NEWS
C/O ARUNDELLSJAMES BOND IMAGES: CASINO ROYALE © 2006 DANJAQ, LLC & UNITED ARTISTS CORPORATION
COURTESY OF BBASALISBURY, WILTSHIRESailing stories at Ted
Heath’s old house
If you were going to host a day of stories from the last 50
years of yachting, it would be hard to beat Arundells as a
venue, once the home of sailing PM Edward Heath, winner
of a Sydney Hobart and an Admiral’s Cup series not to
mention the Round the Island Race – four times. Last year,
the salvaged bow section of the tragic wreck of his yacht
Morning Cloud III was unveiled in the house’s gardens.
Sailing luminaries including Sir Ben Ainslie were present
to speak and this year, the event continues in a seminar/
lunch format. Speakers will be Michael Boyd (commodore,
RORC), Jamie Matheson (co-owner of the Fife 19-M
Mariquita, recent winner of the Panerai trophy in the Med)
and Christopher Sharples (commodore, RYS). Members of
the Morning Cloud racing crews will also be on hand to
share their experiences of winning trophies with 'Ted'.
A light lunch and tour of Arundells is included in the £
ticket price, and at that price, we advise booking soon.
Tel: +44 (0)7921 800533, E: [email protected].Q& A
YVONNE GREEN
Principal of the Boat Building Academy
How many BBA graduates are now
working shipwrights?
We’ve run a graduates’ network since
2008 that has 225 members, most of
whom are working in the marine or
related industries. Some are on classic
yachts, some started their own
businesses, many are with big-name
yards, based all over the world.Why the furniture courses; are fewer
people interested in boat building?
People were so enthusiastic about
the woodworking part of the 38 week
course that it seemed crazy not to
put a course on for people who didn’t
want to go the whole boat building
hog (or so they thought).Once a student, always a student?
Students are valued in the community
for their skills and often become part
of the gig club, sailing club and other
things (including the ukulele band).Whose designs are most popular?
We’ve built boats by Iain Oughtred,
Paul Gartside, Andrew Wolstenholme
and Francois Vivier, as well as Alden,
Herreshoff , John Gardner and Gil
Smith. Everyone has their favourite.Are we in danger of losing
traditional skills?
The words ‘traditional’ and ‘heritage’
are used a lot these days, particularly
on funding applications. Traditional
skills safeguard the objects of
our heritage and build a
foundation, but they are a
starting point. People also needan understanding of new
technologies and materials and their
use in conjunction with traditional
skills. Pumping money into vocational
apprenticeships is great, but there is
a danger that good intentions are
compromised by the mechanisms
used to defi ne and deliver training.
We need to teach people how to
think and how to apply skills and
common sense to a range of work so
that we have a workforce for the 21st
century to work in diverse areas of
the contemporary marine industry.What is the most impressive boat a
student has built?
The obvious candidates are Gloéy, an
18ft (5.5m) Paul Gartside cutter built
by Dominik Gschwind and the class of
March 2012, and Daydream, a Roger
Dongray 20ft (6.1m) Golant Ketch
built by Keith McIlwain and the class
of September 2013. Both were
nominated for Classic Boat Awards.
There are many other contenders.Is there a profession that a large
proportion of students come from?
Some people are straight out of
school, others have backgrounds in
IT, engineering, marketing, forestry,
the police, the armed forces. Some
are lifetime sailors, some new to it.What is the point of the CB Awards?
Behind every great boat are great
skills keeping it afl oat. We
sponsor the CB Awards
because it is vital those
AwardsIN ASSOCIATION WITH skills are celebrated.James Bond yacht on show
The Spirit 54 that was featured in the James Bond
fi lm Casino Royale will be exhibited at the London on
Water event from 4-7 May, at St Katharine Docks.
The yacht, Soufrière, has been recently refi tted and is
for sale through Spirit’s brokerage department. She
will be joined by the new Spirit P40 coupé motorboat
at the event. Spirit Yachts CEO and head designer
Sean McMillan said: “The scene in which Daniel Craig
and Eva Green glide into Venice onboard Soufrière
granted her a place in British fi lm history."
The London on Water event is part of the London
Yacht, Jet & Prestige Car Show and features a
range of luxury brands from the car and jewellery
worlds as well as boats.
To claim your discounted ticket quote code SMOF
while booking via londononwater.comTicket
off er
londononwater.comQUOTE CODESMOF