Category: Latest Classic Yacht News

Sail Number: 121

Vessel Type: Bermuda Yawl

LOA: 70′0″ / 21.33m – LOD: 70’0″ / 21.33m – LWL: 52′6″ / 16.00m – Beam: 15′4″ / 4.67m – Draft: 10′5″ / 3.17m – Displacement: 43 tons – Sail Area: 2,195 sq ft – Yard Number: 808 – Hull material: Steel – Designer: William Fife III – Built by: William Fife & Son, Fairlie, Scotland – Year Built: 1936 – Current Name: Latifa – Original Owner: Michael Mason – Current Owner: 1976 – Mario Pirri – Location: Marine Traffic

 

Historical:

In 1935 William Fife III, aged 78, designed one of his most admired ocean racing yachts, Latifa. She was one of his all-time favourites and, when he died in 1944, his sisters had a gilded model made of her. To this day the model sits on top of the spire of Fairlie Parish Church. During World War II Latifa was used to search for German submarine bases in Irish waters.

Historical Correspondence: Michael Mason to William Fife 1935

• 19 August: Mason to Fife

“I am going to leave 8 Metre racing for a while, and I want to try an ocean racer and cruiser… My idea is a schooner, gaff rigged with ordinary topsails, built to ocean racing rules…something that would go in light weathers and could still be comfortable for cruising in heavy weather by shortening sail. I’d like to have her for ocean racing all summer and cruising in the winter – not in the Mediterranean but real long passages.”

“I should spend as much time as possible at the wheel myself and would like a good steering cockpit with as clear a view over the bow as possible.”

“For accommodation my idea would be four single cabins and a saloon where for racing two of the amateur crew could bed down. Foc’sIe accommodation for four I should think would be enough for the longest passages; I count myself as part of the working crew even if all the other passengers are passengers.”

“If she is what I hope she will be I want to sail her to windward through the Magellan Straights. I know that part pretty well – and back round the Horn in front of the wind. Also round the North Cape.”

• 22 August: Fife to Mason

“I would be glad to design and build a boat such as you describe and will prepare plans etc…No doubt an ocean racer would be a fairly satisfactory boat for ocean cruising but she would not be the best possible boat for this purpose. If after considering this you will let me know which purpose you consider more important I will plan accordingly.”

• 25 August: Mason to Fife

“Thanks for yours of the 21st which what I expected you to say.”

“I certainly want a boat built first and foremost for ocean racing, and to get the best according to the Rules. Everything else can follow suit to that… I quite see what you mean about best possible for Ocean cruising but I’d sooner have the racer who had done herself credit in races and then made a hazardous passage, than a slow comfortable ship that made her way easily and slowly over the same course… My idea in cruising will be as small a crew as possible over hard voyages. For the racing I should of course have any number of amateurs all content to live anyhow and sleep anywhere.”

• 5 October: Fife to Mason

“I now have pleasure in enclosing the specification, and have today posted under separate cover prints of the accommodation plan and sail plan, The LWL is now 51 feet 6″ as compared with 50 ft which I had in mind when I indicated £7,000 as the cost of such a vessel, this accounts for the price being £7,250 quoted… With regard to the sail plan, the main mast is specified with a topmast to socket into the head. I have also shown on the sail plan a longer topmast and larger mainsail, this might be considered for the Fastnet or similar races. The main mast is specified of Oregon pine, with a spruce topmast. I think Oregon is preferable for Ocean work, a Spruce mast is best for racing… Two positions are shown for the capstan. If it is fitted in the aft position it might be useful for the mainsheet. It could easily be removed for racing… The woodwork in the saloon and owner’s accommodation is specified of mahogany, cedar or timber of equal weight, in order to keep down the weight of these, and the finish is probably most suitable for your purpose, as it is not easily marked and can be cleaned with a damp cloth. This is only a suggestion for your consideration.”

“I hope the drawings will meet with your approval and will be glad to amend them in any way you desire.
I am, Yours most faithfully, William Fife.”

