 7349 3700. Dont miss out, the deadline for the next issue is 16/11/2017

STYLE A. STYLE B.
SAMPLE STYLE A 5cm x 2 SAMPLE STYLE B 5cm x 1
GOLANT GAFFER columns. colums.
No. 8. Excellent 2 berth coastal
cruiser, built 1999. Length 18 Either 160 Either 55
9 Beam 7 Draft 2 9 long
keel, designed by Roger words or 80 words or 30
Dongray. Yanmar GM 10
regularly serviced. Very words plus words plus
attractive boat
lovingly maintained,
colour colour
Lying Fowey.
12,000 ono.
photograph. photograph.
275 Plus VAT CUTTER
Email: name@classicboat.co.uk
Built 1991, mahogany & epoxy hull similar to GRP, 1930s spars & 155 Plus
0000 11111111
Including ttings, beautifully maintained. Visit www.idclark.force9.co.uk for
photos and specication.
VAT Including
Online 25,750 Contact 00000 111111 Online

80 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 BROKERAGE

To advertise call Hugo Segrave

+44 (0) 20 7349 3700 or email
hugo.segrave@chelseamagazines.com
Brokerage
Copy Deadline for next issue is 16/11/2017

2 Southford Road, Dartmouth, South Devon TQ6 9QS

Tel/Fax: (01803) 833899 info@woodenships.co.uk www.woodenships.co.uk

47 Colin Archer gaff ketch built to original CA lines and launched in 2008, completed and
UVWVDLOHGLQ%XLOWE\RQHPDQWRIXOOODOLIHORQJGUHDP2DNSODQNHGRQRDNIUDPHV
DOOEURQ]HIDVWHQHG%DVLFLQWHULRUZLWKEHUWKV'$)KSGLHVHO9LGHRVRIIXOOEXLOG
process and her maiden voyage, an incredible unique yacht built to a very high standard.
Sadly for sale at a very reasonable price after a 15 year build. Holland 200,000
Laurent Giles 38 built in 1981. Strip plank Iroko hull with added frames, all copper
fastened. Massive construction, immensely strong and designed for open ocean sailing.
7KRURXJKUHFHQWUHWIXOOGHWDLOVDYDLODEOHQRZYHU\VPDUWDQGUHDG\WRVDLO9ROYR
36hp diesel. 5 berths including double, masses of storage. Ideal family or shorthanded
cruising yacht with go anywhere capability in lovely condition. Devon 44,000

9 ton Hillyard built in 1960. Major work in present 10 year
ownership including new Nanni 50hp diesel and new rigging
2015, keel bolts replaced, re-wired with shore power, new nav
gear and new mast. Needs a little paint and varnish but one of the
best examples around. 6 berths with usual layout. Full inventory,
complete list of works available plus 2016 survey.
Cornwall 17,500 open to offers.
Laurent Giles Vertue No.6 built by Harry Kimber in 1939.
2ULJLQDO ORZ FRDFKURRI GHVLJQ RI ZKLFK RQO\ D KDQGIXO ZHUH
built, exceptionally pretty little yachts. In present ownership for
over 30 years, major rebuild in last year with new garboards, oak
RRUVNHHOEROWVHQJLQHUHIXUEDQGFRPSOHWHFRVPHWLFUHW1RZ
a very smart and sound example ready to be launched.
 'evon 22,500
42 Luke Powell Gaff cutter launched in 1999, the second of
Lukes boats that he designed and built. Larch on oak all bronze
screw fastened. 8 berths with 2012 Vetus 42hp diesel. Code of
Practice ticket until recently, could be reinstated easily. A superb
looking boat with a graceful sheer, easily managed by 2 in good
sound condition.
Cornwall 165,000

44 Luke Powell gaff cutter launched in 2009. Currently coded
to Cat 2 for commercial use, she is a turnkey charter business
but would also make a very comfortable private yacht. 9 berths
plus saloon and large inventory. A rare opportunity to take on a
successful business in the traditional charter world at a time when
opportunities are presenting themselves. Hants 295,000
24 ton Gauntlet EXLOWE\%HUWKRQ%RDW&RLQIRUWKHWKHQ
chairman of Coutts bank, the only Gauntlet of this size built. All
Teak hull, varnished from new with solid teak deck. Major 16
\HDUUHWLQSUHVHQWRZQHUVKLSODXQFKHGLQ&RPSOHWHQHZ
bermudan ketch rig. Largely original interior. 3 sleeping cabins
SOXVVDORRQ2FWREHUVXUYH\DYDLODEOH Scotland 79,000
37 gaff cutter yacht RQOLQHVUVWGUDZQE\&ODXG:RUWK%XLOW
LQ  E\ 'DUWPRXWK VKLSZULJKW 3HWH 1DVK IRU KLV RZQ XVH VKH
is a master class in boat building. Stunning lines, immaculate
construction and in simply superb condition. She has proven herself
as an easily handled and very capable cruising yacht and has been
much admired in many classic regattas. Devon 195,000

Another fascinating selection of traditional and classic yachts only from Wooden Ships. Call for true descriptions, genuine honest values and a service from people who know their boats.

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 81

 Now offered keenly for sale
T H E N DA R
A
105 F T A L F R E D MY L N E GA F F K E TC H 1936
Alfred Mylne was at the top of his game when he designed THENDARA. Conceived for racing the boat proved herself in pre war competition - but
more recently this yacht has also won all the premier regattas including Voiles de St Tropez, Rgates Royales Cannes and the Antigua Classics.
THENDARA is one of the few vintage yachts of this size that is also a most civilised cruising yacht with large double guest cabins, comfortable
cockpit and generous crew accommodation. For a Round the World cruise or winning classic regattas THENDARA has few rivals.

Lying France | R3.5M
Realistic offers will be seriously considered.

S A N DE M A N Y AC H T C O M PA N Y
B r o k e r a g e O f C l a s s i c & V i n t a g e Ya c h t s

For further information please contact: Our classic and vintage yachts & motor yachts 33 High Street, Poole, Dorset
are available to view at: BH15 1AB United Kingdom
+44 (0)1202 330077
info@sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk www.sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk MEMBER OF THE ABYA
 BROKERAGE

Brokerage listing
C L A S S I C A N D V I N TAG E YAC H T S
We hope that you enjoy our selection of vintage and classic sailing yachts. Please do not hesitate
to contact us if you require any further information on any of the yachts featured here.

