Table of contents for Classic Yachts in Classic Boat

Lugger fest was the first traditional boat gathering to meet in Ullapool, North West Scotland, at the newly expanded harbour. Central to the event were two locally-restored, engineless luggers, the St Vincent and Clan Gordon, plus the visiting Barnabas, a 142-year-old Pilchard Driver which sailed all the way from St Ives, Cornwall. The St Vincent 49 LWL Zulu Herring Drifter had originally been built in 1910 and was restored by Ullapool’s Johnson and Loftus Boatbuilding in 2023. At the same time at Alastair Grant’s Isle Ewe Boats, Clan Gordon, built in 1911 for herring fishing in the Minches, was significantly restored. Warm May weather with light winds made for a lot of rowing using the long sweeps. Barnabas had another reason for being in Loch Broom: fitting her with new…

This June, 176 boats gathered for the annual Falmouth Classics, an event that in recent years has coincided with the ever-popular Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival. The three races – started from the mighty 1907 West Country trading ketch Irene of Bridgwater – took place in fresh conditions punctuated by a brief but ferocious 40kt gust in the middle of Friday afternoon’s race, and this took its toll. The 1895 Falmouth Working Boat Victory sank, four boats were dismasted, and the race was abandoned, but thankfully there were no casualties and Victory was successfully raised the next day. Conditions for Sunday’s parades of sail were much kinder. With a “Rescuers and Rescued” theme reflecting the RNLI’s first 200 years, the Main Parade was led by Falmouth All Weather lifeboat Richard Cox…

It was a week of two halves in terms of weather at this year’s British Classic Week hosted by the British Classic Yacht Club (BCYC), but when the results were in, it was 6-M Sioma (small yacht winner) and 8-M Anne Sophie (large yacht winner) who emerged overall winners. Two days of wet and wild racing in the early part of the regatta preceded lighter airs and champagne sailing to complete the five-race series with race management by Race Officer Peter Saxton and his team from the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS). Regatta Chairman Giovanni Belgrano commented: “It was an awesome week and some of the best sailing I have had in my life. The race management team did an exceptional job giving us five varied races in challenging conditions. The…

With the launch of its 2024/25 Yachting and Boating collection, Henri-Lloyd is marking 60 years of sailing apparel innovation with a new forward-facing vision. Headquartered in Manchester, Henri-Lloyd is enjoying a resurgence, as the brand re-establishes itself under new owners, Monte Rosa Capital, alongside its sister company Odlo, the Norwegian base layer specialist brand. With a thriving retail base through chandleries, as well as shops in Cowes, Lymington, Dartmouth and Salcombe, manufacturer is largely European-based, including at the company’s wholly-owned factory in Brodnica, Poland – the home-town of Henri Strzelecki, who founded the company in 1963 after moving to the UK to study fabric technology in Manchester. The fledgling Henri-Lloyd quickly gained renown for its innovation in the use of waterproof seams, Velcro and non-corrosive zips in producing waterproofs for…

The fleet of 800 or more small, civilian vessels that sailed from England to save Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo has become a central pillar of British identity. At the same time, the story of these Dunkirk little ships has become so weakened by repetition that it’s reached the point where it’s in danger of becoming just another trope in the national consciousness. It might have been, as the 2017 film put it, Britain’s darkest hour, as a ferocious German army pinned us against the edge of the sea, but the actions of those few days remain the greatest hour that a fleet of pleasure vessels has ever seen and ever will see, in terms of lives saved, and in the shaping of the fates…

The mood was tense on board Lutine of Helford when I joined her at the start of the last race of the British Classic Week series off Cowes last July. There had been a pile up at the start line the day before, and Lutine’s rigging had snagged the anemometer of a smaller boat sailing in her lee which had then bumped into another boat. Looking at the photos, it seemed like more of an unfortunate series of events than a clear foul, but Lutine had been disqualified from the race. Owner James Youngman was clearly shaken and spent much of the pre-race in a huddle with various crew members. The sixth race began with a spinnaker run to the start line and, perhaps not surprisingly, Lutine held back, crossing…

