Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2021 i Classic Boat

Don’t believe everything you read on Facebook. Dick Carter, the self-taught American yacht designer who upstaged the leading lights of yacht design in 1965 with his breakthrough Fastnet winner Rabbit, is very much alive and kicking. And so too is his Class III racer/cruiser Rabbit thanks to Italian Carter design devotees Francesco and wife Mietta Gandolfiwho bought the yacht as a rusting steel wreck and had her faithfully restored to her former glory. The work has been a worthy and enjoyable penance for helping to spread word of Carter’s untimely demise after hearing that Dick had died in 2007. Francesco had heard this from French designer Yves-Marie Tanton who had worked for Carter 43 years before. He and Yves got their just desserts when finding Dick standing on the other…

Have you any idea how many types of fishing boat there once were, trawling and drifting and dredging and long-lining and potting around the coastline of the British Isles? Until asked to write about a few I had had personal acquaintance with, of which my favourite is the Scottish Zulu, an astonishing dipping lugger with tree trunks for masts and a sail that once set could only be tacked by dragging the whole lot down, yard and all, swinging it around the back of the mast and resetting it, nor did I. The idea behind the rig was simple: hoist the sail on starboard tack, say, and belt out to the fishing grounds on a glorious broad reach; drop it, and lower the mighty main mast, shoot the net over…

Of all the parts of a traditional or classic boat which can significantly affect an authentic look when viewed close up, blocks are as important as any. They can be made of galvanised steel or iron, brass or bronze, and even Tufnol for newer classic boats, but most common are the ones with timber shells or casings. With regard to these, let’s start by taking a look at the various materials commonly used for each of the component parts: the metal binding (or strap or frame), the timber shell, the sheave, the pin and (sometimes) the bearing. THE BINDING The binding is the part that takes all of the load. It extends from one end which is attached in some way to a deck fitting, a mast fitting, a rope…

From kit boats to Colin Archers The Bristol Classic Boat Company has been “pretty busy” throughout the pandemic. After finishing off Huffof Arklow at the end of August, a run of large repair jobs arrived at the yard. “Lots of planks both front and back were needed for the 45ft (13.7m) Colin Archer Teka [inset] and we had to put a new stem in place… local sawmill Bendry Brothers found a lovely oak bend for us,” said the yard’s Mark Rolt. “At the same time an admiralty pinnace, Barbary T, built around 1910 came to us for a comprehensive refit. This too needed a new stem and apron. And then a Miller fife Belle Bessie came along needing a new apron and consequently a large part of the foredeck. We…

About eight years ago, Luke Powell and a small committee of others set the wheels in motion to bring the 1868 Cornish trading schooner Rhoda Mary from the River Medway – where she has been lying derelict for almost a century – back to Cornwall to restore her. When that project stalled an agreement had already been reached with the Truro Harbourmaster to take over a site at the top of the Truro River, and it had been named the Rhoda Mary Shipyard (RMS), so it made sense for Luke’s next project – the building of Pellew (CB387) – to be carried out there. The plan has always been to continue with traditional boatbuilding and repair projects on the RMS site following the completion of Pellew. But whereas Pellew’s build…

“I used to do a lot of skydiving,” Simon Mitchell told me. “While you are still in the aircraft you have got options but, once you leave the door, gravity takes over and you hope you make a safe landing at the bottom. But you can’t guarantee it.” He was telling me this by way of an analogy for the story of how he took on a part-built boat project and saw it through to completion, a process which he often refers to as “financial skydiving”. Finances aside, however, there is absolutely no doubt that he made a safe landing: as he puts it, “the end result is an extraordinary statement of craftsmanship which needs to be told.” In the early 1990s, builder-turned-boatbuilder Barry Cass was keen to buy a…

BONHAMS Global warming hits salerooms The market in memorabilia from the great age of south polar exploration is heating up, thanks to global warming. That’s the conclusion of Matthew Haley, head of books and manuscripts at Bonhams, who said: “We have seen Antarctic photographs and artefacts rocket in value over the past decade, and my sense is that climate change and images of shrinking ice shelves are increasing interest in earlier records of polar regions, with greatest focus on the south.” Estimated at £4,000-6,000, Herbert Ponting’s image The Freezing of the Sea, taken in 1911 on Scott’s last fatal expedition, which we pictured last month, went on to sell for £19,000. The artwork for the front cover of The South Polar Times (CB392) produced on Scott’s 1901-4 expedition did even better,…

