Innehållsförteckning för October 2021 från Classic Boat

ROLEX FASTNET RACE Classics battle it out in high winds The 1939 yawl Amokura (above) gives a lesson in the benefits of heavy displacement to a modern compatriot, as the two boats batter through a punishing wind-against-tide start to the Rolex Fastnet Race in August. The oldest boat in the race, the 50ft Amokura, was built by Moodys for Lord Mountbatten’s Aide de Camp, Ernest Harston. She was being raced double-handed in the Fastnet by owner Paul Moxon and Steve Jones. While the modern boats took a pasting at the heavy winds start, with almost 50 retirements, Amokura was not as heavily reefed as many of the retirees. She did suffer as winds abated later in the race. Amokura competed in the 1959 Fastnet Race and again in 2019, but…

If John Ruskin was right, that boats are the most beautiful things created by man’s hand, then the question I casually posed to 100 contributors, photographers, yacht designers, boatbuilders and general friends of CB carried a weight of agony I hadn’t thought through. Beauty can’t be separate from purpose after all, so what I’d really asked was: what is the best thing ever made? “Don’t do this to me again!” wrote back one correspondent, overflowing with the pain of selection and agony for those he could not list (“six votes max, still alive, and not your own” were the only rules). Another one prevaricated for a fortnight, then said “I’m sorry – it’s too hard. I can’t do this.” The art editor had anticipated the winner correctly. There actually is…

I had the pleasure of another Vertue owner visit Sally recently; drove up from Skye to compare his pre-war boat with mine, although we both were well aware that the pre-war Laurent Giles boats were simply 5 tonners, all different, from gaff-rigged Andrillot through Monie, Epeneta, Mary, Caupona and so on. Even the post-war wooden boats were essentially one-offs. The visit gave us a chance to compare notes. Ah, says he, your coachroof is just a low box, showing me a photo of his. And the runners are set on Highfield levers. I see you have boom furling. Does it work as well as slab? And so on for an hour or more on the pontoon at Ullapool Pier. His companion, by this time – I kid you not –…

There is something quintessentially English about living on a houseboat. They can be World War II motor torpedo boats, steam tugs, barges, canal boats or old racing yachts, all rescued from the scrapyard long after they have been stripped of their lead and bronze, and converted to alternative living for the arty and nomadic. These vessels are scattered around the mud of England’s yachting meccas: the Hamble River, Bembridge Harbour on the Isle of Wight, at Chelsea in the heart of fashionable London, Shoreham-by-Sea, and perhaps the most famous of all, at West Mersea in Essex and Pin Mill, up the coast a little in Suffolk. Every now and then, a multimillionaire comes along, sees through the rotting timbers an outline masked by a beach hut perched on deck, visualises…

There are places in the world that seem to have been blessed by the gods. Lake Como is one of them. As early as the late 1970s, a pioneer saved hundreds of power boats as witness to a long, eventful history. This was the end of an era, a time when the many small boatyards on Como had to evolve to survive being swept away by the tide of GRP. Nobody but a certain Gian Alberto Zanoletti had any interest in preserving what was, at the time, recent history. The Romans knew Como well. Very deep, with steep banks set against steep rock, this long north-south axis with two branches connects the rich Lombard plains to the rest of Europe. The Roman Empire, which kept five fleets to rule the…

Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON Tally Ho on the move again The story of Leo Goolden’s deep restoration of Albert Strange’s 1910-built 48ft (14.6m) Fastnet-winning gaff cutter Tally Ho continues, as the boat is moved by road from her home of the last four years, Sequim, to the traditional boating hub of Port Townsend. The lorry driver who bought her to Sequim for Leo to begin work, came out of retirement for this one last job with Associated Boat Transport, and arrived with a hydraulic trailer to load Tally Ho. Leo had taken his own precautions, ensuring the hull was caulked (effectively gluing the planks into a single structure) before moving her, and adding internal braces against the inside of the hull where it would meet the pads on the…

This is the story of a boat that has managed to achieve a truly impressive and consistent racing record over a period of 55 years, undeterred, it would seem, by nine ownership changes and having to comply with four different rating rules. Clarionet was designed by Sparkman and Stephens and built (alongside her near sistership Roundabout) by Lallows in Cowes in 1966. She was produced for Derek Boyer who had previously owned Clarion of Wight (another S&S/Lallows collaboration) which, in 1963, had won the Fastnet and been the top-scoring boat in the victorious British team in the Admiral’s Cup. Both Clarionet and Roundabout – which came to be known as “the heavenly twins” – were designed as One Tonners, rating 22ft under the RORC rule. They were both developments of…

CELEBRATING CLASSIC BOAT’S 400 ISSUES I MAY BE SOME TIME… But Captain Oates’s Sibbick yawl Saunterer, which we last visited a decade ago, is now fully restored and looking just as she did a century ago. STANDING ROOM FOR A BOTTLE OF GIN Kim Holman is best known for seakindly family yachts that rated well for RORC, but this 1960, double-skinned 33ft extreme day-sailer was designed for two purposes only: to accommodate a bottle of gin and to win races. THE NAME’S POWER… FLOWER POWER With the imminent release of Daniel Craig’s las outing as 007, we’ve gone all Bond aboard a newly restored Fairey Huntsman 28, the type used in the boat chase in From Russia with Love. This one’s called Flower Power. PLUS… A round-up of the summer’s…

