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Classic Boat APRIL 2016

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T H E W O R L D’ S M O S T B E A U T I F U L B O A T S

120 2 REGATTAS

Find one near you this season

OLYMPIC RACER Restoring a 10-M

Sailing my boat with her designer CLASSIC HERITAGE

The planing sloop

MAINE TO MAINSTREAM

Lobster boat design

www.classicboat.co.uk

9 770950 331141

seth

Rustler Yachts

1957 VAN DE STADT

GRP strengthens Rebel class

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ROB PEAKE, EDITOR

HISTORY IN FLAMES Hours before the deadline for our last issue, our publishing consultant Martin Nott emailed us a photo he’d just taken on his phone. Martin was in Cowes, watching the wooden boat he had been restoring single-handed for the past nine years burn to a cinder. “Not good here,” read his email. Next to Martin’s Sibbickdesigned Witch (1902) was the Mylne Fedoa (1927). These alone would have been a huge loss, but it wasn’t long before we realised other classics were gone. Later I asked Martin how it felt to watch the blaze gradually engulf the boat that just the day before he’d been beautifully splining. Not a man given to overstatement, he replied: “Your knees go weak.” Others in Cowes lost businesses and livelihoods. Yard hands lost expensive tools. Our update on the fire is on page 12. Martin tells the story of Witch in our next issue.

classicboat.co.uk Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ EDITORIAL Editor Rob Peake +44 (0)207 349 3755 rob.peake@classicboat.co.uk Associate Editor Steffan Meyric Hughes +44 (0)207 349 3758 steffan@classicboat.co.uk Senior Art Editor Peter Smith +44 (0)207 349 3756 peter.smith@classicboat.co.uk Senior Sub Editor Henry Giles +44 (0)207 349 3708 henry.giles@classicboat.co.uk Technical Editor Theo Rye Publishing Consultant Martin Nott ADVERTISING Advertisement Manager Edward Mannering +44 (0)207 349 3747 edward.mannering@chelseamagazines.com Brand Manager Ginny MacLean +44 (0)207 349 3750 Advertisement Production Allpointsmedia +44 (0)1202 472781 allpointsmedia.co.uk Published Monthly ISSN: 0950 3315 USA US$12.50 Canada C$11.95 Australia A$11.95 Subscribe now: +44 (0)1795 419840 classicboat@servicehelpline.co.uk http://classicboat.subscribeonline.co.uk Subscriptions manager William Delmont +44 (0)207 349 3710 will.delmont@chelseamagazines.com Subscriptions Department 800 Guillat Avenue, Kent Science Park, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8GU Managing Director Paul Dobson Deputy Managing Director Steve Ross Commercial Director Vicki Gavin Publisher Simon Temlett Digital Manager James Dobson Follow the Classic Boat team on Twitter and Facebook THE

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TOM CUNLIF F SPIRITU E GUIDAN AL CE p64

CONTENTS 4 COVER STORY

4 . MARGA An Olympic competitor in Stokholm, now racing in the Med COVER STORY

20 . REBEL CLASS New GRP models join an inland class COVER STORY

34 . SAILING MY BOAT WITH HER DESIGNER Designer Nigel Irens crews for Nic Compton on Nic’s new 22ft Romilly 40 . HOLLOW SPARS’ HISTORY Part 2 of Theo Rye’s expert history 48 . WE MEET JONATHAN DYKE The man behind the East Coast Classic

COVER STORY

52 . EVENTS GUIDE 2016/17 Classic regattas, rallies and gatherings worldwide COVER STORY

62 . VAN DE STADT SLOOP Black Soo, his offshore planing boat 64 . TOM CUNLIFFE Overseen by the skippers of the past

COVER STORY

LTD

Classic Boat is part of the Chelsea Marine Magazines family, along with our other monthly titles

66 . LOBSTER BOAT DESIGN From Maine fishing to the mainstream COVER STORY

86 . WE VISIT RUSTLER YACHTS A modern British yard working with traditional values

WIN RADAR! Raymarine Quantum system worth £1,495

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CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

A REAL OLYMPIC BOAT She missed the podium in the 1912 games, but this Carl Liljegren 10-M design is enjoying a new lease of life after a major restoration STORY KATHY MANSFIELD

JAMES ROBINSON TAYLOR

KATHY MANSFIELD

MARGA

here’s a plan afoot, a dream, just coming to fruition. The Metre Centenary in Cowes in 2007, celebrating 100 years of the International Rule, highlighted the fact that the Metre classes have been steadily regaining their popularity. The Six Metres are in remarkably good shape, the Eights are more numerous, the Twelves continue to enthral with their America’s Cup history, even the Fifteens have grown to four outstanding restorations and are working together to develop the class in all the right ways. And now the time has come for the Ten Metre class. Some have been sailing in Scandinavia for years, others need to be found or restored. I remember the first time I saw Pesa, designed in 1911 by Max Oertz in Germany and with a beautiful shape and sail plan, thinking that she was for me at that moment the epitome of a beautiful classic yacht. Now the Swedish-designed Marga has been superbly restored over four years near Rome in Italy and just made it to Les Voiles de SaintTropez last year, a boat with an intriguingly extreme shape and fascinating pedigree. Her owners are determined to spearhead a resurgence of the class. It’s a very good idea. That’s just one of their plans… And it’s also heartening to see that her three owners are refreshingly young, in or near their thirties: Tomas de Vargas Machuca, his friend Igino Angelini and Igino’s sister Alessandra Angelini. “It’s possible to own a beautiful boat like this at our age,” said Tomas, “if you join together with your friends and you arrange a good chartering business. You have to be organised and disciplined and it’s cheaper in the long term to restore a boat properly, without shortcuts, and be diligent with maintenance. I’ve now got a great team of people to work with.” Tomas had bought his first classic, the ketch Delfino, at the time a well-used club sailboat at Trieste, when he was just 20, having spent a few years in banking and saved up his bonuses. He has yet to buy a house – boats are much more his passion. A few years later, he realised it would in fact be cheaper to have a larger yacht, looked after by a skipper, that he could charter. By now he had become an entrepreneur dealing with German residential housing and also classic car rallies, another

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Above: original tiller; new fittings

passion. He did a part exchange with his first yacht to buy the 85ft (26m) 1937 schooner Orianda with Igino, which was then restored at Tecnomar in Fiumicino, just outside Rome by boatbuilder Emiliano Parenti. They charter her six months a year, with about eight charters and several regattas. It was at the Tecnomar boatyard that Tomas came across the elegant Ten Metre classic Marga…

HISTORY OF MARGA

Two of Marga’s three owners, Tomas de Vargas Machuca and Igino Angelini

Marga was built in 1910 at the Hastholm Boatyard near Stockholm in Sweden, commissioned by Consul Fredrick Forsberg, who two years later at the Olympics proposed to his wife-to-be on board. She was designed for the Ten Metre class by Carl Oscar Liljegren, (1865-1944), an outstanding naval architect who deserves to be much better known outside his native Sweden. The new International Metre Rule formulated in 1907 inspired him to design a large number of Five, Six and Eight Metre yachts as well as the Ten Metre, Marga. He was very interested in extreme sailing yachts, concentrating on speed, along with other Swedish designers of that period such as Brenson, Abrhamson and Plym. He was awarded a large travel stipend by the Swedish Royal Academy of Science to study naval architecture and engineering in England, France and Germany, and followed this by travelling to the United States where he worked for Nat Herreshoff. He built over 200 boats of all sorts during his lifetime. Before he died in 1944 he published a book, Naval Architecture as Art and Science, in which he develops a new treatment of speed factors using differential calculus, and proposes optimum longitudinal lines and the best bow and stern angles. No doubt his thoughts were influenced by his talks with the finest yacht designers of the time and by working closely with Nathanael Herreshoff. Liljegren gave Marga extreme lines, almost more like a linear rater than a Metre class boat, with a long, shallow forefoot, very narrow beam, long overhangs and a much wider stern, flatter underneath, than usual at the time. Enrico Zaccangni points out that “analysing curves, lines and surfaces I always feel amazed and surprised by the harmony and ratio in all her geometry, despite the

JAMES ROBINSON TAYLOR

MARGA

essential simplicity of a pure racer.” She has an aerodynamic shape, curving slightly down towards the ends and sides rather like a racing car and with coamings near the mast that taper in size towards the bow. Marga raced in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm (Forsberg proposed to his wife-to-be on board the yacht there), finishing just off the pace in fourth, in the 10 Metre class. First was the fellow Swede Kitty, designed by Alfred Mylne, Nina of Finland second, and Gallia II of Russia was third. It was not much of a test of ability however, due to the absence of wind and Marga’s choice of a wrong tack in these conditions. At a Jubileum Regatta, a friendly rerun of the race afterwards, Marga won. The 1910-1912 issues of the Goteborg Yacht Club magazine, Segarbladet, mentions the name of Marga frequently among the winners in those years. Another Swedish magazine of the time described her as having “a strong hull with aggressive forms, even a little brutal, but with a sail plan more beautiful than any other Swedish yacht.” Marga was bought in Copenhagen, Denmark in the early 2000s by Marco Vian, an engineering professor from Rome, who shipped her to Rome, to Fiumicino, as a retirement project. When he realised, as many do, that the job was going to need professional shipwrights and much money, in September 2010 he bowed to the enthusiasm of Tomas de Vargas Machuca, who wanted very much to take the project on. An important and challenging part of the project was researching the 8

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Above clockwise from top left: original floors; new frames; ready for launch; Oregon pine deckhouse. Right: New hollow spars make her much lighter

history of Marga, and this fell to Enrico Zaccagni of Zacboats. He had only a measurement certificate from the Danish Shipping Register and a crumpled photocopy of the boat racing. Amazingly, there were in fact three Margas built in Sweden, all for the Ten Metre class, all around the same time, including one designed by William Fife in 1914, built at the Liljegren Goteborg boatyard. This was confusing, but Enrico knew enough about Fife design and construction to understand that this was the wrong Marga. He then found that the dimensions did not fit and the boatyard was owned not by CO Liljegren but by his brother. Another Marga seems to have been designed by Sven Abrhamson and built at the Abrahamson & Borjesson boatyard in Sweden in 1912. Apparently she is in Norway now, and again has different dimensions. Eventually it was the Goteborg magazine Segarbladet of March 1911 that definitively solved the mystery, and this was a great stroke of luck – it had so much information and plans regarding the boat that with the help of the Landini Micelli design office, they were able to design the cabin, inside accommodations, mast and spars to their original specifications. There was also a question about whether Marga was indeed built to the Metre Rule, but that is now confirmed, she was definitely built to the First Rule. Lloyd’s Register published her dimensions and details and awarded her a Maltese Cross, in respect of her excellent build to Lloyd’s specifications.

MARGA

JAMES ROBINSON TAYLOR

After that shrewd bit of detective work, the rest of Margaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history is patchy, the boat being listed in the GKSS register until 1914, then again in 1919 until 1924, missing out 1923. At that time she was owned by an IW Thurfjell of LuleĂĽ. She spent time in Finland and reappears in the 1970s back in Sweden, rigged as a ketch and sporting an awkward, poorly built, enormous deckhouse, like so many other desecrated classics that were often used as cheap accommodation at a time when wooden boats were at their nadir. The reconstruction and restoration has been done at Cantieri Tecnomar in Fiumicino, near Rome, which already had a reputation for yacht and tug restorations and where Orianda was restored. As much as possible of the original boat was kept. The keel of Marga was still sound, also the rudder, tiller, some beam shelves and some of the steel frames (she had alternating wood and steel frames, of excellent quality). The 29mm mahogany planking was carefully dismantled plank by plank and replaced to the same dimension and shape using the exact same style of copper nails, specially made for the job. New fittings were specially crafted by Francesco Berthel. Original specifications have been used, all complying with the first Metre Rule. Cockpit, deckhouse and stringers are Oregon pine, beautifully designed and built, beams are ash. Her spars have been built of silver spruce by Gilbert Pasqui in Villefrance, who built the spars of other famous classics such as Tuiga, Moonbeam and CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

MARGA Partridge. Though built to the original specifications, she is lighter now by 90 kilos thanks to her new hollow spars, and a new, light Yanmar 30hp engine has been installed for manoeuvring, replacing the much heavier engine that had been fitted in later years.

“NAVIGATING ACROSS THE TIDE…” I spoke with Guido Cavalazzi, who created Marga’s sails. Guido works for North Sails and has designed the sails for Mariska, Chinook, Leonore, Skylark, Cholita and others, and made the kite for Cambria. Modern sail material can be cut out more easily than the Dacron that is used for the classics, he explained. “You must include in the design how the sail will stretch, so you must aim in another place, like navigating across the tide.” Mariska’s sails have lasted four seasons, he said, and with a few alterations should last another two or three years. Marga has 8oz sailcloth for the main and staysail, 7oz for her headsails. He prefers working with classic owners, who often see themselves as custodians of these historic yachts, and he has enough space in his sail lofts in Galicia, Spain, to lay out very large sails. He’s also willing to make the larger sails using two-ply material: two layers of 8oz cloth will be more tightly woven, with smaller yarns that will move less on the bias, than 15oz cloth. The two-ply sail will last longer and will be softer to fold across the boom as well – but the skills for doing this were lost around the 1970s and most sailmakers don’t want the extra, painstaking bother. The whole procedure is an art, from the psychology of understanding just exactly what the owner wants, to working with the materials required for classic boats.

AND FINALLY, THE LAUNCH

KATHY MANSFIELD

It was a busy four years of restoration and Marga just made it to Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez in October 2015, launched a couple of weeks before with no time for crew training – even so she did well. She has no winches, just as when she was launched back in 1911 – she has perhaps 50 blocks instead, and her crew will relearn the old methods, just as the crew of Mariquita and a few

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

MARGA

others have done. The mainsail alone is 125m2 and yet the boat is only 2.6m wide: with her low freeboard as LOD well, she is a wet boat to sail. Emiliano remembers the waves breaking on his thigh 51ft and then hitting his nose, but he also remembers heading (15.59m) well up to windward, easily reaching 10 knots and BOWSPIRIT powering past Eva and other boats. 6ft 2in The mast was too far forward, more blocks are needed for next year, she was maybe achieving just 30-40 per (1.86m) cent of her potential, but by Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez BEAM next year, the vintage yachts will have a new star. 9ft 2in (2.8m) Marga would like some other Ten Metres to sail against. The 1938 Kipawa, designed by Anker & DRAUGHT Jenson, has also been restored at Tecnomar and should 5ft 11in be sailing in 2017. Enrico Zaccangni at Zac Boats (1.8m) would like to hear from anyone interested in one of the SAIL AREA (MAIN) most important boats of this class, Tonino, built in 1911 by William Fife for the King of Spain. She was 1,345sq ft restored about 15 years ago and has spent the last five (125m2) years in a shed in Italy, awaiting a new owner. Rita IV has just been thoroughly restored in Portugal and is racing again. Pesa is sailing in Brittany. Another Liljegren design, Astarte, built in 1907, is in good condition, and a modern version, Astarte II, might be built in the Netherlands. Tore Holm’s Itaka from 1934, Johan Anker’s 1914 Moana, Albert Andersen’s 1907 Dafne and Christian Jensen’s 1939 Indigo are all in sailing and racing further north, along with others, and a few have not been traced. The repica John Anker Classic Addy and modernised Max Oertz Stormvogel are sailing. The Ten Metre Class is on the way, and an association has been formed. Meanwhile Tomas and his friends are full of plans. Tomas has just bought the John Alden centreboard gaff schooner Puritan. Her centreboard configuration means Below l-r: the that she can sail up the River Tiber to the boatyard and interior remained she will sail this season after maintenance, undergoing the same after further restoration over the winter, when her long much research; propshaft will be replaced by a quieter and more traditionally manageable auxiliary propulsion system and her crewed, with no electrics will be renewed, among other work. winches

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Tell Tales EAST COWES, IOW

After the fire Photographers Beken of Cowes have done sterling work listing the vessels lost in the big fire at the Medina Yard on 25 January. The list now stands as follows: five Dragons (Rapier, The Old Bailey, Virago, Aimee and Excite); five XODs (Anitra, Delight, Sapphire, Xin Bai and Leading Wind); 16 Etchells yachts; Espada (Bruce Farr Quarter1927); Kariat (35ft/10.7m steam launch, 1897); Witch (36ft/11m Charles Sibbick yacht, nearly restored, 1902); Cornucopia (23ft/7m Christina powerboat, 1960s vintage) and Vere (40ft/12.2m Admiralty Naval pinnace, 1905). It seems that early reports about the loss of many GRP production yachts were erroneous.

Dunkirk Little Ship Vere The conversion of Vere from a 1905 Admiralty Naval

PETER MUMFORD/BEKEN OF COWES

Tonner, 1978); Fedoa of Bute (58ft/17.7m Mylne ketch,

pinnace to a 40ft (12.2m)-long teak-hulled cabin cruiser featured in the October 1925 issue of The Motor Boat, writes Andrew Rosthorn. Captain BG Fray installed two engines and added a foresail, a gaff-rigged mainsail and a small mizzen. She broke down twice on her way to Dunkirk in 1940 to partake in the famous Operation Dynamo evacuation but rescued 346 men from the beaches. One of her later owners, a schoolmaster named solid oak frames. She burned out in the Medina fire not far from her probable birthplace at the J Samuel White Shipyard, where Barnes Wallis, designer of the geodesicframed Wellington bomber and the bouncing bomb worked as an apprentice draughtsman. (There is also inconclusive evidence that she may have served as tender to HMS Dreadnought in World War I - ed)

BEKEN OF COWES

Perfect, found two German machinegun bullets in her

DAVID STODDART-SCOTT

Clockwise from top: Dunkirk Little Ship Vere: the 1897 steam launch Kariat; aftermath of the fire; and Mylne ketch Fedoa of Bute

BRITISH CLASSIC YACHT CLUB

CHRISSIE WESTGATE

Entries open for Panerai British Classic Week This year's event will run from 16-23 July and see classic motorboats welcomed to the fleet. There is space for up to 10, and entries will be considered individually. Last year a record 79 yachts attended, with many big-name classics coming from the USA and Med, partly to attend the Royal Yacht Squadronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bicentenary Regatta the following week. This year the event is unlikely to match those numbers but expressions of interest suggest there will be more than 50 yachts, with first-time participants from France and further afield. Racing will once again be organised by Royal Yacht Squadron Racing. CB is sponsoring the Long Inshore Race, a testing

EMILY HARRIS

windward/leeward course over 28 miles in the Solent.

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

The Around the Island Race, sponsored by EFG International, will take place on Monday 18 July. Enter via the BCYC website britishclassicyachtclub.org. See page 52 for our events guide.

Photo comp This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Historic Ships (NHS) Photography Competition opens for entries in April. Keep an eye in these pages for more details, or at the NHS website, nationalhistoricships.org.uk. The photo above - Gerry the Boat Gypsy by Chrissie Westgate - won last year's 'Faces of the Sea' category.

Classic Boat’s address: Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ cb@classicboat.co.uk Follow the Classic Boat team on Twitter and Facebook

OLD GAFFERS ASSOCIATION ROUND-UP

OGA to open boats database

Foxhound, designed by Ed Burnett and Nigel Irens

The OGA has decided to open its online Boat Register to the public. It’s one of the largest yacht archives in the world, collected over 50 years and numbering about 4,000 boats. Only a quarter of them are presently visible, and those only to logged-in OGA members. The reason to make the records public given by the OGA is to help verify facts and continue to build on this important archive of Britain and Ireland’s maritime heritage. Boat register editor Pat Dawson said: “It is a unique database of gaff-rigged work boats and yachts built over the past 200 years in and around Britain and Ireland.” Work to ‘unlock’ the archive is now ongoing and when complete, members of the public will be able to see all at: oga.org.uk.

Award for Ed Burnett The OGA’s annual Jolie Brise Trophy, for the development of gaff rig, has been awarded posthumously to Ed Burnett. He was chosen by last year’s inaugural winner Nigel Irens, who said: “It falls to the incumbent holder of the trophy to propose its next recipient. In my case the task is an easy one. There may be no precedent for a posthumous award of this kind but I believe it would be wrong for this trophy to exist without Ed’s name engraved on it.” Nigel will present the trophy, a model of Jolie Brise, to Jeremy and Adriana Burnett, Ed’s parents, in due course. KEITH ALLSO, OGA

OGA on tour An ‘English village’ will be centre stage at this year’s four-yearly Brest Maritime Festival from 13-19 July. As part of it, OGA members and vessels have been invited to attend as guests; some 20 have accepted. See p52 for our events guide.

PORTSMOUTH

1936-2016

Butcher Boy 1902

Cecil Coleman Cecil Coleman,

Stories of Jutland

Awards

A new online

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

manager and ex-owner of Arthur Beale, the unlikely chandlery in London’s theatre land, died peacefully on 30 CB ARCHIVES

January after a

interactive map from Classic Boat 2016 awards logo.indd 4

23/11/2015 11:39

Last chance to vote

the National Museum of the Royal Navy aims to share the history of those present at the Battle of Jutland a century ago. The museum asks the public

battle against

The voting deadline for

to “share, discover and

cancer. Mr Coleman

this year’s Classic Boat

remember” their

started working at

Awards is 9am GMT,

stories. On 12 May, a

Monday 7 March. So you

major exhibition – 36 Hours: Jutland 2016 –

Provisioning boat

Arthur Beale in 1959. Without him,

have a weekend left to

Butcher Boy was built by an unknown builder to an unknown

says present owner

vote in eight categories.

will open at the

design. She is a comely 29ft (8.8m) double-ended gaff yacht

Alasdair Flint, the

Please visit classicboat.

museum in Portsmouth

built for provisioning ships in San Diego Bay and restored by

business would

co.uk/awards2016. We

Historic Dockyard. See

San Diego Maritime Museum (CB175). The mystery these

never have survived

will announce the

map.jutland.org.uk for

days though, is where is she? Has anyone seen Butcher Boy?

to this day.

winners in the May issue.

the interactive map.

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Panerai British Classic Week Cowes 16th - 23rd July 2016

sponsored by

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS BOYNTON

British Classic Yacht Club

Further information and entries, please contact, Mary Scott-Jackson, info@msjevents.co.uk, Tel:+44 (0)1983 245100 www.britishclassicyachtclub.org/regatta

PANERAI BRITISH CLASSIC WEEK

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Beautiful boats

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROB PEAKE

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Kunst on show

Clockwise from above: boiler mechanism on steam pinnace

A small classic area at the Düsseldorf boat show in January was one of the busiest

Sunrise; dinghy

of the event's 17 halls.

building on site;

Centre stage were two L boats, Carmen III (1922) and Brigit II (believed to be

Canadian canoe;

1925), built by Abeking & Rasmussen, and exhibited at Düsseldorf by the historic

lug-rigged dinghy

Lake Constance yard Michelsen-Werft, which fully restored them in recent years.

based on Joel

Both took part in the centenary rally of the class in 2013, on Lake Constance. Also

White design;

known as the 30 Square Metre Binnenkieler, the L boat is a three-person skerry

whisky drawer on

boat that became popular on Bavarian and Berlin lakes, as well as in Hungary.

a 1961 Dragon;

Some 204 were made and around 30 are sailing today.

model building

Elsewhere in the classic section, various German yards were carrying out demonstrations of restoration techniques and boat building. There was a Classic Forum, where speakers gave talks on subjects ranging from how to build a Viking longship to how to use epoxy on a wooden boat. Several amateur builders were exhibiting their own craft at the show, among them a home-built steam pinnace. Sunrise was launched in 2011 by steam boat enthusiast Gerd Richter. The 17ft (5.5m) boat was constructed in cedar and mahogany, glued with epoxy.

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C/O OCC

Q&A Around the world in an S&S yawl This year’s annual Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) Award has gone to Tom and Vicky Jackson, for an extraordinary run of cruising and racing successes over 34 years, aboard their 40ft (12.2m) long, 50-year-old Sparkman & Stephens inboard yawl Sunstone. During that time they have sailed almost 200,000 miles, including an 80,000-mile circumnavigation that included rounding the world’s five great capes, an achievement for which they were awarded the Barton Cup (also given by the Ocean Cruising Club) in 2007. They have been living aboard Sunstone since 1997. This year, they have also won the Cruising Club of America’s Blue Water Medal, an award they are due to collect on 4 March. Meanwhile the Barton Cup has gone to Michael Johnson of the yacht Gitana, for his successful two-year transit of the Northwest Passage. Sailing from Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, to Nome, Alaksa, the passage took place in a period that was particularly challenging due to ice conditions that sent many a vessel attempting 'the passage' back to their home ports for safety. Johnson is, like the Jacksons, a previous recipient of an OCC award, having won the Barton Cup in 1990 for his engineless east-west rounding of Cape Horn in 85 days.