 

Known Restoration History:

2013 – Beconcini Yard, La Spezia, Italy – New stainless steel standing rigging, topsides sprayed with Awl Grip high solid clear, the covering board varnished, a black water holding tank system installed.
2000-2001 – Beconcini Yard, La Spezia, Italy – New mast step structure, chain plates and teak deck.
1976-1977 – Beconcini Yard, La Spezia, Italy – Everything was stripped of her all machinery and electrics were scrapped. Bulkheads, partitions, cabin sole and all furniture were put ashore and numbered.

Known Racing History:

2013 – The Fife Regatta – Class 1: Latifa Winner
2009 – Vele Storiche Viareggio – the Gerry Zaccagni Prize Winner – Awarded For Meticulous Maintenance with Seafaring Prowess.
1939 – Fastnet Race – 2nd place
1937 – Fastnet Race – 2nd place

 

Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):

Owner: (1936) – Michael Mason
Owner: (1976) – Mario Pirri

 

Type: Herreshoff Ketch

LOA: 82’6″ / 25.15m – LOD: 71’1″ / 21.66m – LWL: 59’11″ / 18.26m – Beam: 18’0″ / 5.48m – Draft: 10’10” / 3.30m – Design Number: 49 –Catalog No. 38.5 – Hull Number: 2663 – Designer: L.F. Herreshoff – Original Owner: Paul Hammond Oyster Bay, Long Island – Current Owner: Private -Year Built: 1931 – Built By: Abeking & Rasmussen – Hull Material: Mahogany/Teak, Steel-Framed Composite – Gross Displacement: 59 tons – Mast Height Above Deck: Main 82′ Mizzen 58′ – Sail Plan: View – Sail Area: 3,004 – Flag: Malta

 

Current Status:

After three years of searching throughout the world the status of Landfall is now known:

https://classicsailboats.org/herreshoff-ketch-landfall/

 

Historical:

Designed by L.F. Herreshoff, as an ocean going racing yacht and possible further development of the Buzzard Bay line. In 1931 Landfall was built secretly in Lemwerder, Germany by Abeking & Rasmussen for the famous Oyster Bay yachtsman, and Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club member Paul Hammond.

Landfall was originally designed as a magnificent 77′ double-ender, but to comply with the rating rule at the time she was altered from the original plans, by the cutting off the graceful stern by 5-feet (The missing length was compensated for by a bumpkin 30 inches long, to which was sheeted the mizzen), leaving Landfall with a transom hung rudder, 5-foot long tiller (extending to within 20 inches of the mizzen mast), with a total three separate steering systems for safety purposes.

 

 

Christopher Eliot Paine – “Landfall had a very interesting history during the mid-to-late 1930’s, when she was based in Europe, my grandfather (Richard Cushing Paine) cruised her in the Med, Adriatic, Aegean, and Baltic — her captain in those years was Mike Cumberlege, a masterful British mariner who was (clandestinely) also an officer in British Naval Intelligence – he secretly used the Landfall cruises to map harbors and observe German naval forces in the above areas. My father and grandfather left Landfall and Mike in Italy just days before the German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of WW 2. Landfall was in Marseille when the Germans invaded France, and at some point during she was sunk with other ships to provide an antisubmarine defense of the harbor. Capt. Cumberlege went on to become second in command of British partisan commando operations in the eastern Med, was betrayed to the Germans by Greek partisans while attempting (for a second time) to blow up the Corinth canal, imprisoned and tortured in multiple prison camps across the Reich before being executed just days before the end of the war. An incredible tale, in which Landfall played an early and important part, gathering intelligence.”

