Innehållsförteckning för June 2020 från Classic Boat

The organisers of Cowes Classics Week, one of the biggest regattas of its kind in the world, were pressing ahead with plans to run the event in July, as Classic Boat went to press. The Royal London Yacht Club confirmed that the regatta, which features hundreds of boats in classes ranging from gaff ers to dayboats to Spirit of Tradition, is due to run from 25-31 July. Entries are open and new for this year is a planned display of more than 50 classic cars on the Parade, together with exhibits from the Cowes Classic Boat Museum. Regatta chairman David Gower said: “The well-being of our staff, volunteers and competitors is paramount, so we will be closely monitoring the situation and, if required, will cancel the regatta. “All entry fees…

The Scottish Maritime Museum, in Irvine, Ayrshire, has created 3D models and 360° virtual tours of almost 50 of the country’s most important historic vessels, maritime artefacts and shipbuilding tools. The scans can be viewed and downloaded for free from Sketchfab.com, the world’s largest platform for shared 3D content. The museum began creating the 3D scans last year in a project with organisations worldwide, including the Smithsonian Institution, to share 3D scans of historic artefacts. These include the only surviving Scottish-built ‘puffer’, MV Spartan, the 1898-built SY Carola and the 1898 RNLB Jane Anne, a rare surviving example of a double-ended, self-righting lifeboat, which is of importance to the museum’s local community of Irvine. There are also scans of a Cat's Head carving from the Cutty Sark, a steam hammer…

SILVER BREAKFAST SET When we can finally get back to our boats, ensure you start the day in style with this silver on-board breakfast set. Manufacturer Robbe & Berking says: “The sea, the calmness and the bright shine of silver and the sun on board a classic yacht – breakfast can hardly be more splendid.” Toast tray €593; toast rack €284; marmalade tray €845; jam pot lid from €303; butter dish €282. robbeberking.com LATITUDE KINSALE Cork-based Latitude Kinsale’s hand-gilded 24-carat gold leaf charts can be made up for any area of the world in any shape or size. The gold leaf is painstakingly applied to an aluminium composite. The family team behind the company then prints the nautical chart as a negative with UV-cured ink. The land is displayed as…

After two or three years’ planning, it took “about three hours” to decide that this year – the 80th anniversary of Operation Dynamo – the little ships would not sail to Dunirk in May for their five-yearly commemorative return. “It was a very easy decision – easy, but horrible,” is how Simon Palmer, commodore of the Association of Dunkirk Litte Ships (ADLS) describes it. “The French were banning groups of 100 or over, and many of our members [boatowners] are in the vulnerable group. But it’s a postponement, not a cancellation. Subject to everyone agreeing, we’re going to go back in 2021 instead.” The five-yearly Dunkirk return is a really big deal for owners of the surviving little ships. It is the biggest driving factor in restoring them, often from…

“Lake George is without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1791, a decade before he became the third President of the United States, “formed by a contour of mountains into a basin… finely interspersed with islands, its water limpid as crystal, and the mountain sides covered with rich groves… down to the water-edge.” It was here – in the Adirondacks Mountains about 200 miles north of New York City – that the story of the motor launch Fanita Jr began. Her first owner was John Boulton Simpson. Born in 1846, Simpson was a veteran of the American Civil War, a millionaire New York businessman, president of the Estey Piano Co, vice president of the New York State Historical Association and an active church warden.…

A visit to Ryan Kearley’s boatshed in deepest East Sussex is always a joy. The boatbuilder learned his craft under the great Mark Edwards of Richmond, then spent some time at Hillyards, before specialising in smaller, open craft; in his huge, picturesque barn, they are always stacked to the rafters. Given that the boatbuilding history of the cliff-bound, pebble shores of East Sussex have not been as well recorded as those of, say, Essex or Cornwall, it always seems remarkable that Ryan has any idea what he’s got – but a well-thumbed copy of Working Boats of Britain (Eric McKee) is a clue. On this visit, he had a beamy, 16ft (4.9m), pre-World War One Newhaven working boat (“too lightly planked to be a beach boat, probably a harbour boat”),…