LONDON

Enterprise at 60 The class that launched with a

night-time winter sail across the

Marine artist JAMES DODDS You've said painting is like

building and had its apprentices

meditation. Are you part of the trend

making oars in the gallery. The

for mindful living?

exhibition is now going on tour for a

Getting in the zone, as Grayson Perry

few years calling at the maritime

would say. When I am so focused on

museums in Falmouth and Great

what I am doing and lose myself in the

Yarmouth (and possible even

work, it is like meditation and for me

Bermuda but that's another story).

this is the most creative state of mind to be in when working. Zen and the

Does it provide inspiration that your

art of painting boats.

studio stands on an old yard site? I like being able to live and work in the

Your take on reviewers?

same town as the shipbuilders of the

They are expressing their own point

past did. Although I would rather the

of view, usually saying more about

site was still a shipyard. I also like the

themselves than my work. However it

idea of building something new from

is great when their ideas coincide

the traditions of the past.

with my own or make some new What is the importance of the

connection I had not seen.

Classic Boat Awards, at which your

WORD OF THE MONTH

Scent

Quick upward

Your pet hates in boat design?

work will be shown and which

Reverse sheer or too much sheer, too

Messum’s is supporting?

big cabin tops.

I think it great to celebrate the achievements of everyone involved in

Are you a regatta man?

classic boats. It also helps to build a

I enjoyed smack racing in the days

sense of community between the

when it was less competitive. When

lone boat builders working away in

English Channel (see last month) is

motion of a

planning a spectacular Thames event

ship pitching in

for its big 60th on 11 June. The

everyone was just pleased to see each

far-flung places. The awards evening

a heavy sea. In

Tideway Race will travel from the

other, celebrating the fact that you

at Messum's gives me an opportunity

its old and now

had kept that old smack afloat for

to thank them for providing the

another year.

subject matter for my paintings and

class's birthplace of Putney to a

defunct

finish line in the centre of the

meaning it was

capital. Forty dinghies are expected.

the opposite of pitching, the

SOLENT

Contessa 26 at 50 Another venerable class, the Folkboat-

derived Contessa 26, will celebrate its half-century with a special rally from 29-31 July in Lymington. So far, 20 have signed up. First down was Round-theIsland winner Rosina of Beaulieu.

EMILY HARRIS

OCEAN CRUISING CLUB

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

quick roll when

linocuts and to celebrate the skill and How goes your current travelling

art of the boatbuilder.

exhibition, Wood to Water? The first show was in a new art

Do your paintings romanticise

facility, Firstsite, near my home town

something that is plain hard graft?

and had a great reception. There is

I do not see them as opposites. Hard

course.

something very nice about being

work can also be romantic. I am

Oxford

congratulated by the people that live

a sea knocks a vessel off

Companion to Ships and the Sea

nostalgic about the past.

and work around me. The What does the boat

Pioneer Sailing Trust parked its freshly painted smack outside the boat-like prow of the

symbolise for you?

Awards

Everything.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Classic Boat 2016 awards logo.indd 4

23/11/2015 11:39

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TELL TALES

NEWS

IYRS

“

The Med model is one we’re going to be looking at closely

”

CLARK POSTON

of classic yacht racing (sail and power) events from May to September in New England, only the sponsored ones are accessible online to enthusiasts outside the USA. The association hopes not only to connect local events into exciting series like the popular Panerai Classic Yacht Challenge, but also to showcase the community and entice yachts from the Mediterranean to the country’s eastern seaboard. “The Med model is one we’re going to be looking at closely,” said Poston. “The events there deeply involve the local communities.” Owners and captains of significant

yachts in America are working together with Poston. “Owners should have a unified voice,” says Dennis Gunderson, captain of the Herreshoff NY 40 Marilee. “The west coast community is trying to do the same thing. They have similar problems. Hopefully they will tag along.” Marilee’s owner, Tim Rutter, as well as skipper Gunderson, are keen to convince the rest of the existing NY40 class, including Chinook (CB318), now in Europe, to come to the USA for the class centenary this year, as the first great result of the association’s efforts. By Chris Museler

C/O EVERGLADES CHALLENGE

C/O CHESAPEAKE LIGHT CRAFT

After 18 years of guiding the educational programmes at the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) in Rhode Island, Clark Poston has taken the helm of the new Classic Yacht Owners’ Association, intended to provide a “unifying function” for the growing group of owners and professionals within. “This should prove to be a vehicle to grow the industry,” says Poston. “Each year for the past five years has produced four to five large restorations. People feel we have hit capacity.” Poston says that the new association, which is launching a website this spring to connect events, owners and professionals, is largely a networking tool for boatbuilders, yacht owners, sailmakers, crews and captains. And although there is a growing list

JAMES ROBINSON TAYLOR

New association to unify US classics

STATE-WIDE

Boatbuilding holidays The start-up inertia to build your own boat is hard to overcome. But add a trip to a waterfront museum or school, a private instructor and pre-made parts – and then you’re talking, writes Chris Museler. Chesapeake Light Craft, the stitch-and-glue small-boat kit-maker has been partnering with non-profit bodies around the country to offer build-your-own boat classes. Many of the spring courses, that include building the row-and-sail Northeaster Dory or the 17ft (5.2m) rowing trainer Annapolis Wherry, are at the company’s base in Annapolis, Maryland. As summer warms the waters, Maine, Michigan, Seattle and Toronto become destinations for the week-long courses. Participants start with the parts and leave with a complete boat and only some painting and rigging work left to do. Just the names of the craft offered, among them the Sassafras Canoe and Kahalo Stand-up Paddleboard, may be spur enough to book a fun ‘working’ vacation.

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

EVERGLADES, FLORIDA

After the storm Steve Isaac, head of the Gulf Coast’s Water Tribe, is determined the show will go on, after the 2015 Everglades Challenge had to be cancelled, Chris Museler reports. “Last year was abnormal,” says Isaac, who organizes the 300-mile small-craft run from Tampa Bay to Key Largo, Florida. “A microburst hit a cluster of craft and a small sailboat capsized with a man in his seventies aboard.” The sailor’s daughter dialled 911, precipitating a full US Coastguard rescue that forced the race to be closed down. The popular ‘mega raid’ has been going on for more than a decade. Isaac applied this year for a Coastguard event permit for the first time but was told he didn’t need one. At the time of going to press, 100 craft were registered for the March Everglades Challenge.

Traditional equipment Traditional equipment for classic boats.

for classic boats.

Order online or come and visit our new chandlery at Suffolk Yacht Harbour on the east coast. Telephone: 01394 380390 or 01473 659394 | Email: info@classicmarine.co.uk | www.classicmarine.co.uk Classic Marine, Suffolk Yacht Harbour, Levington, Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom IP10 0LN Main image : Photography Credit: Gill Moon | Smaller Images Photography Credit: Emily Harris

REBEL REBEL This fine inland one-design fleet has been strengthened by new GRP models STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS RICHARD JOHNSTONE-BRYDEN

The recently restored Rebel (R1) sailing with the latest GRP Rebel, Rebel Reiver (R16) on Wroxham Broad

REBEL

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Facing page clockwise from top left: Lines can be handled from Rebel Reiver’s cockpit; sheets led aft through the cockpit coamings; gaff jaws; detailing on cockpit lockers

CB ARCHIVES

he Norfolk and Suffolk Broads boast an impressive array of indigenous classic sailing craft, including the 22ft gunter rigged Rebel One Design, probably one of the area’s best kept secrets. Designed by the late Alan Buchanan for the Wroxham-based R Moore and Sons as a modern alternative to the then 41-year-old Yare & Bure One Design (Y&BOD), the first example took to the water in 1950. With its varnished mahogany hull, cream coloured cotton sails, fulsome lines and lack of bowsprit, Rebel offered local sailors a real alternative to the celebrated Edwardian half decker. Within two years, five Rebels had been completed for the princely sum of £465 each. However, by the time the eighth Rebel was launched in 1955 the cost had risen to £510 which exceeded the price of a new Y&BOD and marked a turning point in the expansion of the class. A ninth boat was commissioned the following season before the orders dried up. To generate interest in the fleet beyond its initial strongholds of Wroxham and Horning the first Class Captain, Colonel PH Jones, took Rebel Phiz (R3), subsequently renamed Rebel Rothay, to sea off Lowestoft in 1957. Even though the half decker acquitted herself well in the moderate sea conditions, the feat has never been repeated despite initial enthusiasm from some members of the class. When the order was placed for Valiant Rebel (R10) it triggered a final two-year building spree to bring the fleet up to 13 boats by the end of 1962. Having enjoyed the enthusiastic support of the owners, the future of the class hung in the balance during the 1970s as the numbers actively competing on the regatta circuit fell. For a while, it looked as though the class might become extinct as the dwindling numbers only sporadically competed at the Horning Sailing Club which adopted the Rebel in the 1950s. Fortunately, a dedicated group of its members ensured the fleet survived at Horning throughout its peaks and troughs. The strength of their commitment was illustrated on several

The Rebel OD was designed by the late Alan Buchanan in 1950

occasions when they pooled resources to buy boats when they were put up for sale to make sure they remained in Horning until new owners could be found to race them as part of the fleet. Although their actions saved the existing fleet, they did not resolve the dilemma of how to encourage the building of any further examples. A potential solution emerged in the mid 1980s when Colin Facey offered to develop a GRP mould thereby following the example of the region’s other one-design classes which had authorised the construction of GRP derivatives. His offer was vetoed by the other Rebel owners due to their concerns about the potential implications for the existing boats. The issue remained in abeyance until the turn of the century when Colin raised it again by offering to take a mould from Rebel Maid (R4) during her forthcoming restoration. Fortunately, times had moved on since the issue was last discussed. In the 1980s such proposals were viewed by many as a threat to the future of the original wooden boats yet experience has shown this to be the reverse. Instead of deserting their old wooden boats in droves and opting for an easier life courtesy of GRP, the old stalwarts, who had kept the classes alive through difficult times, have stood by their original boats while the GRP craft have drawn a much-needed fresh group of sailors attracted by the combination of lower construction and maintenance costs. This in particular struck a cord with the older Rebel owners who were keen to secure the long-term survival of the class and voted in favour of Colin’s plan, which led to the launching of the first two GRP boats, Rebel H (R14) and Rebel Rascal (R15), in 2008. Even though the new boats generated considerable interest, the timing of their completion proved to be extremely unfortunate. The subsequent economic crash and prolonged recession blighted the prospect of further orders until a conversation between two existing Rebel owners, over a pint in 2014, triggered the construction of Rebel Reiver (R16). Mike Horne and Gerry Hermer had been Rebel owners for 20 years and were convinced that the design’s potential remained virtually untouched

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REBEL

not least thanks to its ability to be sailed beyond the Broads at other locations within the UK as well as the inland waterways of Europe. The conversation coincided with Mike’s recent decision to sell Valiant Rebel (R10) due to increasing work commitments. Having undergone a staggered restoration over several winters, Valiant Rebel was in very good condition and they were concerned that she would start to deteriorate through a lack of regular use. The Hornes followed the fleet’s usual convention of notifying the other Rebel owners of their intention to sell Valiant Rebel before placing her on the open market. As the owner of Rebel Reveller (R9), the Ludham-based hire company Hunter’s leapt at the chance to add another example to their fleet. Although R10’s departure to Ludham reduced the Horning fleet by one, the Hornes hoped this would be counteracted by the introduction of a wider audience to the joys of sailing a Rebel. Despite parting with their beloved Rebel, Mike and Sue still wanted to sail on the Broads. They had already decided that a GRP boat would stand up much better to the prolonged spells of inactivity imposed by their hectic lifestyle when Mike and Gerry discussed the Rebel’s untapped potential. As the conversation unfolded, Mike said that he would be prepared to put their theory to the test by funding the building of a new GRP Rebel, if Gerry, in his capacity as Belaugh Boatyard’s senior partner, was prepared to build it. The yard had maintained Gerry’s Rebel Sailer (R8) for about 20 years and was already in the process of restoring the first Rebel (R1) so it would prove to be the ideal follow-on project. The finished result is an impressive statement of intent by Belaugh Boatyard’s team of craftsmen. Rebel 16’s striking deep blue hull is complemented by the ivory cove and boot lines and grey antifoul to give the design’s classic lines a surprisingly contemporary feel. With the

Above: the third GRP Rebel on her maiden sail Below: The Rebel fleet enjoys regular racing mainly on the River Bure in Horning and on the nearby Black Horse Broad

notable exceptions of the oak tabernacle, and Douglas fir spars and cockpit floor, African mahogany has been used for all of the woodwork. Rebel Reiver made her public debut at the beginning of May 2015 when she took centre stage during Belaugh Boatyard’s successful open weekend before joining Rebel 1 on Wroxham Broad a few days later for her maiden sail. Interestingly, Rebel 1 had taken to the same waters 55 years earlier to enable her designer to assess the handling characteristics of his latest creation. Afterwards, Alan Buchanan stated that he was impressed by her performance and that there was no need for any further refinements before work commenced on the next boats. Over half a century later, Rebel 16 enjoyed an equally successful set of sailing trials in company with her older, rejuvenated sister. Free of any growth below the waterline and powered by a fresh suit of sails, Rebel Reiver inevitably enjoyed a slight advantage over her older sister. As the two boats sailed closely together,

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Yacht Brokerage

SALES, CHARTER & MANAGEMENT

82ft “ATAO” 2006. Built by JFA Yachts, France. She is a beautiful modern classic centreboard sloop, with a stunning classic look and modern requirements. Her finely crafted woodwork hides many powerful innovations and reveals astonishing sailing performances. The view from the deckhouse is unparalleled and uninterrupted; this is clearly the central point of this beautiful yacht.

137ft Sparkman & Stephens “QUEEN NEFERTITI” 1986. Refit 2005. Very nice schooner rigged sailing yacht with large deck space, a tremendous deck house and very comfortable accommodations for up to 8 guests and 7 crew. She boasts a tremendous spacious interior. Thanks to her design from Sparkman & Stephens, she sails extremely well from medium to strong winds. She easily reaches 11/12 knots under sail and has little healing angle. She has travelled the world extensively, the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic.

Morgan 70 “MATHIGO”

Commuter 50 “ALLEGIANCE”

2007. Kevlar composite built from a Tom Fexas design, she is a true gentleman’s yacht with a special classic touch inspired from the lobster boats in Maine. She is fast, seaworthy, extremely comfortable and luxurious. She is in pristine condition having seen very little use and having undergone a complete refit in 2014/2015.

2004. Inspired by Camper and Nicholson plans from 1925 and updated by builder, she is a very nice classic true gentleman’s yacht in the style of power boats from the beginning of the last century and constructed with quality materials and modern techniques – the spirit of tradition.

Montpellier l La Ciotat l Monaco l Paris l Palma, Majorca Moscow l Hong Kong l Grenada l Turkey l California l Italy

BERNARD GALLAY Yacht Brokerage

1 rue Barthez - 34000 Montpellier - France Tel. +33 467 66 39 93 - info@bernard-gallay.com www.bernard-gallay.com

REBEL Rebel Reiver proved to be very responsive and exciting to sail. With just two adults, Rebel Reiver’s cockpit felt extremely spacious and can easily take up to four adults for racing in high winds or leisurely river trips. The pedestal-mounted winch in the middle of the cockpit can be lifted out, which is a useful feature for those hardy souls who fancy the idea of camping onboard under the shelter of an awning rigged over the boom. Like the majority of the area’s indigenous sailing craft, the Rebel’s mast is mounted in a tabernacle for easy lowering or raising, to shoot the various bridges that cross the Broadland rivers. This feature would also come in handy for any owner who wants to trail a Rebel, helping to keep launch and recovery time to a minimum. To purchase a new Rebel to the same specification as Rebel Reiver from Belaugh Boatyard will cost £28,000 plus VAT. Alternatively, Belaugh Boatyard has drafted plans for a two-berth version of the Rebel in response to enquiries. Initial calculations indicate that this is likely to cost approximately £36,000 plus VAT depending of course on the final specification. Such a boat would follow in the wake of Rebel Rothay (R3) which once had a removable cuddy and a small inboard engine. Her seats are flatter and lower than those fitted to the other Rebels so that they could be used at night as two single berths. The engine was subsequently removed to bring her back into class while the cuddy was last seen rotting away in a boatyard several years ago. Hopefully, the combination of Belaugh Boatyard’s craftsmanship and an improving financial climate will help to finally unlock the Rebel One Design’s untapped potential to ensure it gains the overdue recognition it deserves.

LOA

REBEL LOA

22ft 9in (6.9m) LWL

18in (5.5m) BEAM

7ft (2.1m) DRAUGHT

2ft 9in (0.8m) SAIL AREA

300sq ft (27.9m²)

DISPLACEMENT

2,800lb (1,270kg)

Chartering a Rebel One Design Below: Rebel Rothay shooting Potter Heigham bridge on the River Thurne

Rebel Reveller (R9) became the first member of the class to be available for hire when she joined the Ludham-based Hunter’s fleet in 2000, following an extensive 18-month restoration. She was the ninth Rebel to be completed when she was launched in 1956. She was commissioned by H Collins who sailed her as Rebel Hood until 1966 when she was purchased by ID Coutts and renamed Rebel Reveller. Andy Beardshaw bought her in 1982 and sold her to Gerald Thomas in 1988. She looked set for a major restoration two years later when Paul Williams took her on, but he never had the time to carry out the work, so Hunter’s yard acquired her in the autumn of 1997. Seventeen years later she was joined by Valiant Rebel (above) in 2014. Each Rebel can take up to four people with prices ranging from £96 for a weekday charter through to £355 for a week. For the less experienced or those who have never sailed, but always wanted to, Hunter’s also offer two or four-hour skippered sailing sessions, while the more adventurous may appreciate the fact that they come complete with a camping awning. The 2016 season for Hunter’s half deckers starts on 16 April and will finish on 7 October. Hunter’s Tel 01692 678263 Email info@huntersyard.com

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Photographer Hugh Hasting, Mylor Yacht Harbour

Altricia, 1965 McGruer 8M C-R. Exhibited at the 2016 London Boat Show

CORNWALL’S YACHT EXPERTS

Altricia, 1965 McGruer 8M C-R. Exhib Altricia, 1965 McGruer 8M C-R. Exhibited at the 2016 London Boat Show

GRP REPAIRS

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Altricia, 1965 McGruer 8M C-R. Exhibited at the 2016 London Boat Show Altricia, 1965 McGruer 8M C-R. Exhibited at the 2016 London Boat Show Exhibited at the 2016 London Boat Show

ENGINEERING

GRP REPAIRS

PAINTING

ENGINEERING

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25/01/2016 13:12

KOOPMAN

Saleroom KOOPMAN

Gordon Bennett! That’s some prize It’s no less than we should expect of a trophy commissioned by the American sportsman and newspaper owner whose exploits were such that his name became an expression of astonishment. This 25cm-high Tiffany silver trophy was commissioned by Gordon Bennett in 1895, to present to Ailsa for beating the Prince of Wales’s Britannia in a two-yacht ARTCURIAL/DAVE SELBY

race off Nice. Costing $2,500, it was described as “the most beautiful yachting prize, as well as the most costly ever offered”. Today, London silver dealer Koopman is asking £450,000 for it. Gordon Bennett!

ARTCURIAL

Moonbeam III sells for £850k, a Ferrari for £24m

FUTU

AUCTION RE D 3 NOVEM ATE BER

Great classic cars and great classic yachts have more and less in common than you might think. At a Paris auction where a Ferrari sold for £24.7 million, the second highest price paid for a car at auction, the equally iconic 1903 Fife yacht Moonbeam III seemed a snip at £852,000. Indeed, not only was that considerably lower than the upper pre-sale estimate of £1.1 million, it was less than half the original asking price when she was recently on brokerage. You could argue that the new owner, who will maintain and campaign the magnificent 100ft gaff cutter from her Saint-Tropez base, got something of a bargain, considering to build a new Moonbeam III would cost in excess of £10m. It’s also a fact of life that with such grand yachts, the annual ownership costs far outstrip the cost of acquisition. Compare that with the £24.7 million 1957 Ferrari 335S, whose annual ownership costs are a fraction of Moonbeam’s purchase price. Moreover, you could re-create a 335S from scratch for less than £1m. To provide further contrast, Moonbeam III is unique, while the Ferrari is one of four built, so common by comparison. And as for “investment potential”? With yachts there is none. Moonbeam was bought in a distressed state in the 1970s for £5,000, which is about the sum that you would then have paid for a Ferrari that’s now worth £24.7m! In short, as CB readers know well, classic yachts are all about passion, pure and simple. However there is one thing that both provide: carteblanche entry to the most glittering events in the world. And Moonbeam does that at one-25th of the price.

EWBANK’S

BY DAVE SELBY

EWBANK’S

Models move on Award-winning model-maker Brian King, who sold only one model in his lifetime, and regretted it at the time, is releasing 18 of his creations for auction, at the age of 90. They go under the hammer on March 17, at Ewbank’s in Surrey. The only sailing vessel is HMS Speedy, an 1828 six-gun revenue cutter. A Model Engineering Exhibition gold medal-winner, she is estimated at £400-600. Among the impressive naval models is HMS Belfast, which carries the top estimate of £1,0500-2,500. You couldn’t commission comparable models for these sums. For more details see ewbankauctions.co.uk

Take a closer look at more Saleroom lots at classicboat.co.uk/saleroom CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Objects of desire CLASSIC MARINE Ash parrel beads, copper boat nails, a bronze mast band and tarred marline twine, all from traditional chandler Classic Marine, which now has a shop at its new owner Suffolk Yacht Harbour, as well as its website.

Tel: 01394 380390 info@classicmarine.co.uk classicmarine.co.uk

GUN TOMPION A gilt-bronze tompion, circa 1905, from the muzzle of one of the four 9.2 inch guns mounted in single turrets abreast the foremast and mainmast of HMS Hindustan, a King Edward VII-class battleship. The future Edward VIII served as a midshipman on her in 1910 and had an official portrait taken in front of one of the tompions (left). $3,500 (approx (£2,415)

Tel: +1 (212) 772 2664 nicholasbrawer.com

THE BOOT If you’d like your soles to boast the grip of a rally car, look no further. The new Alizé boot is the product of a

J-CLASS BOOK

collaboration between well-regarded

Stunning images of modern-day J-Class action from Italian painter turned

French boot manufacturer Le

photographer Franco Pace, with text in English and German by journalist Wiel

Chameau and Michelin. £150

Verlinden, who has sailed on six of the existing Js. Published by Delius Klasing. Hardcover, comes in its own case, 160 pages. €98 (approx £76)

For your nearest stockist visit lechameau.com/gb/boutiques

delius-klasing.de For more Objects of Desire, go to classicboat.co.uk/objects

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Fouling is complicated, the solution is not. Use Hempel.

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Loa: 15.85 m

Loa: 14.65 m

JOU R DE FE T E

HENR IE T T A

1930 FR ANK PAINE Q-BOAT Q16

1909 SQUARE-METRE SK30

S VA NE V I T

OP T I M IS T III

1939 TORE HOLM 8METRE YACHT

1968 ABEKING & RASMUSSEN TYPE OPTIMIST ONE-TONNER

JONN Y

BIRGI T

1947 HENRY GRUBER / BURMESTER UTILITY

TORE HOLM INTERNATIONAL 8METRE YACHT

Loa: 11.93 m

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YA C H T S

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Adrian Morgan

CHARLOTTE WATTERS

CRAFTSMANSHIP

see the tip of Sally’s mast poking above the field line 500 yards or so below me. Today the air is crisp, and the ground slippery with iced snow crunching under feet. Land Rover abandoned, it is a short walk down through the fields towards the bay; two gates, another over a burn and the final, steep cobbled track to the little shingly beach where Sally’s dinghy is laid up, tied to a post. This place has been a small boat haven for centuries. A boat-shaped outline of rough stones suggests an ancient noost for a double ended fishing boat. The remains of a stone jetty provide a little protection from the southeast. Since killing the engine, I had been conscious of a silence. Only birds, wind song and sheep. Lochside is only a few miles as the gull flies but 25 years away from Ullapool, whose white cottages I can see in the distance. And caught like a ballerina in a spotlight, there she is, best side facing, the starboard side where I have the waterline perfect (the port side, despite years of tweaking, still needs to come down a fraction at the bow). The avenue of trees, the church, the chance meetings on the road, the reassuring glimpse of mast, the short, steep walk down to the loch, the silence and the shingly beach, and Sally lying at her buoy; her natural state. A short row, and the hatch slides back. From below the rich smells of an old wooden boat. The bilge has an inch or two of water. The engine fires, and is left to warm. Check the mooring ropes, twisted as usual. Then, engine in reverse, down below, dark with pools of dancing light on the mahogany. Everything is much as it was a month back. The wagtail we had last spring has not returned or there would be evidence on the blue cushions. The wrappers on chocolate bars bought for that last Summer Isles cruise are a little damper; the tins beginning to show signs of rust. The half bottle of whisky and bottle of red wine remind me of the day five of us rafted up together in September in this very spot. There’s a touch of black mould on the deckhead to be cleaned off. I’ll take a chance with the wagtail and leave the portlights open. Batteries charged, mooring checked and it is time to close her up and row back to the beach. At the top of the cobbled track I look back. Sally has swung to the changing tide and is now showing her port side. This season will be the one I get that waterline perfect, something I have been saying for 15 years.