73 ft Summers & Payne Ketch 1897/2006 53 ft Sparkman & Stephens Yawl 1953 66 ft Sangermani Cutter 1990

John Leather noted naval architect and prolic writer considered
Arthur Payne to be second to none in the design of fast cruising
and racing yachts - the equal of William Fife and GL Watson
and JAVELIN rightly ts into this category. Leather went on to
say how pleased their owners and crews were to be sailing
such seaworthy yachts - often with ketch or yawl rigs designed
for easy handling. Assiduously restored in 2006, she is hard to
tell apart from the Beken pictures taken a hundred years ago.
Notwithstanding; modern systems have been discreetly tted to
make her luxurious to live on and a wonderful family boat.
The Frisell family were sailors and moreover could afford to
choose the best tool for the job. The name KAY is associated
with some ne S&S designs and this boat now named LEGEND
is no exception. She has proved herself on the race courses
over the years - and built by Abeking & Rasmussen she has that
detailing that some of her sisters from lesser yards are lacking.
LEGEND presents in impressive condition and this 53 ft S&S
yawl for classic racing and family cruising is no compromise!
Over nearly 50 years, the Sangermani yard has built yachts
renowned for the quality of their construction, speed and comfort
and PEGASUS is a masterpiece in a long line of excellent and in
many cases famous boats. Comfortable and fast she exudes an
almost muscular presence of the late 70s and 80s race boats.
Designed to cruise, her uncluttered expansive deck space and
huge volume below mean she is well suited to this role yet she is
fast enough to win regattas. Sangermani has built many beautiful
boats from wood; PEGASUS was their last and is all the more
special for this.

1,500,000 VAT unpaid Lying Italy 650,000 VAT Unpaid Lying USA 620,000 Lying Italy

50 ft Ashley Butler Mayower 2012 30 ft Fife III Cork Harbour 1897/2002 32 ft Abeking & Rasmussen 1937/2008
Class Bermudan Cutter One Design Windfall 30 sq m Sloop

Ashley Butlers designs are inspired by the ergonomics, form
and function of the historic working craft of the British Isles.
Even on the most basic consideration of size, this hull form has
already proven ideal for family cruising perhaps dening the
term Modern Classic with her carvel planking, long keel and
effortless charm. BONAVENTURE was commissioned by a
family who knew what they wanted and she is comfortably tted
out to optimise space below a signicant price reduction makes
BONAVENTURE a very appealing option.
Superbly restored by Fairlie Restorations in 2002. With her
simple, pure lines, generous freeboard and powerful rig, carrying
no less than 600 square feet of sail - JAP has successfully taken
on the might of vintage gaff class yachts in the Mediterranean
and won with her current owner under both CIM and IRC rating
systems. Storage in her own custom tted 40 ft container has
helped to keep this vessel in 1st class condition and enables
easy shipping between venues.
Former German 30 Square Metre classic naval training yacht;
one of the Windfalls; ERIDA has been substantially restored
so that while retaining her construction characteristics and hull
form, has been modernised to a signicant degree making her
a very easy to handle racing yacht. Since her restoration ERIDA
has been much enjoyed and raced by her family crew often at
the front of the eet!

399,000 Lying UK 155,000 Lying UK 56,000 Lying UK

For further information please contact: Our classic and vintage yachts & motor 33 High Street, Poole, Dorset
yachts are available to view at: BH15 1AB United Kingdom
+44 (0)1202 330077
info@sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk www.sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk MEMBER OF THE ABYA

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 83

BROKERAGE

CLASSIC YACHT BROKERAGE

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS AS LEADING INTERNATIONAL YACHT BROKERS
www.classicyachtbrokerage.co.uk
44ft. FLYING 30 OCEAN RACER
HUFF OF ARKLOW
Uffa Fox design, built by Tyrells of Arklow 1951 for RAF Pilot
Douglas Heard. Ground-breaking, legendary design.
First offshore yacht to feature n & skeg, masthead rig and
planing hull. Capable of 23 knots plus as recorded in 1960
Azores Race. Restored at Mashfords, Cornwall from 2009-2015
to original specication with Heritage Lottery Funding.
Splined, double moulded mahogany hull on oak. Mahogany
brightwork and joinery. Cruising accommodation for four/six.
28hp Beta diesel engine.
Restored original Uffa designed dinghy.
Unique opportunity to own the fore-runner of modern day racing
yachts. A true classic in every sense.
75,000 Lying: Cornwall

36ft. 22 SQUARE METRE PATRIOT
Knud Reimers designed in 1953 as the Undell One-Design.
Built 1961 Kungsar Boatyard, Sweden for Chicago yachtsman
Byron Morril, ve of eleven built. Mahogany hull, teak decks.
Alloy mast, rod rigging. Good sail wardrobe. Road trailer.
Restored Mashfords, Cornwall 2010 to full racing specication.
Raced Sweden 2010.
34ft. 22 SQUARE METRE CARITANA
Gustav Estlander design, built by Erik Eriksson, Strangras in
1946 to the Malar One-Design, number 131.
Mahogany hull, canvassed decks, mahogany brightwork.
Racing accommodation. Restored at Mashfords,
Cornwall 2010. Road trailer.
One of a collection of ve 22 Square Metres available.
37ft. 22 SQUARE METRE CHADRAK
Arvid Laurin design, built 1949. Former class champion,
number 297. Mahogany hull, laid decks, mahogany brightwork.
Restored to full racing specication. New Collar mast and new
sails. Road trailer. Dry stored.
Also 22 Square Metre SOLVE for light restoration - 10,000

29,950 Lying: Wales 19,950 Lying: Cornwall 27,500 Lying: Wales

34ft. 22 SQUARE METRE VIGILANT

Designed and built by Uffa Fox, Cowes in 1930. Owned and raced by Uffa in Sweden. Varnished mahogany hull, laid decks, mahogany brightwork and joinery.
Racing accommodation. Restored to racing specication in 2010 and raced in Trosa, Sweden. Only Skerry Cruiser 22 built in UK. Rare opportunity.
27,500 Lying: Wales