Ben Harris and his team recently fitted the shutter planks on the new 34ft (10.4m) gaff cutter they are building at Gweek Classic Boatyard. The boat has been designed by Jack Gifford with some inspiration taken from the 28ft (8.5m) 1905 Falmouth quay punt Curlew. The centreline is all oak, as are the frames (a mixture of grown and steamed intermediates). Oak has also been used for the top two and lower planks, including the garboards, while the remainder are full-length larch. Ben was happy to report that the boat was “on budget and ahead of schedule”, and due for completion in spring 2021. Nigel Sharp…

Perhaps more than any other rally or regatta in the world, the Dunkirk return drives boat restorations forward. A big part of that is the fact that it only happens every five years, and has done so since 1965. Boatbuilders up and down the Upper Thames and elsewhere find themselves in a race against the clock, because if they don’t get the little ships ready for the end of May, the owners will have to wait another five years for the next one! On that basis, the idea that this year’s return would be cancelled was too disappointing to bear – apparently at least one owner was in tears at the prospect. So thankfully, it will run at the end of May next year, so the work you see over…

Over the past 13 months, Brian Kennell has completed four ready-to-sail builds of his sought-after 12ft (3.7m) Smacks’ Boats and, together with colleague Shaun White, has worked on Blue Mermaid (winner in our recent Awards in the Traditional New Build category) as well as fully retimbering Victoria, the 1895 ex-Colne river police boat. Dredging a little into the past brings up such heavyweights as Pioneer, My Alice, Baden Powell, the Kings Lynn double-ended cockler, and numerous Thames barges. It might be difficult to find a major restoration or rebuild on the East Coast that he hasn’t had a hand in. His latest project has been a five-week job on Endeavour, the Cole & Wiggens-built 1926 Leigh-on-Sea cockle boat and Dunkirk Little Ship. She was rebuilt by Brian for the 2005…

It has probably been the first time since 1939 that two Saunders Roe Medina Class motor yachts have sat side by side in a boatshed, when they were built in East Cowes. Magyar (in the background, CB passim) has been in for some minor works before setting off for a planned Dutch adventure, but the big restoration of the day is Maimonde: she has been at the Southwold yard for a major restoration of the hull and decks, as well as new engines. Since the boat’s arrival at the yard, the owner of Maimonde has been informed that she was in fact a Dunkirk Little Ship. This has made her restoration even more special but, said the yard’s John Buckley, it “also focused the mind; it seemed fitting that we…

Aye, I remember well that day. The voyage that set my course through life started in the Queen’s Head tavern. Where it ends, no mortal soul can say, for the round sea has no beginning, no end, no horizon nearer than eternity. I know not if it was an unstirred yearning, or the deafening deluge of icy gale-driven rain stinging my face like musket balls in an elemental battle for my soul, that diverted me that fateful day from the lonely waterfront wanderings which were the singular solace of a work-house orphan. Aye, I remember well that day I was pressed aboard the tall ship Lady of Avenel. Whether bound for hell or high latitudes I cared not, for I had the craving of the sea in me. It turned…

Eight synchronised swimmers, two well-known actors, an aerial hoop dancer and an internationally acclaimed orchestra conductor (all from the world of Italian entertainment); the former CEO of Panerai, a previous owner and the granddaughter of another previous owner, and five Riva powerboats – such a star-studded guest list at a lavish launching ceremony and subsequent gala dinner might well have taken some of the attention away from the real star of the show, but that was by d no means the case. As the gleaming 105-year-old Tirrenia II slid gently down the slipway to return to her natural habitat for the first time in 10 years, all eyes were firmly on her. Tirrenia II’s original name was Sappho II. She was built – with teak planking on oak frames and…

The RNLI has advised people in the UK not to take part in any water-based activity on or in the sea, to reduce the risk to the charity’s volunteer crews and other emergency services. The RNLI lifeboat service is still available, but the charity says that every time a lifeboat crew is called to an incident, it puts additional pressure on RNLI volunteers and other front-line emergency services, as well as potentially exposing them to Covid-19. Gareth Morrison, head of water safety at the RNLI, said: “While you could be fully competent and never need to be rescued, by going out on the water you could encourage others who are less proficient to take part in similar activities. “Our lifeboat crews are still at the ready 24/7 – thanks to…

We’re all familiar with the fantasy – a long-forgotten barn slumbering away in the back acres of an old estate. You crack the doors open. Daylight streams in at slanted angles, pointing to a mounded tarp in the centre bay. There’s a sense of mystery, and you pull the canvas off. As the dust settles, the sweep of a boat’s shape appears – unseen for decades – still wearing her crisp paint and varnish Donn Costanzo of Wooden Boatworks in Greenport, New York had such a dream come true when he discovered a flawlessly restored 1947 Sparkman & Stephens sloop. He found the boat in a very unlikely place – a barn only 30 miles east of New York City. Costanzo often talks about magic, no matter how many fine…

