56 CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2015PORTSMOUTH REGATTA
race which, thanks to the lack of other traffi c on that
day, is allowed a traditional start and fi nish in the
narrow and normally busy harbour entrance.
The Victorys – neat black half-decker clinker
keelboats – are a specifi cally Portsmouth class (apart
from an offshoot fl eet in Gibraltar), brought into being
in 1934 to introduce level-terms racing to the area. The
hull design, summed up by CB’s Robin Gates as “a short
swept-up bow and sawn-off counter... designed to suit
the short, choppy seas of the Solent”, was derived from
the Bembridge One Design, originated 30 years earlier
with the help of the great Alfred Westmacott, but by
1934 abandoned by its home club. So when the
Portsmouth Harbour Racing and Sailing Association
was founded in January 1934 to introduce a one-design,
the Bembridge boat was a ready-made solution. Indeed
four of the fi ve original Victorys were in fact re-
registered Bembridge ODs. ‘Proper’ Victorys were a
little longer, at 20ft 9in (6.3m). Naval architect Sidney
Graham, the class’s fi rst offi cial measurer, prepared the
lines and drew up the specifi cations (which have only
recently been rediscovered). A bermudan rig, now as
then on wooden spars, was devised by Charles E
Nicholson. Most were built by Hampers of Fareham,
but quite a few also by Harry Feltham in his Old
Portsmouth yard. Harry’s boats had a reputation for
speed. “No-one could understand how they could go so
fast,” Eric Butler, one of his ex-apprentices once told
me, “but Harry had discovered there was scope within
the measurements to improve the wetted plane.”
The class’s fortunes have waxed and waned over the
years, but it has generally had an active fl eet of 20-30
boats. Building dried-up in the early 1960s but resumed
in the 1980s with four boats, Z69-72 by craftsman John
Perry, a former Harry Feltham apprentice who is still
active in his workshop near the Camber.
Then, in 2003 the club took the decision to build in
GRP, with Z73 Zafi rah (now Seagull). Six more have
since been built, with the latest Z79 launched last year.
The class members are getting younger again, and
more enthusiastic – particularly for the Tuesday and
Thursday evening racing.
This year’s regatta – shifted to make way for the
America’s Cup trials – is on 26/27 September.http://www.portsmouthregatta.org
http://www.porstmouthsc.co.uk
http://www.rnc-rayc.co.uk
http://www.victoryclass.org.ukPortsmouth Sailing Club, home of the Victory Class,
has always been in the thick of it, as far as local sailing
is concerned. Based at Point (aka Spice Island) in Old
Portsmouth, its tall clubhouse (formerly the French
Consulate) looks directly on to the narrow entrance to
Portsmouth Harbour. Its co-founder and fi rst
commodore, in 1920, was WL Wyllie, the marine artist
who lived just along the road at the turreted Tower
House. Wyllie painted a splendid name-board for the
club, which used to hang over its door, but is now
displayed inside the cosy, convivial fi rst-fl oor bar.
The club always was, and still is, very much part of
the local community – 90 per cent of its members live
within three-quarters of a mile of the clubhouse.
The Victorys aside, there are few classics among its
members these days, but when I asked the club’s
house manager Adrian Saunders about this, he replied,
“We have got one – Suhaili!” Sir Robin Knox-
Johnson, a near neighbour and member, describes it as
“a lovely club, very friendly”. He occasionally joins
the regular Victory outings, and helmed Z73
Seagull in PSC’s 2014 Christmas Day “Hot Turkey”Above, left to
right: HQ of the
Royal Naval Club
and Royal Albert
Yacht Club; design
on the Victory
Class yard; HQ of
Portsmouth
Sailing ClubBelow: Sydney
Graham’s
recently-unearthed
1934 drawings
of VictoryVICTORY
CLASSLOA
20ft 9in(6.3m)
BEAM
5ft 10in (1.8m)
DRAUGHT
2ft 6in (0.76m)
SAIL AREA
195sqft (18.1m^2 )
DESIGNER
SN Graham,
after Alfred
WestmacottCB323 Portsmouth Victory class.indd 56 24/03/2015 14:03