Category: Suppliers

Troys at Fowey

Troy class keelboat racing at Fowey

Fowey boatbuilder Marcus Lewis has written to say that he’s had Shimmer, T4 of the Troy Class, in the workshop for a bit of attention, including 11 new ribs, rudder refitting, and painting all over – what he calls the usual maintenance stuff.

Shimmer was built in Fowey by AH ‘Archie’ Watty during the winter of 1929/30. She was made for the local squire Colonel Edward Treffry, and was sometimes sailed by his daughter, Elizabeth.

The old photo below shows Shimmer winning the Royal Fowey Yacht Club Regatta race in 1930 with the colonel at the helm. As the results show, Shimmer started her career in fine style.

In 1946, the boat was sold and bought by author Daphne Du Maurier’s husband, Lt Gen Sir FAM Browning, only to be bought back by Elizabeth Treffry around 1953.

Two of the older Troys are now for sale, T6 Ruby and T7 Sapphire, both in good condition, and still competitive boats, but both are to be sold on condition they do not leave Fowey, and that they continue racing. (The Troy fleet now number 28, four of them built by Marcus in recent years.)

There is more information about these boats on Marcus’s website: www.woodenboatbuilder.co.uk

Lt Gen Sir F.A M Browning winning Fowey Yacht Club Regatta in Shimmer, 1930

 

1930 Fowey Yacht Club regatta results Troy 4 Shimmer in Marcus Lewis' workshop Troy 4 Shimmer paint job

Troy 4 Shimmer ready for the water

Faversham boat builder Alan Staley wins skills award

Boat builder Alan Staley has won the Craft Skills Award for ‘Encouraging craft skills in the workplace’, and the YouTube video above shows Alan and his younger staff at work at his boat yard at Chambers Wharf, Faversham, including our friend Alison. The relevant bit starts about 3minutes in.

Sharp-eyed readers will also notice George Holmes’ Eel in the background, before she was ready to be brought out of the shed.

Read about the Craft Skills Awards here, and about Alan Staley’s boat building outfit here.

The good folks of the Faversham Creek Trust talk about Craft Skills award and about boatbuilding along the Creek in recent years here.

Thames Heritage Alliance formed to campaign to protect historic sites

Thames Heritage Alliance

The Thames Heritage Alliance is a new organisation that hopes to become the voice for those concerned to protect and promote the heritage and of the Thames – including its historic maritime sites, boatyards and so on.

It’s still a tiny acorn – but from tiny acorns might oaks frequently grow, and I hope this one  does exactly that.

It’s sorely needed. As we have seen at Faversham, Brightlingsea and elsewhere, the heritage of The Thames is under threat as never before from commercial and residential development and anything messy and noisy – such as working boatyards – being driven out, not least because they can’t compete when waterside property values are sky-high.

The Alliance says that the Thames’s historic boatyards, slipways, quays, wharves and docks were a crucial part of Britain’s remarkable maritime history. From the time of the Tudors – especially King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth – right through to Lord Nelson and Winston Churchill – sailors and boat-builders along the great River Thames have contributed so much to our national defence and pride.

By linking some of these rare and historic places together, the Thames Heritage Alliance hopes to drawing attention to their importance, and to help them survive in the age of high-rise and high-price property development.

The Alliance’s founding members are working to protect Faversham Creek, Convoy’s Wharf at Deptford and the historic waterfront at Northfleet.