Innehållsförteckning för February 2015 från Classic Boat

There used to be a tool outfit, run by one of nature’s good guys, who regularly attended the Beale Park Boat Show in June, selling old and select tools for boatbuilding and wood-working. It was a place in which to linger, picking up and inspecting the venerable lightly-oiled tool steel of old planes and chisels, admiring the almost lustrous nature of the metal – and razor sharp too. “You can’t get that quality today,” we’d confidently agree with one another, before wistfully imagining on what great works that chisel might have been employed. One of their popular items was a mug for the workshop tea emblazoned with the epithet: He Who Dies With The Most Tools Wins. It was brilliant marketing; borrowing heavily from the SAS motto: He Who Dares…

The 1913-built P-Class yacht Olympian was one of the great sights of last autumn’s Voiles de Saint-Tropez with her low freeboard, slender beam and long overhangs. It was the first time she had raced out of the Great Lakes (she was built in Chicago) and for many, the first sight of a Universal Rule Class yacht in the flesh. The ‘Universal’ (read ‘American’) Rule was relatively short-lived but gave rise to the famous J-Class. We duelled with Olympian aboard the NY40 Chinook and saw first-hand how she flies to windward in a way that embarrassed every modern yacht on the racecourse that day. She looks elegant and vulnerable, but she narrowly won that race – and her class at the regatta... and the Centenarians Race the next day. She was…

A 150ft (45.7m) Eucalyptus peppermint gum tree has been felled using traditional methods for this year’s Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Tasmania (see page 95). Two axemen cut the 4ft (1.2m) diameter trunk into sections using a crosscut saw while onlookers enjoyed a mug of ‘billy’ tea over an open fire. Twelve bullocks then loaded the logs onto a timber carriage and pulled it out of the bush. To complete the scene, a 1912 Model T Ford was on hand when the logs arrived at the farm. The logs are to be split and shaped following old Tasmanian traditions.…

This story begins in the summer of 1963 when, at the age of 16, I was let loose on the South Coast in charge of a 25ft (7.6m) gaff cutter called Scamp. She belonged to my uncle, who obviously had some kind of divine confidence in my ability as a sailor. All I had in my back pocket was three years’ dinghy sailing experience and a qualification as a ‘Leading Seaman Instructor’, which I had gained in my school’s CCF unit. It was the latter, I suspect, that saved us from getting into any more trouble than we did. After all, my two crew were hardly any more experienced than I was. Indeed, one had been recruited solely on account of the fact that he possessed a driving licence and…

In November 1912, Yachting Monthly published a portrait study of Miss Ivy Carus-Wilson, describing her as quite a remarkable helmswoman. It stated that handling an open boat was “the most difficult form of sailing” and that in a racing dinghy, this young woman was simply “the cleverest of lady sailors”, indeed “quite the equal of most sailormen”. At this point, Ivy had only been competing in sailing races for six years, yet she had amassed a long list of achievements, comprising a “phenomenal” 29 flags (places) in 32 starts in 1910, including 13 firsts and 12 seconds, much of this with a gardener as crew. She won the West Bay and Commodore’s Cup, Sir Lionel Alexander’s Cup, the Shepherd’s and the Ross cups... and many more. While racing yachtswomen did…

Many of the long-established boat companies on the Norfolk Broads are celebrating key anniversaries this year. It’s testament not only to the beauty of these waters, but also to the men and women behind these companies, who have continually strived to keep them running, despite all the financial hurdles and uncertainties, which never seem to completely go away. The Norfolk Broads is saturated with history and examples of talent and determination that have kept businesses afloat through the tough times, even during the First and Second World Wars. With his ingenious ideas and positive attitude, Herbert Woods is a person who comes immediately to mind in this regard, even if there were some who thought him slightly eccentric. As a young man in the mid-1920s, Woods took over the boat…

At first glance and in profile, Eda Frandsen might easily be mistaken for a pilot cutter. However, with a hull length of 56ft (17m) she is considerably bigger than most and close-up it is clear that she is quite different: when on deck, for instance, her pronounced bluff bow is very evident. “She will never win a race around the cans against a pilot cutter,” said James, “but she is a wonderfully stable working platform that instils confidence. She makes people feel safe and if they feel safe they feel happy.” Her deep bulwarks contribute significantly to the feeling of security and there are any number of places on deck where guests can sit in comfort: on deckhouses and hatches and all along the oak “transit rail” around the inside…