Checking up on her

A mid-winter visit, to see she’s alright, wanting for nothing

went to see Sally in mid-January, on her winter mooring over at Loggie Bay, a little cove, across the loch, sheltered from all winds apart from northeast, a direction we seldom get for longer than a day or two and the fetch is not great. It is a 10 mile drive down the east side of the loch to the bridge over the River Broom at its head. This is estate land, as a fine avenue of beeches attests, bare of leaves now in the low winter sun. The fences are new, and well kept. A right turn, sheep grazing on the flats either side. The clatter of a cattle grid, past austere Clachan Church, plaster peeling from walls and a five-mile drive down the west side, what the locals call Lochside, but which we on the other side jokingly call the Dark side, because they lose the sun for a few weeks every year. Croft houses above and below the narrow road, and sheep everywhere, with passing places. Highland etiquette demands a wave or at least a raised finger from the right steering wheel hand; more likely a window wound down and a word, for it is unusual to reach Sally’s place of mooring without meeting someone you know, and that means a two-, five- or quite often, engine off, a ten-minute gossip. Until it’s time to clear the road, the far end of which comes to a muddy end where a track leads to a cottage and another through fields down towards the loch where, if the tide is high enough, I can

“From below come the rich smells of an old wooden boat”

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

ONBOARD

SAILING WITH THE MAN How often do you get the chance to sail your boat with her designer? Nigel Irens was a steady hand aboard my 22ft Romilly STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS NIC COMPTON

wenty years ago, I was working at the office of Classic Boat magazine when I got a call to review a boat on the River Dart. It was the latest design by that doyen of modern multihull design Nigel Irens, better known for ENZA and (later) Ellen MacArthur’s record-breaking B&Q. The previous year, Nigel had taken some time off from designing high-speed racing yachts to create something completely different: a lug-rigged cruising boat. With her highpeaked lug sails set on carbon-fibre spars and her slim, easily driven hull, the 29ft 6in (8.99m) Roxane was like nothing anyone had ever seen before and caused a sensation. At a stroke, Nigel had transformed the face of traditional boat design. Now, it was the turn of her little sister: the 22ft Romilly, built on the same principles, by Dartington Boatworks in Totnes. It was flat calm when owner Bill Stanton took me for a drift on the river, so I hope I could be forgiven for not seeing the boat’s full potential right away. And, rereading my article, it’s clear to me I didn’t really ‘get’ what the boat was about. I had only ever owned long-keeled, wooden cruising yachts, and Our starting point was the Fowey estuary. We were headed for Dartmouth, 6o miles to the east

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

could imagine owning only something that could safely sail around the world. Yet Romilly was very specifically designed for daysailing in coastal waters, rivers even. Cut to 20 years later, and my perspective had changed completely. I was about to move to a small village on the River Dart – coincidentally, only half a mile from where I had sailed Romilly #1 – and was looking for a boat to keep on the river. It had to be big enough to take my wife, our various children and assorted friends (most of them non-sailors) sailing, yet not so big that I would have to spend all my time maintaining it or pay huge mooring fees. It had to be shallow enough to potter around the river and get stuck on the mud without any fuss, yet seaworthy enough for me to take off on the occasional inshore cruise, either solo or with friends. As a bonus, the ability to go on a trailer would both expand our cruising range and potentially save on mooring and storage fees. There were any number of pretty, cheap old wooden boats which I could have lost my heart to, and it took a great deal of concentration to stick to the plan. When I spotted a Romilly for sale within our budget, it was like an epiphany. Not only did she fulfil all the criteria, but she would be the perfect companion to my other boat: a 12ft skiff, also designed by Nigel Irens! Within a few weeks it was a done deal, and Ramona (ex-Dolphin) was bobbing at her new mooring off the village of Stoke Gabriel. Tantalisingly, we couldn’t move down for another few weeks, and it was during this period that Nigel (who I had become friends with since sailing Roxane and Romilly all those years ago) asked if he could borrow the boat for a week for his family holiday in Cornwall, as he was momentarily boatless. At week’s end, he would either trail the boat back to the Dart or, weather permitting, we could sail her back together. There was no way I was going to pass up a chance to sail my Romilly with the designer on board, so I started watching the weather charts studiously. The trip from Fowey to Dartmouth is a 60-mile, open sea passage along some of the most rugged coastline in Britain, including two tricky tidal races off Devon’s southernmost point. On a good day it can be stunningly beautiful, but on a bad day conditions can get pretty wild, as the countless wrecks on the seabed testify. Sailing a small half-decked boat, we would have to

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

JULIETTE IRENS

ROMILLY

Above and below: Perfect for estuary pottering and safe for all the family (Betty, 6, approves)

chose the weather carefully, or face a long, wet slog home. Our main concern were the tidal races off Bolt Head and Start Point, which can run at up to 4 knots and throw up a nasty sea in a wind-against-tide situation – as Nigel had found out the year before, motoring home on his 26ft (8m) launch Greta.

WEATHER WINDOW So when a weather window showing moderate southwesterly winds (and sunshine!) showed up after Nigel’s holiday, we dropped everything and headed straight to Fowey. On the way, Nigel told me about his holiday and enthused about Ramona. “It was great to discover this little boat – I had never had the opportunity before to use her so intensely, doing exactly what she was designed to do,” he said. “We did stretch the limits a bit as we had eight-and-a-half people on board and sailed every day of the week! Even the non-sailors agreed it was the best part of the holiday.” (The ‘half’, by the way, refers to his six-year-old daughter Katie.) There were a few adjustments needed, he told me, such as replacing the worn-out rudder pin and putting some extra chocks under the cockpit sole, but otherwise she was in great condition – fit for the journey ahead. By 11.30am, we had loaded the boat, topped up with fuel and got our foul weather gear on. Low clouds and rain were coming in from the west as we motored past Punches Cross – a small white cross set into the rocks which has welcomed sailors into Fowey for at least 500 years – and hoisted the sails. The rain squall brought a fresh breeze with it and Ramona surged forward eagerly, ignoring the waves growling on the rocks to port. As we raced out to sea, the sky cleared and we were soon

ROMILLY

sailing in a fresh southwesterly breeze in glorious sunshine, while behind us a massive cloud glowered over the land. Our plan was to arrive at Bolt Head at slack water, about two hours before High Water, and make the most of the east-going current beforehand. If we timed it right, we might even ride a little eddy that sweeps into Start Bay for nearly two hours after the tide has turned further out to sea. It was an interesting dynamic. I was the boat’s owner but had sailed Ramona only once before and had sailed only one other Romilly, when I reviewed the prototype 20 years before. Nigel, on the other hand, had not only designed the boat and sailed several other Roxanes and Romillys over the years but had also sailed Ramona for a week before I turned up – not to mention a lifetime’s experience on all manner of craft. I was a newcomer on my own boat and had everything to learn. The issue soon came to the fore when, after about an hour reaching under a freshening breeze, Nigel suggested it was time to take reef in. We had already brailed the mizzen and, although things were getting lively, I would have certainly held on to full sail for a bit longer. Bowing to his greater expertise, I agreed and sure enough with the main reefed the boat steadied down immediately, without seeming to lose any speed. Nigel still wasn’t happy, however, and after a few minutes quietly observing the (boomless) mainsail he attached a line from the mainsail clew to a cleat on deck, and hauled it down tight. This improved the shape of the sail as well as further steadying the rig, and for the next hour we surfed along the waves in complete comfort. As I watched him handle the sails, I was struck

Clockwise from top left: A blend of old and new, wooden tiller, GRP hull and carbon-fibre mizzen mast; Nigel at the helm with the Cornish coast to port; with the mainsail reefed, a preventer steadied the rig on a reach

Below: Nigel has designed modern and classic yachts

by how well he kept the boat under control. Whereas I would have simply eased off the mainsail halyard and taken up the slack on the reefing pennants once the sail was lowered, Nigel used the tack line to haul down the sail and keep tension on the luff so that the sail was under control at all times. He also showed me a trick he had learned the previous week: lowering the sail beyond the first reef (using the second tack line) so the reefing points could be easily tied from the cockpit, before tensioning the pennants fully.

HERITAGE COAST By now we were doing about six knots over land, according to the Navionics navigation app on Nigel’s iphone – a fact we could have checked by timing our passage between the two pairs of towers that mark the measured (nautical) mile between Talland and Hannafore, near Looe. By mid-afternoon, a clutter of ships and buildings to the north indicated we were passing Plymouth, while to the south the distinctive shape of the Eddystone lighthouse – in continuous use since 1882 – shot out of an almost empty sea. It was a coast laden with history, and for centuries the workboats of choice would have been luggers just like ours – albeit built of very different materials and with very different weight distribution and righting moments. Sailing a lugger off the coasts of Cornwall and Devon, you can’t help but feel part of something much bigger. Lunch was a simple affair of bread and cheese, much improved by Nigel’s inspired purchase of a jar of caramelised onion chutney earlier that morning. Perhaps the most successful foodstuff was a CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

ROMILLY pack of sweet and salty popcorn I had grabbed from my larder at home and which was consumed at one sitting. As the wind eased, the boat started to wallow and become sluggish. This time I took the initiative and shook the reef out of the main and unbrailed the mizzen, and Ramona was soon back in her groove. One of Nigel’s guiding principles when sailing these luggers is to use the mizzen to steer and balance the boats. Thus, if there’s weather helm, ease the mizzen. If you’re overpressed, drop the mizzen before you reef the main. If you need to heave to, drop the main and set the mizzen on its own. He’s also a great advocate of using the mizzen to manoeuvre out of a tight space including, if necessary, backwards!

RELIEF AND REGRET We reached Bolt Head by early evening, as planned. It was slack water and the tidal races on both sides of the Salcombe estuary should have been quiet. But Bolt Head is made of stern stuff – Lower Devonian schist, to be exact, the oldest rocks to be found in Devon – and the southwesterly swell was bouncing off the cliffs and creating a confused sea even half a mile offshore. We had discussed stopping at Salcombe for the night if conditions got difficult, so Nigel rang the coastguard at Prawle Point (east of the Salcombe estuary) on his mobile to check the state of the race there. After a friendly chat, they gave us the all-clear and we carried on, squeezing the last of that friendly little tidal eddy up the coast across Start Bay. By the time we reached Dartmouth it was almost dark, and a huge moon squeezed up over the horizon. It rose higher and higher as we wound our way up the river, lighting our path all the way home. Twice we ran out of fuel, and twice I overfilled the tank and drenched the spark plug (bizarrely located right under the fuel tank). By the time we reached Stoke Gabriel, the current was running fast and it was with relief mixed with regret that we slipped a line on to our mooring. In the previous 12 hours we had experienced rain, mist, sunshine, wind, calm, sea and river, somehow ending up back home on a tranquil moonlit night. A perfect homecoming. “One to remember,” wrote Nigel later, and indeed our journey had followed such a perfect arc, it would have been hard to better it. It was an auspicious start for my new family boat.

RAMONA MY LESSONS LEARNED SO FAR Coloured lines Use different colour lines for running rigging (especially reefing lines) to make identification easier, especially for non-sailors. Reef early Reef early, to make things more comfortable but also because the boat will probably sail better and faster. Reef in cockpit When reefing the mainsail, lower the sail past the tack line to allow the reefing points to be tied more easily from the safety of the cockpit. Use the tack lines to keep control of the sail while the halyard is eased.

Below: Coming

Rig a preventer Use a preventer, on a loose-footed sail, to steady the rig and improve the shape of the sail on a reach.

into Dartmouth at dusk

Tie bitter end of the anchor chain Don’t forget to tie off the bitter end of the anchor line before throwing the anchor over the side! Hanging on to the bitter end in a strong current is surprisingly tiring. Pre-mix oil in outboard fuel To find out if the outboard fuel already has oil mixed in it, dip your finger in and let it dry. You should see a slight shine if there’s oil in it, and none if there’s not. Seagull deterrent Our current seagull-preventer is a length of bunting tied between the main and the mizzen masts, just high enough to make it impossible for them to land on the boom. It’s about 75 per cent successful.

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

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CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Shamrock III in dry dock, in August 1903, with her hollow spinnaker pole

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

HOW HOLLOW SPARS CHANGED SAILING In part two Theo Rye looks at how the development of hollow spars influenced sailing in the past century

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

t was a now forgotten American craftsman who elevated the construction of hollow spars to an art-form and made them commercially viable. His name was Lewis K Young; a joiner and stair-builder by trade, who lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raced Sandbaggers in his spare time. In the 1880s, appreciating the potential benefits of lighter spars, he started to experiment for his own interest. Obtaining long lengths of fine “white spruce” from the Pacific coast, he took great pains over the finish of the inside hollow, and in ensuring the faying surfaces all mated exactly, and the careful application of the clamps. He would use all the available labour in his workshop to apply the glue and then clamp the spar quickly, tensioning the clamps himself to ensure an even and correct pressure along the spar. He also developed his own secret wood glue. By 1892 he was advertising in the town directory as a manufacturer of hollow spars for small yachts and it wasn’t long before he was making spars full time. He ended up making spars for the Spalding-St Lawrence Boat Co, based at Ogdensburgh on the St Lawrence river, and eventually in 1898 the manager, John G Fraser, persuaded Young to move from Bridgeport and work for the company full time. Young was unhappy away from the sea, and before long sold his tools and his glue recipe to his apprentice, William Miller, and moved back to Bridgeport. In the meantime, Fraser had had Young’s secret glue analysed and developed his own variation. The Spalding-St Lawrence Company went on to become one of, if not the premier spar builder in the world. They supplied hollow spars to the America’s Cup defender Independence in 1901, as well as the challenger Shamrock II. They also supplied spars for the fin-keeled Ester as she was in build in 1901 in CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

HISTORY OF HOLLOW SPARS Sweden to race in the Tivoli challenge cup that year (which she won) via their Baltic agent GR Liligren. Covering Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, he wrote in 1902 that the firm had supplied hundreds, if not thousands of masts and spars around the world. In early 1903, citing the need to be near the sea for shipping his products, Fraser established the Whitestone Hollow Spar Co of Long Island as the successors to the Spalding St Lawrence Boat Co, taking staff and moulds from Ogdensburgh. Investing some $200,000 with four other directors, Fraser aimed to employ around 75 staff. They were commissioned to build the topsail spars for Fife’s America’s Cup challenger Shamrock III as well as a 35ft fast launch for Lipton, but the company seems not to have thrived; the land, buildings and machinery were sold off in March 1904. Fraser went on in c1905 to start another similar company (Fraser Hollow Spar & Boat Co) out at Greenport on the north fork, which itself folded in late 1907 or early 1908. Fraser of New York supplied the first hollow yacht spars seen in Australia for the Fife-designed Sayonara, for a series of challenge races that she won in early 1904, and the firm supplied a mast and full set of spars for the Mylne design 52-linear rater Britomart in 1905, amid numerous other similar orders. William Fife was an agent for the Spalding St Lawrence Co and then Fraser spars for some years and many of his early International Rule yachts, such as the 12mR Cintra (1909), all seven 15-Ms he built and both the 19-Ms Mariquita and Corona all had at least some hollow American spars. Fife made alterations to his premises in 1907 to accommodate making larger spars

Below: Using a special glue recipe, in 1901 the Spalding St Lawrence Company supplied hollow spars to the America’s Cup defender Independence

(possibly as a result of Fraser’s ongoing problems in America), and he adopted the same hollowed out system that Young and Fraser had perfected. In the end most British spar makers, and that included many of the boatyards, built spars in the same way. It has several advantages, allowing the builder to retain precisely the right wall thickness and outside shape. Fife and others were able to exploit this potential for precision and designed spars with wall thicknesses to 1 /16in tolerances, giving a high degree of weight control. Sibbick was a designer who took pains to reduce the weight of his rigs, as did Linton Hope but neither took a lead; Hope discussed bamboo spars and their limitations in some detail is his 1903 book Small Yacht Construction & Rigging, where he praises the ‘Canadian hollow spars’ as ‘very neat’, but offers no guidance on construction. There was certainly a Montreal-based hollow spar company operating around that time which supplied the spars for the 1901 Canada’s Cup contender, Invader. Young’s apprentice from the St Lawrence Company, William Miller, ended up in Boston, where he worked for Pigeon & Co, long established as spar makers for ships as well as yachts from about 1830. It may be that his arrival is connected with the establishment of the Pigeon Hollow Spar Company as a specialist off-shoot company in 1900; if so, it is highly probable that the secret of Young’s glue was involved. The company became the Pigeon-Fraser Hollow Spar Company around 1910, which may have heralded the arrival of John G Fraser in Boston after the failure of his various New York ventures. The company built a few aircraft around 1917 that were notable failures, but indicate the cross-over in the technology, from yacht spars to the struts and spars of early aircraft, especially biplanes.

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NEW TECHNIQUES

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Another specialist spar maker, now forgotten, was a Mr Hallett of George Hollwey & Sons of Dublin, who specialised in hollow spar manufacture between about 1900 and 1910. They were said to be “first class spars, and many yachts had them fitted including HMY Britannia”. Apparently Hallett also had “experience of the Fraser hollow spar in America”. What was to prove an important breakthrough in the development of strut and spar construction methods was developed in the UK in time to make a substantial contribution to British efforts in the First World War. Ewing McGruer, one of the founders of the McGruer boatbuilding company, wrote to the editor of Yachting Monthly (the naval architect Herbert Reiach) in 1911 explaining his proposed system of spar construction, based on the methods of Paul Butler in the USA (see part one of this series). This was essentially to roll plies of

S O N N Y 54 ’ S PA R K MA N & S T EP H EN S CLASSIC SLOOP - 1935

Extreme care has been taken to preserve originality; hardware and joinery has been skillfully repaired and maintained, not simply replaced. It is these details that serve to maintain the character of SONNYs history and tell her story.

SONNY

Very few yachts of this era have been continuously so well loved and maintained. Her condition reflects the continual ‘pursuit of perfection mentality’ of her current owner and his team.

LOA: 53’-6” (16.3m) LWL: 40’-0” (12.2m) Beam: 12’-6” (3.8m) Draft: 7’-7” (2.3m) Sail Area: 1280 ft 2 (119 m 2 ) Bu ilde r: Jaco b ’ s S h i pyar d Located: Newport, RI, USA

Launched in 1935 as a cruiser/racer to the maximum CCA rule limits, SONNY continues to cruise and race successfully today. Please contact Central Agent Paul Buttrose for additional information. pbuttrose@sparkmanstephens.com or +1 954 294 6962

SPARKM A N & S T E PHENS, LLC

S&S Design N o. 94

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HISTORY OF HOLLOW SPARS timber spirally around a central spine or mandrel. Although McGruer had only built model spars before 1911, with comments from the experienced and interested Reiach, McGruer and his son (also Ewing) continued to develop the idea. Eventually opting for removable metal tube mandrels over which the plies were glued, the results were very promising. In 1915 they registered the first of their patents and established the McGruer Bentwood Hollow Spar Company in Lambeth (and later Gosport). Cutting the plies of clear spruce, with the grain at 45 degrees, the round, oval and streamlined (pear-shaped) spars and struts they produced were lighter, stronger and more stable than anything else available. In about 1916, via the Airship Department of the Admiralty, they were introduced to a key factor in perfecting their method: a ‘cold setting’ glue invented by O. Messmer of Basle in Switzerland called Kaltleim (later sold as Certus), which made production easier and the spars more reliable. Casein was, in particular, more moisture resistant than many of the earlier glues. McGruer spars were used in aircraft (wing struts on the Vickers Vimy bomber), as well as radio masts, billiard cues, stretcher poles, organ pipes, walking stick/ tent poles, and shovel handles for the 1924 Everest expedition (on which Irvine and Mallory were lost). The largest spar made by the method was a boom for the King’s yacht, Britannia, in the winter of 1920-21. Britannia had had a steel boom when re-rigged for cruising in 1901, which subsequently kinked and finally broke when racing at Deal in 1920. McGruer wrote that the replacement was 85ft long and 17in diameter; having made one for Lulworth (Terpsichore) at 16in, and priced Britannia’s accordingly, he was persuaded by the sailmaker Tom Ratsey to add an inch “for the King you know, my boy, better be safe”.

BERMUDAN RIG McGruer’s bentwood spars probably represent the pinnacle of wooden strut and spar development. They had some disadvantages; they were always expensive to produce, locally heavier wall thickness for fittings and so on was very hard to achieve, and only simple tapers could be accommodated. McGruer wrote that it was really only economical to build spars on this method if there were several made on the same mandrel, and developed what he termed his “four piece” method for one-off spars, which was a refinement of the hollowed out method. Rare examples of his bentwood spars still survive and are testament to the methods he developed, and the skill of his workforce, many of whom were women. Demand for the more lucrative repeat orders such as wireless masts evidently tapered off, and the company eventually went

Two crew tying in a reef on Britannia’s McGruer-built boom in 1921. This was the the largest spar made by the cold-set method

into receivership in 1933, the yacht spar business being insufficient to keep it going. By that time, the bermudan rig was well on the way to near universal adoption, a process facilitated by the growing reliability of hollow masts that encouraged rigs to get taller. Ironically, given that it was an American who brought the hollowed-out method to perfection, Nathanael Herreshoff tended to prefer the barrel-stave system for his spars. His son, L Francis, claimed the method was invented by his father c1906, which cannot be correct if the descriptions of Steven’s spars for Maria in c1845-50 and others are accurate, but he did refine the method. There seems little evidence that the progress made in America gave him a head-start though; his 1895 America’s Cup candidate Defender had only a hollow gaff, whereas GL Watson specified a hollow boom, gaff, spinnaker pole and topsail spars for Valkyrie III. The gelatine glues that L Francis says were used by his father were still primitive, but the spars produced were generally fairly reliable. L Francis himself developed a ‘four piece’ method (different to McGruer’s), making spars out of rectangular boards with various treatments at the corners. Among the tallest wooden masts ever made was one for the 1929 J-Class Whirlwind that L Francis designed. Of box form, and approximately 170ft overall from heel to tip, the maximum section was 25½in x 16½in with a 2½in wall thickness. Uffa Fox, writing in 1935 about Whirlwind’s mast, noted: “Such a spar is possible only because of our modern strong and waterproof casein glue, so strong that the wood fibres tear apart before the glue parts.” Still better glues were emerging; the various modified formaldehydes were mostly developed between 1910 and 1940, including the well-known resorcinol types. The International Rule, which was introduced for the 1907 season, had a generally negative influence on spar building in Europe. The First Rule prohibited hollow masts for classes above 10-M, but that only covered the lower mast. Topmasts, booms and other spars could be CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

HISTORY OF HOLLOW SPARS and were hollow, as were masts for the smaller classes. These restrictions gave rise to such curious masts as that of Maudrey, Fife’s 1913 15-M, that had a ‘built’ lower mast with a less dense timber in the middle and a more dense one on the outside. The Second International Rule of 1921 similarly allowed hollows above the hounds only (for the top third of the mast); later the smaller classes were exempted, but there were new rules on minimum wall thickness and diameter as well. These restrictions seem to have cemented the notion of sitka spruce as being the best material for masts in the yachting public’s mind. When the 1929 rule revision said, for example, an 8-M mast had to be a minimum diameter of 180mm (0.590ft) at halfheight with a minimum wall thickness of 20% of the diameter, and also prescribed the amount of taper in the mast, it forced the spar-makers to use the lightest timbers available. This general prejudice, along with the 20% wall thickness ‘rule’, is prevalent even today, despite more analytical methods having been developed before this very conservative rule was introduced. For example, McGruer had demonstrated that a wall to diameter ratio of 1:8 to 1:10 was optimal with the bentwood method. Even now, a thinner wall thickness in a denser timber (such as Douglas fir) may be a better solution for a given spar, but spruce remains the timber of choice, almost regardless of the quality of the actual timber available. As Olin Stephens knew well, the density of the timber used is a key factor in mast design. His mast designs often included notes on the weights of samples of timber used, to let him control the final weight of the mast with wall thicknesses given to 1/32in precision, attention to detail that was typical and a major factor in his success. Between 1850 and 1950, wooden masts were ubiquitous except for the largest spars which were made in steel, then aluminium. The earliest aluminium masts tended to be riveted in sections, often by aircraft manufacturers and were expensive (Glenn L Martin the aircraft manufacturer made the aluminium masts for Starling Burgess’ J Class Weetamoe and Rainbow that were said to have cost $20,000 in 1934 when a spruce one would have been $5,000), but by the mid 1950s extruded sections were becoming available. These reduced the cost and complexity of making masts and spars. The limitation of working with a constant section (unlike a timber mast which could be varied along its length) was offset by the better material properties and sometimes by ‘cut & shut’ tapers for the top section, and in a few years aluminium masts became in their turn nearly universally adopted. But wooden mast and spar building never quite died out, and the rise of the classic scene in Europe and America has started something of a revival.

