Innehållsförteckning för February 2021 från Classic Boat

A rare, 18th-century schooner replica, restored to the tune of around £1 million, could be abandoned if a buyer is not found soon. The boat is ‘really brand new’ after extensive work over more than 10 years and could be bought for around £125,000. The Elena Maria Barbara is a 95ft (29m) replica of an 18thcentury Baltic topsail schooner. She was built in 1995 in St Petersburg to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Russian navy by Peter the Great. There were only a handful of replicas built at the time, one of them being the well-known Pickle. The design, used by the British, French and Russian navies, was for a vessel that could sail fast to deliver important messages. Elena's hull, originally in softwood, has been…

British Classic Week has announced a partnership with the Tall Ships Youth Trust, which will be the regatta’s official charity for 2021. British Classic Yacht Club commodore Jonathan Dyke said: “Young people need our support more than ever right now and as such we are working on ways to fully integrate the charity into British Classic Week. Fundraising will play a key part, complemented by raising awareness. We also hope to get some young people out on the water to give them first-hand experience of a world-class regatta.” Organised by the British Classic Yacht Club, the 19th edition of British Classic Week will take place in Cowes from 17-24 July, 2021. Entry opens in April.…

British Marine has announced that the Southampton Boat Show will take place from 10-19 September in 2021. The announcement is seen as a boost for the industry after the 2020 show was cancelled and a replacement event, Boats2020, was stopped at the 11th hour by Southampton City Council due to concerns over the spread of Covid-19. Lesley Robinson, CEO of British Marine, says; “It is a great pleasure to announce that Southampton International Boat Show is back in 2021. “The show is such a key event in the boating calendar and a real celebration to the end of season. British Marine is using our years of boat show experience to deliver the 52nd edition at full size and to welcome visitors back in style. We cannot wait to see you…

SCARABEE Built by Pieter van der Aa, Designed Sparkman and Stephens, LOD 55ft 8in (17m), Rig bermudan yawl When most people talk about building a boat for themselves, they have a kit dinghy in mind or perhaps, if they are ambitious, a small yacht, or something built to instruction. Pieter was talking about a 56ft S&S yawl, something he achieved in just seven years of downtime. She’s a near-identical copy of the 1935 yacht Avanti. The only difference is in her construction, which is strip-planked rather than plank on frame. You can read about her on page 4. CASS Built by Barry Cass, David Bentley and Nick Byatt, Designed Holman and Pye, LOD 43ft (13.1m), Rig bermudan sloop The build of Cass began in 1994, by boatbuilder Barry Cass, after…

FINALE Designed and built by First Light Boatworks, LOD 26ft (7.9m) Finale is a hard dodger, ‘Pocasset’ variant of the popular, clinker Monomoy 26. Builder Woody Metzger delivered it to the customer in Florida, 2,000 miles from the yard in Chatham, Mass, over water. With a top whack of over 30 knots from the ‘inboard outboard’, it took just 10 days. ITTIR KAKTIR Built by RMK Marine, Design Devlin Boat, LOD 33ft (10m) Here is a delightful but functional little tug, built to tow the 50+ vessels at Istanbul’s Rahmi Koc Museum. She’s has a plywood and epoxy hull with a solid mahogany keel and teak laid decks. The powerful 150bhp Ford engine makes her as strong as she looks. THOR Built by Isle Ewe Boats, LOD 17ft (5.2m) Isle…

WOODEN PROP We’re always fans of these wooden props from Dad’s Boats. They come in different timbers and this one is one of their larger props at 300mm (1ft) diameter. From £149; model shown £499 dadsboats.com CHAIN PIPE Bronze, 1.5in, a thing of beauty. Ready to do an important job on your boat, or your mantlepiece. £69 classicmarine.co.uk SHIPWRECK LAMPSHADE One of a range of shipwreck lampshades using imagery from a series of 18th-century, hand-coloured prints. Available as a ceiling shade or lampshade in three sizes and boasting an “extra deluxe feel” with a navy linen interior. Handmade in Falmouth, Cornwall. From £58 creamcornwall.co.uk BRETON WOOL JUMPER Billed as an “authentic” Breton striped jumper for men, in navy blue and cream stripes, 100 per cent wool with shoulder buttoning. Price…

