Classic_Boat_2016-04

16 CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016

C/O OCC

EMILY HARRIS

OCEAN CRUISING CLUB

Around the world

in an S&S yawl

This year’s annual Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) Award has

gone to Tom and Vicky Jackson, for an extraordinary run of

cruising and racing successes over 34 years, aboard their

40ft (12.2m) long, 50-year-old Sparkman & Stephens

inboard yawl Sunstone.

During that time they have sailed almost 200,000 miles,

including an 80,000-mile circumnavigation that included

rounding the world’s five great capes, an achievement for

which they were awarded the Barton Cup (also given by

the Ocean Cruising Club) in 2007. They have been living

aboard Sunstone since 1997. This year, they have also won

the Cruising Club of America’s Blue Water Medal, an award

they are due to collect on 4 March.

Meanwhile the Barton Cup has gone to Michael

Johnson of the yacht Gitana, for his successful two-year

transit of the Northwest Passage. Sailing from

Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, to Nome, Alaksa, the

passage took place in a period that was particularly

challenging due to ice conditions that sent many a

vessel attempting 'the passage' back to their home ports

for safety. Johnson is, like the Jacksons, a previous

recipient of an OCC award, having won the Barton Cup

in 1990 for his engineless east-west rounding of

Cape Horn in 85 days.

Q& A

Marine artist JAMES DODDS

You've said painting is like

meditation. Are you part of the trend

for mindful living?

Getting in the zone, as Grayson Perry

would say. When I am so focused on

what I am doing and lose myself in the

work, it is like meditation and for me

this is the most creative state of mind

to be in when working. Zen and the

art of painting boats.

Your take on reviewers?

They are expressing their own point

of view, usually saying more about

themselves than my work. However it

is great when their ideas coincide

with my own or make some new

connection I had not seen.

Your pet hates in boat design?

Reverse sheer or too much sheer, too

big cabin tops.

Are you a regatta man?

I enjoyed smack racing in the days

when it was less competitive. When

everyone was just pleased to see each

other, celebrating the fact that you

had kept that old smack afloat for

another year.

How goes your current travelling

exhibition, Wood to Water?

The first show was in a new art

facility, Firstsite, near my home town

and had a great reception. There is

something very nice about being

congratulated by the people that live

and work around me. The

Pioneer Sailing Trust parked its

freshly painted smack outside

the boat-like prow of the

building and had its apprentices

making oars in the gallery. The

exhibition is now going on tour for a

few years calling at the maritime

museums in Falmouth and Great

Yarmouth (and possible even

Bermuda but that's another story).

Does it provide inspiration that your

studio stands on an old yard site?

I like being able to live and work in the

same town as the shipbuilders of the

past did. Although I would rather the

site was still a shipyard. I also like the

idea of building something new from

the traditions of the past.

What is the importance of the

Classic Boat Awards, at which your

work will be shown and which

Messum’s is supporting?

I think it great to celebrate the

achievements of everyone involved in

classic boats. It also helps to build a

sense of community between the

lone boat builders working away in

far-flung places. The awards evening

at Messum's gives me an opportunity

to thank them for providing the

subject matter for my paintings and

linocuts and to celebrate the skill and

art of the boatbuilder.

Do your paintings romanticise

something that is plain hard graft?

I do not see them as opposites. Hard

work can also be romantic. I am

nostalgic about the past.

What does the boat

symbolise for you?

AwardsIN ASSOCIATION WITH Everything.

WORD OF

THE MONTH

Scent

Quick upward

motion of a

ship pitching in

a heavy sea. In

its old and now

defunct

meaning it was

the opposite of

pitching, the

quick roll when

a sea knocks a

vessel off

course.

Oxford

Companion

to Ships and

the Sea

LONDON

Enterprise at 60

The class that launched with a

night-time winter sail across the

English Channel (see last month) is

planning a spectacular Thames event

for its big 60th on 11 June. The

Tideway Race will travel from the

class's birthplace of Putney to a

finish line in the centre of the

capital. Forty dinghies are expected.

SOLENT

Contessa 26 at 50

Another venerable class, the Folkboat-

derived Contessa 26, will celebrate its

half-century with a special rally from

29-31 July in Lymington. So far, 20 have

signed up. First down was Round-the-

Island winner Rosina of Beaulieu.