Where are we today Fortunately for those who prefer the gentle strum of halyards on spruce to the infernal tapping so often heard in a typical modern marina, the art of wooden mast building never died out. In some countries it is even enjoying something of a revival. It is possible to have wooden masts or spars built in Britain by two specialist companies, Collars of Oxford and Nobles of Bristol, and numerous boatyards and boatbuilders will happily quote for the work too. Nobles base their spars on a principle developed in the mid-1980s; now known as the bird-beak or bird’s-mouth system, it is a refinement of the barrel-stave system, in which each piece is jointed to mate to the next and locks in. This prevents the elements skidding as the clamps are applied. It requires quite precise machining to make the geometry work but the results have been very reliable. It probably represents the only real innovation in timber spar making, excepting the glues used, since McGruer’s bentwood system. Collars, based near Oxford, generally use variations on the hollowed out method, but produce a very wide variety of hollow and solid masts and spars, as well as still building their original speciality, oars. With modern glues taking much of the uncertainty out (although gluing failures can and do still occur), one main issue is sourcing the “clear and better” grade timber needed. The majority of wooden spars are of Sitka spruce or Douglas fir, imported mostly from North America and Canada; Robbins and Stones Timber in the UK regularly import suitable stock. One company, Touchwood BV, based in the Netherlands, specialises in supplying yacht spar material and offers custom machining. Chantier Pasqui of Villefranche in France enjoys a good reputation and a loyal following amongst owners of the Med-based classics. Brasker at Ventis in Section of

Enkhuisen in Holland has built spars for an enviable

McGruer spa

number of the largest yachts sailing today, including

from an original illustration

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Eleonora, Atlantic and Elena.

B U

1885

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CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016 19/02/2015 47 20:13

JONATHAN DYKE

CONDUIT FOR THE CLASSIC The man behind one of the UK’s biggest classic regattas now wants to create a wooden boat hub STORY ROB PEAKE PHOTOGRAPH EMILY HARRIS

oth hands on the table, firm but open stance, easy smile and big laugh, confident yet self-deprecating, Jonathan Dyke is an engaging interviewee. He positively exudes good health and talks with a vigour, and candour, that is quite refreshing. If he was a politician, he’d be persuasive to the point of dangerous. Luckily, he’s putting his energies into far more important matters. And over a day in his company, his office door wide open while we talk, he’s in expansive mood. Ask him about Suffolk Yacht Harbour, where he has been MD since 2001, and he talks with conviction and not a little bit of affection. Ask him about Cereste, his 1938 Robert Clark Mystery, and the historian emerges, full of detail about structure and design. Then there’s the classic regatta he started and which is now one of the UK’s biggest. “I’m lucky because I do something I’m passionate about,” he shrugs. “I can’t help being enthusiastic. I love talking boats!” There is a line on the Suffolk Yacht Harbour website, written in 2005 after a series of upgrades to the River Orwell site, declaring that “the marina is finished”. Not quite true. Since then they’ve put in a new clubhouse, new boat repair sheds, a new crane, new workshops, a new dry-stack area, new office buildings (opened by Griff Rhys Jones in 2013), new showers and last month they bought traditional chandlers Classic Marine. It’s been a remarkable few years for the business, especially given the economic climate, and Dyke adds: “The outline planning permission for the marina was for 600 berths. We’re at 550, so we’re not there yet.” Suffolk Yacht Harbour grew out of a stretch of bare mudbank halfway up the tidal River Orwell, on England’s East Coast. It was chartered surveyor Michael Spear, carrying out a probate valuation of the site for landowner Charles Stennett in 1961, who first saw its potential, recalling: “I had been sailing on the Orwell for many years, but when you have to trudge across a muddy beach to reach your dinghy, and then row some way out into the channel before you even reach your

boat, you start to envy people who can simply walk aboard. You start to dream a little.” It took until 1967 to get the planning permission and then three years of labour to build the first 40 berths, which were booked immediately. By 1973, half a million tonnes of mud had been removed and 170 berths put in. Dyke joined in 1982 as assistant harbour master, having done a Yacht & Boatyard Management course at Southampton Institute and worked at Colvic Craft and then Berthon. Five years later he was harbourmaster and had joined the board, alongside such figures as designer Kim Holman and boat builder Eric Wright, who’d been instrumental in the marina’s early stages. Now 59, Dyke recalls: “I joined in my early thirties and had this wonderful opportunity. I was sitting there with some brilliant people. We were still digging holes in the mud back then. It was a fantastic training.” Today there are 14 separate businesses on site, ranging from a sail training school to a surveyor to an outboard repair shop. While some marinas suffered in the recession, SYH had 100% occupancy and Dyke says: “We’ve tried to find independent businesses with good track records to come and work with us – that’s one factor that has kept the whole place so busy. We’re a one-stop shop, but you’re not dealing with one company that tries to be all things to all people. You can go and talk to a real rigger, a real sail loft, all on site. We have grown in a different way to other marinas.” The transformation of the original mudbanks to a multi-armed marine business site is perhaps as laudable for what it has left untouched. A visit to Suffolk Yacht Harbour is a bucolic experience. If some marinas are boat carparks, then Suffolk Yacht Harbour – or “Levington” as many refer to it, after the nearby village – is an escape. Comparisons with the UK South Coast are never far away and as a marina manager Dyke acknowledges the “glass ceiling” on what East Coast marinas can charge (a berth might be £7,000 less annually than on the South Coast). But perhaps there’s a CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Winning 1930 Paine Burgess Q Boat

FOR SALE

Central agent: Barney Sandeman.

Jour de FĂŞte ( ex Falcon ) is on the market. She is a Q boat - like a small J boat - built in Boston in 1930. She was fully restored a few years ago. Are you ready to win ? This rare beauty won most of the major events in Europe (Imperia, Marseille , St Tropez, Antibes and Cowes last July.) She is at her best with new sails , new engine and tuned up to win races . . . L:15.80 - Beam 2.80 The boat is in St Tropez -VAT paid - well priced for a quick sale

Please contact Bruno TroublĂŠ: bruno@coyoteandco.eu Tel: +33 661004321 or Barney Sandeman: barney@sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1202 330077

PAUL JANES

JONATHAN DYKE

PATRICK SQUIRE

conflict of interests – Dyke is an East Coaster born and bred, having grown up boating with his father on the Orwell. One senses he’s quietly happy the East Coast doesn’t attract the crowds of the South. “There’s a massive amount of activity just on this river, but it’s a different sort of psyche here. You could spend years in these creeks,” he says. “We’re pulling people in from Cambridgeshire and across the Midlands, so we probably have a more eclectic client base than some establishments on the South Coast.” While others abandoned traditional boat building skills in the GRP boom, Suffolk Yacht Harbour retained them and as a wooden boat owner himself, Dyke would love to see the marina become a hub of all things classic. It already has the right reputation – half of the work done in the new state-of-the-art repair, maintenance and refit sheds (see CB329) is on wooden craft and the facilities have attracted classic yachts from the South Coast. Meanwhile the acquisition of traditional chandlers Classic Marine, which will operate from the Suffolk Yacht Harbour site in its own dedicated shop as well as online, means the marina now offers everything from twine to mast rings to bronze cleats. “My career started in all things GRP, but my passion has always been wooden boats. I had a Merlin Rocket, then in 1983 I bought a Stella. Three-quarter-rigged, long-keeled boats have always been a thing for me,” says Dyke. After the Stella, he restored a West Solent One Design, Benita, before buying another in the 1990s. Towards the end of that decade, he bought the Robert

Above: the first of the marina’s classic regattas, which now attracts 60 boats Below: the marina sits between salt marshes, which are maintained using silt from dredging

Clark design Cereste, installing the three-quarter rig that Clark drew for the boat but never saw himself. There was an almost total rebuild, steaming in 110 new timbers, before the boat launched in early August 2001. “The following weekend we set off for the America’s Cup Jubilee regatta in the Solent. And we got caught in the mother of all gales,” he recalls. The boat stood up to it and the regatta that followed, for Dyke and others, was “a life changing experience”. “It was a moment in time for classic boats,” he says. “I watched that spectacle and thought: ‘This is fantastic’. The next year, in 2002, I called a few people, inviting them along for a few races in June. Twelve said yes but we ended up with 20 boats. The next year it was 30.” The Suffolk Yacht Harbour Classic Regatta (entry £20 whatever your LOA) is now the biggest on the East Coast for any kind of yachts, regularly attracting 60 crews, some of them heading south afterwards to Panerai British Classic Week in a feeder cruise. “There is an informal UK circuit now for classic boats,” says Dyke. Cereste is a regular on the Cowes pontoons and last year Dyke fulfilled an ambition to race in the Med, tweaking the sailplan to suit the CIM regulations. A British Classic Yacht Club member since its inception, he is used to racing under IRC, but rubbishes the idea of an “arms race” between wooden yachts. “That’s a misconception. We’ve won the British Classic Yacht Club regatta twice and we’ve only ever used Dacron sails on wooden spars. Although some people get a buzz out of it, personally I don’t like to see black sails on a classic boat and Cereste is not maximised in the way other boats are. More races are won off the race track than on it. You have to prepare your boat well. Sometimes you win because you turned on the mark.” Dyke identifies a trend for the “engineered classic”, a replica of a vintage design built using lightweight strip-plank construction. “Where does it sit in a regatta? An endorsed IRC certificate should deal with it because it will recognise the weight coefficient, but it’s an interesting conundrum going foward.” He’s more passionate about encouraging people to make use of the “fantastic stock of wooden boats that are accessible in terms of price”. He says: “I try to be a conduit for classic things, without it being about the business. It’s like helping your mates out, in all honesty. People don’t always have the time, but a half handy owner can achieve a great deal with the right advice.” CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

120

Regattas

Find one near you Here comes the sun. And the season of regattas, rallies, races and parties is upon us

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

CLAUDIA MYATT NIGEL PERT

From Cowes to Brest and beyond PANERAI GUIDO CANTINI / SEASEE.COM

Every leap year is a Brest year. The quadrennial Breton festival of boats and the sea features about 2,500 vessels and up to a million spectators. Put that together with the biennial (also very big) Douarnenez festival nearby, add a passage race between them, and you have, by far, the biggest sailing festival in the world. Back at home we have the ever-developing Cowes events, as well as more on the East Coast and in the West Country than you can shake a gaff yard at; and if thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not enough, head to the Med, Scandinavia, continental Europe, America or the antipodes. Wherever you may be this year, you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be far from a cloud of sails on wooden masts. CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

CLASSIC EVENTS

Home waters EMILY HARRIS

Around the coast The British Isles boasts some of the best classic regattas in the world. Whatever your rig, year of build and classic bent, there are gatherings big and small, smart and less so, coastal and inland, some involving racing, some more shore-based. An unofficial circuit now exists taking in the Suffolk Yacht Harbour Classic CHRISSIE WESTGATE

Regatta on the East Coast and Panerai British Classic Week in the Solent, but as our sample here shows, wherever you are moored, a gathering of fellow wooden boat lovers is rarely far away.

SOUTH COAST 2–4 JUNE 2017 Yarmouth Old Gaffers Festival

Tel: +44 (0)1983 760655 yarmoutholdgaffersfestival.co.uk If you’re wondering when Yogaff is on this year – it’s not. It will now run biennially. Flagship OGA bash, 100+ boats

2 JULY Round the Island Race roundtheisland.org.uk

16–23 JULY Panerai British Classic Week britishclassicyachtclub.org

11–15 JULY Cowes Classics Week cowesclassicsweek.org

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

EAST COAST 29–31 JULY Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta

Yarmouth, Isle of Wight T: +44 (0)1983 760256, royalsolent.org IRC, Swans, cruisers, gaffers, 6-Ms, Dragons, FBs, XODs, YODs

6–13 AUGUST Cowes Week

aamcowesweek.co.uk

11–12 JUNE Suffolk Yacht Harbour Classic Regatta

Levington, River Orwell Tel: +44 (0)1473 659465 syharbour.co.uk Bermudan and gaff racing on the Orwell and Stour

25 JUNE Heybridge Basin Regatta

24–25 SEPTEMBER Hamble Classics Regatta

Nr Maldon, Essex Tel: +44 (0)7903 347782 jenny@pa-angels.co.uk Small, friendly East Coast regatta

SEPTEMBER (DATES TBC) Bosham Classic Boat Revival

13 AUGUST Swale Smack and Sailing Barge Match

royal-southern.co.uk

Bosham SC, Chichester Harbour Tel: +44 (0)1243 572341 boshamsailingclub.com

Hollowshore, Swale Channel, Kent oga.org.uk, kentishsail.org

20 AUGUST West Mersea Town Regatta

Mersea Island, Essex Mersearegatta.org.uk Family-friendly, fun shoreside and on-the-water regatta that has been running since 1838

22–27 AUGUST Mersea Week

Mersea Island, Essex merseaweek.org Family-friendly with dinghy and yacht racing. Up to 800 competitors.

17 SEPTEMBER Maldon Town Regatta

Maldon, Essex maldonregatta.co.uk Yachts and workboats at this favourite end-of-season event

CLASSIC EVENTS

SCOTLAND 28 MAY – 4 JUNE Sail Caledonia

Atlantic coast to North Sea coast, via Great Glen Sailcaledonia.org Biennial event on many dinghy sailors’ bucket lists

NORFOLK BROADS

CB ARCHIVES

4-5 JUNE Three Rivers Race

25-26 JUNE Scottish Traditional Boat Festival

The Ant, Bure and Thurne Tel: +44 (0)1692 630507 threeriversrace.org.uk Wild Broads day/night race, once described as “It’s a Knockout on water”. Unique... and brilliant

Portsoy, Aberdeenshire Tel: +44 (0)1261 842951 stbfportsoy.com/stbf Rowing, sailing, shoreside. 100+ boats. Backed by Aberdeen Asset Management

28 AUGUST Albatross Rally

8-12 AUGUST Clyde Raid

STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES

Fritton Lake, Norfolk Broads albatrossmarine.co.uk Albatross speedboat racing is growing: vintage hydroplanes and vintage costume this year...

Raidengland.org Raid England are stepping outside of their named remit to hold this year’s raid – the seventh – in the famous firth of Clyde

LATE SEPTEMBER (DATE TBC) Yare Navigation Race

WALES 17-24 JULY Conwy River Festival

Norfolk Broads coldhamhallsailingclub.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1603 712916 32-M passage race Thrills and spills in the biggest yacht race on the Broads

conwyriverfestival.org Includes Nobby and Gaffers Race

7-8 MAY Swansea Bay and Bristol Channel Yacht Club Regatta Swansea Bay Tel: +44 (0)7881 269210 matt47005@gmail.com Pilot cutters and other gaffers

1-13 AUGUST Menai Strait Regattas

Nr Beaumaris, Anglesey, N Wales Tel: +44 (0)151 677 1264 menaistraitregattas.org.uk Racing in dinghies and daysailers in many classes. Sponsored by Hempels

THAMES Thames Traditional Boat Rally, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon 15–17 JULY

NORTH ENGLAND 30 JULY – 6 AUGUST Yorkshire YC Regatta

3–5 JUNE 2017 Beale Park Boat and Outdoor Show

Tel: +44 (0)1296 631273 bealeparkboatandoutdoorshow. co.uk Beale Park, nr Reading, upper Thames. It’s no secret that we’ve always had a soft spot for this ‘grass, tents and dinghies’ show and this year will be no exception with lots of exciting plans afoot.

3 SEPTEMBER Great River Race

Docklands to Ham, Thames, London Tel: +44 (0)208 398 8141, greatriverrace.co.uk 300-boat, 21-mile rowing race. The London Marathon of the Thames

CB ARCHIVES

Tel: +44 (0)1932 872575 tradboatrally.com Last year’s show, under new management, was a huge success, and this one should be too

WEST COUNTRY 28–29 MAY Brixham Heritage Regatta Brixham, Devon Tel: +44 (0)1803 853332 brixhamheritagesailing.org.uk From trawlers to small gaffers

17–19JUNE Falmouth Classics

Cornwall, falmouthclassics.org.uk

8–10 JULY Sea, Salts and Sail

Mousehole, Cornwall Tel: +44 (0)7470 326605 seasalts.co.uk

12 JULY PLYMOUTH LA ROCHELLE RALLY (Inc Brest feeder)

yachtclubclassique.com A rally for classic yachts leaving from Plymouth bound for La Rochelle, taking in the huge Brest Maritime Festival (see page 53) en route

29 JULY–1 AUGUST Sutton Harbour Plymouth Classic Boat Rally plymouthclassics.org.uk

2-5 AUGUST Fowey Classics foweyclassics.com

ryyc.org.uk Tel: +44 (0)1262 672041 Including Yorkshire ODs. All sizes of wooden boat; 20+boats

3-5 JUNE Northern Boat Show

Liverpool, northernboatshow.co.uk Second outing: a few classics among the glass

IRELAND 17-19 JUNE (DATES TBC) Crosshaven Traditional Sail

County Cork, Ireland James Fegan, Tel: +353 87 830 5707 crosshaventradsail.com, 60+ boats

27-29 MAY Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival

County Cork, Ireland baltimorewoodenboatfestival.com Major Irish event CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

CLASSIC EVENTS MEDITERRANEAN

The Mediterranean Classic sailing epicentre The name Mediterranean – ‘centre of the earth’ – rings true when it comes to classic sailing. And we do like to remind everyone annually (until the message gets through!) that the Med regattas are not horribly elitist. Authenticity trumps size every time and the feeling is one of a passion shared rather than oneupmanship. Antibes, while not the first, is generally

Livorno, trofeoaccademianavale.eu

4–8 MAY PalmaVela

Palma de Mallorca, palmavela.es

13–15 MAY Voiles De Cassis

SEASON OPENER 1-5 JUNE Voiles d’Antibes voilesdantibes.com

10–12 JUNE Corfu Classic Yacht Race

ccyr.gr/en Relatively new Greek circuit event

9–12 JUNE Porquerolles Classique

La Ciotat, lesvoilesdecassis.com

ycporquerolles.pagespersoorange.fr

20–22 MAY Calanques Classiques

There are also a number of passage races from event to

Marseille, lanautique.com

14–19 JUNE Argentario Sailing Week

event and some cruises in company (formal and informal).

23–28 MAY Les Régates Impériales

16–19 JUNE Les Voiles du Vieux Port

seen as the big season opener, and Saint-Tropez as the closer. The former is comparatively relaxed, the latter a huge, but fun, circus, the biggest regatta of its kind in the world.

If you want to see the biggest fleets of the most classic yachts on earth then this is where you come. 56

DATE TBC Trofeo Academia Navale (TAN) Regata

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Corsica, regates-imperiales.com

argentariosailingweek.it

Marseille, France lesvoilesduvieuxport.com

PANERAI GUIDO CANTINI/SEASEE.COM

CLASSIC EVENTS MEDITERRANEAN

CB ARCHIVES

30 JUNE–3 JULY Spetses Classic Yacht Race

10–13 AUGUST Regatta Illes Balears Classic

25 JUNE–6 JULY Trophée Bailli de Suffren

24–27 AUGUST Copa del Rey Barcos de Epoca

Saronic Islands, Greece classicyachtrace.com/en

Passage race: Saint-Tropez – Porto, Rotondo – Trapani – Malta, tropheebaillidesuffren.com Unique race for classics in the Med, with overnight passages and day passages

30 JUNE–3 JULY Raduno de Le Vele d’Epoca Naples, leveledepoca.it

13–16 JULY Puig Vela Classica

Barcelona, puigvelaclassicabarcelona.com

Palma de Mallorca, velaclasicamallorca.com

Menorca-Mahon, clubmaritimomahon.com

MID-SEPTEMBER (TBC) Trophée Pasqui Villefranche to Nice, tropheepasqui.com

Top to bottom: Régates Royales (Cannes); Argentario Sailing Week; sail-handling at Naples Classic; Left: Big Class battling it out in blue skies Main picture: fleet of centenarians moored at Saint-Tropez

20–24 SEPTEMBER Régates Royales

Cannes, yachtclubdecannes.org

24 SEPTEMBER–2 OCTOBER Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez snst.org

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

CLASSIC EVENTS

Europe

La Morena Swedish 95SqM

SWEDEN

GERMANY

BALTIC CLASSIC CIRCUIT

See fky.org for a full list of German events

27–29 MAY Max Oertz Regatta

max-oertz-regatta.de Tel: +49 (0)172 5299064

16–19 JUNE Kiel Classic and 12-M Trophy

DANIEL FORSTER

The Baltic Circuit for classic yachts is now an established part of the classic sailing world. It has grown over the last few years to produce an alternative European circuit to the much larger one in the Mediterranean and, like the French Atlantic circuit (see below), we keep hearing good things about it. This year’s events, all in Sweden, are listed below. Keep an eye on the organiser’s website – sailtrust.org, to learn more and keep up to date.

klassiker-rendezvous.de, Tel: +49 (0)431 5448343

31 AUGUST–4 SEPTEMBER Robbe and Berking Sterling Cup Flensburg, Germany 12mrclass.com

28–29 MAY Peter Norlin Memorial Classic

DENMARK

18–19 JUNE Vikingaregattan

11–13 AUGUST Svendborg Classic Regatta

Stockholm, Sweden

3 JULY Afor Classic (Around Gotland Offshore Race) Stockholm-Visby-Sandhamn, Sweden

SVENDBORG CLASSIC REGATTA

Stockholm, Sweden

Svendborg, Sweden classicregatta.dk

16–20 AUGUST KDY 150 Years Jubilee kdy.dk

ITALY

10–13 AUGUST Sandhamnsregattan with Baltic Classic Masters

See aive-yachts.org for more Italian events

Sandhamn, Sweden

15 MAY Vogalonga

20 AUGUST Kraftkoret

Venice, vogalonga.com

Saltsjobaden, Sweden

17–21 MAY VelaRaid

4 SEPTEMBER Scandal Beauty Trophy

Venice Lagoon, 9th issue aive-yachts.org

TALL SHIPS IN EUROPE This year the Tall Ships Race runs from Antwerp (Belgium) to Lisbon (Portugal), on to Cadiz (Spain) and finally to La Coruna (Spain), from 7 July to 14 August. There is a separate race in Gothenburg (Sweden) from 3-6 September. The Black Sea Regatta Series runs from 8 September to 14 October and takes in Constanta (Romania), Novorossiysk and Sochi (Russia), and Varna (Bulgaria). sailtraininginternational.org

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

CB ARCHIVE

Stockholm, Sweden

25–26 JUNE Vele d’Epoca a Venezia Venice

NORWAY 4–6 AUGUST Risor Traditional Boat Festival Risör, trebatfestivalen.no

BELGIUM 26–29 MAY Oostende Voor Anker Maritime festival with plenty of Belgian beer. A favourite of the OGA. oostendevooranker.be

