Innehållsförteckning för September 2010 från Classic Boat

The loss of Clive Emerson creates a sad opening note to this issue. Clive, who died of a stroke while preparing to bring his latest restoration – Blazing Star (her original name; she had been renamed Ivanhoe) – to the British Classic Yacht Club’s regatta in Cowes. Clive was 68, but a healthy 68 and the community in Gweek and Falmouth was in shock at the news of his passing. Some 300 guests attended his funeral and later a wake at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club. Clive and his wife Gillian acquired Gweek Quay in 1997 and turned it into something of a mecca for classic boats. He had previously run a fishing business with two boats, skippering one of them himself. At Gweek he had a dream to help…

Clive Emerson, who owned and until recently ran Gweek Quay in Cornwall, has died of a stroke aged 68. Clive, who with his wife Gillian, bought Gweek Quay in 1997 created a unique boatyard where talents like Luke Powell’s Working Sail and restoration expert David Walkey could flourish. Clive also restored and sailed Lutine of Helford and more recently Ivanhoe, now Blazing Star. Clive died just before he was planning to sail her up-Channel to take part in the BCYC regatta. Last year Clive’s son James took over the management of Gweek but Clive was still very involved. Our condolences go to Gillian and James.…

Britain’s oldest river sailing club, the Thames Sailing Club, home of the classic Thames a-Raters, had a spectacular climax to its 140th anniversary with a royal visit this July from its patron, HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, writes Mark Laity. Escorted by Raters, Prince Philip arrived by traditional Thames narrow boat. Once there, a tight course and lots of wind created spectacular viewing for the duke, himself an expert helmsman. Indeed, so tight was the course it involved one collision which holed the 1898 Ulva below the waterline. Later, he was especially interested in talking to the crews and inspecting the forlorn Ulva. When he left he was presented with a superb half-model of the 1907 Vagabond, crafted by club member Clive Wylam. Throughout, the duke showed a charm and…

On 12 July, the Jewel of Muscat, the Arabian sailing ship built to a 9th-century design and covered in CB263, reached its destination, after five months sailing from Oman to Singapore. The ship, presented to Singapore by the Sultanate of Oman, was met by the president of Singapore, SR Nathan. The Jewel of Muscat is a 60ft (18m) replica based on the Belitung wreck, the only known wreck of an Indian Ocean trader, and her hull, built the traditional way, has no metal fastenings at all, being sewn together by coconut cordage through 37,000 holes. Her new home in Singapore will be at the Resorts World Sentosa’s upcoming attraction, the Maritime Xperiential Museum. The museum, which will pay tribute to the maritime silk route and Asia’s rich maritime history, is…

“Just look at those boats! All built by the same man over the past 40 years and together in the same shed. This must be unique.” Peter Gregson of Wooden Ships had seen nothing like these 35 or so immaculately-maintained beauties on a recent visit to Kroes Yard, on the Ijssel River near the town of Kampen, founded in 1910 by the same family that owns it today. Its original business was building agricultural pumps, but it soon diversified into boatbuilding and after the war started building yachts, with the Kroes family team of father and two sons. They built many Folkboats then branched out into their own designs, sticking to the Scandinavian clinker sloop theory: in essence larger Folkboats. The latest one, Zoutrif, a 30ft (9m) type, was launched…

Tern II, well known as the yacht owned by Claude Worth and featured in his book Yacht Cruising, is now in New Zealand, halfway through a restoration that has hit the buffers for lack of funds. She was found abandoned in Tonga by UK boatbuilder Mike Lyons, while sailing to New Zealand. Mike became her owner in 2006 and had her shipped to NZ with a view to a full restoration and return to the UK. Mike is now looking for someone to employ him to finish the job, or to take over ownership. Tern II, 30ft (9m), was designed and built by Stow and Son of Shoreham in 1899 as a yawl named White Kitten, renamed Tern II by Worth because “one good Tern deserves another.” A new book,…

It was very much a Pin Mill occasion. Children spilled out along the foreshore road, using the canvas slings on the boatlift parked at the edge of King’s yard as swings. Back inside the little sailing club at the far end, plates and bowls of bring-and-share food are laid out on long trestle tables, there’s a barbecue on the go and the place is packed. It’s all rather old-fashioned and a reminder that this little shoreside hamlet is still a community, as well as being a yotty-tourist honeypot. And it’s all in celebration of a boat launching. The boat in question, the 106-year-old Leigh bawley Gladys, has been dominating the village’s roofline for the last twelvemonth or so, as Gus Curtis, the current manager of King’s, Pin Mill’s legendary boatyard,…

