Classic Boat — January 2018

10 CLASSIC BOAT JANUARY 2018

GLENDHU

dorade boxes and other fittings. By the time the new

interior was complete, Glendhu’s second rebuild had cost

Ian four times her original purchase price.

“Like all boat owners, I went into the project

optimistically blind,” says Ian. “We knew what the

problem was, because Ian [Royston] had been absolutely

open about it, and we thought we knew how to solve it.

By the time we realised the true scale of the problem, I

was already committed. The cost of the restoration went

up incrementally, but I had absolute trust in Tim and felt

I was getting good advice and good value.”

Even then, Ian knew there was still more work that

needed doing, and two years later Glendhu was back in

the shed – this time at Will Stirling’s yard in Plymouth,

Tim having moved to Scotland – for the next stage of her

restoration: a new coachroof (teak topped, of course, and

with extra camber to give more headroom below),

rechromed deck fittings, and a rather fine whisker pole.

By the time she emerged from Stirling’s historic shed

overlooking the River Tamar, Glendhu was more new

than old.

And so, for less than the price of a new Shrimper, Ian

had the boat of his dreams: a truly classic looking yacht

with the performance of a Mylne cruiser/racer and the

aesthetic appeal of a Fife. Best of all, she didn’t leak.

It was an idyllic mid-summer’s day when I went down

to Falmouth to sail on Glendhu. Ian was in the water

giving the boat a pre-shoot scrub. “I find being in the

water incredibly therapeutic,” he said, as he dried off

with a towel. Despite being a big-shot real estate lawyer

in ‘real’ life, Ian has a surfer’s laid-back charm – and

indeed when not sailing Glendhu on the south coast, he

spends most of his holidays surfing on the north coast of

Cornwall, where he has a holiday home.

Yet, despite the amount of money he’s spent on

Glendhu, Ian isn’t precious about her: the bronze fittings

have toned down to a pleasing verdigris, the bare teak

decks are weathered grey and the varnish bears the patina

of a boat that is well used – sailed rather than polished.

Above left: you’d

never guess this

wasn’t her

original shape

Above right: a

Glen Class as

Mylne designed it

But the biggest surprise comes below decks, where the

somewhat cramped saloon and fosc’s’le have been given

an explosion of life thanks to a new set of brightly striped

cushions. In truth, it’s more beach hut than classic yacht,

but it speaks volumes about the kind of person Ian is and

the kind of sailing he enjoys. It’s not hard to imagine

lounging down below with a sea-cold beer, while the boat

bobs at her anchor in some idyllic Scillonian anchorage...

Ian had warned me that Glendhu was a light-weather

boat and becomes a bit of a handful in anything more

than a Force 5. There was no risk of that on the day I

sailed her, as we hunted the Carrick Roads for any breeze

we could find. Despite this, Glendhu moved with the

steady certainty of a much bigger boat – the benefit of

that long keel – and carried her way through most of the

calm patches.

But it’s not all light-weather sailing. Ian has also sailed

her in some truly awful conditions, including a Force 5-

on the nose from Fowey to Falmouth, which Glendhu

handled with very good grace – albeit she (and everyone

on board) was drenched from stem to stern.

Of course, it’s all wrong, this messing around with a

venerable old classic – a Mylne design at that! Yet there

are many other examples of the type still afloat and

racing in Strangford Lough and Dun Loighaire, and the

truth is it’s unlikely anyone would have devoted so much

effort (and money) to restoring a ‘normal’ Glen (lovely as

they are). What ultimately saved Glendhu was Ian

Royston’s vision of her as a mini-Fife, which in turn fired

up Ian Wilkision’s imagination and transformed her into

something worth saving. And the result is a delightful

boat that gives vast amounts of pleasure to her owner

• and anyone else lucky enough to sail on her or just see
  her sailing by.
  As Ian explains: “Before I bought Glendhu, I had
  spent a long time looking for a boat I could call a yacht: a
  wooden boat with lovely lines, teak deck – all things that
  make up a long-held childhood dream. Glendhu was and
  is that dream.”