56ft. EXPRESS MOTOR-YACHT
Knud Reimers design, built 1939 A B Sverre, Gothenburg for
Bror Nilsson. Professionally restored 2001. Mahogany hull,
teak laid decks and brightwork. Nine guests in three cabins.
Large aft cockpit. Pair 300hp Ford Mermaid Turbo Diesels.
Custom Road Trailer. Rare Knud Reimers Motor-Yacht.
110,000 Lying: Sweden
36ft. KETCH MOTOR-SAILER
John Negus design, built 1983 Negus Yachts, Essex.
Iroko hull, Teak laid decks, Mahogany brightwork.
Seven berths in three cabins, aft stateroom.
Centre cockpit. 73hp Ford Diesel.
Well built and presented, capable vessel.
35,000 Lying: South Coast
40ft. CLASSIC 60s MOTOR-YACHT
Designed and built by Groves & Gutteridge 1964 for Lt. Col.
Sir William Twysden Bt. Honduras Mahogany, teak decks.
Four berths, Aft Stateroom, Two Heads. Pair 212hp Ford Sabre
Diesels. Major hull, engines & systems re-t 2010/11.
Good survey Nov. 2016. Quality vessel.
45,000 Lying: Isle of Wight

SALES OFFICE: 01905 356482 07949 095075 info@classicyachtbrokerage.co.uk FIND US ON ALL SOCIAL MEDIA

84 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

Craftsmanship
Yard News Edited by Steffan Meyric Hughes: +44 (0)207 349 3758
Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk

PLYMOUTH, DEVON

Mothership for Dorade

The newest job on now at the No 1 Covered Slip in
Plymouth (home to Stirling and Son) is The Second
Snark, a 75ft (22.9m) metal-hulled motor yacht built
in 1938 by Denny Bros, better known for building the
Cutty Sark. Her original role was as an estuary tug
and yard tender. In the summer the shipyard owners
used her for family picnics and local excursions. The
delivery trip from Glasgow to Plymouth, conducted
by Will Stirling with a submarine commander called
Tim and a Mevagissey sherman called Ted, was full
of incident (hit solenoid with a hammer and port
engine starts) and the 80-tonne vessel is now ready
for a keel-up rebuild to see her back in service as the

C/O STIRLING AND SON

new mothership to Dorade.
The yard is also rebuilding an 80ft (24.4m) ice-class
wooden ship (seen here), a 70ft (21.3m) wooden motor
yacht in Lanzarotte and various other local work.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY
HMS Hood pinnace oats again
Restoration of a former RN picket boat Maid of Honour is complete.
The 55ft (16.7m) wooden vessel has joined the Rahmi M Ko
Museums huge collection of historic craft. She was built in East
Cowes, at J Samuel White in 1927 as one of the rst RN bell funnel,
twin-screw diesel barges and is believed to have served HMS
Rodney, Nelson and Hood, surviving Hoods sinking by the Bismarck
in 1941. After being sold by the Admiralty, Maid of Honour escorted C/O DAVID MOSS
the 12-M Sceptre to Rhode Island for the 1958 Americas Cup.
In 2014 the Turkish tycoon and philanthropist Rahmi M Ko
bought her as a wreck. British shipwright Michael Summers led the
restoration, assisted by a Turkish team of four, building a new hull
on the original keel. A 1950s cabin was replaced with something SKIPPOOL, LANCASHIRE
matching the original. At sea trials, she reached 14 knots.
Polly at sea
Weve covered the story of David Mosss biggest-ever boat the
31ft (9.4m) Polly, since the beginning of the build ve years ago,
and at our last mention in the May 2017 issue, she was nearly
ready for launch. Shes as traditional as you like: gaff cutter rig,
carvel planking on steamed oak timbers, solid teak deck caulked
and payed in pitch, Oregon pine masts and hand-spliced
galvanised wire standing rigging set up on deadeyes. After having
C/O BRUNO CIANCI

followed her with such interest, it would seem criminal not to

show the end product, particularly when she looks as good as she
does in this photo, which shows her during her launch. She now
lives at Elephant Boatyard on the Solent. We hope to visit soon.

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 85

 CRAFTSMANSHIP

BRISTOL

Yachts, skiffs and more

The big job on now at Bristol Classic Boat Company is structural work to the
42ft (12.8m) 1921, Cornish-built boat Jenny Wren (right). Despite her beamy,
workboat appearance, she was built as a yacht, with a gaff cutter rig. The
present owner bought her ve years ago in Portugal and brought her home
to the west country. Work so far has included eight new frames, some
replanking, a new sternpost and keelbolts, and a paint and varnish job.
Below right is the recently restored 1904 Thames rowing skiff. In the same
way that so many old classic yachts are unsympathetically re-rigged,
Elizabeth had sliding seats tted, which were reverted to xed, along with
new, traditional oarlocks. Eighteen new frames and a renish in and out with
oil and varnish, and she is perfect again. One look is enough to put you in
mind of George, Harris and J not to mention the dog.
Other recent work has included building a folding wheelhouse on a 1920s
Dutch bunker barge, a new cabin top on a narrow boat, two new masts and
50 2.5m and 3m posts for a shopping centre! Earlier this year, the yard
re-launched two major projects: Wayward (see correction below) and the
1939-built 42ft (12.8m) motor yacht Helinda, both after considerable work.

CORRECTION
Wayward, the lovely 1899 yawl featured in Octobers Getting aoat section
(p79) was not restored by John Raymond Barker of Underfall Boatyard, but
by Bristol Classic Boat Company.

C/O BRISTOL BOAT COMPANY

CORNWALL

Two Falmouth quay punt restorations

Two 1930 classic punts are on unrelated roads to recovery in Cornwall

C/O ROY ALDWORTH

C/O BEN WILLIAMS

Restored to sail to a wedding CB award-winners new project

The 34ft (10.4m) Falmouth quay punt yacht Wanda, built by Berthon
to a Harley Mead design in 1930, is halfway through a major restoration
at Southdown Marina in Millbrook, after sinking at her mooring two
years ago. Owner Ben Williams and ance Emma are living in a van
by the boat so Ben, 30, who is studying full time as well as skippering
the big gaff ketch Tectona in summer, can devote time to the job,
with the help of boatbuilder pal Jim Whiteford. So far, the trio has
replaced the garboards, made good the centreline, and built a new
mast step to cater for the masts move aft, some years ago. Otherwise,
the teak planking is in good condition. The wrought iron strap oors
are being regalvanised and retted. Next up are a new hollow mast
(from Noble Masts), interior and electric motor. When complete, Ben
and Emma plan to sail to Scotland to marry (Emma is Scottish),
then cruise Wanda in the Outer Hebrides for their honeymoon.
Meanwhile, Roy Aldworth is coming to the end of a thorough
restoration of the Falmouth quay punt Matahari, at the Treluggan
Boatyard, just a few miles away. The yard was recently bought by
Sara Stirling (wife of Will Stirling of Stirling and Son). You might
remember retired CDT teacher Roy, because he won our 2011
Restoration of the Year Award for his beautiful Harrison Butler yacht
Mischief.
Roy bought Matahari after she was featured in the magazine in
2015. Like Wanda (left) Matahari was built in 1930, and like Wanda,
she was also built as a yacht, this time by RS Burt in Flushing,
Cornwall. This included an extra plank in the topsides over a working
Falmouth quay punt shape, to give acceptable headroom. Shes a bit
shorter than Wanda at 29ft (8.8m) and the restoration being
conducted by Roy is now nearly complete.

