Innehållsförteckning för March 2025 från Classic Boat

The International Boatbuilding Training College in Lowestoft, Suffolk, has closed its doors for the last time, with the loss of 11 jobs. The school started in 1975 and has trained countless boatbuilders, conservators, carpenters and more. It was run for the last nine years by Mike and Lyn Tupper, who have cited a number of factors contributing to the closure, including Brexit, the covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the recent rise in materials and overheads and falling student numbers. IBTC Lowestoft is now in the hands of liquidators McTear Williams & Wood Limited. The backdrop to IBTC’s closure is a worrying one: in 2023, traditional wooden boatbuilding was added to the ‘Red List of Endangered Crafts’ compiled by the Heritage Crafts Association. The research, funded by The Pilgrim Trust…

A photography exhibition opening on 15 February titled Beaulieu River: In Focus, will show the beauty of the Hampshire river and surrounding area, using photos taken over the years for the annual Beaulieu River Photography Competition. Known for its maritime history and picturesque landscapes, the 18th-century village of Buckler’s Hard has long inspired artists, photographers, and nature enthusiasts. With pieces chosen by Lord Montagu and Mary Montagu-Scott, the exhibition presents a variety of subjects, including serene riverside scenes, wildlife in its natural habitat, and atmospheric images of the river at sunrise and sunset. Located in the Shipyard Office, opposite the Master Builder’s House and overlooking the river, the exhibition will be free to enter and opens just in time for February half-term. Enter this year’s competition Previous winners of the…

BMC AVOCATS Chance to save Dodge’s darling When the 258ft (59m) SS Delphine hit the water in 1921 she was hailed as the largest American steam yacht ever built. Sadly, Horace Dodge, the automotive mogul who commissioned her at a cost of $2 million never got to see that day, dying just months before. Today the historic twin-screw beauty, still fitted with the original steam engines designed by Dodge, could sell for considerably less, with a minimum bid set at ¤500,000 following a French court ruling over unpaid yard bills. If no bid is forthcoming, Delphine will remain available at a reduced price of ¤325,000. The fortunes of Delphine, which stayed in Dodge family ownership until 1967 (apart from a period of war service when she was rechristened USS Dauntless),…

During Antigua’s 2024 Classic Regatta, The Blue Peter charged toward the finish line powered by 15-knot tradewinds and a motley crew of newly formed friends. The 65ft Alfred Mylne cutter, built in 1930, was in her winning element, and so was her owner and captain, Mathew Barker. For hours, he’d been choreographing his team du jour to haul, trim and tack, and as the race ended, he stood up from his place at the helm, threw his arms in the air and loudly announced, “I love my job!” Barker’s livelihood is hard to describe and even more difficult to believe. His workplace, aboard a boat he’s thrown his heart and soul into, changes location with the seasons. Co-workers come and go, and schedules shift like the weather. His chosen occupation,…

SINGLE-PACK VARNISHES Varnishes have protected and beautified timber for centuries and today there is a wide, sometimes confusing, choice available. The most popular brands still include International, Hempel (ex Blakes), Jotun, Epifanes, Awlgrip, Teamac, Skippers and Le Tonkinois, and still contain natural ingredients like tung oil, pressed from the seed of the Chinese tung tree. They are relatively cheap and easy to apply, and their flexibility suits the movement of solid timber on traditional boats. Downsides, versus modern alternatives, are the regular maintenance coats needed (particularly in high UV light), and their relative softness, although there are some more durable polyurethane versions. Most single-pack varnishes have a gloss finish, but there are also satin or matt finish for cabin interiors, and many can have matting agents added. TWO-PACK VARNISHES Two-pack…

As I rowed out to the 35-ton pilot cutter I had just paid for, things were looking up. On my previous visit I had fallen into colourful company and been thrown out of the local pub in a snowstorm. My B&B man must also have enjoyed a large evening because he didn’t hear me knocking, so I spent an uneasy watch below huddled in a handy red phone box. Coming alongside for the hand-over on that spring morning, I’d no idea that I was about to be awarded two nuggets of wisdom I’ve never forgotten. The previous owner, a Scottish yachtsman whose father had commissioned yachts from William Fife, was waiting on deck. Adam had sailed since childhood and had performed great deeds with midget submarines in World War 2.…

