Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2017 i Classic Boat

CLASS OF 1934 If the shots in this issue of America’s Cup challengers past, including the J-Class yachts of the 1930s, whet your appetite, then this image taken by Frank Beken on a home-made camera in August 1934 might tempt you. From left, Britannia (K1) and Astra (K2) (both converted to be Js), Shamrock V (K3) and Candida (K8) (also converted) give chase to Velsheda (K7) in the Solent. A limited edition silver gelatin photograph, printed using the original 8in x 6in glass plate. Price from £995 brettgallery.com 12-METRES BY MACKRILL This dramatic depiction of 12-Metre racing harks back to the post-war America’s Cups, painted in oil by Martyn Mackrill, part of his recent Home Waters III exhibition at Messum’s in Mayfair. Price £29,400 messums.com PANERAI AC WATCHES Panerai has…

After the Second World War, it was clear that the economic climate would not allow boats as large as the J Class of the 1930s to be used again for the America’s Cup. Discussions began between the British and Americans as early as 1946 with a view to a future cup in smaller boats and, in 1956, the Deed of Gift was modified. This allowed a Royal Yacht Squadron syndicate to make an o. cial challenge in a 12-Metre, and as considerably more Twelves had been built in Britain than America at that time, it was hoped that this might give the challenger an advantage. It would seem that the Squadron syndicate took heed of Charles E Nicholson who had said, after his Endeavour II was defeated in the 1937…

PICNIC BOAT Good designs will embody two of the following three qualities: fast, comfortable, cheap. When Hinckley brought out its Bruce King-designed, down-east-style 36ft (11m) picnic boat in 1994, powered by a Hamilton jet drive, it was the first of its kind. Today, the company has sold more than 450 picnic launches, and last year launched its 1,000th jet-drive motorboat. The latest incarnation of that original picnic boat is the twin-diesel (two 370hp V8s) Mark III, now 37ft (11.3m) long; a 34ft (10.4m) boat also exists. The attention to detail and craftsmanship are well known and the boat, reportedly as seaworthy as she is fast (35 knots), is a joy to behold, featuring compound sheer, tumblehome and large areas of varnished Burma teak. Seating is either under the hard canopy…

For location, Haine’s Boatyard, where we made our last visit four years ago, is unrivalled. For a start it’s waterside, which you can’t say of all boatyards. It’s also set in the very sailorly village of Itchenor on the shoreline of Chichester Harbour AONB, with the South Downs National Park rising across the water. Itchenor Sailing Club, just a few steps away, is home to very large, active fleets of XODs, Solent Sunbeams (both GRP and wooden these days) and Swallows, the 1948 Olympic keelboat class. These provide the backbone of Haines’s work, where they winter around 80 boats every year. When we arrived in late April, most of them were already back on the water, and we were met by the yard’s new manager, John Tremlett, himself a keen…

The essential di erence between a Japanese saw and its western counterpart is that the cutting edges of the teeth face the handle, so that it works on the pull stroke. For a saw with a narrow blade, a big advantage of cutting on the pull stroke is that all risk of bending or buckling is eliminated because it is under tension rather than compression. With a 71/2in (190mm) toothed edge, tapering from ¼in (6mm) width at the first tooth to 1/2in (13mm) at the last, this Japanese keyhole saw recommends itself to the boatbuilder sawing curves or apertures in tight corners – for a vent to promote air movement, for example, cutting a limber hole, or fitting transom flaps to a racing dinghy. Typically such an aperture would be…

When the wind arrived in the afternoon I was ready, and though apprehensive at the prospect of heavy weather, was determined to make the most of it: the gale was going our way, and we needed to get along. The wind increased all through that night, though the sky was clear and moonlit. I had to be near the helm, as even with three reefs in the main the vane was often overpowered in gusts. I got no more than an hour’s sleep. This was my first experience of running before a gale for a sustained period. On every other occasion of meeting heavy weather it had always been on the nose, which though unpleasant, makes heaving to a matter of just dropping the jib and putting the helm down.…