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 87

MARINE DIRECTORY

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 MARINE DIRECTORY

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CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 89

 YARD VISIT: STEFAN ZST
RESTORING
LAKE CLASSICS
A haven for tired classics on the
shores of Switzerland's Lake Constance
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS SAM FORTESCUE
I
n an old industrial unit off a main road by Lake Constance,
boatbuilder Stefan Zst has carved out a successful yard. Like
many others, he freely admits that most of his income is from the
storage and light maintenance of more than 100 local boats during
the long Swiss winter. But he also has some bigger projects on the go.
Close to restoration is a unique Segner shing punt native to the
waters off Ermatingen, Lake Constance. Originally built in 1947, she
measures just over 46ft (14m) LOA, with a beam of 7ft 11in (2.4m).
Stefan leads a team from the Bodensee Fishing Museum in the
restoration, which has seen the total replacement of the bottom
planking with a double layer of 20mm (13/16in) Douglas r. Then the
partly rotted sides will need to be trimmed back to good wood, lled
and faired, then new deck pieces fashioned, the engine box replaced
and seating provided. The museum will use the boat to host visitors.
Closer to Stefans heart is a 7.5 Sqm sailing canoe, which he
bought many years ago, but has just sold to a local woman for a
very good sum. During his ownership, he cruised the little boat in
south Brittany, with a canvas cover rigged to protect two sleeping on
the bottom (this caper cost him his then-girlfriend). Built in 1951, the
boat belongs to a class that once numbered more than 100. Just
three are known to exist today. This one is in remarkably good fettle,
just requiring a new centreboard case and a lick of varnish to the
spars, including a rather unique wooden forestay.
Next to her in the huge shed is Mona Lisa, a tidy-looking National
45 Sqm. Years of neglect have left her in need of complete
90 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
replanking below the waterline, including the replacement of a
rotten keel. Using Sipo mahogany for the job, Stefan reckons on
around 1,000 man hours before shes ready to re-launch.
Nearby, a wooden motor launch lies on trestles, her bottom bare.
Shes a Boesch boat, built by a company whose roots go back nearly
a century. Stefan sniffs. Shes very cheaply built with lots of pine
and oak, he says. Its a dream theres not much mahogany in
there. He has just replaced the bottom with new 10mm ply, and
repainted it with a nifty shimmering copper paint. She looks the part,
at least.
More to Stefans taste is the 1952 Swiss Craft motorboat originally
built for the director of drugs giant Novartis. Shes a regular in the
yard back in 2011, Stefan re-splined the planks. Theres just a bit of
varnish needed at the bows, where the planks have dried and shifted.
A bigger job lies just next door a 1931 Bactec motor boat called
Venus. Shes had a new keel and a new bottom, plus a new engine
(the Swiss are very strict about emissions in Lake Constance, so its a
brand new Yanmar four-cylinder). The cosy interior has been redone
and the boat revarnished. The old engine gauges still grace the dash
it was a big job to connect these up to the new engine, Stefan
says. The original gear lever protrudes from the sole, connected to
the engine throttle using modern Teleex controls that are mercifully
hidden away. She is a picture, with Stefans trademark green paint
below the waterline and a striking dreadnought 'bow' at the stern.
She will still do nearly 40kmh (25mph) the speed limit on the lake.
 CRAFTSMANSHIP

Main picture: Sailing canoe Mona lisa

insert: Stefan Zst

Outside, more boats huddle under cover of a new CHF120,000

(c92,000) roof. The roof was designed to channel rainwater along
the ground to stop the hulls from drying out, and is insulated against
the hot summer sun. Theres a 52ft (16m) wooden passenger boat
from Lake Locarno, towed by lorry to the yard after an altercation
with a hard jetty. Thats a two-year job, Stefan comments. Well
start this winter.
More interesting is a 30 Sqm 'jollenkreuzer', or the bare torso of
one missing its coachroof, deck , spars and interior. Shes nished,
says Stefan with a twinkle in his eye. It turns out that this boat has
been almost entirely rebuilt and now oats on the lake. Just the
frames and the hull that remain in the yard were unserviceable. They
did a 3D laser scan of the hull then built frames from scratch and
planked them in 5/8in (16mm) mahogany. The interior, some of the
deck and the rig was than transplanted from the exhausted hull to the
new one. In all, the work took just 11 months.
Stefans team of up to seven craftsmen are not the only ones
working in the yard. In one corner, he peels up a tarp to show me the
stem-less bow of a rare Swedish 30 Sqm that was raised from the bed Top to bottom: the 1931 Bactec motorboat Venus;
of Lake Geneva and bought by Stefan for the cost of the diving team. Boesch motor boat; restoration of a unique
He sold her on for a good price to a local man who works on her Segner shing punt native to the waters of
himself, with guidance from Stefan. Were not a playground for Ermatingen, Lake Constance, originally built in
owners here, he warns, but if they have some experience, I let them 1947; Mona Lisa a National 45 Sqm
use one or two of the smaller tools here. Itll be two years before
shes nished, he added.

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 91

CRAFTSMANSHIP

Boatbuilders Notes
ADVICE
Paraffin pressure lamp
BY ROBIN GATES

With its soothing whisper and brilliant light diffusing from a white-hot mantle, the
paraffin pressure lamp is a classic source of illumination and heat for the workshop or
boat. This is a Bialaddin 300X made by Willis & Bates of Halifax, made in the 1940s.
To prepare the lamp, rst check the mantle is in one piece. This is a delicate
cotton net impregnated with metal nitrates which, once tted to the vaporizer tube
and burned in, converts to a shell of oxides and disintegrates if touched. Dip the
font to check theres paraffin the barrel of a clear Bic biro is ideal for this, with a
nger over one end, as the level can be difficult to make out on a wooden stick. Now
replace the ller cap, with relief valve open, lift the Pyrex glass and pipette
methylated spirit into the well beneath the wick of the pre-heater torch; a plastic
drinking straw serves nicely. When the meths has soaked up the wick, light it with a
splint. Its job is to warm the vaporizer where liquid paraffin, sprayed from a jet under
pressure from the font, is turned to gas, mixes with air and escapes to the mantle.
As the meths begins to dwindle, close the pressure relief valve in the ller cap,
and operate the pump to generate pressure in the font. Now the burning vapour will
turn the mantle incandescent, spreading a white light and hand-warming heat around
the work place on a winter evening. An occasional twiddle on the pricker knob,
marked with a V, clears soot from the vaporizer jet, and is accompanied by a
resounding pop as the jet is momentarily extinguished and then re-lights.