The quest for speed on today’s East Coast smack racing circuit is as much a part of our heritage as the boats themselves. In 1877, Rowhedge fisherman Lemon Cranfield won £1,335 in prize money for the Fife cutter Neva at the big class regattas. With his cut, he was able to build his own Harris smack. Author John Leather writes: “Like all her contemporaries, she was built to fish rather than to race, but these skippers could not resist encouraging the builder to produce an especially fast smack to sustain their yacht-racing reputations out of season.” Pushing boundaries for speed may not be new, but that doesn’t mean any contemporary method is authentic. That depends on how authenticity is defined, and if no line is drawn, the sky is the…

My friends all know that I consider Nat Herreshoff’s 1914 design, the Herreshoff12½, the finest small yacht in the world. It was intended as an extremely safe, small yacht, stable and forgiving enough that children could be trusted to take it out, even on windy days. As such, it is beamy and very heavy, with a wineglass-shaped midsection. Its hull and deck are lightly built to allow a massive lead ballast ingot that comprises half of the boat’s weight. The way Nat engineered the top of the ballast casting with a curve to mate to the underside of the keelson, rather than flat as on almost all other designs, in order to maximise the ballast weight, was the stuffof genius. Its huge cockpit occupies two thirds of the 15ft 10in…

Tally Ho taking shape On a practical level, Leo Goolden’s epic journey to rebuild the 48ft (14.6m) Albert Strange yacht Tally Ho is going well. The planking, in broad planks of wana, is mostly on and the boat is beginning to resemble her former glory, from when she was launched in 1910. She’s atypical for an Albert Strange, with a strong, workboat appearance and transom stern, and won the windy 1927 Fastnet, in which only 2 out of 15 finished. See our story in Tell Tales this month on Leo’s ongoing legal troubles.…

Veg peeler shaver The vegetable peeler in your galley drawer can be used for more than peeling spuds – it’s also a versatile and safe woodworking tool, in essence a small spokeshave. The two cutting edges facing in opposite directions make it equally useful for right- and left-handers, making push or pull cuts as convenient. Because the sharp edges are formed outwards from the centre of the tool, with guards on either side, you’re unlikely to hurt yourself if the tool slips, so it’s a good one for teaching children the rudiments of whittling. Green wood is easiest to work, as might be used when making a mariner’s wooden spoon or spatula, but if the edges are sharp enough (easily achieved with a fine hone) you can shape seasoned timbers…

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I have recently encountered a few cruising yacht aficionados who’ve contacted me for help upgrading some of my older designs dating from 1975 to 1980. Which I am happy to do—it does my heart good. I thought it might be useful to engage in some reality therapy for the benefit of others who might be thinking of following this same route. We all love a bargain. But there are two costs that must be paid before you actually go sailing… the bargain price at which you pick up the old hooker, and the costs required to put the bloom back on the rose. As things get older, they depreciate. Cars, for instance, depreciate at about 10 per cent a year, reaching scrap value after around a decade. (There are exceptions,…

HENLEY-ON-THAMES New home for historic collection The Rose Toop Collection of classic Thames river boats and artefacts has a new home after its patron bought Hobbs boatyard at Henley-on-Thames. Adam Toop becomes the first new owner of the historic Hobbs site in more than 100 years. The Rose Toop Collection is widely admired and Toop has been searching for a new home for it for some years. Toop is chief judge and co-chair of the Thames Traditional Boat Festival, alongside The Hon Lady McAlpine, and has been behind several major restorations of river and other craft. He said: “After an exhaustive search lasting many years, I am delighted to have found the perfect home for the Rose Toop Collection. “The restoration, preservation and maintenance of these important craft can be…

