Gavin Atkin's weblog for the sort of people who like looking inside boat sheds. It's about old boats, traditional boats, boat building, restoration, the sea and the North Kent Coast
The 37ft LOA 1930 Berthon-built race winning gaff cutter Wanda is for sale. She’s rigged as a gaff cutter.
In her earlier life was a well known RORC racer, and won the Channel race in the late 1930s. More recently, in the centenary RORC Cowes to Dinard race she came 5th in her class, and in the 2008 Round The Island race she came 4th in the gaff rig class.
For more information, click here.
Tally Ho – one of the larger Albert Strange-designed boat and winner of the 1927 Fastnet race. She’s currently lying at Port of Brookings, Oregon
If you’d like to sail a magnificent gaff topsail cutter from the early 20th century, and have the resources to restore her, The Albert Strange Association is definitely looking for you.
The organisation is working to save Tally Ho, at 47ft 6in by 12ft 10in by 7ft 6in and rated at 30 tons, one of the larger boats designed by Albert Strange (1855-1917), a leading artist and boat designer, as well as a writer and sailor.
Tally Ho has a great reputation as ocean sailing boat, having won the 1927 Fastnet Race, and has had various names over the years – readers may have come across her under the name Betty, but she has also been called Alciope, Escape to Paradise and Escape.
See Thad Danielson’s article on the newly created Tally Ho pages of the ASA website here.
The ASA is working hard to find a way forward for Tally Ho. Happily, unlike many older yachts, she still has her shape, thanks to having been strongly built. I think she richly deserves a new lease of life – but then I’m an Albert Strange fan…
The photo below shows Tally Ho in her glory days.
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Whitstable-built Blackwater sloop lookalike Gadfly II is afloat once again after a period of restoration, reports boat builder and repairer Simon Papendick. Here’s what he says about the East Coast gaff cutter’s progress:
‘It has been a hard over the last few months, but I have finally got Gadfly II back in the water. After a few days of all hands to the pumps, she is now all but watertight.
I took her for a sail the other day and it was good to get her underway with new sails. The boat felt good and so did I after all the hard work I’ve put in over the past three years.
The only problem I have now is working out how much internal ballast she is going to need to get her to sit on her lines and not be so lively. So far I have put in 300kg of ballast, which has made things better – but she is still way above her lines, so possibly I will have to find about another 300kgs. I think that should just about do for the moment.
So if any of the readers know or have any old iron they want rid of that I can pick up and use please I would be most grateful!’
Well done that man!
Simon runs a boatbuilding and restoration firm (J-Star Boat Services) and a sailing school (J-Star Sea School), so if you have any suitable ballast please contact him directly via his business websites.
Perhaps of particular interest to intheboatshed.net readers are some small boat maintenance workshops Simon is running designed to help boat owners to increase their knowledge and do small jobs themselves. These start form removing seacocks to replacing boat windows and anything in between. They are run on a
weekly basis on a four:one basis. Contact Simon on 07799401650 or email simonpapendick@btconnect.com.