“It has always astonished me that those who organise the Olympics have never chosen this [class] as the single-handed boat,” wrote Uffa Fox in 1959, “for the Olympics are supposed to be the high water mark of skill, and no other boat calls for such sailing proficiency as the International Canoe… or can match them in speed as they slip along with the grace of an ocean bird.” Fifty-five years on, Olympic glory still eludes this historic class, yet today it is still the fastest singlehanded, non-foiling monohull racing dinghy in the world. The roots of the class in Britain date back to 1860, when cruising in canoes was becoming increasingly widespread. By the 1870s, following the formation of the Royal Canoe Club (RCC) in 1866, racing in canoes had…

Phuket in Thailand is well known for its resorts that pamper to all health and cosmetic whims. Australian Jerry Lees sent his gorgeous Swedish beauty there for the full treatment... his 1938 30 SqM, Fagel Grip. “I have owned her since 1992 and love her to bits,” said Jerry. “The only problem was that the bilge pump has not stopped running during that time.” Although it sounds like Swedish glue, Fagel Grip means ‘Griffin Bird’, in English. She was drawn by Tore Holm and built by Gustaf Plym in Stockholm in 1938. Fagel Grip had been lightly built with almost aircraft precision. In fact, she is a bit longer than the wooden Mosquito bomber but less than half the weight. A massive pendulum of 2,866lb (1,300kg) of lead keel, giving…

Like the pencil lodged behind your ear, the gimlet is an unprepossessing little tool that is rarely noticed until it goes missing. Its job echoes that of the mighty auger once used to bore holes for stern tubes and treenails, but on a much smaller scale. Powered by finger tips rather than straining biceps, it is used to make pilot holes for screws and nails so as to avoid splitting the wood. For the boatbuilder there are some situations on board even a large vessel where space is too tight to turn a hand-drill, let alone introduce the bulk of a power tool. This is where the gimlet shines – pre-drilling for hinges, clips and brackets in corners where existing structures leave only knuckle room. Unlike the chisel-ended bradawl used…

You might have seen Saskia, the graceful 8-Metre with a proud history, if you’ve been to classics regattas during the last few years in the Solent, Scotland or the south of France. She probably would have caught your eye – what Fifedesigned Metre class boat is not irresistibly beautiful? His heart was in these boats and she’s campaigned very well in all sorts of waters and weathers. Since so many of the boats designed and built by William Fife III have moved abroad, it’s a pleasure to see a Fife still in Scottish hands, and that itself is rather surprising since Saskia spent a successful half century and more on the other side of the world. She must be missed there; it’s nice of the Aussies to let us have…

It is a little-known fact that the world-famous media centre at Lord’s cricket ground was built by boatbuilders – namely Pendennis Shipyard – in 1999. The design, by Future Systems Architects, suggests a boat on its side and won the 1999 RIBA Stirling Prize. To mark 15 years, Pendennis held a superyacht industry cricket match at the ground in November. Former England cricketer Gladstone Small gave trophies for Best Batsman to Bryn Darbyshire (Winterbothams) and Best Bowler to Charlie Baker (Redman Whiteley Dixon). The winning tournament captain was Matt Pinckney (Burgess) and the Winning Plate Captain Michael Beattie (Yachting World).…

“Leaving a boat to rot is simply marine fly-tipping and we’re not having it” Captain Paul Thomas, Fowey harbourmaster A recent Daily Telegraph report described how would-be boat owners in Britain’s ports are buying ‘fixeruppers’ on impulse then abandoning them when the cold realities of boat ownership kick in. Captain Paul Thomas told how he was “plagued” by abandoned vessels in the picturesque Cornish harbour of Fowey where he is harbourmaster, and how he has to remove them at great cost. The boats are bought “often late at night” on auction websites like eBay, so it is tempting to suppose that alcohol has played a part. Paul told CB that the story had been sensationalised... but perhaps not by much: “We tend to have a round-up at the end of…

Students from six schools converged on a workshop at Howden in Australia recently to learn the finer points of boatbuilding with an emphasis on safety and teamwork. Their aim is to win the Quick ’n’ Dirty Boatbuilding Challenge at the upcoming MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival. Under the careful eye of renowned sailor and boatbuilder Ian Johnston and Challenge Coordinator Suzy Managian, 25 students practiced building a small craft out of cane, wooden strips, canvas and cable ties. Although they may look flimsy, these boats do float. The demo boat was not only built but ‘test driven’ in North-West Bay. “I only had to demonstrate something once and the kids were right on to it,” said Ian Johnston, “and some of their ideas for their boat designs were quite ingenious.”…

