Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2016 i Classic Boat

ANTIGUA Classics set sights on the Caribbean Yachts are busy gearing up for the 29th Antigua Classic, an event that has become known for its buoyant Spirit of Tradition class so strongly advocated by the event’s late founder Kenny Coombs. This year, the 139ft (42m) Germán Frers ketch Rebecca is among the fleet of yachts large and small, new and old, that will make the voyage south to the sun to race for four days in the deep Caribbean swell from 13-19 April. “It’s a favourite because the conditions suit Rebecca perfectly,” said skipper Sparky Beardall. “It is lower key than the other regattas but most of all, it is the spirit on the dock after the racing that makes it so much fun. Out on the racetrack, it is…

SONYA WATERCOLOUR framed and signed watercolour from 1920, depicting a pre-World War I scene of Sonya leading the fleet on the Solent. Sonya, a 52ft (15.8m) linear rater, was designed in 1905 by Nat Herreshoff for Mrs Turner-Farley, and raced against the 52s Britomart and Maymon, and later also against the 15-Metres Shimna and Ma’oona. Signed J James. £5,200 Tel: 01590 677558. andersonwallrock.com DEFIANT MODEL A 36in (91cm) powerboat model, Defiant, patterned after a 1935-38 Chris Craft Custom 19ft (5.8m) runabout and powered by a model 2.5cc Australian Burford diesel engine with water cooling. This is evidenced by the chrome-plated water jacket which surrounds the upper cylinder of the engine. Australian, circa late 1950s. $17,000 (c£11,300) Tel: +1 (212) 772 2664. nicholasbrawer.com ROWDY BOOK Christopher Madsen spent 25,000 hours restoring…

Cutty Sark 2 is a project to build a replica of the iconic Cutty Sark clipper, with a scheduled completion date of 2019, the 150th anniversary of the original boat’s launch. The full-size replica will trade commercially, as her 280ft (85m), three-masted namesake did in the 1800s, and will act as an international sail training ship for all ages. Vladimir Martus will lead the project. The materials and method of build of the Cutty Sark 2 will be as they were for the original – composite construction, timber on forged iron frames. As with the Shtandart, the team will be mostly unskilled volunteers. Back in 1868, Cutty Sark was commissioned to be finished in six months at a cost of £17 per ton, maximum weight 950 tons. She was late…

ATAO Ready to go anywhere One might not naturally equate lavish interiors with lashing ocean crossings, but Atao looks like a good example. In fact, she’s en route for the Caribbean right now. She was drawn by Barracuda Yacht Design and launched in 2007 after a two-and-a-half-year build by the JFA yard in Brittany. She has an aluminium hull, teak deck, and mahogany deck furniture. Below, the theme is French cherry wood, white paint and oiled teak. Accommodation comprises four double cabins and a crew area forwards. Volume is rather less than usual, thanks to her emphasis on sailing ability. America’s Cup designer Iñigo Toledo gave her a deep daggerboard that extends draught from 2.6m (8ft 6in) to 4m (13ft) giving about 3-4 degrees of upwind capability more than typical.…

Not for the first time on the Morwenna project, boatyard and owner found themselves in agreement for different reasons. Owner Stéphane Monnier’s authenticity charter ruled out modern glue for joining the internal cabinetry; but it happens to be standard practice at Chantier du Guip not to glue interiors, so that they can be disassembled for such tasks as inspecting the keelbolts. In terms of engines, Monnier chose to reinstate Linton Hope’s original plan for two engines (she had one before the restoration) but their smaller size meant changes to the original layout that were probably beneficial, including moving the galley aft from the bows. The general plan was to save original material where possible and replace authentically if not, something which kept Stéphane up for many nights examining catalogues of…

Winter learning at the Cruising Association Winter is for books, films, red wine, stews – and how about upping your knowledge level? There can be few cosier places to do it than the Cruising Association HQ in London, by the Thames, near London’s best pub (the Grapes!). Courses this winter are: O shore Safety (date TBC), VHF (23-24 January), Diesel maintenance (6 February), RYA Sea Survival (20 February) and RYA First Aid at Sea (20 February). Longer courses cover Day Skipper theory, Yachtmaster theory and Yachtmaster Ocean theory. Prices are competitive. Tel: +44 (0)207 537 2828, theca.org.uk EVERY WEEK Tour of Liverpool Dock One Free subterranean walking tours of the world’s first commercial wet dock built 1715 and rediscovered under a car park. Tuesdays/Weds at 10.30am, noon and 2.30pm. Phone…

