Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2023 i Classic Boat

Based at Shepards Marina, Cowes Spring Classics took place over the weekend of 12 – 14 May and the regatta kicked off on a blustery Friday evening with the Mermaid Gin welcome drinks and Moroccan crew party. The weather improved significantly by the weekend although the forecast for Sunday was very light winds, so Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club race team made a great decision to run three races on Saturday and one race on Sunday, which started after lunch, giving crews a lie-in on Sunday and time for brunch in town or some relaxation before the wind arrived early in the afternoon. The overall winner of the regatta, with four wins in the gaff class against strong competition, was Wave, a recently restored 29-footer from Guernsey. Her young owner Charlie…

Cruiser for the Clyde” read the Yachting World headline in September 1937, and yet this is a boat that has proved to be so much more than that. Islander was designed by GL Watson and Co and built by Messrs AM Dickie and Co at Tarbert, Loch Fyne in 1937. George Lennox Watson himself had died in 1904 so the company’s senior designer James Rennie Barnett would have had overall responsibility for her design. She was built with teak planking on American oak frames, and had a 15hp paraffin engine and Pygmylyte lighting. Her first owner was Archibald J Barr of Kilmacolm. He and his family had previously had a 1934 Silver-built 49ft (15m) twin screw ketch of the same name, but this was changed to Islanda when she was…

Am I a suitable owner for a classic boat? Who is, I wonder? Is there a certain type of owner? Can we be distinguished in any way, as can the owners of Essex smacks (grimy, salt stained ochrecoloured smocks, battered blue cap of some description, yellow sea boots, beard?) Having alienated a fair proportion of our East Coast readers I would hasten to add (before angry letters are written or subscriptions cancelled) that trying to categorise owners by appearance; matching clothes to craft is fraught with pitfalls. Who doesn’t know the apocryphal tale of the tramp in the Porsche dealership, turned away only to discover he was an eccentric millionaire? Whereas there is a certain uniform espoused by classic boat owners – not the best word to describe the apparently…

Following our discussion of Surform planes it is worth considering the Surform files which, with their inline handles, flat, half-round and round blades are the more versatile shaping tools for curved work and enlarging apertures. The Surform (named after its SURface FORMing function) was invented by Christopher Hodgson Booth some time in the 1940s and launched into the DIY market by Simmonds Aerocessories of Treforest, Wales, thence to be acquired by Stanley whose marketing clout ensured there would be a Surform of some sort in almost every worker’s tool kit. An interesting aspect of Booth’s patent is that it described not just possible formats of the tool but how this ‘strip or sheet of thin flexible steel or other hardenable iron alloy to be used in or as a cutting…

Lady Min is one of those boats that baffles any attempt at pigeonholing. She looks American but she’s Irish, and she looks more modern than she is, at 121 years old. Both mysteries are resolved by the realisation that her design is – at the very least – based on one by the wizard of Bristol, Nat Herreshoff. The square windows are the giveaway. The story of Lady Min begins with Maurice O’Keeffe (1861-1948), an officer in the Royal Irish Constabulary who set himself up in business in about 1882 in Schull, West Cork, now a holiday village, but back then a thriving centre of commerce. Maurice was evidently successful, and in 1892 he was able to join the Royal Munster YC (now subsumed into the Royal Cork YC) and…

BRISTOL Fire rips through Underfall Boatyard There is widespread shock after a fire ripped through the Underfall Boatyard in Bristol, UK, home to a number of traditional wooden boatbuilders and businesses. Shocking photos were published by the Bristol Evening Post showing the blaze on Friday night, 9 May. The flames could be seen from miles around and on Saturday police arrested a man in connection with the incident. A statement from Avon and Somerset police said: “A man has been charged in connection with a fire at a boat yard in Bristol. The man has been charged overnight with arson with intent to endanger life and arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered, in relation to this incident. He has also been charged with a stalking offence.” The…

OSENAT Detroit speed demon The cradle of the American automobile industry was also the crucible of speed on water with the likes of Gar Wood, Chris-Craft and Hacker all emanating from the Great Lakes. Detroit-born John Ludwig Hacker (1877-1961), a pioneer of the planing V-hull, produced racers and record-breakers that evolved into luxury sports runabouts that were every bit as exclusive as the likes of the Duesenbergs and Cadillacs. In the 1930s, even though Hacker lost control of his company he continued designing for it, and this 5.6m (18ft 6in) racing runabout named Maybe hit the water in 1936 and competed in regional races on the New York lakes. After restoration in 1991 it found its way to Europe and joined a private collection of more than 30 classic motor…

I never tire of the efficiency and directness Ernest Shackleton took with the few words used in the job advertisement he posted to recruit crew for his Antarctic expedition. “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.” At 21 years old, I accepted a job sharing a similar description – except for the months of darkness and doubt of a safe return – when I became a deckhand and ship’s carpenter on the American tall ship Rose, to sail from Newport, RI, to San Diego, California to make the feature film Master and Commander: Far Side of the World. Rose was a replica of the sixth-rate 1757 HMS Rose. Life on board Rose was…

