Classic Boat Restoring Classics

Classic Boat

AUTUMN 2018

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

Restoring classics

RARE HERITAGE 1913 gaffer back in action AMERICAN MASTERPIECE S&S yawl on a comeback tour AUSTRALIA’S FINEST Country’s first 8-Metre EXPERT VIEWS Boatbuilders speak out

Restoration: 6mr US114

Refit: 8mr If

With of a field of dreams classic and a workshop to realise this We have a track record restoring yachts andthem, exciting thriving east coast boatyard is seeking boat owners to work new builds, for clients all over the world. with on future restorations and refits. Please call or visit us at:

www.demonyachts.co.uk Want to restore a classic but can’t find the right 01728 yacht?452019 We have New Builds / available Restoration /by Refidesigners t / Repair / Design CNCFife, Cutting / Storage R. / Lifting projects such&as; Sibbick, E. Froude and A. E. Payne. Please call or visit us at:

www.demonyachts.co.uk 01728 452019 New Builds / Restoration / Refit / Repair Design / CNC Cutting / Storage / Lifting New build: Flying Duckman

Restoration: Powder Monkey

With a field of dreams and a workshop to realise them, this thriving east coast boatyard is seeking boat owners to work with on future restorations and refits. Please call or visit us at:

www.demonyachts.co.uk 01728 452019

New Builds / Restoration / Refit / Repair / Design & CNC Cutting / Storage / Lifting Rowing Boats

New build: Ocean

New build: Kite

RESTORATION SPLENDOUR

ROB PEAKE, EDITOR

Welcome to a special digital issue of Classic Boat magazine, focussing on the world of restorations. The next 30 pages showcases three of the most stunning yachts restored over the past year, two in the USA, one in Australia. The yachts in question are already well-known in the global classic scene, having raced widely since their respective relaunches, their fresh varnish, polished gear and new sails all drawing onlookers aplenty as they tie up, countless social media ‘likes’ following on. Since being photographed for these pages they have raced in the Med, in the Caribbean, in the Baltic, in Sydney Harbour. They represent the very best and most professional side of classic yacht restoring and racing, but each is a private project, with one proud owner at the helm, having invested signficant amounts of time, energy and money into bringing a historic old boat back to life.

Elsewhere in the magazine we talk to some of the key people in the world of yacht restorations and hear about the big projects ongoing now.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into the pinnacle of the classic world in 2018 A GAME OF CHANCE and maybe it will inspire you to invest in a classic of your own. Each month in the full, print version of Classic Boat magazine we feature ‘affordable’ wooden boats, as well as traditional Fabulous S&S on a triumphant seamanship and woodworking advice. comeback tour The S&S yawl Mah Jong was drying out on a Caribbean beach, but one man saw her potential. What followed would change both of their lives

TIM WRIGHT PHOTOACTION>COM

WORDS KATHY MANSFIELD

4

Restoration digi mag Mah Jong.indd 4-5

RESTORATION SPECIAL

RESTORATION SPECIAL

LUCKY CHIPS

Theo Danel Artis fhsdfh xdfh xdfh

“

In striv dftdt iftyi ft7 ifgyjghkftyi dyj d 6 ughjd cgjcr cghjc jcfgjdtyj ydr d srtysrtu e6u e6u e56u e6ue6u erte6u e6ueu drtj kdrth dt fgdry 6u sttu st s df ewryser ysertsre sdhfgh xfghxdfhxdfhxdfh xfhj drtj djdthd jd su 6u srtdf jdrtjd dtjdjdjdjdtjstd st td hshsrs gjyj gjf dthdrtu dtitu fty fty gjcjls.

WHAT DOES RESTORATION

classicboat.co.uk Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ EDITORIAL Editor Rob Peake +44 (0)203 943 9255 rob.peake@classicboat.co.uk Associate Editor Steffan Meyric Hughes +44 (0)203 943 9256 steffan@classicboat.co.uk Senior Art Editor Peter Smith +44 (0)203 943 9257 peter.smith@classicboat.co.uk Publishing Consultant Martin Nott ADVERTISING Jack Shannon +44 (0)207 349 3731 jack.shannon@chelseamagazines.com Hugo Segrave +44 (0)207 349 3794 hugo.segrave@chelseamagazines.com Advertisement Production Allpointsmedia +44 (0)1202 472781 allpointsmedia.co.uk Published Monthly ISSN: 0950 3315 USA US$12.50 Canada C$11.95 Australia A$11.95 Managing Director Paul Dobson Deputy Managing Director Steve Ross Commercial Director Vicki Gavin Publisher Simon Temlett Digital Manager James Dobson

MEAN TO YOU?

We asked boatbuilders, naval architects, owners and others for their definition

”

The process of restoration gives us the opportunity not only to re-build a historical vessel in the traditional way for all to see but also to learn the processes and thoughts that have become the roots of modern practice and technology. This process begins with detailed research and continues long after launch; it is important to adapt the way you sail to the quirks of the boat rather than adapting and modifying the yacht to suit modern sailing practices. That said, the use of some modern adhesives and coatings to aid longevity and conservation without changing the overall structural arrangement should be acceptable, it is important that current safety legislation is allowed for and it is always better that a yacht is restored to an owner’s requirements for comfort and usability than left to rot forever on the foreshore.

“

In striv dftdt iftyi ft7 ifgyjghkftyi dyj d 6 ughjd cgjcr cghjc jcfgjdtyj ydr d srtysrtu e6u e6u e56u e6ue6u erte6u e6ueu drtj kdrth dt fgdry 6u sttu st s df ewryser ysertsre sdhfgh xfghxdfhxdfhxdfh xfhj drtj djdthd jd s srtdft jdft drtcfgh xdf u 6u srtd srtyser ysrthd hsdr hserf jdrtjd

”

WORDS NIGEL SHARP PHOTOGRAPHS CARLO BORLENGHI

”

Donn Costanzo, Wooden Boatworks, Long Island

Joe Loughborough, LMI, Rhode Island

A rare P-Class designed by Starling Burgess in 1913 is racing again – and looking good enough to eat

Paul Spooner, Paul Spooner Design, Hampshire

“

Sam Temple Azsd s fhsdfh xdfh xdfh

07/09/2018 12:29

Carter Richardson, East Passage Boatwrights, Rhode Island

Alex BrainerdWooden Artisan Boat works

“

Restoration these days has taken on some fairly broad end stops ranging from some varnish, paint and new curtains to ‘full-on’ from the keel up re-builds. For meaning I’d refer to the latter – an, as faithful to the original, rejuvenation or replacement of anything from keel to mast head, that has not weathered well with use and years; some structural improvement and a little ‘bling’. Then you have yourself a restoration.

”

12

“

A restoration is going to be a compromise. In the end, it is an interpretation of a moment in history combined with the knowledge, experience and limitations of its restorer.

”

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATIION DIGI MAG

“

In striving for ultimate quality, consistency, and efficiency at

Artisan Boatworks we have distilled our holistic approach to yacht restoration down to three principles: return hull shape,

“

Restoration means revival. An opportunity to

bring a boat back to life using new materials, both traditional and modern, to sustain her for

rig, hardware, and joinery details to original appearance; preserve as much original material as possible while ensuring

another lifetime. A restoration allows the boat to adapt to the ever-evolving seas while keeping her

objective lifespan; and correct proven deficiencies in engineering and/or materials.

spirit intact.

”

”

13

CLASSIC BOATRESTORATION DIGI MAG

12 Restoration Vox Pop.indd All Pages

07/09/2018 12:30

Expert boatbuilders share their thoughts on ‘restorations’

14 Restoration digi mag Chips.indd 14-15

07/09/2018 12:28

Rare 1913 P-Class yacht is back in race action, in the Med

Restoration News Craftsmanship

DEFYING THE ODDS The first Australian 8-Metre, Defiance, was designed and built by one man in his back yard. It’s a very Australian story, says the boat’s current owner...