Tis the time for reflection, reminiscing, re-evaluating and many other words beginning with ‘re’, but not the ‘s’ word (although one hopes by the time this hits the newsstands, sailing will have resumed, but I doubt it). It is self-evident that classic boating can only exist if there are enough classic sailors – a fact recognised by a now-defunct sister magazine, which it would be ungenerous not to reference. For every example of the classic shipwright’s skills requires an owner with the imagination to look beyond the marinas full of plastic, back to a time when yachts were produced one by one, invariably for the wealthier, but no less valid for that. That is not to say that yachting has ever been, or will ever be, officially designated a vital…

MEDITERRANEAN 6-10 MAY (POSTPONED: NEW DATE TBC) Palma Vela Palma, Spain palmavela.com 19-21 JUNE Voiles de Vieux Port Marseilles, France lanautique.com 20 JUNE – 7 JULY Trophée Bailli de Suffren Saint-Tropez (Fr) to Bonifacio (Corsica) to Trapani (It) to Gozo (Malta) to Ta’ Xbiex (Malta) 490-mile passage race: tropheebaillidesuffren.com 25-28 JUNE Grandi Vele a Gaeta Gaeta, Italy grandivele.it 2-5 JULY (POSTPONED) Vele d’Epoca Napoli Naples, Italy ryccsavoia.it 12-15 AUGUST Regata Illes Balears Classics Mallorca, Spain clubdemar-mallorca.es 25 AUGUST – 1 SEPTEMBER Corsica Classic Bonifacio, Corsica, France corsica-classic.com 10-13 SEPTEMBER Vele d’Epoca di Imperia Imperia, Italy. veledepoca.com 16-20 SEPTEMBER (NEW DATE) Les Voiles d’Antibes Antibes, France voilesdantibes.com 20-26 SEPTEMBER Régates Royales Cannes, France regatesroyales.com 26 SEP – 10 OCT Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez Saint-Tropez, France lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr 24-27 JUNE 2021 (POSTPONED FROM…

On the last day of February, 68ft Falmouth Pilot Cutter Pellew was launched at the Rhoda Mary Ship Yard in Truro, Cornwall, where she was built by Luke Powell and his team. Although a strong-wind forecast had initially forced a postponement, a brief break in the weather allowed the original plan to go ahead. The mast was immediately stepped, but there is still a fair amount to do in terms of rigging, ballasting and completion of internal fit-out. Pellew is a replica of 1852 Pilot Cutter Vincent, which worked out of St Mawes for many years. In recognition of this historic link, Pellew’s build was due to be celebrated in St Mawes Harbour in early May, immediately before the start of her life as a charter boat throughout the West…

The well-known Peter Freebody yard in the village of Hurley is always worth a visit, whether you're a boat enthusiast or not: it's one of the most scenic yards in the country. It's a big, busy boatyard, with quite a number of large projects going on. A recent visit offered just a snapshot, but it included most of the stock-in-trades the yard has specialised in for so long. First off, the Rivas. It's a yard synonymous with the famous Italian mahogany runabouts of the mid-20th century; on our visit there were two of them in the main shed: a Super Florida and an Ariston, the latter with its distinctive 'mezza luna' transom shape. Both were in for routine maintenance. A much bigger project is Amaryllis, the 1928-built umpire launch that…

Anne, 30ft (9.1m) long and built in 1925 of pine on oak by Frank Curtis in Cornwall, made the return in 2010 under her original Ailsa Craig petrol/parrafin motors with then-owner Kes Travers, who had restored her for that event. By a twist of fate, she now belongs to the granddaughter of the original owner, Anne Gabb, after whom the boat was named! We saw Anne (the boat) receive various updates and repairs in the Stanley and Thomas yard. We also saw her at the 2010 return, where she made the crossing under her original petrol Ailsa Craig engines, but was towed into Dunkirk at the last hurdle because of engine trouble. Since then, the engines have had to be replaced but much else remains original to this day.…