FRENCH AND SPANISH ATLANTIC Yacht Club Classique, a decade old last year, organizes a series of rallies and regattas up and down its Atlantic seaboard. We know a few sailors who have done the season and loved the free berthing, the laid-back feel and the beautiful country. France does, after all, stir the senses of English sailors and it’s not a million miles away. The special event this year is the Galician Rally from 9-23 August, a fabulous-sounding cruise-in-company with some racing, some parties and some sightseeing thrown in. There is also the Plymouth-La Rochelle rally (see British page), and 19 other separate regattas. It’s surely one of sailing’s best secrets. Yachtclubclassique.com

Photo © Beken Of Cowes

Sailmakers

RAT S

& LAPT HO

The Classic Sailmakers since 1790

42 Medina Road, Cowes, Isle of Wight PO31 7BY Tel: (01983) 294051 Fax: (01983 294053 Email: ratseysails@ratsey.com

www.ratsey.com/ratseysails

Sarah Jane II

De Vries Lentsch 61’ Trawler

Bare metal rebuild between 2001 and 2003 and refit every 3 years. 4 cabins, 3 heads, 3000 NM range, 12 litres / hour €580 000 VAT paid

PAJ YACHT BROKER boats@orange.fr tel + 33 66 22 33 9 33 CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

CLASSIC EVENTS Nefertiti sailing in the Nantucket 12-M Class Regatta

CORY SILKEN

USA and CANADA CARIBBEAN

17 JUNE Newport-Bermuda Race

13–19 APRIL Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta

Mystic, Connecticut bermudarace.com A few classics taking part

antiguaclassics.com The king of the Caribbean classic sailing regattas. World class

24–26 JUNE The Wooden Boat Show

Mystic, CT thewoodenboatshow.com Huge variation of small boat types, with boatbuilding on site

28 APRIL–1 MAY West Indies Regatta St Barth, French WI westindiesregatta.com

7–8 JULY Great Schooner Race 6 AUGUST Eggemoggin Reach Regatta Rockport, Maine erregatta.com 125+ boats over a 15-mile course

CORY SILKEN

Greatschoonerrace.com

Marblehead, Mass corinthianclassic.org Racing over two days in this Panerai-sponsored event

Tortola, British Virgin Islands foxysbar.com/woodenboatregatta

Rawhiti in

NEW ZEALAND JANUARY 2017 Ports of Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta

Auckland (New Zealand) classicyacht.org.nz Sailing and watersports clubs get together for epic, 15-strong event, including keelboats, classics, centreboarders, tugboats, dragon boats, parades and races WILL CALVER

20–21 AUGUST Antique and Classic Boat Festival

21 AUGUST Opera House Cup

MARCH 2017 CYNZ Classic Yacht Regatta Auckland, classicyacht.org.nz Famous celebration of NZ’s classic yachts

AUSTRALIA

Nantucket, operahousecup.org First classic regatta on the east coast, 44 this year

MARCH 2016 My State Australian Wooden Boat Festival

2–4 SEPTEMBER Museum of Yachting Classic Yacht Regatta

9–11 SEPTEMBER Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival

25–27 FEBRUARY 2017 South Australian Wooden Boat Festival

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

KATHY MANSFIELD

Newport, RI iyrs.edu/museum-yachting-iyrs/ Two days of racing

Hobart, Tasmania australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au Biennial classic over four days, probably the biggest regatta of its kind in Australia

Washington, Woodenboat.org 40th anniversary with 300+ boats. Main event on the west coast

chasing a Carriacou sloop

Auckland

13–14 AUGUST Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta

Salem, Massachusetts boatfestival.org Salem plays host to a myriad wooden classics

The Blue Peter

20–22 MAY (DATE TBC) Foxys Bar Wooden Boat Regatta

Goolwa, nr Adelaide woodenboatfestival.com.au Steam and sail together on the river

The Boatyard, The Street, Belaugh NR12 8XA 01603 781583 www.belaughboatyard.com theboatyardbelaugh@yahoo.com

“Sympathetic Boat builders” Services Offered:

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and Local Sailing Yachts ✦ Spar Building ✦ Restoration Projects

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HAVSÖRNEN a fine example of Scandinavian design and boat building. Length : 16.13m/53ft Beam : 3.65m/12ft Draft : 2.20m/7ft

Engine : Yanmar 1x56Hp Designer : Tore Holm Hull : Mahogany

Guests : 4 + 2 forward Year : 1937 / 2011 Lying : St Tropez/France

Bids from € 270.000,-- will be considered. Bid closing date: April 28, 2016.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR DETAILED DESCRIPTION:

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Van Beusekom Certified brokers | Appraisers | Auctioneers

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Van Beusekom B.V. Parkstraat 5, 3743 ED Baarn Tel +31 (0)35 699 63 73 | Fax + 31 (0)35 699 63 77 E-mail info@beusekom.nl | Internet www.beusekom.nl Bank NL 28 ABNA 041 5492 475 | BTW nr NL007137655B01 Van Beusekom KvK 23085179 B.V. Parkstraat 5, 3743 zijn ED de Baarn Op onze diensten algemene voorwaarden van Van Tel +31 (0)35 73 Beusekom bv699 van63 toepassing, gedeponeerd bij de KvK onder

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Alasdair Grant in the boat he built as part of his training in 2009. He fitted the last plank on his 18th birthday. Alasdair worked at Cockwells after the course. Now he runs his own yard, Isle Ewe Boats. His latest boat has been nominated for a 2016 Classic Boat award.

Alasdair is our sort of student.

www.boatbuildingacademy.com CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

CLASSIC DESIGNS

BLACK SOO VAN de STADT A 29ft offshore racing yacht, lighter than a dayboat built in 2016, and she could plane THEO RYE

lack Soo was built by R&W Clark of East Cowes in 1957 for Michael Pruett. In period she was described as a development of van de Stadt’s Zeevalk (his first design, of 1949) and Fair Meg of 1955; but van de Stadt moved things along a fair distance again with this radical design and her near sister, Zeeslang. All of them were based around hard-chine construction in plywood; the first, Zeevalk, was effectively an advertisement for van de Stadt’s friend Kees Bruynzeel’s new marine plywood, and she proved a weapon under the right conditions, coming second in class to the overall winner Yeoman in the 1951 Fastnet. The early post-war period was an era of exciting and rapid developments in lightweight design, with Laurent Giles producing Myth of Malham and the remarkable Sopranino, and even though the trend had slowed by the late 1950s, the attractions of the type were by then well established. Zeeslang (design number 58) was also for Bruynzeel, but Black Soo (number 59) was destined for a British owner. She was described as “the nearest thing to a planing boat in the RORC fleet”, and indeed with a good breeze on a deep reach, given a helpful wave face (and despite her narrow beam), she could be induced to plane, with some remarkable claimed speeds resulting. Her total displacement was about half the weight of just the ballast keel of her contemporary Cohoe III, which was also 26ft on the waterline and of “moderate displacement”. Even today a 30ft yacht for offshore racing would rarely displace as little as 1.6 tonnes; the modern J88 dayboat at 29ft 3in LOA (8.90m) displaces 2.2 tonnes, which puts the 59-year-old design of Black Soo into perspective. Her cast iron hollow fin keel with a swept tip bulb, described in 1958 as at “the limit of narrowness”, weighed 760kg, giving her a ballast ratio of nearly 48%. It demanded clever design and no doubt a high level of boatbuilding to keep her down to weight. Notwithstanding that the hull was effectively comprised of flat panels, her fine scantlings would have needed a careful touch. Thanks to her very narrow beam her wetted surface area was minimal despite the immersed chine, and she was very easily driven; even the mainsail

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Ericus (Ricus) van de Stadt designed Black Soo in the new marine plywood

from a 14ft dinghy that she took as a stormsail on the Fastnet proved too large. Her dead straight sheerline and flat panels gave her appearance an angular modernity, and her good rise of sheer forwards must have helped prevent nose-diving as she ventured offshore, but even so she must surely have provided her crews with a wet ride. The relative lack of flare in the sections probably gave her a useful ability to ride on the chine when heeled, using the immersed topside area to resist leeway. The combination of flat panels and the hard chine gave her a hollow entry on the waterline, but as Herreshoff’s Alerion and others demonstrate, this is not necessarily a disadvantage. There looks to be just enough angle on the forward sections underwater to help avoid slamming when upright, but as she heeled over that may not have been true, and the qualities of Bruynzeel’s plywood must have been tested at times. In the original form there was ruthless elimination of excess weight. This was a narrow boat, no question, and had a very limited interior with, as some wit noted, “full crawling headroom”. The four GRP Royal Cape One Designs based on the same design had a nod to convenience with a modestly raised doghouse at the aft end, but the original Black Soo had a low coachroof with transparent plastic panels. With a second tiller extending into the aft end of the cabin, the helm could sit below to steer and still see up to check sail trim. She was tough; she sailed through a Force 8 gale in the 1957 Fastnet that caused Bloodhound to heave-to overnight and Drumbeat to retire after wrecking five winches. Ironically Black Soo then had to retire due to electrical problems; an early example of a problem we might consider a modern curse. Black Soo was based in Ireland for many years from 1962, but as the doyen of yachting correspondents Winkie Nixon noted, she “eventually succumbed to the Irish weather which is murder for even the finest plywood” and was broken up sometime around 1999. Her near sister, Zeeslang, was luckier; after racing in South Africa for 50 years she was restored and is now a “cherished classic” in Switzerland, exhibited at the Düsseldorf Boat Show in 2014.

LOA 29.7ft (9.05m) DESIGN WL 25.9ft (7.9m) BEAM 6.99ft (2.13m) DRAUGHT 5.9ft (1.8m) DISPLACEMENT TO DWL 1.59 tonnes (1.78 tonnes loaded)

BEKEN OF COWES

SAIL AREA 287sq ft (26.6m2)

TOM CUNLIFFE

THE UNSEEN HAND I swear my pilot cutter’s first skipper was looking over us... ILLUSTRATION CLAUDIA MYATT

here’s much to be learned from people who predate the world of electronics. I’ve met sailors whose senses are so acute it seems as though they can see through fog. After growing up in a time without universal radio communication, they couldn’t care less if a boat isn’t bristling with aerials, yet they often understand matters which would baffle most of us. They are nearly all gone now, but plenty of people living back in the 1960s when I was a nipper recalled World War II as clearly as I remember the opening of the M1 motorway. One of these was a Norwegian lady who had kept grenades in her bicycle basket during the Nazi occupation and whose life at sea was a story in itself. A singular piece of advice she was fond of dishing up was that a glass of seawater before breakfast does wonders for the constitution. Her own vitality was so extraordinary that it was hard to argue with this, but I confess to lacking the stomach for it. Her greatest gift to me was to initiate me into the realm of the Klabautermann.

According to German legend, the Klabautermann is a spirit who hangs around the Northern Seas waiting to assist suffering sailors. Spring a plank off Helgoland and, when all seems lost, he’ll pitch up from nowhere with a mouthful of galvanised boat nails and a beefy maul. Spew your garboard caulking running down to Swinoujscie in a gale of wind and he’ll clamber over the side ready for action with his chinking iron and a wad of oakum. All of us who put out towards the midnight sun in craft held together by faith, rather than cheque books, will have need of him in the end. The Norwegian Klabautermann favoured by my lady friend ran along the same sort of lines, with one essential difference. The Nordic version wasn’t a single benevolent individual always looking for custom. Instead, there were many, and they attached themselves on a semi-permanent basis to boats of their choice. Any vessel that had knocked about long enough to have a history, she pointed out, had probably picked up a Klabautermann somewhere along the way. He might have been a crewman who decided to stick around after he had slipped his cable. He could be an outsider along for the ride on a boat to which he’d taken a shine, but whatever his background, the prudent Scandinavian mariner understood that, although the Klabautermann might not be seen, no sane mariner would sideline the possibility that one day he might save the ship. I used to own a Bristol Channel pilot cutter that worked when people still went to church on Sundays. She hadn’t been restored since Pilot Morrice of Barry handed her over to the Pilotage Board around the time of the Great War to throw his hat into the ring with the amalgamated pilots and their steamer.

In 1922 the Board sold her to a civil engineer. Later, she was passed on to none other than the Marquis of Bute who, to his credit, fancied a spot of yachting in a real boat. After a lifetime roaming the Channel under sail seeking paying ships, George Morrice was long dead by the time I took his boat home to Barry 60 years later. Darkness fell with a failing breeze and us heading up for a distant Nash Point. The night was misty with drizzle as we drifted east on the flood, guided by the four ‘L’s of the traditional navigator – Log, Leadline, Lookout and ‘trust-inthe-Lord’. I was half-asleep on my watch below when out of nowhere I heard the ancient cry: “Where bound, Captain?” There followed a muffled exchange before the response rang out, loud and clear. “We are the Barry pilot!” Then footfalls, the swirl of a single sculling oar, and silence. As day broke I convinced myself I’d been dreaming, but at 0300 Morrice had been as real as the shipmate who was now handing up tea from the galley. I thought no more of this until a year later when, on a rather more ambitious trip, the old cutter was hove-to 100 miles off Greenland. The whole gale was meat and drink to her, but the crew and I had two problems. The wind, roaring straight off the icecap, was brutally cold and it had piped up from Force 5 so suddenly that we’d been guilty of optimism. Assuming it would drop as fast as it rose, we hadn’t bothered to reef. A veteran skipper of my acquaintance once wisely remarked: “The floor of the ocean is paved with the bones of optimists.” This day proved him right. We came to our senses in a rising Force 9 with hailstones cutting our cheeks and the pitchpine mast whipping like a fly rod. The boat had no winches of course, the soaking flax mainsail weighed at least 400lb, the boom tipped the scales at five hundredweight and the solid gaff ran out at 25 feet. All hands laid into the reefing tackles with a will, but by now it was too late even for five young men to snug her down. If the rig were to be saved, the mainsail had to be stowed. We were pointing nicely up with the jib off her, the staysail aback and the wheel lashed to weather, but if we dropped the main like that, the staysail would have its wicked way. The boat would pay off sharpish and the only place the main would go was the North Atlantic. Somehow we had to get it on deck to smother it, so we came up with a plan: let draw the staysail so she could gather way, the lashed helm would swing her into the wind and, as she luffed on to the shake, we’d throw off the halyards. Driven down by the gaff and its own weight, the beast would succumb. That bit sounded easy enough. Securing the gaff was the critical element. If we missed it at first shot, goodness only knew how we’d capture it because the boat would be bearing away fast. I stationed myself aft with a length of pliable three-strand hoping to grab the end. Two hands stood by the halyards while the others waited along the boom hoping for the best. The halyards were flaked and the weather topping lift set up. We held fire for a ‘smooth’, I eased the staysail across and we marvelled at the boat’s sheer class as she whooshed into the wind.

‘Leggo!’ yelled the mate as the main started to thunder and half-a-tennis-court’s-worth of canvas flogged down on top of us. Straight away, the staysail blew the bow back off the wind, leaving us beam-on to the tempest. The guys dived for cover behind the hatches as the sail went mad. I made a pass at the gaff by heaving in on the leech of the kicking flax, but I had no chance. The crew were in mortal danger when, out of nowhere, the spar flipped inboard and sat patiently on top of the shoulder-high boom. I was staring like an idiot at this impossibility when, from somewhere inside either me or the boat, I heard an uncompromising Cardiff accent: “I can’t hold on forever, lad. Are you just going to gaze at it, or will you take a turn and save yourself?” With numb hands I passed my lashing, the crew bundled up the sail and we all clattered below to the bogey stove where I sat pondering on things visible and invisible. Sometimes as I sail today’s sparkling seas in my yacht, I wonder what happened to the cutter’s Klabautermann. If he were Pilot Morrice, his vessel has long since gone for rebuild. So little is left of the original that he’s probably jumped ship. Whatever oceans he’s cruising now, I hope the old boy has an eased sheet and that he hasn’t forgotten the lads and lassies who sailed his boat so far with such dreams in their hearts. In our sophisticated world we may fancy we are masters of the sea, yet despite our flickering screens and powered winches, the time still comes around when we need a helping hand.

LOBSTER BOAT

MAINE DISH Rooted in tradition, the lobster boat has become a reference point in the modern design narrative STORY KATHY MANSFIELD

f you enjoy classic boats, lobster, unspoiled coastlines and relatively sane people (don’t call them Mainiacs, they’re Mainers) you should head to Maine, USA. Miles of forests translate into wooden boats and docks, clapboard houses and even wooden lobster pots: some say the lobsters prefer them to the metal sort. You’ll find islands, lighthouses; pine and granite peninsulas, about 3,500 miles of tidal coastline and a long and proud seafaring history. It is still referred to as Downeast (not northeast) as prevailing winds mean Maine was downwind for the sailing ships. You’ll discover Penobscot Bay, for many sailors the best cruising grounds in the world, and a variety of boatbuilders, from one-man outfits to state-of-the-art factories. You’ll also find the lobster boat, surely the iconic boat of Maine, evolving from the dories, the peapods, the Hamptons, the Friendship sloop – it’s even now the pick-up truck of the Maine waters, but with a purity of line and form that comes from slow and careful evolution. It’s satisfying to see their high, hollow bow throwing the waves aside as they head out to sea, the jaunty cabin giving basic shelter, its sheerline swooping low astern where the lobster pots are hauled over the side in the long stern cockpit, the tumblehome aft near the transom. They’ve grown from the earliest engine propulsion, from car engines being shifted over to the boat and back again, to diesel engines and even jet drives. And its ethos has become multipurpose, from lobstering, fishing and general workboat, to the leisure lobster yacht, to the current craze of lobster boat racing. Lobstering is important to Maine. It’s a $450 million industry – fresh lobsters are rushed to New York City or air freighted out west. You can even buy a lobster in Logan Airport, Boston, on the way back to Europe – when asked, the British Consulate was vague about the legality of bringing a live lobster into Britain – perhaps they didn’t want to find out because they all do it. Lobster is best, heavenly even, steamed in a newly dug pit near the beach over wood and seaweed with some sacking on top, accompanied by corn on the cob, potatoes, and clams.

SHUTTERSTOCK

FAMOUS ANCESTORS The humble dory, first mentioned in the Boston Gazette in 1726, is a famous ancestor of the present day lobster boat. The slab-sided dories had removable seats and could be stacked aboard the Grand Banks schooners, while the Swampscott dory had a rounded, clinker or lapstrake hull. The peapod, a common double-ender in

the following century, could work around the dangerous rock ledges by oar or sail, and is still a popular family boat. The Friendship sloop dates to about the middle of the nineteenth century, named after the lobstering port of Friendship where sloop boatbuilder Wilbur Morse had his yard. These were the antecedents of the present-day lobster boat that we see in Maine harbours, and you might well still see all of them in July or August when the summer folk are around. The big change came with the development of the internal combustion engine: the company developing the Knox Marine Engine was started in 1866 and by 1916 could offer engines up to 40 horsepower. One of the first boats in New England to be converted to engine power was a sail and oar workboat from Hampton, New Hampshire: it could be strip-planked and was known for good seakeeping and a tight turning radius. The Pulsifer Hampton is still built, its high bow swooping down low aft where the lobster pots would be hauled in, very much the evolving shape of the modern lobster boat.

LOBSTER BOAT EXPERIMENTS In 1914, boatbuilder Will Frost arrived on Beals Island, off Jonesport, way downeast near Machias Island, from Nova Scotia. There he met the extensive Beal family, who had been there since 1775. This family learned much from the innovative Frost and produced dozens of boatbuilders. Adrian Beal, Willis Beal, Calvin Beal Jr, Richard Alley, Ernest Libby Jr are part of the web of the Beal family, some with larger-than-life personalities and each with generations of skill. The boats they built had yacht-like overhung sterns to begin with, then experimented with a ‘torpedo’ stern, stern, similar to the Thames launch bustle stern and thought to be faster. The origins of this are contested, possibly an upside-down schooner-style stern that was found to work well with an engine, perhaps based on late 19th century naval torpedo boats, or maybe based on boatbuilder Will Frost’s Red Wing of 1924. The boats were lofted out from models, with flat floors and a deep skeg, the keel almost at right angles to the hull with little or no deadrise, a narrow beam, and their relatively simple construction meant that they were light and fast. The shape was copied by early petrol racing boats. It’s said that they were so quick that a Prohibition rum-runner from New York City bought as many as he could to further his illicit business, finding no other boat that suited his purpose so well. After World War I the torpedo stern changed to a transom, but the flat floors and the tumblehome still CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

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CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

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Tel: 02392 817119

LOBSTER BOATS

Above: lobster boats Alicia B (left) and Shanna Erik and Made In USA

Mount Desert Island; designer/builders Doug Hylan on the Benjamin River near Brooklin and Peter Kass of John’s Bay Boat Co who both build classic wooden lobster boats and lobster yachts; Richard Stanley, son of wooden boatbuilder Ralph Stanley of Mount Desert Island, Jamie Lowell of Lowell Brothers, descendants of Will Frost of Jonesport. These are just some of the builders of lobster boats in Maine. It was interesting to see that the wooden boatbuilders, mainly from Mt Desert Island and further south, congregated at one end of the panel, the glassfibre boatbuilders at the other. “Wood is warmer in winter, cooler in summer, and has an easier motion,” said Peter Kass, a proponent of wood, though he’s happy to use GRP to lower maintenance on the toerails or aft where the lobster traps come in. “One lobsterman decided to retire at 58 with ‘aching joints’ – but bought a wooden boat and with that was able to continue into his 70s. One of the plusses of wood is that is absorbs vibration.” KATHY MANSFIELD

Above: lobster boat Minkie at Eggemoggin Reach Race 2014 Right: The helm and winch on Abigail & Carter

KATHY MANSFIELD

persisted. Will Frost didn’t make a lot of money but he had an eye for a boat, for a good sheerline and balance, and he and the Beals have had a great influence on lobster boat design. Some were later used as plugs for glassfibre versions, which have taken over up there from wooden boatbuilding to quite a large extent. Further south, the Mount Desert Island area was another centre of lobster boat building, with builders Chester Clement of Southwest Harbor and Cliff Rich of Bernard building a traditional ‘planked-down’ keel, where the planking flows down into the keel much the way the hull of a deep-keeled sailboat is planked. This was called a ‘built down’ construction, resulting in the familiar rounded hull with good seakeeping qualities that traces its lineage right back to the Vikings. These two builders influenced the others in the area who often trained with them in their early years, and most worked from a half hull model. Their market was somewhat different because of the influx of summer visitors from the late 19th century. Many of them cleaned up and captained their lobster boats as charters in the summer, and fished and built boats in the winter – leading in time to the emergence of the leisure lobster yacht. There, boats were heavier than the Jonesport boats but then the Mount Desert Island builders would say that the emphasis on speed over a more seakindly shape and displacement was unwise. Each proponent holds their opinions strongly. “Some of those skeg-built Jonesport boats are pretty good sea boats, but a semi-displacement, built down hull is much easier to work out of,” said Richard Stanley, offering a more balanced view. The argument persists to this day, as we found at a symposium on the lobster boat that took place in the summer of 2014 in Castine, Maine. There, examples of commercial lobster boats, the lobster style picnic boat or lobster yacht, and other variations were on the dock and the harbour moorings, while later a panel of boatbuilders, designers, historians, owners, skippers and lobstermen discussed the pros and cons, the history and the future of the Maine lobster boat in the Delano Auditorium of the Maine Military Academy. These included Calvin Beal Jr, who designs many of today’s leading lobster boats, transitioning from wood into GRP; Glenn Holland from Belfast’s Holland Boat Shop, building the GRP Holland 14, 32 and 38; Rich Helmkie at the Bass Harbor Boat Yard in Bernard,

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

LITTLE VIGILANT

Come visit our sailloft, and discuss sailmaking needs. We pride ourselves on a careful combination of world-class sails, and hometown service.

508.748.2581 www.sperrysails.com Sails * Canvas * Local Service 11 Marconi Lane, Marion, MA 02738

“Little Vigilant” was commissioned for the prominent New York Yachtsman Drayton Cochrane, designed by the Boston firm Eldridge Mcinnes, and built in steel to the highest standards by the famous Abeking & Rasmussen yard in Germany. Her lines were adapted from the fast, efficient and able Maine sardine carriers. She was used in European waters for ten summer seasons and then placed in dry storage in Poole England for the next forty five years by her second owner. “Little Vigilant’s” current owner purchased her in 2005 and commissioned a total refit of all her systems including new engine [2013], generator, electrical, plumbing, heat, ac, fuel polishing, water maker,refrigeration, etc. Every effort was made to preserve her original appearance and her elegant interior. “Little Vigilant” has been mostly used for family cruising in New England for the past eleven seasons, with one offshore trip to the Caribbean. She has been maintained without regard to cost and is in exceptional condition throughout. She is highly recommended to those who seek a unique and irreplaceable classic yacht for passage making and cruising in style and comfort. She is perhaps the finest example of a classic motor sailer in existence today. PRICE $1.75m US

For further information contact: Delaney Yacht Services. P.O. box 994. No. Falmouth, Ma. 02556 USA Tel: 508-627-1545 Email: geddelaney@yahoo.com

ES TTRHADAITM I O NA L

HENL

E Y- O N -T H A M E S

The Thames Traditional Boat Festival returns in 2016 with an even bigger display of vintage & classic boats, cars and aeroplanes! Highlights include: the exclusive Bluebird K3 returning to try again for her first ever Thames run, WWII Dunkirk Little Ships, WWII fast patrol boats, WWI dog fights, amphibians, military vehicles and over 180 traditional boats that makes this the largest event of its type in Europe plus all the quintessentially English eccentricity that makes it so utterly unique!

FREE PARKING

Supported by

Following the great success of 2015, with over 10,000 visitors, the “Trad” will run for 3 days from Friday 15th to Sunday 17th July. Please see website for details.

15 • 16 • 17 July 2016 70

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Fawley Meadows • Henley-on-Thames www.tradboatfestival.com

KATHY MANSFIELD

Right: the lobsterman’s hot seat Below: lobster boat racing Blue Eyed Girl of Pemaquid Point Park Bottom:

KATHY MANSFIELD

Islesboro, Maine

KATHY MANSFIELD

Whatever their preference in shape, type or building material, it was agreed that lobster boats these days are going further and faster than ever before, and they are bigger, heavier and more expensive to operate. “Lobster boat design has been hijacked by a combination of cheap fuel, high lobster prices and lots of lobsters,” said Doug Hylan. “Although it takes four to eight times the horsepower to go twice as fast – with modern engines, per dollar, horsepower is cheap.” It’s not obviously good and won’t necessarily last. And the increase in lobsters is due in part to the collapse in cod fishing – they now don’t have a natural predator. Things can change. Early lobster boats had a length to beam ratio of maybe 3.5 or 4:1, whereas recently a lobster boat was launched which is 47ft long with a 18ft 8in beam, a ratio of 2.5 to 1. Peter Kass’s beautiful Abigail & Carter is 42ft and probably weighs 32,000 pounds with a 1,000hp diesel, whereas one of his earlier 38-40ft boats would weigh around 25,000. One of Jamie Lowell’s 38ft lobster boats might weigh 15-17,000 pounds in fishing trim, but 24,000 as a lobster yacht. These are big increases in size and weight, again made possible by cheap fuel, but also expectations of more profit or more comfort. It didn’t take long for lobstermen to realise that the increased horsepower could lead to some good racing, particularly with the flatter, skeg-built boats from the Jonesport area. Race events are proliferating up and down the coast, and passions are running high. “I don’t have many vices,” said one racing man. “But I would spend any amount of time and money to win one of these races.” Jet drives are being tried on some boats, though they can suck up weed and are not as good at lower speeds. Turbo-charged engines are used, to the dismay of some onlookers, who say rules should be brought in to limit the length of new boats and size of new engines before an accident happens. New materials are being tested: carbon-fibre can be faster than glassfibre, and a cored hull within a Divinicell outer layer can be light and waterproof. Longitudinal ridges along the hull, like a whale, might slightly increase the speed. One owner said his latest engine was 1,400hp and he could reach 45 knots, but next year he would upgrade to a

4,000hp engine and he hoped for 65 knots. Not only are lobstermen going further offshore and into deeper waters to fish, but they are staying busy into the winter months. They might carry up to 100 lobster pots and 10 bushels of bait, whereas 50 pots was a good living before. Lobster yacht owners are heading out to explore. Jamie Lowell’s Newman, with an enclosed cabin, went around the Northwest Passage. Peter Kass has exported one of his boats to Australia and there are aficionados worldwide. Expectations are rising, and so are costs. Like a pick-up truck, lobster boats have to work safely in all conditions – but some people are now wanting Range Rovers. There are still voices of restraint. “You don’t need to go fast, you’re already there,” said Doug Hylan, thinking of his lobster yacht market. Lobster yachts make great family picnic boats and they are also an easy way to pick up the groceries to take out to the islands. Custom building is making them comfortable, while the lobsterman too has a slightly easier life. But whatever the size, shape and build of the lobster boat, its iconic shape will be seen along the Maine coast for many years to come. And come to think of it, there is probably more than one Lobster-inspired hull residing at a marina not very far from you. CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

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CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

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Classnotes Cape Cod Bull’s Eye

NEW BOATS Cape Cod Shipbuilding still builds the Bull’s Eye, with new boats costing around $32,000 (£22,185). Since 1972, the yard has also built a GRP version of the 1914 Herreshoff 12½ design, using the original Herreshoff patterns and jigs. capecodshipbuilding.com

BY VANESSA BIRD

SECONDHAND BOATS On the secondhand market, Bull’s Eyes fetch between $3,500-$15,000 (£2,427-£10,400).

DOUGHDISH

he lines of this GRP gaff sloop may be instantly recognisable as those by a designer of international renown in the early part of the 20th century. Look even closer, and its roots and similarity to one of that designer’s most well-known, and arguably finest, small boat designs can clearly be seen. For the hull design of this 15ft 8½in (4.8m) daysailer comes from the pen of none other than Captain Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, the so-called Wizard of Bristol, and although the construction method of this GRP boat was not one yet familiar to him – indeed it had yet to be developed when he drafted the design – the hull lines, with jaunty sheer and long keel, remain virtually unchanged. This class is known as the Cape Cod Bull’s Eye, and was first launched in 1949. The design from which it originated was the Herreshoff Bull’s Eye, which is more commonly known as the Herreshoff 12½. Designed in 1914, by a 66-year-old Nathanael Herreshoff, the Herreshoff 12½ proved an immediate success with local sailors, and 364 were built between 1914 and 1943 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company at Bristol, Rhode Island, before production moved to Quincy Adams Yacht Yard. Tweaked in 1938 by Herreshoff, with improvements including a modification to the placement of the tiller, it then became known officially as the Fisher Island Sound Bull’s Eye. However, in 1947, Cape Cod Shipbuilding at Wareham in Maine took on the mantle, and acquired the rights to the Fisher Island Sound Bull’s Eye, and the yard has been building it ever since, albeit in a new guise. This was developed in 1950 when it produced the first of the new, GRP incarnations of the Bull’s Eye, which was named the Cape Cod Bull’s Eye, after its builders. The hull lines of the Cape Cod Bull’s Eye are identical to the 1914

Herreshoff design, but a small moulded cuddy that offered sailors some protection from the elements was introduced, designed by Herreshoff’s eldest son, Sidney, who worked at Cape Cod Shipbuilding. The rig has changed little since 1914. Both Marconi and gaff sloops were offered with the original design, with gaff more common. With the introduction of the Cape Cod Bull’s Eye, however, the Marconi sloop rig, complete with an aluminium mast, was specified, and a spinnaker was designed for downwind performance. Under sail, the Bull’s Eye is well known for its seaworthiness and good performance. The cockpit is roomy enough to hold four or five sailors, but the design is handy enough that one or two will also suffice. As the Cape Cod Bull’s Eye is a one design, unchanged since 1950, older boats remain competitive and the class enjoys a healthy membership of both new and old boats. Incredibly it has also been in continuous construction since 1949, an achievement not many can claim. Today, there are around 50 fleets of Cape Cod Bull’s Eyes along America’s East Coast, and although the design is not officially allowed to race against the wooden Herreshoff 12½s, there is a healthy racing programme among the class.

The GRP Bull’s Eye was first launched in 1950, based on a design from 1914

The Cape Cod Bull’s Eye may not be allowed to race officially alongside its wooden counterparts, but the Doughdish, built today by Ballentine’s Boat Shop, can. The lines of this GRP version of the Herreshoff 12½ were taken off three wooden hulls by Bill Harding, founder of Doughdish Inc, who also built the Stuart Knockabout (see CB305). The Doughdish does not have a cuddy, and is rigged as a gaffer, although Marconi is available. doughdishllc.com

WOODEN HERRESHOFF 12½

SPECIFICATIONS

LOA 15ft 8½in (4.8m) LWL 12ft 63/4 (3.8m) BEAM 5ft 10in (1.8m)

For those who prefer Herreshoff’s design as it was originally conceived in wood, new versions of the Herreshoff 12½ are available from Artisan Boatworks in Rockport, Maine. The yard has been building the design in traditional bronzefastened, cedar on oak and composite construction since 2006, and also produces a beamier, shallow draught version with a centreboard, the Haven 12½, designed by the late Joel White.

artisanboatworks.com

DRAUGHT 2ft 5in (0.8m) SAIL AREA 140sq ft (13m2) DISPLACEMENT 1,350lb (612.4kg)

Vanessa’s book, Classic Classes, is a must-buy. Please bear in mind that this book provides only a snapshot of

Next month OSPREY

the myriad classes in existence.

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

New Classics

ONBOARD

Spirit-ofTradition daysailers Saffier Yachts in Holland has been making a name for itself for 20 years in the Dutch and German markets with its range of fast dayboats and ‘weekend’ yachts designed in-house. The name of the game with these boats, that have yet to fully catch on in Britain, is ease of maintenance, ease of singlehanding (all lines come back to the cockpit and the largest of the three offers electric winching) and modern performance. These are fixed-keel boats with 40 per cent or more ballast ratios, and light (ish) displacement. The boats are garnering good reviews and certainly we were impressed when we saw the range at the Düsseldorf Boat Show in January. Production is at 35-40 boats a year, including a few for Britain. The three boats here are from the ‘classic’ range.

SAFFIER SC 1Om The extra length of this, the largest in the range at 33ft (10m), has gone on a long counter and a cockpit designed to take eight when daysailing, at the expense of one berth fewer than the 8 (below). She’s wheel steered, with the elliptical cockpit giving an American flavour. This is daysailing in real style. You might compare her to the Essence 33, Rustler 33 or Eage 36. She draws 1.2 or 1.5m (4ft or 5ft depending on the option chosen), and weighs 2.5T. Price is €99,300 (c£77,000).

For all boats on this page, see saffieryachts.com

SAFFIER SC 6.5m This is Mark II of the bestselling 6.5, which was Saffier Yachts’ first boat, of which 160 have been built. The L-shaped moderate fin keel, self-tacking jib and fathead mainsail all speak of accessible performance, and these have been tried and tested in the rough too. The USP on this boat is the very basic vee-berth under the foredeck protected by glass doors. Another benefit is provision for an inboard diesel or electric motor. The cockpit still looks to be a very decent size. She’s 21ft 3in (6.5m) long, draws just under a metre and weighs 900kg. You might compare this to something like a Tofinou 7.

€24,800 (c£19,200) ex vat

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

SAFFIER SC 8m The smaller of the two cabin yachts has a four-berth interior and a cockpit that is, the builder claims, good for six. She has a selftacking jib like all Saffier yachts, along with a draws 1.03m or 1.3m (3ft 4in or 4ft 3in) and weighs 1,800kg. Reviews suggest she is easy to sail fast, and close-winded to boot.

€60,500 (c£47,000) ex vat

C/O SAFFIER YACHTS

healthy RCD B rating. She’s 26ft (8m) long,

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

www.chantierduguip.com

Guip Shipyard – Brest – Ile aux Moines Quai du Commandant Malbert 29200 Brest, France Tel: +33 (0)2 98 43 27 07 Fax: +33 (0)2 98 44 81 29 E-mail: guip29@chantierduguip.com

Monaco Classic Week Trophy

2015 Winners

Camperdown - £30,000

Camperdown was built in 1964 by Groves & Gutteridge in East Cowes and was their last wooden build. She is 12.26 metres LOA 3.35 metres Beam and draws 1 metre. Built to MOD specification Honduras Mahogany & teak decks. She has a registered tonnage of 12.75 tons. I acquired the boat in 2009 and had her completely refitted and restored at huge expense with all invoices and history available. She has 2 X Ford Sabre 212HP 158KW & intercooled installed 1994 less than 600 hours. Engines fully rebuilt and reconditioned, all new wiring and electronics full Raymarine GPS and Radar Autohelm VHF Log/Speedo & Depth sounder new windlass and anchor Eberspacher heater. Galvanic isolators and core plug engine heaters. She has two 3 berth cabins and two heads and a cruising speed of 15kts with a maximum of 21kts. Includes a cold molded dinghy & outboard.

Michael Till

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

07880738319 email miketill@me.com

* La Belle Clas se Restoration * prize for all classes

Mowenna – Gaff schooner designed by Linton Hope and built by Stow & Son in 1914 – Complete restoration by Guip Shipyard (Brest), launched in 2013 Trades: Shipwrights, joiners, electrical engineers, project managers. Skills: Building, restoring, repairing and maintaining wooden historic vessels, classic yachts and workboats. Traditional shipwrighting and modern wooden boat-building techniques. Deck and interior joinery. Wooden mast and spar making. Workshop (1,250 m²) on the quay. Overhead travelling Passionate about the sea, maritime crane. Accommodates vessels up to 100 tons heritage and wood!

Getting afloat Messing about on the river Gillian Nahum of Henley Sales and Charter specialises in riparian classics. This month, we picked three boats on her books. Tel: +44 01491 578870, hscboats.co.uk

FANTASY II

Sea or river, rain or shine, cruise or party Built by Toughs in 1959 of all-teak construction to a particularly high specification, Fantasy II has additionally benefited from an overhaul at Dennett’s Boatyard in 2015, including some replanking, a re-varnish inside and out and a new coachroof. Other than that, she retains the patina of her age, with a charming interior whose “vast” saloon can dine up to 10. With plenty of deck space for a 40ft (12.2m) boat and a “spacious wheelhouse” she is, according to Gillian, a great boat to enjoy with friends. With her 4ft 6in (1.4m) draught and twin marinised Rolls-Royce diesels, she’s also a capable sea boat, with voyages all over Europe to prove it. She has a 1-2 cabin layout at present, but with berths to sleep more on occasion, and comes with a good inventory and lots of history.

PHOTOGRAPHS C/O THE BROKER

Lying Windermere. Asking £99,500

MAZARINE BLUE LADY CHRISTINA

Pettersson stunner for value and style If you enjoyed seeing the amazing Raket in last month’s issue, here’s a way of getting a more practical, smaller Pettersson of your own. The 26ft (8m) Lady Christina built in 1939 looks the part, is reputedly in great nick (the cabin could do with some more varnish apparently, but the rest, including new survey, cushions and cover sounds AOK) and is on at a very good price. She has two bunks below decks, with a cockpit to seat 7-8. Like Fantasy II (above), she’ll be comfortable in some seas as well, hailing as she does from the Swedish archipelago, and built to slice through a chop, and with a 60-80bhp engine which could put out more than 100bhp with a re-carb and re-cam. On paper, she’s our pick of the bunch for value and style.

Lying Upper Thames. Asking £24,950

Slipper launch for lazy days If you want lazy days on the river in traditional, elegant style, a slipper launch is the classic choice. Gillian has quite a few on her books, but we picked this one for the alluring price tag. She was built some time in the 1950s, possibly by Tims of Staines. She’s powered by a Ford Sea Wolf petrol engine (the quieter petrol engine is quite correct for a slipper launch) and her cockpit is, says Gillian, “in fact larger than an Andrews 25ft (7.6m) launch”. She comes complete with a folding pram hood on hoops and two Lloyd loom chairs. “It would probably seat six rather than the usual four,” adds Gillian.

Lying ashore Upper Thames. Asking £13,950

See boats for sale at classicboat.co.uk/type/buy-a-boat CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

BOATS FOR SALE

Boats for sale Looking to sell your boat? Reach over 50,000 readers each month To advertise call Edward Mannering +44 (0) 20 7349 3747 Edward.Mannering@chelseamagazines.com Copy Deadline for next issue is 16/03/2016 Norfolk Gypsy -”Gypsy Mistress”

HEARD 28

‘Susan J’, Falmouth Working Boat built 1991 by Gaffers & Luggers and interior fitted out by Traditional Yacht Services. GRP hull. Perkins Perama 30hp 3 cylinder engine. Excellent condition, major refit in 2003, fast safe boat. High spec, must see, lying Poole, Dorset. £52,500 for more info contact Dan: sailingsusanj@gmail.com

S&S DEB 33 1974

Centre board, Tylers hull, number 22, Part 1 registered. Many recent renewals. Vessel lying ashore South West Wales. £12,000. For full details kindly contact owner marshap3@hotmail.co.uk

TAMARISK 24 GAFF CUTTER 1978 NORFOLK GYPSY -”GYPSY Boat 48 - green hull -Yanmar 1GM10 dieselMISTRESS” Boat 48 - greenwith hull -Yanmar 1GM10 diesel. High initial gear High initial specification extensive additional cruising specification with extensive additional cruising gear. Full boat Full boat cover, cockpit cover, cockpit tent, sail covers cover, cockpit cover, cockpit tent, sail covers. Instruments, Instruments, autopilot, GPS, VHF-DSC andradios. multi-band radios autopilot, GPS, VHF-DSC and multi-band Twin batteries, Twin batteries, charger andelectrics. shore electrics charger and shore Custom galvanised heavy duty break-back heavy trailer. All carefully maintained & wintered in boat Custom galvanised duty break-back trailer Excellent All carefully maintained &shed. wintered insurvey. boat shed £24,000. Excellent survey Tel: 07733 108922 07733108922 £24,000

TRADITIONAL NORFOLK BROADS SAILING CRUISER

River Cruiser Fantome – sail number 17. 2- berth; built 1908 by Ernest Woods. Hull length 26’ with counter stern and 5’ bowsprit. Mainsail, genoa, No 2 and storm jibs. Full-length lifting cabin roof with overall cover (including cockpit). Roof-down cover. 1 owner for 30 years – full maintenance history available. Moored at Ranworth – moorings transferable to new owner. Inboard diesel engine with hydraulic drive. Boat Safety Certificate to June 2019. £19,500 ono Tel: 07970-464548 Email hchris.wood@btinternet.com

SWISS CRAFT

Cruising in Style! Scheherazade is a true classic and has great potential as a business for weddings, birthday or holiday parties, or simply a private cruise in style. Built 1960 / 15.00 x 3.80 Sensibel offers are welcome. Bächli Internationl Boat Sales AG. Tel: +41 41 620 37 00 www.boat-trade.com

Classic pocket cruiser, GRP plus looks, kept ready to go. Proven record extended shorthanded cruising last 10 years Irish West Coast, where lying. £14,000. mick@delap.plus.com

1939 NATIONAL 12 DINGHY “JEAN” Morgan Giles design, clinker/spruce deck. Professionally restored. New collars mast/ new sails. £2,500 Contact : Jane Newberry Janeandco@hotmail.com Tel: 01579 370119

INBOARD SHRIMPER NO. 960 MRS. BEAR 2006.

“NUTMEG” – LOCH BROOM POST BOAT

Very pretty classic gentleman’s sailing boat, 14’6” gaff rigged with tan sails built by Character Boats in 2005. Hardwood and stainless steel fittings with rope fender. Complete with Yamaha 2.5hp outboard, combination road/launch trailer and cover, £4950. Mark Wilson 07968 983777 wilsonmarkt@gmail.com

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

ON MARINA BERTH AT ROYAL MOTOR YACHT CLUB, POOLE. Pastel blue hull – a practical colour that does not “bloom” and coppercoat from new (renewed this year) therefore low maintenance. One lady owner and little used. Classic interior with blue Dunlopillow cushions, brass bracket cabin lights, gas cooker, barometer and clock. Professionally fitted galley with shelves, plate holders, etc. Masthead aerial linked to fitted VHF radio. New tricolour fitted 2015. Sails and running rigging in good condition. Yanmar engine professionally maintained annually. New battery. Extras include table for cabin or cockpit, Shrimper boarding ladder, navy sprayhood, sail cover, boom crutch depth sounder and log. Plastimo compass. Adjustable special tiller extension. Very good Alton road trailer, new keel rollers. Easily viewed. Price £23,000 Contact: marigold.clevely@btinternet.com Tel: 01258 452914

BOATS FOR SALE

X141, MADAME X

HEARD 28

Vessel sleeps four in two cabins, s/s standing rigging and spruce 36ft. mast [both replaced 2012]. Columbian pine bowsprit, full suit of sails. Faversham coal stove, Gas cooker and toilet. Two anchors, electronics, beaching legs and two new covers. £39,950 O.N.O. trw2611@btinternet.com

A beautiful wooden boat built in 1962 by Hamper. She has been professionally maintained over 30 years and full records of invoices can be inspected. Hull wooden splined and epoxied, mast and boom all in excellent condition. Lifting tiller and through mast kicker leaver. Side deck pumps’ Launching dolly. Outboard engine bracket. Dicky seats for cruising 2 suits of sails - Hydes and Batts. Last set in 2014. £7000 ono. Contact Tony Probert – 01243 572322, juliet.probert01@talktalk.net

“VIVACIOUS”

INTERNATIONAL DRAGON ‘DAYBOAT’.

Petticrows 2009. As new condition. Measurement certificate for racing. Beautiful wood deck on blue fibreglass hull with white waterline and antifoul. Retractable electric engine operates from cockpit. Log, speed, depth and wind. GPS map. DFS radio. Jib, main, genoa and spinnaker. Ultrasonic antifoul supplement to Nautix antifoul applied by Petticrows. Covers. Fenders. Aluminium trailer with 3 boxes. Galvanised trolley. Many extras. Burnham-on-Crouch. £45,000 ono. 07973253111 or dragnet2009@gmail.com

35 ft West Solent OD a thoroughbred amongst classic racing yachts, one of the 30 built in the UK through the 1920s. She has been restored in recent years, but retains much of her original hull and features. Sweet and light on the tiller, and a delight to sail. Has been set up below and on deck for 2 handed cruising, as well as racing More Details on www.westsolent.org Contact Ian 07751303681

“JANJO OF ARISAIG” FORMERLY “KIWI LADY”

TRADITIONAL PLOCKTON BOAT

Van de Stadt Rebel 41 Ketch, Tyler Boat Co. 1968 Skilfully fitted out by first owner. Owned and sailed for 20 years Scotland west coast after 2 seasons in West Indies. Full osmosis treatment in Kilmelford. New Volvo D2-40 Engine and Eberspacher heater in 2014 New 6 man Liferaft. Sails good, ,made / serviced annually Owen Sails . Monitor SS Gear (not fitted). Currently ashore Kilmelford,,from Mid April on Arisaig mooring. £ 50,000. Contact: 01234 712266. john@tusting.co.uk

Kirsty May, larch on oak, heavy built - stainless steel and bronze fittings, stainless steel rowlocks, refurbished 2015. Optional British Seagull 4 hp two-stroke long shaft outboard. Lying Scotland. £3000. Contact: 01599 566236 habhais@yahoo.co.uk

Looking to sell your boat? Reach over 50,000 readers each month

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: Edward.Mannering@chelseamagazines.com with your text and image or call +44 (0) 20 7349 3747. The deadline for the next issue is 16/03/2016

SAMPLE STYLE A

SAMPLE STYLE B GOLANT GAFFER

No. 8. Excellent 2 berth coastal cruiser, built 1999. Length 18’ 9” Beam 7’ Draft 2’ 9” long keel, designed by Roger Dongray. Yanmar GM 10 regularly serviced. Very attractive boat lovingly maintained, Lying Fowey. £12,000 ono. Email: name@classicboat.co.uk 0000 11111111

STYLE A. 5cm x 2 columns. Either 160 words or 80 words plus colour photograph. £275 inc VAT and Internet

CUTTER

Built 1991, mahogany & epoxy hull similar to GRP, 1930’s spars & fittings, beautifully maintained. Visit www.idclark.force9.co.uk for photos and specification. £25,750 Contact 00000 111111

STYLE B. 5cm x 1 colums. Either 55 words or 30 words plus colour photograph. £155 inc VAT and Internet CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

BROKERAGE

Brokerage

To advertise call Edward Mannering +44 (0) 20 7349 3747 Edward.Mannering@chelseamagazines.com Copy Deadline for next issue is 16/03/2016

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

44’ Dickies of Tarbert Motor Sailer built in 1936. All teak varnished hull with solid teak deck. Major thorough refit in present professional ownership, this is a breath taking yacht in every way. Gardner 3cyl diesel plus all new systems. Fore and aft sleeping cabins with central saloon. A very unusual and stunning yacht ready for the season. Devon £84,000

40’ Colin Archer inspired yacht built in Norway in 1934 to very traditional lines. Pine planking on pine frames, epoxy sheathed plywood deck. Major bottom up rebuild in present ownership. 7 berths in a new and very comfortable interior. A very high quality and extremely capable yacht in superb condition. N. Ireland £95,000

58’ Fleur de Lys motor yacht built by Dagless in 1961. Only 2 owners from new. Largely original yacht throughout, twin Lister diesel engines. 6 berths in 3 sleeping cabins with large saloon and walk-in engine room. Spacious and very original yacht, must sell this season. Kent £43,000

32’ Twin engine motor launch built by Louis Gale, Paignton, in 1936. Major rebuild finished in 2007 with all new machinery systems and some hull work. Twin Nanni 64hp diesels give 14kts max. Interior with 2 berths, heads and galley. Large spacious cockpit with comfortable seating. Extremely attractive yacht with an unusual design in very nice condition. Holland £39,500

26’ Swedish ‘backdecker’ built in 1926 by one of Sweden’s most highly thought of shipwrights at the time. All varnished mahogany planking and deck. Volvo Penta 50hp petrol engine. Accommodation forward with berths, heads and galley. Always wintered undercover, immaculate condition. Germany €29,500 Euro.