WORDS NIGEL SHARP PHOTOGRAPHS RICHARD BENNETT AND NIGEL SHARP

LOUGHBOROUGH MARINE INTERESTS, PORTSMOUTH, RI

Bermuda winner returns

NEW ZEALAND

THE

Arch Logan yacht re-launched

For English émigré Joe Loughborough, who runs LMI Marine Interests in Rhode Island, the big project right now is Kirawan, pictured. She's not a

On 29 April, Auckland Harbour bore witness to the spectacle of the re-launch of the 1904 gaff cutter Ariki, designed and

famous yacht by a designer with the kudos of Herreshoff or Stephens, but certainly she deserves to be. She was drawn in 1936 by Philip Rhodes,

built by Arch Logan, New Zealand’s answer to Fife III. She was bought by Andrew Barnes and Charlotte Lockhart in

CHELSEA

MAGAZINE

December 2016, who sent her to boatbuilder Robin Kenyon of Auckland, who started a complete restoration in April 2017. Not only is she by New Zealand’s most hallowed designer (Arch Logan was actually born in Scotland to Scottish parents, but moved to the other side of the world at the age of nine), but her triple-diagonal hull is built in a wood of

Defiance in her

almost mythical status – kauri pine. She’s 54ft (16.5m) over spars, with a waterline length of 36ft 6in (11.1m). Her

successful pre-WW2

displacement, as befits her racing purpose, is just 9.35 tonnes. Dinghy cruising maestro and occasional CB contributor

days, gaff-rigged

Roger Barnes (brother of the owner) has been out to get the full story for us – so more soon!

despite her 1935

yacht he ever designed, the 12-M Weatherly, won the 1962 America's Cup. Kirawan herself won the 1936 Newport-Bermuda Race in 45 knots of of wind, beating the S&S Stormy Weather boat for boat. The 53ft (16.2m) fractional-rigged cutter, built by Jakobson and Peterson of Brooklyn, NY, has had a difficult history of half-completed restorations, the first of which Joe describes as "lots of lipstick on a pig", and the second of which, a replank, was good, but the owner ran out of money. She was found recently by a new, local owner, who has sent her to LMI for the full works. As for the new interior, he showed Joe a photo of the 1937 Alden yacht Sonata, featured in our December 2017 issue, and said simply: "I want that!" He aims to take Kirawan back to the scene of her former glory, in the 2020 Newport-Bermuda Race.

SOUTHWOLD, SUFFOLK

Saunders-Roe motor yacht The 1936-built Saunders-Roe 'TSMY' (twin-screw motor yacht) Magyar that we saw halfway through restoration at Harbour Marine Services two years ago was the unofficial star of the show at the recent

LTD

Thames Traditional Boat Festival (see p16).

She’s a superb example of her type from a builder of glamour and history, restored by a boatbuilder at the peak of his craft, for an owner with an exacting attitude to authenticity and originality – and deep pockets. They don’t come any better, and we hope to get aboard

The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ +44 (0)207 349 3700 chelseamagazines.com

Follow the Classic Boat on Twitter and Facebook

one of the most prolific and diverse of all naval architects who designed as many as 50 one-design classes, motor yachts and military and cargo vessels of all sizes. His triumphs include Carina II, a 1955 yawl that won two Transatlantic Races, two Fastnets and a Bermuda. The only Metre

launch date

COMPANY

©Copyright The Chelsea Magazine Company 2018 all rights reserved ISSN 0950-3315

CRAFTSMANSHIP

soon to find out more. She will be kept on the upper River Thames and used for occasional charter for the first year or so.

HENLEY, UPPER THAMES

Henwood apprentice wins Best in Show Winning the Fred and Sheila Bourne Trophy for 'best in show' at this year’s Thames Traditional Boat Festival was a 1912 motor launch called Sweet Myrrh. This was a cause for celebration for the yard that restored her, Henwood and Dean, which now belongs to Colin Henwood’s former apprentice Tony Knights, 26 years old, and business partner

DEMON YACHTS, SUFFOLK

Olympic 6-Metre to be restored

Dan Wood. Colin himself has left the yard to concentrate on

Our story on the 'Field of Dreams' in CB May featured a host of mouth-watering craft awaiting restoration at Demon Yachts in Suffolk. Among

length, was restored comprehensively by the yard over five months.

boatbuilding rather than running a business. Sweet Myrrh, 27ft (8m) in

them was Jo, a First Rule 6-Metre built by Anker and Jensen for the 1920 Olympic Games at Ostend, where she won gold for bermudan-rigged

She was built, by Saunders-Roe on the Isle of Wight, to the copper-

Sixes. The boat has now found an owner and will be restored by Demon Yachts in time for her 100th birthday in 2020. "She is the last First Rule

stitched ‘Consuta method’, which makes her a rarity. There were no

Six built and was already outclassed by 1922," says Matthew Lingley of Demon Yachts. "In 1995 we found her in a hedge at the back of the boatyard at Pin Mill, with a tree growing through her and both bow and stern knocked off. Peter Wilson [former yard owner] rescued her."

plans to go on, but the boat is a displacement type, albeit quick because of her fine shape and not having much under the water and an “almost tunnel section” towards the stern.

30

22

Restoration digi mag Defiance.indd 22-23

07/09/2018 12:28

The first Australian 8-Metre is in new hands and still winning

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

30 Restoration Digi mag yard news.indd All Pages

31

07/09/2018 12:30

Some of the biggest refit projects ongoing worldwide CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

3

A GAME OF CHANCE The S&S yawl Mah Jong was drying out on a Caribbean beach, but one man saw her potential. What followed would change both of their lives WORDS KATHY MANSFIELD

TIM WRIGHT PHOTOACTION>COM

ROB PEAKE

MAH JONG

Above l-r: fresh transom lettering declaring her Martha’s Vineyard base; owner Pat Ilderton; original timber inlays were uncovered

6

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

little water came in when they refloated her, and they were able to sail her carefully to nearby Tortola. This old yacht had fortitude too, not to mention her exceptionally fine planking of old-growth Burmese teak that is irreplaceable today. She was shipped to Newport, and from there Pat sailed her to Martha’s Vineyard. The spars were taken off and the hull was moved into Gannon & Benjamin’s shop, where she would remain for the next two and a half years.

S&S LINEAGE The boat Pat had bought had a colourful history, and had touched other people’s lives as well. This 52ft 2in (15.9m) LOA yawl was built in just six months, the first classic yacht built by Cheoy Lee and the beginning of a succession of fine yachts to come from the yard. The teak had been partly harvested by elephant; the vignettes of Chinese life that decorate the interior had been carved or cast by local craftsmen. Mah Jong had been commissioned by three graduates from the USA who had gone to the pre-eminent yacht designer of the day, Olin Stephens, and said they wanted a deep-draught oceanracing yawl with a tall rig, easy to handle with a small crew, to be built in Hong Kong on a tight budget. Olin suggested they adapt his earlier design for Baccarat and sent them to one of his in-house designers to help them save costs. The name Mah Jong (literally, ‘grey sparrow’, and a popular board game) was chosen – they considered the whole project a game of chance – and it fit well with the name of the original design, also named after a game.

These were hardly penniless students: Hovey Freeman was finishing his draft duties as a Navy navigator after his degree at Princeton and chose the Hong Kong boatbuilders while on destroyer duty in the Pacific; Mike Merle-Smith came from a sailing family with exclusive New England connections, and Gilbert M Grosvenor, a Yale classmate of Mike’s, was the grandson of a president of the National Geographic Society, whose father later ran the National Geographic magazine before Gilbert himself took over. After the build, Freeman and MerleSmith, plus Freeman’s wife and two crew, sailed Mah Jong from Hong Kong to Manila, North Borneo, Singapore, the former Ceylon, Aden and through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean. The oldest of them was 30; Joan Freeman was 24 and had only sailed twice before.

FROMTHEBLUE.CO.UK

R

estoring a classic boat can change your life.

Ask the owner of Mah Jong, who hadn’t quite expected it. The choice of yacht, boatyard, restorers and project grew into not just a new project but something much more: a new family of friends, a whole new challenging area of interest and expertise, great adventures, and a fresh take on life and companionship.