Three thoroughbred ex-Royal Navy yachts, all once part of a select fleet, have been bought and restored by one owner, for Chichester-based charter – and adventure holidays for kids. The yachts are from the almost mythically-famous Seamanship Training Craft Division, of which seven, of identical design, were built for the Royal Navy, for officer cadet and midshipmen training afloat. From 1959 to 1985 every RN officer cadet attending Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, or engineering at Manadon, Plymouth, would have had sail-training aboard one of these 43ft (13.1m) Morgan Giles cruiser-racers, built to replace some of the Windfall yachts, which had been taken by the Navy as spoils of war from Germany in the late 1940s. The list of trainees could have included Prince Charles, almost certainly his brother…

The hieroglyphics of the “outlaw” submariner’s Jolly Roger reveal more than any defaced ensign, with coded devices that tell a story like a grim heraldic coat of arms. The renegade Jolly Roger was adopted by submariners of all nations as a result of being ‘slandered’ by Sir Arthur Wilson, First Sea Lord in World War One, who declaimed the new weapon of death as “underhand, unfair, and damned un-English”; he also lobbied to have captured submariners hanged as pirates. British submariners used the Jolly Roger to underline their contribution to the war effort. In this souvenir Jolly Roger made by the crew of HMS Utmost around 1942 the horizontal bars represent torpedo strikes, white for merchant and red for naval; the swords denote Special Forces operations, such as dropping and…

One of Herbert Woods’ very first Norfolk Broads hire cruisers ‘B53’ has returned home to where she was built almost a century ago. It’s after years of name changes, various ownerships, engine replacements and numerous adaptations. B53, now called Spark of Light, was originally designed and built by Herbert Woods in 1927 and constructed in a boatshed not far away from where the Woods’ iconic water tower still stands today at Potter Heigham, on the Norfolk Broads. The 36ft (11m) hull and 9ft 6in (2.9m) beam was constructed of Siberian redwood below waterline and Russian Archangel pine above, on oak frames. The superstructure was built of mahogany and, although details are sketchy, the interior comprised four single berths, all 6ft 6in (2m) long. The original petrol engine, a 4-cylinder Thorny…

In January 2012, James MacKenzie and Becky Treneer travelled from Cornwall to Scotland to look at a boat that had recently come on the market. James had spent many years working on traditional sail-training and charter vessels, but owning and running his own was something he “had always wanted to do”, although not by himself. Becky is also an experienced sailor and was “brought up around old boats”, and both of them had spent time working for Trinity Sailing, in Brixham. After they got together as a couple, it clearly made sense for them to combine their experience, talents and enthusiasm, and run a charter boat together. Eda Frandsen was built in 1939 in Denmark as Lagoda (she has always been named after members of her various owners’ families and…

BIRTHE MARIE: Boat trips from Iona Since appearing in Classic Boat as a restoration of the year shortlister in 2012, the 36ft (11m) 1933 Danish fishing ketch Birthe Marie, now a charter boat, has been busy, with three film crews aboard in 2014 alone – among them Clare Balding for the Seven Wonders of the Commonwealth TV series. Based in Iona, Scotland, Birthe Marie does morning, afternoon and day trips to the local islands and sights. Prices for a three-hour trip are perfectly manageable at £25 (£10 for children). Whole-boat charter is also available. An ideal introduction to cruising Scotland’s fabled West Coast? Mark Jardine (skipper), Tel: +44 (0)1681 700537, www.boattripsiona.com BOATS ON THE BROADS: The original sailing charter The Broads has the highest concentration of charter boats in Britain.…

When Charlie first saw Kelpie in San Francisco, he thought that the interior had a “really nice open feel about it, and that was one of the things that attracted me really”. But none of it was original – it had all been fitted during the 1990 refit – so the restoration team felt no obligation to keep any of it. “It was all Formica with mahogany trim,” said Charlie. “Nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t do the boat justice. So we decided to rip it all out and give ourselves a blank canvas.” The design for the new interior started with Charlie’s thumbnail sketches. “Theo Rye then made sure it all worked and helped develop the spaces,” Charlie explained, “and Pendennis Shipyard’s design office helped determine which areas…

A researcher’s dream will become reality later this year when a complete version of every issue of the Lloyd’s Register of Yachts becomes available digitally. A team of three members of the Association of Yachting Historians (AYH) has been hard at work tracking down all copies and all known additional supplements of the famous green directory, which ran from 1878 to 1980 in all corners of the country. It proved to be a hard task for Jeremy Lines (Camper & Nicholson archivist), Martin Black (GL Watson’s biographer) and our own technical editor, the naval architect Theo Rye. “Jeremy and Martin were very thorough,” Theo told CB. "Martin drove to Scotland to photocopy one supplement [list of amendments]. Even Lloyd’s had some issues missing and did not have a record of…

