CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2017 331963 ADMIRAL’S CUP
Above, l-r:
bringing in
the spinnaker;
the British Rail
wash basinhome port was Antibes – where Mike still lives – but
then he moved her to Cannes which he describes as “a
very classic-friendly port”.
The aft centreboard had already been removed when
Mike bought Outlaw, but its casing is still there, blanked
off at the bottom with a copper plate. During his period
of ownership he has gradually made various other
changes and improvements to the boat, including new
spars in the early 1990s. Those which came with the
boat (the original boom and the mast that replaced the
one that was lost in the 1965 Fastnet) had roller reefi ng.
Mike soon converted to slab reefi ng, but with external
reefi ng lines which “wasn’t particularly pretty” and so
he decided on new spars. Sparlight, which had made the
original spars and still had the drawings, had been taken
over by Proctor’s. Mike was keen to go with them, even
though the transport costs, as well as his desire for
original-looking stainless steel fi ttings which would have
to be specially made, and for gold anodising to maintain
the 1960s look, would make the spars much more
expensive than they would have been from a French
spar company. “But I had just sold Mariette for the fi rst
time and was feeling quite fl ush,” he said, “and I did
end up getting exactly what I wanted.”IMPROVEMENTS
Outlaw had two companionways – adjacent to each
other fore and aft, but offset to port and starboard – but
Mike replaced the port sliding hatch with a hinged Goiot
hatch and removed its ladder. Down below, the main
change is in the aft cabin, where a heads compartment
has made way for a double berth. He’s created extra
stowage by removing a pilot berth from the saloon. The
remaining heads compartment forward retains the
original fold-down sink of the type fi tted in British Rail’s
fi rst class carriages of the time.
The 36hp Perkins has been replaced with a smaller
60hp Lombardini unit, with a folding prop, improving
performance under sail and power. Among many otherimprovements, Mike has renewed the toerail, replaced
many galvanised deck fi ttings with stainless steel, and
made Outlaw “more Mediterranean friendly” by fi tting
opening windows in the forward face of the coachroof,
where there was plain Plexiglas before. “The refi t has
been going on for 33 years!” he said.
When I joined Outlaw at Cannes Régates Royales,
we had light rain and a good breeze. For most of the
race I sat out of the way on the aft deck – where,
facing forward with my feet in front of me, the reverse
sheer was particularly noticeable as it threatened to
topple me over backwards! – and watched Mike and
his long-standing crew sail the boat calmly, effi ciently
and with gentle humour. There was almost too much
wind for the number one genoa, but we stuck with it
on the upwind legs. However, when we saw a black
cloud approaching, the crew prepared the staysail and
the running backstays which oppose the inner forestay
loads: “The quickest way to change headsails without
being bare headed,” Mike said later. That cloud came
to nothing but during the latter part of the race the
wind direction changed radically, from southeast all
the way to the north.
Outlaw was fourth overall at the end of the regatta,
level on points with the third-placed 1969 S&S sloop
Maria Giovanna II but beaten by the tie-break
procedure.
Later Mike and I discussed Outlaw’s sailing
characteristics and I was interested to ask him about the
“violent yaw” which, in 1963, Yachting Monthly
thought she might have without her centreboard. I could
see she was “twitchy” downwind that day, even in a fl at
sea. Mike told me about a feeder race in strong winds
from Monaco to Cannes some years ago: “There was a
big following sea and quite a strong wind. It was really
exhausting and by the end of it my shoulders were
extremely sore.” But he added: “Outlaw is amazing in
big seas, she just slides off the waves. She is a very
comfortable boat at sea.”NIGEL SHARPCB353 Clarion/Outlaw.indd 33 26/09/2017 13:18