Innehållsförteckning för May 2010 från Classic Boat

A sunny open day with lunch Sloped off to Gloucester Docks last Sunday where Tommi Nielsen was holding an open day. I gather it’s the first time he’s done this and I think it’s a brilliant idea. Teams from the various projects ongoing or just completed at the yard were on hand to talk about their boats and it was good to bump into a number of old friends and acquaintances. Tommi had erected a tent inside one of his long worksheds, carpeted it and laid on lunch (together with some of his clients) for about 110 people. A site heater warmed us and we had a drink and three courses. The projects included gentleman’s ketch Halcyon (CB229 et al), the newly restored pilot cutter Cornubia (ex-Hirta), the two-masted topsail…

Gribble worm, the sailor’s enemy, could become a new source of bio-fuel. Former Isle of Wight fisherman Simon McQueen-Mason, professor of materials biology at the University of York, believes that the potent digestive enzymes that the gribble produces to convert wood into the sugars they live on, may help in the development of sustainable carbon-neutral fuels to replace petrol. He is working with marine biologists from Portsmouth University to pinpoint the enzymes produced in the worm’s stomach. The research, at the University of York, is part of a £27 million public grant to research bioenergy. In CB257 we reported on research being done on seaweed for the same purpose.…

She was launched in 1910 from the Gosport yard of camper and Nicholson as Sulvana, a glorious 148ft (45m) schooner built for the Spanish royal family. She has been in commission ever since, under various different owners (including one in argentina), and had six name changes. In 1999, her rig was restored to original and she once again carries 9,700 sqft (901m) of sail, that gives her the power to do battle with the Herreshoff schooner Mariette at classic regattas on the med circuit.…

On 28 April, Mike Perham, who just turned 18 this March, will leave on a re-enactment of the voyage of Captain Bligh (CB257), sailing a 25ft (7.6m) open boat 4,000 miles from Tonga to Timor with very little in the way of modern aids or comforts. Last year, Mike became the youngest person to complete a solo circumnavigation, and in November, a one-hour Channel 4 documentary of his voyage: ‘The Schoolboy who Sailed the World’ was watched by millions. It showed an agonising series of events, the central characters of which sometimes seemed to be the malfunctioning self-steering gear; and a rather fed-up girlfriend (she dumped him by Inmarsat, poor lad). These are two lessons most blue-water sailors have to wait years to learn. Apart from his sailing adventures, Mike…

Catboat enthusiasts have a lot to be excited about this year with the much-anticipated match races between two of the largest catboats built in more than 40 years. “They used to race cats seriously in Barnegat Bay and Buzzards Bay but the two types never met,” says Tim Fallon who had his 28ft (8.5m) CC Hanley-designed catboat Kathleen built in 2006 by Beetle Inc from 1890s drawings (CB207). He will meet Silent Maid for the first time in a series of match races at the usual Catboat Association events this season. The 33ft (10m) replica Silent Maid was launched in 2009 from a design of the 1920s for racing in the shallow, flat and windy Barnegat Bay by famous Star Class designer Francis Sweisguth. Owner Peter Kellogg is notable for…

Finding Derek “That’s freaky,” I murmur, squinting at a furry, yellow chart of the north Indian Ocean. “We’re only a mile from where we caught Makoolis in 1992.” Jamie glances at the chart. Between the crisp graphite entries of this leisurely passage are older, fuzzier marks. The paper has been wet at some stage, but several jottings are still legible. ‘CYCLONE 2330 hrs’ is a bald reminder of the conditions we encountered in these waters 17 years ago. Siandra’s trail is erratic. Close to our present position it merges with a cluster of symbols marked ‘Mak’. Makoolis was a 37ft (11.3m) steel ketch belonging to a Canadian single-hander called Derek. Like most of the Sri Lanka-bound fleet, he was keen to stay in contact via SSB radio. Two hundred and…

Though a mainstay of the classic boating scene, the one-design classes are forced to endure a tough old life. Even ignoring the stresses of the regular and continual racing for which they were intended, the boats have to deal with a steadily rising level of strain as the hull and decks, which don’t get replaced on a regular basis, degrade while maintainable parts – sails, spars and rigging – become modernised, upgraded and more powerful. It comes as no surprise, then, that many class associations are looking at ways to modernise fleets, and are grappling with the many issues involved. For the Darings of Cowes, built from 1960 in GRP, a change of hull material was not an issue but the fleet was showing increasing signs of age, reflected in…

Seventy years ago, more human lives were saved in a single concerted, physical effort than probably in any other in history – military or otherwise. It was the early summer of 1940, and Allied forces were on the run from the Nazi bulldozer, blistering its way across Europe in a destructive swathe of blitzkrieg. This was the ‘shock and awe’ of its day, a novel and powerful military juggernaut spearheaded by dive-bombers, with their trademark screaming glissando engine note, and motorised tank divisions in an era when cavalry warfare had yet to pass into antiquity. The Allies had been pushed back across Belgium to France’s northern shore, and, outnumbered and outgunned, having disastrously underestimated their foe, they had nowhere left to run. Meanwhile, across the Channel in England, a flotilla…