It was said in an entirely different context, but Theodore Roosevelt’s advice to “speak softly and carry a big stick” is curiously apt in the case of Cambria. Her captain, Chris Barkham, never raises his voice, regardless of provocation, and her spruce mast is one of the largest and most impressive wooden yacht spars in the world. In typical style they have just completed a truly remarkable, major refit at Southampton Yacht Services (SYS) in Southampton, and then quietly departed back for the Mediterranean with hardly any fuss. The work was the culmination of several years of thought and evaluation by Chris and his team. Few captains know their charge as well as he knows Cambria; and it was apparent during the last refit in 2008 that the time was…

“You get a lot of boat for your money with wooden restorations,” says Peter Methven, of his classic 13m (42 ft) McGruer, Altricia. “You have to do a certain amount of maintenance, but she’s a great boat with great provenence and she’s great fun. McGruer yachts were so well built and I feel proud to have been in the position to know what I wanted and to work closely with the Mylor team to bring this stunning vessel back to her former glory. By the time you have finished the restoration you know every nook and cranny.” And Peter should know – he is a qualified yacht and boat builder with experience spanning every sector within the industry worldwide. He was awarded an OBE in 2009 for his services to…

We all know Moby Dick, but not so many people, today at least, know that Herman Melville’s classic novel was based on a real incident. The demise of the New England whaling ship Essex, rammed by a massive sperm whale in the Pacific in 1820, and the subsequent grisly fate of its crew, was well known in the years following the sinking. Now the story is about to become so again, with the UK release last week of a major Warner Bros film directed by Ron Howard. In the Heart of the Sea is based on the gripping book by Nathaniel Philbrick of the same name, published in 2000, and the screenplay brings in Melville himself as a new facet to the story. After the whale attack, Essex’s crew took…

Many of the competitors signed up to the 2018 Golden Globe Race are currently lacking a suitable yacht. The rules stipulate a pre-1986 design with a long keel. In nearly all cases, the competitors have 1960s-designed GRP yachts, or are looking for one. Two of these are what you might call living legends, being still in production. In reality, entrants are looking at the secondhand market, but here they are, in all their glittering, brand-new glory. Both are beautiful, seaworthy, easy to handle and would make a very sensible choice. Both are solid, long-keeled, transom-sterned GRP bermudan sloops and both can trace their ancestry back to the Folkboat. CONTESSA 32 The Contessa 32 grew from the 26, which in turn derived from the Folkboat. It’s a David Sadler design with…

A year after our varnish test – surely one of the longest-running product tests in British magazine history – came to an end, tester Richard Hare got in touch from Suffolk to report that there is an overall winner. Drum roll, please: it is Uroxsys, albeit now under its newer brand-name, Awlwood. Performance after 78 months, writes Richard, is “totally intact on surface and all four edges”. He continues: “It retains a very high gloss and a light nutty tint. It remains on the test rig looking pretty much as it did all those years back when it was first applied in the spring of 2009.” No ongoing remedial work has been needed at this stage, but a light sanding and a ‘stitch-in-time’ extra coat would surely be advisable. Latest…

Classic Boat 2016 Awards IN ASSOCIATION WITH EFG visit classicboat.co.uk/awards2016 Voting is now underway in our 2016 Awards in association with EFG. This year we have eight categories: Restoration, Traditional New Build (under and over 40ft/12.2m), Spirit of Tradition (under and over 40ft/12.2m), Powered Vessels (under and over 40ft/12.2m) and Yachtsman of the Year. All these categories must be decided by public vote, so please visit classicboat. co.uk/awards2016 now and start ticking boxes. Alternatively, email your vote to us at cb@classicboat.co.uk, clearly stating category and vote. Last year, around 5,000 of you voted. Voting deadline is Monday 7 March, 0900 GMT. The winners will be announced in our May issue, on sale 5 April. CB AWARDS: PAST WINNERS Our first award (for restoration) was made at the 2007 London Boat…