The flight to Palma should have been a warning. The little Airbus bounced stiffly through turbulence, occasionally dropping through the sky like a stone through a vacuum. The tail end of a big mistral was still blowing itself out, bending trees and bedevilling recreational hat-wearers on the ground, teasing the nervous and the God-fearing on flight EZY8627 as we flew south to Spain’s Balearic isles. The day before, winds over 30 knots had cancelled race-training on Svea (‘Swede’). Now, as we waited dockside, the big, mast-mounted anemometer read-out flickered around 15. The friendly English captain Paul introduced himself, and I didn’t need him to point out that it was going to be pushier outside the marina – even in the protected bay of Palma. It’s customary at this point to…

CHARLESTOWN, CORNWALL A new age of sail for historic port The historic port of Charlestown in Cornwall has reopened its trading links with the arrival of The Grayhound, an 18thcentury replica threemasted customs lugger that has delivered its first consignment of wines, rum, food and other limitededition items. George Elworthy, steward of the Shipwreck Centre and Heritage Museum, says, “We want to bring both the harbour and the museum alive again and pay homage to the explorers and traders of the past. Charlestown used to be home to the final remaining sailonly cargo boat in the 1930s, and we now plan to embark on a new era of trade.” The harbour has so far been used for trade ships and film companies, but now, the public will be allowed to…

A fter an entire year and 1,859 hours of work, Bessie’s second life can now begin. The 108-year-old fishing boat from Limhamn, Sweden, is ready to embark upon another century at sea. “For us, it is still the same boat,” said Mathias Ravanis who, together with his brother Martin, runs the Nyhamns Såg & Båtbyggeri, the Saw & Boatbuilder’s Yard in Bräcke, in northwestern Skåne, that restored her. Bessie was built in 1909 just outside Malmö for a herring fisherman, Anders Matsson, with the registration code MÖ 347 (today it is HG 52). Her restoration is the largest project to date from the Ravanis’ yard and the finished boat has been turning heads wherever she sails. “If you remain faithful to the original lines and construction, show respect for the…

Eighty years on from the last time they competed at an America’s Cup, the J-Class will race again at the event in what is likely to be the biggest gathering of the class in its history. The 35th America’s Cup, taking place in May and June from Bermuda, has made provision for three days of J-Class racing, just before the final America’s Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton. The Js will race on June 16, 19 and 20. Of the fleet of nine existing boats, it is expected that eight will be at Bermuda and that seven will race. This will outdo the recent St Barths Bucket, where a record six raced. It is the latest spectacular peak in the remarkable J-Class story, kick-started by Elizabeth Meyer and her restoration…

1851 AMERICA BEATS 15 BRITISH YACHTS Eight cutters and seven schooners – ranging in size from the 47ton cutter Aurora to the 392ton threemasted schooner Brilliant – tried to beat the visiting schooner America that fateful day of August 22, 1851. The course was from Cowes, clockwise around the Isle of Wight and back to Cowes. As was the custom, all boats started at anchor, and the 170ton America was last away as her crew were carefully avoiding overrunning her own ground tackle. It wasn’t long before she made gains on the rest of the fleet. The leading boats left the Nab light vessel to starboard, because that was what they always did and they had written instructions telling them to, but America had no such instructions and so she…

All day we had been following a yellow smear of sand dunes topped by green marram grass, as Suffolk became Norfolk in one monotonous, seemingly never-ending curve, the easternmost corner of England. In sunshine and with a fair wind, our tanned canvas bellied beneath the gaff, on the end of which the red ensign fluttered like a handkerchief, yet even on a benign summer’s day my crew Max Liberson and I could sense the vulnerability of this open coast. The Thames sailing barge skippers of old used to say that there were not many harbours after Harwich, but that there were plenty of lifeboat stations! For centuries the sailors of billyboys, Humber keels and barges, who traded along this coast in winter and summer, dark and daylight, held it in…