The typical Dunkirk boat was a gentleman’s motor yacht of 40-50ft, with twin engines, raised topsides forward and a pilot house aft. Most were fairly new when war broke out. As to how little ‘little’ actually is, the average length of participating boats this year is 47ft 3in (14.4m). Among the many motor cruisers will be some passenger ferries, ex-RNLI boats, a few sailing craft like gaff ketch Angele Aline, Thames sailing barge Greta, the cockle bawley Endeavour, and a few naval craft, like MTB102. The biggest boat will be Bluebird of 1938, a glorious, 107ft (32.6m) twin-screw motor yacht, the last of three owned by Sir Malcolm Campbell. The smallest will be Chumley, a 26ft (7.9m) petrol-engined motor yacht, once owned by comedian Tommy Trinder. Elvin (1937, TSMY, 35ft)…

The Danish full-rigged ship Georg Stage follows a long tradition; when the present ship was built in 1934 she was not the first to carry the name. This exceptional living memorial began back in 1882 with a ship built at the famous Burmeister and Wain Shipyard, financed and equipped by the shipowner Frederik Stage and his wife Thea and named after their son who had died of tuberculosis when he was only 22. The Georg Stage Memorial Foundation owns and manages Georg Stage as they had the original, slightly smaller, ship, which took 80 trainees on the voyages from 1882 until she was sold in 1934 for another sail training purpose to Alan Villiers. As the Joseph Conrad and flying the red duster she crossed the oceans on her two-and-a-halfyear…

The 87-year-old Brixham Trawler Kenya Jacaranda – a sail-training vessel for twothirds of her life – fell on hard times a few years back when both the boat and the existing management committee seemed to reach the end of their useful life simultaneously. Mercifully, an enthusiastic new team came forward, determined not to let ‘KJ’ die, and ownership was transferred to Kenya Jacaranda Heritage Sailing last year. Restoration is already underway with regular volunteer working parties, and help from professional boatbuilders, and recently the ship was transferred from her Tilbury berth to Greenwich Slip in order to get her ready for her survey. This proved better than expected, with the starboard side, rebuilt in 2002 declared in good condition. “So we’re only going to have tro restore half a ship,”…

While there are obvious benefits for an owner to be able to consider different options for interior layouts in a custom-built boat, experience can be invaluable in making it clearer how a set of two-dimensional drawings will turn out in reality. Over a period of several months, starting before the contract was signed, discussions between Dave Cockwell and Lance Whitehead, the owner, developed the following general arrangement. At the bottom of the companionway steps is a galley to starboard and a chart table to port; moving forward, the saloon with U-shaped seating to starboard and a seat/berth to port, a central table with a folding leaf to port, and folding pilot berths outboard on both sides; then an area originally intended to be a workshop which developed into a dressing…

Round brushes Perfect for getting into tight corners and around window frames, these are a vital part of any serious varnish job. They are made from pure white long bristles and hold plenty of varnish, allowing the user to make long, even strokes and lay off well. They are also made well enough not to leave the bristles stuck in your work. In 15,18,21 and 25mm sizes they are £12.50 plus VAT for the set www.tradboats.com Fein multitask tool This Fein Multimaster Marine has almost limitless applications, including a universal E-cut blade (wood and metal), rigid scraper blade, carbide-tipped segment saw blade, HSS segment saw blade, carbide rasp, sanding pad, perforated and non-perforated sheets of sand-paper in assorted grains, dust extractor kit and a polishing set. It has an adjustable…

Application notes Five coats were applied, the first thinned about 30% with white spirit. The second coat was given a light de-nibbing with 400 grade paper. Of the three tested here, Ravilakk was the most glutinous and, probably, the highest build as a result. In the solvent jar the brush accumulated a khaki-coloured gunk, but this was wiped away easily before the brush was re-used. It accumulated at the bottom of the jar and the solvent was replaced mid-way through the application. The lid was the most awkward to prise open. Since lids that distort during initial opening are likely to provide a poor re-seal between coats this can contribute to skinning-over within. The five-coat application spanned five days. Skinning and re-use Each day when the tin was re-opened a…

Two-pack varnishes comprise a varnish and a catalyst. They cure chemically, not by evaporation, and a feature of them is that they cure more quickly. Several coats can be applied in a single day, thereby reducing project time immensely, and this feature alone could govern their selection. They look exactly like a conventional varnish but they are inclined to be harder and hold onto their gloss longer. To date we have rated two-packs as being a 1-Star Pass with an additional distinction Star for exceptional gloss retention. We found that they failed by splitting over the sharp corner, thereby allowing water behind its impervious film. In real life this wouldn’t be an issue because under normal circumstances a sharp corner should not exist externally aboard a boat and, even if…