The second Thames classic rally, now titled the Thames Revival, in St Katharine Docks, hard by Tower Bridge, must have prompted many a yachtsman to entertain the unfamiliar idea of sailing up the Thames to get there. Unfamiliar because as a passage and a destination it lacks some of the escapist charm of the coves of Cornwall or the flats and rivers of the East Coast – but also because the London River seems to be a place of fear for many yachtsmen. The brown water, fast tidal current and the detritus of manufacture along the banks create a foreboding place, bolstered perhaps by the ghosts of the dead who’ve drowned there, and well-publicised accidents like the sinking of the Marchioness river boat in 1989. In literature, it has also…

There is some uncertainty about the rules here, so to clear up any confusion: it is a legal requirement that you motor through the Barrier – and not motor with sails up either. Sails must be stowed. And it is a requirement to inform VTS (Vessel Traffic Service, who control all Barrier transits) of your proposed passage through the barrier. The drill is this: call VTS on Channel 14 between Margaretness (downriver) and Blackwall Point (upriver) – or, in practice, when you can see the barrier – and inform them of your plan to transit, stating the name of your vessel and whether you are travelling upriver or downriver. The reply from VTS will tell you clearly which span to take, which will be one of the ones with a…

Travelling up the Thames from the North Sea you can’t avoid the feeling that a lot has happened there over the years, but it takes something like the Thames Police Museum at Wapping to get a real feel for the story. A bit like what might be happening in the soil beneath our feet, or the waters beneath our boats, it just takes someone with the right knowledge to bring it all to life. The River Police Museum is not about interactive entertainment, nor hi-tech graphical representations: it’s an unreconstructed sort of collection. What the display cases, paintings and models do, though, is to explain what is and has been going on under people’s noses for hundreds of years; the artefacts and displays are merely props on which to hang…

It’s a week, well ten days really, of what must be one of the best-run regattas for classics this side of the Pearly Gates. From Flensburg in Germany, across the fjord to pretty Sønderborg in Denmark and thence to Kappeln with its backwater the Schlei, and finally to Kiel, this was a cruise in company to beat all others – about 200 others in fact. Don’t be put off by the clunky name: the Robbe and Berking Classic Week 2010 was an extraordinary mix of gentlemanly sailing, exquisite wooden yachts and a very relaxed, almost wound-down, party atmosphere. But maybe it was wound down because the first few days, which CB missed, in Flensburg had seen some legendary partying at the new Robbe and Berking boatshed where a new classic…

Ella is a 67ft (23.8m) Fred Shepherd staysail schooner designed and built in 1936 by Miller and Son at St Monance in Scotland. She’s one of those elegant yet strong seaboats with a kind of go-anywhere appeal to her. Her double-ended lines proclaim a North Sea provenance while that rising sheer aft is no doubt drawn to give the helmsman confidence in a following sea. Ella has been restored by four friends who formed a syndicate to find the right boat for them to sail together. “When we found her in Hamburg in 1999, she was very tired and had sunk twice on her mooring, but we could see that she was basically sound,” says Ingo Krey. The six year restoration, which involved replacing some 25 metres of Ella’s doubled-up…

The tragic news (see p6) of Clive Emmerson’s death stunned this yard at Gweek Quay in July. It’s also where Luke Powell’s Working Sail shed is based. Luke has been taking a year off but the shed is not lying idle. One of Luke’s team, ‘John the Rigger’ – John Albrecht – has taken it over to build a 42ft (12.8m) lugger. To be called the Majestic, she’ll be a two-master, and Luke says she has ‘the sweetest lines’ and will be the fastest lugger in the west, built to beat the famous Guide Me. John’s lugger will – or had better be – out of the shed any time now (mid-August) as Luke will be wanting it back to start on his next pilot cutter – in September. Luke…

One way in which the old-time shipwright eked out his meagre income was through taking good care of his tools, repairing what he had and making from scratch what he did not, writes Robin Gates. Buying new was the last resort, almost an admission of failure. It’s a sound example for today’s eco-conscious boatbuilder to follow: there is a wealth of mothballed vintage tools waiting to be relaunched into the boat shop. A particular beauty of wooden tools is that they can be restored to good working condition fairly easily, even when badly worn. Nowhere is this more evident than in wooden planes – tools that are usually inexpensive yet hugely enjoyable and, best of all, capable of repairing each other. Some old-school boatbuilders find them more user friendly than…