Email steffan@classicboat.co.uk Not only did the gloomy weather fail to spoil the celebratory atmosphere at the Boat Building Academy’s Launch Day in Lyme Regis in December, but a respite from the rain and strong winds of that week allowed the event to proceed as planned. The first boat to be launched was Jeremie Blanc’s Vivier-designed Youcou Lily. Built of glued clinker plywood with sapele trim, there hadn’t been time to finish her rigging – she will have a standing lug main and jib – but the students enjoyed the opportunity to row her, even in the heavy swell they encountered once they ventured beyond the shelter of the harbour. Next in was Harry Walker’s Scamp, an Atkin design from 1954. Originally designed for traditional clinker construction with an inboard petrol…

Giacomo Sangermani and I first met in Viareggio a couple of years ago (CB418) and the opportunity to meet him again at his family boatyard in Lavagna was too good to miss. He and his older brother Filippo are the fourth generation of the Sangermani family to run the company, which they have been doing since their father Cesare Jnr died in 2018. It was their great-great-grandfather Ettore Sangermano (yes, his surname was spelt slightly differently) who started building boats in 1896, initially in Mulinetti where he built about 100 boats before moving to Rapallo in 1934. The move to Lavagna came in 1946, and this marked the beginning of an era in which his sons, Cesare and Piero, produced large numbers of ocean racing yachts, some from the boards…

Maarten van de Sande is a sailor through and through. At a young age he learned to sail in the two-handed Vaurien class dinghy, while also learning how to build a boat out of plywood. He moved on to catamaran sailing when he lived in Curacao and eventually settled down to sailing modern glassfibre vessels for summer holidays with the family. “My wife Seema and I always wanted to buy a spacious boat,” he tells me. “Something comfortable enough for extended periods aboard. Due to my physical limitations, I need a boat with wide gangways, easy access and no steep stairs to get below deck. But it had to be classic and preferably iconic. We were looking for a high quality sailing yacht with a soul and beautiful lines that…

A Cockwells-built superyacht tender has been helmed by actress Cameron Diaz in a nighttime chase scene on the Thames in the new Netflix film Back in Action, number one on Netflix as we went to press. The 30ft 9in (9.4m) composite-hulled power boat has a classic look, with soft lines, slipper-inspired stern and teak upperworks and she can accommodate 12 guests and two crew members. Cockwells’ Duchy Sport, the family fun boat for watersports enthusiasts, also stars. “Our ultra-cool, custom-built vessels are no stranger to the limelight,” explains Dave Cockwell. “Our head-turning Titian Tender has previously starred in The Thrill of the Chase, a promotional campaign for international fashion brand, Michael Kors and our Duchy 35 has appeared in the bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher’s popular German TV series. Our superyacht…

After a first career serving as an officer in the Royal Marines (whose motto we have used as our headline), and a second one doing humanitarian work for the United Nations, Henry Chamberlain was keen to return to his native Norfolk where he could spend more time with his family and “yet still lead an adventurous and ethical life.” It was sitting on a beach in Mogadishu, “after a long week during the Somalia famine of 2011” that he first thought of starting an adventure business incorporating some of Norfolk’s traditional wooden fishing boats. Henry then formed the Coastal Exploration Company and initially acquired four boats: My Girls, a 20ft crab boat built in Sheringham in the early 1960s; two 16ft engineless mussel flats, Vera, Boris & Keira and Saffron,…

‘Tis the season to reminisce (publishing quirk: the deadline for this was in late December) and over the years, the March edition has covered topics varying from Lord Dunraven’s suggestions for ditching handicaps and the threat of war with Germany, to whether owning a classic must inevitably be accompanied by leaks and discomfort; and if indeed you cannot claim to be a wooden boat owner unless you are prepared to suffer. Wooden boat ownership need not entail much pumping or wetness above one’s bunk, but often does and just as often through lack of maintenance or knowledge by some boatyards of how wooden boats are pieced together. Of all the issues touched upon, the most pressing seems to be the (alleged) slow death of wooden boatbuilding. The news that the…

Simon Harvey knows a thing or two about sailing boats. He grew up sailing on a 27ft Buchanan sloop out of Fareham and says he learned to scull before he could ride a bike. He spent much of his professional career working on superyachts before setting up in Virginia, US, as a personal liaison manager. His ultimate fantasy yacht he’d like to own if he won the lottery is the schooner Atlantic. However, when it came to selecting his own boat, after moving to Falmouth, Cornwall in 2022, his choice was more pragmatic. “I’ve sailed enough to know how much time it takes to go sailing,” he says. “By the time you leave the house, get to your boat, get the sail covers off, do this, do that, and two…

