LETTERS

LETTER OF THE MONTH SUPPORTED BY OLD PULTENEY WHISKY

Raising funds to restore my father’s boat

I’m trying to restore my late dad’s sea king wooden sailing boat, Alcyone. My dad passed away in 2017 after a brave battle with vascular dementia.

After my dad passed away, I started to think about Alcyone. Alcyone was found behind a shed in Southwold. My parents restored her and brought her back to the Norfolk. I had many happy and memorable holidays with my parents on the Norfolk broads.

When my dad was no longer able to sail Alcyone, He had to make a heartbreaking decision to sell her. Alcyone was sold and went to Woodbridge where she was for four years. A few times my parents went to Woodbridge to see Alcyone. My parents loved Alcyone and I knew my dad missed sailing. For three years I looked for Alcyone but didn’t have much luck. After loads of searching I came across a blog by Nick Ardley. I could not believe my eyes, but there she was, looking rather sorry for herself at a boat graveyard in Titchmarsh Marina. Thanks to Craig Trickett and his wife, I could store Alcyone at theirs. Now I have got Alcyone back, I have made it my mission to restore her to her former glory. I have spent the last six months saving money and raising money. By selling items of clothing etc, I’ve saved up nearly half of the money needed for the restoration. I am now in need of help to raise the other half.

I have a boatbuilder who his willing to restore Alcyone. The £6,000 what I am asking for will be put together with what I have saved. I will then have enough to restore her. In October if funds have been raised the boatbuilder can start.

Sarah Spinks, alcyone213k.com

I remeber the ’57 Fastnet

The 1957 Fastnet is not forgotten here in Cowes. My family and I watched the fleet that evening from above the Needles as my father, Bill Thirlby, helmed the elderly 12-M Vanity out through seas so rough that one watcher recalls seeing 12ft of her keel visible abaft the mast. As my father later recounted, with almost every sail blown out straight away, he decided to turn her and run before the gale round the back of the Wight. Under almost bare poles, her long keel gave her some steerage way until they got to Bembridge and the shelter to rig a scrap of canvas, just enough to claw her way up Spithead. Having learned to sail in Portsmouth Harbour before the war, my father knew a mud bank that would stop her onward rush, but as they shot through the harbour entrance about midnight, the last Royal Navy liberty boat was crossing from Gosport and the crew managed to get a line to Vanity and stop her before any more damage was done. So, not forgotten, and much remembered here in ‘79.

Rosemary Joy, Cowes, IoW

Designer credited for West Solents

It is some time since I have submitted a contribution to Classic Boat. Having read with interest the article on the West Solent Class (Suvretta, August issue), it triggered memories of my employment at the Berthon Boat Co Ltd, 1947 -1961. On a number of occasions it was necessary to retrieve the beautifully prepared drawings to answer clients’ enquiries, keel bolts being coloured yellow to signify bronze and centreline structure in sepia to indicate English Oak. The main purpose of this note is to draw attention to the fact that the designer of the West Solent Class was Louis Jacobs as signed on his drawings, not Harry Jacob as published. It is quite common practice for the person who commissioned the project to be credited as co-designer. I can well imagine HG May’s thought in 1924, of a 35 foot (10.6 M) craft as a larger edition of the Sunbeam Class of 1922 (there is a great similarity of profile). The late Theo Rye was of the opinion that Louis Jacobs could have been the designer, not Westmacott. Berthon constructed a large shed especially for the winter lay-up of the West Solents. Walking by the stored craft in the bow down attitude put one in mind of a group of elegant ladies gazing at something of interest, with their counters high in the air! W8 Dinah, now named Ripple, is in the ownership of Brian May, the company’s MD, and restoration is being undertaken by the shipwright apprentices as an introduction to traditional construction methods.

Jim Hazel, Locksheath, Hampshire

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SEPTEMBER 1991, CB38

Editor Pete Greenfi eld starts the issue with a spirited defence of the high prices charged by chandlers’ wares. Why does a galvanised shackle cost so much, he asks? Because the marine industry is seasonal; because it employs skilled people; because manufacture is generally in small runs; because the industry is not big enough for e ective bulk-buying discounts of the expensive raw materials; because high-quality chandlery is made to survive the horrendously ruinous marine environment. Inside the magazine is a feature on the National Swallows, a fast, planing keelboat class designed by Tom Thornycroft in 1946 and that raced in the 1948 Olympics. Robin meets the Swallows in Chichester Harbour, where they still race to this day. In contrast, we featured an article on the ‘zeesboote’, fi shing boats of the eastern German Baltic – or the ‘former DDR’ as we used to call it in 1991. And for sheer elegance, speed and glamour, we had the story of the world’s only surviving M-Class yacht, the Starling Burgess-designed Formidable, 82ft (25m) of the sleekest sort of racing yacht, spreading an incredible 3,000sqft (279m2) of sail.

Considering an Electric Outboard?

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are removable, and the “pass up and down” weight (the shaft/motor assembly) is then 10kg or less. › Ease of Storage These electric motors divide into components, don’t leak oil or petrol, and don’t mind which way up they’re stored. › › Quietness & Smoothness

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Much more if you slow down a little. › Reliability Many outboard motors don’t get used very often, and small petrol motors hate this. Electric outboards have fewer parts in general, and in particular there’s no carburettor to “gum up”.

Of course, it’s not all perfect. The range may still not be enough for some users. And they’re undeniably More Expensive than petrol outboards, mostly because lithium batteries are expensive. But that extra upfront cost is largely offset by

Of course, it’s not all perfect. The range may still not be enough for some users. And they’re undeniably lithium batteries are expensive. But that extra upfront cost is largely offset by their Lower Lifetime Running Costs, including (almost) No Servicing.their

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