Classic Boat — January 2018

CLASSIC BOAT JANUARY 2018 69

CLARE LALLOWCLARE LALLOW

Above left to right: Admiral’s Cup winner Clarion of Wight ready for launch;

Clare Lallow; 8-Metre CA Nicholson-designed bermudan sloop Lothian,

built for Franklin Woodroffe in 1952

complex alarm system off at night, eager keystone
coppers tended to clamber in over the top, even though
they had a key for the gate! Security can’t have been
totally strict because Donald Longmoor can remember
watching both Morning Clouds taking shape: “On that
concrete floor with a few struts nailed to the ceiling,
these beautiful boats would appear – they really were
lovely work.” Peter Nicholson says that the “second in
particular was a really super boat; outstanding...”
Ian often volunteered as a crew member if you
commissioned a racer from the late 1960s onwards,
which was quite an asset. Heath described him as:
“Undoubtedly one of the foremost helmsmen on the
Solent.”
His first race in a keelboat, (Sybil’s X56, with his
cousin, skippered by bargeman George Abrook at Folly
regatta) was one such moment – as they hurled round
the harbour buoy, fixated on retaining their lead, the
bowsprit of a “big old fashioned boat” struck between
the mainsail and the backstay, ripping their mast right
out. Ian was 12 years old. Back home there was no fuss

• it had been “just one of those things”. The parental
  calm meant none of his natural competitiveness was
  stifled, when the next race came.
  I asked Ian to look back over his years at the yard,
  picking out the high spots, and there were many. In the
  1950s, beside many ISC scows he remembers the
  Nicholson builds such as the Jolina class, and especially
  Angelique which he crewed. In 1955 Lallows launched
  five of the initial six SCODs, starting with Caviare,
  although she didn’t get Sail No 1 because they drew lots
  for numbers. Then in 1961 Clare built himself a motor
  boat, which was launched as Zenobia following a family

tradition which started in the 1920s, with a gig from a

large yacht. Even Uncle Harry Lallow’s house carried the

name. Zenobia famously broke down by the Needles on

her way to Cherbourg and had to be towed ingloriously

back. Clare knew they had been very lucky, given a

defunct engine, in that place and that state of the tide, so

he added a mast to ensure “at least you could go

somewhere”, given the same dire circumstances. She is

Ian’s boat now. He has never used the sails, but his son

Charlie is eager to try them out.

Over the 1960s and 1970s, the ratio of boatbuilding

to servicing gradually shifted from 50:50 to an eventual

25:75. They had never earned much money on the

builds, but at least they had made life exciting. The

1960s brought a series of Sparkman and Stephens boats:

as well as Clarion, Firebrand and Roundabout, there was

Clarionet, Sunmaid V and Sasha. Olin Stephens came

over to supervise the laying out of the plans in the loft,

but it was far from an exact science: if lines were a

fraction out he would tell you to give “a little nudge” to

fix them. After the launch, sailing with Rod Stephens,

“the practical one”, was fascinating – he showed Ian

numerous ingenious little tricks and twists which made

handling a boat much easier.

Richard Field, historian of the XOD, says: “Lallows

brought post-war X building to a new high level and

made a superb contribution to our fleet.” As well as

constructing his own X boat in 1968 and racing her

successfully, Ian tells a story which demonstrates his

dedication to the class. In the racing season and during

regattas, they were available 24/7 for emergencies – if a

call came at midnight, they would turn out, no question

of it. Sometimes their patch-repair lasted a weekend,

X boat Mayday,

launched in 1968