Innehållsförteckning för July 2020 från Classic Boat

Sailing was among the first activities to return in May after almost six weeks of lockdown, and amid growing concern for the wellbeing of many wooden boats still on the hard in the unusually hot weather. The RYA said that maintenance and checking of boats had become “critical" for owners and warned there were also potential insurance issues, while chairman of the Guernsey Boat Owners Association Nick Guillemette said: “With the weather having been good over the spring, a lot of old wooden boats have opened up in the sun and it won’t be doing them any good.” Guernsey led the way out of lockdown, after a Notice to Mariners on 2 May gave owners on the island permission to sail for two hours a day as part of their…

CHARLES MILLER LTD Royal yacht one-upmanship The history of royal yachts is a chronicle of imperial rivalry and international diplomacy, and through much of Queen Victoria’s reign, the simmering tension between Britain and Russia was in danger of boiling over. In 1846, in an effort to improve relations, the British Government presented a spectacular diplomatic sweetener to Tsar Nicholas I in the form of 95ft (29m) Queen Victoria. Specially commissioned from Samuel J White of Cowes, with no expense spared, the imperial yacht was lavishly appointed with ceremonial cabins decorated with rosewood and maple and a gilt full-length figurehead of the queen. The Queen Victoria immediately became the first yacht of the newly founded St Petersburg Yacht Club and was thoroughly enjoyed by the tsar, who raced her successfully for many seasons until she…

This 4-12 June is circled in many diaries. The Fife regatta was awaited with tangible excitement until its organisers were forced to cancel “with a heavy heart”. But the Fife dynasty weathered many disasters, and this superb event will surely rise again. Dynasty is the key word here. Where Watson and Mylne were the first in their families to take up the profession, Fife III’s father, uncles and grandfather before him were well-known boatbuilders and designers in their own right. So what was ‘Will’ the youngest Fife’s experience of growing up in an already famous yard, his career mapped out before him? He was lucky. His father, Fife II, was straightforward, kindly and modest. He excelled in his profession as a splendid manager of men with “a passionate love for…

Bong, bong, bong… In different circumstances this gently ascending three-note alarm might have led to a serious announcement such as “the train now arriving…”. Instead, however, we heard a jovial French accent: “Mesdames et messieurs, ladies and gentlemen,” said François. “Coffee, tea and the four o’clock snack are now being served on the aft deck.” Along with 13 other guests and seven crewmembers, I was on a sailing vessel in the Canary Islands. We had all met on board for the first time in Santa Cruz de la Tenerife on a Saturday afternoon in January, when captain Jakob Fremgen and his crew immediately made us feel at home. Jakob, a Dutch-domiciled German, came on as a deckhand in 2013 and has been captain for the past four years, sharing the…

PANDORA World’s first Metre yacht Pandora, built to the brand-new Universal Rule in the same year it was announced, 1907, is thought to be the first Metre yacht of any sort in the world today. She was designed by John Anker (a master in the Metre Class), and built by Anker and Jensen in Norway. Of course, the 9-M rule rather fell by the wayside, but as a piece of yachting history and an unimpeachable classic of a good size – 46ft (14m) long and sleeping six in two cabins – she represents the best-value entry ticket into the ‘big league’ of classic yacht exotica that we’ve ever seen. The mahogany hull is copper fastened to oak frames and timbers, with a teak-over-ply deck put on in the mid-80s. Most…

In 1760, some 22 years before Francis Calense Amos established the Gosport shipyard in England, which would become Camper & Nicholsons, the founder of the Aprea family, from Sorrento, was already engaged in the building of boats in the then Kingdom of Naples. It is estimated that, since then, the Apreas have built over 3,000 boats, as well as ocean-going vessels of 120ft (36.6m) and more. The speciality of the house, however, has always been the Gozzo Sorrentino, a traditional boat of variable length, generally between 15ft (4.6m) and 22ft (6.7m), characterised by a fine and vertical bow, powerful and streamlined, especially towards the stern, pulled by oars and fitted with a lateen sail. In the 1980s, with GRP ruling the market, the Aprea family considered abandoning traditional construction materials, namely…

