CLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2016 87CRAFTSMANSHIP
NORFOLK BROADS
Herbert Woods’ yard at 90
One of the first boatyards to encourage leisure
boating on the Broads celebrated its 90th birthday
in July with a summer fête, reports Maurice Gray. On
show were some of the original cruisers that
Herbert Woods designed and built in the 1920s and
30s. Herbert Woods joined the family boatbuilders
firm of Walter Woods and Sons in 1922, and built his
first hire cruiser Speed of Light in 1926. In 1930, he
took on a project to dig out two acres of marshland
by hand, to form ‘Broads Haven’ marina at Potter
Heigham, the village on the edge of the Broads,
which became the first of its kind in Britain. With
the Second World War pending, Herbert Woods
tendered and undertook work for the Admiralty and
Air Ministry and employed more than 300 staff to
build more than 200 vessels including motor
torpedo boats, air sea rescue launches, 52ft (15.8m)
harbour launches, 72ft (22m) motor launches and
the airborne rescue lifeboats. At the time of going
to press, the total raised was £1,400 and growing.The complete rebuild of a Fife III 12-M yacht would normally be the preserve of a big-name boatyard,
with a multi-million-pound price tag attached. Not this one. Retired cabinetmaker and car restorer
Allan Dyke started just such a project three-and-a-half years ago, with the help of some local
boatbuilders, on Fife’s 3rd-rule yacht Miquette (of 1933). Unbelievably, he has now almost finished.
Allan, who has more energy than most and sleeps only 90 minutes a day, said: “I bit off more than I
could chew! And I’ve used every modern material known to man. I expect to be held to account on
that when I take her to Cannes [Régates Royales in September] but I don’t care! I think it’s all quite
funny, really. I can’t believe I’ve actually done this!”. The project has been a family affair in Allan’s
workshop (all right, it’s a bit more than a garden shed) where he also restores Aston Martin DB5s and
Jaguar XK120s. We look forward to a visit when the boat is launched in September.C/O DYKE FAMILYPOOLE
A Fife 12-M in a garden shed
NETHERLANDS
Part-
complete
Herreshoff
for sale
The latest project
from Ed Kastelein
(the man behind
recent big schooner
projects, including
recreations of
Westward and
Atlantic) has been
on ice since the
steel hull was built
by Graafship Yachts
in 2012. The 1903
original was a
two-masted cruising
yacht, and won 17
trophies in a season,
a record beaten only
by the schooner
America of half a
century earlier. She’s
120ft 8in (36.8m)
on deck and on sale
through various
brokers at around
€1 million. It is a
unique chance for a
very special project
with the benefit of
a headstart.YANGON, MYANMAR
Restored schooner trials
It’s been a rapid turnaround for the 100ft (30.5m)
Dudley Dix-designed, 1990-built steel schooner
Dallinghoo, recently restored. We featured the boat
only five months ago, still covered in scaffolding.
Owner Trevor Appleby found her laid up in Malaysia
in a “poor state of repair” and had her brought back
to life at the Myanmar Shipyard, where skilled labour
costs about £8 a day, bringing projects like this into
a more realistic price bracket. The work included
adding a counter stern (she had a transom before),
much general finishing work, and a complete re-rig
to keep everything in proportion for her new shape.
Myanmar Shipyard also built the steel Wm Fife III
replica schooner Sunshine (102ft/31m) in 2004.
Dallinghoo is pictured here in Myanmar’s Mergui
Archipelago in the Andaman Sea.MAURICE GRAYC/O TREVOR APPLEBY