AN OWNER’S VIEW
“
By modern standards she’s
basic below decks but adequate.
Some choose a stripped-out racing
interior and others a comfortable
cruising set up. The Stella is like
sailing a heavier version of the
Dragon I used to race. With
modern deck gear it’s a pleasure to handle and light
enough to trail. Most owners manage any leaks
easily. We love having Timoa in the family and will
never sell her. We normally do local regattas and east
coast cruising.
”
Andrew GilmourCLASSIC BOAT FEBRUARY 2018 75W
elcome to a new series in Classic Boat,
aiming to highlight the ‘affordable’ classics- the many types of wooden boats that
you will find on the market for less than
wallet-busting prices. No matter how deep your pockets,
everyone loves a bargain, and an easily handled yacht, with
affordable running costs, simple maintenance and no need
to find extra crew, is possibly the greatest bargain known to
man. For less than the price of a secondhand car, you get
fun, adventure and satisfaction (okay, and the odd grazed
knuckle and moment of complete frustration) for as long as
you own and maintain her.
We have pegged our ‘affordable’ tag at a maximum of
£10,000 ($13,000 or €11,300), but generally the boats we
feature each month will be available for far less.
There couldn’t be a better boat to kick off the new
series than the Stella, an archetypal, small post-war British
cruising yacht. The Stella has it all – great looks, proven
sailing ability, good for racing and for cruising, solo or
with a family, for a day or for much longer, with proper
accommodation below. There is a steadily growing fleet,
with many in restoration (both professional and amateur)
and a great owners’ association.
The Stella was drawn by the English naval architect Kim
Holman as a ‘bigger Folkboat’ and the first, La Vie en
Rose, was launched in 1959. Just two days later she swept
the board so thoroughly at Burnham Week that some
questioned her rating!
The Stella was, according to our late technical editor
Theo Rye, “a careful piece of work”, with a fairly full
waterplane, higher than average beam and near 50 per
cent ballast ratio, creating a winning formula. They have a
reputation for being slippery in light airs as well as
standing up to the heavy stuff, yet that waterplane carries
enough buoyancy aft to take a full cockpit load without
squatting. The Stella has bags of freeboard, which is not
immediately apparent, as the clinker planking breaks up
the topsides visually. Those topsides also pave the way for
more accommodation below, while keeping a fairly
shallow lid over it.
This is a pretty boat and although it gives a little away
to the extreme elegance of the Scandinavian Folkboat
that inspired it, the gains in accommodation will be a
bargain many will settle for happily: you get a hanging
locker and galley, two good settee berths and two pipe
cots in the forepeak. By today’s standards, it’s savage,
but in comparison to yachts her size and vintage, the
Stella offers a lot here. Other advantages include
unusually good engine access and wide sidedecks.
It’s in the sailing that Stellas really please. They tack
nimbly thanks to the cutaway forefoot, accelerate
quickly and are easy to handle, with no running backstays
to manage and a transom-mounted mainsheet horse for
an uncluttered cockpit. As many owners have testified,
the Stella is quick when you want, for racing, and safe
when you want, for cruising, with the deep cockpit.
They are not perfect: they have a tendency to leak
more than some, due to their clinker build. One
correspondent noted a chorus of bilge pumps at the
Stella 50th anniversary regatta back in 2009, but this
can be improved by a number of methods, like
tightening the fastenings.
Running a Stella will be much in line with other
woodies of this size and vintage, but its size means
much of the maintenance is doable by the owner.
Suffolk Yacht Harbour, a hotbed of Stella activity, is
offering Stella owners a great annual package, which
comprises a summer swinging mooring, winter hard
standing and craneage each way, for £1,200 per annum.
For everything else Stella, contact class secretary Peter
Dyson: [email protected]£6,500 Alcyone, Stella No17, built in 1960
by Cardnell, mahogany on oak, restored
2011-2015. Price includes trailer
stellaclass.org£9,950 Acamar, Stella No19, built in 1960
by Cardnell, rebuilt 1990, restored 1996-9
with much work since
stellaclass.orgFree! Phaea, Stella No25, built in 1961 by
Tucker Brown, stored under a tarpaulin,
some frames and planks need replacing
stellaclass.orgThree on the market
STELLA
LOA
25ft 10in
(7.9m)
BEAM
7ft 6in (2.3m)
DRAUGHTT
3ft 10in
(1.2m)
SAIL AREA
338sq ft
(31.4m²)
DESIGN DISP
3.25 tonnes NEXT MONTH: Blackwater Sloop