Application notes This latest Uroxsys system consists of ‘yellow’ primer, clear aliphatic top coat and special thinners. We were supplied with a clear primer too but decided that a touch of colour gave the more desirable effect. The surface of oily species must be degreased – but not a trace of solvent must remain when the application commences. The primer was applied liberally during a warm late afternoon to ensure that it flooded the surface pores, and the surplus was ragged off. Allowed to cure overnight, five coats of marine aliphatic (top coat) were applied at roughly two-hour intervals, de-nibbing just the third coat to level it. Special Uroxsys cleaner is supplied for brushes, but if unavailable, No 3 thinners (antifouling) with 10% methylated spirit added does the trick. The…

Application notes The longstanding builders’ merchant product, generally admired, routinely available – and cheaper than Marine. ‘Pine’ tint (ref 077) corresponded well with Cetol Marine’s ‘natural’. The three coats went on very easily and the lid opened easily and resealed well. Unlike the Cetol Marine brush, the stored Filter 7 brush remained resolutely free of gunk. The three-coat application spanned three days. Skinning and re-use No skin developed between daily applications, or after 6 months. Performance after 6 months Totally intact on surface and all four edges. It retains a low level of sheen.…

Background There has been much written recently about combining an epoxy with a two-pack. This typically involves three coats of clear epoxy, over-coated with three of two-pack varnish. Given that most exterior woodfinishes have flexibility built into them, those that are hard and inflexible need to work by being impervious. This means wrapping up the wood behind watertight armour. Since epoxy’s ability to stick to wood is legendary, this approach is worth investigating. Alone, epoxy has no UV resistance to speak of so it needs to be overcoated with a product that can provide this. Conventional single-tin alkyd varnish is considered not to be very compatible with an epoxy base, but two-pack PUs adhere well provided the epoxy is abraded beforehand. Application notes Three coats of epoxy were applied, wet-onwet…

Flexible solar panel Although untested at the time of writing, this flexible solar panel, which straps over your boom sailcover, should keep the batteries topped up so you won’t have to run the engine weekly or come back to flat batteries – thus extending their lives. It can plug straight into the batteries or go through a solar regulator which prevents overcharging if the minimum ratio of 10w per 100AHh of battery is exceeded. Especially good for anyone with a busy bilge pump. £329.95 www.marlec.co.uk Compact Power Station and air compressor It’s always handy to have one of these in your car as it has many crossover boat applications. Not just a bump start charger (350 crank amps), it’s also an air compressor (tyres and tenders) a worklight, has two…

Graduate dinghy Recent years have seen a big push to promote this 58-year-old design and help revamp its image so as to attract new sailors to the class and maintain a strong position within a highly competitive dinghy market. A new, bigger mainsail was introduced in 2007 to improve off-wind performance, and the design has also been given the Phil Morrison treatment, which resulted in the launch of the ‘Rooster Grad’. It’s hard work that appears to have paid off, too, as the class has seen a significant boost in interest in the last three years, as evidenced at its annual National Championships, which have seen numbers on the startline increase from seven boats to 34. Yet although this class has had an injection of modern thinking and construction techniques,…

A Brown Boat goes to the Cam During my first trip to Southwold with the East Coast Old Gaffers Association I was raised from my bunk by a shout of “The brown boats are coming!” I poked my head above the hatch to see a fleet of the prettiest sailing boats beating up the harbour and rafting up opposite Southwold Sailing Club. I was really struck – the boats looked as if they sailed wonderfully, were graceful but more than that they just looked so pretty. Later that summer, on a family holiday in Falmouth, I bought my first copy of Classic Boat and found that it contained a review of the Brown Boats, otherwise properly known as the Broads One Design. The review was sparkling and everything seemed to…

After years of false starts, restoration work has finally begun on the 1885 schooner Coronet for owner Robert McNeil. An initial estimate suggests he will need to spend $12-15 million to see the 133ft (40.5m) boat sail again. Coronet was acquired by the International School of Yacht Restoration (IYRS) in Newport, Rhode Island in 1995, where she has been stored under cover until this time. The boat, which will remain in situ, was transferred to McNeil and boatbuilder Jeff Rutherford in 2007. This year, work finally began and will continue in close partnership with the IYRS, whose students will work on the restoration and, when finished, will have the opportunity to be employed as crew. The Contact Steffan +44 (0)208 7268126 Steffan_hughes@ipcmedia.com restoration, led by Rutherford, will be exceptionally authentic:…

Eighty-six miles of coconut fibre rope, 15 tons of African hardwood, 5 tons of teak, 1 ton of Omani wood: the essentials to build a 9th-century ocean trader. Over the past 18 months, a team of shipwrights in Oman, experienced in the subtle art of creating sewnplank boats have turned these materials into the Jewel of Muscat, currently bound for Singapore along an ancient trading route with more stops in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The design and materials of Jewel are based on the Belitung wreck – the only one of its kind ever found. The discovery of the wreck has led to a singular collaboration between Oman and Singapore to recreate the ship and sail it to Singapore where it will be presented as a gift from Oman, to…