Take a stroll around the London Boat Show this month and you’ll be overwhelmed by the sheer number of white GRP production motor boats on offer. From the White Cliffs of Sunseeker, boats reaching in tiers high into the sky, to the massed ranks of Princess Yachts that start at over 40 feet and stretch on ever larger, like Russian dolls, to past 100 feet, they all share a common purpose. To be big, voluminous, high-sided holiday homes afloat. You can’t blame the manufacturers, they’re simply responding to customer demand. But it’s easy to forget that production boat building once took the form of the elegant canoe-sterned craft you see on these pages. Ironically, in the early 1930s, while production builders were far from uncommon, this vessel would have been…

“It was love at first sight,” smiles Caroline Aisher. “I first saw a Tofinou 8 at the Southampton Boat Show and just kept going back.” “It was my fault,” laughs Caroline’s husband, Julian Cook. “I turned my back for 10 minutes…” Caroline is the daughter of Olympic medallist Robin Aisher and granddaughter of Sir Owen Aisher, Admiral of the Royal Ocean Racing Club. She and Julian are both diehard sailors and keen club racers, having owned together and very successfully campaigned over the last decade three K6 high performance racing keelboats (capable of over 20 knots in the right conditions), and indeed currently owning a Viper 640 that’s even faster. Julian tells an amusing tale of how their Viper appeared in the Beken calendar one year – “Keith Beken told…

Named after the Zulu war of 1879, these leviathans of the North Sea were some of the most successful fishing craft ever built. In 1904, 25 years after the first Zulu was launched, 480 were registered at Buckie on the Moray Firth alone, and their dominance of the North Sea herring industry is well documented. At up to 80ft (24.4m) LOA, and with a massive, yet inherently aerodynamic and efficient, dipping lug rig, these powerful beasts were capable of speeds of 10kts and had a huge carrying capacity of up to 80 tons of fish. They were economical and quick to build, too, which made them a perfect addition to the 19th-century herring fleet. The true story of how the design came about has been much debated by historians; some…

Edited by Steffan Meyric Hughes: +44 (0)207 349 3758 Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk NETHERLANDS New S&S yawl to start build The flag for a great new project was raised at Ventis yard in Enkhuizen, Holland, as it received the order to build a 56ft (17.1m) yawl designed in 1954 by Sparkman & Stephens, reports John Lammerts van Beuren. Originally commissioned by James Farrell and built at Abeking & Rasmussen, Impala comes from the line of amazingly pretty, fast and seaworthy yawls for which Olin Stephens was famously known, and which are currently enjoying such a strong revival in classic yacht racing. The original Impala is still going strong and cruises the coasts of Europe, however, a friend of the owner was so enchanted with the yacht that he discussed building a sister…

Turn to the power drills section of a tool catalogue and the range of makes, models and features boggles the mind. A century ago the situation was no less confusing with the boatbuilder being offered dozens of different tools for boring a hole by hand. Breast drills, eggbeaters, braces, push drills and Archimedes drills in a multitude of models from myriad rival manufacturers were vying for a coveted slot in the craftsman’s tool chest. But a boatbuilder browsing Goodell-Pratt’s catalogue in the 1920s would have been drawn to this No 101 reciprocating drill because it was designed with the boatbuilder in mind. The essence of the drill’s mechanism lies in two helical grooves in the polished steel spindle and, within the travelling handle, a bronze centre nut which follows them.…

Beer, beer, everywhere nor any drop to drink. If Coleridge thought the Ancient Mariner had it tough, he should have tried going afloat with 265 gallons of real ale but none to slake a thirst. I’ve come to Devon to help transport a cargo of beer to Douarnenez, Brittany, aboard Grayhound, a 108ft replica of a 1776 Cornish lugger – the three-masted Transit van of the 18th century. Grayhound was hand-built in 2012 as a labour of love by her liveaboard owners, Marcus and Freya Pomeroy-Rowden. They felled and hauled her oak, lathed every fastening and cast the 12-ton keel for her construction. Last year they began to sail freight. I’m here as cargo-crew on the only sailing trip of its kind in the UK, a booze cruise like no…