Pat Ilderton’s commitment to having a boat of his own came slowly, having sailed on other yachts, chartered and raced. He grew up with an interest in sailing: he had started with a humble Sunfish, growing up in North Carolina, and had raced on a Farr 70 from Charleston to Bermuda. It was over a bottle of wine in a small restaurant in Ipswich, England, with Ross and Kirsten Gannon, that Mah Jong came into his life.

Designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built in Hong Kong in 1957 at the renowned Cheoy Lee Shipyard, Mah Jong had been left on a beach on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands for some years in fierce sunshine. That is an ill-fated destiny for a wooden boat and none of Pat Ilderton’s family, friends or advisors thought Mah Jong was sensible. But Pat is a builder, restoring handsome old homes and building custom new ones in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, and he could see the original quality of build and wood, despite Mah Jong’s deterioration. But more than that, the boat had given an instant feeling of being just right for him, and it was, after all, his decision. He sat on it, slept on it, and couldn’t get the idea out of his head.

He wasn’t totally alone in his gut determination against the odds. Ross Gannon of Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, off Massachusetts, had seen the yacht years before on the Connecticut coast, where she had spent three years at Mystic Seaport. Ross knew he could bring the most decrepit hull back to life if he was allowed enough time and resources. Mah Jong was not beyond saving, but as with any major project, it would need the right moment and the right customer.

Months later, after much hesitation, Pat negotiated to buy the boat in 2014 from Thorpe Leeson, a characterful yacht captain with a penchant for buying interesting boats on spec. He and Ross convened in the Caribbean to move the hull off the beach. They were surprised how

MAH JONG

Gilbert Grosvenor Jr joined them in Rhodes once they reached the Mediterranean and spent two months exploring the Greek Islands, subsequently writing a 48-page article in the December 1958 issue of National Geographic with his photographs. They sailed the boat from Rhodes to Crete, Santorini, Milos, Delos, Patmos, up the Turkish coast and over to Mt Athos, eventually to Athens and through the Corinth Canal. Grosvenor then returned to Washington, where he was summoned to work with his father, and a crew helped the others sail the boat back to the United States. The three owners sailed in the 1958 Newport to Bermuda race, but after that regretfully agreed to sell Mah Jong and proceed with their careers. The boat was owned by Richard C McCurdy for 25 years, who left it to Mystic Seaport. A succession of owners followed, before Mah Jong ended up on the beach in Virgin Gorda…

RESTORATION PHILOSOPHY Pat had liked the boatbuilding ethos of Gannon & Benjamin, where the craftsmen are encouraged to buy and restore a boat of their own and then sail and adventure as the boatyard owners do themselves, and where other boat owners can live on their boats and work at the yard or use the machinery after hours. They know and care why and how they are building. It creates a cohesive, creative atmosphere and results in long-term employees whose work is also their passion. “Few trades are left now, other than making musical instruments, that need such skill and precision in wood as boatbuilding,” Pat comments. The yard has attracted a range of characters though over the years and created strong bonds through their shared love of sailing and craftsmanship. That human aspect drew Pat from the start and his strong input and responsiveness to their skills and personalities made the Mah Jong project grow and evolve along with the growing practical needs of the restoration. An inspired boat owner can make all the difference. Ross and Kirsten Gannon, too, have a way of enhancing and encouraging conversations about life and work. “In an atmosphere of wood chips and dust and winters huddled around a wood stove during lunch break, camaraderie and mutual respect blossoms,” adds Alex Goldhill, boatbuilder and now skipper of Mah Jong. As the end of the rebuild approached, Pat was heard to say: “I hope I enjoy sailing her as much as I have enjoyed rebuilding her.”

Mah Jong was dismantled. Fittings, stanchions and other hardware were removed, the coachroof and hatches lifted off, the interior unfastened and other bits 8

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

Above: 1958 issue of National Geographic records her condition and fit-out in detail.

Opposite main: in her element in the blue-water conditions of Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, where she won her class in 2018.

Inset: original wheel and binnacle; fine oriental detail throughout; gooseneck; foredeck hatch in period style by Gannon & Benjamin

Above: skipper Alex Goldhill worked on the boat at Gannon & Benjamin

taken apart, labelled and stored. The fine quality of the original Chinese construction and joinery work was revealed. Years of dust was vacuumed away. All hardware, including hinges and fittings, were soaked in diesel oil. Pat’s daughter, Sara-Mae, came to work, stripping paint and varnishing that first winter; boatbuilder Robert Bennett came to work; Zoli Clarke, who had worked at the shipyard since he was 13, now a qualified shipwright and a wizard at welding, and rigger Myles Thurlow, who had worked there since he was 12, were deeply involved. Seavor Jones spends part of his time on his ranch in Chile, part boatbuilding at Gannon & Benjamin. Andy Lyon, sailmaker Ben Sperry and others worked on the restoration. This was essentially Ross Gannon’s project but almost all of the employees contributed to its design and execution.

TEAK RE-USED Mah Jong was stripped down to her frames, planking and deck beams, making sure no issues were left undiscovered, the original and numerous copper rivets cut out. The teak yakal backbone had split and needed to be replaced. The deck beams were replaced one by one, keeping the shape of the boat, plus all frames, steamed and sawn. The sawn frames were 2½in (60mm) live oak, heavy and solid and perfect for a tight bilge: these needed to be carefully patterned and fitted with overlapping futtocks. Tough angelique was used for new floor timbers and any bronze floors were put back in place. There had been no bilge stringers in the original construction, and these needed to be painstakingly incorporated. The framing for a new coachroof was set in place. Brad Abbott laid out new engine stringers to mount the old Perkins diesel engine under the galley sink, which would allow the interior to be a more open space for Pat’s friends and also for Pat’s fiddle. Music was to be an important part of the newly reconfigured Mah Jong. Nine bunks and a series of cabinets, shelves and drawers were designed and fitted, along with a galley and lounge area, all illuminated with a butterfly hatch in the coachroof above.

Teak continued to be a major component of Mah Jong, as in her original build in Hong Kong. Anything not painted was made of teak. “The dismantled original boat became a rummage pile for finding teak stock,” said Seavor Jones. “Nothing was wasted. If it wasn’t shavings and sawdust on the floor, it was screw-hole bung stock.”

Ross and Pat found new and repurposed wood and hardware, from the live oak and sinker cypress from Steve Cross to New Zealand bronze winches.

TIM WRIGHT PHOTOACTION.COM

ROB PEAKE

ROB PEAKE

TIM WRIGHT PHOTOACTION.COM

MAH JONG

After a plywood sub-deck was pieced together, fine teak was needed for the coamings as well as the new coachroof. Local yacht historian Ginny Jones sold them some big pieces of teak that came to the US from Burma some 60-70 years ago. She and several other wooden boat enthusiasts had invested in these now unique pieces that would not be found on the market today. Though she hesitated to part with it, it seemed the right moment, the right boat. The deck and coamings would need pieces wide and thick enough to curve out and up; the coachroof would use much too. More teak was laid above the plywood subdeck, following the curve of the boat, over a layer of Bituthene membrane to stop leaks.

Then there was painting, wiring, plumbing. The mainmast was found to have developed a twist, which needed a new core of spruce and skilful work by Miles Thurlow.

As the launch date got nearer, there were limitless jobs to be finished. Some could be handled once the boat was launched – cue a splash of champagne and a temporary feeling of satisfaction. Then spars were set in place, standing and running rigging connected, sheets and sails added and suddenly Mah Jong was reborn, heading to Mystic Seaport just in time for the WoodenBoat Show where she won a first prize for restoration, and for her first regatta, the Vineyard Cup. Since then she has sailed widely, from Maine to Grenada, chartering and racing.

She shares two home ports, Martha’s Vineyard and Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina.

