LETTER OF THE MONTH
SUPPORTED BY OLD PULTENEY WHISKY(^94) CLASSIC BOAT JANUARY 2018
Letters
I’ve enjoyed your coverage of the J-Class regattas this summer. Bermuda
was great but really to see them in Newport, where it all began in the 1930s
and also where the J revival began in 1989, was one of the most emotional
things I’ve seen in sailing. I believe Elizabeth Meyer set up the race between
Endeavour and Shamrock V in Newport in 1989. It’s hard to believe that back
then there were just those two and Velsheda afloat. The Newport race got a
lot of attention, with Ted Turner helming one of the yachts, even Jackie
Onassis came to look at them. Apparently there was some guy called Trump
trying to get on board too. The near-90-year story of the J-Class is really
one of the greatest ever. Newport is no stranger to famous yachts, but the
buzz during the Worlds event this summer was kind of reverential. Some
people say the modern Js are no more than superyachts, but it is the
realisation of classic designs that we’re talking about, not superyachts.
Peter McGee, Rhode Island, via email
Back when there were three
In search of
Richardson plans
Mackrill drawings
Has the Med
got it right?
In September I was sailing at Régates Royales Cannes
and witnessed the most beautiful array of boats I’ve
ever seen. After years of racing in the Solent and only
reading about the so-called ‘Med scene’, it was an
eye-opener to see it first hand at last. I have to say,
they have got something right down there. Firstly,
there are boats of all sizes, from Cambria and other
huge yachts with professional crews, down to family
tiddlers in pretty ordinary condition crewed by son
and daughter. Seeing it myself was a lesson in how
the Med scene is far from ‘elitist’, as some suspect,
even in glamorous Cannes.
There was another thing that struck me. Sailing
among the Cannes fleet out at sea, you could well
have believed the Second World War was yet to
happen. The boats, raced there under CIM, which as I
understand it rewards originality and penalises
modern appendages, are by and large kept in a
manner that their designers would recognise. If
really modern kit is seen, the boat carrying it is rated
accordingly and somewhat sharply at that.
As a lover of classic yachts and yachting history, I
find it hard to believe that CIM isn’t the best way to
ensure we maintain the classic boats we all love, in
the condition most of us like to see them. There’s a
risk we look back with regret if we go too far down
the path of modernisation, or optimisation, as some
call it. What puzzles me is that CIM is not used more
widely, particularly in northern European waters.
Guy de Morgan, Hampshire
Are we allowed to tear out the drawings
of Martyn Mackrill and hang them on the
wall? Simply wonderful!
Bernard Quinn, via email
Editor replies: You can find Martyn’s work
for sale on his website martynmackrill.co.uk
Does anyone know the
whereabouts, if it exists still, of the
Alexander Richardson collection
of yacht plans, in an archive, in a
private collection, an attic or
elsewhere? He designed Veruna
among other famous yachts. I am
looking to do a model of Iverna.
Malcolm Darch, model maker
PHOTO BY KOS