Classic_Boat_2016-10

LETTER OF THE MONTH SUPPORTED

BY OLD PULTENEY WHISKY

94 CLASSIC BOAT OCTOBER 2016

Letters

I remember seeing Ian Proctor’s lovely plywood craft at the

1953 boat show. I was 20. They were selling at twice the price of

the competition with a waiting list of buyers. I urged my dad but

he got us a Silhouette instead.

Proctor revolutionised dinghy design – with the National 12,

Merlin Rocket, Wayfarer and the Topper among others – and he

followed his ideas with the pocket cruising yacht, the Seagull.

Built by Bell Woodworking of Leicester and available in

extraordinarily complex kits, the boat is like an overgrown

dinghy, with two berths and a galley, toilet, a straight stem when

all were curved, a long galvanised dagger keel with a massive

bulb on the end and an immensely wide transom, which gave his

dinghies stunning planing ability. The idea was applied to racing

yachts and contributed to many of the sinkings in the Fastnet

disaster. The wide transom lifted the rudders out of the water in

violent gusts, rendering the craft unmanageable.

The Seagull sulks in light winds, but in Force 4 or more she

tears away past yachts twice her length. She carries a spinnaker

but you have to be bold or daft to use it in strong winds.

Our Seagull sloop, Shearwater, was hit by a vicious

southeasterly gale at high water springs on our local lagoon. The

danger was a fetch of nearly half a mile, quite enough to enable

low surf to thrash her. She survived it, but was left in a deep

hollow created by the tide. The tide also swirled away the sands,

revealing a rock. After three tides, she landed on the rock. She

was holed and a mid-December gale threw her up in the air, over

on her coach roof, as the photo (below) shows. She was still

securely moored, but the dagger board burst down and sank in

the sand 10ft away. Club members moaned and muttered at the

danger to their craft, so three of us carved her up, took the

timber above high water and burned her. A fine ‘Up Helly Aa’

which Proctor would appreciate!

Graham Tottle, Gwynedd, Wales

Class of the free

I read in Letters, August issue, the question about the sailing

boat with the number Z/20 on the top of the mainsail. It must

be a boat of the Vrijbuiterklasse, which when translated from

the Dutch means literally ‘freeboater class’. She was built

around 1930-1945 and there is a new Vrijbuiterklasse club in

Holland. Visit vrijbuiter-klasse.nl

Floris J Hin, Amsterdam

Jolie well done

I’d like to congratulate you on your September issue. I do enjoy

Classic Boat every month but this month’s is among the best.

How wonderful to see Tom Cunliffe extolling the grace and

magic of Jolie Brise. I watched her come into Teignmouth

recently (see above) accompanied by an armada of welcome

boats. A sight which, to the amusement of my wife, even

brought tears to my eyes!

Henrik Peeters, via email

Editor replies: Glad it hit the spot Henrik and you can see a

stunning aerial video of Jolie Brise’s arrival in Teignmouth on

our website.

Was this the last

Seagull sloop?

VIV WILSON

GRAHAM TOTTLE