There is not doubt that I am a lucky man. I was born at the end of the Second World War, which meant that mine was the first generation ever to have lived in an unbroken period without conscription or the obligation to go abroad and kill foreigners. At least, in England we escaped it. We lived through the cold war and the shadow of nuclear holocaust, but isn’t it always like that? Our distant ancestors must have felt the invention of the bow meant the end of warfare as they knew it. Bullets and shells were equally terrifying; then bombing civilians from the air. ICBMs with thermonuclear warheads were simply more of the same. Now we face terrorism, cyber warfare and robot killing machines, perhaps the scariest of the…

The yacht’s restoration was based around the same concept as when she was conceived. When Erik Åkerlund decided to have Princess Svanevit built to participate in the Royal Swedish Yacht Club’s (KSSS) upcoming 100th anniversary in 1930 he said: “I wanted to give Swedish designers and boatbuilders an opportunity to demonstrate their high level of craftsmanship and to help the KSSS attract foreign Twelves to their event. So Sweden must also be able to provide one.” When her current owners acquired her, the intention was not necessarily to restore her back to grand prix racing condition but to ensure the continued existence of what was seen as an important piece of Swedish yachting history. Back in 1930 Åkerlund approached no fewer than three of the elite names in the world…

The Cowes Spring Classics weekend kicked off on a Friday afternoon in May with welcome drinks on the pontoon at Shepards Wharf Marina where Merry Maid – the 1906 Charles Sibbick linear rater, owned and newly restored by Martin Nott, co-organiser of this regatta – had recently been launched. A barbecue followed that evening at Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club, the event’s official host. With rain and virtually no wind forecast, the prospects for racing on Saturday weren’t particularly enticing, but the rain held off and a gentle but steady breeze allowed two races to be held in the western Solent. That evening the competitors enjoyed drinks and a superb dinner at the Commodore’s House, the former home of Uffa Fox. Although Sunday morning brought with it a reasonable breeze, it…

Spirit C72 Gwenhyfar II, winner of the Spirit of Tradition boat in our 2024 awards, took the overall regatta trophy at the Spirit Yachts owners’ regatta in Guernsey, Channel Islands this June, after a closely fought, six-race series, seeing off strong competition from Spirit R52 Happy Forever and Spirit C65 Chloe Giselle. Hosted in partnership with Locate Guernsey, the biennial regatta was based at Guernsey Yacht Club. Despite stormy conditions making for challenging delivery trips to get there, the weather settled down for the regatta and the yachts enjoyed 15-20kts and sunshine for most of the week. Overseen by race officer Peter Saxton and a team of volunteers from Guernsey YC, the racing programme delivered a series of windward/leeward courses in the Little Russel Channel, and longer passage races around…

In the spring of 2023, a buoyant crowd gathered on the east coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island for the relaunch of a small but very significant boat. The 30ft (9.1m) sloop Dorothy, built in 1897, was about to return to the sea after years of neglect and a prolonged rebuild. Like most launchings, the vessel was dressed in flags and flowers, with a bottle of Champagne readied to burst across the bow. But this ceremony was far ordinary. Dorothy is thought to be the oldest vessel on the west coast of Canada; possibly the oldest one in the country still sailing. She has endured 126 years and nearly a dozen owners, yet her story is as clear as calm water, thanks to the man who commissioned her. WH Langley was…

The second edition of the Richard Mille Cup that started in Falmouth, Cornwall and concluded in Le Havre, France covered a total of 255nm of offshore racing, and eight days of inshore racing at some of the most historically notable maritime ports. The warm hospitality of the host clubs – Royal Cornwall YC (Falmouth), Royal Dart YC (Dartmouth), Royal Yacht Squadron (Cowes), and Société des Régates du Havre (Le Harvre) was exceptional, and the racing, which was closely fought throughout, went right down to the wire. Although Mariquita started as she meant to continue by winning the first four opening races in her class, it was by no means a ‘walk in the park’ with her closest rivals pushing her all the way to the finish line in the final…

The cavernous Boathouse 4, in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, is alive daily with the bustle, noise, smell and dirt of classic naval boats under repair and renovation: everything from small rowing gigs to admiral’s barges. In the quieter mezzanine above the workshop floor hangs a boat of great historical importance while, underneath her, a fully operational replica of her has just been completed. The hanging vessel is Coastal Motor Boat 4 (CMB4) in which, in 1919, Lieutenant Augustus Agar earned the Victoria Cross (VC). She has been much restored over the past 100 years and is now only a bare hull stripped of her engine and most of her equipment. The replica that has just been completed below CMB4 is a near-copy 40ft (12.2m) Coastal Motor Boat (CMB) launched in the…

