Sample: Classic Boat August 2021

£4.95 US$10.99

AUGUST 2021

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

PURIST’S CHOICE

West Solent One Design 100 NOT OUT New Zealand mullet boats AMERICAN POWER 1918 motor yacht

ALL THAT GLITTERS Visit to Davey & Co ALBERTO GALASSI

At the helm of Riva

SHIPSHAPE HERITAGE

Youth conservators

FASTNET 1957 The stormy race that history forgot WOOD DOWN UNDER

NZ timber types

www.classicboat.co.uk

JUST ADD SIMPLICITY The West Solent One Design is extravagantly straightforward. We went for a sail on Suvretta, with her new owner, the chairman of the RYA WORDS STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES PHOTOGRAPHS JOE MCCARTHY

SUVRETTA

W

e have produced a type eminently fit or racing or cruising in all waters, and we anticipate a demand which will enable us to lay down boats in batches during that slack season inevitable in the Yacht-Building industry, and thus provide continuous employment throughout the year for our best hands. These boats have been before the public for four seasons. And their performances have justified our confidence in the design.

Their all-round excellence under all conditions of wind and weather has been endorsed by every Owner and helmsman. Notwithstanding the very moderate sail-plan, they are surprisingly fast in light weather, while the ample free-board ensures buoyance and dryness in a seaway. They are beautifully balanced and easy to steer.”

So reads the brochure for the West Solent Restricted One Design Class from the builder, Berthon Boat Company, in the sort of prose you only find today in the footnotes of your insurance renewal. But never mind the copywriting: the class was successful with 39 built, at least a third of which remain in commission to this day.

And the boasts weren’t idle ones. The W boats have won races consistently for the near-century of their existence, and continue to do so to this day. The idea that they might prove to be good cruising yachts has also been proved over time. Expectations of comfort mean that few today would consider cruising long distance in a W, but for those who could bear the rough living, the boat will certainly get you there. These days a W is simply a glorious day-racing or weekending yacht, far better suited to racing around the buoys than to distant shores; and of course, they sail as well as they always did.

Above: Suvretta (W2) in 1938

we would sit becalmed in the Solent for a while, then have Eric tow us back. Nevertheless, we head out in hope to Suvretta, which is sitting at her swinging mooring in the mouth of the River Medina. A couple of friends are here to help for the shoot: Sam, who drives Eric with photographer Joe on board; and Alessandro, an Italian friend living in England, who comes aboard Suvretta with us. It’s 240 C and we’re getting suncream out, forever the smell of windless days on the beach. The sea is oily calm and iridescent emerald, in the way the Solent so often is. It’s a beautiful sight. Off the English mainland, we see the distinctive shape of Jolie Brise out for the day, her big tan sails hanging. At least that gives us time to talk about Suvretta, and the Ws in general.

WHISTLING FOR WIND

EARLY PRODUCTION CRUISER/RACER

Arriving in Cowes on one of the few sunny days this year in June, photographer Joe McCarthy and I were met by owner Chris Preston and his wife Victoria, both full of excitement about their yacht Suvretta – W-Class number 2, built in 1924 (the first was Arrow, built earlier the same year). Chris had suggested we come another day in the hopes of getting some wind, but we pressed ahead, reasoning we at least had a photographer and some sun.

As we sat in Chris and Victoria’s handsome little cuddy motor launch Eric, built in the manner of a Maine Northeaster, I began to worry Chris was right, and that

The design, by HG May and Harry Jacobs of the Berthon Boat Company in 1923, was originally for five members of the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. Over the next 15 years or so, more than 30 others were built, five for export to Argentina. The latest, Winnie Marie, was built in 2010 by Peter Nash of Dartmouth, but she’s an anomaly; no others have been built since the war.

On England’s east coast, the class was adopted by the Royal Burnham yacht Club, who referred to its fleet as the Royal Burnham Restricted Class and as the fleet slowly broke up, a few strayed west along the English

Above: Suvretta with the Peter Heaton cruising adaptations, mid-Atlantic in 1977, with Sam and Helen Davis on board

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CLASSIC BOAT AUGUST 2021

SUVRETTA

Main: Enjoying a very brief spell of decent wind on the Solent Inset: There are few details on a W... note the lack of lockers or quarter berth under the cockpit bench seating

MULLET BOATS 100 NOT OUT The Mullet Boats of New Zealand were originally built to fish, but for an unbroken century, they have chased a different prize: the Lipton Cup WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS NIGEL SHARP

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CLASSIC BOAT AUGUST 2021

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Main picture: Valeria

any racing classes have a particular trophy that owners covet more than any other. But over long periods of time, the continuity of competition for such a trophy is usually interrupted (wars and gales spring to mind as likely causes); or classes die out and their trophies are allocated to other classes. Auckland’s 22ft (6.7m) Mullet Boats are a remarkable exception to both those trends because, in May of this year, they completed a century of unbroken annual competition for their own coveted trophy: the Lipton Cup. It wasn’t until the 1880s that the term ‘Mullet Boat’ came into general use, but these local fishing boats had been developing since Auckland’s foundation in 1840, specifically for catching mullet in the estuaries within the Hauraki Gulf.

Over time they evolved into craft with common characteristics: mostly around 24ft (7.3m) long, generous beam for load-carrying and stability, a shallow draught with a centreboard to allow them to access the shallow waters where the mullet were, and a small

cuddy to allow the crew (usually two, sometimes three) to occasionally sleep.

Once a boat reached the fishing grounds the crew would drop the sails, brail the boom up parallel with the mast and out of the way, remove the transom-hung rudder and deploy the net over the stern, often in tandem with another boat. One or two large sweeps would be used for manoeuvering.

Once the crew had loaded a respectable catch – often a ton or more – they would set sail for home. This was when the generous gaff sloop or gaff cutter sail plan of around 400sqft (37m2) came into its own. The fishing grounds were typically a good 20 miles away from the wharves of Auckland and directly downwind in a prevailing westerly, but the first boats to get back would secure the best price for their catch. Once back alongside, they would usually sell the fish direct from the boat to fish merchants, canners and individual members of the public.

But by the early part of the 20th century the days of fishing for mullet under sail were numbered. This was CLASSIC BOAT AUGUST 2021

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