Sunbeams The 26ft 5in (8m) Sunbeam, designed by Alfred Westmacott in 1923, is keelboat royalty with new wooden examples costing something around the £100,000 mark. The last one built, of pitch pine an oak, was for Aston Martin owner David Richard. In GRP with wood trim, the cost is halved: “The class is in slow decline and we want to gain half a new member a year, rather than lose half a year.” said the class’s Alan Stannah. “It will have lots of wood and look exactly the same, hence the high price.” The first one is in build and it’s hoped it will be ready for Cowes Week this year. Brightlingsea One-Designs There are already four of these in GRP, but the class has kept quiet about them since…

A new proposal could see London’s North Greenwich Peninsula become home to a number of historic vessels and a maritime heritage hub for east London. Homes and Communities Agency (formerly English Partnerships), the Government regeneration agency, has given the green light and the keys to a 335ft (110m) disused 1950s coal jetty, Phoenix Wharf, to a project called Greenwich Historic Ship Harbour. The North Greenwich Peninsula was one of the last areas of east London’s docks to be neutured in the huge regeneration project that started in the 1980s and is ongoing to this day. The reason was the toxicity of the land: 150 years of use by British Gas and other heavy industries had left the soil and air so contaminated with carcinogens and heavy metals that vehicles leaving…

Swedish East Indiaman replica Götheborg, our Tall Ship of the Month in February (CB260), is sailing to Stockholm in June to join the celebrations for the marriage of Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée, Crown Princess of Sweden, oldest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. “The Royal family have always supported us and followed the ship, so it’s only right for us to find a place in the celebrations,” says Rikard Thornander, the ship’s manager. This East Indiaman is based on her namesake which sank at the entrance to Gothenburg in 1745 on returning from her third voyage to China. The princess was on the replica in Shanghai in 2006. Götheborg will arrive in Stockholm on 14 June for the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria to Mr Daniel Westling…

Build boats, won’t sail them Do those who build good sailing boats necessarily have to like going sailing? One would imagine so. How can you build a boat having no desire to sail it? Or even an outright aversion to sailing? Seems an open and shut case, yet I know of a man who builds exceptional, and I mean truly exceptional, award-winning boats. He even knows how they should be sailed. He can tell you by how much the head of a lug sail should be scalloped to fit a yard that bends. (I suspected that it might be advisable, but wouldn’t have had a clue by what amount). He probably knows more about wave resistance, hollow forefeet and rudder profiles, in fact all factors that make a fast boat…

I first met with David Gower, who was steering what was called the ‘Daring Too’ project, in early June 2008. At that stage it was a fairly radical concept, with a new form of hull construction for an entirely new generation of Darings. I knew a little about the class, but had never sailed one, so I went to Cowes one Saturday to race with David. When the race began, it was easy to see the attraction of the class; they are a fine boat to drive to windward and nicely tactical downwind. They are easy but challenging to sail well and produce classic ‘Metre’ boat racing but with the advantages of a one-design fleet. Most importantly it became apparent that there was no noticeable performance advantage to having either…

“Father was building boats for the Admiralty at the time, including the prototype of the Fairmile B, over 600 of which would eventually be built. The work was 24 hours a day, in floodlit shifts, and there were many women working too, on the electrics and welding. So, we were living with an armed guard at the sidegate, from where I’d leave the house every day. Father only got the call four or five days before Dynamo, and he wasn’t necessarily sure what the boats were being requisitioned for. He talked very little about it, both at the time and after. I’m not sure if he told my mother or not. “I don’t know how it all came together really, looking back on it. He was given a couple of…

Much ink has been laid down in analysis of the life and times of TE Lawrence – not all of it complimentary or even true – and the Lawrence image that endures most strongly today is of Peter O’Toole’s brilliant, though flawed, characterisation of a willowy, effeminate and egotistical man in the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia. It’s a depiction that at the very least fails to portray many of the sides to the Lawrence character, while overemphasising others in the aim of making a good film. But O’Toole might easily be forgiven for getting the man wrong as, even during his life, Lawrence’s complexity invited much comment and counter-comment – it was said at the time that he had a genius for backing into the limelight – and this…

Gullible buyers of electric-powered boats probably dream of balmy days, with a companion draped across the upholstery wearing a large picture hat and nonchalantly trailing one hand in the water whilst the other lightly grasps a champagne flute. They glide silently along in a state of self-righteous delusion about discharging their obligation to save the planet. If you prefer the peace and quiet of electric power then that is your choice. Some of my friends swear by Seagull outboards (others swear at them). Neither the Seagull nor the electric motor can be remotely justified on environmental grounds and the further you delve into electric power, the worse that environmental scorecard becomes. The card house that is electric power begins its collapse the moment the realisation dawns that someone has to…

Right at the top of Portsmouth Harbour, the old Vosper Thornycroft works is now a huge multi-service marine centre trading as Trafalgar Wharf. The present owners took over the 22-acre site about 18 months ago, and have been busy organising marine trade tenancies and boatyard facilities (as well as the shipyard ones). The place still has an intriguing comingtogether look about it and makes for a fascinating walkround. Operations manager Simon Oatley says classic boats are high on their wish-list of potential clients. One of the slipways is equipped with a winch and trolleys, formerly used for hauling out lifeboats. Simon is sure it will appeal to traditional boat owners who wince at the idea of their pride and joy being swung about in slings.…