The reason sailors drink so much is because they have to listen to one another’s anecdotes - again, and again, and again. In fact, it’s enough to drive you from drink. The picturesque Butt & Oyster pub in Pin Mill on the Orwell is anecdote central. On the south coast you have the Jolly Sailor in Hamble. At the centre of every little cell of steaming sea-school Mustos (down south it’s Henri Lloyds and Louis Vuitton) there’s a ruddy-faced raconteur saying: “Did I ever tell you about….?” Whatever’s coming the answer is yes, but no one says “well actually, you did,” because through lengthy counselling and medication in the form of strong beer they’ve managed to suppress the memory. The trouble is it comes flooding back the moment the story…

After cancellation in 2020, the Puig Vela Clàssica Regatta held its 14th edition at the Real Club Náutico Barcelona from 15-17 July. Despite reduced attendance due to the pandemic, a cast of boats and crews competed in the ‘Classics’ and ‘Epoch’ classes, after passing an antigen control before the first regatta. It turned out to be “one of the best” iterations of the Puig, with the Garbi blowing above 12 knots, allowing a punctual start on all three days. As the thermal wind barely raised a swell, the fleet enjoyed unbeatable conditions along the coastal routes that passed in front of the beaches and coast of Barcelona, El Masnou, Montgat and Badalona. From the start, it was clear that Andrés León’s Yanira (Bjarne Aas, 1954) and Damián Ribas’ Alba (Phillip…

WELLS PRINT A limited edition linocut print called Wells Morning, a moment that anyone who has had the pleasure of taking the sand in the north Norfolk harbour will remember fondly. An edition of 100, size 51cm(h) x 67cm(w) £300 murus. art WOMEN’S WATERPROOF A stylish waterproof raincoat that wouldn’t look amiss on any foredeck, with a white and blue striped lining. Available in seven other colours. £69.99 thenauticalcompany.com VINTAGE KNOT-TYING KIT Aimed at hikers, campers, climbers and sailors. A total of 16 ‘vintage’ knots to learn and practise and two different coloured ropes with a tethering ring. “Become Bear Grylls in no time,” says Yellow Octopus. AU$15.99 (approx £8.50) YellowOctopus.com.au STAINLESS TALL SHIP Made entirely out of salvaged stainless steel sheet with stainless welding rods for sail supports. It…

An engineless sailing ship is proving that there are alternatives to the heavily polluting mega-freighters that are slowly but steadily causing irreparable damage to the oceans’ eco systems. Tres Hombres is a 105ft (32m) brigantine that has sparked a movement that has inspired a large number of similar projects around the world. In mid-March 2021 the helmsman of an extremely large container vessel was distracted for a moment and buried the ships’ bow deep into the side of the Suez Canal while its stern swung round and jammed itself against the other shore. For nearly a week the vessel blocked the passage of hundreds of similar sized vessels laden with tens of thousands of containers packed with goods made in China or Middle Eastern oil, bound for Europe. In a…

Broadland regattas are one of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads’ finest spectacles, yet for most hirers they are strictly spectator events observed from the sidelines. However, the tables are turned once a year when hirers are invited to enjoy a week’s convivial racing on Barton Broad. The four-day event was instigated by Gordon Bowers of Bowers Craft, under the auspices of the Blakes letting agency in October 1977, to satisfy hirers’ demand for racing and to help extend the season by filling up an otherwise quiet period in the run up to the autumn half-term week. Describing the early Blakes Barton Regattas, Dave Homan, who has competed every year since 1979, recalled: “Blakes originally promoted the regatta week simply as a chance for some cheap sailing and didn’t make anything…

INCHCAPE MOTOR SAILER Here’s one to inspire wanderlust. Built in 1990, this is the last of a short run of Inchcape 45 motor sailer designed by James Evans with Jack Francis Jones, after the tough Scottish fishing boats that brave the north Atlantic year round. At 45ft in length with 16ft 9in of beam, drawing 5ft 9in and weighing in at 29 tons, she has the heft, borne of 1.5in (38mm) iroko planking on oak sawn frames, to match her look. The hull is Cascover sheathed from new. The interior, particularly the wheelhouse, is cavernous, and she sleeps six in two doubles. The galley swallows a full-sized standing fridge and a normal washing machine with ease. The boat’s last owner put her through what the broker calls “a no-expenses-spared period…

STAIR SAW Of all the hand tools developed for special purposes in working wood, surely none delights the eye so much as the little stair saw – it’s as shapely as a carousel pony. Although rarely used today, having been made obsolete by machinery and simpler techniques of construction, this saw’s particular job was cutting the dados housing treads and risers in the stringers of a staircase. Back in the heyday of the big class and stately motor yacht, a staircase leading to the deckhouse could be a grand affair embellished with exotic timbers and swirling hand rails, and no one wanted their entry marred by creaky ill-fitting stairs. The job could also be done with the common tenon saw but in accustomed hands the stair saw was faster and…