ROBIN GATES
1 2 3 4

1 Dip the font using a ballpoint pen barrel 2 Pipette methylated spirit into the well using a drinking straw 3 Light the
pre-heater torch, and operate the pump 4 Turn the pricker knob to clear the vaporizer

Hands on
A draw knife is a heavy tool, virtually all blade with
a handle at each end, while the spokeshave is the
opposite light, mostly handle and with a separate
small blade mounted at a xed angle amidships.
Although the draw knife is used principally for
rough shaping, removing a lot of wood quickly, the
angle of the blade is under control of the worker
and, used bevel down, it can take ne shavings.
One practical difference between the two tools
ROBIN GATES

is that, while the draw knife always requires two

hands, so the work must be clamped, the
spokeshave can safely be used one-handed, leaving
the second hand free to hold the work. Above left to right: using a spokeshave one-handed; two hands for the draw knife

92 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

 Traditional Tool

PANEL RAISING PLANE

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS reecting light and casting shadow, Clockwise from mortices, theyre cut from the side,
ROBIN GATES presents a more interesting surface above: the left with side openings covered by a
than a panel tted ush. hand keeps the piece which also works as a xed
Frame and panel construction is a This plane made by French tool fence up to the depth stop.
mainstay of the yacht interior, as makers Peugeot Frres would be edge; stepped There is an adjustable fence to
rmly a part of the traditional style as better known to the yacht joiner of a arrangement of vary the width of the rebate, and the
white piping on a blue settee cushion, chantier naval as a guillaume fence, sole and blade is skewed for a cleaner cut
but its origins lie in the answer to an plate-bande, in which guillaume is the depth stop; across the grain. The chisel-edged
engineering problem in wood rather type name for a narrow rebate plane bevelled rebates nicker severs wood bres ahead of
than aesthetics. and plate-bande compares the rebate meet at a mitre the blade, leaving a clean shoulder.
If the solid timber boards of a to a neatly dug ower bed. The panel-raisers most subtle
structure are fastened to a Whereas beech is the usual feature only becomes evident as its
framework, unable to move as they plane-making timber in Britain, the used the two degrees more than a
lose moisture, a build-up of tension French plane is cormier, the butter- right angle between side and sole
causes them to split. But if the hued timber of the service tree which adds that elegant bevel to the
structure is of smaller panels resting Sorbus domestica, and its built rebate and creates a mitre where
unfastened in the grooved edges of differently too. Instead of the throats rebates meet.
vertical muntins and horizontal rails, for blade and nicker being excavated
the panels are free to expand or top-down from the solid stock, like NEXT MONTH: lock mortice chisel
contract, tension is avoided and splits
dont happen.
By the 16th century the frame and
panel was an established technique
for building domestic interiors, ready
to line cabins and frame doors from
the earliest days of yachting, soaking
up extremes of humidity and the
constant exing of wooden hulls.
The job of the panel-raising plane
is to cut the bevelled rebates around
a raised and elded panel which, with
its variety of levels and angles,

CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 93

Letters
LETTER OF THE MONTH
SUPPORTED BY OLD PULTENEY WHISKY
DAVID BOYD
THE FAIRLIE YEARS
Known for designing British 12-Metres for the
America's Cup, David Boyd also made a signicant
contribution to the legend of William Fife III
WORDS EUAN ROSS
T
hrough the 1950s and 1960s, David Boyd was
as famous as any naval architect might become
in Britain. Boyds racing yachts had won some
of most prestigious competitions of his era. His
6-Metres won the Seawanhaka Cup three times, the
equally high-prole One Ton Cup, more than half-a-
dozen Solent Silver Medals and top-scoring individual
yacht honours in the British Americas Cup. Boyd could
also claim the seasons champion in 5.5-Metres and
Windermere 17s. These winners are, of course, in
addition to David Boyds best-known work from the
post-war era the three sublime, yet polemic, 12-Metre
yachts designed for the Americas Cup.
Even so, as a professional yacht designer attached to a
successful boatyard, there is a common misperception
that success eluded David Boyd. While his 50-odd
designs comprise a portfolio of uniformly high quality,
by 1965 the capricious nature of the third estate had left
Boyds hard-won reputation in tatters. Through two
Americas Cup campaigns, unrealistic expectations and
negative press also raised doubt in the minds of potential
clients during Boyds intellectual peak and constrained
the magnitude of his lifes work.
The rst matter to address is David Boyds largely
unrecognised contribution to the famous industry of
William Fife III. For a variety of reasons, Fifes boats
were particularly well regarded during Boyds tenure in
the Fairlie drawing ofce. Perhaps coincidentally,
Facing page:
demand dropped off signicantly after Boyd crossed the
Clyde to join Alexander Robertson. More certainly,
Boyd evolved his characteristic style and matured as a
designer while working with Fife during an era when
David Boyd at classic yachts of enduring beauty were conceived.
his drawing But perhaps we should begin at the beginning. David
52
board Boyd was born in Fairlie on 15 September 1902, eldest
CLASSIC BOAT OCTOBER 2017
Benet of hindsight
Seldom have I read a more fascinating article than
that about David Boyd by Euan Ross in the October
issue. Despite knowing some of Boyds designs and
having sailed aboard just one of them, Tom and
Rachel Richardsons 6-Metre Thistle, my mind
ashed back quite a few years to seeing the
23-Metre Cambria when she was moored alongside
in the River Hamble.
Generally, one assesses a sheerline from a distance
but here she was, close up and breathtaking, and in
my view displaying utter perfection of sheer versus
freeboard at bow and stern. Of course I knew she
was a Fife, but perhaps the inuence of David Boyd
was right there in front of me even if I did not
know it at the time.
I temper the above praise with a word for Robert
Balderston who is somewhat lambasted by Euan
Ross, if only to separate fact from ction. It seems he
was a linchpin of sorts in the Fife operation and for
that deserves due credit, and it would be regrettable
if any descendant of his felt that he is hard done by in
this otherwise excellent article.
Jonty Sherwill, by email
Euan Ross, author of The Piper
Calls the Tune, replies:
I recognise this is a controversial
area where opinions differ. I dont
feel that Balderston (right) is
lambasted in the article. There is
merely an attempt to divine who
did what and when. I have assessed
Balderstons contribution in the light of the new
information I was able to obtain via the direct oral
testimony of the Boyd family and in light of
unpublished technical analysis carried out by the late
Theo Rye. This assessment obviously differs from
those who take the W & RB Fife (1922-1930 period)
design attributions at face value (as Theo did before
we began to look at this aspect in detail).
94 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017
son of David and Janet Boyd, ne Allan. Clyde View, the
Boyds family home, was directly opposite Fifes famous
boatyard, close enough to be redolent with the spicy
tang of wood-shavings and hot-run pitch. Then, as
now, William Fife III was admired throughout the
world for his sweetness of line and his celebrated yard
was renowned for excellent build quality. Boyds father
worked across the road, as had generations of Boyds. In
the fullness of time, the genealogy of these two proud
Fairlie families linked up when Susan Curry, a class-
mate and a member of the Fife clan, married Davids
brother Andy; Fife IIIs grandfather being the common
ancestor.
Young David was immersed in the magical world of
his fathers place of work as soon as he could walk. As a
precocious 10-year-old, he watched The Lady Anne
progress. Inevitably, a childhood enthusiasm for the
theatre of boatbuilding became a lifetime passion for
handsome yachts and ne craftsmanship. Davids father
was a ships joiner and model-maker. Going back
another generation, Grandpa Boyd model yachts were
renowned for their quality nationwide. The Yachtsman
Magazine of 1891 carried a feature on the family
business: .the wee boat-making business of Mr David
Boyd at Fairlie is in its way as interesting as the greater
industry of the Messrs Fife they one and all have a
look of class and nish about them in every way worthy
of Fairlie. Much later, when David was working on the
Sovereign tank tests at the Stevens Institute, he gained
the respect of the team at the Davidson Laboratory by
crafting his own model variations in the manner learned
at his fathers knee.
Young David was boat daft. He liked nothing better
than to yarn with the summer professionals who ran
the local yachts laconic sherfolk who knew the tides,
CLASSIC BOAT OCTOBER 2017
Sense of lines
Understanding a lines plan is rather different from the ability to analyse one, as
my friend Tom Cunliffe will agree. In the heyday of yacht designing competitions,
amateur and professional would submit their creations to the critical and scary
scrutiny of judges who were often skilled designers in their own right: Maurice
53 Griffiths, Jack Laurent Giles and T Harrison Butler, among them. Their critiques,
even of the winning designs, were often scathing and sometimes no prize would
be offered as the quality of entries fell short of the usual standard. Many were
published during the war years, drawn by serving men as an antidote to
boredom, longing for peace and a resumption of yachting. Comments might be
to single out a weak midship section or perceived imbalance in waterlines, poor
initial stability, or lack of buoyancy aft, with a suggestion that the poor entrant
might have wasted his effort on a yacht that would be impossibly slow in stays,
vicious or hard mouthed or any number of faults, all of which and this is the
point deduced simply from looking at the lines.
An example is given by Nigel Sharp in his piece about Outlaw, which
Yachting Monthly suggested from a perusal of her lines alone might be a
handful downwind. And lets not forget the equal importance of the sail plan,
which Uffa Fox was a genius in assessing. These days we have largely lost the
knack of being able to analyse lines as our forefathers did, doodling their ideal
boat, while bound to mahogany office desks, the early equivalent of playing
poker on the internet. Incidentally, when launched, critical opinion had
Britannia as gratuitously ugly.
Adrian Morgan, Viking Boats, Ullapool, Wester Ross
My own Boyd
Metre yacht
The David Boyd article
was most interesting
to me, as I own the last
Metre boat he
designed and in fact
WIND-DRIVEN
the last wooden boat LOCOMOTIVE
Thats how The Who guitarist Pete Townshend described
to go down the slip at the Jack Laurent Giles sloop Pazienza. After a long-term
ret by her current owners, has she still got the magic?
WORDS NIGEL SHARP PHOTOS TIM WRIGHT
Alexander Robertsons
4 5
yard. Sunburst proved
to be the most
She never let me down
successful design of all I owned Pazienza from November 1979 until 1984.
the Clyde International The price paid was 56,000, making her a rather
8-Metre CR Class, good investment, if I had kept her. The wheel in
making all the McGruer your article is not totally original, only the inner
boats obsolete. ring. The outer I added, with many other changes,
It is signicant that to make her more user-friendly. Pazienza never let
the underwater me down, a truly wonderful yacht.
proles of his most Vail Clewley, by email
successful 6-Ms are the Editor replies: In the same article we managed to
same as Sunbursts. call Pazienza a sloop, when she is of course a
John Histon, by email cutter. Apologies for this embarrassing error.