Not for just stripping paint, heat guns can also shrink down shrink sleeve, solder terminals (if you have the space), change the shape of items made from various types of plastic and swiftly dry items needing to be painted. Heat guns are especially good in stripping varnish without (if you are careful) scorching the wood, which keeps down sanding. The instructions say ‘Please don’t use as a hairdryer.’ No need to say that in this company, we hope! Makita heat gun model HG5012: £49.95. www.axminster.co.uk Wire stripper/cutter Hardened steel jaws soon strip off the insulation from any conductor from 0.2mm to 6mm up to 20mm throat depth. Pressure can be adjusted by an adjustable pressure screw. Idea for a quick repair on your boat if something electrical has failed due…

Sailing master Chuck is well known among mediterranean classics. He joined Thendara earlier this summer. some of these ideas are inspired by Don street’s making Classics Go series last summer, but a lifetime of sailing (on ships like the Golden Hind) has taught Chuck the need for simple seamanlike approaches to running a boat like this. You don’t hear the term sailing master much these days. It’s very different from bosun and different from captain. In Naval terms it meant an officer in charge of navigating and steering a vessel, but in more recent years, on Tall Ships, it means running the deck and especially the rig. It’s a job that requires a good knowledge of seamanship, and Chuck Demengeat, a well-known bowman or crew boss for the last 12…

21-22 AUGUST Solent Area Annual Race and Rally, OGA Cowes IoW to Lymington (Hants) Jessica Warren, Tel: +44 (0)1962 712529 jayis47@hotmail.com 27-30 AUGUST Thames Festival Oyster Run Queenborough (Thames Estuary) to London Ian Welsh, Tel: +44 (0)7711 069544 www.oysterrun.co.uk 28 AUGUST Thames sailing barge Southend match Essex, Tel: +44 (0)1202 552582 www.sailingbargeassociation.co.uk 28-30 AUGUST Newlyn Fish Festival Cornwall, Tel: +44 (0)1736 363499 www.newlynfishfestival.org.uk 28 AUGUST-4 SEPTEMBER Burnham Week Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex Tel: +44 (0)1621 786251 www.burnhamweek.org.uk 29 AUGUST Cowes-Torquay-Cowes Race 50TH ANNIVERSARY www.britishpowerboatracingclub.co.uk 29 AUGUST Bosham SC Classic Dayboat Regatta Chichester Harbour Stephen Pritchard, Tel: +44 (0)1243 572341 www.boshamsailingclub.com 3-5 SEPTEMBER British 6-M Nationals Hamble/Solent Royal Southern YC Tel: +44 (0)2380 450302 royal-southern.co.uk www.6mr.org.uk 3-5 SEPTEMBER Holyhead Traditional Boat Festival, OGA Anglesey, North Wales, Tel: +44 (0)1270 874174 www.oldgaffersassociation.org 4 SEPTEMBER…

LETTER OF THE MONTH Supported by Old Pulteney Whisky Woodscrew disasters – and silicon bronze solution Robin Gates’s article about silicon-bronze woodscrews (Boatbuilder’s Notes, CB264) brought memories literally flooding back to me. In the 1950s I was technical sales engineer at Guest Keen and Nettlefolds, Smethwick, dealing with customers’ problems and advising on the application of new products. These included Phillips Recess screws, self-tapping sheet-metal screws and Aerotight lock nuts. Following an urgent telephone call I visited the Brighton Aquarium to find a scene of devastation. They had constructed large display tanks using sheets of heavy plate glass sandwiched in a teak frame. Without any warning one of these sheets had fallen to the floor discharging thousands of gallons of seawater, fish and crabs over the visitors. An elderly lady…

Tuiga, a Fife 15-M, passes ahead of Mariquita, a Fife 19-M racing at the Westward Cup in July. The event – the brainchild of Zbynek Zak, owner of the Westward replica Eleonora – was slightly marred by the great schooner losing both her topmasts in windy conditions before the regatta started. No-one was seriously injured. She still raced, although she could not catch these sleek sloops, or the schooner Mariette – the fourth vessel attending. The Big Class event was novel in that owners helmed their own craft and by all accounts had tremendous fun doing it. Hosted and run by the Royal Yacht Squadron (with the New York YC and Monaco YC helping with organisation), it was judged a huge success and hopes are it will be repeated in…