Mah Jong has, in a sense, taken Gannon & Benjamin with her, both its creative outlook and its people. Pat Ilderton invited the boatbuilders who had worked so hard to restore her to join him as crew during the summer months, and he employed one of them, Alex Goldhill, as his skipper. Alex, who grew up sailing local double-enders on the small Caribbean island of Carriacou, bought a wreck of an old boat in his early twenties, once he had learned the basics of boatbuilding in Denmark and Antigua, and sailed it singlehandedly up from Antigua to Bermuda, on to New York and then Martha’s Vineyard. He had met Ross Gannon, who had offered him a job if he ever got there.

“It was with some trepidation that I sailed into Vineyard Haven with a busted engine and a bag of rusty 10

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

Top l-r: bronze floors were retained; owner Pat on the helm at Antigua Classics.

Above: some winches were repurposed, some were new

MAH JONG LOA

52ft 2in (15.9m) LWL

37ft (11.3m) BEAM

11ft 8in (3.6m)) DRAUGHT

7ft 6in (2.3m))

DISPLACEMENT

16 tonnes SAIL AREA

1,253sqft (116.4m²)

tools,” he said, “but Ross came out in a power launch and told me that work started at 8 the next morning.”

Alex found work, play and adventure. He arrived about the same time as Mah Jong, and was invited by Matt Barker to help him sail The Blue Peter to Bermuda, along with Pat and others. It was a hard slog in 40-knot gusts, and at the end of it Pat asked Alex to be his skipper. Alex turned him down twice, telling him to find someone older, more experienced and respectable, but Pat is a good judge of character and integrity, part of the reason he fit in so well at the boatyard.

ONBOARD I joined Mah Jong in Maine during part of the series of races that run from Castine to Camden, Camden to Brooklin and then the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta, the mecca of classic sailing in northern New England. The boat’s new varnish gleamed, the deck was uncluttered and perfectly laid, the sails caught every gust as we moved easily through light airs. The helm was balanced and the crew were impressed with the boat’s responsiveness in the heavy weather they had experienced before. Below, there was surprising space, and the bunks gave privacy while not closing off into cabins. There was space for navigating, cooking, living.

We were racing, the young crew was alert and watchful as we tacked upwind, but also easy, welcoming. Alex, a resourceful and impressive skipper, has said that “people who have sailed with us always leave with a personal attachment to the boat, and touched by the camaraderie and friendship that exists on board”.

I hope Mah Jong’s original owners had as good a time, as they fulfilled their dreams by sailing her halfway around the world, as the present owner and crew and guests. As for the music, there are two guitars and a fiddle on board, and when the weather allows, they play.

Or, as I found, a sudden spike of rhythm is heard around the hatch and cockpit – clicking fingers and blowing into hands, a beat starts up, and John Huey, Pat’s friend and crewman today, adds a spontaneous rap dialogue. We all are carried along on it, as the wooden houses of lobstering port Isleboro slide past, and we weave past rocky islets sometimes hidden in fog. This is quality of boat, of sailing, of living.

ESTD 1790

“ T H E R E I S O N LY O N E S TA N D A R D I N T H I S LO F T A N D T H AT I S T H E V E R Y B E S T ” T R AT S E Y 1 8 3 3 Visit our newly expanded loft in Cowes to discuss your requirements whether it’s winning races, creating the most authentic looking sail or patching-up your old favourite.

Whilst embracing the latest technology, the team at Ratsey and Lapthorn are still working to Tom Ratsey’s principle; one standard, the very best.

C O N TA C T T H E T E A M E : H E L L O @ R AT S E Y A N D L A P T H O R N O R T : 0 1 9 8 3 2 9 4 0 5 1

W W W. R AT S E Y A N D L A P T H O R N . C O M

RESTORATION SPECIAL

WHAT DOES RESTORATION MEAN TO YOU? We asked boatbuilders, naval architects and brokers for their definition

Donn Costanzo, Wooden Boatworks, Long Island

Joe Loughborough, LMI, Rhode Island

“

Restoration these days has taken on some fairly broad end stops ranging from some varnish, paint and new curtains to ‘full-on’ from the keel up re-builds. For meaning I’d refer to the latter – an, as faithful to the original, rejuvenation or replacement of anything from keel to mast head, that has not weathered well with use and years; some structural improvement and a little ‘bling’. Then you have yourself a restoration.

”

12

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATIION DIGI MAG

“

A restoration is going to be a compromise. In the end, it is an interpretation of a moment in history combined with the knowledge, experience and limitations of its restorer.

”

RESTORATION SPECIAL Barney Sandeman Sandeman Yacht Company, Dorset

“

Proper restoration must focus on the vessel’s original design, structure and style – and once completed be good for another 50 years. Simply to renew would lack the essential magic engendered by a soulful preservation of the ghosts.

With their spirit intact, such boats remain happier for it.

”

Paul Spooner, Paul Spooner Design, Southampton

“

Sam Temple Rockport Marine, Maine

“

A restoration suggests that someone got a boat really right. It’s our tribute to a past achievement of aesthetics, performance and comfort.

As for scope of work, I think of it as enabling a boat to perform to original abilities and usually beyond them. The aesthetic end goes without saying.

”

The process of restoration gives us the opportunity not only to re-build a historical vessel in the traditional way for all to see but also to learn the processes and thoughts that have become the roots of modern practice and technology. This process begins with detailed research and continues long after launch; it is important to adapt the way you sail to the quirks of the boat rather than adapting and modifying the yacht to suit modern sailing practices. That said, the use of some modern adhesives and coatings to aid longevity and conservation without changing the overall structural arrangement should be acceptable, it is important that current safety legislation is allowed for and it is always better that a yacht is restored to an owner’s requirements for comfort and usability than left to rot forever on the foreshore.

”

Carter Richardson, East Passage Boatwrights, Rhode Island

Alex Brainerd, Artisan Boatworks, Maine

“

In striving for ultimate quality, consistency, and efficiency at Artisan Boatworks we have distilled our holistic approach to yacht restoration down to three principles: return hull shape, rig, hardware, and joinery details to original appearance; preserve as much original material as possible while ensuring objective lifespan; and correct proven deficiencies in engineering and/or materials.

”

“

Restoration means revival. An opportunity to bring a boat back to life using new materials, both traditional and modern, to sustain her for another lifetime. A restoration allows the boat to adapt to the ever-evolving seas while keeping her spirit intact.

”

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

13

LUCKY CHIPS

A rare P-Class designed by Starling Burgess in 1913 is racing again – and looking good enough to eat WORDS NIGEL SHARP PHOTOGRAPHS CARLO BORLENGHI

CHIPS

B

runo Troublé is something of a sailing legend in France. He competed in two Olympic Games – in the Flying Dutchman class in 1968 and in a Soling four years later – and then skippered three French challengers for the America’s Cup, in 1977, 1980 and 1983. “We had a tough battle against the British challenger Lionheart in 1980,” he told me. “We beat them 4-3 after collisions in every race. We were then beaten 4-1 by the Australians in the challenger final. Not very good but still the best America’s Cup result for France.” He also took part in three Admiral’s Cups and he won the Quarter Ton World Championships in 1981.

In recent years he has turned his hand to the rescue of old boats, and Universal Rule boats in particular. The first of these was the Q-Class Jour de Fête which he acquired in 2012 after her owner Konrad Ulbrich died.

“We won a lot of races with this boat,” he told me. Next came the P-Class Olympian which he found on Lake Michigan, where she had been sailing with a bermudanrigged carbon mast and Kevlar/carbon sails. “Because there were no classic boat races in that area, the owners had transformed her to race with modern boats,” Bruno explained. He arranged for a friend of his to buy her, without the rig, and she was then taken to John Anderson Boat Building in Maine to be restored.

