CYNTHIA
Above left: John
and Peter
relaxing in the
cockpitAbove right:
Sailing off the
mouth of the
river Dart with
her new rig
closely matching
the originalnew mast would be about half way between the two
previous positions, and so a new mast step – 8ft x 1ft x
4in – was fitted on top of the new ring frames and keel.
A new stainless-steel plate – about 5ft x 10in x ½in- was fitted over the wood keel to act as a giant washer
for the eight renewed 1¼in aluminium bronze keel bolts,
with new plate floors (replacing the rusted wrought iron
ones) fastened to it.
RESTORATION WORK
The sheathed cedar deck fitted by Lallows in 2000 was
retained but some deck structures were removed and
replaced with a lazarette locker lid where the steering
position was; a larger cockpit; and a companionway
hatch, saloon skylight and forehatch from the 1903
Mylne gaff cutter Kelpie. “I swopped it all with Kelpie’s
owner for a week’s rigging work,” said Peter. “It
was longer than we needed so we cut one end off and
someone bought that from me to use as a dining table!”
The toerail which was “completely knackered and
spoilt the look of the sheer as it flared up to nearly
a foot at the bow” was renewed with 30-foot lengths
of teak acquired from Ashley Butler.
Mindful of the damage that had previously been
caused by fresh water leaks, Peter went to great lengths
to minimise any reoccurrence. The skylight hatches
are sealed permanently closed; and any water from the
lazarette hatch gutter, the cockpit (the sole of which
is which is too low to allow conventional self-draining)
and the cockpit lockers all drains down to a sealed sump
from which it is removed by an automatic bilge pump.NEW ENGINE
Up to now Cynthia had remained engineless, but Peter
felt it would be impractical to continue this way. He
selected a Beta 30hp diesel with a hydraulic drive
connected to a Sillette Sonic leg. His friend Andrew
Roberts, with whom he used to work at the Challenge
Business, did a great deal of investigation with plywood
templates to ensure it would fit into the very small space
available, and installed it. Paignton company Hercules
Hydraulics then made the hydraulic connections.The CB Getting Afloat piece said that one option
would be to “reinstate her to her full 1910 gaff rig for
an authentic, century-old racing yacht”. That is, more
or less, what Peter decided to do. He designed a rig with
a 57ft pole mast (to avoid the need for a topsail luff spar)
which is slightly taller than original, a boom which is
slightly shorter (partly because the mast is about 18in
further aft), and a bowsprit about the same length. Four
new spars were built (the mast and bowsprit in Douglas
fir, the gaff and boom in spruce), Peter made his own
rigging and Ratsey & Lapthorn produced the sails.
Various people have helped Peter with the work on
Cynthia, but four in particular: in the early stages John
Holden; then John Cuthbertson, a former Trinity Sailing
skipper who now has a workshop next door to Peter’s
yard; Andrew Roberts who, as well as the engine, helped
with several other technical issues; and John Powell
“who foolishly mentioned that he liked varnishing and
ended up doing quite a lot of it,” Peter told me.
Meanwhile Peter himself concentrated on “getting all
the bits and bobs together, painting, varnishing, helping
to build the spars, fitting quite a lot of the deck fittings,
doing quite a lot of the interior. And organising it all.”
The whole project has taken about six years. “It
didn’t matter too much as it was meant to be something
that I would enjoy,” said Peter. He clearly has done so,
particularly the working with his friends, and now he
is enjoying sailing his boat. Barely a week after Cynthia
was relaunched, he took her back to Cowes to take
part in the OGA 55th anniversary celebrations.
A few weeks later I had a brief but magical sail
in a light wind off Dartmouth with Peter and John
Cuthbertson and as I savoured the joy of steering her
to windward – with her original tiller, salvaged from
a store in Cowes – we talked about Peter’s plans for
the boat. “We’ll just use her for knocking about the
Channel,” he said. “Not for serious cruising as she only
has two berths although I am going to fit two pipe cots
up forward as well. But it would be good to get away
on her for a week at a time. And we will do the odd
classic regatta.” Now well into her second century,
Cynthia is well set to keep going for some while longer.