Dorian, a 1915 Royal Navy pinnace converted to a motor yacht in the 1930s, had stalled at the very finishing touches as we went to press. After Operation Dynamo, she cruised the East Coast, Channel and French canals under private ownership, before retiring as a houseboat on the Thames and gradually falling into disrepair. In the early years of the new millennium, she suffered a catastrophic gas explosion and fire while ashore, which destroyed most of the interior, decks and superstructure. She was left as a rotting hulk awaiting the end when the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships (ADLS) rediscovered her, identified her as one of the original little ships and bought her for £1, on the basis that the hull was still largely intact and, in their view, restorable.…

The turn button is a delightfully simple fastener for locker doors, drawers, hatches, dinghy burden boards, and hand saws carried in the lid of a joiner’s tool box (1). Two-inch (50mm) brass turn buttons can be bought from a chandler for around £6.50 each, or you can make your own from wood offcuts for next to nothing. Individually they’re fiddly to make, being so small, but the process is made far easier if you begin with a ‘mother piece’ and separate the individual buttons after shaping. Here I’m making eight from a scrap of ½in (13mm) thick mahogany (2). Note that for optimum strength the grain must run the length of the button, so the short offcuts from plank ends that would otherwise go to waste provide ideal material. With…

SUMURUN One of the most famous of all Fife III’s creations, the giant ketch Sumurun, is under new ownership and has been completely restored for another century afloat. TOP TEN DINGHIES Ex-CB editor and author Nic Compton on ten of the best contemporary dinghies in the world to buy, build or slot together. UNSINKABLE SPOONS As lockdown continues into early summer, our woodworking whizz, Dr Robin Gates, presents the first in a mini-series of home projects – like these PLUS.. The other Falmouth quay punt Curlew; a restored Broom motor yacht; sailing to the Canaries; what Fife III learned from his ancestors; and more JULY 2020 ON SALE Friday 5 June, 2020 Available online or by subsription see opposite 30 YEARS AGO With the CB team at home in lockdown,…

Three years ago the Loch Long Class took its boats from Aldeburgh to Lake Como. Last year the indomitable fleet went to Galicia, on Spain’s rugged north coast. Thirteen boats set out for the ancient fishing port of Viveiro to race in a private regatta on the deep, sheltered waters of Ria Viveiro (a sea loch). The logistics are not to be underestimated, and tour organiser James Powell (Iona) had the invaluable assistance of Bruce and (fluent Spanish speaker) Clare Johnson (Hussar), Jonathan Evans (Tantrum) and James Mehew (Akela) in the preliminary research for a venue. Baiona and A Coruña had been considered, but the enthusiasm of Viveiro Marina manager Fernando Medrano, the town council and local sailing club sealed the deal. And the quality of the wine and orujo…

Before lockdown, there was this. The Duder Cup took place in Auckland on 23 February, days before the country went into lockdown, writes John Cadd. On the day of the Cup, which was first run in 1881, it had not rained in Auckland for 47 days. Those praying for rain got their wish, with the downpour so heavy that most helmsmen could not see the bows of their yachts. A fleet of 26 classics included the spectacular Waitangi, built in 1894, and Thelma, built in 1897, both prime examples of the design and build of New Zealand’s renowned Logan Brothers.…

The ninth HSS Classic Yacht Symposium was a great success, with 250 classic yacht owners, crew, friends, boatbuilders and enthusiasts gathering at the Helsinki Music Centre Organised by Helsinki Sailing on behalf of Helsingfors Segelsallskap, the symposium featured talks on a number of classic yacht subjects, as well as more modern ones, and encouraged discussion among friends about classic yachts of all types. The symposium started with eight bells, marking the life of founder Esko Kilpi, who died in January. Keynote speakers covered many aspects of classic yachting Pelle Petterson, yachtsman, naval architect, industrial designer and Olympic medallist looked back on a lifetime of sailing, starting with a bronze medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, challenging for the America’s Cup and many of his designs for the Maxi Class, 8-Metres…

These are tough times for sailors. As the new season gets under way, many of us are becalmed in the homestead. Even if we aren’t ill personally, we’re keeping the front door closed so as to do the right thing by suffering humanity. I’m in an even worse situation than many; my yacht isn’t just chained to the dock in the local marina – she’s in a shed in Denmark, which, at the time of writing, has pulled up the drawbridge and dropped the portcullis at the border. So, here I sit, pondering on creative ways to have a nautical time. I’m all right for drink, there seem to be some victuals still knocking around in the bottom of the freezer, my library is among the best-stocked in the western…