You may have read about John in the April 2018 issue of the print version of Classic Boat. Liverpool-born, he did an engineering apprenticeship at ICI in 1982, got a job on a boat in the south of France and has been working on boats ever since, alternating a life at sea with building boats or restoring them. He attended IBTC Lowestoft in the late 1980s, then worked at Spirit Yachts and has been based in the USA since 1990. He worked with Konrad Ulbrich on Jour de Fête’s restoration, which is when he met his now wife, Ulbrich’s daughter Wilhelmina. John spent about a year restoring Olympian while Bruno searched out other Universal Rule boats, including the Q-Class Falcon and the R-Class Aloha, for friends and clients. “I have some connections in the US having been a New York YC member for many years,” explained Bruno. “I know where to find boats there which is why people ask me.”

16

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

PHOTOGRAPHS NIGEL SHARP

Above l-r: blocks

by Ording; Hutton selftailing winches; the butterfly skylight

When Olympian’s restoration was complete she started to chalk up some impressive race results, and that was when two of her owner’s close friends, Sebastian Bazin and Bernard Liautaud, decided they would like a boat of their own to race against her. Bruno knew of two other P-Class boats that might be available. He and John went to look at the first of these, the Herreshoff Corinthian, but both described her as “a wreck” [see p85 for the latest on this]. The other was Chips, which was in Newport and still in commission. “Each time she went out they had to do a lot of pumping as the boat was broken,” said Bruno. “But she looked good,” added John, “and the rig looked decent and she was a similar price to Olympian, so they went ahead and bought her.”

P-CLASS The P-Class is one of several Universal Rule classes, the biggest of which are the Js and the smallest the S-Class.

While they vary in size, they are more or less the equivalent of International Rule 10-Metre yachts. The first P-Class boat was Seneca, which in 1907 represented Rochester YC in the Canada’s Cup, the match racing competition between the USA and Canada which still takes place on the Great Lakes, and beat the Royal Canadian YC’s Adele in three straight races.

The boat we know today as Chips started life as Onda III, designed by Starling Burgess and built at his Marblehead yard in 1913. Her first owner was John Greenough, whose previous Onda II was a P-Class boat and famously quick – “able to show her heels to nearly all the P fleet,” according to the Boston Daily Globe.

Burgess had produced her in 1908, in spite of the fact that he was at that time no great fan of the Universal Rule. “It’s too complicated and puts too many restrictions in design…and will make slow boats,” he told the yachting editor of the Boston Herald. “The data which we have gathered for years is swept away…we must begin again and feel our way.”

Greenough kept Onda III at Gloucester, Massachusetts, but raced her at Corinthian YC at Marblehead. The Boston Daily Globe reported on a regatta on 7 August, 1913, in her first season, in which there were five P-Class boats out of 190 starters.

CHIPS LOA

55ft 2in (16.5m) LWL

35ft 1in (10.7m) BEAM

10ft 4in (3.15m) DRAUGHT

7ft 7in (2.3m) SAIL AREA

Approx 1,300sq ft (120m2)

Above: Olympian was winner of the 1913 Harbour Springs Cup

DISPLACEMENT

10 tonnes

DRAWING BY FRANCOIS CHEVALIER

CHIPS “The Timandra, Onda III and Sayonara II of this class made the prettiest finish of the afternoon, crossing the line neck and neck,” the Globe reported.

In a race the following year at the same venue, Onda III was up against seven other P-Class yachts. Yachting magazine called it “the largest and most representative fleet of this class that has ever been gathered together”.

In 1927, John Greenough sold Onda III to Malcolm Greenough, presumably a relative, and she remained at Gloucester until 1933 when Llewellyn White bought her and took her to Marblehead. He renamed her White Indian and then just a year later renamed her again, this time Wah-Hoo-Wah. She became plain Onda again in 1941 and very little is known of her history for the next 40 years, except for one enjoyable but possibly apocryphal anecdote that sees the boat bet by her owner in a game of poker – unsuccessfully! The lucky winner, it is said, decided to call her Chips, the name she has retained ever since.

We catch up with her in the late 1970s at a point where the chips, you could say, were down. Chips was being used as a houseboat with no rig and in 1980 was donated to a non-profit organisation called Full Sea, run

by David Kiremidjian for the purpose of saving historic boats. He towed her to Long Island Sound where she was the largest of the 16 vessels he had at various times, two of which were New York 30s. According to the New York Times in 1981, Kiremidjian planned “to use Chips not only as a working sailboat, but also as a floating classroom with weekend seminars for adults on sailing and marine ecology”.

It’s not clear if this ever came to anything, but it wasn’t long before she moved on again, this time to furniture maker Adrian Pearsall, another saviour of wooden boats. He had previously restored the New York 30 Amorita and would later do the same to the Fife cutter Hallowe’en, but not before he turned his attention to Chips, on which he carried out a great deal of the work himself. In 1993 he sold her to Genevieve Cerf but only on the condition that if she were to subsequently put Chips on the market, she would give first right of refusal to him or any of his family. During Cerf’s ownership, Chips was regularly raced and won her class in Nantucket’s Opera House Cup on two occasions. Cerf honoured the agreement when she decided to sell Chips in 2007 and it was Jed Pearsall, Adrian’s son, who took the opportunity to buy her. The younger Pearsall campaigned the boat in various New England races. In 2014 she was the oldest boat in the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport and won a race around Prudence Island, in her 101st year.

Chips was moved by truck to John Anderson’s workshop in Maine in October 2015. John and his team of Matt Floge, Daniel Creischer, Simon Jack and Abe Stimson started by building two steel cradles to jack the boat up and remove the ballast keel. Almost all of the oak centreline components, apart from 3ft (90cm) of the stem, was renewed in utile. “It is virtually impossible to find seasoned oak with these scantlings,” explained John.

The stem and stern post are virtually straight but the keel has a significant curve and so had to be laminated.

Almost all of the tapered steamed oak frames from just aft of the mast back to the cockpit were broken, and 18

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

Racing on Chips at Saint-Tropez I joined Bruno and Chips for a race at Les Voiles de SaintTropez. Bruno was at the helm and among the crew were his wife Melanie, three professional crew – one full-time, Max, and two part-time – and John Anderson. Although the owners, who refer to Bruno as their “Minister for Sea Affairs”, were not on board, they were due to arrive the next day and take part in the remainder of the regatta. It was blowing about 15 knots at first but it soon dropped to about 6 knots, and then fluctuated back and forth throughout the race. We didn’t have the best of races: the mainsail foot outhaul broke just before the start and, although it was repaired in time, we then had, by Bruno’s own admission, “a bad start”; not long afterwards, while beating out of Le Golfe de Saint-Tropez, a trailing spinnaker sheet to leeward caught itself on a mooring buoy and we came to a sudden stop. By then the one boat we would have liked to beat – the P-Class Olympian – had a significant lead over us, but for Bruno and his crew the race was much more about getting to know Chips’ characteristics.

ORIGINAL RIG It is thought that all P-Class boats were originally rigged as gaff sloops with no bowsprit and Chips was no exception. In fact in June 1913 the Boston Daily Globe reported that she was having “a larger suit of sails and spars” made because after she was measured “it was found that she had considerable to spare to rate at the top of class P.” When Adrian Pearsall bought her, to combat perceived weather helm, he commissioned Olin Stephens to design a new rig with a bowsprit and a higher-aspect mainsail. Bruno suspected that this modification in fact might have given her lee helm, so the bowsprit was shortened as part of her restoration. Among the tweaks the crew made during the course of our race, the headsail sheeting angle was moved forward. “It was much better,” said Bruno. “It made her faster and gave her more life.”

Olympian won the race (and at the end of the week was second overall, by the narrowest of margins, to the New York 50 Spartan) while we were fifth in a fleet of eight. Bruno was philosophical about the result. “We spent three years tuning Olympian and now she is really fast, and Chips is a much more sensitive boat,” he told me. “These things take time.”

As we re-entered the busy harbour at Saint-Tropez, Bruno handed the helm to Max who undertook the task of bringing Chips, with her long keel and offset propeller aft of the rudder, stern-to against the harbour wall and alongside Olympian which was already moored up. “Bravo,” Bruno sportingly called to Olympian’s crew.

These two rarest of classic yachts make a magnificent sight, side by side, in virtually mint condition, and unsurprisingly were already attracting a host of photographers.