BRIGHTWORK TECHNIQUES: Brush up your varnishing Surface preparation is essential to a decent varnish job. How many times have we heard that? Sadly it’s still true, so be prepared for it to equate to 70 per cent of the job. Remove the old varnish with a heat gun or paint stripper. Be wary of sanding it off: it’s hard work, very dusty, and you’ll be sanding some of the wood away unnecessarily. You can get rid of black stains with oxalic acid or normal bleach. Be sure to neutralise afterwards with plenty of water then sand to 180-grit. I then clean out the hoover filter and go over every inch sucking all the dust out of the grain. I find a brush attachment on the hoover helps. Now go and…

How do I make my oil anchor light last the night? Q: My lovely anchor light rarely lasts the night. It has plenty of fuel and I don’t think it blows out. I think it jerks itself out as the boat rolls. It’s attached to the staysail halyard and held with various other lines to forestay and deck cleat. Is there a solution – or should I get an LED one? Chart5011 • Looks like a Davey & Co lamp. Mine is OK although not used for 12 years as the new boat came with a very nice Hella one that doesn’t blow out. Sailorman • A paraffin lamp can be put out by a sharp shock; I used to put paraffin sidelights out in the morning by tapping them…

Application notes Five coats were applied, the first thinned about 30% with white spirit. The second coat was given a light de-nibbing with 400 grade paper. Seajet UV was of moderate viscosity as of the outset. The lid lifted pretty well and it re-sealed neatly too. The brush didn’t accumulate any gunk throughout the five-coat application. The five-coat application spanned five days. Skinning and re-use The product didn’t develop a skin, not even after it was re-opened after a week. However, it seemed to become slightly glutinous in the interim. Thinners is likely to be all that’s needed to ease this. After 6 months there was no skin and the product was usable. Condition after 6 months Totally intact on surface and all four edges. It retains a high level…

Flexible polyurethanes remain the most expensive type of exterior woodfinish that we have tested to date. There are two products - Coelan from Germany and the new entrant, Uroxsys, from New Zealand. These products deliver a level of gloss equivalent to varnish and in the case of Coelan it retains it much longer. Uroxsys remains under evaluation. We’ve tested Coelan both on the test rig and on a test boat in the Mediterranean and South West France. On both, its performance remains exceptional. On the rig it scored the highest rating, 4 Stars plus a distinction Star, and on the test boat it has circumstances a sharp corner should not exist externally aboard a boat and, even if it did, a patch repair would have been made. Being a 2-pack…

Increasingly these are being adopted by boatfolk. Wood components that are covered most of the time (tillers, booms and gaffs that have covers) remain varnish candidates but increasingly, the stuff that sits out the weather all year (mast, bowsprit, grab rails) are moving over to exterior woodstain. At the 2009 London Boat Show about half the classic style boats on display had their brightwork finished in these. They do not have a gloss finish but the 50% solids products – as opposed to those formulated for rough sawn wood – do have sheen. The more recent developments appear to be improving on this though, closing the gap, and for a traditional workboat, this, let alone their technical performance, may make them a preferred choice. Three coats, with the second de-nibbed,…

Application notes This is a high-solids (75%)/low-VOC product that is expected to lock horns with Sikkens Novatech, the forerunner that performed very well and achieved a 4-Star rating in Series 1. Novatech can be used as a singletin system (three coats of Novatech), as tested in Series 1, or as a two-tin system (two of Novatech and one of Novatop). We tested the straightforward three-coat system both on the rig and on one our Med test boats, and the two-tin version was applied to the editor’s boat. Both performed very well and have earned a place as permanent fixtures aboard both my Keppel and his Nereis. Here, though, we’re testing the new contender, Sadolin Ultra, applied as recommended, that being a single coat of base coat and two of top…

I left St Martin in Dhanu, my hastilyrestored Buchanan 36, accompanied by another single-hander who was heading up to Florida in his Island Packet 36. We agreed to sail in convoy over to Scrub Island, a deserted island just off Anguilla. Off the east coast Pete came over the VHF. “We may have found you a liferaft – is Dhanu self-steering OK?” I replied that she was and before I could ask why I looked ahead to see Pete jump into his dinghy. He fired up the outboard and motored over to Dhanu. “Jump in we’ll go and pick it up”. We planed off heading for the horizon. About a mile away a Hypalon inflatable was adrift, waiting to be salvaged. I’ll never forget looking back at our two boats,…

Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival County Cork, Ireland, 28-30 May Contact Nigel Towse Tel: +353 (0)282 0415/(0)863 777634 www.baltimore woodenboatfestival.com Traditional boats, ceilidh on Friday and boat-handling and rowing competitions. 20-25 boats 30 APRIL – 3 MAY World Pilot Gig Championship Isles of Scilly, Tel: +44 (0)1720 422670 www.worldgigs.co.uk 100+ rowing gigs 23 MAY 2010 Jester Challenge Plymouth UK to Newport Rhode Island, USA 50th anniversary race to commemorate the first OSTAR, won by Francis Chichester on Gipsy Moth III. Fleet of around 100 classic and modern yachts under 30ft (9.1m) www.jesterinfo.org 27-30 MAY Brixham Heritage Regatta Brixham, Devon Tel: +44 (0)1803 855992 brixhamheritagesailing.co.uk. Luggers, trawlers and other work boats as well as yachts 27-31 MAY Little Ships’ Dunkirk Return Ramsgate to Dunkirk www.adls.org.uk Dunkirk Little Ships repeat their wartime crossing…

8-TON GAUNTLET MITTEN: One in five Built by Berthon in 1937, Mitten was the first of the 32ft (9.8m) 8-ton Gauntlet class; a gentleman’s cruiser racer with a canoe stern, offering five berths, separate heads, a chart table and galley. She was originally owned by the Hon Clive Pearson and was one of only five 8-ton Gauntlets built. Mitten has retained many of her original features including a teak-panelled interior with Taylor stove varnished blocks and classic cream narrowpanelled Gowen sails. The current owner has just completed an extensive programme of work including engine refurbishment, recaulking the hull, new floors in the forepeak and much revarnishing. Mitten has won numerous concours and racing events and over the last few years has been extensively cruised in the southwest including the Channel…

The amazing Bessemer This year marks a double anniversary for one of the boldest adventures in naval architecture ever undertaken – the birth and the demise of the SS Bessemer. The inventive Sir Henry Bessemer notched up over 100 patents, his best-known being for the Bessemer Converter which bubbled air through molten iron to make steel, but 140 years ago, in December 1869, he patented an invention which he hoped would make sailing tolerable for people prone to sea-sickness – the Bessemer Saloon. Inspiration struck after a dreadful crossing from Calais to Dover in 1868. Believing sea-sickness was due to the rolling and pitching of the ship Bessemer devised a counterweighted hemispherical saloon, pivoted about axes at right angles to each other, similar to a gimballed compass or oil lamp,…

A replica of Germania, the 1908 rac ing schooner, is in build in high-tensile steel, at Factoria Naval de Marin in Vigo, Spain. The project was kept secret by the owner, as the yacht was to be a surprise present for his wife, but it seemed that its magnitude has made it impossible to keep quiet. In terms of size, at 155ft (47m) LOA, she will be around 30ft (9m) longer than Lulworth when launched. The hull has now been completed, and sails and spars are being finished off site. Little more is known at this stage. The original Germania was the first of a trio of large racing schooners designed by Max Oertz, Kaiser Wilhelm II’s favourite yacht designer, for industrialist Dr Krupp von Bohlen, who had been persuaded…

Boatbuilder Tommi Nielsen has found a way to level what he calls “the ups and downs” of our present financial climate by part-building 56ft (17.1m) wooden motor sailers. Early plans are for hulls to be built in India, in Indian teak, and fitted out at his yard in Gloucester Docks after shipping. Initial drawings are reminiscent of old trawler yachts, sometimes known as ‘MFV yachts’ (Motor Fishing Vessels). We will cover these yachts fully in a subsequent issue. (More details in Editorial, page 3). And cornubia relaunched Cornubia (ex-Hirta, made famous by the writings of Tom Cunliffe) was officially relaunched at Tommi Nielsen’s yard in Gloucester Dock on 20 March, following a ten-year rebuild for owner Tony Winter.…

A major new season of programmes on BBC Four, starting in the first week of May, will focus on ships and the sea. Named ‘Sea Fever – The Story Of Britain And The Sea’, it will run alongside an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum. The flagship series of the season, White Sails And Grey Mist (working title), is a set of three programmes that combine previously unseen amateur film archive with tales of our relationship with the sea: “How we have enjoyed it, how we have fished it and how we have survived its dangers”. Richard Klein, Controller, BBC Four, says: “With air flight and the Channel Tunnel it might be easy to forget that Britain [is an island]. Messing about in boats, the splash of cold salt water,…

No two objects could better demonstrate the diversity of maritime collectibles than a whale’s tooth carved by the Michelangelo of scrimshaw and a helm console from a 1960s Chris Craft Cavalier, both offered in one New York auction. The exquisitely carved whale’s tooth depicting the 1813 American War engagement between HMS Shannon and the USS Chesapeake was the star item in Bonhams’ Maritime Sale, which offered 200 lots ranging from fishing floats, ships’ lights and figureheads to models, blue-prints, paintings, photographs, navigation instruments and even a coffee table in the form of a catboat. The action off Boston between Shannon and Chesapeake was furious and lasted just 15 minutes, while a small flotilla of spectator craft looked on. Although Shannon’s commander, Capt Philip Broke, died, Chesapeake was defeated and taken…

