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.

www.classicboat.co.uk

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

www.rys.org.uk

Great Photos by Mike Jones at www.pikepictures.co.uk

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.

www.rys.org.uk

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.

www.classicboat.co.uk

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