“It’s like a whole new world I never knew existed”, Lydia said as we pulled out of Penzance Harbour and set the sails. Mounts Bay is sheltered from the north-westerly, and we spend the morning ghosting through the wind shadow. It’s a calm, sunny morning – with little pearly clouds that hang motionless in the sky. The water is a deep-empty blue, broken up by the occasional compass jellyfish. A light breeze fills in, and we pass the remainder of West Penwith before poking out into the Western Approaches. FLYING CLOUD There are three of us on board Flying Cloud, a 22ft (6.7m) carvel sloop. My first proper boat – she was my home for years, and we sailed to the Caribbean and back together. A weekend cruiser set up…

The Yachting World Keelboat (which later became known as the Yachting World Diamond) was designed by Jack Holt and originally intended for home plywood construction. The plywood prototype, Zest, was exhibited at the 1961 London Boat Show. Bristol I was the first GRP boat and was moulded by Bristol Aeroplane Plastics, then finished at R & W Clarks yard at East Cowes in 1961. That summer she was the overall winner of the Round the Island Race, winning the Gold Roman Bowl. In the 1990s she was converted to a cruising boat with the addition a cabin and diesel engine. She subsequently fell into a state of disrepair before she was bought in 2012 by Dartmouth sailors Kit Noble and Peter Boote who restored her and took her back to…

As we enter an Olympic year, or what we hope will be one, our centenarian of the month is a boat designed by an Olympian. Gilbert Umvreville Laws won gold for Great Britain in the 1908 London Olympic Games, helming his own design, Dormy, off Ryde in the Isle of Wight. GU Laws, as he is known to yachting historians today, was a pupil of Albert Strange. Dawn dates from 1905, and having marked her 115th birthday in 2020, her shipshape condition and annual mileage outshines most modern yachts. A canoe yawl, built in pitch pine on oak at the Falmouth yard of WE Thomas, she has been in the same ownership since 2014. The owner had her restored extensively at Gweek Boat Yard in Helston, Cornwall, and she was…

Do you have memories of doing an RYA course as a young sailor? The RYA, which has been marking 50 years of its world-renowned training courses this year, has been collecting memories and anecdotes from sailors. The first RYA courses were introduced in 1970 to provide clubs and sailing schools with a national training programme and standardised method of learning to sail, with qualified instructors, inspections and safety requirements. Half a century on, more than 270,000 people undertake some form of RYA training every year and the programme of courses is no longer exclusive to dinghies, but encompasses everything from personal watercraft to the inland waterways. There is a training timeline at the RYA’s website and Richard Falk, RYA Director of Training and Qualifications, said: “The timeline celebrates key moments…

SPIRIT 44CRE Built by Spirit Yachts, Design Sean McMillan, LOD 44ft (13.4m), Rig bermudan sloop This might not look like the future; but the 44CRE is arguably the most ecologically advanced yacht yet built. Drive and all other systems are infinitely autonomous (if you’re careful) thanks to solar panels on the back deck and in the sails; and there are no hydrocarbons on board. Even the wood finish, in black walnut, a byproduct of the food industry, is based on rhubarb juice. Other than that, it’s pure, usable Spirit, with a dose of elegance and standing headroom. THE LONGSHORE Built by Sam Doman, LOD 14ft (4.3m), Rig standing lug This GRP replica of Atlas (1949) was restored by the Pioneer Sailing Trust then stripped back, polished and waxed by the…

SEAN MCMILLAN Sean McMillan founded Spirit Yachts in 1993 after a decade designing and building classic yachts. Today, Spirit is the world leader in new, wooden Spirit of Tradition sailing yachts – they’ve built more than a few motorboats too. In 2020 year, Spirit built the biggest single-masted wooden sailing yacht in Britain since Shamrock V in 1930, the Spirit 111; has started setting up the Spirit Academy of Yacht Construction and Technology; and signed up James Bond to the brand… again. ERIC KESTELOO Eric Kesteloo has captained the 184ft (56m) barque Europa since 2006, taking her all over the world including regular trips to Antarctica every season. But in 2020, Covid 19 forced him and his crew to set off on a voyage which, for such a vessel, may…

