www.classicboat.co.uk SEPTEMBER 2022 £4.95 US$10.99 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 FAST BONNIEANDFiferacerrebuilt MARINE MartynARTMackrill MORGAN GILES Life and designs WORKSHOP GlassingKNOWLEDGEaStella DUNKIRK LITTLE SHIP Fishing ketch survivor ITALIAN AVANT-GARDE 1945 Lancia runabout FIFELargestREGATTAevergathering
Cinderella treatment for UandI – the Fife racer back on top form WORDS TOM CUNLIFFE PHOTOS PAUL WYETH FIELDDREAMSWITH
The stem came out piecemeal. The fastenings were all in place but were doing very little. Installing the new stem, laminated from oak and glued with epoxy, allowed for some of the sheer to be recovered. The old oak floors were removed one at a time, to be replaced with laminated oak built up from the top and the sides for maximum strength. Dealing with the floors at this stage ensured that the shape was retained in this critical area. The rudder post was simply renewed, but the horn timber in the counter stern was more or less intact. It could be saved, except where it jointed with the rudder post. The end had gone to glory and a new one was scarphed in. All scarphs are epoxy glued and are cut to ‘6 x thickness’ standard.
UANDI 6 CLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2022
Many a restoration article starts with a brief history of the boat before going on to describe the job, making reference in passing to the builder. Sometimes, though, the man in question is as interesting as his boat, so before taking readers through the life and changing times of Uandi, I’m going to introduce you to Alastair Garland. Alastair and I first crossed tacks around 1990 when the foreman of the Elephant Boatyard at Bursledon sent him along to caulk my old pilot cutter. This should have been a daunting task with 50ft of planking, as he observed, on both sides. The seams were 80 years from new and had been around the block more than once, but Alastair had her ‘clattered up tight’ in short order. Learning that he’s a Cornishman who served his time building fishing boats on the beach at Porthleven, you’ll be forgiven, as I hope I was, for assuming that big lumps of wood, heavy mauls and shifting deep-draught boats on greasy ways are his preferred stock in trade. His unique brand of Cornish longshore humour and general ‘wind-up’ does nothing to dispel the impression. It helps to give as good as you get with Alastair, and that’s when he surprises you with acts of kindness that reveal the man himself. As to the heavyweight skill-set, you couldn’t be more wrong. A few years after the great caulking bonanza, Alastair went self-employed to follow his heart. All his life, when occasion permitted, he had been restoring finely constructed smaller craft. Now, he set to it full-time in a shed just off the A36. By 1999 his own Thames motor launch Little Teasel had been awarded ‘best in show’ at Henley Regatta. It was in 1995 that Alastair and his late wife Mary, found Uandi in a parlous state in Falmouth. Mary’s research revealed that she had raced with nine others in the Belfast Lough Class 2. Her first owners were the brothers James and Vincent Craig. These were yachtsmen of no small significance. James went on to become Viscount Craigavon, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1921/2. Whether or not he parted company with his little yacht then, or whether she was long gone by that date is unclear, but we do know that in 1922 she underwent something of a transformation. Under the guidance of Fife, her iron keel was replaced with the lead she carries to this day. Her draught was increased by 6in, and 5ft was sawn off the long main boom. The bowsprit was shortened by 2ft. The headsail was tacked to the stem head, and studies of the ‘new’ sail plan seem to suggest nothing was set from the stump bowsprit. Alastair says that ‘Uandi must have gone from a beautiful swan to an ugly duckling overnight.’ Clearly, the Garlands found a pedigree vessel that had to be saved. There had been some desultory efforts at restoration that came to nothing, and someone else was interested in buying what there was of her, but when Alastair heard Mary demanding of the owner, ‘What’s the least you’ll take?’ He knew his fate was sealed.
Given that the remains could be restored to either era, Paul Spooner the naval architect became involved. The main criteria were that the boom must overhang the stern and the bowsprit should follow the original plans as closely as was feasible to balance the boat. The bottom line was that Uandi must look completely authentic. Paul worked from the original drawings and concluded, in my opinion correctly, that the 1897 mainsail would be too much for anything but light-airs sailing in sheltered water. He found the ideal compromise simply by trimming 18ins off the original main boom length to 19ft 9in. This kept the boat as true to Fife’s vision as possible. In one of his wind-up moments Alastair described the dreadful 1922 rig as being ‘ideal for OAPs’. What we have instead is the full 1897 character without the bad behaviour.