Boat home sought
I have just read the article in Classic Boat regarding the
liquidation sale of Eyemouths craft.
We have also had dealings with the liquidators
recently, as we have in our possession a 35ft sailing
Proa called Anglia Pipe Dream.
It came from the World of Boats Museum (part of
EISCA) in Cardiff Bay about 15 months ago and was
the centrepiece of an external display at the museum
for several years.
We entered into an agreement with the museum to
provide a temporary mooring or berth for Anglia Pipe
Dream as she had to be moved from her external
display to make way for a Doctor Who lming shoot.
Once the boat was back in the water WOB planned to
make her more seaworthy with a view to carrying out
demonstration sails. Unfortunately, before any of this
happened, EISCA went into liquidation.
Correspondence with the liquidators representative
claims that the boat is owned by a syndicate of 125
people who the liquidators have no record of and that
they have no further interest in the vessel.
We are aware that this boat may be of historical
importance and nothing would please us more than if it
could be returned to its rightful owner or owners.
Unfortunately it is not something we can keep at our
club indenitely, as we are conned by local by-laws. We
can offer berths and moorings to someone who is a
bona de member on a non-commercial basis.
Can any Classic Boat readers help?
Steve Cooper, Vice Commodore, Cardiff Bay Yacht Club
CHARLES MILLER LTD
Ruddy Shelduck
Regarding the photo on your Saleroom page in the November
issue, the unknown motor boat by Kirk of Cowes in the Charles
Miller sale is Ruddy Shelduck, built 1921 by Thornycroft at
Hampton on the Thames, 37ft 7in and owned by the family. She
had a 4 cylinder petrol engine. Some CB readers might have
the book Solent Yachting Scene 1890 1938, by David Couling,
who restored a lot of the glass plates of the Kirk collection in
1976 and used them in the book.
Colin M Baxter, by email
THE AMAZING
VOYAGE
OF ANNE
MARIE
Against the odds they had sailed a
106-year-old gaffer from Vancouver
to Antigua. Now just the north
Atlantic lay ahead...
WORDS AND PICTURES SIMON ALLAN
40 CLASSIC BOAT OCTOBER 2017
The amazing story of Anne Marie
Such a wonderful and humble cover story of Simon and Anne Maries trip
home from Vancouver. It was an astounding trip and how beautifully it was
written up in Classic Boat.
I had the pleasure of meeting Simon and his crew in English Harbour in
Antigua this year and an even greater pleasure of seeing him hoisting and
then setting sail from Falmouth Harbour in Anne Marie.
It is a delight to pick up a yachting magazine to nd such a story, and to
hear of the heroic recovery of an east coast yacht back to UK waters.
From a seamanship viewpoint, one can only imagine how frustrated he
must have been at having to deviate to Bermuda, a long way from his
intended course for the Azores, but how thoughtfully he managed to ignore
his frustration and caringly drop crew off there. To me, this puts him in the
bracket of one of the best skippers of our modern age. Well done Simon!
Simon Costain, London
Mariquitas
mud berth days
A small addition to your
info about Mariquitas mud
berth days. I lived on her
at Pin Mill, when in my
teens, from 1958-63. I was
with my parents when they
decided to buy her when
she was at Woodbridge
Quay, in 1958. The hull and
topsides were in a sorry
state, with algae on the
skylights. They moved her
to Pin Mill and lived on her
for 10 years. We restored
her. I used to polish the
varnished panelling she
looked splendid. In 1968 my
parents sold her. Originally
12ft beam, the rebuild has
more curvaceous lines.
Clare Turner, ne Sewell,
by email
LETTERS
Send your letters (and any replies, please) to:
Classic Boat, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place,
London SW3 3TQ
email: cb@classicboat.co.uk
ANTIGUA
MAY 2, 2017
After taking part in the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta,
where Anne Marie revelled in being back in the world
she was built for, racing alongside some of the great
classic yachts of our time, it was time to think about the
nal stage of our 9,000-mile trip home.
Having come so far, with so many experiences behind
us, the goal of Falmouth, Cornwall, felt almost tangible
from the Carribean, but we knew we had many sea miles
still to cover.
We had spotted Anne Marie by chance in Vancouver
back in February 2015, left a note on board and when
the owner nally decided to sell several months later, we
embarked on a mission to bring her back to life.
During various trips out to Canada from Cornwall,
we returned her to the original yawl rig and did so much
other work that by the time our small crew cast off into
the Pacic and set Anne Maries sails for the rst time in
many years, we were more ready for a holiday than
several weeks at sea, but set sail we did, heading south
towards Panama, the fate of a unique classic yacht in our
hands.
Anne Marie was launched in 1911 by Harris Brothers
of Rowhedge, Essex. Her owners over the years have
included the commodore of the Royal Danish Yacht
Club and she has a well documented racing career.
Incredibly, she has remained largely unchanged with
many original features all in place she was built to
Lloyds Special Survey 18A1, using the highest quality
PART 2
timber, largely teak, and bronze fastenings.
BARBADOS
MAY 20, 2017
We were sailing well out of Antigua, beam reaching,
making excellent time, and keeping the boat happy. We
were leaking a lot in the rst couple of days, but it was a
standard leak rate which increased and decreased with
the sea state. At all times during the trip you could ease
the leak rate by heaving to. I like my pumps and we had
a great variety on board, the most heavy duty being a
petrol crash pump, but also a 240v pump, an engine
driven pump, two 12v pumps and three hand pumps. We
were on top of it.
A few days out of Antigua, one of our crew
unfortunately came to the rm conclusion that she could
not go any further on the boat. The hardest thing in the
world for a sailor is to pass up a favourable breeze, and
the wind seemed set for a quick and light passage to the
Azores, staying well south, which was my number one
plan, still trying to nurse Anne Marie along and protect
her as much as possible from the ocean.
I know plenty of skippers who would just have
continued to the Azores, but a happy ship is paramount,
otherwise there is no point in it all. We changed course
for Bermuda.
It was a slow, rolly run. I would occasionally stick the
boat northeast on the course for the Azores, watch the
boat speed increase to seven knots plus, feel her steady
SIMON ALLAN
down on the reach and become more comfortable, then
wince as the reality sunk in again, and pointed her back
downwind for Bermuda.
CLASSIC BOAT OCTOBER 2017 41
UNIVERSAL RULE UNIVERSAL RULE
Not just the
s
I JK L
0.182 . L . Sail area
Universal Rule: Rating = 3
Displacement
where
.
.
.
L = LWL +.5 (q.b.l.
LWL = Length (on) Waterline, measured in measurement
trim, in upright position
q.b.l = quarter-beam length, measured at the quarter-beam
100 - LWL
100
. LWL)
MN P Q
position of the maximum beam (mainframe) on the
inside of the hull to the inside of the hull skin
W
ITH THE HIGH PROFILE OF THE J-CLASS, Union (which had formed as a direct result of
its sometimes easy to forget that the the International Rules introduction) met with those of
Universal Rule covered a host of other the North American Yacht Racing Union to try to resolve
classes too. The rule, rened by the issue. They agreed that, from then on, bigger
Nathanael Herreshoff and introduced by the New York classes should be built to the Universal Rule and smaller
RS
Yacht Club in 1902, was an attempt to replace the hugely ones to the International Rule, with the dividing line just
over-canvassed yachts of the late 1880s with more above the M-Class. Ironic, then, that after the agreement,
wholesome and seaworthy craft. the only bigger boats built were the ve later Js (until
CLASSES It was the New York YCs intention to encourage yachts
of all sizes, so it allocated the letters I, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R
recently, of course) and of the smaller classes which
were intended to be encouraged, there would never be
and S to classes of single-masted boats, in descending
order of size. The smaller classes became well established
in America before the rst J was built.
The Universal Rule might have been adopted further
aeld. In 1906, meetings took place between around 12
another new 15-Metre.
The two rules produced remarkably similar-looking
boats, or at least to those of us with a less trained eye.
When considering boats of a particular era, such as the
1930s when bermudan rigs had arrived and long keels
European countries with the intention of formulating were still fashionable, an N-Class might resemble a
a common rating rule in Europe. As there were no 12-Metre, for instance pretty much the same length and
At times you could be forgiven for thinking the Universal Rule
was only about the J-Class. But it produced a host of other
preconceived ideas, an American delegation was invited
so that the Universal Rule could be considered. However,
for some reason no Americans attended, and so the
International Rule was formulated, resulting in the
Metre classes from 1907.
with long overhangs, narrow beam and deep draught.
However, while both rules included elements to try to
control overhangs, they did so in a different way,
producing subtle differences International Rule boats are
likely to be ner forward than aft. Furthermore, the
striking classes and some of the prettiest yachts of the last The Metre classes developed successfully, just as most
Universal Rule classes did in America, but the downside was
Universal Rule boats usually needed longer overhangs just
to t the sail plan on the boat.
century. This month we look at classes I to M
WORDS NIGEL SHARP
the difficulty of organising races between European and
American boats at any level other than the Americas Cup.
In 1930, representatives of the International Yacht Racing
Given the historic J-Class season we are witnessing, we
thought we would take a look at the other Universal Rule
classes. This month its classes I to M.
62 63
K-Class yawls
Good article on the Universal Rule. Just before
the Second World War there were two K-Class
yawls built, Manxman and Thistle. Manxman
was designed by Starling Burgess and built in
steel, Thistle was by someone else and built of
bronze plating. Post-war they were both
re-commissioned and took part in the 1946
New York YC cruise. I remember seeing a short
section of a newsreel showing them racing.
Manxman was sold to Gomez, the ruler of
Venezuela, in 1954. I dont know what happened
to her afterwards. Thistle ended up as a charter
boat in Turkey.
Don Street, by email
CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017 95
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Looking ahead
Things to do in the next few weeks

