55
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2019not over ambitious about that. We are probably at a natural
limit around the 200 mark. We don’t try to mimic what the
French festivals do but the general feeling, we hope, is similar
in that it is a welcoming, sociable festival. And I think we are
reasonably successful at it.”
For the past two years, Falmouth Harbour Commissioners
- who administer the Haven – have agreed that non-crew
visitors should be allowed onto the pontoons to have a close
look at the participating boats, albeit for limited periods of
time. “That’s going in the right direction but we would love to
persuade them to extend that a bit,” said Keith. “Classic boat
owners love showing their boats off , of course, and people
are interested in pretty boats.”
Soon after taking on Vivona and
getting her back in commission, Keith
and Lynne began to take her over to
Brittany each summer. But when, in
2013, they were storm-bound in France
and had to come home as foot
passengers on the ferry, they came up
with a change of plan: to keep the boat
in France permanently.
“We were spending more and more
time over there, especially because we
were both more-or-less retired by then.
And we never really liked the Channel
crossings. It was as simple as that
really.” So, for the last four years, Vivona
has been based in Chateau Marina in
Brest from where Keith and Lynne
(occasionally with guests) sail her,
typically for three weeks in May and
then for most of July, August and
September. “It works out quite well for
us at the moment but what this wretched
Brexit thing is going to do for us, who
knows? It could have a big impact on
our lives.”
With Vivona across the Channel,
Keith still has opportunities for some
Cornish Hillyard sailing on Maffi ck
which is based in Mylor. Alex and
Celia have already entered her in the
Classics this year but sadly, Keith won’t
be able to join them as he will be in
the Azores. The four-yearly Azores
and Back Race is run by the Royal
Cornwall YC and, when the last race
was held during Keith’s tenure as
commodore in 2015, he promised that he would go back
there this year to give some guidance to the race offi cer and
race director who haven’t been there before, a commitment
to which the other members of the Classics committee were
completely sympathetic.
But he has no doubt at all that those other committee
members will have everything in hand. “It is a great team
that works really well,” he said. “They have all got a specifi c
job that they just get on with. And Don Garman, the vice-
chairman, does an awful lot of work and is key to the event.
But not being here for my fi rst Classics regatta as chairman
is a great pity from a personal point of view.”
T
he Tullett family are serial Hillyard owners. Keith and
Lynne’s eldest son Alex and daughter-in-law Celia
have had a 1964 18-tonner, Maffi ck, for the past
couple of years, and before that they had Dawn
Lady, a 1960 9-tonner. And in 2004, their youngest son Peter
bought the 1974 13-tonner Vivona – the seventh-to-last
wooden boat built by Hillyards – as he wanted a place of his
own to live. A couple of years later, however, when Peter was
mid-way through an extensive restoration, his then-girlfriend
(and now wife) decided she would prefer to live in a house.
“The boat was virtually unsaleable,” Keith told me, “so Lynne
and I agreed to buy her and sell our GRP Barbican 33. We
think she came with a lifetime warranty
but Peter might not agree!”
Keith has recently taken on the role
of chairman of the Falmouth Classics
regatta. First held in 1987, the Classics
had lost a lot of its popularity by the
early 2000s and soon became a poorly
attended one-day event held immediately
before Falmouth Week in August. But its
revival began in 2013 when a committee
of Royal Cornwall Yacht Club (RCYC)
members, chaired by Henry Roberts,
took it over and moved it to a three-day
weekend, with two races on the Friday,
one on Saturday and a parade of sail on
Sunday, a format which has essentially
been retained since then. It coincides
with the Falmouth International Sea
Shanty Festival which had been
established a decade earlier.
Keith’s involvement with the Classics
began straight away because at the time
he was treasurer of the RCYC and was
about to begin a three-year term as
commodore. He has also been treasurer
of the Hillyard Owners’ Association for
15 years, but then he is a former
accountant. In 2014, Vivona was part of
a 40-boat West Country fl otilla which
visited L’Aber-Wrac’h, Camaret and then
the Douarnenez Festival where
Falmouth Classics had a stand and
where Keith “did various offi cial things”.
“This helped us to build a good
relationship with the people over there,”
said Keith, “and that has continued, as
quite a lot of their boats come over for
the Classics.” From an attendance of about 35 boats at the
newly-formatted event in 2013, attendance has grown rapidly
and last year was almost 200, bucking the trend of many
other sailing events – entries to date for 2019 are at a similar
level to those last year. About half the participating boats are
local, allowing most of the visitors to take up the 80 available
berths at Falmouth Haven with the remainder on nearby
swinging moorings or at anchor.
Does Keith have plans for any changes to the Classics?
“I don’t think so,” he said. “It’s really just a question of
carrying on with the same formula which seems to work
incredibly well. We would like a few more boats but we are
“We don’t try to
mimic the big
French festivals”
Falmouth Classics regatta
Vivona 13-tonner Hillyard