Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2020 i Classic Boat

When Nicholson gaff cutter Marigold was relaunched following an extensive restoration in 1992 – exactly a century after she was built – she had some particularly authentic features. All her running rigging was natural fibre, for instance, she had paraffin running lamps and an 1890s cooking stove, her deck planks were laid onto the deck beams (without the now fashionable plywood subdeck) and were caulked with cotton and (admittedly) a polysulphide mastic, but the latter was subsequently removed in favour of Jeffrey’s Marine Glue. And she had a new suit of cotton sails, made by James Lawrence Sailmakers. As it turned out, the natural fibre running rigging proved a step too far and in about 2000 it was replaced with classic-looking synthetic ropes from English Braids. “It just started to…

Edited by Steffan Meyric Hughes: +44 (0)207 349 3758 Email: Steffan@classicboat.co.uk FALMOUTH, CORNWALL New rowing gig for veterans A new pilot gig has been commissioned by the Cornish Pilot Gig Association for a military veterans’ gig club. Energy 2 is in build at Falmouth Marine School, named after the original Energy, which was built in 1985, also by students of Falmouth Marine School. It was Energy that helped create the popularity of gig rowing racing today. The new boat is being built under the supervision of established gig builder Andrew Nancarrow and the college plans to launch her this summer, joining a new rowing club run by and for military veterans, called Epic Gigability – the Veteran Cornish Pilot Gig Club. WINDSOR, UPPER THAMES Busy times at Stanley Thomas boatyard…

Handtools used to build wooden boats vary enormously in scale. For fitting out, the yacht joiner’s tools may not differ from those of his counterpart building furniture for the stately home, where fine-toothed saws, finger planes and dainty gouges are required for working veneers, inlays and carved detail. Meanwhile at the birth of the vessel, where the hefty baulks delivered are more or less truncated trees, the tools are similar to those of the timber framer building barns and church roofs. The broad-bladed side axe, for example, is used for squaring up logs, the long-handled adze for dubbing frames, and the massive maul for driving spikes. Their size and weight belie their accuracy in skilled hands, whether taking tissue-thin shavings or hitting the spot as dependably as a Morse key.…

SHEPHERD KETCH RESTORED Made in England, found in Venezuela, this Dutch-owned beauty has been recently restored in Italy EVENTS 2020 It’s a big year: Brest (10-16 July) and Volvo Cork Week (13-17 July) were still hoping to go ahead as we went to press BARN FIND RELAUNCHED After decades silent in a New England barn, the traps were pulled off. The dust settled, and a one-off S&S yacht saw daylight for the first time in 30 years. PLUS… Latest restorations and refits in the Dunkirk Little Ships fleet; the story of all three Wm Fifes; crossing the Channel in a Folkboat; and much, much more. JUNE 2020 ON SALE Friday 1 May, 2020 (or why not subscribe!) OTHER SAILING MAGAZINES FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF CLASSIC BOAT IN THE LATEST ISSUE…

“A handy little cruiser with comfortable accommodation, a good turn of speed, at a moderate price, and one that should render a good account of herself in handicap racing.” That, according to Yachting World in January 1922, was what Brightlingsea boatbuilders Aldous Ltd planned to produce, with luck in some numbers, giving yachtsmen “an excellent opportunity to secure an exceptionally fine little cruiser at a moderate price at a time when we are taught to believe such construction is impossible”. Aldous Ltd had been building boats for almost 90 years – smacks initially, and then smacks and yachts alongside each other – and up until the First World War had been controlled by the Aldous family. By now, however, the firm was being run by managing director Arthur Boyes, who…

First of all, I think you’d better tell us who you are! We are a City of London Livery Company, one of 110. Ours was founded in 1299, when there were two main boatbuilding factions in London, one in Rotherhithe and the other, which prevailed, in the city. These days, the livery companies are essentially philanthropic organisations that donate to and assist relevant causes. Unlike in most livery companies, our members are all relevant to the marine industry. No lawyers masquerading as grocers then? Nothing wrong with that! But no. Can you tell us a little about your apprenticeship scheme? We’ve been running this since 2014. We offer a number of apprenticeship bursaries for first-year apprentices in the marine industry. We will consider apprenticeships in boatbuilding or marine engineering at…