Maritime and military historian Ian Dear has spent a lifetime collecting facts, figures and pictures on the history of sailing and the two world wars. His detailed research and knowledge on the history of sail, the birth and spread of ocean racing, early America’s Cup races, and shipwrecks around Britain’s coastline, has led to more than 30 authoritative books, including six novels, and co-editing roles on The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea and the Oxford Companion to the Second World War II. His latest book, The Tattie Lads, was nominated for the Mountbatten Literary Award in 2016. Now, Barry Pickthall of PPL Media has digitised, catalogued and saved for posperity his image archive dating back to the early 1800s. See pplmedia.com to learn more…

Gadwall was one of six 30ft (9.1m) Xyris boats, designed by John Nicholson (the son of Charles E Nicholson who owned one himself in his later years), built by Camper and Nicholsons in 1939 and commissioned in 1945. During the 1950s she was owned by WL Stephenson, for whom the J-Class yacht Velsheda had been built in 1933. She was built with an English elm keel, mahogany stem and transom, and mahogany planking on English oak steamed timbers and grown frames. She has her original Columbian pine spars and a suit of nearly new sails, a Bukh DV10 diesel engine with only 100 hours’ use, a Blakes heads, wood-burning stove and Taylors paraffin cooker. Over the past few years she has undergone extensive refit work including refastening and recaulking of…

+44 (0)207 349 3758 Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk Johnson and Loftus Boatbuilders of Ullapool, and Alasdair Grant of Isle Ewe Boats on nearby Isle of Ewe, have joined forces to take on a big double project: the restoration of two historic herring fishing boats. Clan Gordon, a 1911 Loch Fyne skiff, and St Vincent, a 1911 Zulu will both be rebuilt to connect the area to its fishing heritage. Despite working the same waters for the same catch – the elusive ‘silver darling’, once such a big part of Britain’s fishery – the two boats are very different. Clan Gordon is light and nimble for inshore ring netting, while St Vincent is massive and powerful for drift-netting off shore. The two craft owe their existence to efforts to preserve them for many…

HERRESHOFF’S MISSILE The New York Bar Harbor 31 Scud is a rare best, an impossibly slender, long craft that at just under 50ft, was the smallest of racing yachts a century ago. These days, Scud, fully restored for the CEO of Prada, is an impressive sight to see. BROADS HIRE BOAT The old lifting-roof Broads hireboat Rogue has had an active first 100 years for a modest vessel. Now, after refit, she starts her second century. THE BEST ROWING BOATS After our recent features on the best dinghies and trailer sailers, we turn our attention to the humblest craft of all: the rowing boat. PLUS… The newest books out now, Albert Strange’s Sheila II, the Salcombe yawl and much, much more MARCH 2021 ON SALE Friday 12 February, 2021 Available…

These spectacular photos of classic yachts were entered for the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image of the Century competition. The annual competition saw entries from 131 professional photographers, who because of sailing restrictions over 2020 were asked to submit photos taken since 2000. The winning shot was taken in 2002 by Gilles Martin-Raget of the giant Orma 60 trimaran Fujifilm II off Ushant. You can find it on our sister magazine’s website yachtsandyachting.co.uk. Meanwhile we have compiled some of the stunning shots of classic boats.…

ANDRILLOT Restored by Michel LeMoigne, Designed Laurent Giles, Built 1935, LOD 25ft (7.6m), Rig berm cutter It’s exciting to see the return of the first vessel of any class, particularly when the class in question is as well loved as the Vertue. Andrillot had been lying low for a while when new owner Uli Killer, largely unaware of the provenance, bought her to cruise with his son, same as the last owners. Michel’s restoration involved strengthening of the coachroof and deck, rebuilding the fo’c’s’le and lockers, and a complete refurb of the interior, as well as number of more routine fixes. In true Vertue style, Uli’s maiden voyage was to sail her 380 miles from Dartmouth to Vlissingen, Holland. ATALANTA Restored by Mike Dixon, Designed Uffa Fox and Alan Vines,…