Among sailors whittling away the hours on long voyages or waiting for the tide to turn, as many are doing now, there is a long tradition of carving wooden spoons. Well-preserved examples have been recovered from both Henry VIII’s carrack Mary Rose, which sank off Spithead in 1545, and Swedish warship Vasa, which went down in Stockholm harbour in 1628. These spoons were found having been trapped inside the vessels, the majority having floated free – because, as with the wooden boat so also with the wooden spoon, the natural buoyancy of the material stands greatly in its favour. Who hasn’t lost a metal spoon tipped over the side with the washing up water? Nobody? Err, me neither, but should you lose a wooden spoon at sea, the finder may…

Just out of university, six of us decided to enter the annual 360-mile Fair Isle Race from Granton Harbour to Kirkwall Harbour – a big step, as we had no offshore experience and no boat. An old club member seeing out his twilight years from the comfort of a bar stool, and with one eye on a probable insurance claim, agreed to lend us his 32ft (9.8m) sloop. The eve of the race, Cox appointed himself skipper. He was an RNR sub-lieutenant, and who were we to question the Admiralty? Cox breezily pronounced that we “don’t really need a navigator. If we keep Scotland on our left, at night we can take bearings on the lighthouses”. This was unacceptable. Cox was sent to the local RNR establishment to recruit a…

Amazing! Fantastic! Phenomenal! People seem to use up all the superlatives trying to describe even the most recent achievements of the ketch Sumurun. When she was originally launched from Fairlie back in 1914, the press noted that “her forward overhang is unusually long for a cruising yacht, and this, with her sharply defined bow section, gives the impression she will take the sea well”. They were certainly proved right. Fife chose a somewhat traditional combination of English oak frames and planking of east Indian teak; she was designed as a gaff yawl but is now ketch-rigged. After a long and hugely varied succession of owners, she has belonged to classic sailing enthusiast Alain Moatti since October 2017. Her recent meticulous and comprehensive restoration in the expert hands of Breton shipyard…

POND YACHT One of many high-class pond yachts from this builder, this is the 36R, a class established in 1930 and one of the oldest model yacht classes still in existence. Each model is built to order and you can specify bespoke paintwork and cotton or Dacron sails. It was designed by Bill Daniels, the leading model yacht designer of the period, who preferred to give it overhangs rather than the longest waterline possible to fit in its box. It is mahogany above the waterline and pine below, with a beech plywood deck. The vane steering gear is based on the Clem and Corby vane gears of the 1940s. Price: £ 2,950 + P&P Tel 07956 922836 or email grovepondyachts@gmail.com STORMGLASS The Stormglass was first used in the 1750s. This…

“Despite being a seafarer, I wanted a boat of my own”STEVE MORGAN How long would you give yourself, working alone, to restore and modify a 42ft (12.8m) classic ex-broads cruiser built by well-known company Broom Boats Limited of Brundall in 1962? Three years… five? Try seven. Admiral VII, beautifully built of mahogany planking on sturdy oak frames with a high-gloss teak interior throughout, is owned by ferry captain Steve Morgan. Her original, charter layout comprised a galley and saloon aft with a centre wheelhouse athwartships, eight berths and two heads, giving adequate if busy accommodation for leisurely cruising on the Broads. Power comes from an unstressed, four-cylinder, 2.5-litre BMC diesel driving through a Borg Warner Velvet Drive gearbox. She is thought to be one of seven of her type. At…

When you asked 10 boatbuilders about painting and varnishing, you would get 10 different answers. As there is only one boatbuilder writing this, you are about to get only one. The reality is that there is no clear, fits-all solution to finishing. You have to adapt product, technique and level of detail to fit the job. The bilge, for instance, requires a very different schedule than the hull topsides. The quality of finish on the hull, upperworks and anywhere else it really shows is the subject of this article. If you can achieve a good, lasting, dust-free finish clear of brush marks, all else will be a walk in the park. Achieving that perfect finish is often referred to as an ‘art’; equally, there is an assumption that the preparation…

