C_B_2015_05_

classicboat.co.ukJubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ

EDITORIAL

Managing Editor Dan Houston

+44 (0)207 349 3755

[email protected]

Deputy Editor Steffan Meyric Hughes

+44 (0)207 349 3758

[email protected]

Senior Art Editor Peter Smith

+44 (0)207 349 3756

[email protected]

Senior Sub Editor Henry Giles

+44 (0)207 349 3708

[email protected]

Contributing Editor Peter Willis

[email protected]

Technical EditorPublishing Consultant Theo Rye Martin Nott

Proofing Vanessa Bird

ADVERTISING

Advertisement Manager

Edward Mannering +44 (0)207 349 3747

[email protected]

Advertisement Production

Allpointsmedia +44 (0)1202 472781

allpointsmedia.co.uk

Published Monthly ISSN: 0950 3315

USA US$12.50 Canada C$11.95 Australia A$11.

Subscribe now:[email protected] +44 (0)1795 419840

http://classicboat.subscribeonline.co.uk

Subscriptions manager+44 (0)207 349 3710 [email protected] William Delmont

Subscriptions Department

800 Guillat Avenue, Kent Science Park,

Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8GU

Managing Director Paul Dobson

Deputy Managing Director Steve Ross

Commercial DirectorPublisher Simon Temlett Vicki Gavin

Digital Manager Oliver Morley-Norris

The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd

Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ^

+44 (0)207 349 3700 chelseamagazines.com

Copyright The Chelsea Magazine Company 2015 all rights reserved

Follow the Classic Boat team

on Twitter and Facebook

Classic Boat is part of the Chelsea Marine Magazines

family, along with our other monthly titles

YACHTSYACHTING

CHELSEAM A R I N E

M A G A Z I N E S

CHELSEAM A R I N E

M A G A Z I N E S

YACHTSYACHTING

CHELSEAM A R I N E

M A G A Z I N E S

CHELSEAM A R I N E

M A G A Z I N E S

To subscribe, go to chelseamagazines.com/marine

For traditional

boat enthusiasts

For adventurous

cruising sailors For competitive sailors

Caribbean calling Antigua & St Barths

Best Best BOATS

CT H E W O R L D’ S M O S T B E A U T I F U L B O A T Slassic Boat

THAMES BAWLEYSA potted history Back to Dunkirk The Little Ships return

Our 2015 Awards

25ft junk riggerTree to Sea

Best

THE YEAR’S

Destination Cherbourg^ NORMANDY’S OVERLOOKED GEM^ Stephens WaringDESIGN OFFICE VISIT 977093053111405

CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2015 i £4.75 US$13.

PAPA 1. LEAF OF BRISTOL

. CHERBOURG.
DUNKIRK LITTLE SHIPS

MAY 2015. ISSUE No 323

CB323 Cover MAY.indd 1 http://www.classicboat.co.uk23/03/2015 18:46 Why sailors should rue GEOFF HOLTParalympics snubGOING DUTCHTaking on Holland’s Standing Mast RouteCLOTHING GUIDErevealed todayTomorrow’s trends with our mooring tipsImpress in the marinaSPRING TIME

MAY sailingtoday.co.uk £.

Easy Orient

Charter on Turkey’s ancient Carian coast

CRUISING

The superyacht designer who prefers small boatsINTERVIEWGermán Frers

Impression 35Built in the Alps for Built in the Alps for roomy cruisingNEW BOAT TEST

BARCELONAYOUR GUIDE TOPORT VELLGULL’S EYE

SAILING TODAY

TURKEY • DUTCH CANALS

• IMPRESSION 35


• BARCELONA • CLOTHING

MAY 2015  ISSUE N

º 217

GO FURTHER I SAIL BETTER I BE INSPIRED

(^05713679861007)
5
ST217_001_Cover.indd 1 17/03/2015 18:
yachtsandyachting.co.ukIssue #1685 | May 2015£4.
PLUS European Venue Guide
VOLVO OCEAN RACE
Halfway stage report
IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS WILLIAMSIAN
On board with the Match Racing World Champ
from the Italian team LUNA ROSSALatest Cup progress LEEBOW TACKperfect your techniqueStep by step guide to coastal race winnersSecrets to success from JOG RACINGCutting edge foil technology uncovered HUGH WELBOURNE
ESSENTIALREGAT TAS
INTERVIEW
SUMMER TRAVEL SPECIAL
YACHTSANDYACHTING.CO.UK
(^) || (^) XXXX XXXX XXXX | XXXX
MAY 2015 | (^) ISSUE #
907704400020505
As she was: Britannia
at Son in Norway
CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2015 5
We all know that restoration can be as emotionally tiring as it can be
fi nancially draining and that taking on an old boat to restore is going
to be a diffi cult thing to achieve. Much better, many say, to build a
replica alongside, don’t fret about what to keep or throw away, and
grave in a few token pieces from the original to make sure you don’t
have to pay VAT. But sometimes alas, that process too can be fraught
with diffi culty, especially if it ends like the replication of Britannia.
Regular readers will remember our occasional and probably wide-eyed reports on how
she was built in Archangel, northern Russia, from 1993 to a launch and tow around the
North Cape to Son in Norway in 2009. There her champion Sigurd Coates ran out of
steam (fi scally) and let it be known he would sell her or take a partner, for around £1m.
I must confess that when I met the new owner in 2011, I had a double-take. I was
invited to meet Scott Ward at the Sube bar at St Tropez which is a good place to have a
friendly meeting but when he walked in I thought I’d happened upon the fi lm set of a
Robert Palmer video. Behind him traipsed in a bevy of young beauties toting their ipads
for all the world looking like slightly dressed-down extras from that song Addicted to
Love. While they draped themselves across the leather sofas and tapped their screen he
told us of this charity’s plan to fi nish the Britannia
project... bringing her to Cowes.
Was it too good to be true? If I’m honest it kind of
felt that way, even then. But the boat was towed from
Norway, placed in full view at Venture Quays and
then unceremoniously stripped by the team behind the multi million restoration of
Lulworth. Then suddenly the tent was in tatters and rumours started to abound the
project was stalling. Last year she was taken off to Hythe and now we hear the project
wants to build in aluminium, but not with the experts at Claasen or Holland
Jachtbouw; in Miami, Fla... where they can get a good price.
Sigurd Coates has seen his life-dream dashed, the 65-ton lead keel he put in was sold to
pay expenses some time ago and the Walsted craftsmen’s mahogany hatches he paid
£85,000 for were removed with chainsaws because they should have been teak. “I’m very
disappointed,” he told CB. “I sold her for far less than I was asking on the promise I could
sail her two weeks in the season. At the time our budget for getting her sailing was close to
£1m, for a mast and systems. I still hope they succeed but I think they were too ambitious.”
While we also remain hopeful it’s hard to disagree.
FROM DAN HOUSTON, EDITOR
A surreal moment in the Sube
“A bevy of beauties
draped across the
leather sofas”
SIGURD COATES
CB322 Editorial.indd 5 24/03/2015 19: