Innehållsförteckning för February 2022 från Classic Boat

The prizegiving took place recently for the first ever West Country Classics Series, sponsored by Pantaenius, which ran over last summer. The series comprised three events – Dartmouth, Falmouth and Fowey Classics – and results from two of them were combined to identify four winners. The prizegiving was hosted by Saltash SC with skippers and crews gathering from the 10 boats that completed two or more of the events. Eight of the 10 boats were gaff or lug-rigged, the oldest being the Looe Lugger Our Boys, launched in 1904. Sue Treneer, who has helped run Falmouth Classics for 35 years, presented the prizes. Winning boat was the gaffer Cynthia, built in 1910 in Falmouth, owned by Peter Lucas. Second was Mary Ritchie, a 27ft (8.2m) gaff cutter built by John…

Boatbuilder Ashley Butler is selling Penpol Boatyard in Cornwall with an asking price of at least £2 million. The working yard, being sold through Savills, comes with a recently renovated four-bedroom house and wooden boat workshop overlooking the Fal estuary. The yard can accommodate 60 vessels with an additional six deep-water moorings. Ashley, who has been on the site for six years, said: “There are not many freehold boatyards that are privately owned. It’s a very strong opportunity and we’re doing all we can to keep it an owner-operated boatyard. However, people don’t have to know boatyards – there’s enough expertise here to run that side of it – but you need the business sense to handle the finances. So it doesn’t have to be someone like myself who gets…

Multihull pioneer James Wharram died on 14 December aged 93, after a life of voyaging, of designing boats and enabling countless people to get afloat. His lifelong partner Hanneke Boon said he was “a trailblazer, a fighter with great determination and vision”. Wharram became known as a young man, when in 1955/56, after studying ancient Polynesian multihull design and sailing, he designed and built the 23ft 6in (7.2m) catamaran Tangaroa and crossed the Atlantic. He wrote about the project in the book, Two Girls, Two Catamarans, which became known as much for its portrayal of Wharram and his two partners Jutta Schultze-Rohnhof and Ruth Merseburger. It was the start of a lifetime of such projects and gave rise to a vast number of followers, more than 10,000 of whom have…

BARBARA Restored by Marcus Lewis, Designed and built by Archie Watty, 1947, LOD 18ft (5.5m), Rig bermudan sloop On 20 January 1947, Olive Bate of Polruan, Cornwall, gave birth to a baby girl, Barbara. This was also the day to put down her and husband Arthur’s deposit on a house. Her reaction at discovering, that same day, that Arthur had bought a Fowey One-Design instead, can only be imagined. By the 90s, Barbara (the boat!) was literally in pieces in the Hebrides, but class sailor Richard Kitson and boatbuilder Marcus Lewis brought her back home to Cornwall and performed a rebuild that makes her today, effectively, a brand-new boat, albeit on her original ballast keel. BRYNHILDE Restored by Berthon Boat Co, Design by Fred Parker, Built Moodys, 1958, LOD 33ft…

FLOWER POWER Restored by Josh Major/Suffolk Yacht Harbour, Design Alan Burnard, Built Fairey Marine, 1967, LOD 28ft (8.5m), Power: twin diesel As a marque, Fairey Marine is so soaked in glamour, it could be Britain’s answer to Riva. Their quintessential motorboat was the hot-moulded timber, twin-engined Fairey Huntsman 28, as featured in From Russia with Love. This one was built as a 21st birthday present for model Penny Carter, who raced her in three Cowes-Torquay races. She now belongs to Josh Major, shipyard director at Suffolk Yacht Harbour. After a thorough restoration and re-engine, Flower Power is better and faster than ever; her two 215hp diesels give her a thrilling 37.8 knots. TT VEDETTE Restored by Rahmi Koç Museum, Designed and built by Consolidated Shipbuilding, NY, 1924, LOD 26ft (7.9m),…

