LETTERS

LETTER OF THE MONTH SUPPORTED BY OLD PULTENEY WHISKY

Setting the Sunbeam record straight

Jim Hazel does well in his letter published in your September issue to clarify the issue of how it was Louis Jacobs not Harry Jacob that in 1924 designed the West Solent Restricted Class yacht [like Suvretta, featured in our August issue].

However, he goes on to get us somewhat confused by describing the West Solent as a “larger edition of the Sunbeam class of 1922. The late Theo Rye was of the opinion that Louis Jacobs could have been the designer, not Westmacott”

There is no signed drawing of the Solent Sunbeam, as all Alfred Westmacott’s papers were destroyed with Woodnutt’s in a fire in 1961. There is no doubt though that it was Westmacott that Basil Lubbock, the original owner of V 1 Dainty, and his two colleagues from the Hamble River Sailing Club, approached to design the Sunbeam. For provenance just read BR Waite’s article in the April 1925 edition of Yachting Monthly:

“During Cowes Week in 1922 the Mermaids attracted considerable interest. Small classes were beginning to revive after the war, and new classes were being thought of. The Hamble River OD Class, after several successful seasons, was dying a natural death, and it was to the owners of this class that the Mermaids especially appealed. Captain Basil Lubbock, who was captain of the Hamble RODs, struck while the iron was hot.

Whilst the enthusiasts were still afloat at the end of the summer, he promised to build a new class himself and managed to get two others to do the same. This bold stroke was made when matters were very much in the air, since the type of boat which was to be built was not yet decided upon. Ideas were sifted, and in the autumn Mr Westmacott was approached to design an improved Mermaid. As an ex-partowner in a Mermaid, the writer rather objects to the expression `improved’ since the two designs are the outcome of different requirements: happily, however, each class is entirely satisfied with its own boat. Mr Westmacott produced a design now known as the Solent Sunbeams.”

Theo Rye did indeed when writing of “the loveliest of all Alfred Westmacott’s creations, the Solent Sunbeam” quote the suggestion that the design “may show the influence of a talented draughtsman employed by Westmacott’s yard at the time, Louis Jacobs, who later went to Camper & Nicholsons. However, all the Sunbeams in Lloyd’s Register of Yachts were listed as designed by “A Westmacott” and if Jacobs played a part, like many others before and since, the extent is now forgotten.”

Every designer develops earlier designs. Every designer works with colleagues. Every designer has competitors to copy. Perhaps someone has more evidence of Louis Jacobs’ influence on the design of the Sunbeam?

Meanwhile the beautifully designed Sunbeam fleet goes from strength to strength; this year with 27 racing in the Solent and about 15 more racing in Falmouth.

Peter Nicholson, owner of Dainty V1, author of The Brilliance of Sunbeams

V is for… Sunbeam

Bit of a typo this month with the Victory class aiming for a buoy. They are Sunbeams, otherwise Mag is excellent as usual.

Ian Campbell

Thank you Ian. We know this very well, but make the same mistake every time. Nice to know someone’s keeping us in line! Ed

West Solents in Spain

Thank you for great pictures of WS in latest magazine.

I am a friend of Brian May, I met 15 years ago. And the owner of a WS, Natica 1928 W 23. Here in Menorca we have a fleet of three with Winnie Marie and Black Adder W18. If you need more information or pictures I could send you via Whatsapp.

Not sure I will be able to race Copa del Rey next week?? Winnie Marie will.

Patrick de La Chesnais, Menorca, Spain

We Clean your Sails and Covers to fi nd out more visit www.tiptopsails.co.uk

CELEBRATING CLASSIC BOAT’S 400 ISSUES

I MAY BE SOME TIME…

SAILING TODAY WITH YACHTS & YACHTING

OLYMPICS: BUMPER SOUVENIR SPECIAL

But Captain Oates’s Sibbick yawl Saunterer, which we last visited a decade ago, is now fully restored and looking just as she did a century ago.

OCTOBER 2021 £4.95

SAILING BOOM!

 Boat sales rocket  Regattas sold out  Cruising staycations

are in!

SAIL TO CANARIES

Passage planning with

BOAT TEST

KRAKEN 50

Tradition in a modern package

HANDLING OVERFALLS

How to sail in rough water

PROPELLERS

Sail faster + save fuel

TOKYO 2020 BEHIND THE SCENES

Our man in the boatpark

STANDING ROOM FOR A BOTTLE OF GIN

Kim Holman is best known for seakindly family yachts that rated well for RORC, but this 1960, double-skinned 33ft extreme day-sailer was designed for two purposes only: to accommodate a bottle of gin and to win races.

FAMILY TRANSAT Big cat adventure FASTNET PASTING! Races within the race

ST+Y&Y October Cover 227.indd 1

OCEAN VILLAGE City centre haven

18/08/2021 11:07

IN THE OCTOBER ISSUE

THE NAME’S POWER… FLOWER POWER

PLUS…

With the imminent release of Daniel Craig’s las outing as 007, we’ve gone all Bond aboard a newly restored Fairey Huntsman 28, the type used in the boat chase in From Russia with Love. This one’s called Flower Power. A round-up of the summer’s sailing, from Washington to the East Coast; a century of the British American Cup – like the AC but for 6-Metre yachts; the best new books; and much more

 Sailing boom: boat sales rocketing, regattas sold out and cruising staycations all the rage  Plan your passage to the

Canaries  Family transatlantic passage on a catamaran  Tokyo: behind the scenes  On test: Kraken 50  Propellers: sail faster, save fuel

Available online or ordernow post-freefrom chelseamagazines.com/shop

30 YEARS AGO

NOVEMBER 2021 ON SALE

Friday 15 October, 2021 Or why not subscribe?

OCTOBER 1991, CB39

One of the interesting thing about our issues from three decades ago is the broader variety of covers. Here’s an example of a drawn front cover, in this case a watercolour painting by none less a fi gure than Charles Napier Hemy, the great 19th-century marine painter. Two other things that are di erent about that cover to our MO today: it’s framed, as all early cover images were, and it doesn’t relate to anything inside the magazine. These days, it’s always a photo, it’s always colour, it’s always ‘full bleed’ (IE the photo takes up all the cover, bar the masthead at the top and the strip at the bottom) and it always relates to something inside the magazine. Now, if you’re reading this magazine, you’ll be the fi rst to agree that not all evolution represents progress – and there are certainly many things about the magazine that were brilliant and, for one reason or another, now departed. But I do think our current thinking on covers is right: full-bleed so you get a fuller image; relating to a feature inside, so it does, as Ronseal say, what it says on the tin; and always in full colour, because classic boats are contemporary things, not forgotten artefacts from the photo albums of the deceased. One other – uno cial – rule: cover boats are always sailing boats! But you know what they say about rules…

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