Cornish Crabbers’ new 26-footer will be the highlight of the resurgent company’s major stand (F15) at this year’s Southampton Boat Show, 10-19 September. The Crabber 26, unveiled as a design at the London Boat Show, had already secured five orders before the first boat was finished. Fellow Cornishmen Rustler Yachts will have four boats in the Marina (M269-273) and news of the new Rustler 33. Also afloat (M502) will be the new ‘green’ Contessa 32 from Jeremy Rogers. In the dinghy area, just inside the main entance, the Wooden Boatbuilders’ Trade Association will again host a joint stand (A22-3) for its members, while the builder of the GRP Memory gaffer, Salterns (A79), will be talking about its new tie-up with Collars (see p54), and Roger Wilkinson of Kittiwake Boats (A69)…

Rainbow, the1920 Taylor and Bates open launch owned by Adam Toop, picked up no fewer than four trophies, including ‘best boat’ at this year’s Thames Traditional Boat Rally, reports Peter Willis. Newly-restored by Alastair Garland, who also restored Adam’s J-class launch Islay, shortlisted for CB’s Restoration of the Year Award in 2008, Rainbow’s immaculate Gardner engine earned her the Dean Marine engine trophy and she also carried off the Thames Heritage Cup and the Bates Wheel, normally reserved for Star Craft. The rally enjoyed excellent weather, a flypast by a Lancaster bomber, an aerobatic display and the traditional turnout of Dunkirk Little Ships.…

Actor Peter Sellers indulged in some of the most expensive cars money could buy – and also had an eye for stylish boats. In 1967 he bought a new Riva Junior sports boat. In a way he was the perfect customer for the new entry-level 18ft 6in (6.7m) Riva. With its fresh, painted hull, it was aimed at a younger, trendier clientele than the mature super-rich who made up the Italian marque’s traditional clients – varnish was for squares who smoked pipes. With 626 built from 1967 to 1971, the Junior made major inroads to the US market ruled by Chris Craft. Sellers’ Junior (no 162) recently re-emerged at a Bonhams’ classic car auction at Goodwood, West Sussex. Restored in 2006-7, fitted with Riva 180bhp Chrysler V8 petrol engine and…

Traditional boatyard Enavigo has been looking at the future – and decided that it lies in larger boats, after its Enavigo 33 cutter failed to secure enough contracts to make the newly-established firm viable. We tested the E33 in CB225 and were impressed at not just the boat – a fast, yet heavy-displacement wooden 33-ft (10m) cutter with something of the Falmouth quay punt to its looks and a stunning interior – but by the quality of its build, and especially the boatshed, run, as it is, by a man whose ‘other job’ is in precision engineering. That quality, however, meant a high price tag of around €190,000 (£158,000). “It was simply too small to become a bestseller, considering that one can buy two or three GRP yachts of the…

In December 2005, Siandra was heading for southern Tasmania when the Met Office forecast a gale. Luckily the natural harbour of Barnes Bay was close to hand. Sailing in, we passed a handsome sloop, anchored in the broad open roadstead. Must be fishing, we thought, although no-one was visible in the cockpit. We ducked into the outermost anchorage. As the wind started to worry our halyards, I noticed the yacht had gone. Sensible, I thought. But Jamie spotted something stranded on the far shore, and binoculars confirmed it was the sloop. Had the skipper taken ill perhaps, or fallen overboard? We radioed the water police who asked us to dinghy across and investigate. It was rum weather for a row. Siandra’s tender took the waves in her stride, although the…

The bawley – so called because it carried a copper in which to boil shrimps as they were caught – evolved to serve the demand for shrimps, which by 1872 had become the principal fishery of Leigh-on-Sea, near Southend on the Thames Estuary. “The sailing bawley as finally evolved and built at Harwich, the Thames, the Medway and the Swale, was powerful in hull form and rig,” wrote John Leather in Gaff Rig. “A typical boat built during the 20 years prior to 1914 varied between 35-42ft overall: a 35-footer having 12ft beam and 5ft or 5ft 6in draught. “The hull had a straight keel, straight stem slightly rounded at the forefoot and a transom stern with slight rake but often surprisingly delicate shape. The sheer was very high forward…