A replica of the 1712-built Russian battleship Poltava is well underway at a shipyard in Saint Petersburg. The original was named after the decisive battle of the Great Northern War – the Battle of Poltava. A team of 60 carpenters is building the ship in oak, under a public viewing gallery. The project, bankrolled by Gazprom, is due for completion in 2017. Poltava is part of the current explosion in big ship replicas and restorations: two Mayflower replicas, the Charles W Morgan (whaler) Hermione (French frigate), a Cutty Sark replica and this, are all recent, ongoing or proposed.…

Painting on wood We just adore these maritime miniatures from Bordeaux-based artist Dominic Pérotin. And hearing about the boats we are covering this month she produced works on Eda Frandsen (p62) and Saskia (p6) – shown here with the mighty schooner Elena at the Saint-Tropez regatta last October. The works are made like traditional icons, using a rabbit-skin glue paint, with pigments, with the yachts painted in acrylics. They are then waxed. Needless to say our photos do not do them justice – they are full of light, and charm. Prices from £240. www.dominiqueperotin.com Wempe clock Wempe’s long history of marine timepieces continues with this “porthole” nautical chronometer. It’s run by a battery-powered quartz movement and has a toggle closure that makes changing batteries or adjusting the instrument very easy.…

In some ways it sounds so simple: turn the hull of a successful sailing dinghy into a handy motor launch. Actually, as we’ll see, it’s not that straightforward, but the basic idea is sound – especially when the original comes with the pedigree of the Norfolk Oyster. The Norfolk Explorer from Neil Thompson Boats combines elements of that original design by the great John Leather with the necessary modifications for its new purpose by Andrew Wolstenholme. The Oyster, a classic large sailing dinghy, is one of the mainstays of the range of high-quality, heavy-layup, traditional GRP yachts developed and built in North Norfolk by the legendary Charlie Ward, and now carried on by Neil Thompson. Neil used to work for Charlie, until 2000, when he set up on his own,…

If you’ve ever stopped in a yacht club or pub to admire an old black-and-white Beken photographic print on the wall, you might enjoy this book. It’s a pretty lavish (280mm by 390mm) collection of photos of racing yachts on the Solent from Beken’s photographic heyday. Facing text gives enough information to bring the photos to life and we love the clarity of this, each boat with a ‘specs’ box giving the briefest of pass notes (length, year of build, designer and so on). The book covers 43 yachts divided into four categories: America’s Cup Yachts; the Js (and those naturalised to race in the class, like Astra); ocean racers like Dorade and Jolie Brise; and ‘timeless classics’ like Mariquita, Lulworth, Altair and Bluenose. The photographs, although not individually attributed,…

+44 (0)207 349 3758 Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk ST OSYTH, ESSEX: Back to a tiller for Thames Sailing Barge The long road back to life for the thames sailing barge dawn is almost over, and the latest stage has been an extraordinary flourish – a return to tiller steering. Dawn, a wooden 80ft (24.4m) stackie built in 1897 by walter cook of maldon, essex, is thought to be not only the last tillersteered thames sailing barge built but, now, the only one remaining. The dawn trust decided to convert her back to tiller steering as part of an authenticity charter that also means she still has an open hold, rather than accommodation below. Brian kennell of the pioneer trust oversaw the build at st Osyth, where the restoration started in 2004. The…

Things to do in the next few weeks YOUR EVENTS Send us details of future events 21 FEBRUARY - 1 MARCH Rye Bay Scallop Week East Sussex Tasting, cooking, eating and generally celebrating the sweetest of the bivalves. With live music and more, in the cobbled streets and secret alleys of Rye. Scallop.org.uk 6-9 FEBRUARY Australian Wooden Boat Festival Hobart, Tasmania Hundreds of wooden boats from Tall Ships to yachts to rowing boats Tel: +61 (0)3 6223 3375 australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au 21-22 FEBRUARY South Australian Wooden Boat Festival Goolwa, nr Adelaide (pictured above): Murray River steamers, classic yachts, quick ’n’ dirty boatbuilding and more. See p19. 6 FEBRUARY Waitangi Picnic Day Motuihe Island, Auckland Day trip, picnic and cricket on the beach Tel: +64 (0)27 561 4257 classicyacht.org.nz 27 FEBRUARY - 1…

Are we all hopeless romantics when it comes to classic boats? We know they are labours of love, so why is it that we inevitably underestimate the cost and time that they swallow up? I for one should know better. We bought Sea Jay, our 1965 vintage Rhodes 6-Tonner for a paltry £500 after finding her rotting away at the head of David Hillyard’s slipway. The money paid off the mooring fees she had accrued before the yard repossessed her, and looking at her lines with misty eyes, we thought she was a steal! Having trained as a boatbuilder, I confidently estimated £6,000 would put her right. But instead of one year, the work took two, and when we finally finished, the cost had spiralled to £25,000! We probably got…