Rosenn has a very significant place in history as the last known surviving example of what might be the world’s first one-design yacht class. Discussions about a one-design racing keelboat began among members of the Isle of Wight’s Royal Yacht Squadron and Island Sailing Club in 1893 and from 1896-7, 22 were built to an in-house design by local builder J Samuel White. They were christened the ‘Solent One Design’ and raced vigorously for a decade, but the introduction of the International Rule in 1907 saw many owners sell up and buy metre boats. Apart from one unconfirmed sighting of an example (in a sorry state) in Buenos Aires, Rosenn is the last one around. She’s 31ft 6in (9.6m) long on deck, with two berths below and a ga. cutter…

We live in strange times. How have current political events like Brexit a_ected business? Brexit, with the fall in GBP against the Euro, has moved some British buyers away from Euro-priced yachts; but the strengthening Dollar has drawn American buyers to European brokers. You played professional rugby in the 1980s – is there any comparison with competitive sailing? Probably a certain level of modesty, as in both sports you may sometimes feel like a little boy, like when facing a big gale or just before entering the field before a tough game. You served an apprenticeship as crew for Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. What was the most valuable thing he taught you? One of the many valuable things I learned from him is always to consider the seaworthiness of a boat…

For any America’s Cup devotee – and there are one or two of us around – to sail on a boat that was designed and built for the purpose of lifting the Auld Mug has got to be one of the greatest thrills. To turn the same wheel, wind the same winches and pack the spinnaker in the same forepeak as when they raced for the greatest of sporting trophies – that’s the kind of day on the water that doesn’t come around very often. Since the Second World War just two British boats have raced for the America’s Cup: the 12-Metres Sceptre in 1958 and Sovereign in 1964, both of them to designs by David Boyd. Other British boats have entered the America’s Cup challenger series on four subsequent…

Edited by Steff an Meyric Hughes: +44 (0)207 349 3758 Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk WORLDWIDE Golden Globe boats getting ready Two very different Suhaili replicas, two Biscay 36 ketches and two Endurance 35s are being prepared for next year’s Golden Globe Race to mark the 50th anniversary of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s first solo non-stop world circumnavigation, writes Barry Pickthall. As reported last month, Mike Smith is busy in his yard near Newcastle, Australia, building a modern-day replica of Sir Robin’s famous Eric design ketch using the very latest in CAD cutting and modern composites, while Indian solo sailor Abhilash Tomy is having a traditional version built at the Aquarius Shipyard in Goa. Neither can confirm yet whether their boats will be ready in time for the start, but at the time of…

BOATBUILDER’S SECRET Custom scrub plane With its thick and heavily cambered blade sticking out like an Elvström baler, a scrub plane is the follow-on tool to the axe for quickly reducing timber to rough dimensions. E.ectively it is a hand-powered thicknesser which is also good for removing ingrained finishes, and you can make one simply by reshaping the blade of an old Bismarck plane. The Bismarck is well suited because of its secure forward handle, since using a scrub plane can be heavy going. Otherwise the only prerequisite is a mouth big enough not to be clogged by thick shavings – about ¼in (6mm) is ideal. You can enlarge the mouth using a chisel. The cutting edge typically has a radius of 3in (75mm). Mark the new edge with a…

14-16 JULY Thames Traditional Boat Festival Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire Under new management since 2015 and going from strength to strength. This is probably the biggest riverboat revival in Europe, if not the world. tradboatrally.com ley o Tha mes, Oxf rdshire Unde new manageme nt since 2015 and goin g fr m stre gth o strength. This s pro ably he bigg st riverboat evival n Europe if ot the w r d.tra boatral y.c m30YEA RS1987-2017350t 1 JULY Round the Island Race, IoW The world’s most popular yacht race roundtheisland.org.uk h/30 ear log .in d 9 2/05/20 7 14: 6BEKEN OF C OWES MA TYN M CKRILL entar o Sa iling Week orto Sa to S tefan , Tus any, Ita yOlin St phens ’ fa ourite of the…