Craftsmanship
CLASSIC BOAT AUGUST 2016 99SECTION HEAD
SUB SECTIONEdited by Steff an Meyric Hughes: +44 (0)207 349 3758
Email: steff [email protected]
Yard NewsHARWICH PORT, MASSACHUSETTS
New Shepherd yawl
This is one of the most ambitious, unusual and attractive
amateur builds we have seen. American subscriber Lee
Scarbro, who has long loved the English style of classic
yachts, sent us photos of his recently fi nished project of
eight-and-a-half years. She’s a Fred Shepherd yawl
designed in 1929 and built in carvel white cedar planks on
all-steamed Angelique timbers. Lee, now 71, set himself
the retirement project as a means of ending up with his
ideal boat, rather than the most historically authentic, so
he has reduced the cabin size for a better aesthetic. “Part
of the idea was to have a boat that makes you look again,”
he said. “I like long counters and spoon bows, two things
that are trademarks of Shepherd’s work.” The aim was to
build a boat for the pleasure of sailing, rather than
voyaging. Lee’s long boat-owning career has included an
ocean-going ketch and several smaller self-built boats, and
this time he was after the biggest boat that he could sail
alone. She’s 30ft 6in on deck over a 22ft waterline.C/O PIONEER TRUSTBRIGHTLINGSEA, ESSEX
Smack re-build project
STROMNESS, ORKNEY
Apprentice to learn from
Ian B Richardson
Here is a photo of work ongoing to the 1893 smack Priscilla,
mentioned in Tom Cunliff e’s recent CB column. She’s a 36ft
(11m) Stones of Brightlingsea-built smack, later lengthened to
43ft (13.1m), and the oldest surviving Stones-built boat. The job
is largely a re-build, but one prized part of the boat that will
remain original is the silver half crown placed under her mast,
where it will resume residence upon her re-launch. We look
forward to seeing the end result.Fledgling boatbuilder (but experienced sailor) Jeff Mackie is the lucky
recipient of a new fellowship off ered by the Orkney Historic Boat
Society (OHBS) and Historic Environment Scotland. He will spend a
month with Orkney boatbuilder Ian B Richardson, known for his beamy,
clinker yoles that he shows at Beale Park, before undergoing the
47-week course at IBTC Lowestoft this September. He will then return
for a year with Ian. OHBS secretary Rod Daniel (a retired surgeon who
once removed a piece of rusty keel from the Yard News editor's
eyeball!) has told CB that they are still looking for some of the funding
involved in this. Pictured here is Ian's latest, and ninth, yole, this one a
‘South Isles’ yole 18ft (5.5m) long and 7ft 6in (2.3m) in the beam.C/O OHBS