A Chinese man has been building a double-ended Colin Archer pilot cutter on a small farm in Rural China and, more lately, on a farm near Oslo in Norway. He plans to sail her back to China when complete. The boat, built in 8mm-thick welded aluminium clinker to a Colin Archer design, has elicited reservations from Colin Archer enthusiasts, though the lengths of metal have been cut to simulate wood construction. Builder/owner Zeyang hopes to sail in autumn. The hull was flipped upright in March. Chris Museler…

Once we had a hard bashing down the Swin with clouds of spray coming over the bows of the 34ft (10.4m) Mary Amelia, and we wondered if it was a wise thing to do in a boat nearly 90 years old. The real test came in the Pin Mill Smack Race – the competitive spirit meant that we had all sail up when we were hit by a sudden fierce squall in the open River Stour. The boat went right over until water came up to her steerage (cockpit) sides. My son Jonathan, the owner, moved swiftly to let the topsail halyard go, while I pushed the tiller away and shouted for Lawrence Hebson to ease the main sheet. The squall passed, and up came the Mary Amelia. Nothing broke…

As the crew of Beyond Reach were celebrating finishing the Sydney- Mooloolaba race in 1992, someone lightheartedly discussed entering the 50th Sydney-Hobart. There had been a lot of coverage in the Australian press so interest was natural, but something more than just the idea took off. Eighteen months later, after hunting the world for the boat that would give them their best chance, they found themselves on the start line with the boat that had bagged itself the unbroken record for the largest line honours win in the historic race. An hour or so later Fidelis was the first boat out of Sydney Heads. Four days later she was first home in the veteran division’s fleet of more than 90 veteran and vintage yachts in the 50th Sydney-Hobart. Fidelis had…

23-26 May Little Ships arrive in Ramsgate, Kent. 27 May Ships leave Dunkirk approx 0630 to arrive in Dunkirk approx 1500 (28 May alternative departure date in case of bad weather). Mid-channel fly-past by a Spitfire and Hurricane. 29 May Commemorative ceremony at 1130 on the beach at Dunkirk. Little ships will be circling off the beach (weather permitting) with a French naval vessel. Prince Michael of Kent (honourary admiral of the ADLS) will be present, as will various vintage war vehicles, and a fly-over by a Lancaster bomber. 30 May This year is also the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Dunkirk from German rule. To commemorate this, all the streets in the city’s newest district, being built on the disused docks, will be named after events and people…

Britain’s war-winning engineer Though popular history has it otherwise, it could be said that with his Supermarine factory developing the Schneider trophy-winning forerunners to the Spitfire on one side of Southampton Water, and his British Power Boat Company producing the gun boats, torpedo boats and high-speed launches on the other side, Hubert Scott-Paine was the person who gave Britain the engineering to win the Second World War. Perhaps the reason for Scott-Paine’s lack of recognition today is that his background and methods flew in the face of between-thewars British society, business practices and politics. Harry Banks worked for Scott-Paine at the British Power Boat Company for 20 years and, as one of his 20 faithful core employees, is as well placed to describe the man today as anyone left alive.…

The latest project for the Pioneer Sailing Trust is an apprentice training programme based on a working boatyard. Five apprentices, who will be joining anytime soon, will be following a nationally recognised programme in marine engineering and will acquire a wide range of skills – including GRP work – leading to an NVQ level 2 and a City and Guilds certificate. The project, with government, EU and local support, will also provide training facilities for a further 15 apprentices in the county. It will also work with National Historic Ships to develop skills needed for traditional and especially historic vessels. The workshop, Harker’s Yard, is a new steel-framed industrial building in Brightlingsea, owned and erected by the trust, together with an adjacent length of foreshore on the banks of the…

Chris Rees, who built Spirit of Mystery (“one of the most talented people I’ve worked with,” according to Pete Goss), has recently been building something a little more downto- earth, namely a shed. It’s 60 x 20ft (c18 x 6m), in a corner of a field bought by Chris and his wife Marsha for the purpose in their village of Millbrook on the Cornish side of the Tamar. “It’s a lovely shed,” says Marsha, “with a sawmill set up outside.” Inside at present is Nellie (photo, above), a 26ft (7.9m) Polperro gaffer belonging to photographer Mark Lloyd. Built 1904, she’s in for a longterm rebuild project. Later this year Moonraker, another Polperro gaffer, immortalised by Peter Pye in his books Red Mains’l and others, is coming in for the next…

The prospect of scraping our Hillyard dinghy would fill my 10-yearold heart with gloom. Yet before long I was enjoying the work. Why? Scrapers are among the most ancient tools on earth, shaped some 2 million years ago to strip flesh from the bone and more recently, by middle stone-age people, to hollow log canoes. The urge to scrape could be among our earliest human instincts. Natural curiosity drives us to investigate what lies beneath the paint and for this there is no closer, cleaner method than scraping. Over the years I have come to respect the scraper as the most venerable and effective of tools. Although simple it demands concentration and can reward you with a finish ready for paint, without the dust and aggravation of sanding. A good…

1 Jotun Penguin Ravilakk 2 Seajet UV 3 Nauteco Coma Bernice 4 Seajet polyurethane gloss 5 Uroxsys plus primer 6 Sikkens Cetol Marine 7 Sikkens Cetol Filter 7 8 Sadolin Ultra 9 Sadolin Ultra two-pot 10 West epoxy and Seajet PU two pack With performance benchmarks for various products from the first and second series identified we can now evaluate 10 more, of which a number are direct competitors with those that faced the test rig previously. The new 10 went up a year ago, in early May – just as the previous two groups did over two and six years ago. Weather-wise 2009’s summer was good to begin with but after June it settled into a pretty average southern English summer – dismal, in other words – before brightening…

Application notes Despite its foreign-sounding name this is a British product. Of the three it had the lightest consistency. The lid pinged open crisply and re-sealed well and this may have contributed to there being no skin forming between coats. In the solvent jar, the brush accumulated a greyish deposit which needed to be removed between applications. Despite this, there was no need to replace the solvent mid-way as very little had accumulated at the bottom of the jar. The 5-coat application spanned five days. Skinning and re-use No skin appeared between daily applications, and none was there when the tin was opened a week later. It never seemed to become heavier to apply and there was no skin when the tin was reopened after 6 months. Condition after 6…

Application notes The six-coat application spanned two days. Since no evaporation is involved this application will have a significantly higher build than solvent or water-based finishs. The pot life is claimed to be 3-4 hours (once catalysed) and the re-coating time is claimed to be 24-48 hours, this being despite the literature claiming that it is ‘hard dry’ in 8 hours. All very confusing... But a 24-hour over-coating time (minimum) is pretty poor by today’s standards and defeats two-pack’s great advantage, speed of build. However, coats can be applied wet-on-wet at much shorter intervals so long as the previous coat is slightly tacky, not hard cured. Further, since a rapid application was how we approached the 2-pack in Series 1 (Skippers) we did likewise here. We allowed 20 minutes between…

Application notes We were offered three shades of Cetol Marine – ‘light’, ‘natural’, and ‘teak’. We opted for ‘natural’. Light was rejected as previous experience of using Sadolin Extra in this shade didn’t look right for a boat – it was too yellow, too sandy. ‘Teak’ was the darker tint of the three, probably too dark for most people’s taste. The lid opened easily and re-sealed well each time. Any scepticism about Cetol marine just being a re-branded version of Filter 7 was dashed by the different types of gloop that accumulated on the brushes while they were stored in their respective solvent jars. The Cetol Marine developed a thick gunk – not at all dissimilar to that caused by Ravillak, albeit easily removed between applications. Filter 7 had none.…

Application notes This is three coats of Sadolin Ultra topcoat only. This corresponds with how we tested Sikkens Novatech on the rig in Series 1 and on our Med test boat and we do this is for the benefit of those of who like to keep things ultra (sorry…) simple. There’s a lot to be said for one tin that does it all. The threecoat application spanned three days. Skinning over and re-use See Sadolin two-tin, left. Performance after 6 months Totally intact on surface and all four edges. It retains a high level of sheen, verging on low gloss Recommended ongoing maintenance for exterior woodstain Case studies have shown that annual maintenance is seldom necessary. High salinity adversely affects exterior woodstain though, so it follows that a yacht in…

Arthur Ransome under sail It was the original edition of this book that got me into the whole Nancy Blackett preservation project. First published nearly two decades ago, and long since out of print, it then went under the forgivably opportunistic title of Nancy Blackett: Under Sail with Arthur Ransome, capitalising on the recent rediscovery and restoration of Nancy, significant in the Ransome canon as the inspiration of, and (as the Goblin) leading player in We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea. The narrative led with her story, before going back in time, and then forwards to get on with its real task of chronicling all of the boats owned by the famous author of Swallows and Amazons (both Swallow, long since lost, and Amazon, ex-Mavis, now preserved, are there,…

Lesson 13: The sky at night Sooner or later we all find ourselves sailing in the dark. This can result in distress, confusion, collision etc. But fret no more. The Dazed Kipper Manual is opening once more. Help is at hand. It goes like this: Generally boats show red lights on their port sides, and green lights on their starboard sides, and white lights somewhere in the middle. There are however other lights not so generally seen but equally important. Large towns show lights, but not always to stop people colliding with them. Take Blackpool. The Big Dipper and the Tower are high-visibility items, but of no navigational significance. Many who have neglected this have been disappointed to find their vessels pounded into small pieces on the sandbanks for which…

Eilean: Panerai’s flagship Fife Angelo Bonati, president of the watchmaker and event sponsor, has his own newly-restored classic ST206 – lawrence of arabia’s marine project Built by Scott-Paine, with TE Lawrence, discovered in Gweek Quay and restored by Phil Clabburn Eco-teak: does it... can it... exist? One company thinks so. With the ban on Burmese teak hitting European supplies we visit importer Brooks Brothers to see their Eco-teak Plus: Niki Perryman on surviving a cyclone Small boats at Beale Park, preparing for Jester Challenge, Suffolk Harbour Yacht Regatta and more…