Classic Boat – July 2019

Looking forward...

22-23 JUNE

SUFFOLK YACHT HARBOUR

CLASSIC REGATTA

Levington, Suff olk

Bermudan and gaff races

syharbour.co.uk

29 JUNE – 6 JULY

CLASSIC CHANNEL REGATTA

Dartmouth – St Helier – Paimpol

Off shore racing and partying for

classic yachts in this biennial regatta

classic-channel-regatta.eu

... AND LOOKING BACK TO 30 YEARS AGO

NEW EVENT

13-16 JUNE

VELA CLASSICA COSTA BRAVA

L’Estartit, Spain

Brand new classic yacht regatta

velaclassicacostabrava.com/en

JULY/AUGUST 1989 CB15

Editor Pete Greenfi eld kicked off his editorial with a great

joke: what’s the motto of the French Navy? You don’t

know? “To the water ‘tis the hour.” Now, say it in French:

“A l’eau, c’est l’heure.” To which the joker replies ‘allo

sailor! Inside the magazine was a stunning aerial shot of

the restored schooner Vagrant – built for the Vanderbilts

and restored in Antigua, where she lay abandoned, for

Peter de Savary. Along with other well-known restorations

of the time such as Endeavour and Altair, this laid the

foundations of the big-yacht restoration movement that

would come thick and fast for the next 20 years. Contrast

that with a history of the coracle just a couple of pages

later, in which we learn that, in 1987 at least, coracles were

still in use for net fi shing on the Teifi , Towy and Taf rivers in

Wales – “albeit in rapidly decreasing numbers”. That makes

it a fi shery that pre-dates Christ, a breathtaking thought.

SUFFOLK

IoW

SPAIN

29 JUNE

ROUND THE ISLAND RACE

Isle of Wight

The world’s most popular yacht race, for classics

and moderns alike

roundtheisland.org.uk