 

 

Unique Features:

• Owner’s Cabin – The twisted stairs resides on the aft bulkhead, which leads to a built in bunk with a root bunk above (a variation of a pipe berth) proving to be an excellent sea berth.
• Landfall’s Bowsprit – An internal full length track in which slid a fitting taking the jibstay and tack inboard, making the lowering of the jib a simple and safe procedure.
• Three separate steering systems for safety purposes. Besides this factor of safety Landfall’s alternate steering positions had the advantage of shifting the helman just where was best.
• Two open faced stoves resembling fireplaces

 

 

Know Racing History:

1931 Transatlantic Race – Finished 2nd to Dorade

Crew First Watch – Paul Hammond (Owner/Skipper) Uffa Fox (Sail Trimmer) John Quincy Adams (Sparks – Electrician) Waldo Howland (Engineer) John Hallowell (Sail Maker) Ben Ames (Navigator)

Crew Second Watch – Brian Waite (Mate) Kim Norton (2nd Mate) Lawrence Pool (Ship Surgeon) John W. Stedman (Bosun) Lawrence Grinnell (Assistant Navigator) Joe Fredricks (Cook)

 

Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):

1989 – 2001 – Private (at the owners request)
1988 – 1989 – Mr. Jack Zimmer, Fort Lauderdale, FL
1978 – 1988 – Baron Max Engelhardt von Kienlin
1935 – 1940 – Richard Cushing Paine, Boston, Massachusetts
1931 – 1935 – Paul Hammond

 

 

Sail Number: 554

Vessel Type: Yawl
S&S “Landfall”

LOA: 44′ 0″ / 13.41m – LWL: 32′ 9″ / 10.02m – Beam: 9′ 9″ / 3.01m – Draft: 6′ 6″ / 2.01m – Design Number: 54 -;Designed: 1935 – Current Rig: Sloop – Original Displacement: 24,000 lbs (w/o engine) – Current Displacement: 25,000 lbs – Designer: Sparkman & Stephens – Built By: Percy Coverdale, Battery Point – Hull: Huon Pine/Houn Pine Frames – Original Owner: Guy W. Rex and C.E. Davis, Hobart, Tasmania – Current Owner: Michael Strong, Bundeena, Sydney
Yacht Club: Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania

 

Historical:

Landfall, built in 1935, is the first Sparkman and Stephens yacht built outside of the USA. S&S was then at the beginning of what was to become the most famous yacht design firm in the world. Olin Stephens, just 25 at the time, was extremely surprised to find his first overseas commission came, not from Europe, but from Tasmania. Landfall was commissioned by, Guy W. Rex and C.E. Davis, Hobart, to be an updated ‘Dorade type,’ similar to DORADE, but with a slight decrease in proportional beam. In Dorade the ratio of beam to LWL is 3.63 whereas in Landfall it is 3.36.

Originally constructed as a yawl, her mizzen mast was removed, and the main aluminum mast was moved aft 18 inches, leaving a perfevtly balanced helm to go along with here elegant lines.

Built by Percy Coverdale at Battery Point, the yacht has been sailed continuously ever since. Landfall finished 7th in the 1952 Sydney Hobart and at 40 years of age she competed in the 1976 race.

2014 Sydney to Hobart – To celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Rolex Sydney Hobart and her 80th birthday. Landfall, a 1935 Sparkman and Stephens designed sloop will be racing south again on Boxing Day.

 

Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):

Owner: (1935) – Guy W. Rex and C.E. Davis, Hobart, Tasmania
Owner: Michael Strong, Bundeena, Sydney
 

Sail Number: R7

Type: R-Class

LOA: 38.95′ / 11.87m – LOD: 38.95′ / 11.87m – LWL: 22.86′ / 6.96m – Beam: 7.10′ / 2.16m – Draft: 5.41′ / 1.65m – Displacement: 8,455 – Sail Area: – Hull material: Wood – Designer: Camper & Nicholson – Built by: Vancouver Dry Dock – Year Built: 1927 – Current Name: Lady Van – Original Owner: Syndicate of Vancouver Yachtsmen – Owners Website: https://www.ladyvan.com/ – FLAG: Canada – Location: Vancouver BC

 

Historical:

Boatbuilding Heritage Society of B.C. – For over 100 years Seattle and Vancouver, sister cities by virtue of their ocean settings and love of sailing, have been in fierce but friendly competition in yachting. This was especially evident at the beginning of the last century when sailing races between Canada and the U.S. were given front page coverage in both Vancouver and Seattle newspapers and the general public followed these races with the avidness that rabid hockey fans exhibit today.