MARIQUITA PRINT It can only be one yacht with that sail number – and what a stunner she is. This appealing shot of Mariquita is one of a series of classic yacht prints for sale by Mindthegap. £TBC mindtheg.com WIND ROSE COMPASS The Nautical Company produces this handsome compass with a colourful wind rose design, in red, navy and green, presented in a quality wooden gift box, “a beautiful gift for nautical enthusiasts”. £54 thenauticalcompany.com PERSONALISED DECK SHOES New deck shoe brand Wuzzos is offering a branding service so you can have your boat name, sail number, initials, company name or even your skipper’s name embossed on a pair of high-spec, leather deckies. The hot-foil emboss can be overlaid in silver or gold or left natural to provide a dark,…

The curvaceous mid-century American sportfisher, was one of Phil Bolger’s earlier designs, as Phil himself reminisced in the early 2000s. “The design number 5-57 indicates that it was done in May, 1957. By our present numbering system it would be somewhere in the 90s. Many young designers don’t like to have low numbers on their designs, thinking, and rightly, that it gives away inexperience. Even Philip Rhodes got his lifetime numbering fouled up from this phenomenon. “Egg Harbor Boat Company had built a series of sea skiffs that got progressively blunter in the bow as they tried for roomier accommodations. Eventually they did a series of 30-footers (9.1m) that were so full they did not run or handle as well as the builder would like. “It happened that their foreman…

In the 170 years since the schooner America arrived in England and beat the cream of English yachting, the British have made numerous attempts to win back the challenge cup, now known as the America’s Cup, but none has been successful. Sir Thomas Lipton is renowned for his five challenges, but what is less well known is that his second, in 1901, came nearer to winning, based on the aggregate time by which the challenge was lost, than any other British yacht before or since. For his 1899 challenge, Lipton had employed William Fife III to design the first Shamrock. He had hoped to get GL Watson, the pre-eminent yacht designer of the day but Watson, who had designed the challengers Thistle, Valkyrie II and Valkyrie III, declined because he…

The Franck Roy name might not be well known in Britain, but the yard, based in Lorient on the Atlantic coast, has built around 200 spirit-oftradition yachts in GRP since it was founded by Franck Roy in 1998. Since then, the range has grown to an eclectic spread from modern retro yachts to strict one-design GRP replicas of old racing types. All Franck Roy boats are made on site at the Lorient yard, including the hull, and other elements like the leather are sourced very locally. The new owner of the yard, Romauld Tuffery, recently introduced the first motorboat to the range (Seol 18 – see below) and there is a 25 cabin variant on its way. The boats are generally suitable for inland waterways and coastal sailing, and are…

Refit for Alftred Mylne motor yacht Atlantide The team at Royal Huisman and Huisfit have embarked on a long refit of the 122ft (37.2m) Alfred Mylne motor yacht Atlantide, built by Philip & Sons in 1930. She is one of the world’s most elegant motor yachts, albeit with a short rig that can reputedly power her along under sail alone at up to seven knots. She’s also one of the few motor yachts to have featured in our Top 200 feature in 2005. Current owner Dr Jim Clark had the yacht shipped from Newport, Rhode Island to the Netherlands so this current refit could take place, arriving in the first week of the new year. Atlantide is a new acquisition for Dr Clark, but he has had other vessels restored…

Tidal sculpture to boatbuilding This full-size steel replica of the traditional wooden boats built on the River Deben has now been installed at Woodbridge Boat Yard in honour of the two sisters who ran the yard until the 1960s. Commissioned by the yard and made by Andrew Baldwin, the striking work celebrates Molly and Ethel Everson who along with their brothers Cyril and Bert ran the Eversons Boatyard, as it was then known, which they inherited from their father. The brothers built nearly 20 of this type and more than half still survive, while the sisters ran the chandlery, sail store and office. Manager Matt Lis said: “After the last member of the Everson family died their contribution to the yard could easily have been lost to history too. We…

Nothing beats the traditional tools of woodwork for stirring a latent urge to make things with our hands. See an old saw, plane or chisel with its handle burnished smooth by a lifetime’s work and you just have to hold it, feel how it fits your own hand, then look for timber to try it out on. And it’s often when the hands are physically engaged in what they have evolved to do that the mind also stirs with fresh ideas. A spell of woodwork is like spring breaking the dormancy of winter. For inspiration and good work you can’t do better than grasp the humble spokeshave. Essentially it’s a short and wide plane, tailored to the human grip of fingers and opposing thumb like knife and fork, similarly manoeuvrable,…