Sail Number: K 57 (original sail no.)
Type: 6 Metre Class
LOA: 36’2” / 11.02m – LOD: 36’2” / 11.02m – LWL: 23’6” / 7.16m – Beam: 6’0” / 1.83m – Draft: 5’4” / 1.63m – Designer: Charles Nicholson – Original Owner: Ronald Teacher, Rhu on the Clyde – Current Owner: Private – Year Launched: 1938 – Built by: Camper & Nicholson, Gosport, England (no. 457) – Hull material: Wood – Sail Area: – Displacement: 5 tonnes – Engine: – Flag: – Club:
Historical:
Fiona Brown/Tim Street – Designed and built by Camper & Nicholsons in 1938 for Ronald Teacher (of Teacher’s Whisky) of Rhu on the Clyde, especially for the British-American Cup Races later that year. After the war she appeared occasionally on the Clyde before being sold to Canada.
Her new owner in Canada, Sandy Martin, renamed her Hecate (KC14) and she joined the growing Six Metre fleet in Vancouver. Over the next few years she made her way south to Seattle via various owners who used her mainly as a cruising boat. She eventually ended up owned by Ann Lichtenwalner and Richard Langendoen, where she was later donated to the Center for Wooden Boats, a small maritime museum on Lake Union. She was minially restored and was renamed Erica.
Eventually the museum decided they needed to find a new home for Erica and she was bought and brought back to England by Richard Bond on 2001. She arrived only just in time to be re-furbished enough by the Webb Brothers to take part in the RSrnYC Metre Boat Regatta that summer. Later she was restored more thoroughly by Brian Pope at Penpol after which Richard Bond finished 6th in the 2003 Worlds at St. Tropez, really her best ever international performance up to then. Established as a very fast boat, she was sold to Peter Andreae who finished 7th in the 2007 Worlds at Cowes; 5th in the Europeans at La Trinité sur Mer in 2008 and with Robert Laird helming, finished 4th in the 2010 Europeans at Brunnen, Switzerland.
In 2016 she changed hands again and was extensively refurbished by Tom Owen in Fowey. Relaunched in 2018, she was raced at the European Championships in La Trinité sur Mer that year, coming 4th out of 20 competitors in the classic division. She is regularly raced in the UK and in Spain.
Provenance. (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):
- Owner/Guardian: (1938) Ronald Teacher, Rhu on the Clyde (First sail number recorded: K57 (1938)
- Owner/Guardian: Sandy Martin / Hugh Mann, renamed her Hecate, used from 1956 sail no.(KC14)
- Owner/Guardian: Ann Lichtenwalner and Richard Langendoen, donated her to the Center for Wooden Boats.
- Owner/Guardian: Center for Wooden Boats, curator and skipper Scott Rohrer, renamed Erica.
- Owner/Guardian: (2001) Richard Bond, England, Last number reported: GBR57
- Owner/Guardian: (2007?) Peter Andreae
- Owner/Guardian: (2016) Private
Resources
Lloyd’s of London
6 Metre Archives
6 Metre North America
Lithograph – The original hand-tinted black and white photo that inspired this design was first published in 1941 as an advertisement to raise funds for the British War Relief Society.
6 Metre European Championships
Half model of Erica. Presented to the Royal Northern Yacht Club by Ronald Teacher.
