Sail Number: 22
Type: Marconi Cutter
OISEAU DE FEU Specifications:
LOA: 68.04′ / 20.74m – LWL: 48.35′ / 14.74m – Beam: 12.99′ / 3.96m – Draft: 9.71′ / 2.96m – Designer: Charles E. Nicholson – Original Owner: Ralph Hawkes, commodore of the RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club) – Year Built: 1937 – Built By: Camper & Nicholson, Gosport UK – Hull Material: teak wood on steel ribs – Gross Displacement: 38 tons – Former Name(s): Firebird X, Flame II, Vindilis II – Website: https://www.oiseaudefeu1937.com/ – Club: SNG
Historical:
Sandeman– OISEAU DE FEU, formerly FIREBIRD, is one of the finest Nicholson designs built in his Southampton Boatyard. She had been ordered in 1936 by Ralph Hawkes, Commodore of the RORC.
The commission was inspired by the International 12 metre class, but the design also had to be comfortable enough for high seas racing and fast cruising. At 68 ft she is one of the last evolved of the British cutters with a deep V narrow hull and high ballast ratio.
In 1937 she finished third in the Channel Race and eighth in the Fastnet race in a fleet of 28 in the large class. Among her peers in this fleet were LATIFA, MAID OF MALHAM, BLOODHOUND and AILE NOIRE.
After World War II she was converted into a yawl and carried on racing until the 1950s. In 1963 she hoisted the French flag and changed her name to FLAME II, later becoming VINDILIS II. The yacht was renamed OISEAU DE FEU in 1970.
During her long time ownership by the Cointreau family she was to take line honours in Brittany right up into the seventies.
Impounded during the eighties, she was then abandoned but in 1990 she was bought and trailered from La Rivière du Bono near the Golfe du Morbihan to St Malo for a rebuild by Raymond Labbe with Guy Ribadeau Dumas as naval architect. Labbe is one of the most famous wooden boat builders in France, having built more than 20 Illingworth and Primrose designs such as ORYX, MAÏCA, MERLE OF MALHAM and many boats to Eugène CORNU designs among others. His last launch in 1992 was LE RENARD, a Surcouf corsair cutter (18th century). He also converted the British twelve meter IKRA, ex KURREWA V as a cruiser racer for Jean Redele president of Alpine Renault and rebuilt PEN DUICK for Eric Tabarly.
For the restoration it was most fortunate that the very accurate original drawings were still available from the Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Moreover the rebuild was not one of those where nothing remained of the original and with anodized aluminium, stainless steel and plastic replacing brass and galvanized steel outside, with the wood disappearing under one millimetre of two component varnish inside. Some changes were made of course but the main objective of keeping her construction commensurate with her 1936 design was largely achieved.
In June 1992, OISEAU DE FEU was re launched at St Malo and sailed the whole summer around Brittany, where her home port was La Trinité Sur Mer. She proved still to be very fast, lovely to sail and well capable of taking line honours. Indeed after several seasons on the Atlantic coast she returned to the Med – then after another change of owner in 2007 has continued to prove herself on the Classic Circuit.
Pip Lochrie, who sailed on this boat several times as a young boy with his Grandfather Michel Perroud, has made these observations from his own experiences.
“This boat is “formidable”, and is faster than the other boats of its class. It is very spacious in the cabins and is extremely resilient in stormy weather. It rights it self even after a very steep keel. It is a beautiful piece of architecture I would go as far as to say a floating palace. I loved this boat like it was me myself, it rides the waves like nothing else and is a dream yacht for all paradise seekers. It took me to paradise around the coast of France to Spain and Gibraltar, and I have seen such awesome sights out at sea around islands and coasts that it blows my mind. Only with such a great yacht would this have been possible, and I am now searching for the beauty I experienced as a result of the building of this fantastic, piece of boat building. It is the Boeing of the sea.”
Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Notable Guest, and Reunion Information):
Owner: (1937) – Ralph Hawkes, commodore of the RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club)
Owner: Hugh M. Crankshaw
Owner: J.E. Green
Owner: (1962-1973) – Pierre Cointreau, renamed vessel Flame II
Ownner: Henri Rey, renamed vessel Vindilis II
Owner: Michel Perroud, renamed vessel Oiseau de Feu
Owner: (1989) – Pierre Lembo, underwent restoration. New rig, carries 250 m2 of canvas upwind and 550 m2 downwind.
Owner: (2007) – Jean-Philippe L’Huillier, major restoration in 2008-2009