BEST KIT Connell tool bag BY ROBIN GATES All manner of boxes and bags serve adequately for toting basic hand tools between home and work. A canvas shopping bag, government surplus rucksack and the old-school briefcase have each served well for the duration of a particular project, but for the longer term and the better care of valued cutting edges, this low-slung leather tool bag from Connell of Sheffield has proved unbeatable. The body of the bag is around 18 x 7in (46 x 18cm), providing ample room for the planes, chisels and saws of work carried out on site. Long loop handles suspend the bag comfortably for carrying, and the way they flop across the opening at rest offers token protection against the unauthorised hand helping itself; 30 years…

Vessels have been built on the shores of Watering Bay, on the isle of Carriacou in the Grenadines, since Scottish mariners landed there with tools and talent. They vary in size and purpose, yet each holds centuries of tradition – and that tradition is always celebrated island-style on the day it hits the water for the first time. In late February, Nero McLawrence announced: “We launchin’ afta carneeval,” setting off a frenzy of last-minute work needed to move his 67ft (20.4m) cargo boat into the sea. A rudder was built, some planks swapped out, and caulking and faring were completed. On the eve of the big day, men readied lines, rollers appeared and the final paint was applied. The logistics of moving 28 tonnes of wood and fastenings without a…

It was in the early part of the 19th century that Falmouth quay punts began to transport supplies, messages and crew to ships visiting the port of Falmouth, as well as providing pilotage. They would race out to sea in all weathers to ‘seek’ incoming ships and offer their services. A characteristic of the quay punts was a main mast short enough to clear the lowest yardarm of a heavily laden ship, and so the mainsail was gaff with no topsail. With their mizzen masts stepped immediately forward of their transom-hung rudders, by definition they are ketches, but their small bermudan mizzen sails sheeted to a bumkin give them the appearance of yawls, and they have always been referred to as such. They were typically three-quarter decked for ease of…

Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk CHATHAM, MASS, USA 2,000-mile delivery trip in a day launch Boatbuilder Woody Metzger of First Light Boatworks, builder of a popular series of centre-console, clinker motor launches, had a rare chance to test one of his latest builds. The new owner, who lives in Florida, greenlighted the idea to take delivery of his boat by means of having Woody and crew drive it down to him 2,000 miles through the Intracoastal Waterway. The new boat, a so-called Pocasset variant, is based on the popular 26ft (7.9m) Monomoy, but adds a small cuddy cabin and a downeast-style hardtop and soft wheelhouse enclosure. “It’s a real bucket list voyage,” said Woody. “And the boat is far more capable than even I thought it would be. We had some pretty serious…

Speetogs may sound like slimline swimming trunks, but mixing these toggle-operated tools with your Speedos could engender life-changing events. Compact as nut crackers, the Speetog plier clamp is the true terrier of the toolbox, as tenacious as those eager jaws and muscular levers would suggest. It uses an over-centre locking mechanism similar to the Petersen Vise-Grip and its later UK counterpart the Mole Self-Grip Wrench, but with the distinct advantage of the jaws closing parallel instead of pinching at their tips. Parallel jaws distribute pressure evenly across the clamped object, reducing the likelihood of deforming it, and maximising the surface area of the tool in contact with the work so there’s less slippage. The secret to the Speetog jaws remaining parallel across the full range of opening, about in (12mm),…

WHEN PEACE RETURNS… The schooner When and If was built for US Army general George S Patton in 1939, for when, and for if, peace returned. She now belongs to a died-in-the-wool schooner man. RACE TO THE NEW WORLD Who got to America first? Christopher Columbus? The Vikings? Or was it the Phoenecians, as a recent historical voyage claims? 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. PLUS… Carve handrails from foraged timber; boat painting master class; visit to an Antiguan boatbuilding hub; and news from sailing and boatbuilding around the world AUGUST 2020 ON SALE Friday 3 July, 2020 Available online; or why not subscribe? 30 YEARS AGO JULY 1990, CB25 In…