DUST CONTROL Ideally, prepare the work in one place, clean it thoroughly, then move it into another (clean) place to apply the varnish. If the piece of work is a whole boat, then clean the boat and its surroundings in situ. Towards the end of the job, a simple polythene tent over the boat keeps airborne dust at bay. You need a good workshop vacuum with a small brush head to remove most of the dust then a tack cloth to really deal with the fine deposits before applying any coating. THE VARNISH Golden rule number one: never dip your brush into the can. NEVER. The material in that can leaves the manufacturers completely clean, so let’s keep it that way. You always decant the varnish into a clean graduated…

CB How was Baruna’s interior orginally? And how much was left? TM Baruna’s original interior featured a butternut mahogany finish throughout, with a natural, unembellished appearance. It was simple by today’s standards but was functional and well-crafted for its time. Her fittings below decks were chrome-plated bronze. She had a 32-volt electrical system and traditional fuel systems. So she used kerosene lamps and had a Shipmate cabin heater, plus a Willis fireplace in the saloon. She had a coal locker, with a 5in deck plate, for easy refilling. There were electric and belt-driven bilge and water pumps, and a battery charger, but she also had a lead line for soundings. The steering binnacle housed a Ritchie compass with both electric and kerosene lights. She had an electric air horn and ship’s…

Over the years, Bristol Classic Boat Company has worked closely with Avon Boating, rebuilding and repairing their historic wooden boats. Lotus, built in 1929, is a passenger ferry based in Stratford upon Avon and owned by Avon Boating. She is used as a public ferry and for charter cruises. The work carried out by the yard was to replace 56 pairs of steam-bent oak ribs, and remove the MCA condemned sister ribs. “This was a great opportunity for our youngest labourer to experience the skill and fast pace of steaming!” says Ned Rolt. The team also put in seven sapele planks, new stringers, and adjusted the floors. Avon Boating do their own finish in traditional company livery. Three years ago, the yard rebuilt Merry Widow, a lake Windermere ferry, for…

EVENTS 2025 The regattas, races and rallies around the world you need to know about SAIORSE A handsome Harrison Butler yacht rejoicing in the name of Bogle, restored for Nick and Caroline Gill of foulies fame RUSTLER 41 It’s not quite on a par with Bob Dylan going electric… but this is Rustler’s first motorboat! PLUS… Art on sail canvas; 8-M Worlds on the Clyde; Learning the ropes; Baruna part four; Royal Thames Yacht Club at 250; and plenty more APRIL 2025 ISSUE ON SALE 14 March, 2025 Or why not subscribe? 30 YEARS AGO MARCH 1995, CB81 Fulmar in Flight, read the cover of our March issue back in 1995, which is not a million years ago, but long enough for the world to have shaken on its axis:…

Foil-borne monohull racers are not usually the province of CB, but when a solo circumnavigation time is reduced to 64 days – 248 days less than the first such achievement back in 1969 – this magazine is not alone in taking notice. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who first set the bar 55 years ago, was among the first to congratulate Vendée winner Charlie Dalin soon after the Frenchman had crossed the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne on 14 January, breaking the previous solo monohull record by a nine-day margin. Sir Robin, as President of the International Association of Cape Horners, wrote: Dear Charlie, WOW – what an achievement! You have broken just about every race and solo monohull record going: l Fastest from the Equator to Cape of Good Hope…

We Brits have something of a knack for understatement: this is the home, after all, of “I am just going outside and may be some time” and “By God sir, I’ve lost my leg” and so on. It’s not a quality one particularly associates with our cousins in America, but boatbuilders on the east coast have been cottoning onto the game over the last two decades or so, by building very high-end, cold-moulded sailing yachts, complete with galleys, heads, and sleeping cabins… then calling them ‘dayboats’. Britons, to whom a day boat might be a Mirror dinghy or an elegant, but manfully uncomfortable open keelboat of some sort, have been rather outdone. The Little Wolf 38 from Rockport Marine in Maine is a good example of one of these dayboats…