‘A hundred years from now, she may easily be sailing and giving pleasure to some owner’UFFA FOX, WRITING IN 1937 IN ASSOCIATION WITH SPONSORS RESTORED SAILING VESSEL OVER 40FT HERON II You won’t find her on any John Lewis list, but Heron II was, in fact, a wedding present for Aaron and Abbie Ashton. Uffa Fox raved about this boat when she was launched, saying she might be around for another century. Thanks to Aaron, Abbie and Dartmouth boatbuilder John Cuthbertson, she is well on her way… and with her rig reinstated to original. Designed by Fred Shepherd, built by Woodnutt, Isle of Wight, 1936, 46ft (14m) LOD, rig bermudan cutter RESTORATION OF THE YEAR UNDER 40FT ARIEL Eversons, on the River Deben, is a rare example of a waterside…

Turner lashed himself to the mast to paint a storm, we are told, as evidence of how much an artist has to endure in the pursuit of authenticity. This is now known to be a romantic myth, but it undoubtedly bolstered his reputation as an artist who could portray nature in the raw. I didn’t need to be tied to Tecla’s mast at any time on my voyage from Galapagos to Falklands, but painting a rough sea while you are in it is something that’s never been easy to do. I could have chosen no better ship to try it on. Tecla is a Dutch gaff ketch, 130 tonnes of steel, built as a herring drifter almost a century ago. She now earns her living taking paying voyage crew to…

Finding Stones Boatyard is something of an adventure, lying, as it does, tucked away on a track off a lane in between two river fords. In fact, given that it is inaccessible at high water, it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that locals have tide tables in their cars as readily as some of us might carry a parking permit. Tristan Stone (pictured above) built the big shed in 2004, shortly before exhibiting with this magazine at one of the big feature stands we used to hold at the London Boat Show. Really, the yard, and Stones Marine Timber (more about that later), owes it all to one design…the mahogany-planked, clinker 16ft Salcombe yawls. The venerable day-racing class evolved from the fishing boats that have plied the Salcombe Estuary…

Racing an engineless boat 750 miles from Washington State to Alaska is a daft endeavour, yet at the start of the 2019 Race to Alaska (R2AK), 46 vessels jockeyed for position in a nasty blow. The fleet, a quirky mix of designs, included multihulls, two SUPs, dories, kayaks and one absurdly ancient gaffer. Launched in 1903, was the oldest competitor in the R2AK – ever. Built for speed, the 38ft (11.6m) gaff cutter had collected a bit of silver in her 116 years, which might be why owner Stanford Siver decided to point her north. The grand prize in the R2AK, nailed to a tree in Ketchikan, is $10,000, and second place is a coveted set of steak knives! Beyond that, the prize for ringing the finish bell is a…

Compared with fixing brains or the science of designing rockets, writing about yottin’ surely ranks pretty low on the scale of worthwhile careers for a grown-up. Indeed, my first editor, Bernard Hayman, once told us we should be paying him to write for his magazine. The coverage of yacht racing was undoubtedly once a grander, shall we say more noble, occupation, when kings, princes, potentates (and grocers) owned overcanvassed sloops, cutters and schooners, aboard which rode gentlemen correspondents the likes of Major Brooke Heckstall-Smith, secretary of the Yacht Racing Union (later IYRU), author of Britannia and her Contemporaries and the Complete Yachtsman. ‘Bookstall’ succeeded the legendary Dixon Kemp as yachting editor of The Field, rubbing shoulders with King George V, indistinguishable from the royal guests in white ducks, jacket and…

In the early years of the 20th century, the fortunes of several motor car pioneers (the likes of Delahaye, Fiat and Mercedes) were bound to their performance in the major motorboat racing events of the time – never more so than at Monaco. Then, the First World War put paid to such fripperies and the subsequent irresistible trend of the industry towards mass automobile production left boatbuilding largely in the hands of smaller, independent yards for some decades. It was in the mid 1950s that a small yet reputable sports car manufacturer changed the course of history, pushing his name and brand to the fore and proclaiming his ambitions to the world on land and on the water. This could well have been an Italian venture, but it was England…

“We’re doing 3.2kt, 14.1v, 1.3G and 52 likes on Facebook….” I could tell my classic leaky wooden boat sailor chum Dan was impressed. In fact I don’t think he’d ever seen anything quite like my Sailfish. As he tapped the hull in wonder at its complete lack of weeping knots, rusty nails and holes, I took his expression to be one of something like awe, or it could have been just “or!” as I don’t think he’d ever seen a boat with water mainly on the outside. That was only the beginning of his enlightenment. To say I’ve embraced technology is an understatement. In the last year my Sailfish has been festooned with more computing power than the first rocket on the moon – and that’s just in my Android…