This was especially true for the period from 1907 to the beginning of World War Two. Vancouver yachtsmen vied, without success, to best Seattle sailors. The first major battle was sailed in International Rule 29 footers (waterline length); at stake was the Alexandra Cup. The race was held in Seattle in 1907 and the U.S. yacht Spirit won over Canada’s Alexandra. In the second contest in 1908 Canada’s Alexandra bested the Seattle entry Spirit to win the Cup. The 1909 race ended in an acrimonious dispute over Seattle’s new yacht Spirit II and competition for the Alexandra Cup ceased.

Later contests were held in Universal Rule “R” Class boats; the glamour class of the day. At stake was the imposing Lipton Cup, a trophy that Sir Thomas Lipton himself established in the Pacific Northwest in 1912. Despite years of effort, Vancouver was never able to field a challenger capable of beating Ted Geary’s Sir Tom. Even the deep pockets and sporting passion of B.T. Rogers’s purpose built Turenga (frequently skippered by member Paddy Thomson’s grandfather, Ron Maitland) could never quite catch Sir Tom. In the 1920s, the Club tried again with Patricia, this time using a C.E. Nicholson (of Camper & Nicholson) design. Patricia was faster than Turenga but not fast enough to best Sir Tom. Other challengers followed: Riowna in 1925, Lady Pat in 1927; but Sir Tom, despite now being 15 years old, flourished unbeaten.

It remained for a syndicate of Vancouver yachtsmen to commission a new challenger, again designed by Camper & Nicholson. Lady Van, built in 1928 at Vancouver Drydock, measured just shy of 39 feet overall, with a waterline length of 22.9 feet and a beam of 7.4 feet. She was pet project of a yard more accustomed to building tugboats and barges. But in her first year of competition, she shaved Sir Tom‘s lead down to seconds. In Lady Van’s second season, she won the Lipton Cup for Vancouver at last, with Jack Cribb at the helm. After that, the white hulled sloop was purchased by Royal Vancouver Yacht Club member Eric Hamber who campaigned her to frequent victories in local and PIYA races with a variety of crews and skippers. Significantly, Lady Van won the Lipton Cup again in 1934, 1937 (with a woman at the helm, Dorothy Wylie), 1938, 1939 and 1940.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, R-Class racing in Pacific coastal waters began to die away. By 1942, defence regulation required all Vancouver yachts to stay east of Jericho base, and racing ceased completely until the end of the war.

In 1942, Lady Van was sold to Gurnie Richarson of Olympia, WA who needed special permission and guidance to navigate the mine fields while delivering the boat to the Olympia Yacht Club. Gurnie added an engine, stove, bigger deckhouse and a self bailing cockpit and used it to cruise in Puget Sound.

He sold her to Bob Watt of Seattle in 1946. Bob cruised with Lady Van, but also had a very successful racing record, racing mainly in the X-Class around Seattle and winning a number of 1st’s in PIYA regattas in the region from 1946 to 1954. He removed the cockpit and had to deal with leaks which he solved by wedge gluing the planking. He also removed some lead from the keel to improve her handicap rating.

Lady Van was purchased by Phil and Sam Peoples of Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle in 1957 who continued to both race and cruise her. The Peoples brothers did more work on hull planking and fiber-glassed the deck and mast and added temporary life lines, emergency life raft, running lights, and other changes to qualify to race in the Cruising A Class. Lady Van had a very successful racing record around Puget Sound and in PIYA events in both X and A Class and made a return visit to Vancouver where she placed third at the PIYA championships in 1964 .

Lady Van was sold to Howard Herrigal of Seattle in late 1964, and later to Scott Seefeldt. However, she ended up more hulk than hind on the hard near the Lake Washington locks, and was later moved to the Duwamish Slough near Boeing Field. There, in a dilapidated state and suffering from ill-advised attempts at repair, she was rediscovered by Don Martin – yacht designer, internationally recognized sailing jurist and measurer, Past Commodore of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, and a classic yacht racing enthusiast. On his mind was the re-constituted match racing series for the long dormant Alexandra Cup. The Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle owns the classic R-Class vessel – Pirate which was lovingly restored and looked after by members of the Seattle Yacht Club. What if the Alexandra Cup could be competed for in these beautiful craft of yester-year?