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Making safe passage on the Thames is a matter of observing a very few, and simple, rules: 1. Observe the most basic of ColRegs: Pass port-to-port. Stay to the starboard side of the channel, and cross the main channel as quickly as practicable and at a right angle. The PLA is very hot on ensuring vessels observe the starboard rule. 2. Carry a good chart, showing the buoyage. 3. VHF: Carrying a radio is mandatory on craft over 45ft (13.7m) within the port of London, as is a round-the-clock radio watch (see Comms panel overleaf for channels). In practice, a radio is a sensible addition on any vessel. NB: movement on the Thames is controlled by the Vessel Traffic Service, part of the PLA, and…

If you want Tower Bridge to open for you to pass through, your vessel needs to be at least 9m (c30ft) high – some trip boats have been known to add dummy masts to qualify – and you have to book the opening at least 24 hours in advance, by letter or fax (no emails or texts!). Back when the bridge was first opened, in 1894, it was sufficient to show a ball in the rigging as you approached (or two lights in line at night) and sound Morse ‘B’ – one long and three short blasts – on the siren. In those days, when the Pool of London was the destination for shipping, the bridge would open 20 times a day; this fell to below two in the latter…

It must rank as one of the best sailing experiences you can have: Tower Bridge, that 1894 icon of engineering in the capital, opens up for you to pass underneath aboard Thames sailing barge Cabby while people line its piers to see the 1928 wooden vessel coming upstream. A TSB must look quite small to them, and yet we are Tall Ship enough to have our own bridge lift. So who’d want to bring the rig down on deck and shoot this bridge the way barge crews used to in the days when there were around 4,000 sailing barges registered on the London River? We certainly wouldn’t. We are way too well fed on Gordon Ramsay cuisine, not to mention champagne and oysters. We’re acting as guinea pigs (more emphasis…

Gabriel Lund towed Jeløen, his sprit-rigged pine-on-oak three-quarter-decked sloop, from southern Norway to be here. The pretty 21ft 7in (6.6m) boat was turning heads all over the place with her low-slung double-ended lines, varnished deck and topsail rig. She was built in 1915, to a Copenhagen 5.5m rule and was designed by Wilhelm Schulze, a German living in Norway who was also heavily influenced by Colin Archer – she’s derived from Archer’s Marie 1899 lines but I can also see some of his 1890 Velsia in her. A Norwegian wheelwright built her, using the best timber he could find – which is probably how she has survived. She has accommodation for four – although her ‘saloon’ is open! Converted to a motorboat by the time of World War II, she…

Its official name is The Shipyard, Littlehampton, but the chances are it will be known as the old Hillyard’s yard since that is what it is. It’s a welcome return to life for the huge site on the banks of the Arun that has been in limbo since the 100-year-old Hillyard business folded in still-mysterious circumstances at the beginning of 2009. Hillyard, which had owned the site since 1923, sold off the freehold in 2008, to Mike Ingle, who is one of the partners in the new Shipyard business, along with David Paxman who owns the other part of the new yard – the former Williams/Stangate site next door. Their aim is to rent out various parts of the yard to marine-related businesses and services. About half the space is…

A tie-up between Salterns, builders of the popular Memory 19 gaff cutter, and mast and spar makers Collars, has resulted in a new company, located alongside Collars’ existing business at its Dorchester on Thames site and headed by Collars MD Jeremy Friedland – right in photo, with Greg Dalrymple, who who built up the Salterns range. The company, which will build the Memory, as well as the 16ft Tela and the 12ft 6in Wagtail, will still carry the Salterns name. Greg and Jeremy have in fact been friends since college days and Salterns boats have always carried Collars’ masts. CB understands that ownership of the moulds will remain with Greg, who will be on the Salterns stand at the Southampton Boat Show.…

Although the spokeshave was named in the wheelwright’s shop, boatbuilders have exploited its versatility for generations – shaping skegs, knees and paddles, or fine-tuning the bevel on a transom. With its iron mounted in a wooden body, having a sole and an escapement for the shavings, this is the evolutionary link between the drawknife and the plane. Like the drawknife, the spokeshave requires two hands but its use differs in technique, being designed for pushing away from the user. The forefingers resting in hollows above the blade apply downward pressure while the thumbs deliver power from behind. Down the years there have been many variations in shapes of sole and iron. This oldie by Marples in beautiful close-grained boxwood has a subtly convex iron and is so nimble, so pleasurable…

Davey the company Arthur Christopher Davey began trading his marine wares out of an address in Leadenhall Street, London in 1885, but the firm quickly moved to the building that it was to make famous over the next 100 years at 88 West India Dock Road, London. Davey moved out to Colchester in 2000, retaining the name of West India House for its premises. This year marks 125 years of continuous trading for Davey & Co – a sort of history that might provide an owner with a lot of confidence. But such are the changes that have occurred in the marine world that, as Peter Tracey, present head of Davey, puts it, “You might as well forget the first 100 years, they’re just not relevant today.” Peter arrived at…