MAIMONDE Restored by Harbour Marine Services, Designed and built by Saunders Roe, 1937, LOD 45ft (13.7m), Engines TSDY Saunders Roe, forever bound to 20th-century British engineering like the hovercraft, used to build boats like this Medina Class yacht to the highest spec imaginable. Build is in Burma teak and the construction and detailing is closer to engineering than boatbuilding. This is Harbour Marine’s third Medina rebuild. The photo shows their previous one, Magyar. Maimonde was a very complete rebuild, and, like the boat below, served at Dunkirk. She was about to launch as we went to press. FLEURY II Restored by Cockwells Designed and built EF Elkins, 1936, LOD 33ft 6in (10.2m), Engines TSDY The rise of the classic motor boat was much in evidence in the lead-up to 2020’s…

This retro ‘Riva-style runabout (above) certainly brings classic-vs-retro boat economics into sharp focus. The 20ft retro-style Rova, built as a one-off in 2019 at a cost approaching £100,000 for an owner who apparently wanted something that evoked a classic Riva, but without the cost, sold at Bonhams earlier this year for £21,375. I think the only word far that is “ouch,” or perhaps “double ouch!” In the first place, the going rate for a really lovely real Riva Florida of similar proportions is substantially less than £100k. Secondly, there’s that eye-popping depreciation that appears to represent exceptional value for the second owner who paid a quarter of its cost new. But there’s something else to factor in, for even that could seem relatively pricey when you consider that a 1962…

When Oscar Scarpa decided to move with his wife and children from Venice to Milan in 1954, he made an innovative first choice that would guide the rest of his career. Indeed, the construction of his yard near the artificial lake of Idroscalo allowed him to get closer to potential customers among the wealthy of Milan. In the economic capital of the country, Oscar Scarpa quickly became the boating equivalent of a fashion designer or a fashionable coachbuilder, offering refined models from his racing experience or made in small series like Gran Turismo cars, equipped with Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Fiat or even Abarth engines… The yard used the concept of “automobile of the sea” by simply adding “del Mare” to the names of the most popular car models…

Acorn to Arabella is one of the boatbuilding projects we’ve been following on YouTube, thanks to the regular stream of high-quality videos put up by the builder, similar to Leo Goolden’s Tally Ho project and others. It is the story of two 30-something rock-climbing friends, Steve and Alix, building a new, traditional plank-on-frame ketch for far-flung voyaging and rock-climing adventures – modern Tilman stuff. Arabella is a 37ft 6in (11.4m) Colin Archer-inspired 'Ingrid' design from the drawing board of William Atkins (think Suhaili); and the acorn refers to the fact that much of the timber comes from Steve’s family farm, where the work is taking place, and where Steve’s forefathers planted the trees that are now turning into Arabella. The boat is now half planked in white oak. Later planks,…

A boat not subject to a class measurer’s tape can be an inch longer or shorter than her designer intended and no one will be too upset, but if the parts in a furniture joint are found meeting with more than a gnat’s whisker between them the gap jars the senses like a yacht run aground. For joinery emphasis is rightly placed on the quality and handling of the edge tools – saws, planes and chisels cutting bang-on the line – but equally important are the layout tools. A rule, try square and knife will prepare many joints but in the case of the mortise and tenon there’s a dedicated tool which is among the most delightful in all woodwork – the mortise gauge. The name of the tool understates…

I called again on the bakelite VHF and repeated: “We have white topsides, peeling varnish, patched, faded tan sails and a bearded old derelict on the helm who looks like Catweazle.” “It’s no good,” said the race officer. “I still can’t identify you.” I could see his point. After all, this was an Old Gaffers’ rally – which for the sake of foreign readers, I should explain is a Morris dancing convention on water, and quite frequently under it – and I’d pretty much described the gaffers’ standard issue look. Gaff hasn’t got a lot to do with sailing, otherwise they’d have bermudans (Editor’s note: see hate mail next month, and do NOT give out my address). Rather, gaff is a lifestyle choice – but without the style – and…