A Puffer

Very few of these boats are surviving probably counted on one hand, this particular one is seen anchored in the Swale and is a houseboat and moors in London each year she comes down to see the Swale and Medway Barge Races, this was taken about nine years ago.

Royal Yacht "BRITANNIA". Classic in the Extreme.

Below are seen three postcards from my collection depicting the Royal Yacht Britannia two are when she was owned by Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort and when the queen passed away it was then owned by King Edward VII

Queen Victoria would board her yacht at the Isle of Grain, North Kent, UK, having travelled down from London, a jetty was constructed and the train would draw up alongside the yacht.

It was said that she preferred it that way as it avoided the crowds that would have inevitably gathered if the yacht came up the Thames to London to receive her.

Royal Yacht "BRITANNIA.

Maurice Griffiths "Magic of the Swatchways"

Not many good yacht cartoons about, but I think this one is a cracker, and in some way most of us, if we are honest, have experienced something of what you see left, but, most of mine have been "PUTTY" problems but at least upright, except for one scary occasion in my "Wild Duck", although the angle was not quite as acute. more on that embarrassing occasion later, and which prompted me to switch to bilge keelers.

Alan H. Buchanan. Designer of the Wild Duck

Mr. Buchanan lives in retirement in Jersey. Though he started his life in the design rooms of Shorts flying Boats in Rochester Kent, during WWII he spent a lifetime developing designs, but more on the lines of the cruiser racer, with deeper long keels. Many of his designs are classics in their own right, and are sailed competitively still.

I owned a Wild Duck "Tinaloa" purchased from a Gravesend Yacht Club member, she gave me many pleasant voyages on the Medway and East Coast, I owned her for five years before reluctantly going for a bigger craft and more work

A book that I have read over and over again "The Magic of the Swatchways" by Maurice Grffiths, if ever any reader gets a chance to read this book, he will not be disappointed.

The pictures below are by kind permission of The Eventide Owners Club they have my thanks.
you will find a link to their site in favourites on the right.

A Yachting Monthly "Wild Duck".an Alan H. Buchanan design.

The Game Cock a well known Whitstable Oyster Smack.

The Game Cock F76 was originally built for Ernest Stroud and launched 14th June 1907.
Game Cock is leaning against the Whitstable Harbour quayside and in the distance is my yacht "Wildlife" left of the post, a westerly Nomad bilge keeler I sailed down for a few days and eventually went on to Ramsgate, this trip made a change from the east coast. Taken about five years ago.

And again left is the Game Cock now fully restored going out to her mooring off Whitstable same date as above.

Shamrock V, sails nicely set.

Shamrock V a modern day shot she is now fully restored to her former glory and here she seems to be sporting a hell of a lot more crew than she had in her 1930 challenge (22) in the US against "Enterprise" enterprise was the new innovation as to the construction her frame was aluminium as was her hull making her about one third lighter than Shamrock V. thus heralding a new breed of Yachts.

"LOYAL" aground

Whoops!! "loyal" embarassingly aground off Indian Harbour 1898 she got off the next tide and apparently it was tradition for any NYYC member suffering this humiliation was to treat the other members to lunch at the clubhouse where no doubt his demise would take further banter. I rather suspect that he would have joined the ranks of a few other skippers that had experienced this mishap.

Shamrock V and Endeavour

HMS "ILLUSTRIOUS"

A litte out of place perhaps on this site but she is a boat and is ours, these two shots were taken about seven years ago on a courtesy visit to the capital in these pictures she has just rounded the bend in the Thames at Gravesend, she was probably two miles from my camera position which was Cliffe Marshes and the ship is coming up to Higham Bight, up in the bows she has a video and radar controled Gatling Gun with lock on potential and is capable of firing thousands of rounds a minute. coming through this part of the journey to open water is the most hazardous with the isolated marshes of Essex and Kent both sides the special boat service were escorting them in fast boats fully armed , they paid me a visit just to satisfy themselves that I was not a terrorist waiting with some sort of missile. I perhaps should add that she has a compliment of Harrier Jets just waiting to jump off the deck and decimate any threats.

Shamrock V Crew Signatures.

I am not sure what these signatures are written on and T.J. Pengelly is not sure the quality is not good as it is just a snapshot if you click to enlarge you can see the entries more clearly I have marked some of them.

Smoker with other crew members

I think the crew member to the left of Smoker is A.J. Pengelly.
Terry, T.J. Pengelly now 79 told me that there are such a lot of Pengelly's that they addressed them by their initials, and he went on to say that in Looe, Cornwall as a young man you could not go straight onto the fishing boats as mate, T.J. said that you had to serve time as an apprentice first, quite a good idea.

