18 CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2015Tell Tales
Classic Boat’s address:
Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ
For phone numbers, please see page 5Partridge at 130
Partridge is one of the most beautiful and best loved yachts in
the world. The story (CB125) of how she was found in 1980 by
19-year-old Alex Laird lying unrestored on the mudfl ats near
Tollesbury, Essex, and restored over 17 and a half years is a
legend of the yacht-restoration world. It’s a bit harder now (but
still possible) to fi nd great projects like this. In 1980, years
before the celebrated restorations such as Altair and Endeavour
had started, there were, on the East Coast, “old hulls lying
around just waiting to be restored.” And Alex had no idea of the
size of the project he had started.
She was drawn by J Beavor Webb as a ga cutter, and
built by Camper & Nicholsons in 1885. She measures 49ft
2in (14.9m) plus bowsprit and boom overhang. Partridge
sailed again in 1998, and she still turns heads at regattas in
the Mediterranean today, as she celebrates 130 years. She is
fast too, adding the Rolex trophy for overall winner at
Saint-Tropez at the end of last year to her cabinet.CB ARCHIVESDAN HOUSTONA press release on 8 March adds yet
another twist to the story of the
attempt to build a replica of
Britannia, the ‘King’s sailing yacht’.
Scott Ward and his team are now set
to build a new aluminium hull in
America. The team had originally
planned to fi nish off the yacht that
was started in 1994 in Russia by
Norwegian Sigurd Coates.
Coates was unable to complete his
dream and sold the hull in 2011. It
arrived under tow in Cowes in
February 2012. Since then the team
have been seeking funds. The original
attempt to raise £500,000 (for
interior design, systems and
engineering) via an internet crowd-
funding exercise failed, and work
faltered before the hull was taken to
Hythe in October 2013. There is no
word on the fate of that hull (mostly
pine with a GRP external sheathing).
The recent press release claims it is
“essential that the hull is made from
modern materials so that she will be
able to compete against the other
boats of her size/class”; a reference
presumably to the J Class, of which
there are currently seven (with four
more planned). J Class owners tend
to be multi-millionaires (Rainbow, a
replica of the 1934 Starling Burgess
design, is on the market for €10.4m;COWES
Britannia moves Stateside
or Endeavour is yours for a little
under €20m). The yachts are now a
far cry from the originals, sporting
all-carbon rigs, largely professional
crews and contesting highly charged
regattas in usually exotic locations.
Although Britannia was converted
from gaff to bermudan in 1931 to try
and rate as a J under the Universal
Rule, even after being “generously”
measured she was still technically out
of class; but being the King’s yacht
she was allowed to race. Built in
1893 under an entirely different
regime, it was remarkable that she
could just about hold her own with
the likes of Astra and Shamrock V in
the early 1930s (albeit with a little
help from the handicappers), buteven Britannia was outclassed by
1935, her last season, where she
failed to win a single prize for the
fi rst time in her history.
In August 2014 a new initiative
from the K1 Britannia team was
announced to raise £8m; they have
also recently announced that they
had established registered charities in
the USA and now in the UK, the
object of which is: “To advance the
education of the public in the
historical, cultural or nautical
signifi cance of any type of vessels
which are of historical, educational
or cultural importance.”
It will be interesting to see how
the plans for the new Britannia
evolve in light of these aims.Partridge
1885“It's essential the hull is made from modern
materials so that she will be able to compete
against the other boats of her size/class”CB323 TT 18-19.indd 18 24/03/2015 17: