44 CLASSIC BOAT OCTOBER 2016
Panerai British Classic Week welcomed as
distinguished a fleet as ever in 2016, including
three crews from the other side of the world
WORDS NIGEL SHARPCOMING TOGETHER
I
am sitting on the rail of a yacht in bright sunshine,
beautiful conditions giving us a 12 knot breeze
from the west. So perfect, I think to myself, this is
more like sailing in Sydney Harbour than the
Solent. My momentary reverie is broken by an
Australian accent: “Tecking!” Blimey – I look round to
make sure, and yes, there’s the Fawley tower and I can
see East Bramble cardinal. But I’m on a classic yacht
crewed entirely by Aussies and we’re sailing against
another two classic yachts crewed by more Aussies and
New Zealanders. This is Panerai British Classic Week- Just what is going on?
‘Three Sisters: identical for match racing’ read the
headline on the cover of the February 2015 issue of
Classic Boat, while on the inside pages there was an
article about the boats in question – Pegasus, Leopard
and Gryphis – which had been designed and built by
Morgan Giles in 1959 as sail training vessels for the
Royal Navy. They are now owned by David Foster’s
Chichester-based company Classic Sail.
Soon after the issue was published, Tim Blackman,
Admiral and founding Commodore of the British Classic
Yacht Club, was in Melbourne visiting his daughter, and
he took the opportunity to get in touch with Martin
Ryan, President of the Classic Yacht Association of
Australia (CYAA). Tim told Martin that there was an
opportunity to charter one or more of these boats to take
part in that summer’s Panerai British Classic Week in
Cowes. “We were really interested,” Martin said, “but
we needed more time to sort things out.”
The CYAA was founded in 1996 as a direct result of
the restoration of the 58ft 1894 New Zealand gaff cutter
Waitangi by a Melbourne syndicate. The Classic Yacht
Association of New Zealand (CYANZ) had been formed
around the same time and in the mid-2000s, the
relationship between the two associations grew closer,
with members regularly taking part in each other’s classic
regattas. So when the invitation to Cowes came, it was
entirely natural for the two to join forces.
They would charter all three of the Classic Sail boats,
two for the Aussies and one for the Kiwis, and
meanwhile David Foster of Classic Sail began a major
overhaul of all three yachts, ready for the 2016 season.
So it was that in July, 20 Australians and eight New
Zealanders arrived in Cowes, having flown half way
around the world to take part in Panerai British Classic
Week. It’s a long way to come for a week’s sailing, but
there was no shortage of takers when the idea was
mooted. The list grew longer after last year’s Panerai
British Classic Week, when in conjunction with the
Royal Yacht Squadron’s 200th anniversary regatta, it
attracted some of the best known classic yachts in the
world. Boats came from the Med and from the USA to
race against the UK classic fleet and the success of the
event sent ripples throughout the classic world. Ripples
which reached Australia and New Zealand.
The three boats would be skippered by Martin Ryan
(Pegasus), Doug Shields (Leopard) and Tony Blake
(Gryphis). All three have strong connections with classic
boats Down Under: Martin owns Mercedes III, which
was the top scoring boat in the 1967 Admiral’s Cup
when Australia won it for the first time. “I have had this
mistress for 29 years, and I’ve been married for 30,” he
said. “They don’t fight at all, and their budgets are
similar.” Doug belongs to syndicates which own the
1897 Australian-built Fife gaff cutter Sayonara and the
12-M Kookaburra. Tony, former chairman of the
CYANZ, skippers Waitangi, now back home in New
Zealand, and also regularly sails on the 60ft 1897 gaff
cutter Thelma. Doug was the only one of the three with
previous experience of sailing in the Solent, having taken
part in the 2001 America’s Cup Jubilee on Kookaburra.
All three skippers were full of praise for the RYS’s
race management as well as for the event overall. And
they enjoyed sailing on the Giles boats, refitted
thoroughly by David Foster and his team. “They are
lovely boats, beautiful on the helm, easy to handle and
surprisingly quick for their size,” said Tony.
If the visitors charter them again, which following
the success of their 2016 trip sounds likely, the yachts
will quicker still. David plans to replicate their
original, taller rig, with new wooden spars, although
the aluminium spars will be kept to allow conversion
back to the shorter masthead rig whenever the boats
are used for their other modern day role, which is sail
training with teenage crews.British Classic Yacht Club
PANERAI BRITISH CLASSIC WEEKRace report
over page“Next year
we will be
back just as
strong”
Martin Ryan