Shamrock V, Crew

The crew of "Shamrock V" bar two.

I discovered on the signatures photo a further name, one Harry Harman, I knew of a John Harman a Whitstable Native before emigrating to Sidney, Canada B.C. but is in touch with Whitstable via a mutual website "Simply Whitstable" administrated by Dave Taylor who kindly passed on my email address I asked if he knew a Harry Harman and he replied that he did and that it was in fact his cousin, so we now know the three crew who sailed to America and hailed from Whitstable in 1930 as Sidney "Smoker" Stroud his brother

"Skipper" Stroud, and Harry Harman now the record is straight. There is to be further delving into this interesting tale, I am to visit with Terry Pengelly in the spring as he has a diary that A.J.Pengelly kept relating to the voyage I have been given permission to publish this fascinating piece of social history.

NYYC Shore Station.

This is the New York Yacht Clubs yacht station the club house is much more imposing.
this is from my collection.

ShamrockV.

Sir Thomas Lipton's Yacht "shamrock V"

America's J-Class "Enterprise"

This picture portrays the American J-Class Yacht "Enterprise" crossing the finish line.

Dinner at the Hotel Belvedere.

This is the dinner that was afforded to the crew of Shamrock V, although they did not have much to celebrate having been trounced 4-0 by America's Enterprise.

King George V's Yacht 'BRITANNIA'

King George the Fifth loved his yacht and yacht racing, hardly ever missing a race, the regatta's were held at the main resorts along the south coast and Royal Cowes, the home of English big yacht racing, but occasionally the east coast and Southend would be venue's. Britannia was a very successful competitor in the twenties and thirties people would turn out in there hundreds to watch the stars of the show the 40 metre class which is what the Kings yacht was until she was altered to conform with J-Class specifications the the king could now compete against the other J-Class yachts. An interesting point is that the king would not have a J on his sail denoting his class he insisted on having a K he argued because that is what I am King, the Royal Yacht Squadron allowed the K on his sail and read K1.

Above is a picture from my collection King George V at the helm of his beloved yacht and opposite the nearest yacht is Britannia, you will perhaps note that at this time she is Gaff rigged later she converted to Bermudan rig a much more efficient sail plan when racing.

J-Class News, REBUILD.

In 1962 Shamrock V was sold to Italian yachtsman Piero Scanu who, in 1967, had the yacht taken back to Camper and Nicholsons in Gosport, England for a complete, three-year rebuild. The hull was stripped back to bare steel frames which were sandblasted, repaired and painted. After this Shamrock V was entirely replanked in 2 inch teak and refastened with bronze. New systems, engines and rig were also installed. During the next twenty years she had a number of owners, and never fell into disrepair, like the other J's. In 1986 the Lipton Tea Company purchased Shamrock V from Scanu and donated her to The Museum of Yachting in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1989 classic yacht restorer Elizabeth Meyer undertook another extensive refit. In 1995 the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) of Newport , Rhode Island purchased Shamrock V as part of their classic yacht collection. In 1998, the IYRS sold Shamrock V to the Newport Shamrock V Corporation in order to help finance the restoration of 'Coronet'. The Newport Shamrock V Corporation intends to continue chartering in New England but will extend her season to include Winter months in the Caribbean.Following a remarkable and successful regatta in Antigua against Velsheda and Endeavour in 1999, Shamrock V returned to UK waters and has just completed a one year refit at the Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth, England, by her new owners. This comprehensive refit hasl improved ballast ratio and with the addition of a new rig and sails, performance is dramatically enhanced. Shamrock V is now ready to give many more years of service as one of yachting's great queens and as one of just three remaining original J's from the 1930's.

Two Fabulous J-Class.

A beautiful painting of two J-Class yachts racing off the Isle of Wight, to me there is not a more pleasurable sight than to see if only in picture these sedate opulent masters of the wind jostling for position and as they are in the picture close hauled, and the angle which the artist has portrayed these craft is again classic and to my mind the best viewpoint to be had,

A Yachting Monthly WILD DUCK.

This is a Yachting Monthly "Wild Duck" designed by, Alan H. Buchanan a 20ft, 3 ton Sloop designed for two people, a very user friendly little craft and one of my favourite sailing cruisers I owned one of these in the early 70's, her name "TINALOA" a boat local to the River Medway in Kent, UK. She was designed as an inshore cruising yacht and is very adept at handling heavy weather should you be caught out, and once over on her chine she is very reluctant to go any further a very comforting thought, In the five years I owned her I made numerous trips up the East Coast one trip to Holland and a couple to France.
Picture is by kind permission of the Eventide Owners Club, they can also supply plans for this and other classic craft.