32’ Centreboard bermudan cutter designed as a collaboration by Harrison Butler and Maurice Griffiths. Double diagonal hull construction with laid teak deck and raised top sides, completely rebuilt in ‘97. 4 berths with full standing headroom and separate heads. An interesting yacht in very smart condition. IOW £23,500

65’ Topsail Schooner yacht, as close to perfection as any traditional ship will come, she is one of the most stunning ships in UK. Currently coded Cat 2 with Cat 0 capability. A fast vessel with several Tall Ships Race overall wins to her name. 16 berths in nicely appointed cabins. Superb condition of rig, machinery and systems, recent refit and ready to go sailing. £395,000

49’ Danish gaff ketch built as a fishing vessel in 1918. Worked in the Baltic Sea until 1995 when she was converted to a yacht. Oak on oak hull with very sweet lines. 155hp Volvo diesel, 9 berth accommodation with separate aft cabin. A very nice example of her type in tidy condition. Germany £75,000

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 APRIL 2016

BROKERAGE

33 High Street, Poole BH15 1AB, England. Tel: + 44 (0)1202 330077

60 ft Charles E Nicholson Ketch 1924

62 ft Feadship Motor Yacht 1961

Charles E Nicholson in the top league of early 20th century designers imbued HURRICA V with all elegance of a classic yacht of the Edwardian era. Now fully restored, she lives on as an exemplar of the history of yachting and its legacy. The updating as a family yacht has been done wherever possible to maintain the character of her era and discrete modern sailing systems enable shorthanded family use. While not totally original, the accommodation has been beautifully arranged yet is extremely practical to a degree that is rare in a classic yacht. €1.295M VAT Unpaid Lying Australia

Some boats have that extra something; a magic that will stop you in your tracks and TIKY has it ! This is of course no accident as she is a Feadship and as “Boat International” wrote; a classic Feadship is a “piece of superyacht history”. TIKY’s re launch in 2014 followed a restoration that inspired three yachting magazines to publish articles in which testament is made to her restoring owner’s experience, stamina, eye for detail and good taste. TIKY lives again and probably in better shape than she ever was.

70 ft Laurent Giles Motor Yacht 1948 Designed by Jack Laurent Giles for a knowledgeable yachtsman in 1947; this stunning 70 ft motor yacht with her nimble semi displacement hull form can be used easily by just 2 people. WOODPECKER underwent a full restoration ten years ago and remains in impressive condition considerable attention has been paid to ensure her original character was retained with modiﬁcations made in some areas to enhance her practicality as a family cruising yacht. WOODPECKER is remarkably economical and capable of cruising well over 1,000 miles on one refuel.

45 ft Sparkman & Stephens New York 32 2010 In the mid-1930s the New York Yacht Club commissioned Sparkman & Stephens to design a new one-design and twenty of the now historic sailing yachts, known as the NY32 class were built by the boatyard of Henry B. Nevins of City Island, New York - none had been built since, until permission was given for the building of MASQUERADE as a one-time exception by Sparkman & Stephens. The result is considered a valued addition to the class and thus hull number 21 has been assigned – built using a strip planked and epoxy method but with many of the original ﬁttings she is simply breathtaking! €350,000 Lying Netherlands

£450,000

Lying Malta

56 ft William McBryde Gaff Ketch 1952 Designed by W.G McBryde, YVES CHRISTIAN is a proper little ship drawn at a time when this was appreciated – sea kindly and comfortable she has plenty of beam, which with her firm sections and snug ketch rig make her very stiff - and she was originally designed for long sea trips and Mediterranean cruising. Her current owners have attended with great attention and dedication to the period and detail of the boat’s structure, meaning that her systems and interior are impressive. This is a vessel with little left to do but perhaps prepare a passage plan for somewhere you have always wanted to go to, very confident she will look after you. £280,000 Lying UK

€1.3M

Lying Italy

47 ft Stow & Sons Gaff Yawl 1895 VALERIE has been beautifully and sympathetically rebuilt, commensurate with her vintage, which at nigh on 120 years makes her a genuine historical artefact. Thus an object of such rarity, beauty and desirability can be experienced and enjoyed as was intended by her maker so many tides ago. The simplicity of her finish and fit-out with the re-introduction of her original yawl rig makes her a handy craft capable of being easily sailed by a small crew. Partial completion of her interior enables a new owner to specify his own accommodation arrangements, for which an outline option exists. £195,000 Lying UK

email: info@sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk

63 ft Samuel White Gentleman’s Motor Yacht 1963 CARAMBA’s supreme good looks are not accidental – her sheer line, beautifully balanced proportions and purposeful proﬁle are all in immaculate good taste. We ﬁrst met her as a family yacht in Corfu, professionally skippered and run by two people. Her current owner by contrast looks after the boat and often cruises her alone. With her wide and protected bulwarks, expansive aft deck, her little ship ambience with commanding bridge and intimate cabin layout; she is living testament to her old school designer Fred Parker’s skill. They don’t make them like this anymore.. £850,000 Lying UK

60 ft Bjarne Aas 12m CR Sloop 1955 Bjarne Aas probably best known for the International One Design Class also achieved much with the success of International Rule Metre boats - he was one of the brains behind the CR (Cruiser / Racer) Rule of 1950. His boats were beautiful, fast and seaworthy, particularly in heavy weather. A 12 m Cruiser Racer is a breathtaking combination of power, grace - and yet accommodation in NORDLYS’ case, to give comfort and effortless style. Built to Lloyds 100 A1 by the renowned Molich yard, she remains little changed.

€312,000

Lying Denmark

48 ft Dickies of Tarbert Gaff Ketch 1920 It is no wonder that MORNA with her canoe stern and fine drawn out ends has found over the years owners who adore her - with more volume below and expansive deck space, she has always proved the perfect cruising boat. Dickie’s yard knew how to build strong and supremely seaworthy boats and in MORNA Peter Dickie’s passion for beautiful yachts is also very evident - along with a little influence from Albert Strange and William Fife II perhaps?

£135,000

Lying Ireland

www.sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

BROKERAGE

For more information about any of these boats call 01491 578870 mobile 07813 917730 email gillian@hscboats.co.uk www.hscboats.co.uk

Nerissa - a rare thirties 55ft Taylor Bates recently emerged from a 2 year refurbishment programme and ready for extensive cruising. Fantastic history and charming interior. Fedalma II - a 47ft Fox of Ipswich motoryacht with flying bridge, original thirties interior. An historic Dunkirk Little Ship.

Luxury tender - a superb example of Henwood and Dean workmanship on a Wolstenholme hull, diesel engine, wine cooler, air conditioned cabin, as new.

Amoreena is a 45ft Bates Starcraft with a stunning interior and large flying bridge suitable for sea or river work. Lying Chichester ashore.

A bijou Bates Starcraft, ideal weekender in lovely condition with hood and new internal fabrics.

New for 2016, the 17ft Mallard as featured in Classic Boat issue 331, a British made contemporary classic to order for spring delivery.

www.mjlewisboatsales.com A Specialist Brokerage service for Classic Vessels, Traditional Yachts & Work Boats. Restorations and Rebuilds, GRP & Wooden Dinghies.

20m Steilsteven m/b 1914 122k

West Solent One Design W19 1927 45k

75ft ex Admiralty MFV 1944 35k

41ft Silverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s m/v 1935 50k

10.6 Arnside Prawner 1900 19.5k

13m River Boat 1920 25k

36ft Sailing Smack 1854 20k

28ft T&Y Smack Yacht 1990 27.5k

25ft Deben 4t WM.Blake 1946 8.9k 30ft ECOD GU.Laws 1913 12.5k 22ft Nicholson Gaffer 1910 5.95k 23ft Harding Gaff Cutter 1960 9.75k 23ft St Mawes Launch 1930 5.35k

TRADITIONAL RIGGERS TSRIGGING LTD. Suppliers to the Trade of HEMPELS PAINT PRODUCTS

DOWNS ROAD BOATYARD, ESSEX 82

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

ON SITE East Coast Distributors

TEL: 01621 859373

Craftsmanship Yard News

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

BRITAIN

Classic chandleries change hands Two of Britain’s best-loved traditional chandleries recently changed hands in unrelated sales. Traditional Boat Supplies was bought by Bristol-based boatbuilder Mark Rolt, and Classic Marine was bought by Suffolk Yacht Harbour (SYH). See p48 to learn more about SYH boss Jonathan Dyke. Both John Greenaway (Traditional Boat Supplies or just ‘TBS’) and Moray Boat Show, holding tools and techniques demonstrations for stand visitors. John, in his late 70s, is retiring, no doubt to continue living by his mantra – “independence… tis ‘andsome”. John would like to thank CB readers and friends for “the most wonderful 20 years of my life” while running TBS, and is

CB ARCHIVES

MacPhail (Classic Marine) were regulars on our feature stands at the London

delighted to have found a new proprietor of the caliber of Mark Rolt, who will

Above: John

run the business from his Bristol yard. More from Mark soon no doubt, once

Greenaway and, right,

he has got his feet properly under the table. Moray, meanwhile, continues

a bronze fitting from

to trade in his capacity as a metal worker under the new name of Bronzework

Classic Marine

Marine. His new website is bronzeworkmarine.co.uk. SYH is at syharbour.co.uk.

UK/USA

Drascombes head stateside Churchouse Boats C/O ARWEN MARINE

has appointed a North American ADRIAN MORGAN

agent for its famous Drascombe range of daysailers: Eric Datry, a lifelong Drascombe sailor. North American

ULLAPOOL, SCOTLAND

enquiries should now

A bigger Auk

CLAIROIX, FRANCE

001 404 931 2698 or

Stitch-and-tape pointu

The latest boat from CB columnist Adrian Morgan

eric.drascombe@

Small boat maestro François Vivier has a lifelong association

(see p33) is a stretched (8ft 9in/2.7m) version of Iain

gmail.com.

with the workboats of the Breton coast where he lives, but

be directed to Eric on

Oughtred’s popular Auk design in larch planks on

Meanwhile,

he has long dreamed of designing a Mediterranean ‘pointu’

steamed timbers, oak stem and copper riveting. The

progress to return the

or ‘barquette’ for home build. These double-ended fishing

aft slat of three that make up the rowing thwart can

very first wooden

boats are emblems of the Mediterranean coast and are

be added to allow the owner's young daughters to

lugger Katharine Mary

seen in their thousands to this day. This one had to be

row closer to the rowlocks, or removed for adults. The

to good condition for

traditional in appearance but buildable by an amateur with

sprit rig will go in when the owner and family have

display at the 2017

only a garage for space. The length and beam of 5m and

gained confidence using it as a rowing boat on its new

London Boat Show is

1.75m (16ft 5in and 5ft 8in) are authentic for this sort of

home, a big loch in Caithness. Build time was about 250

steady. She was

craft. The unusual construction is carvel stitch-and-tape

hours and the price under £4,000. “Far too cheap, but

recently bought by

ply, 10 planks a side, on a plywood ‘eggbox’ (interlocking

they used to knock out boats like this two a penny. I

Lauren and Hannah

skeleton of bulkheads and longitudinals – very strong!). The

am happy to try to match an equivalent plastic boat,

Harwood (daughters

rig is a standing lateen main with jib, but the boat can take

albeit one that takes an hour to extrude,” said Adrian.

of Simon and Sharon

the trickier ‘Catalan’ dipping lateen (no jib). The first boat,

“The price would be higher for a concours finish. I

Harwood, owners of

Hasta Cipango, has now been launched by Arwen Marine

believe in a good, strong boat, not a grand piano.”

Churchouse Boats).

and so far has reportedly handled well at sea.

More like this at classicboat.co.uk/category/yard-news 84

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

CRAFTSMANSHIP

BRISTOL

Re-skinned

When we reported in last month’s YN that Glendhu, the 1950-built, 25ft (7.6m) Mylne-designed Glen Glass sloop was being skinned in three layers of utile using the tired hull as an armature (rather than a blank chequebook restoration, a continuing diet of bodges or the chainsaw), we were not sure what to expect. Well, judge for yourself. Pretty enough? We don’t know much about Mylne’s Glen Class at the moment – but we will, having already begged the owner for a sail and the rights to do the full story (he said yes!). TIM LOFTUS

NETHERLANDS

J builders unite Vitters Shipyard and the management of Claasen Shipyard have united to form Claasen Shipyards. Vitters is currently busy with two new sailing yachts of 100ft (31m) or over, not to mention the world’s largest J-Class Svea. Claasen, whose Truly Classic 127 is shortlisted for this year’s CB awards, and builder of the J-Class Lionheart, is currently building its third Truly Classic 90 and a Pilot Classic 77, as well as various refit projects. The yards will retain their existing separate facilities, but

YANGON, MYANMAR

New lease of life for schooner

collaborate on future projects. The Claasen yard is pictured above, the Vitters yard below.

With skilled labour available at $11 (£7.80) per day, giving an ageing vessel a second lease of life is a real option in many parts of southeast Asia, as boat owners have known for some time. Trevor Appleby found the Dudley Dix-designed, 1990-built, 100ft (31m) steel schooner Dallinghoo laid up in Malaysia in a “poor state of repair” and bought her wth a view to making her lovely once again. This he achieved by a general restoration to good condition, but also by having a counter stern added (she previously had a transom stern). He has had the vessel re-rigged to keep everything in proportion and the boat should look a picture when she sets sail once again with a new suit of tan-coloured sails. The new aft deck, as well as adding elegance, has meant an extra 11ft 6in (3.5m) in LOA, providing enough space for a good-sized aft deck and a lazarette. The work was supervised by two Australian shipwrights, and carried out at the same shipyard – the Myanmar Shipyard – that built the steel Wm Fife replica schooner Sunshine (102ft/31m) in 2004 (CB213). Myanmar (Burma) is also the home of Burma teak of course, so the finest teak was available at the best possible price. Dallinghoo was named after the small Suffolk village where Captain Francis Light (the future founder of Malaysia) was born in 1740. CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

CRAFTSMANSHIP

RELAX, IT’S A RUSTLER The venerable name of Rustler has long been associated with timeless bluewater cruising yachts. We visit the Cornish yard where they are built STORY STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES PHOTOS MERVYN MAGGS

oatyards usually fall into categories, like the tumbledown shed up a creek where the old boy in blue overalls supervises a few apprentices and a team of local lads learning their trade, as they keep a small fleet of old wooden yachts going for their owners; or the big, high-tech facilities like the nearby Pendennis yard. Rustler doesn’t belong in either category, which is fitting because neither do its yachts. Rustler is not desperately committed to a traditional look, for instance, although by and large its boats fulfil the Spirit of Tradition criteria in terms of overall appearance. The firm’s structure and MO are refreshingly simple, too: two lifelong sailors and 40 or so craftsmen with an unprepossessing metal building on the outskirts of Falmouth, who share a commitment to building attractive, rock-solid, well-finished and sweet sailing British yachts by hand in GRP. It’s hardly a ground breaking idea; the surprise is that co-owners Nick Offord (we covered the story of his Holman yacht Cerinthe last month) and Adrian Jones (“other people’s boats, enviable whisky collection”) have made it work so well that they sell about a dozen boats a year. The boat that built the dynasty is the long-keeled, Holman and Pye-designed GRP Rustler 36, still one of the line-up. The R36 is one of the most attractive and capable of the 1960s-style GRP long-keelers, and top choice for the 2018 Golden Globe re-enactment race. Designed for GRP in 1980 by Don Pye and David Cooper (Holman and Pye), she was a development of the

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

YARD VISIT

RUSTLER YACHTS

“Creating the finished boat is nearly all done in house”

GRP Rustler 31 and exhibits the Holman traits: gentle sheer, spoon bow, transom stern and masthead bermudan sloop rig. Holman drew the 31 for Russell Anstey in Poole, a young boatbuilder and surfer, and the Rustler name was born. Ralph Hogg bought the 36 moulds at the start of the 1980s and took them to Devon to set up as Orion Marine. “Cruising yachts hadn’t changed that much since Holman’s day,” said Adrian, as we sat in the Rustler office with its big plate-glass windows overlooking Carrick Roads. “It was still relevant then.” Chris Owen took over from Ralph in the 1990s and added the 42 to the range, then sold to David Offord in 1999. David’s son Nick is now the principal co-owner. In total, 130 R36s have been built, but the recent introduction of the R37, a foot (30cm) longer but 80 per cent more voluminous) has seen R36 orders slow to a trickle. “We still like to build them – it’s our history,” said Adrian, who bought into the firm with a 40 per cent stake in 2006. Since then he and Nick have been expanding the range rapidly. The ‘baby’ of the range – Rustler 24 – is the most popular boat and goes to the boat shows as the brand ambassador. It’s a traditional, long-keeled daysailer based on the Piper OD hull. The 33 is a fast, light ‘weekend’ yacht with some fabulous original retro styling (from Stephen Jones) and a modern underwater profile. The 37, 42 and 44 cruising yachts have a traditional sheer, transom and bow and a conservative, long-finned keel. The 44 has a modern cabin trunk.

CRAFTSMANSHIP

When pushed, Adrian names Morgan as Rustler’s automotive equivalent. We would have guessed Land Rover for the number of wealthy, married, retired couples in their 50s who buy these boats and sail around the world, but the Morgan badge works, sharing as it does the semi-bespoke serial builder status and love of quirkiness. Rustler Yachts does not always follow boilerplate modern yacht building and the end product works well, a result of Adrian and Nick’s experience in sailing (the former as a racing sailor, the latter as a racing man). Engines sit not under the companion, but encased in cabinetry in the centre of the saloon for better weight distribution; cleats, nav lights and helm’s benches pop up here and fold away there. The yard is quietly busy as we promenade the upper walkways overlooking the build bays. Half a dozen yachts are in build. “There’s no fat – there’s 40 of us and only Nick, a secretary and me in the office,” says Adrian. The rest are here on the floor, engaged in wiring, plumbing, joinery, fabrication and everything else to create the finished boat; it’s nearly all done in-house. Among them is the 37 – “our first digital boat” explained Adrian, that started life on a CAD programme, which then whispered its binary secrets to a five-axis router which cut out the moulds. Rustler Yachts, although ‘premium’, compare well in value to yachts from builders like Malo or Halberg Rassey. Half a million quid (for a nicely specced 44) is still half a million quid, but so far every

Above left: two R37s and an R42 Above right: Midway fit-out of a new R37 Facing page: Rustler is known for the quality of its cabinetry

boat has been bought without a loan. Many Rustler clients are retired couples in their 50s who spurn the ostentation of a bigger yacht for the Corinthian joy of real sailing and arriving in ports incognito. It’s a 70 per cent British market with the rest going overseas. “Even our clients who are major CEOs will pick up the phone to talk boats – typically they’d rather talk boats than work!” said Adrian. Having this sort of loyal customer base [not to mention Princess Anne – a 36, now a 44] helps to bring new boats to market. “We’re talking about a 57 – we’ve got someone ready to buy it and possibly others.” This is the stuff boatbuilders’ dreams are made of. And it doesn’t hurt that people at the top are getting richer and younger. In the old days, a Rustler 36 would be the last boat for a retired MD in his 60s, the pinnacle of his boat-owning career. These days, a number of clients get through two Rustlers before swallowing the anchor. Rustler doesn’t just build boats. A good slice of hard standing enables bread-and-butter work like craning and antifouling. Then there is the restoration side. There are four on the refit team and current projects include a Rustler 31 and a 1920s motor Falmouth quay punt built for Falmouth’s harbourmaster. A recent job was a rebuild of a (GRP) Van de Stadt Gallant 54. Projects for the future include a motor yacht, 53 and 63 footers, and supporting the Golden Globe Race in 2018. And, of course, British-built, modern classic yachts. Lots of them. CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

MARINE DIRECTORY

Marine Directory

To advertise call Edward Mannering +44 (0) 20 7349 3747 Edward.Mannering@chelseamagazines.com Copy Deadline for next issue is 16/03/2016

BOATBUILDERS Long-established boatyard, repairs, restorations and refits for traditional and modern boats, winter laying-up, storage and cranage.

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CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

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CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

The only one to be seen with! EM230 Compact Plus Ideal for ribs, motor vessels, fish farms, poles, marina entrances, buoys and land hazards.

EM230 COMPACT PLUS

Optional Extras Sealite or Carmanah solar powered lanterns, or Orionis. LED RINA approved to 2N miles. Available in yellow, orange, black, red or green.

Specifications Response RCS 23.38m2 Average RCS 2.27m2 @ + / -3째 Height 320mm Width 300mm Weight 1.9kg Lid Diameter 150mm Base Diameter 150mm

EM325 Top Mark For buoy upgrades, land or sea hazards. Thick UV resistant PE case to suit heavy navigation lights. Available with IALA and in yellow, red or green.

EM325

Specifications EM325 2 stack EM325 3 stack Maximum RCS 62.15m2 Maximum RCS 86.04m2 Average RCS 12.01m2 Average RCS 7.92m2 Height 706mm Height 513mm Weight 5.4kg Weight 7kg Diameter 365mm Diameter 365mm 4x12mm base fittings @ 200mm PCD with option top fixings to suit a navigation light of your choice. (replaces EM305 BM2/3 & EM305FPMS)

Specifications ECHOMAX EM700 Buoy Ideal for estuaries, harbours, inshore waters, dinghy or yacht race markers, riverside boat yards, yacht clubs and fish farms. Maintenance free, foam filled navigation buoys in yellow, red or green cones.

EM700-90 Height 900mm Width 700mm Weight 16.5kg Buoyancy 110kg Focal plain 707mm

EM700-135 Height 1350mm Width 700mm Weight 25kg Buoyancy 110kg Focal plain 1185mm

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CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

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CRAFTSMANSHIP

Boatbuilder’s Notes Restore a Baby Blake TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPH PETER SMITH

I had removed my Baby Blake from my 1951 8-tonne Gauntlet over 10 years ago, to replace it with a modern design. Now that this was not working, it was time to restore the original toilet! It had languished in a plastic bag, neglected in a corner of the back garden and was totally seized, with only the lid moveable. But I was motivated to attempt a restoration, to retain the authenticity of the original fitting on a vintage yacht, and on the discovery that a spare kit was available for all the perishables, such as the rubber seals and washers. But first I had to dismantle, ease and clean all the individual parts that make up the toilet. The biggest task was to remove some mild corrosion from the bore of the waste pump. This was done by wrapping wet and dry paper around a 10-inch paint roller of a diameter slightly larger than the bore of the pump. The fluffy material exerts enough pressure to rub the paper against the sides. Once it was shiny and smooth, I could reassemble the toilet. Some of the old bolts seared when I tightened them. However help was on hand from Spares Marine, which stocks all the individual parts of the complete range of Blake toilets, including the ceramic bowl. The bronze parts were given two coats of Hammerite paint. The Bakelite seat and lid came up spotless with Renapur Balsam and now the toilet is ready for action.