Right: conditionsreflectiveundersail‘UandI’in Right inset: Alastair Garland deep concentrationin
The boat was trucked up to the Hampshire/Wiltshire border and parked in a field where she remained, returning peacefully to nature for 16 years. Finally, in 2011, Alastair woke one morning and said to Mary, ‘I’ve had enough. I’m going to go and get Uandi.’
The first problem was a wasp colony with a nest the size of a football that was enjoying beneficial tenancy of the yacht. The pest man relieved her of her unwanted incumbents. I asked if anything had let go during the lift, especially as the lead keel had been dumped in the grass field alongside the boat 10 years previously. She was, it appears, ‘a bit wibbly wobbly’, but she made it to the workshop in one piece. First, she had to be set up. Her sheer had dropped and she was secured with blocks and shores, ‘by eye and by luck’. I went down to see her and asked how stable she was. I’ll never forget Alastair’s response. ‘She’s like a blancmange with bits of Ryvita.’
The old keel came off in one piece with all the rib sockets clearly where they should be. Replicating it was not too much of a challenge but fitting it was a protracted ‘up- and-down, up-and-down’ session that nobody who has been confronted with such a job would envy. It was tackled in ‘spare time and Fridays’.
DRAWING BOARD DILEMMA
THE SKELETON First off was the elm keel, to be replicated with a fine piece of Opepe. Alastair’s philosophy is to save and use everything he can of an original boat and to waste nothing, The new keel originated from a 32ft x 4ft 6in x 6in baulk from which Alastair had cut a different keel when restoring my daughter’s yacht, the 1909 yawl Lady Belle for her owner of the day. An off-cut had remained in the yard where the rebuild had taken place and the management wanted rid of it. As Mary said, ‘Even we can afford a free coffee.’
UANDI DESIGNED William Fife BUILT Hutchinson’s of Carrickfergus 1897 Modi ed from drawings by William Fife 1922 LENGTH ON DECK: 24ft (7.4m) BEAM: 6ft 2in (1.83m) DRAUGHT: 4ft (1.22m) RIG: Sliding gunter sloop PLANKING: Yellow pine/larch topsides, teak top strake BOTTOM 6 PLANKS: Pitch pine
CLENCHING UP With the planking completed, how do you clench up singlehanded? You find a Cornish boat builder who can think outside the box. A webbing strap was devised together with a piece of wood to hold the dolly in place outside. Then, it was ‘roves on the inside’, a plate of brass with a rove-sized hole in it to protect the ribs from hammer scarring while the clipped nail end was peened with the hammer. Next the riveted end was smoothed with the flat of the hammer and finished off with a small, concave piece of bronze bar fitted over the nail end and very lightly tapped all round. Alastair’s test for clenching is to pass a silk stocking over the result. If it snags, it’s not good enough.
As much of the original full-length planking was to be saved as possible. Only the basket cases were junked, so every plank that hadn’t already fallen off was carefully removed. All fastening holes were plugged and new hood ends scarphed on where required. The teak top strake went on first. Next came the plank at the turn of the bilge, selected because it is usually the straightest plank on the boat. The rest followed, screw-fastened at the hood ends but still awaiting clenching. Alastair points out that when you replace planking you always end up losing a bit of wood off the edges. By starting on the bilge and planking upwards, any gap that appears is under the teak top strake where it is easier to fill and blend because it is hidden behind the beam shelf. The bottom planks are fitted in the same way. Around the horn timber where the twist is extreme, they are close-seamed and fabricated out of thicker timber. The bottom four planks are pitch pine from reclaimed church beams. The topside seams are routed out for splines 10mm deep x 8mm wide, allowing over an inch of area for gluing. The bottom planking is largely close-seamed with some caulking at the garboards.
SPLINING AND FAIRING Uandi’s epoxied spruce splines from sheer to waterline were left proud to use as fairing battens. With planking as old as this, maintaining skin thickness is vital and the fairing process can compromise it. Long-boarding with the splines standing out works wonders.
8 CLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2022 UANDI
Above, left to right: pinereclaimedplanksbottomskeleton;ontocoamingthebeforeplanksAlternateremovedrenewingribs;ThesettlesthedeckThefourarepitch
DECK With the mast partners, clamp and associated knees in place, a small teak covering board went back on with a proper toe rail, followed by 3½in deck planking in Alaskan yellow cedar, chosen for its tight grain and golden colour. Although the only living soul to see the seams on the underside will be the foredeck hand groping for a spinnaker, they are all beaded. Because the boat will spend much of her life under cover, the decks have been varnished. The effect is an astonishing burst of warmth that can’t be achieved any other way. The teak is all reclaimed ship’s decking, bolt holes included and dry stored since the late 1950s.