“We spent three years tuning Olympian and now she is really fast, and Chips is a much more sensitive boat”

PHOTOGRAPHS NIGEL SHARP

Racing from Saint-Tropez with Bruno TroublĂŠ at the helm; the expanded doghouse and coamings are clear; the boat flies an asymmetric spinnaker

CHIPS

20

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

Above: back in waters she knew well, off the New York YC, but now under a French flag.

Below: John Anderson with the boat’s logo, designed by Bruno

NIGEL SHARP

KATHY MANSFIELD

these were replaced, like for like. The frames in the ends of the boat survived: at the bow because they are almost straight, and at the stern because they are sawn and match the shape of the hull there perfectly. The replacements were fitted alternately to ensure the shape of the boat was maintained, and four additional laminated frames, slightly larger than the originals but also tapered at their heads, were also fitted. “We added these because the hull has an extreme wineglass shape in that area,” said John, “and we knew that the boat would be sailing in heavier conditions than she had been used to on the US eastern seaboard.”

The original planking was yellow pine and all but three full-length strakes of this had to be replaced. The new top plank is also yellow pine but because of the difficulty of obtaining this in a reliable quality, the rest is now utile. “It is readily available in long lengths with nice clear grain,” said John. The original yellow pine stringers (of which there are two each side) and beamshelf have been retained.

The original floors were fitted in alternate frame bays and taken up to the first stringer, but these have been replaced in laminated oak with every other one taken up to the level just above the second stringer.

The deck has been completely renewed. Although the deck beams were replaced in the 1980s, they had too little camber and were painted and so new ones have

been made in laminated American white oak and are now varnished. A plywood subdeck (two layers of ¼in/6mm) was fitted with grooves CNC-ed into the underside to give the appearance of a laid deck, while there is now a laid swept teak deck on top, secretly fastened with angled bronze ring nails through the seams and down into the deck beams.

The initial plan was to retain all of the deckhouse that was fitted in the 1980s, but John convinced Bruno and the owners that it should be modified to give the cabin a better feeling of space. So new Peruvian mahogany coamings were made and whereas the old ones were fitted inboard of the carlins, the new ones were fitted on top of them and bolted down through them. The laminated cabin top (together with the two butterfly skylights) was retained but extended outboard to span the greater width. Six rectangular bevelled glass windows – “very much an American detail,” said John – were fitted each side, giving more natural light below than four small oval portholes which were there before. Some new deck and rig fittings were cast to patterns made by John, including the bowsprit heel fitting and some cleats, but very little work was needed on the rig itself.

The interior layout is essentially the same as it was, with three berths, a heads, galley and sail storage area forward, but all of it has been renewed in solid timber, mostly Peruvian mahogany but the sole boards were made from the discarded original yellow pine planking: “the provenance of the old boat,” said John.

John and his team had a deadline to work to: May 2017, when Chips was booked on a ship to take her to Europe. But before that she was launched in Maine where the rig was stepped, engine trials were carried out and she spent nearly a week beginning to take up. She was then lifted, de-rigged and trucked to Newport where she was launched and rigged for a day’s sailing trials with Bruno and the owners in her old stomping ground from the NYYC. “Luckily everything worked,” laughed John. She was then shipped to Le Havre, allowing the owners to spend most of the summer cruising around Brittany, near their summer homes, before she was taken by road to the Med to race in the autumn regattas.

Bristol 32

16

18

22

22.5

27

32

www.staryachts.co.uk • +44 (0)7866-705181

“Carlotta”

22-28 Tower Street, Brightlingsea, Essex, C07 0AL Tel: 01206 302863

Pr Ma id de e Br in wit ita Gr h in ea t

sales@jameslawrencesailmakers.com www.jameslawrencesailmakers.com

DEFYING THE ODDS The first Australian 8-Metre, Defiance, was designed and built by one man in his back yard. It’s a very Australian story, says the boat’s current owner...

WORDS NIGEL SHARP PHOTOGRAPHS RICHARD BENNETT AND NIGEL SHARP

Defiance in her successful pre-WW2 days, gaff-rigged despite her 1935 launch date

DEFIANCE

I

t was in 1934 that Uffa Fox wrote of the virtues of the 8-Metre class that “a young owner could…sail such a vessel around the coast from regatta to regatta just as the owners in the larger classes do, for coastal cruising in an 8-Metre would give owners the two most sought-after things in life; health and happiness”. Just a year after he wrote that, an 8-Metre called Defiance was launched in Australia and, as if to endorse Fox’s words, she would become known as the ‘Offshore Eight’, not least because of the five Sydney-Hobart races in which she would compete.

The story behind Defiance’s conception is quite remarkable. Not only was she the very first 8-Metre to be built in Australia, but her designer, builder and first owner was, in this context, an amateur. Ernest Digby was employed by the Melbourne Harbour Trust as foreman shipwright, and in that capacity he designed and built a number of commercial vessels – including the tugboats Victory and Goudie, both with yacht-like features – but it was in his spare time that he worked on Defiance and his other sailing yachts.

It is said that on his office wall Digby had a photo of his hero William Fife III, himself the designer of almost fifty 8-Metres. This may have given him the inspiration to design Defiance, but how Digby learned to do so and comply with as complex a rating formula as the International Rule is unknown. In the middle of a depression and with the help of three of his sons he built Defiance in his own backyard in Williamstown.

“To me, Defiance is very much an Australian story,” says Nicole Shrimpton, the boat’s sixth and current owner. “At a time when large Metre boats were the preserve of the very wealthy and the royalty of Europe, Ernest defied all class barriers.”

Digby was also an accomplished sailor and was described by the Sporting Globe in 1932 as “one of our best and most popular yachtsmen”. When Defiance was launched in 1935 she caused something of a local sensation and became a source of great pride in Port Philip Bay. She established a winning reputation with seven victories in her first twelve races, success that continued throughout Digby’s ownership.

At the end of 1945 Digby sold Defiance to Sydney sailor Frank Bullock. Her first offshore voyage, the delivery from Melbourne to Sydney, might have met with

24

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

Above: wooden blocks; owner Nicole in foreground with Harold Cudmore at the helm; gooseneck fitting Facing page: Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron home port as the Australian ensign flutters proudly; halyard jammer on the mast partly disguised with a timber cover; discreet instrument panel in a washboard; headsail sheet fairlead

disaster: due to light winds it took much longer than expected and genuine concern was expressed in newspapers that the crew would run out of food and starve. But Defiance – most aptly named, as it turns out – reached her destination safely. Bullock carried out some modifications to allow her to race offshore including a reduction in the cockpit size, the addition of a hatch, a gimballed stove and an ice box. He then took part in the second Sydney-Hobart race in 1946, finishing third overall, and again in 1947, when Defiance led the fleet through 50-knot winds for five days, was overtaken just before the finish and then found that she was disqualified for not reporting that she had hit the starter’s boat. She also competed in 1954, 1955 and 1957. No other 8-Metre has ever taken part in the race.

When the first 8-Metres were built soon after the formation of the International Rule in 1907, they were all gaff-rigged, but by the time Digby designed Defiance, most European 8s would have been converted to or built with bermudan rigs. For some reason he gave Defiance a gaff rig, but having done two Sydney-Hobarts in her, Bullock decided to convert her to bermudan in 1951.

She changed hands several times in the 1950s and then was bought in 1960 by Alan and Ann Hinds, who took her to Pittwater. There she was frequently raced against two other 8-Metres, Pakerdoo and Varg, but it was family cruising with their four children that the Hinds cherished most. For the first few years of their ownership, the Hinds were perfectly happy with the engineless Defiance but as the moorings in Pittwater became more crowded they reluctantly admitted it was time she had her first engine. The Hinds sold the boat in 2012 after half a century of ownership.

Nicole Shrimpton grew up “gazing at classic boats” from her family home in Mosman Bay in Sydney Harbour and later in the Mediterranean. “They say boats find you and Defiance found me,” she says. “From the moment I heard she was for sale I was struck by the desire to own and restore her. And even now six years on, her beauty stops me dead.”

