Category: Sailing cruisers

Sailing yachts used for cruising, or as cruiser-racers.

Still more wonderful old photos of racing sailing yachts from The Yachtsman

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Racing Yacht White Heather II pictured in The Yachtsman

Racing sailing yacht White Heather I

Racing sailing yacht Ermin pictured in The Yachtsman Racing sailing yacht Meteor II pictured in The Yachtsman

Ermine, Meteor II

No doubt the photo of my Mouseboat in the last post offended a huge number of readers – there seems to have been a clear dip in the readership figures. So to make hurried amends for my terrible crime, here are some more of Jeff Cole’s wonderful photos from The Yachtsman. Thanks yet again Jeff!

The photo of White Heather I appeared in the summer of 1907, and was taken by West & Son of Southsea.

The 36-footer Ermin is in a supplement to issue no 350, which came out in December 1897, and the photo is by Captain Henry Owen.
Jeff points out that there is a sailing ship with boom extended on the port side, adding that it’s probably a private yacht or charter.

The shot of Kaiser Wilhelm’s Royal Yacht Meteor II was printed in a supplement to Yachting World in September 1901 and was photographed by Maclure Macdonald & Co of Glasgow. I had to pause here to remember those who fell in the war starting in 1914; if only he’d stuck to racing the UK’s Royals instead of trying to defeat them on the battlefield. When you think of the convivial dinners they must all have enjoyed during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, you have to wonder. Even after all these years and with my grandpa long gone, the thought of how so many men were lost, injured and driven mad in the trenches of Flanders over what must have been a kind of family feud still has the power to make me furious.

There are a couple of books at Amazon that look very interesting in relation to this topic. The first is Down Below: Aboard the World’s Classic Yachts (Hardcover); the second is The Golden Century: Classic Motor Yachts, 1830-1930 (Hardcover). Take a look – the first seems to be about life on board as a crewman, and the other is about a subject that seems to me to be rather neglected.

For more old photos from The Yachtsman and elsewhere:
More photos from The Yachtsman – including a legendary actress and mistress to Royalty
Grand yacht photos from The Yachtsman of more 100 years ago

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Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats More photos from The Yachtsman - including a legendary actress and mistress to Royalty - racing sailing yacht Charmaine A challenge for boatbuilders: a sweet 10ft clinker-built double-ended skiff

Monet fishing boats; 100-year old racing yacht photos from The Yachtsman, and building plans for a double-ended Scottish clinker skiff

Nick Smith boats UK Home Built Boat Regatta meeting Dorma

Nick Smith’s clinker-built boats; Home Built Boat Regatta; Hillyard cruising yacht Dorma

Flying 10 Ella in Annabel Young Bristol

Uffa Fox Flying 10s at West Lancs; my daughter Ella sailing a Mirror; pilot gig Young Bristol

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Monet’s paintings of French rowing and sailing boats, and the sea

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Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats

French painter Monet was clearly fascinated by both boats and the sea’s ever-changing mood and light

Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats

Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats

Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats

Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats Monet’s paintings of traditional French rowing and sailing boats

I’ve never been a great fan of the French painter Monet – I’ve often thought his work to be somehow a little unsatisfactory and even chocolate-boxy. But these images sent by my friend Ed have pretty well changed my mind. It’s difficult not to like the work of a painter so obviously fascinated by both sailing and rowing boats, but also by the moods of the sea and the light that plays upon it. Click on the images and decide for yourself…

Thanks Ed, for so painlessly changing my point of view!

Amazon offers books of Monet prints, but the one I’d recommend is the one published in conjunction with a Tate Gallery exhibition of paintings by Turner, Whistler and Monet. I went to the show, and at the time I was particularly bowled over by both the Whistler and Monet paintings of the River Thames and its ships, boats, lighters and barges of the time. And, of course, the famous Turners are even more mind-blowing in real life…

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