COCKLESHELL
breakfast while they waited for the flood tide. They had
averaged 45 miles each day. Cockleshell had seasons on
the Rivers Orwell and Deben, then in the Wash and at
Wroxham Broad, before returning to the Deben to spend
25 years racing at Waldringfield SC. Then in 1983 John
and Pat retired to Guernsey and handed Cockleshell over
to me. My first sail aboard had been at the age of six
weeks in my mother’s arms. From the age of eight I had
regularly sailed her with my father. Now a refit was
overdue and when Cockleshell was re-launched from
Larkman’s Boatyard near Woodbridge she was in top
condition, complete with a new aluminium mast, a
lighter replacement for the old pine mast made in 1947.
She came south to the River Hamble in 1989, where
she was tied up alongside an X One Design, the
Westmacott design that together with the Sunbeam will
have influenced AJ. His pencil-drawn lines still exist, as
does the original half model.
From the Hamble, Cockleshell races regularly, but not
until 2013 did she grab her moment of glory by winning
six races from six starts at Cowes Classics Week. To
make the point, she won again the next year.
Back in 1926, AJ Barber walked into Beauregard and
said to his wife: “My job’s finished, what about yours?”
Hours later baby Pat was born and since then, 29 April
has been a double family celebration. It’s Cockleshell’s
90th birthday this year. It just remains to be seen who
will take the helm to steer her into a second century.LOA 21ft 6in (6.54m) LWL 16ft 10in (5.12m)
BEAM 5ft 7ins (1.71m)
DRAUGHT 3ft 9ins (1.15m) WEIGHT 1425kgCOCKLESHELL
Sailing Cockleshell
Cockleshell is often confused for the X One Design.
In fact, Cockleshell is longer on deck by 10 inches
(250mm) but both have a similar waterline length of
around 17 feet (5.2m). The XOD has 9 inches
(225mm) less draft, weighs 120kg less and has a
lower displacement/length ratio of 258 against 295.
With her deeper keel, 200kg more ballast and 30sq
feet (3m²) extra upwind sail area, Cockleshell is the
more powerful boat, but this shows as a speed
advantage in light to moderate conditions, while in
15 knots plus of breeze it’s closer.Sailing Cockleshell in any conditions is a joy and while some boats feel dead in light airs she comes alive with virtually no
visible wake and with the ability to slip away from fleets of much bigger boats. In her first season AJ found too much
weather helm so he added a short bowsprit and pushed the jib forward. To this day and despite a more modern sail plan,
Cockleshell still has a healthy amount of ‘feel’ but when laid down by a big gust remains perfectly under control. Back when
boats had cotton sails, ‘full and by’ was sound advice, but modern sails allow one to rethink how to sail a classic boat. Even
so, pinching and over-sheeting has to be avoided and as soon as it gets lumpy the main traveller and sheets are eased to
maintain boat speed. AJ Barber would have loved lightweight alloy spars and for this reason I had no qualms about replacing
the heavy pine mast in 1984. It had already been re-rigged in 1975 with swept-back spreaders, chainplates further aft and a
taller fore-triangle allowing a large non-overlapping jib. With this set-up we tend to play the angles downwind for best VMG,
only running deep in more breeze. In over 20 knots the 23m² spinnaker becomes quite a handful with dramatic quarter
waves as the boat is pushed beyond hull speed! The cockpit and deck layout remain almost unchanged from 1926.Cockleshell’s
non-class status has
allowed unfettered
rig development