NEXT MONTH

NIC COMPTON
GLENDHU
A 22ft Mylne Glenn Class yacht
PERMANENT DISPLAY
from 1950. Needs remedial
QEI portrait restored and on show again
work, warned the advertisement
This portrait of Elizabeth I, thought to be by George
Gower or Nicholase Hilliard, is one of the most
recognisable images in the collective English
memory. It commemorates the most famous
conict of her reign; the failed 1588 invasion by the
Spanish Armada. After a 10 million fundraising
drive, it has been saved for the nation, restored and
put on permanent display in the Queens House.
Royal Museums Greenwich, London, rmg.co.uk

24 NOVEMBER 10-14 JANUARY 2018

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Poly. Introduction by just 5 days. More details Constance in Switzerland
boatbuilder Ben Harris. Q&A on this as we hear it.
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Sternpost

O
ne hundred years ago German U-boat attacks
on British shipping reached their First World
War climax. Germanys policy of unrestricted
submarine warfare left 875,000 tonnes of shipping on
the seabed. Aside from the human suffering and loss of
life, there would be scores of extra classic vessels still
sailing today were it not for this escalation, because
targets included coasting schooners, barquentines,
ketches, smacks and luggers.
Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly said: Perhaps one of the
most dreadful sights in the war was the arrival on shore
of women and children saved from a ship torpedoed by
an enemy submarine. Half-clothed, wet and cold, many
of the women did not know whether their children were
saved or not, and many had lost all they possessed.
Even hospital ships, loaded with war wounded such
as the Asturias with 31 medical staff and crew followed
by the Gloucester Castle, were sunk. Britain then
announced wounded German soldiers as well as Allied
troops would be aboard hospital ships: They will
naturally share with British wounded, equal risks from
the attacks of German submarines.

Now the wreck of a German sub sunk a century ago
has received protected status from heritage minister,
Tracey Crouch. Following advice from Historic England,
the wreckage of the
rst German U-8 to
be sunk in British
waters has been
A poignant wreck protected
made a Protected
Historic Wreck Site. A century on, Dick Durham visits a
She was sunk off
Folkestone, Kent, after being snared in anti-submarine
nets as she passed through Dover Strait. She was hit by
the destroyer HMS Gurkha and forced to surface before
being abandoned. She later sank after coming under
further re from another destroyer, HMS Maori. All the
crew survived, were taken ashore at Dover and marched
through the port to Dover Castle.
One of the subs propellers was cut off by scrap divers
and sold. The prop was later found being used as a
coffee table in Kent and returned to the German navy. The writers
Historic England is investigating the locations of 11 cutter Wendy
known World War I losses within British waters to May anchored
probe their state of decay. at Shareet
Tracey Crouch said: As we mark the centenary of Creek opposite
the First World War, it is tting that we remember the the submarine
role of the wider war at sea and I am excited that these mudat (main
sites will be protected for years to come. picture)
But there is one World War I German U-boat which
can still be seen without the assistance of an aqualung.
You can only get to her by boat and I paid a visit this
summer.
UB-122 sits isolated on a marshy islet near
Humblebee Creek off the River Medway in Kent.
The conning tower has gone and her bow section has
fallen away, but the sinister, riveted, cigar-shaped hull is
DICK DURHAM
German U-boat wreck in Kentish marshland
unmistakably that of an undersea killer. Her torpedo
tubes are visible, as is the mounting for her deck cannon
and the saw on her stem for cutting through netting.
Marine archaeologist Mark Dunkley, the maritime
designation adviser for English Heritage, said: It has been
there since 1921, one of 100 U-boats which surrendered
at the end of the war and were taken to Harwich.
Some were sent to France but most were cut up for
scrap metal. Records show the diesel engines were cut
out of UB-122 and reused in a cement works at Halling
in Kent the U-boats power plants thus serviced
Britains post-war industrial development.
What we still dont know is how UB-122 ended up
where it is. Its likely it was being taken up the Medway
estuary to be broken up for scrap. Perhaps in a storm it
parted from its tow and prevailing winds blew it to Hoo.
As to why it was left there, we can only speculate.
Perhaps it was a problem of navigation in how to get to
it. Its interest is that it is the only known complete
U-boat that can be seen in British tidal waters.
UB-122 was a coastal U-boat armed with 10 torpedoes
and designed to attack Allied shipping and lay mines.
Mr Dunkley added: It still serves as a poignant
reminder of those who gave their lives at sea during the
First World War.

98 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2017

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