Les Voiles D’Antibes launched the Mediterranean circuit for Classic Yachts. Regulars Tuiga, Hallowe’en and Mariella were joined by Black Swan and 60 or more classics. Stretching down the race village at Port Vauban, centuries of sailing history were on display. Here the public could wander admiring beautifully varnished wood and polished brass and muse over the elegant lines. The fleet looked achingly beautiful in the summer sun. And the walkway along the 16th-century sea wall served as a bird’s eye view for visitors to soak up the racing. Focusing my lens, I felt like a kid in a sweet shop. Spectator vessels included the classic 1930s motorsailer Atlantide, back after a two-year Royal Huisman rebuild, and the 300ft (90m) Nero, newly built in the manner of a grand 1930s motor…

The hottest day of the year so far, peaking at 32 degrees, dispelled any fears organisers might have had about mud. All that remained of the recent rains was a large, shallow puddle in a depression in the car park, bringing back memories of Trads past, a few of which had to be rained off entirely. Everything that makes the Henley Trad the Henley Trad is better in the sun, like the sun glinting off the brightwork of an Edwardian saloon launch and sitting down on grass. The world’s financial systems might have been melting down; American Airlines might have stood on the tarmac; but nothing will stop steam, diesel, sail or oar. The classic car display, Crooked Billet pop-up pub and other food stands and military fly-bys all added…

DISPLACEMENT BOATS Displacement craft are the oldest of all vessels, dating back to when man first sat astride a log. The maximum speed of a displacement vessel is limited by its wave-making: at maximum displacement speed its transverse wave length will equal that of its waterline with a crest at the bow and a crest at the stern. To increase its speed it needs to increase the wave length but is unable to push the stern wave further aft and is locked in the trough between the crests. This is called hull speed. In knots, it is 1.34 times the square root of the hull length in feet. So a yacht with 25ft (7.62m) of waterline will top out at 6kts. Displacement hulls can exceed hull speed by reducing weight…

Lucky me to be roaring into the roads off Saint-Tropez at Les Voiles 2023 in a RIB with the famous marine photographer Kos. We can see Baruna, Tara Getty’s ‘new’ yacht tooling along as the crew limber down after the day’s race. And they are going to keep going for a little so I can get on deck to see first-hand how she sails. Kos is superrelaxed. She already has a lot of photos, having documented the restoration of this famous yacht over a number of years. The 72ft (22m), 1938 yawl with her 96ft (29m)- high mainmast looks powerful surging along in the eight knots of breeze. She must be doing seven to eight knots herself, on the wind. At Porto Cervo, I later learn, she averaged 9.6 knots…

History was re-written in April when Marie Tabarly stepped out from the shadow cast by her famous father by taking line honours in 2023/4 Ocean Globe Race celebrating the 50th anniversary of that first Whitbread. Racing Eric Tabarly’s 73ft (22.25m) French ketch-rigged yacht Pen Duick VI, designed and built specifically to win that first race, Marie was jumping for joy at the finish of this circle of the globe back at Cowes, shouting: “We did it…We have won in real time… No one can beat us…This was always our aim.” By contrast, her father had five attempts at winning the Whitbread Round the World Race without achieving victory – three in this 33 ton, now venerable maxi, and in two more modern maxis in the ’90s. All lacked the planning…

As the Med regattas go, the Puig in Barcelona still seems like an outlier compared to its longer established cousins like Voiles de Saint-Tropez, Cannes or Monaco, sitting as it does further to the west. Quietly though, it’s become rather a big deal in the 18 years since it was first run under its long-term sponsor, the Spanish-owned fashion giant Puig. It regularly attracts around 50 yachts, and those who know it, love the regatta for its location in the Catalonian capital of Barcelona, one of the world’s great cities, and for one other thing too: the great Barcelonian breeze, which nearly always guarantees good racing. This year, while much of the rest of Europe broiled under 45-degree sun, every day was a perfect 30 with a good 15kts of…