The Hardy 42 was designed by Andrew Wolstenholme and first went into production at Hardy Marine in North Walsham, Norfolk in 2000. When Hardy Marine’s owner, Mark Funnel, died suddenly at the age of 49 in 2012, the Hardy range was taken on by neighbouring company Windboats Marine which had previously been building Oysters for thirty years and subsequently began producing Gunfleets. Windboats was due to mark its centenary in 2020 but the celebrations came to nothing when the company got into financial difficulties not helped by the emerging pandemic and the Gunfleet side of their operation. The company had no choice but to call in the administrators. Julian Weatherill had been working for Windboats since 2018 and after he met Dave Cockwell in June 2020, an agreement was reached…

Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk SUFFOLK A busy year for Harbour Marine Services Harbour Marine Service (HMS), the British yard inextricably linked to restorations of mid-century, twin-screw cabin motor launches by the likes of Silvers and Saunders and Roe, has quite a varied line up in the shed right now. First off is the 58ft 9in (17.9m), Lawley-designed 1918 motor yacht Carina that we featured in our July issue, after a long, on-and-off restoration that brought her up to a usable standard for her boatbuilder owner Joe Loughborough. Joe has now sold her to a new owner, who has sent her to HMS for a thorough sort out. Work so far has included removal of interior and systems, prior to some reframing and refastening works, along with work to the interior and systems.…

Connoisseurs of traditional boatbuilding may feel betrayed on finding a portable circular saw in this realm of the unhurried hand tool. But let’s put the kettle on, grab a biscuit and consider the matter logically. How long must a tool be used before it qualifies as ‘traditional’? Well, tradition is simply what’s handed down from generation to generation, and the circular saw goes back at least eight generations. It’s mentioned in Samuel Miller’s patent of 1777 for a wind-powered sawing machine. And given that its subsequent development was driven by the urgency of converting logs to planks in government shipyards, we must grasp the full packet of chocolate Hobnobs and reach our inevitable conclusion: the circular saw is a traditional boatbuilding tool. In times of crisis all manner of noisome…

No sooner had I finished ignoring my tax return than my annual sailing club membership renewal form arrived. Talk about stress! My accountant is a fully paid-up out-of-port member of the Magic Circle with impressive juggling skills and a marvellous knack of making things disappear. In more normal times I’d get him to fill in my sailing club renewal but what with the latest round of social distancing rules I’m no longer allowed to visit him at Wormwood Scrubs. This most taxing time of year, with the final reminder for the TV Licence looming and only 323 shopping days left to Christmas and fewer to place the order for your turkey, is enough to make you want to flee the country, which is probably what my accountant should have done.…

A major biography of Swedish yacht designer Tore Holm has been published. Author Tapani Koskela has spent two decades putting the book together and has joined with the Classic Boat Association of Sweden for its publication. Holm (1896-1977) was a successful sailor at Olympic level, winning five medals, as well as being a sought-after yacht designer and boatbuilder from his family yard at Gamleby. The Classic Boat Association of Sweden says: “The book describes how the Scandinavian countries, with Sweden often in the front line, have contributed to the development of sailing and yacht design, something that has hardly ever been brought so thoroughly before the international reading public. “The skill of wooden boatbuilding receives the acknowledgement it deserves, while the reader will surely enjoy the description of how good…

Glasgow actress and comedian Elaine C Smith added a sparkle to recent celebrations to mark the 125th birthday of the Tall Ship Glenlee. Elaine visited the birthday party after discovering that the volunteers who restored Glenlee in the 1990s had named the figurehead Mary Doll, after the character played by Elaine in the hit Scottish comedy show Rab C Nesbitt. Elaine said: “It is an iconic landmark in Glasgow so I feel really honoured.” Launched on 3 December, 1896, for her owners Archibald Sterling & Co, the three-masted barque Glenlee sailed via Cape Horn to Portland, Oregon, beginning 23 years under the Red Ensign. In 1922 the ship was sold to the Royal Spanish Navy for use as a sail training vessel, renamed Galatea and eventually laid up in 1959.…

