10 CLASSIC BOAT AUGUST 2016BLITZEN
sailcloths place on a rig. The oak keelson was found to
be intact and sound, and was retained, but the stern area
was a different story. “You could see through the
sternpost,” remembers Ollie with a smile. As well as rot,
there was a serious case of gribble worm in this area.
The oak stern deadwood had given up the ghost as well,
and this was replaced, after a bit of a hunt, with a huge
piece of iroko sourced in Germany – “40 per cent
moisture and incredibly heavy”. The stem had been
badly repaired at some point and Oliver and the team
replaced it in laminated iroko. The centreline of the boat
was now complete. The next job, re-planking, was in
two evenly staggered layers of wood, 12mm of cedar
grip-fast nailed to the frames on the inside, then 22mm
of mahogany epoxied and scarphed and fastened with
silicon bronze wood screws. Inside and out were treated
with Epi-Seal, before the exterior was given coats of
high-built paint followed by a top coat.BLITZEN
DESIGNER
S&SBUILDER
Henry B
Nevins, 1938LOA
55ft 3in
(16.8m)LWL
40ft (12.2m)BEAM
12ft 6in (3.8m)DRAUGHT
7ft 9in (2.4m)SAIL AREA
1,356sq ft
(126m^2 )DISPLACEMENT
23 tonnesMeanwhile, re-decking job was going on, which
included templating and re-making the underside
asymmetric camber of the deck beams, as original, cut to
varying profiles. The attractive aluminium hanging knees
are original, as are the bronze diagonal strapping that
runs inside the hull and across the underside of the deck.
Once, it would have held the boat together, but now,
with the stronger build methods and, most importantly,
the 12mm ply base supporting the 10mm laid-teak deck,
superfluous but for the purpose of appearance and
originality.
All bronze on the boat, including the chainplates
which are as original in profile but internally
strengthened (a trick Oliver learned during his 18 years
under Tom Richardson at Elephant Boatyard), are in
C655 silicon bronze, marketed in the 1930s as Everdur.
Bulkheads, deck and stringer followed.
The forepeak was given a ceiling; sensible given that it
will end up, as do all forepeaks, as a storage bin, while in
the rest of the boat the frame bays are left empty. The
interior, much as it would have been originally, is fairly
minimal, but the rich, pale Brazilian mahogany gives it a
warm lustre.
The whole effect is, of course, a boat that is almost
too nice to touch for fear of leaving fingerprints, but
Ollie (who will act as foredeck man when racing) and
skipper Kade have already been pushing her hard in the
low-pressure systems we had late in May. “She went
really well in 18-20 knots,” said Australian skipper
Kade, whose previous commands have been high-tech
wonders like Windrose, Ranger and various Wally boats.
“She points quite high.” She’s Kade’s first ‘classic’
captaincy, and he is enthusiastic about using traditional
ropes and winches.
Blitzen will debut in Cannes for a training regatta,
then proceed to Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez for her formal
re-introduction to the world, who just might be treated
to the sight of lightning striking twice.Blitzen, seen here
on her way to
victory in the 1939
MYSTIC SEAPORT, ROSENFELD COLLECTION TranspacC/O SPARKMAN AND STEPHENS