SOUTHAMPTON, HAMPSHIRE Shamrock V in the shed Work is continuing apace on Shamrock V, the 1930 America’s Cup challenger, at Saxon Wharf, Southampton says Nigel Sharp. After all the teak planking (which was fitted in the 1970s at Camper & Nicholsons’ Southampton Yard, now Shamrock Quay) was removed and reconditioned to allow extensive repairs to her steel framework, it is now being re-fitted using custom forged aluminium bronze bolts, from the bottom up. Once it reaches sole height, the fit-out of the engine and other technical spaces can begin. Shamrock V, the oldest surviving and only wooden J-Class yacht, is expected to be back in commission in March 2024, and will then compete in the J-Class world series, including the J-Class Worlds in conjunction with the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona.…

Slow food, slow travel, slow fashion, recently the adjective has become a positive descriptor. “Slow” enthusiasts seek out and savour experiences and objects in which they enjoy discovering intrinsic qualities. By contrast “fast” can mean blandness, convenience and fleeting gratification. Could an appreciation of slow craft also apply to the boats we sail and race? The need for speed drives many to want the latest fast hi-tech craft, yet they are “fast” only in relation to some arbitrary measure such boat length. And, with a few exceptions, the absolute speed is little more than that of a jogger. The fundamental principle in racing in one designs is that the boats should be of equal speed potential, equally fast but they can also be equally slow. Thus the “slow” one designs…

For three late summer days every two years, the principality of Monaco is lit up by the sight of some of the most famous classic sailing yachts in the world, and the harbour reverberates to the sound of Riva V8s burbling over the chink of glasses at the yacht club. This 13-16 September, Monaco Classic Week – La Belle Classe, returns for three days of racing and pzazz and already, the registration list reads like a who’s who of the world’s best known classics, including Moonbeam III, Hallowe’en, Eilean, Mariska, The Lady Anne, Tuiga, representatives of the S&S inboard yawl clan, and of the resurgent Universal Class yachts from America. Joining them on the water, in something that has become an annual fixture for the Yacht Club de Monaco, will…

WATER SCOOTER Flite, the Australian company behind the exclusive Fliteboard superyacht toy, has now brought out this, the Flitescooter, coming with removable handlebars and designed for new and younger riders. You need one. £12,995 fliteboard.com ON BOARD GAMES DECK Superyacht Tenders and Toys has launched the world’s first inflatable games deck at the Monaco Grand Prix – you might not have room for one on a 29ft gaff cutter but on a classic the size of, for instance, a US fishing schooner, the foredeck is all but begging for a basketball court. Made to order, the games decks can be produced in any shape and size and as a single unit or divided into separate panels, enabling configuration for almost any sport. The court surface is inflatable. £POA superyachttendersandtoys.com OCEANIC…

The Cutty Sark was launched in 1869, the same year the Suez Canal opened. Just eight years later, she made her last tea voyage. Steam ships had been given a shortcut to a new era of faster cargo and there was no way back for sail. Speed, efficiency and cost are ruthless, and today’s bunker fuel vessels, some carrying over 20,000 containers, move 90 per cent of all traded goods. Pandemic aside, the cost of shipping is considered almost trivial with these huge economies of scale. Up until recently, however, the environmental and societal costs of this fuel have not been factored in, and the planet has been footing the bill. Shipping produces nearly three per cent of all global emissions. Noisy engines cause bio-acoustic pollution, ballast water movement impacts…

There has long been an arms war on the US East Coast, as boatbuilders and designers have strived to come up with the best ‘picnic boats’ for their clients, always one-upping each other for something faster, more luxurious, or rarer. History is full of great names like Hinckley, Chris Craft, Bertram and more, many of which are still going strong today. The term ‘picnic boat’ or ‘launch’ might sound strangely dainty to the unaccustomed English ear: it conjures up images of furled parasols, long skirts and cucumber sandwiches. The truth is that many of the vessels are throaty, sea-gobbling, twin-engined powerhouses. The Hood 35LM Express Cruiser, to give it its full name, is the perfect example of this and capable, as we shall learn, of more than picnic duties. A…

Old yacht furniture restored or recreated using contemporary hand tools and techniques has a character all its own. Examine closely and you can see and feel the minor irregularities created by a particular tool in particular hands. Although new wooden planes are available from specialist toolmakers they are not cheap, so original tools picked up at auctions and yard sales are becoming increasingly attractive. But a drawback common to many a neglected wooden grooving, moulding and rebating plane is that the shapely wedge that secures the iron is broken or missing. Either way, this may be resolved by making a new wedge, itself an achievable hand-tools project. The wedge for this adjustable grooving plane, also known as a ‘drawer bottom plane’, was conspicuous by its absence. Originally used for grooving…

TUMLARE RESTORED Yvonne is a pre-war Tumlare, a beauty from the board of Knud Reimers, now restored and sailing in sunny Australia THE YACHT WHISPERER A leading figure in the Italian classic yacht movement, meet Enrico Zaccagni and his yacht Oneone ECONOMY OF MOTION Faraday, an electric launch from designer Nigel Irens, will take a heavy load and motor quietly all day on a single charge PLUS… The recently unearthed logs of Jolie Brise, voyaging around the UK, selling a classic, buying a motorboat and more AUGUST 2023 ISSUE ON SALE Friday 4 July, 2023 Or why not subscribe? SAILING TODAY WITH YACHTS & YACHTING IN THE JULY ISSUE • Bluewater escape – Rod Heikell in the south seas• Ultimate go-anywhere cruiser: Garcia Explorer 60 on test• Heavy weather sailing…