The whole boat is finished bright inside and only the lightest touch was allowed with the sandpaper when cleaning up the planking to take the varnish, lest vital millimetres were shaved off.
With a pristine backbone now in place and the planking still on, what was left of the beam shelf was lifted out, together with the deck beams. Uandi is largely framed with bent ribs but she had sawn or grown frames in way of the mast, the rudder post, the bowsprit heel and the mainsheet horse. Alastair laminated replacements and added one or two extras to allow for the additional loads from the 1922 lead keel which were never compensated.
Working on the frames at this stage allowed Alastair to ‘pull the boat about’, to recover the rest of the sheer and set her up using ribbands. Renewing the ribs – they all had to go – every other plank came off so that clamps could be inserted to pull the laminated units into shape. The recovery of Fife’s hull form was completed with a new Douglas fir beamshelf followed by laminated deck beams replacing 90 per cent of the originals.
PLANKING
There are a lot of clenched nails in this hull. Each one had the same treatment. The hours spent on this tricky work are mind-boggling.
LEAD KEEL Somehow, Alastair conspired with a pal’s trailer and an engine hoist to lift the lead keel from its bed in the weeds, nettles and young trees back in the field, and bring it to his garage. Nobody knew it was there, so it never came to the notice of our local prowlers in search of a quick buck. By the time they had turned around, it was in the workshop, trundled under the boat on little carts made for moving lathes, and bolted into place. If this sounds like an easy job, don’t be fooled. Alastair had to drill the bolt holes from the top of his clean new keel
Clockwise from top left: Scroll-work as per original; The deck is Alaskan yellow cedar. Note the halyards running below Bowspritdecks;heel fitting is painted galvanised like the original; The name could be read as ‘You and I’. What do you think?; The mainsheetoriginalhorse with thumpers to protect deck and leathered blocks; properlyCleatsangled. Say no more...
Spirit Yachts' founder Sean McMillan showed his customers a clean pair of heels in his own yacht Flight of U ord as he finished top of the leaderboard in Spirit Guernsey – the first ever Spirit Yachts regatta.
There was widespread dismay from UK sailors as the UK Hydrographic O ce (UKHO) announced it would be stopping paper chart production by 2026. The “sunsetting” process will begin this year, starting with larger scale charts.
Tell Tales Classic Boat’s address: Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 cb@classicboat.co.uk3TQFollowtheClassicBoatteamonTwitterandFacebook
TOMLINSONRICKBRISE:JOLIE
UKHO to withdraw paper charts
For a second consecutive occasion, the 2023 race will finish in thanexpectedJanuaryRock.mileCotentinCherbourg-en-witha695-nauticalcourseviatheFastnetEntryopenson112023,withplacestoselloutinlessfiveminutes.
The plans a ect the UKHO’s portfolio of Admiralty Standard Nautical Charts (SNCs) and Thematic Charts “in response to more marine, naval and leisure users primarily using digital products and services for navigation”. The UKHO said its digital charts could be updated “in near real-time, greatly enhancing safety of life at sea (SOLAS)”.
Meanwhile publisher Imray saidchart it had no plans to withdraw paper charts, saying: “Our focus is the leisure and small craft sector, which has di erent conditions and requirements to the UKHO’s primary commercial shipping market. There is still strong demand from leisure customers for paper charts.”
Close racing in Spirit Yachts’ inaugural regatta
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The RYA’s Richard Falk responded: “It is important to highlight for those who wish to continue navigating using paper charts and more traditional navigational techniques, there are other providers of paper charts within the market. The RYA will continue to teach both traditional and electronic navigational techniques through its range of courses, although over time it is right to expect the weighting of emphasis to shift towards more digitally based techniques.”
“Today’s world is unrecognisable to the one that existed in 1795, when our organisation was founded. Back then, mariners navigated by the stars using a magnetic compass and surveying with a leaded line marked in fathoms. They could fix where they had been, but not where they were,” the UKHO said. “Withdrawing from paper chart production will allow us to increase our focus on advanced digital services that meet the needs of today’s seafarers.”
Ten Spirit yachts ranging from 37ft to 65ft took part in the event, which was held in partnership with Locate Guernsey, thisSpiritsummer.52Oui Fling finished second overall, missing out on victory by 0.5 point, and Spirit 65 Chloe Giselle was one point behind in third place overall. Experienced yachtsman McMillan said: “The regatta was a culmination of nearly three decades of dedication, teamwork and passion. To see a fleet of Spirits flying across the start line at our own regatta was a very proud moment for all the team.”Asa result of success of this year's inaugural event, the next event is being discussed for 2024.