Spares Marine 01803 607299 sparesmarine.co.uk

CARVED SAW HANDLE

Brace and driver

One tradition lost when plastic replaced wood in saw handles was the

Of all the bits available for the carpenter’s brace, one of the

wheat grain carving which adorned a treasured saw. In 19th century

most useful in boatbuilding, where screws can be large and

Sheffield where this tenon saw was made by Richard Ibbotson there were

timbers tough, is the screwdriver bit. Since the handle of a

scores of saw makers, each vying to outdo the others with their quality of

standard screwdriver is only a few diameters wider than

steel and – not least – the beauty of their handles. Note the extravagant

the bit itself, the torque you can develop with it is limited

rearward-facing horns shaped to fit beneath the heel of the hand and

by your pain threshold as the handle chews into the palm

between the thumb and forefinger, and the sinuous ‘lamb’s tongue’ licking

of your hand. Then again, a well-bedded screw can bring a

forward to the blade – standard factory-finished features in that elegant

power driver to a whining standstill.

age. But the delicate wheat grain motif flexing around the aperture was

However, with a screwdriver bit in a carpenter’s brace, your

carved by the saw’s proud owner. By the First World War the wheat grain

body weight behind the pad and one hand on the crank,

motif had itself become a standard feature among large manufacturers who

you should generate enough torque to start a vintage

applied it at the works using high-speed rotary cutters.

Bentley on a frosty morning, driving big screws in or extracting them with ease and control. CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

JAMES DODDS

Varuna, Horn Timbers

oil on linen

90 x 100 cms

353⁄8 x 393⁄8 ins

Renowned on both sides of the Atlantic, James Dodds is a painter of working boats. “What all my paintings are fundamentally about is the balance between the known and the unknowable: the boats with all my knowledge about how they are made matched by the dialogue with the paint; using what skill I have to create a piece of art that contains more than just the sum of its parts but, hopefully, something of the human spirit also. It’s about using head (idea), heart (feelings) and hand (skill) – a creative holy trinity. And I do think that work is a form of prayer or meditation. I long for that timeless out-of-body moment when everything is working well.” James Dodds

Exhibition 6th – 22nd April 2016 Exhibition catalogue available £12.50 inc p&p

MessuM’s www.messums.com 28 Cork Street, London W1S 3NG Telephone: +44 (0)20 7437 5545

CRAFTSMANSHIP

TraditionalNotes Tool Boatbuilder’s

DADO PLANE STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS

secured by well-fitting wooden

Clockwise from

are being taken. Both hands are used,

ROBIN GATES

wedges require only a light tap of the

above: cutting a

one above the toe applying

hammer for correct adjustment which

dado across the

downforce at the start of the cut and

is gauged by eye and finger tip.

grain; nicker,

the other at the heel to propel the

Although the dado plane lacks the

depth stop

plane and ensure the blade remains

and you will find among the

fence which keeps a plough or fillister

and blade;

cutting to the very end of the dado.

smoothers, ploughs and fillisters a

running straight, it is usual to clamp

showing how the

dado plane or two. Technically a dado

or lightly nail a batten across the

nicker precedes

here has had at least five owners

is the name given to a channel that

work for the stock to bear against.

the blade

since new, and it has survived the

runs across the grain of a board – in

Then the first pass with the plane

generations in fine fettle. Today it zips

the housed joints where the steps

should be in reverse, using the nicker

through the timber as quietly as a

meet the rails of a companionway

only to make its twin incisions

pencil sharpener, with shavings falling

ladder, for example. This plane cuts

through the surface fibres. The

from its shapely escapement as

a 3/4in dado; a different plane is

forward planing begins at the end of

gently as autumn leaves.

needed for each width.

the dado, working back a little with

Reach back a hundred years into the depths of a yacht joiner’s tool chest

Although its narrow stock

each pass until full-length shavings

Remarkably, the plane pictured

NEXT MONTH: The combination set

supporting a skewed blade resembles a rebate plane, which is used parallel to the grain to cut a step in the edge of a board, if a rebate plane were used across the grain the corners of its blade would tear up the fibres leaving splintered edges. What equips the dado plane for its special job is the double-spurred iron or nicker which severs the fibres at the edges of the dado in advance of the blade. It also has a screw-mounted stop operated by a turn button facilitating repeat cuts to a set depth – up to ½in, in this case. The blade and nicker CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

Letters LETTER OF THE MONTH SUPPORTED BY OLD PULTENEY WHISKY CRAFTSMANSHIP 3

Owner’s cabin. Templating around original items (in darker wood) 4

Ceiling panels and

COURTESY OF BRIAN BYRNES

bunks in. The deckhouse is put on later, to improve 3

access for this work.

Note the settee-back balustraded fiddle 5

Trying fabrics 6

Drinks cabinet, with 10-12 varnish layers, in new (African) mahogany. Note the original (American)

MORWENNA 1914 LINTON HOPE SCHOONER

mahogany panel on the right

THE RESTORATION PART THREE

THE INTERIOR 8

Chain locker with two pipecots and sail

Mizzen for Fox

stowage 8

Original drop-leaf, gimballed saloon

table, re-ballasted and gimballed

The first stage was to

template for

Owner’s cabin

head-room, sole-level

complete: bunk front slides out on hidden

and bulkheads 2

Bunk front is original, with a new skeleton. The step also acts as a seat

PHOTOS: MICHEL LE COZ

ot for the first time on the Morwenna project, boatyard and owner found themselves in agreement for different reasons. Owner Stéphane Monnier’s authenticity charter ruled out modern glue for joining the internal cabinetry; but it happens to be standard practice at Chantier du Guip not to glue interiors, so that they can be disassembled for such tasks as inspecting the keelbolts. In terms of engines, Monnier chose to reinstate Linton Hope’s original plan for two engines (she had one before the restoration) but their smaller size meant changes to the original layout that were probably beneficial, including moving the galley aft from the bows. The general plan was to save original material where possible and replace authentically if not, something which kept Stéphane up for many nights examining catalogues of fittings. The internal cabinetry was made mostly in mahogany by three cabinetmakers at Guip yard over a period of three years: Francis Baton, Cyrille Houssin then Bernard Mauffret. A lot of work, but the result is very pleasing.

rails over drawers to create small double 10

Main companionway; note handrail

CLASSIC BOAT FEBRUARY 2016

NEXT MONTH RESTORING ENGINE & SPARS CLASSIC BOAT FEBRUARY 2016

CB332 Morwenna Pt3 INTERIOR.indd All Pages

01/02/2016 12:08

Big or small, it’s dirty work! It was fascinating to see in your February issue the interior work done on the cutter Morwenna and also on Cambria, which when you break it down is no different to what I did when I refitted my Folkboat. Yes, it was different in scale, but only in places. Cabinetry is the same

I have sent you a reproduction of an oil painting that I worked on back in the late 1950s. As you will see there are two yachts, Huff of Arklow and also Fred Brownlee’s Flying Fox, as they pass the Muglins in Dublin Bay. Two things to notice: the coachroof of Huff was then varnished, not painted white. Also, the Flying Fox is rigged with a later addition of a mizzen, as Mr Brownlee discovered that she needed more power to her original rig as designed by Uffa. Brian Byrnes, Dublin, Ireland

whatever boat you’re on and for most elements of boat restoration the skills are the same, however big the ultimate job. These boats exist in a glamorous world, but there is no difference between them and me when it comes to a refit. The pockets might be deeper in some cases but the nature of the job doesn’t change. Furthermore, I was impressed seeing Cambria’s skipper getting stuck in. It’s dirty work. NIGEL SHARP

James Hardy, Dorset

Visiting Huff’s birthplace At some time in the 1970s a good friend, Jack Sharples, a dedicated sailor, bought Huff of Arklow and kept her up at Glasson Dock at the mouth of the River Lune, near Lancaster. TALLSHIPSTOCK

During his ownership he sailed her extensively around the Irish

Tall Ship lines This photo of Amerigo Vespucci shows lines trailing in the water from her aft

Sea and in the Western Isles of Scotland. On one very wet trip, I sailed with him down to Crosshaven and Kinsale. On the way back in thick fog, we eventually found the narrow gap in Arklow Bank for a visit to the town of Arklow. No GPS or posh navigating stuff in those days! He was keen to visit the boat’s birthplace, expecting an enthralled welcome for this thoroughbred offspring of theirs. It was a rainy Sunday, there was nobody at the boatyard and what few there were in the

boats. Don’t trailing lines when returning to port mean someone’s died on board?

town didn’t seem overly interested, so after a good night in

Stephan Thomas Vitas, via email

the pub, and with Jack having to get back for work, it was up

Max Mudie, of tallshipstock.com replies:

It was certainly a privilege to sail this special boat. A great

at the crack of dawn and the sail back to Glasson Dock.

I know of no sign to indicate loss of life aboard beyond the ensign at half mast.

experience never to be forgotten...and could she move! More

These are lifelines that lead from between the davits down to the boat that is

like sailing a lively dinghy than a yacht. She was inclined to be

attached to them, used to take some of the weight off when lowering or raising

a little lacking in space below compared to her length and a

the gig or whaler. They are usually led into the boat but are running into the

bit privative when it came to the domestic side of things,

water here as something for a MOB to grab hold of. Most of the UK fleet doesn’t

when in Jack’s ownership. A stiff-upper-lip domain.

use davits and have their away or rescue boats on hydraulic cranes.

Roger Murray, via email

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

LETTERS

Classic Boat NOVEMBER 2015

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T H E W O R L D’ S M O S T B E A U T I F U L B O A T S

MODERN CLASSIC New cutter,

WI N a sextant!

Classic Boat, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place,

traditional build

London SW3 3TQ

Whooper: she can’t stop beating new yachts! Fabian Bush The small boat guru speaks

email: cb@classicboat.co.uk On board the 15-M class Stunning photos

PLYWOOD NEW BUILD

BALTIC CLASSICS

Glory of the 12-Ms

www.classicboat.co.uk

BIRTH OF A LEGEND

The first ever Nelson

9 770950 331141

seth

Golant ketch CB329 Cover.indd 1

22/09/2015 17:00

Back issue: see the doctor I mislaid my November

ON SET WITH MOBY DICK

2015 Classic Boat. What is worse, I had

We go behind the scenes at the filming of the new Warner Bros movie In the Heart of the Sea

not had the chance to read it. Furthermore ALISON LANGLEY

our vet, no less, was also desperate to get hold of a copy, and

e all know Moby Dick, but not so many people, today at least, know that Herman Melville’s classic novel was based on a real incident. The demise of the New England whaling ship Essex, rammed by a massive sperm whale in the Pacific in 1820, and the subsequent grisly fate of its crew, was well known in the years following the sinking. Now the story is about to become so again, with the UK release last week of a major Warner Bros film directed by Ron Howard. In the Heart of the Sea is based on the gripping book by Nathaniel Philbrick of the same name, published in 2000, and the screenplay brings in Melville himself as a new facet to the story. After the whale attack, Essex’s crew took to open boats and survived for months, sailing and drifting for hundreds of miles around the Pacific, until they began to die from hunger or dehydration. A handful survived by eating their dead colleagues and were eventually rescued. Boatbuilder Jason Virok, of Exeter, Devon, was marine co-ordinator on the film, which was shot at

Clockwise from left: filming against blue screens at Warner Bros studios; gimballed deck on a model of The Phoenix; actor Cillian Murphy; Ron Howard directs below decks; a mast section; Chris Hemsworth (centre)

Warner Bros’ studios at Leavesden in northwest London, as well as on location in the Canary Islands. A former boatyard owner in San Francisco, Virok rigged the real and mock Tall Ships, taught lead actor Chris Hemsworth to sail and doubled for him in key scenes, during which he wore a muscle-suit to match Hemsworth’s impressive physique. Charleston-based, two-masted Tall Ship The Phoenix, built in 1929, was used as the three-masted Essex for the on-location filming out of the Canaries, but work started long before that, by recreating sections of The Phoenix’s rig and planting them into a field at Leavesden. This allowed filming to take place in the loftier parts of the topmasts, while only a few feet above the ground. Virok worked for years as professional crew on square-riggers and is a stickler for authenticity. “Every lashing, every knot, the buntlines, how people worked in the rig, even how we laid out the belaying pins, is how you’d find it on a ship of that period. The guys in the rig were professional Tall Ship crew. We were screaming for authenticity all the time and I think that really makes a difference in the film.”

In the Heart of the Sea is reissued this month by HarperCollins, priced £8.99

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF WARNER BROS

The open boats in the film were clinker-built doubleenders, based on 1820s Nantucket whalers, created for Warner Bros by Square Sail, which owns The Phoenix. Virok says: “They had spritsail rigs. We had a sail which had a grommet at the peak. We used one of the oars upside down and shoved it through the grommet with a hitch on the mast. That’s how they sailed the boats and that’s how we did it in the film.” The open boats took some knocks in filming and at times new rudders were being built daily. Virok and Callahan handled the main sailing scenes in the open boats, including one particularly tricky scene with an underwater cameraman filming from below as they circled within a small area, miles out at sea. Warner Bros also brought in shipwreck survivor Steve Callahan, whose book Adrift, 76 Days Lost at Sea told of his survival in a drifting liferaft. Callahan advised the actors on his own deteriorating mental and physical condition during his ordeal. The actors endured a lean diet, overseen by a nutritionist, to ensure they appeared suitably gaunt in the film’s final stages. In the Heart of the Sea was released on 26 December.

CLASSIC BOAT FEBRUARY 2016

CB332 Heart of the sea.indd All Pages

01/02/2016 12:12

as he had a nice little

Modern whaler design

Delta motorboat for

I was interested to read the article in your February issue

sale in it. Newsagent,

on the new film In the Heart of the Sea. I was contacted by

back issue dept,

the film’s art director with the design brief for the whaling

sailing club, fellow

boats used on screen. The boat they were going to use as

created by a combination of good design

subscriber? All to no

Essex (the whaling ship) was a bit shorter than the original,

and good salesmanship by the designer

avail. Until I went for

which meant that using ‘proper’ length whaling boats was

Starling Burgess, and luck. One hundred

my five-yearly MOT

going to look ridiculous. But they did not want stubby

boats had been paid for by October 1929

(you don’t want to

looking boats either. I was commissioned to design whaling

know). Doctor’s

boats based on the original 30ft New Bedford type,

surgery, waiting room,

brought down to just 24ft long, which looked the part, but

November Classic

which could still take a reasonable number of crew and be

Boat. ‘Please Do Not

big enough to do the job without being swamped. The

Remove’. Too bad...

drawings and details were sent to Square Sail, who then

needs must.

made the wood versions in double quick time. I drew up

Adrian Morgan

further details of similar boats but with a different length,

The Atlantic class (issue CB330) was

and were being built by Abeking & Rasmussen. After the November 1929 stock market crash, you could not sell a dinghy, much less a 32ft dayracing sloop. They were an excellent design, but infamous for the fact that when it blew, they needed constant bailing, a combination of light construction, leaking through the bottom and spray thrown into the big cockpit. This allowed me, despite being small, probably less than six stone aged 14, to be a regular crew. I was in the

Atlantic bailing

had tried everywhere

to be made in GRP, for other camera shots.

Classic Boat SEPTEMBER 2015

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Running a GAUNTLET

‘Spirit of Tradition is the future’ Sean McMillan

Graham Greene’s 8-tonner

BRITISH CLASSIC WEEK 79 historic yachts go racing

Plans for a similar clinker ply whaling boat are now available in the Selway Fisher Design catalogue.

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Paul Fisher selway-fisher.com

lee bilge pumping, informing the crew on the weather rail what was happening to leeward and throwing off the jib sheet

heavy weather, with no winches. Burgess was a little off on his scantlings as the Atlantics were infamous for breaking

East Coast’s finest

BLUFF BOWS IN THE MENAI

Conway One Design

Herreshoff 12.5 A classic design revisited ED BURNETT RETROSPECTIVE

His greatest boats

frames, except for a few, whose owners

I’ve just seen the September 2015

pull out every third frame and replace it

article by Nic

They were well balanced going to

28/07/2015 15:45

POW exchange

after one season’s racing had their yard with an oversized frame.

www.classicboat.co.uk

9 770950 331141

CB327 Cover September.indd 1

seth

I was too small to trim it in if we had

Fastnet 1925 How Jolie Brise won CLASSICS RACE IN SUFFOLK

MICHAEL KRUGER

when we tacked.

Compton about Nausikaa. As a young

windward, but with their big main and small

boy I sailed on her

jib, if the skipper had to do a hard port tack

with my uncle Alec

duck, it was essential that the main was

Ingle, who owned her

What’s my boat?

given a big ease.

after the war. I believe

Can anyone help me find information on my ship that I

he had exchanged a

bought about a year ago? It was built in 1951 or 1952 by

raced with no spinnakers, on a reach and

Black Label Bentley

Harry Feltham, Portsmouth, Spice Island, Broad Street.

downwind in a blow, since they had no

for her, sight unseen,

The official number shown in the Certificate of British

boom vangs, they were a bit squirrly to

whilst in Stalag III. He

Registry is 184.795, sail number 1102. It’s a wonderful boat

say the least.

had an eye for boats.

and I would appreciate any information on the shipyard, the

Don Street, via email

After selling Nausikaa

boat itself and the whereabouts of the other two similar

he bought Whooper.

boats that have been built.

Mike Ingle, via email

Michael Krüger, via email

During World War I, when they were

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

LETTERS Send your letters (and also any replies, please) to: Classic Boat, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ email: cb@classicboat.co.uk

Sensationalist and pointless I have been a purchaser of your magazine for years have boxes of them which I periodically re-read. Thirty-five years ago I read an article on Rozinante and the appeal was instant. There and then, captivated by her JULIE HOWARD

beautiful lines, I made a pledge to myself that I would build one. The years passed but my resolve remained strong. The more I read about Rozinante, the more convinced I became that I was right and in over 30 years I have never read a criticism of the design. On picking up the February issue of your magazine you can imagine my excitement when on the front cover Rozinante was there for all to see. I then read the article by Mr Theo Rye. There is nothing new, everything the

Thornycroft launch

My family and I are trying to research the history of our

writer said was obvious. I really did not see the point of the article at all. It is

recently acquired Thornycroft gentleman’s motor launch. It

simply written in a negative view just to be sensational.

was built in 1926 and still has the original 30hp RA4 petrol

I am having a Rozinante built by experts – the backbone and moulds were

paraffin Thornycroft engine, build number 410. The hull

constructed by Doug Hylan, Maine, and shipped to New Zealand. I thought

number appears to be missing and it has been renamed at

that I could complete her myself, but soon came to the realisation that her

some point. We have the SSR certificate from 1994, but

complex lines could be completed only by an expert. I was lucky enough to

speaking to the registrar, they cannot find a record of

be introduced to Marco Scuderi, boatbuilder and qualified naval architect,

Cloud Nine before this SSR 65359. No HI number was

who took over the project and will give me a yacht to be proud of.

registered with them at that time. We would love to know if

If you visit mcnshipwrights.com/wainamu you can view her progress and,

the engine number could unlock her history, or if anyone

it’s to be hoped, your readers will agree.

knows anything about the boat. It has spent several years

I am one of Mr Rye’s few people who are perfectly suited to the ownership

on the Broads, but was originally from London. We have a hand-written letter that suggests it was a Dunkirk Little

of a Rozinante. David Cranwell, New Zealand, via email

Ship. Any information would be gratefully received.

Thames skill

COURTESY OF GARRY FLASHMAN

NICK BURHNAM

Julie Howard, via email

Diving for Zulu

Load of old balls

Your article on bringing

Further to the article on Lady Hertha and Mr

the handsome gaff

Hawkins’ letter in January’s issue, the soft iron

cutter Aeolus up the

spheres on each side of the ship’s magnetic

tidal Thames and under

compass are called ‘quadrantal corrector’, because

Tower Bridge brought

they compensate for quadrantal compass error (i.e.

to mind the skill of

deviation). They are mounted on grooved brackets

bargemen and sailors

As you can imagine the diving was challenging, working

so that their distance from the compass may be

of old, for whom

at 120ft in very cold water and near zero visibility. The

adjusted appropriately. They form part of a

reaching the Port of

drastically improved scheme of compass

London was a

compensation devised by that brilliant scientist,

commercial necessity.

mathematician and engineer William Thompsom,

They did so with far

the boat could be positioned by 3-D triangulation.

ennobled as Lord Kelvin in 1892, which greatly

more cumbersome

Fascinating work, even in these conditions. The timberwork

reduced the effects of deviation in iron and later in

craft, although Aeolus

steel ships. That they are often referred to as “Lord

sounds quite a

Kelvin’s balls” is a manifestation of the sailor’s ribald

handful at times and

(pH7), and as such it appears not to support the organisms

sense of humour, of which I could give other

her crew deserve the

that rot timber. It is almost certain therefore, that our friend

examples but had better not.

greatest praise.

Anthony Rendell, Master Mariner, South Africa

David Esuer, Barcelona

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

I was fascinated by Vanessa Bird’s piece on The Zulu in the February issue. In 1970 I was a member of a small team which dived Loch Ness to survey an unknown wreck that may have been of historic significance. It turns out she was probably a Zulu, having sunk on her mooring.

water was pigmented, a bit like whisky, and absorbed rather than reflected the light. We defined a centreline and set up a series of reference points from which features of

was in excellent condition. Even the spars were intact. The water in the Loch is almost exactly neutral electrolytically

is still lying on the bottom, in close to pristine condition. Garry Flashman, via email

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+44 (0) 1795 419 842 quote P603 (for print) or P603D (for digital) CLASSIC BOAT MARCH 2016

PHONING

We test four sa head to head in

GRAPHICAARTIS/GETTY IMAGES)

Replacing the harpoon Dick Durham ponders what’s behind a recent spate of North Sea whale beachings

olo sailor Roy Hart trimmed and lit the wicks of his oil lamps after the boat’s electrics failed. The wind dropped as night fell and fog rolled in over the sheen of flat ocean. The only sound now was the dew drops pattering on the coach roof as they dripped off the boom. Somewhere ahead was Labrador, but not close enough to make landfall for at least three days. Roy dozed on the starboard bunk, at one with the stillness of the ocean, then he heard a strangulated moan. He sat up and became aware of a putrid smell. He sniffed the air, it was fishy. “I sat there transfixed. It was a humpback whale calling,” he said. Once upon a tide Roy’s visitor would have been hunted to provide the very oil burning in his cabin lamps, but limits on commercial whaling over recent decades have helped these leviathans proliferate once more. And yet before 2016 was more than two months old, 29 whales had beached themselves and died along the North Sea coasts of the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. Over just two weeks, six sperm whales were stranded on desolate beaches in Norfolk and Lincolnshire, collapsing under their own bulk as the tide ran off, or decomposing until they exploded. I witnessed a seventh, a minke whale, being dragged unceremoniously across the Maplin Sands by tracked personnel carriers from the army’s firing range at Shoeburyness at the mouth of the River Thames. It had washed up dead and was battering at the piles of the old submarine defence boom which yachtsmen skirt round en route to and from London. So what’s going on? In the recent past, military low frequency active sonar used in the detection of submarines has been blamed. Pressure changes made by loud sonar can cause haemorrhaging in cetaceans. Seventeen whales died in the Bahamas in 2000 following a US Navy sonar exercise. The Navy agreed that the dead whales had

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

“Before 2016 was more than two months old, 29 whales had beached themselves and died”

experienced acoustically induced haemorrhages, a tearing of the flesh around the ears. Scientists believe sonar caused them to become disorientated which led them to swim towards shoal waters instead of their natural habitat, the great deeps. Powerful sonar has also been blamed for causing whales to suffer decompression sickness also known as the ‘bends’; it’s thought whales can be panicked into surfacing too quickly. Now a new potential threat from sonar is emerging, as acoustic and seismic surveys are carried out by civil engineers probing which parts of the seabed are suitable to act as the foundations for the construction of wind turbine farms. One such project is the world’s biggest offshore wind farm on the Dogger Bank, 80 miles off the coast of Yorkshire, which has been given the green light by the UK Government. Danny Groves of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation charity told me: “At this point we simply don’t know why these whales have stranded, from Germany across to the UK coast, and in such large numbers. But noise from military exercises, using loud explosions or powerful sonar, or from exploration surveys at sea, can cause whales and dolphins to strand on the shoreline. “Remember, they live in a world of sound – using it to communicate, find food, and navigate. High levels of noise disrupt this world and threaten these creatures. “These latest strandings could well have been caused by navigational error. In the case of species that live in groups with strong social or family bonds, a lead animal in trouble may put the whole group into danger.” The £7 billion Dogger Bank project could eventually provide power for two million homes. What a horrible irony it would be if we discover that man has simply replaced the harpoon with the sonic cannon to illuminate our world.

Image supplied by Tim Gilmore Ltd.

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