Davey and Co Oar clamp Cast in bronze with a polished finish this lovely clamp holds the oars securely in place by passing through a hole in the thwart and being padlocked in place underneath. To complement neatness there is an optional socket that can be added and a second could be placed underneath. It’s a testimony to Davey and Co that they have been casting this sort of quality item for classic boats for the last 125 years – see p60. Oar clamp £19.85; socket £5.85 www.davey.co.uk Packaway bucket Here’s a nice space-saving silicone bucket that folds flat to 5cm and yet has a 7-litre capacity when extended with an ‘opera hat’ punch in the middle. It has a tough stainless steel handle and rim and won a 2010…

Shields one-Design There aren’t many 47-year-old classes that can boast a regular midweek turnout of between 30 and 35 boats on the starting line throughout the season. Yet such is the Shields One-Design’s popularity that this is a weekly occurrence at Newport, Rhode Island. It’s the most active one-design class on Long Island Sound, too, and of the 258 built since 1963 the majority are still sailing, spread among 14 fleets along the East Coast of America and Lake Michigan. So, what is the class’s appeal? Many Shields sailors would say it’s the look and pedigree – long, low and elegant with characteristic Sparkman & Stephens flair – while others would say it’s its simplicity and its sailing ability – a keelboat described as “satisfying to sail in light airs…

A fitting role for the amateur Sometimes, reading of those two boatbuilding schools of excellence, Lyme Regis and Lowestoft, it’s easy to feel that we amateurs should just pack up and go home in the face of the infinitely superior joinery skills of their graduates (mostly ex-IT or the City it seems, and who can blame them?). But there is a grey area out there, a zone that amateurs can inhabit with safety and security and, in doing so, take satisfaction. They can save a lot of money too. All that’s called for is a strong dose of common sense, a picking of the right brains, and an eye on CB’s practical pages, of course. Fifteen years ago I was tempted to sign on at Lowestoft, it being the nearest,…

Some 52 boats, including the 19-M Mariquita and the recently-restored Kismet, plus a couple of SCODs made the first Panerai-sponsored British Classic Yacht Club Cowes regatta, 17-24 July, one of the most inclusive yet. Panerai’s sponsorship was visible in the creation of a quayside area for owners and crew to socialise. The Italian watchmaker also brought journalists to the event which should result in more coverage and a better profile for regattas like these. The weather was also fabulous and only spoiled things on the Tuesday when there was not enough wind to run the round the island race. Kismet, Richard Matthews’ 1898 Fife cutter restoration, was awarded the Lallow cup for the best presented new entrant – although by then she was already sailing back to Ipswich with her…

The second edition of the Luigi Durand de la Penne Challenge in Italy at the end of June was afflicted by some unseasonal Mediterranean weather. The planned three-race series with teams from different countries entering boats in three classes – classic, vintage and vintage bermudan – and the individual race results counting towards an overall team score had to be abandoned after the first race at La Spezia was cancelled due to lack of wind and the passage race was called off after northwesterly gales hit the area. Only six of the original 30 boats made it to the island of Elba for the third and final regatta. As well as regulars such as The Blue Peter and Manta, new visitors included recently-restored 1938 Anker & Jensen 10-M Kipawa and…

Luke Yeats, Jack Gifford and Will Shepherd are en route to Sweden after leaving Cowes on 17 July, on the tiny 15sqm skerry cruiser Vixen, pictured right. They were the only ones to take up the gauntlet thrown down by Baltic regatta organiser Olle Appelberg, to sail 1,000 miles from Cowes to Sandhamn in Sweden, in the wake of Uffa Fox (TTs, CB262, 265), who made the voyage in 1930 in the 22sqm Vigilant. Uffa’s voyage took 17 days. The smaller Vixen should to be in Trosa, Sweden, for the regatta there on 6 August. Uffa’s Vigilant, in British ownership, was in Cowes to see her off. As we went to press at the end of July, Vixen had reached Brunsbüttel in Germany, after a North Sea crossing that included…