Nicole came late to sailing and from the start has sought the advice of a number of respected classic boat experts, including her friend Duncan Walker, formerly of Fairlie Yachts, now of Greybeard Yachting. Nicole knew right from the start that Defiance would need a fair

DEFIANCE

26

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

DEFIANCE amount of work, but she wanted to use the boat first, to get a better idea of what needed doing to get her back to top racing condition. There were a few jobs that needed immediate attention and for these she went to Noakes Boat and Shipyards, who lengthened the mast step, installed two new ring frames in the mast area, fitted a new feathering propeller, tidied up the topsides and made some minor rig improvements.

With this work completed, Defiance sailed in the Australia Day Regatta at the beginning of 2013 and followed this up with a win in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s winter series.

The major work on Defiance would go to Colin Beashel Marine, at Pittwater in Sydney. The third generation of the Beashel family to build and restore boats, Beashel is something of a legend in Australian sailing circles, not least for being the mainsheet trimmer on Australia II when she won the America’s Cup in 1983. “Colin was the one,” says Nicole. “He is a Metre boat man and thoughtful about everything he does.”

Apart from putting right a modification that had been made to the transom, little work was needed on the hull.

The Australian kauri planking and celery top grown frames were good, as was the centreline, testament to Digby’s skills and diligence. The main task was to replace the deck, fitted around 1980. Many of the beams and parts of the beamshelf needed repairs and replacements, in Douglas fir. A ½in (12mm) plywood subdeck was fitted, then covered with glass and epoxy, which was wrapped over the sheer plank.

Nicole would have liked the new laid deck planks to be kauri, just as the originals were, but it proved impossible to obtain in sufficient quantity and lengths, so teak to a thickness of ³⁄8in (9.5mm) was used instead.

The original coachroof coamings have been retained, veneered on the outside with a length of Queensland kauri, which also forms the outer part of the cockpit coaming. “We chased around everywhere for that,” Colin says. “Eventually I went through one of father’s old lists and found that we had a board that had been here for about 30 years.”

The cabin top had rot, so the beams were renewed, with Huon pine planks and kauri margins, as original, laid over the top.

The interior fit-out is simple and appealingly light, thanks to the white painted surfaces and a number of Davey deck prisms. Among the few parts which are a

Ernest Digby Among the other sailing boats designed and built by Ernest Digby was another 8-Metre, Frances, which followed immediately after he sold Defiance and which he named after his wife. Frances had a remarkable record in the prestigious Sayonara Cup, Australia’s premier sailing trophy at that time and named after William Fife’s 1898 gaff cutter. (Defiance never competed for it, as it wasn’t held during Digby’s ownership.) Frances won it in 1951 and retained it the following year. She lost it to the Tasmanian 8-Metre Erica J in 1953, but in 1954 won it back. In 1955, she was beaten by the Fife 8-Metre Saskia and was unsuccessful the following year too.

Digby became a highly respected designer, builder and sailor, commodore of both the Hobson Bay Yacht Club and the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria. At the age of 78, while he still owned Frances, tragically he was killed by a drunk driver while riding his bicycle.

But his legacy lives on. Not only are both his 8-Metres still actively sailed but his grandson Peter is Opposite: Nicole

a highly accomplished Melbourne sailor (as was his

in the stripped

son Len), and his tugboat Victory is currently being

out interior.

restored in Hobart.

Below: Defiance’s launch at Williamstown, Victoria, in 1935.

An earlier design by Ernest Digby called Independence

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

27

DEFIANCE

natural wood colour are three massive celery top pine floors which have been restored to their former glory. “It was such a joy to uncover them,” says Nicole.

As far as Nicole was concerned, the question “what would Digby have done?” was a guiding mantra throughout the process, with early photos – in the absence of any drawings, all lost – providing vital clues.

“The more I learn about Digby,” she says, “the deeper my admiration for him grows.” But some time after Colin Beashel thought he had completed the work, a “very expensive envelope” arrived through Nicole’s letterbox, having been sent by Digby’s grandson Peter. It contained a previously unseen photograph of Digby standing in the cockpit, which was clearly longer than it now was. Nicole knew straight away that she wanted to revert to the original even though that would involve removing quite a bit of internal joinery that had only just been installed and into which “so much love had been poured” by Colin and his boatbuilders.

Nicole’s biggest dilemna was whether to keep the 1951 bermudan rig or recreate the original gaff rig. “I often look at the early photos of Defiance with her gaff rig and think how gorgeous she was,” she says. But in the end she decided that, for the occasions when she would be sailing just two- or three-handed in the crowded confines of Sydney Harbour, it would be more practical to retain the bermudan rig.

So the solid Oregon pine mast from 1951 remains (although Nicole often talks about replacing it with a hollow Sitka spruce mast in the not-too-distant future).

For similarly practical reasons she decided Defiance

Above l-r: new covering board; Nicole in the companionway with the new coachroof taking shape; laying the new deck; Colin and Nicole talk

DEFIANCE LOA

48ft 6in (14.8m) LWL

30ft 9in (9.4m) BEAM

9ft 5in (2.9m)) DRAUGHT

6ft 6in (1.9m))

DISPLACEMENT

8.3 tons

Above from left: Carl Ryves, Andrew Cutler, Aimee Walsh, David Giles, Nicole Shrimpton, Colin Beashel, Harold Cudmore, Hugh Treharne

28

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

would still have an engine, although the one installed by the Hinds has now been replaced with a Volvo Penta D2 four-cylinder diesel which can be removed, along with its stern gear, in the event that she might one day compete in a major 8-Metre championship. A completely new set of cross laminate sails was made by Ian “Shorty” Short, who made the sails for Saskia and sailed on her when she won the 8-Metre World Championship in 2007.

Defiance was back with a vengeance by Christmas 2016 and since then has had her fair share of success, with wins in various races on Sydney Harbour.

Nicole is delighted that the stars of the sailing world are drawn to her boat, and at various times her crew has included: Colin Beashel himself; Hugh Treharne, Colin’s former shipmate and tactician on Australia II; David Giles, Colin’s crew in the Star at four Olympic Games (they won bronze in 1996), who is now Defiance’s Sailing Master; Carl Ryves, 1968 Olympian and winner of multiple subsequent championships; Irish Olympian Harold Cudmore; Sir Richard Ottoway, former chairman of Cowes Classic Week; and many more.

While I was in Australia recently, I was thrilled when Nicole invited me for a sail on Defiance, and what a delightful sail it was. Not only was it a glorious day with sunshine and a southerly F3, but we were sailing from Sydney up the coast to Pittwater, giving me my own ‘offshore’ experience of Defiance, and I had the opportunity to steer most of the way as well.

We set off from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron pontoon, hoisted the sails promptly and soon left the famous bridge and the opera house behind us. Once outside the Heads, there was a bit of a sea left over from stronger winds the day before, but those seas and the wind were behind us, and Defiance’s long keel made steering down those waves easier than it might have been in a modern boat.

We were consistently sailing between 9 and 10 knots, briefly touching a tantalising 10.99. My helming skills couldn’t quite get us to 11, but it was glorious sailing and over too soon as we arrived at Beashel’s yard in Elvina Bay where I met Colin.

And what of Nicole’s future plans? She is a regular visitor to Cowes and is seriously considering entering Defiance for the 8-Metre World Cup, to be held there in 2019. “I have always thought that Digby had the Solent in mind when he designed Defiance for Port Phillip Bay,” she says. “And I do think she would relish the Round the Island Race. I love Cowes and I love the Solent. My dream has always been to take Defiance there.”

Wooden boats repairs and restoration.

50 years experience in the boat building industry.

We can accommodate boats up to 40’.