CHANNEL ISLANDS
Setting sail from Cowes on Saturday 22 July 2023 will be the 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Rolex Fastnet Race. For most of its life the Fastnet Race has been held biennially, however from the first race until 1931 it was held annually and three editions were lost due to WW2. It gained a special standing in the years when it was part of the Admiral’s Cup. The first race, then simply known as the ‘Ocean Race’ and held on a course from Ryde to Plymouth via the Fastnet Rock, took place in 1925 with seven starters. A dinner immediately after the finish resulted in the Ocean Racing Club being established with Lt Cmdr EG Martin, owner of the first race’s winner, Jolie Brise, appointed commodore. The race was inspired by the Newport-Bermuda o shore race (first held in 1906) and US entries have remained strong. Some notable US winners include yacht designer Rod Stephens Snr with Dorade (1931 and 1933); ; CNN founder Ted Turner’s Tenacious, which won the infamous 1979 race; and, most recently, David and Peter Askew on Wizard (2019). The race has always attracted a powerful entry from the continent and especially France, with Eric Tabarly winning on board Pen Duick III in 1967. Four of the last 10 races have also been won by France.
Fastnet 50th anniversary
A total of 30 classic yacht of various designs, including 10 ga -rigged and six junk riggers, gathered to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at Brixham Royal Torbay Heritage Sailing Regatta in June, writes Penny Jolley. The inaugural regatta took place more than 100 years ago under the auspices of Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather, King George V, whose Perpetual Challenge Cup is awarded annually to the fastest Brixham Trawler. The event was blessed with great weather, and visitors enjoyed sea shanties, a fish pie supper at Brixham YC, a parade of sail, and friendly competition. The King George V Cup won by Vigilance and the Brixham Heritage Festival & Carter Cup awarded to Pilgrim. Class winners were Cynthia, Lexia, Minx, Capraia, Falanda, owned by Katie McCabe – 15-year-old round-Britain sailor. The regatta take place next year on 27-28 May.
Up until the First World War, scores of fishing smacks were a regular sight on the River Colne as they headed out on the tide to their oyster layings or spratting grounds, writes Sandy Miller This fishing and boatbuilding heritage is still celebrated at Wivenhoe’s annual regatta, which dates back to 1891, and over 2,000 people were on the quay this year as the smacks raced up river to the waterfront finish. These big smacks under sail in this narrow section of the river created an impressive spectacle. Sunbeam, built by Howard of Maldon in 1881 and owned and helmed by David Minster and Tony Arnaudy, crossed the finish line first to win the Jim Lawrence Trophy. It had been a lively day of racing, with a sti breeze out in the estuary for the early stages. There were even traces of tactical encounters with the local mud on one or two of the smacks. Of the seven Wivenhoe One Designs also racing, it was a good turnout considering only 19 were built in total between 1935 and 1947. Alcyone 1, sailed by Nigel Cook and Benjamin Wilton, was first over the line. There were loud cheers as they passed the Rose & Crown pub along Maldon's popular waterfront.
Maria, built at the Harris yard in Rowhedge in 1866, was the winning smack, helmed and owned by Paul Winter, who picked up the Clive Stebbens Challenge and Clive Memorial. East Coast One Design Delphine, built in 1913, was the winning classic cruiser on handicap and 1st ECOD. Jasmin Klimcke, the owner and helmswoman of Polly, a Howard smack built in Maldon in 1889, received a Special Smack Trophy, the Bill Coulson Memorial. There was also an excellent turnout of Blackwater Sprites, a 1934 one-design by Robbie Stone, created for the West Mersea YC but now largely based at Blackwater SC.
TELL TALES 15CLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2022
ESSEX
Impressive crowds brave enough to venture to ‘Cannibal Island’ were rewarded with a perfect summer’s day, a good breeze and a fine turnout of smacks and classic yachts and dinghies racing on Collier’s Reach, writes Sandy Miller. The Heybridge Basin Regatta, first held in 1859, celebrates a colourful maritime heritage, a history of ‘wayward activities’ logged in local folklore from a time when ships’ crews bringing timber and coal to this remote port dug out of the saltmarsh would live life to the full. It is said that only the boots of the missionary sent from Maldon to investigate these activities were never found.
Heybridge Basin Regatta Jubilee classics
Wivenhoe Regatta
MILLERSANDYPICS:WIVENHOEANDHEYBRIDGE