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RINAMARA Restored by Stirling and Son, Designed and built by James McGruer, 1968, LOD 47ft 6in (14.5m), Rig bermudan yawl By 1968, cold-moulding and strip-plank had been commonplace for some time, not to mention glassfibre, whose domination was already all but complete. Into this world was born Rinamara, built for an Irish flour merchant, of plank-on-frame timbers. Her length makes her one of the most significant of McGruer’s many creations over the years - and also his very last boat. Since then she’s sailed around the world and picked up plenty of silver in the glamorous Med racing scene. A new deck, interior and systems from Stirling & Son will see her sailing for years to come. STORMVOGEL Restored by Metur Yacht, Designed Ericus van de Stadt, Laurent Giles and…

FLOW Designed/Built Nick Smith, 2021, LOD 17ft 11in (3.6m), Power: single diesel We’ve admired Nick Smith’s traditional ‘gent’s harbour launches’ built in solid clinker timber, for some years, and finally had ride in summer 2021. Flow is mahogany planked on steamed oak timbers, and cruises at six knots under her 14hp Beta. Useful, modest and the clinker looks great. EAST PASSAGE 24 Built East Passage Boatwrights, 2021, Designed Walt Ansel, LOD 24ft (7.3m), Power: single diesel At around two tonnes, this is a substantial Down East style picnic launch, built in double carvel timber. This first one has been in development for some time, but by the looks, it’s been worth the wait. The 150hp Yanmar gives 15 knots cruising, 20 tops. HARDY 42 Built by Windboats Marine and Cockwells, 2021,…

“I saw Neptune in a wave once. He was green, and he was giving me a hard look. He could see straight through me, and it was not good.” It’s a pitch black night, somewhere between Dartmouth and Weymouth. I’m at the helm of the 49ft (14.9m) gaff cutter Hardy and there’s hardly a breath of wind. An ineffectual engine nudges us along at about 2.5 knots over the water, leaving the current to do the hard work, as it sweeps us along the south coast of England towards the Isle of Wight. Built ‘on spec’ by the yard of Summers & Payne near Southampton in 1910, Hardy has had a chequered history, having been used as a houseboat and studio for several decades before being returned to sailing condition…

Schooner Columbia The build of the Columbia replica was one of the big events of 2014, recorded in these pages at the time. The famous 1923 fishing schooner was built to race her legendary Canadian competitor Bluenose and did so twice, winning one of them, before being lost at sea. Her present owner was so excited to discover the Columbia drawings that he had this replica built in Florida. Now, the new Columbia, which is largely faithful to the form of the original, but more like a superyacht in terms of accommodation and systems, is available for charter. She spends her summers in New England and winters in the Caribbean. She offers accommodation for up to 12, all en-suite, and carries a jet tender with various floating toys, and a…

Cockwells expansion over the past decade or so has been truly remarkable. Having employed around a dozen people in 2010, the company now has more than 100 on its payroll (including 15 apprentices and trainees), is operating on three different sites, and has four distinct and established product groups: Duchy motor launches, Hardy motor yachts, superyacht tenders and general refit work. It was in 1996 that Dave Cockwell started up in business in Bristol before moving to Cornwall four years later to rent a shed in South West Shipyard between Falmouth and Penryn. In 2010 he took over Mylor Creek Boatyard which had been in the hands of the Heard family for many years. At that time Cockwells had produced a passenger ferry to run between St Mawes and Falmouth,…

A newly formed Vintage Classic Yacht Club is aiming to fill the gap left by the Panerai circuit by grouping the big Mediterranean regattas into a series. The Mediterranean Champions Cup Series will comprise five of the main French, Italian and Spanish classic regattas over this coming summer and beyond, with silverware up for grabs. The Vintage Classic Yacht Club (VCYC) has already attracted more than 20 of the regular Med competitors, including Jour de Fête, Viola, Marga, Olympian, Outlaw, Rowdy, Argyll and Spartan, and is encouraging more owners to sign up. The club is also looking for sponsors and partners. Watch manufacturer Panerai sponsored a series of regattas in the Mediterranean (and in the Solent and US) until it pulled out of the classic scene three years ago. VCYC…