T: 07802509032 E: webbeis@btconnect.com

webb-boats.co.uk

Marcus Lewis

Wooden Boatbuilder

Rowing Boats, Sailing Dinghies, Motor Launches, Mayflower Dinghies, New Builds, Repairs, Restorations Fowey, Cornwall Tel: 07973 420568 www.woodenboatbuilder.co.uk

Craftsmanship Restoration News

NEW ZEALAND

Arch Logan yacht re-launched Auckland Harbour was treated to the spectacle of the re-launch of this 1904 gaff cutter, Ariki, designed and built by Arch Logan, New Zealand’s answer to William Fife III. She was bought by Andrew Barnes and Charlotte Lockhart in December 2016, who sent her to boatbuilder Robin Kenyon of Auckland, who started a complete restoration in April 2017. Not only is she by New Zealand’s most hallowed designer (Arch Logan was actually born in Scotland to Scottish parents, but moved to the other side of the world at the age of nine), but her triple-diagonal hull is built in a wood of almost mythical status – kauri pine. She’s 54ft (16.5m) over spars, with a waterline length of 36ft 6in (11.1m). Her displacement, as befits her racing purpose, is just 9.35 tonnes. Dinghy cruising maestro and Classic Boat contributor Roger Barnes (brother of the owner) has been out to get the full story for us – so more soon in the full print edition of Classic Boat.

DEMON YACHTS, SUFFOLK

Olympic 6-Metre to be restored Our story on the 'Field of Dreams' in Classic Boat's May 2018 print issue featured a host of mouth-watering craft awaiting restoration at Demon Yachts in Suffolk. Among them was Jo, a First Rule 6-Metre built by Anker and Jensen for the 1920 Olympics, where she won gold for bermudanrigged Sixes. The boat has now found an owner and will be restored by Demon Yachts in time for her 100th birthday in 2020. "She is the last First Rule Six built and was already outclassed by 1922," says Matthew Lingley of Demon Yachts. "In 1995 we found her in a hedge at the back of the boatyard at Pin Mill, with a tree growing through her and both bow and stern knocked off. Peter Wilson [former yard owner] rescued her."

30

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

CRAFTSMANSHIP

LOUGHBOROUGH MARINE INTERESTS, PORTSMOUTH, RI

Bermuda winner returns

For English émigré Joe Loughborough, who runs LMI Marine Interests in Rhode Island, the big project right now is Kirawan, pictured. She's not a famous yacht by a designer with the kudos of Herreshoff or Stephens, but certainly she deserves to be. She was drawn in 1936 by Philip Rhodes, one of the most prolific and diverse of all naval architects who designed as many as 50 one-design classes, motor yachts and military and cargo vessels of all sizes. His triumphs include Carina II, a 1955 yawl that won two Transatlantic Races, two Fastnets and a Bermuda. The only Metre yacht he ever designed, the 12-M Weatherly, won the 1962 America's Cup. Kirawan herself won the 1936 Newport-Bermuda Race in 45 knots of of wind, beating the S&S Stormy Weather boat for boat. The 53ft (16.2m) fractional-rigged cutter, built by Jakobson and Peterson of Brooklyn, NY, has had a difficult history of half-completed restorations, the first of which Joe describes as "lots of lipstick on a pig", and the second of which, a replank, was good, but the owner ran out of money. She was found recently by a new, local owner, who has sent her to LMI for the full works. As for the new interior, he showed Joe a photo of the 1937 Alden yacht Sonata, featured in the print version of our print December 2017 issue, and said simply: "I want that!" He aims to take Kirawan back to the scene of her former glory, in the 2020 Newport-Bermuda Race.

SOUTHWOLD, SUFFOLK

Saunders-Roe motor yacht The 1936-built Saunders-Roe 'TSMY' (twin-screw motor yacht) Magyar that we saw halfway through restoration at Harbour Marine Services two years ago was the unofficial star of the show at the 2018 Thames Traditional Boat Festival.

She’s a superb example of her type from a builder of glamour and history, restored by a boatbuilder at the peak of his craft, for an owner with an exacting attitude to authenticity and originality – and deep pockets. They don’t come any better, and we hope to get aboard soon to find out more. She will be kept on the upper River Thames and used for occasional charter for the first year or so.

HENLEY, UPPER THAMES

Henwood apprentice wins Best in Show Winning the Fred and Sheila Bourne Trophy for 'best in show' at the 2018 Thames Traditional Boat Festival was a 1912 motor launch called Sweet Myrrh. This was a cause for celebration for the yard that restored her, Henwood and Dean, which now belongs to Colin Henwood’s former apprentice Tony Knights, 26 years old, and business partner Dan Wood. Colin himself has left the yard to concentrate on boatbuilding rather than running a business. Sweet Myrrh, 27ft (8m) in length, was restored comprehensively by the yard over five months.

She was built, by Saunders-Roe on the Isle of Wight, to the copperstitched ‘Consuta method’, which makes her a rarity. There were no plans to go on, but the boat is a displacement type, albeit quick because of her fine shape and not having much under the water and an “almost tunnel section” towards the stern.

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

31

CRAFTSMANSHIP NIELSEN BOATYARD

YARD VISIT RATSEY & LAPTHORN

WIND IN THEIR SAILS The world's oldest sailmaker is thriving, with new owners and fresh investment WORDS AND PICTURES STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES

Main picture: the main loft floor Inset: Steve Meakin (left) and Jim Hartley. Inset above: the 'gore books', part of the huge archive; Rowena Olden at work on one of the sewing machines in her sailmaker's pit

R

atsey and Lapthorn is one of those names that is instantly

One example is Whooper, the Laurent Giles sloop that has

recognisable and today the company, with new owners and

probably won more races, at least in the UK, than any other classic

a relatively new business premises in Cowes, is thriving.

yacht in memory. Owner Giovanni Belgrano is frequently at the loft

The company behind the famous red semi-circular logo is

and intimately involved with every decision concerning his sails.

the oldest sailmaker in the world, continuously in business for well

Cruising sails are very much part of the game, too, and many

over two centuries. It is said to have made the sails flown on Nelson's

Westerly owners are finally coming back to R&L for their second suit

HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. More recently it has made sails

of sails (R&L made the sails for every Westerly yacht that left the

for many of the great classic yachts, including Altair, Adix, Creole

factory). Making sails that last three decades is "not the best

and Shenandoah of Sark, although its bread and butter is in much

business model", says Jim with a chuckle.

smaller work for private gaffers and like. A year ago Ratsey and

Along the walls of the big lofting rooms, where Gary Pragnell and

Lapthorn was bought by two new owners, James Hartley and Robert

Rowena Olden are at work in the sailmaker's pits, are the company's

Shaw. On the day of our visit, James (Jim) is there to greet us, along

archives. If you have a classic yacht, there is a high chance that R&L

with Paralympian gold-medallist Andy Cassell (sail designer) and

will have your sail plan – or a number of different ones – on record

Steve Meakin, who has been MD for the last four years.

from when the boat was built. Flicking through a single book turns

Jim admits that R&L's enormous reputation is not without its perils: "We're sometimes viewed as the Rolls Royce of sailmakers. In fact, our sails are no more expensive than any other of comparable

up several classics still sailing today, with owners who probably have no idea that these valuable original documents exist.

The history is palpable and meanwhile a big recent investment in

quality. And Royces are not the fastest of cars, either, which is rather

equipment means there shouldn't be much trouble sticking to Tom

at odds with the company's present focus on modern sails for racing

W Ratsey's 1833 tenet, which now hangs on the wall: "There is only

classics... albeit of traditional appearance."

one standard of work. That is the very best."

CLASSIC BOAT RESTORATION DIGI MAG

33

THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT SUBSCRIBE FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS

The Christmas gift that arrives all through the year 1 YEA FROM R ONLY £4

1.50

usua

lly £7

2

E V A S % O UP T

42

UK £41.50

(usually £72)

USA US $71.95

(usually US $120)

AUSTRALIA AUD $97.95

(usually AUD $160)

EUROS €61.95

(usually €99)

REST OF WORLD £54.50

(usually £84)

www.chelseamagazines.com/CSTOXM18 +44 (0)1858 438 769 quote CSTOXM18

CSTOXM18.indd 1

24/10/2018 16:33