As restrictions continued to tighten in late March, Woodbridge Boat Yard hurried to launch the wooden vessels in its care back into their watery element to prevent deterioration over summer. The yard also deferred a planned price increase to help customers get through these uncertain times. “Wooden boats, particularly the older ones, are vulnerable to drying out if they are ashore over the summer under the heat of the sun,” said Matt Lis. “Wherever possible, though, we have launched these vulnerable, and often historic, boats.” In the last week of March, the yard lifted four pre-war boats originally built there: two Deben Cherubs – Cherub (1924) and Lynette (1937); Clytie (1922), built for Sir Clifford Paterson and probably unique for a boat this age because she is still in the…

East Passage Boatwrights, known for major restorations like Skylark and Santana, is building a new wooden Down East-style motor launch, with hopes for more on a semi-bespoke basis. “I’m over the moon about it,” said yard owner Carter Richardson about the Walt Ansel design. The East Passage 24 is a centre-console, open-cockpit day launch. The semi-bespoke nature allows for big changes, including helm placement and addition of a cuddy cabin. She’s 24ft (6.9m) in length, with an 8ft (2.4m) beam and 2ft 6in (76cm) draught. The build, typical of good US boatbuilding, is glued double-carvel (cedar inner planks and mahogany outers) on steam-bent American white oak frames. The 150hp diesel will give a 15kt cruising speed (18 kt max). The first is being built on spec, with launch expected this…

Colin Messer and brother Stephen are a boatbuilding fraternity with a long and strong association with the little ships. They were kind enough to take me over on the 2005 return on their own boat, Mimosa, and for their customers, they’ve restored as many of the fleet as anyone else. When I visited the yard in March, Colin was on hand for a quick tour. Among many other jobs, including work on the wheelhouse of Ryl William, a hero of D-Day, they have been busy with a serious rebuild on Moonraker. “She’s pretty special,” says Colin, “as she’s the only one in the little ships fleet that is a sailing yacht (notwithstanding larger, heavier working vessels of sail). She’s like a Thames A Rater with a lid!” The 27ft 6in…

On a recent visit to Dennetts, we saw so many boats in varying stages of reincarnation that we lost count. Of the Dunkirk Little Ship fleet alone, the yard has four at the moment: the 1931, JW Brooke-built Breda, a 52ft (15.8m) motor yacht rescued from the brink and given a stunning new art deco interior; the 42ft (12.8m) cruiser-sterned motor yacht Brown Owl, designed by John Baine and built at the Silver yard in 1928; the 45ft (13.7m) Gay Venture, built in 1938 to be a floating home for her racing driver owner Douglas Briault; and last but not least, Makaira (above). We saw her at Dennets, mid-transformation at the end of 2019 and wrote “a lean, slender, flat-sheered monster, reminiscent of the fast Second World War wooden motor…

A secure grip on the work is essential to any task involving hand tools, and in the frequently cramped and far-flung world of boat repairs and building, a measure of on-the-spot inventiveness counts for more than all the devices rooted to a workshop bench. Where a vessel lies afloat, in a mud berth or shored up in a distant corner of the yard, return trips to the shed for fine-tuning the fitting of a part can stretch what should take half an hour to occupy half a day. The well-weathered shipwright improvises with a knee that clamps the wood for sawing as rigidly as a falcon’s talon on its prey, settling down to lunch. Or with a firmly planted buttock, they’ll pin the piece for mortising with a force that…

TOM CUNLIFFE, writing in Classic Boat, Nov 2019 NEW, LOWER PRICES - NOW FROM £1300 Epropulsion Spirit: ‐ 1018 or 1276Wh battery‐ Faster to charge‐ Battery loats if dropped‐ Foldable tiller means only one cable to connect‐ Three shaft length options‐ Direct drive FROM £1675 Torqeedo 1103: ‐ 916Wh battery‐ GPS data on tiller gives speed & range indication‐ Removable tiller (more compact for storage)‐ Near-silent direct drive‐ Much more robust than the previous model (Torqeedo 1003) In the popular 2-4hp category, the latest electric outboards - with their integral and rechargeable lithium batteries - have transformed the market, rendering petrol motors all-but obsolete. The Many Advantages of Electric Outboards include: - Ease of Use. Switch on, twist the tiller handle, go. Almost anybody can do it; no experience, strength…