On 1 July, 17 years after the America’s Cup last touched the wharves of Newport, RI, former cup crews and locals were able to see the auld mug again, reports Chris Museler. Newport was just one stop of a national tour of the cup that included a visit with President obama. Eleven former cup contenders, including the first 12-m winner Columbia, paraded the harbor and the Governor of Rhode Island promoted Newport’s bid to host the races again. At press time it was released that San Francisco will be the only US venue to be considered, but regardless, the cup still had one more moment of glory in its old home.…

Three of the 14 Nicholson 36s still known to exist swept the board at the recent Tregor Regatta, a classic event held at Trébeurden in Brittany this 4-6 June. Janessa (above), skippered by Alan Hine Jones, came first, with Temeraire in second, skippered by Peter Seary. Jandavina, sailed by Mark Staveley, came ninth. The Nic 36, launched in 1962, was the first Nicholson-designed yacht in GRP, moulded to massive scantlings by Halmatic and finished at yards like Camper’s and Lallows, who would build the wooden rudders, cockpits and coachroofs and finish the yachts. Past Nic 36 owners include Adlard Coles and Sir Owen Aisher. Today, they embody the term ‘plastic classic’. Janessa, the first, was built for yard owner Peter Nicholson. The 47-strong fleet included some unusual yachts in the…

Building traditional boats is child’s play, and anyone who doubts that should head for Tarbert Loch Fyne where, on the beach, propped up on legs, they will find a 20ft (6.1m) skiff whose lines were taken – by school children – from Yerda, launched in 1906, now resting in the Campbeltown Heritage Centre; whose sections were lofted – by the same children – and whose stout clinker hull, mast and rudder were built by... you guessed it. The children, 35 of them aged five and upwards, also helped sew the sails in a project that took 18 months at a cost of £32,000. Oh, and they also went into the woods at Barr na Criche to choose the oak crooks for the knees. I had a poke around the Wee…

The second classic rally at St Kats aims to improve on the successful model established by the first event last year, refining it but without substantially changing the formula. Once again it’s part of the Mayor’s Thames Festival, but in a semi-detatched, self-contained sort of way. Its aim is to repopulate the central basin of St Katharine Docks in a manner that will take visitors back to a bygone era. Or actually several bygone eras at once, given the eclectic mix of classic yachts, motor launches, and leisure and work boats that will be there. One of the most obvious changes is in the name – was the Thames Festival Classic Rally, is now the Thames Revival. Just like that – note the dropping of the word rally. It is…

Most of these are standard in ColRegs. Some are extra sound signals peculiar to navigation on the Thames. You may never have cause to use them – but it’s as well to understand the signals of other vessels, as they are used a lot on the Thames. • I am altering my course to starboard •• I am altering my course to port ••• My engines are going astern •••• • I am turning fully around to starboard •••• •• I am turning fully around to port ••••• I do not understand your intentions _ About to get underway/enter tideway/Approaching a blind bend _ •• I am unable to manoeuvre (not under command) _ _ • I intend to overtake you on your starboard side _ _ •• I intend…

FLOATING POLICE STATION ROYALIST AT BLACKWALL, 1890 When suitable premises were unavailable in areas that required patrolling, hulks would be moored for use as temporary police stations. The Royalist, formerly a Navy-owned 6-gun brig, was loaned to the Thames Police in 1866. She was used in east Greenwich in 1877, before being moved to Blackwall until a permanent station was built there in 1894. JOHN ‘JOZ’ JOSLIN IN THE MUSEUM John ‘Joz’ Joslin (left), a serving river police officer at the time, set up the Thames River Police Museum in 1974 to educate the local population regarding the history behind world’s first police force. He collected the artefacts for display from around the buildings at Wapping that had been in constant use by the service since its inception in 1798.…

The problems of conserving a static ship have long occupied those engaged in the conservation of the world’s maritime heritage, perhaps stretching back as far as Cheops’ ship in the great pyramid at Giza, 2600 BC. The objectives have been refined as a result of experience. The first of these must be the conservation of the vessel and the retention of her important features, including the lines. The second is the vital need to retain the spirit of a ship. A vessel is referred to as ‘she’ afloat or ashore. This recognizes the atmosphere aboard her when afloat, her particular response to wind and weather, her vagaries and her quirks. Mariners recognize that their ships are ‘alive’. Every effort should be made to ensure that ‘she’ does not become ‘it’…