There is nothing as beautiful as a sailing vessel in flight, but there is also a subtle beauty to be found in the shapes and colours of the places where these vessels are made and in the different forms that come from half-built boats, or parts of them. Boats in build are quite a popular subject for members of the Royal Society of Marine Artists, as evidenced annually at their autumn exhibition in London’s Mall Galleries. This year, ex-CB art editor Peter Smith chose the Classic Boat category winner at that exhibition: the Wiltshire-born Peter Wood’s painting, titled ‘Boatbuilder at Barton’, a yard based on the Humber. Peter is a prolific, well-travelled impressionist artist based in Lincolnshire and nearly every painting he does is filmed and uploaded to YouTube as…

At first glance, co-ownership of a boat, or a project involving boats, seems to offer all the joy for half the outlay, but that first glance may prove very deceptive. Money is at the heart of it, although that’s by no means the whole story. Anger, breakdown of friendship, even court cases can result when things go wrong – and there are so many things which can go wrong. In the early 20th century this was as true as it is today – maybe all the more so in an age when ‘a gentleman’s word was his bond’, and agreements were often sealed by a simple handshake. The Edwardian yachting community were well used to syndicates. The America’s Cup provides evidence that they can work, even if they don’t always…

After losing her 15-year-old Bermudan rig in a 40-knot squall at the Imperia Regatta in 2022, Rowdy’s owners, Howard and Donna Dyer, courageously decided to revert to an almost original gaff rig. Why ‘almost’? Because when the first twelve New York 40s were launched in 1916, they had gaff rigs with no bowsprits, but after it was acknowledged that they carried a significant amount of weather helm, Nat Herreshoff drew a new sail plan with a 5ft bowsprit and correspondingly larger headsails at the end of their first season. So that was the rig that Rowdy would have once again, and to ensure that it would be as authentic as possible, her captain, Tim Goodbody, carried out a great deal of research and received significant assistance from the Massachusetts Institute…

PRE-WWI GAFF YAWL PROJECT Devon Maid Built in 1914 by HJ Beazley in Southampton from cedar and pine on oak frames, the 29ft 10in (9.1m) LOD gaff yawl Devon Maid (originally Winkle and then Bingle) is being offered for a very low price to an enthusiastic new owner who will complete her restoration and so prevent her from being scrapped. She was one of the many boats that was deliberately sunk in the entrance to one of the Solent rivers during the Second World War; and she was owned by OGA Member Fiona Beale from 1959 (when she competed in the first Solent Old Gaffers race) until 2009. Since then she has been owned by retired shipwright David Bisson who, unfortunately, has recently been suffering from poor health which is…

A new mast and boom is approaching completion at Collars Spars for the Australian 8-M yacht Defiance, based in Sydney. It has been the first design collaboration for Collars’ Jeremy Freeland, who has worked alongside the German naval architect Juliane Hempel, well known for her modern approach to weight-saving in wooden masts, among other things. The fittings are from Absolute in Portugal and the spruce used was supplied by Dutch firm Touchwood. 12-M designer and skipper Iain Murray has been coordinating these efforts. They don’t call the Metre classes the ‘international’ rule for nothing, it would seem. The end result of this, along with a recent re-measure, will be to reintroduce Defiance to the 8-M class. “It will be interesting to see how she feels with the new mast,” says…

Keeping a firm hold on a very small workpiece, for example, an electrical terminal requiring modification, while angling it to best advantage for filing or sawing is often the most challenging aspect of the process. Inadvisedly we may be tempted to employ our fingertips, risking both personal injury and ruining the job as tired fingers lose their grip. A better course of action would be to reach for a pair of pliers; long-nosed pliers, especially, are invaluable for holding the smallest objects while rotating them for all-round access. And yet the drawback to conventional pliers is that when we relax our grip on the tool so too does it let go of the workpiece which, at best, must be repositioned carefully to continue working or, at worst, loses itself on…

Phrases such as “get the fenders out and prepare to take on guacamole” are not the kind of thing you expect to hear on the high seas unless your skipper is hallucinating or mad, which pretty much covers most scenarios. To be fair we weren’t exactly off-shore, but on the surreal and idyllic world of Britain’s labyrinth of inland waterways, approaching the Tesco jetty in the centre of Maldon’s retail park on a boat belonging to my friend Trevor, who has a serious guacamole dependency problem. Then we sauntered across the car park and engaged in the activity that to us sailors is known as victualling, to more experienced ones as vittlin,’ but to canal boaters is confusingly known as “shopping.” Over the years I’ve locked in to Heybridge Basin…