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Join Classic Boat for their video coverage of the Little Ships’ voyage to Dunkirk in June 2010 to mark 70 years since the evacuation of 338,000 allied troops from the beaches of Northern France:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzy-9KOIY3A
Join them for coverage of Dunkirk in June 2010 at the 70th commemoration of the evacuation of 338,000 allied troops from the beaches of the Northern French port – from May 26 to June 4 1940, during World War II.
There are a series of articles in the August issue (2010) for this event featuring the boats, the vets, the crossing and return of some 50 of the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships.
This five minute video has been made by Lara Leslie, a professional documentary maker (of Cut Both Ways) who travelled with the Classic Boat team to Dunkirk.
It commemorates the continued five yearly returns of the Little Ships and the extraordinary valour of the soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, plus the sailors of the Royal and Merchant Navies, fishermen and Little Ship owners, who rescued them while under fire from the Germans.
The final day’s racing in the Westward Cup Regatta took place in the Solent on Saturday 10th July, with the four competing yachts getting the gun at 1100 to allow the breeze to build nicely and get these massive yachts off and running. As it turned out, all four put on an end of term show screaming towards the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) start line doing eight knots to the delight of the crowds amassed under the Castle battlements and along Princes’ Green in Cowes.
The RYS Race Committee plotted a 30nm course that took the Westward Cup fleet up to the Needles for a rare photo opportunity for those lucky enough to be in the vicinity and then home to Cowes by mid-afternoon, setting an average speed around the course of 7.4 knots.
The 15m Fife-designed Tuiga took the final day’s line honours, also winning overall and therefore being the first beneficiary of the Westward Cup. Mariquita, the sole survivor of the 19m Class built in 1911, was second over the line, followed by Mariette, built in 1915 and 138ft and then the stunning Eleonora, the 160ft replica of Westward, launched in 2000.
It was the dream of one man, Zbynek Zak, the owner of the largest of the four yachts, Eleonora, that ignited the passion behind bringing this Regatta to life and to Cowes in 2010. The Westward Cup was initiated to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the launch of the racing schooner Westward in 1910.
Tragically, Eleonora suffered a major blow to her racing capability when she lost her two top masts last weekend when out practice racing before the start of the regatta on Tuesday. The drastic outcome of losing around 45ft of mast and 50% of her sail plan put paid to this stunning Big Class yacht being able to race on an equal footing. However the owners maintained a full programme of competition and gave the thousands of spectators over the week plenty to cheer about as she elegantly manoeuvred around the Solent and was moored off Cowes for everyone to enjoy seeing each evening.
A special prize of a painting of Westward was presented to a representative from the winning schooner, Mariette, by its artist Marc Berthier. The overall Regatta prizes were then presented as follows:
Overall winner of the Westward Cup was Tuiga. 2nd place overall went to Mariette and 3rd overall to Mariquita. — Peta Stuart-Hunt
Great Photos by Mike Jones at www.pikepictures.co.uk
Cowes, Isle of Wight: Tuesday, 6th July, will see the first of four days of racing off Cowes as four of the most beautiful Big Class classic yachts will be racing against each other competing to win the inaugural Westward Cup. The Regatta has been organised by three of the most prestigious yacht clubs in the world, the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) and two partner Clubs, the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) and Yacht Club de Monaco (YCM) and in collaboration with Boat International Media.
Depending on the weather conditions, the schedule may include a race around the Isle of Wight. With the advent of 21st century tracking technology introducing yacht racing to a far larger, global audience, armchair enthusiasts will be able to follow the yachts’ progress online at www.rys.org.uk as they sail their courses each day as each boat will carry a Yellowbrick Tracking device.
The schooner Westward was launched on March 31, 1910, as hull number 692 at the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. in Bristol, Rhode Island, USA. She was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff. With Charlie Barr at the helm and him being one of the finest racing skippers in the world, she took first place in all eleven starts during her first season.
In the following years, and especially during the last eleven years of her racing career (1924 – 1935) under the ownership of Mr. T.B. Davis, she raced successfully against the leading yachts of the era, including King George V’s cutter Britannia. According to the will of T.B. Davis, she was scuttled in 1947 in the English Channel, near the spot where Britannia was sunk in 1935 according to the will of King George V.
On March 31, 2000, exactly 90 years after Westward was launched, Eleonora was launched in the Netherlands. A true replica of Westward, Eleonora has exactly the same lines and was built using the same materials and on the basis of the original Westward drawings available at the Hart Nautical Collection of MIT Museum in Boston, USA.