After four years of negotiation to purchase the Lady Van, Don was eventually successful in persuading the owner that she should be returned to her birthplace for a complete restoration befitting her history. On behalf of the Heritage Boatbuilding Society of B.C., the Lady Van was purchased and repatriated to Canada in 2009 was transferred to Jespersen Boatbuilding in Sidney, BC; there to begin a long, complicated process to restore her back to racing trim. Restoration was completed with her Re-Christening in June, 2010. After a summer of “tune-up” racing, Lady Van met and bested Pirate in Alexandra Cup competition in October, 2010.

 

Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):

Owner Guardian: (1927) – Syndicate of Vancouver Yachtsmen
Owner Guardian: (1942-1957) – Gurnie Richarson, Olympia, WA
Owner Guardian: (1957-1964) – Phil and Sam Peoples (Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle)
Owner Guardian: (1964) – Howard Herrigal, Seattle
Owner Guardian: Scott Seefeldt
Owner Guardian: (2009) – Don Martin (the Heritage Boatbuilding Society of B.C.)

 

 

Sail Number: 244

Type: Concordia yawl
ex: Shadow; Nike

LOA: 39’10” / 12.14m – LOD: 39’10” / 12.14m – LWL: 29’0″ / 8.83m – Beam: 10’0″ / 3.04m – Draft: 5’8″ / 1.72m – Displacement: 20,000 lbs – Sail Area: 860 sq ft / 79.89 sq.m.) – Original Owner: Sydney Robert – Original Home Port: – Current Owner: Mark Walter & Janet Norman – Current Home Port: Annapolis, MD – Year Launched: 1956 – Designed by: Concordia, #44 – Built by: Abeking & Rasmussen, Lemwerder, Germany, #5105 – Hull Material: Wood

 

Historical:

Concordia Company – “Llewellyn Howland established Concordia Company, Inc. in 1926. He named the company after a famous Howland family whaling vessel. In 1932 Llewellyn transferred the company to his son Waldo, and Marblehead racing celebrity, C. Raymond Hunt. They redrew the terms of the corporation to more closely fit with the boat business they had created and operated the company as a successful boat brokerage through the 1930’s.”

“In 1938 the company moved from Boston to Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and added Wilder B. Harris to its staff as a naval architect. But the year also brought a devastating blow to the company in the form of the Great Hurricane of 1938, which ruined many of the boats moored in Padanaram Harbor. Among those destroyed was the Howland family’s own ESCAPE, a Norwegian pilot boat designed by Colin Archer and built in 1890.”

“Llewellyn hired Concordia Company to design and build a boat to replace this loss. He wanted a daysailer that could race and cruise in the choppy seas and heavy afternoon breezes of Buzzards Bay. What started as design number fourteen, just another Concordia boat, became the classic Concordia yawl, one of the most successful and long-lived stock racer/cruisers ever built. When the name Concordia is mentioned, it is the yawl, with her distinctive star and moon covestripe, that comes to mind.”

“Concordia Company commissioned 103 Concordia yawls between 1938 and 1966. The German shipyard, Abeking and Rasmussen, constructed all but four of the yawls. Oyster Bay yachtsman Drayton Cochran commissioned the first Abeking and Rasmussen-built Concordia yawl, beginning the unique relationship that would develop between the two companies. At the time they were building Concordias, Abeking and Rasmussen were primarily involved in building commercial vessels. The company was able to produce the yawl at a very reasonable price, leaving many of the final details to the Concordia yard to complete. The yawls were built out of a relationship of trust and good will – Abeking and Rasmussen actually shipped complete boats to Concordia before receiving final payment.”

 

Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):

Owner: 1956 – Sydney Robert
Owner: 1963 – Charles Stromeyer
Owner: 1971 – Stephen P. Loutrel
Owner: 2009 – Mark Walter & Janet Norman