UNESCO has recognised the significance of the Nordic clinker boat tradition, by including it on its list titled 'The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’. Johanne Engelund Tjøsvold, of Nordic Clinker Boats, said: “This is a confirmation that the international community clearly states that this cultural heritage must be preserved for posterity. It also means that it is lifted into a larger context and becomes part of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage.” All the Nordic countries grouped together to nominate the clinker boat tradition for the UNESCO listing, as well as 200 groups and companies involved in building or using clinker boats in the region. Johanne said: “This is a big and important status boost for our field. The clinker-built boat is a special Nordic boat type, which for around 2,000 years…

This fully electric, foiling 35ft (10.7m) motor yacht comes from a collaboration between Spirit Yachts and America’s Cup company BAR Technologies. Commissioned by the owner of the Spirit 111 superyacht, the boat will foil at 14 knots and cruise at 22 knots, with a top speed of 30 knots. An electric powertrain will deliver a range of around 100 nautical miles and five hours' foiling. The first order is set for delivery in 2022 after being built at Spirit Yachts’ yard in Ipswich. Sean McMillan, CEO and Head of Design at Spirit Yachts, said: “The trend for forward thinking, environmentally aware yacht buyers has driven exciting changes in the market, and we are proud to work with BAR Technologies to deliver the next step in classic yacht design. BAR’s background…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH Welcome once again to the annual Classic Boat Awards in association with Classic Marine, where we celebrate the best in the sometimes unsung world of classic and traditional boatbuilding and restoration. The pages that follow feature everything from antique restored sailing yachts of all sizes to new, cutting-edge, spirit-of-tradition yachts and everything in between. Here, too, are new and restored powered vessels, and a few contenders for centenarians still sailing today, in partnership with Gstaad Yacht Club. Some have been complete rebuilds, others partial, and yet more, of course, brand new. Boatbuilding has remained strong this year, keeping the momentum that it gained in the pandemic, as people all over the world awoke to a renewed desire for the outdoors. That is a far greater triumph than…

RECLUTA Built by a team of Argentinian artisans, Designed German Frers Sr, LOD 69ft 11in (20.4m), Rig bermudan ketch Recluta was designed by German Frers Sr in 1942, but never built, due to the shortage of materials in Argentina during the war. When his son, the present German Frers, also of course a naval architect of great note, was looking for a family yacht, he settled on this, traditionally built in solid carvel planking, using no modern materials in her hull. She wowed the crowds at the Mediterranean classic racing circuit in her first season, 2021. And while the exterior is true to the 1940s, a new interior makes her fit for 21st-century family life. SAECWEN Built by Elephant Boatyard 2021, Designed Nigel Irens, LOD 50ft 9in (15.5m), Rig bermudan…

Everyone says Galway Hookers were built by eye. You will be told with confidence that there is no fixed design for a Galway Hooker. This conjures up an image of an old Connemara boatman in a Paddy cap, puffing on a short pipe and spying along the growing skeleton of a new hooker, saying to his apprentices something like, “left hand down a bit”. Such absolute nonsense belongs to pretelevision programmes on BBC comedy radio. Nineteenth-century bodybuilders built their boats to be efficient, seaworthy and capable of bringing crew and cargo home safely, even in the rough north Atlantic off Connemara. To achieve these ends, boats were built according to a set of principles and proportions, of angles, guidelines and rules of thumb that were tried and tested over generations…

STARLING BURGESS The brand-new 8-M was built to such a high standard that Starling Burgess, named after her brilliant designer, might have just set a new bar BAY CRUISER 23 We finally test the highly popular Bay Cruiser 23, a water-ballasted raid yacht from Welsh builder Swallow Yachts BRISTOL 6 Here is the latest wooden, semi-displacement motor launch from Bristol’s Star Yachts. We went for the coldest, wettest test drive in history in December PLUS… All about yacht paint; round-up of the latest books, including the Tore Holm biography; a visit to Berthon boatyard; interview with photographer Kos Evans; and much more MARCH 2022 On sale Friday 11 February, 2022. Or why not subscribe? SAILING TODAY WITH YACHTS & YACHTING IN THE FEBRUARY ISSUE • Running rigging: choose the best…