The following four Big Class yachts will be on the historic Royal Yacht Squadron start line on Tuesday:
ELEONORA Built in Holland at Van der Graaf Shipyard in steel, she was launched 90 years to the day of Westward’s launch, on 31 March 2000. Since then, she has been a regular and successful competitor on the Classic yacht circuit. Superbly fitted out in mahogany, with period details, she has two doubles and one twin stateroom and a full-beam owner’s stateroom aft.
MARIQUITA Mariquita (Spanish for ‘ladybird’) is the sole survivor of the 19 Metre Class, whose racing career flourished for two brief seasons before the First World War. Designed and built by William Fife at his Fairlie yard in 1911, Mariquita along with Corona, Norada (Nicholson) and Octavia thrilled the racing public from Kiel to the Clyde, where they arrived having braved a North sea gale. After the collapse of the class, Mariquita went cruising and eventually, minus her keel and rig, became a houseboat at Pin Mill, Suffolk. She was rediscovered in 1991 by William Collier, and restored on the Hamble by Fairlie Restorations in 2004. A winner at Imperia she attended the Fife gathering on the Clyde in 2008.
MARIETTE Built in 1915, Mariette was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff for J Frederick Brown of Boston, a successful wool merchant, who raced and cruised her along the North and Shore Shores of Boston from 1916 to 1927. Renamed Cleopatra’s Barge under Francis K Crowninshield’s ownership, she was requisitioned by the American Navy during the war and declined thereafter. She was brought over to Europe in 1975 and underwent various major refits in 1980 and again in 1995. Thomas Perkins of San Francisco is credited with restoring her to her glorious Gaff rigged specification. Mariette is a regular and successful competitor in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and European classic events.
TUIGA Tuiga was built in 1909 for the Duke of Medinacelli, who was a friend to the King of Spain, and designed identically to the King’s yacht, Hispania. This was so that they could then race on equal terms against each other. However, Tuiga collected a long line of second places allowing rumours to spread that indicated the Duke was ‘holding back’ so as not to beat the King and cause an embarrassing situation. Tuiga was the first 15-Metre to be restored at Fairlie Restorations and has been owned by Monaco Yacht Club since 1993.
Prince Philip Puts In Plea for City of Adelaide Clipper
In a rare radio interview, recorded to mark the 40th anniversary of the rescue of Brunel’s SS Great Britain, now a major tourist attraction in the dock where she was built in Bristol, the Duke of Edinburgh focussed attention on the clipper ship City of Adelaide, still abandoned on a slipway in Scotland.
Asked about the problems of raising funds for ship preservation, Prince Philip said “As long as I’ve been alive there’s never been a good moment to raise money,” and added: “We’ve still got a horrendous problem with the City of Adelaide, which belongs to the Scottish Maritime Museum, but it’s caught in a sort of trap and a timewarp… it’s now become a listed building but they can’t raise the money to do anything with it. I think it’s a great pity.”
The interview with Prince Philip was broadcast on Radio 4’s Sunday-morning Broadcasting House programme, and is available on BBCi-player. SS Great Britain was rescued from the Falkland Islands, and towed back to the UK, arriving in Bristol this day, 5 July, in 1970.
The sensational new J Class yacht Lionheart has now been launched in Holland. Lionheart is based on a Ranger design (77F Model) which was tank tested in 1936 but never built. Design work from the original hull lines was completed by Andre Hoek Naval Architects, with construction of the aluminium hull by the now famous Bloemsma Shipyard. She was then moved by barge to Claasen Jachtbouw BV for fitting out and completion with technical installations by Cornelius Jongkind Yacht Installations.
She is finished below decks to a very high standard, befitting a yacht of this calibre. Above decks she features the very latest technology in sailing systems – Harken winches, Hall Spars carbon mast, spars and rigging and North sails. Following sailing trials she will leave for the Mediterranean.
This is now the sixth J Class yacht on the water. Already afloat are:
Shamrock V (1930)
Velsheda (1933)
Endeavour (1934)
Ranger (replica 2002)
Hanuman (replica 2009)
Two more yachts are currently under construction at Bloemsma, Atlantis and Rainbow, both due to complete in time for the J Class Regatta programme in England (Falmouth June 2012, the Solent July 2012).
More information is posted to the J Class Association website: www.jclassyachts.com
From Bruce Johnson, Sparkman & Stephens:
89′ Simms Brothers Motorsailer 1950
Sparkman & Stephens Design No. 873
We are trying to locate the 89′ double ended ketch built for Harold S. Vanderbilt in 1950. She was renamed Windroad, registered Pompano Beach. She is believed to have been purchased by Prince Rainier of Monaco but disappeared around 1974. We have a client who would like to find her for potential purchase.
If you know of her whereabouts please contact:
Bruce Johnson
Office: 212-661-1240
Cell: 646-472-6254
Email: bjohnson@sparkmanstephens.com
Company Website: www.sparkmanstephens.com
Three grandchildren of famous marine artist Jack Earl, the original owner of the classic yawl Veolia Maris, have teamed up with co-owner Ian Kiernan in a bid to win the Hempel Paints 37th Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race for an unprecedented third successive year.
Skipper Tiare Tomaszewski, 44, will be joined by her twin sister Leilani and their younger brother Matt, 29, with Kiernan as the navigator, on the 414 nautical mile race that starts from Broken Bay on Saturday, 30 October 2010.
“We sailed with our grandfather when we were little kids and have often raced the boat with Ian since he bought it, including racing to Hobart, Lord Howe Island and the Gold Coast, as has Ben, our elder brother,” recalled Tiare, a member of the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club.
“I sailed with Ian when Maris won her first Lord Howe Island Race but could not compete in last year’s race because of work commitments,” added Tiare, a film producer. In fact, all four grandchildren are in the media and film production business, which as Tiare says, comes down from the artistic talent of their grandfather.
“Veolia Maris is in great shape and we hope that Ian will set us the course of least resistance as he has done so well over the past two Lord Howe races, ” she said. “We hope to arrive on the island Melbourne Cup Day in time for the celebrations at the Bowling Club, as we did in 2009, which was also yacht’s 50th birthday.
Veolia Maris will again be the smallest, oldest and lowest handicapped yacht in the IRC division and, as an always well-sailed boat, she must rank as one of the favourite for handicap honours. “We have also been fortunate in Veolia coming aboard as full sponsors after being a supporter for previous races,” Tiare added;
The relatively shallow, long keel of the Alan Payne-designed, Jock Muir-built yawl-rigged Tasman Seabird class yacht assured her a place in the fleet this year, but limits on draft and moorings at Lord Howe Island has resulted in a number of deep draft yachts missing out.
A total of 15 boats were nominated for the five available positions, with the five accepted being Warwick Sherman’s Occasional Coarse Language, Mike Freebairn’s Ray White Spirit of Koomooloo, Grant Dawson’s Karisma, Anthony Sweetapple’s Quetzalcoatl and Paul Clitheroe’s Balance.
In addition, Sean Langman’s maxi yacht Loyal, representing the Huon Yacht Club in southern Tasmania, has been accepted by Gosford Sailing Club as turn-around entry. She is a clear favourite for line honours in the 414 nautical mile race across the Tasman Sea.
The Hempel Paints 37th Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race will start from Broken Bay, south of Gosford, at 1.00pm on Saturday, 30 October with the fleet heading north to a turning mark off Terrigal before setting a north-easterly course across the Tasman to Lord Howe Island. — Peter Campbell
City of sailors and offshore racing, with its bay opening onto the Iroise Sea, Brest holds the advantage of privileged surroundings and a perfect setting devoted to boating.Against this backdrop, the Port du Chateau marina, located both in the heart of town and facing the open sea, is the perfect place to host the first Brest Classic Week event, from the 5th to 10th of July.
This is the first event of its kind in Brest, specifically reserved for classic yachts. It will welcome forty superb, history-laden boats for a full week of racing, regattas and festivities. Though intended as an up-market event in the pure style of yacht gatherings in the English-speaking world, this exceptional instant is also, obviously, intended for all the people of Brest and Finistere County. Each day, events and concerts will provide moments of great conviviality for the crews as well as the general public. They will be organised in the Brest Classic Week Village.
This week of traditional sail is also designed to fit into the classic yachting and racing circuit, falling between the meetings in Benodet in late June and Cowes Week in late July. And the desire has already been clearly and strongly expressed for this to become a regular event held every two years.
This first edition of Brest Classic Week will be a popular, lively and open event where competitors, owners, partners and the public can all rub shoulders. Everyone will be welcomed in a perfectly adapted setting: the Port du Chateau marina in the heart of town, where a village covering about 500 m2 will hold the organisation area and exhibitors’ stands.
Dennis Conner has bought the 40ft (12m) BB Crowninshield-designed gaff schooner Fame, winner of many Great Lakes races, and a yacht that some classic yachting enthusiasts in the US believe to be the closest sailing vessel to perfection. She has been sailing Lake Michigan the last 15 years but needs some work – meaning Conner was able to buy her for $17,000 (c £12,000). He hopes to have her sailing this summer, her centenary year. The esaily singlehanded and well-canvassed Fame is likely to prove an exceptional day-sailer and a slippery competitor in San Diego’s Ancient Mariners Sailing Society races. From June Classic Boat.
Please find below downloadable pdf files of the Sailing Instructions and Entries for Race 3