LETTERS
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Classic Boat, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place,
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email: [email protected]Bowie-isms
Huff memories
I was pleased to see my favourite magazine pay tribute to
my favourite song writer. I assume that was behind your
Rebel Rebel headline on the story about the Rebel ODs
(April issue). It was one of the better Bowie-isms I’ve seen
since his sad death. You even had a shot of two Rebels.
Are you looking for a (hunky) dory to write about next?
Sheila Morton-Jones, via emailIn reply to your correspondents last month, Brian
Byrnes and Roger Murray, we planned our refit of
Huff of Arklow with a limited budget and a target
of getting her sailing again and earning her keep.
This we have done, but that is not to say that we
think she is the finished article. The deck and
cabin top are good for now but we plan to
replace them in the future after she has been in
service for a while.
Then she will get a varnished cabin top!
I’m glad to say that this time round Huff had a
lovely welcome in Arklow. Jimmy Tyrell met us at
the dockside and introduced us to the harbour
master and also to his lovely family. Throughout
our stay they could not have been kinder. No
doubt I’m soft in the head but it felt like a proper
home-coming for the boat. We had been at the
Royal St George YC before that, another home-
coming and where she was extremely well
received. On top of the warm reception hosted by
members of “The George”, Huff performed well in
the Volvo regatta and relations of old crew
members were able to sail her.
At the Royal St George we met Ruth Heard,
(above) widow of Douglas, who was determined
to come aboard, despite some frailty and she was
pleased that the boat was just as it used to be,
smiling as she looked around. On the way out at
the companion she gave a little nod and said:
“Aye, and there’s Douglas.”
This restoration was funded jointly by HLF and
EISCA and other organisations, including NHS,
the Transport Trust and the Worshipful Company
of Shipwrights. Without their support Huff would
be in a poor state by now.
Dominic Bridgman, Mashfords Boatyard
Stinker of
the yearZyklon B
Your April word of
the month [scent]
got right up my
nose. Scenting a
problem, I pitched
into the Oxford
Companion to the
Sea to find that you
had indeed been
knocked off course.
Scend me another!
Dick DawsonDo you know why
Harrison Butler
called his famous
design the Zyklon,
which after all is a
lethal gas?
David ShannonTheo Rye responds:
Zyklon means
“cyclone” in German I
believe. As Harrison
Butler designed the
boats, (which were
developments of an
earlier design
“Cyclone”) well
before WW2, there
was no notoriety
surrounding the
word at the time.
Zyklon B was actually
a pesticide invented
in the 1920s and in
quite common use
before the war as a
de-lousing agent
(including in the
USA), before it’s
infamous role at
Auschwitz.
I suspect it is a good
part of the reason
why the design was
latterly referred to as
the Z4 though.November issue’s article concerning Whooper made brief
mention of a sister ship. This boat was Waipipi, built by
Morgan Giles at Teignmouth, Devon, in 1937. Interestingly
the boat was designed in 1927, one of his earlier works.
The date would account for the low freeboard. The
practice at the time was that it should be 10% of the
waterline length. Another item of interest is that Waipipi
was provided with a lead ballast keel of 4,180lbs (1,896kg).
Perhaps Whooper’s original ballast keel helped the
World War Two munition effort, to be replaced by iron
after hostilities ceased, as a cost consideration. While in
my early years in Berthon’s design office, I recall that the
post-war 8-Ton Gauntlets were specified with iron ballast
keels due to the rapidly increasing cost of lead.
Jim Hazel, SouthamptonWhooper’s keel
This fine inland one-design fleet has been strengthened
by new GRP modelsSTORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS
RICHARD JOHNSTONE-BRYDENREBEL
REBEL