BOB GRIESERTell Tales
Classic Boat’s address:
Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ
[email protected]Dennis Conner’s
40ft schooner
It might come as no surprise that Dennis
Conner, or Mr America's Cup as he is
known, having won the auld mug four
times, is something of a classic boat
aficionado, having restored the
Universal Q-Class yacht Cotton Blossom
in the early 2000s, not to mention a
string of others, smaller and larger.
This one, Fame, he acquired in 2010,
and had restored in an incredible four
months at the yard of Koehler Kraft in
San Diego. The big rush was necessary
to get her ready for her centenary bash
in 2010 at the San Diego Yacht Club.
Yard owner CF Koehler rose to the
challenge, adding that he is often
nervous of big jobs where owners get in
above their heads. Dennis, however, he
described as “quite aware of the science
of taking an old boat apart and then
getting your wallet fleeced”. It was
worth it though, as this picture, and our
article in CB268, shows. She's a 40ft
(12.2m) BB Crowninshield schooner built
by the Rice Brothers of East Boothbay,
Maine, in 1910.UK
Fairlie
finished
C/O FAIRLIE YACHTSFairlie Yachts, formerly Fairlie Restorations, was
liquidated on 29 February, due to a “completely
unexpected lack of orders in the short term,”
according to Fairlie founder Duncan Walker.
“We were left with two choices: build up debt or
stop.” It’s not the first time that the yard has
been in financial trouble, having faced
administration four years ago, after which it
changed its name.
Fairlie, whatever word follows it, has a
record in top-flight restorations, particularly
relating to the creations of Wm Fife III, that is perhaps unparalleled
anywhere in the world. We noted two issues ago in our Yard Visit
feature, that Fairlie-restored boats are known for “staying restored” and
being rebuilt to a strength that enables them to stand up to their
unforgiving modern rigs when racing in the Med and elsewhere.
“Unfortunately, we are better known in the south of France than we
are in England,” founder Duncan Walker told CB. Duncan’s business
partner, the naval architect Paul Spooner, told CB at the time of that
yard visit, albeit with a smile, that the company was putting itself out of
business with the longevity of its restorations meaning that their boats
do not need to return to the yard a decade later.Fairlie has been around in one guise or another since the
beginning of the classic yacht restoration movement and still holds
the entire original Fife archive. Its demise has been due to a
combination of factors, among them the dwindling stock of famed
big-class yachts to restore, a protracted job on its latest new-build,
the lovely Fairlie 53, a runner-up in our awards this year, and a lack of
work in general. One of the greatest names in the classic yacht
movement might be finished, but all is not lost: Duncan intends to
remain in Port Hamble as a boatbuilder under the Greybeard Yachting
banner while Paul Spooner will continue his design office, under the
banner of Paul Spooner Design Ltd.Fame
1910Follow the Classic Boat team
on Twitter and Facebook“We’re better known
in the south of
France than we are
in England”