“She likes a bit of wind – like we had in Flensburg, where it was force six and seven,” Jürgen Schröder tells me. I’ve joined him and wife Karin for the day’s racing on the Schlei, on Rauna, the Spitzgatt Seekreuzer they have owned for 31 years. Rauna would be one of the more typical cruisers at this event. At just over 30ft (9.4m) with a beam of 9ft 4in (2.85m) and a draught of 5ft 3in (1.6m) she’s a stocky, deep, sea-kindly double-ender built out of oak on oak in 1923 by the Junge yard, near Hamburg. Flensburg was where Rauna won her class, for which the prize was a small silver dancing bear. No, don’t ask, the Schröders can’t explain the significance either – they were just proud…

Luke Powell Joe Irving, who won CB’s Restoration of the Year Award 2008 for his rebuild of the Fife 8-M Ierne, has just taken over ownership of the yard from which he has been running his Draughtsman Racing Yachts for the last 12 years, reports Martin Smith. The yard, on the south bank of the Humber at Barton Haven is known locally as Clapsons’. Previous owner Eric Hammond, who builds deep sea fishing vessels there, has sold it to Joe to ensure that it does not fall into the hands of property developers. Joe – who also became a dad in the week he bought the yard – will be continuing to perform his high-quality restorations and repairs there and currently has two Yorkshire One Designs, Ditherumpop and Joca, in…

A gale, a leak and an underwater repair. Even in paradise, you need your wits about you. Sheena Bellingham and husband Billy have cruised their 38ft (11.6m) 1939 Henry Devereux ketch Killdeer for eight years. One winter, the boat started taking on water. A gale and a leak It was way back last winter, in the Bahamas – the Exumas to be exact – and blowing a gale from the south east. We’d beaten into it for most of the day when Killdeer began to take on water – well, more water than usual. It was hard to tell where it was coming from on so we decided to head for shore to assess the situation. We soon picked up a good mooring in the clear, emerald waters of the…

Q After much deliberation, I have decided to coat my mast (laminated, solid) with Sikkens Novatech/Novatop. Before I do so I need to fill some small splits running along the grain about halfway up. These are not big enough to be structural problems, I just need to keep the water out. I was planning to use red lead + putty, but note that the Sikkens data sheet says: “We do not recommend the use of linseed oil putty or modified non-setting compounds in conjunction with our wood protection systems” Has anyone tried this? Or are there any suitable alternatives? Seasolutions • Epoxy with some sawdust plus a little micro-fibre. Xtiffer • I assume your mast is a grown pole. I don’t think I’d use epoxy in the circumstances-it’s too inflexible.…

Daisy Sam Llewellyn’s Cornish Shrimper LOA 19ft 3in (5.9m) LOS 22ft 6in (6.9m) LWL 17ft 7in (5.4m) Beam 7ft 2in (2.2m) Draught 1ft 6in-4ft (0.46m-1.2m) Displacement 1065 kg Designed by Roger Dongray Built by Cornish Crabbers www.cornishcrabbers.co.uk Solva is a notch in the grim iron-red cliffs on the north side of St Bride’s Bay on the extreme western end of South Wales. It is a beautiful harbour, in an area that makes the western end of Cornwall look actively benign. It is a drying creek of clear green water, steep-sided, with a dogleg that keeps out the worst of the weather for which this stretch of coast is justly famous. It has a pub at its inside end, and a kindly harbourmaster. Some would see its drying as a disadvantage.…

Lesson 17: Towing Sooner or later, all mariners find themselves towing or being towed. A towing situation may be voluntary or involuntary. Whichever the case, it is very important to be prepared. The unprepared towee can find himself in a lot of difficulty (see lesson 3968, Forms of Service for Burial at Sea). Towing is divided into two main sections, freshwater and unfreshwater. Freshwater towing is normally voluntary. It is used as a means of hauling a barge along a canal or river. Traditionally a long line is attached from the boat to someone on the bank – ideally a small boy or the bargee’s wife. If the small boy is still at the toddler stage or the wife is in labour, a horse may be added, though this was…

LUTINE: The Dorade look – by Giles Lutine, restored by the late Clive Emmerson, see p6, was built by Camper & Nicholson to a Laurent Giles design in 1952 for Lloyd’s Yacht Club (hence the Lutine Bell reference in the name) to the rule of the Cruising Club of America rather than the more usual Royal Ocean Racing Club in London. The reason? She was built to win the Newport-Bermuda race. Yachting World at the time commented that it gave the appearance of a Sparkman & Stephens yawl, but she is identifiably a Giles in the shape of her doghouse. “Nice overhangs, wide, clear decks and plenty of beam. The yawl rig was chosen because the Bermuda race often entails a good deal of reaching. A yawl can set more…