Messing About In Sailboats

Great Sailors and Their Boats - Troubled Affairs, Part 3

Part 2.

At the far end of the spectrum of the relationship between Man and Boat are the tragic affairs. In a perverse way, they are probably the most interesting. One of the most famous examples were the cases Donald Crowhurst and Nigel Tetley’s relationships with their trimarans Teignmouth Electron and Victress in the Golden Globe race of 1968. They were identical boats and considered cutting edge speed machines that theoretically would win the race.

Crowhurst mortgaged his house and bet his business in constructing the boat that he thought would bring him fame and fortune. It was tricked out with the latest in marine technology manufactured by Crowhurst’s own company. To the outside world, his boat was a floating advertisement for Crowhurst’s genius, his business and the future of sailing.

Behind the scenes, it was a different story. The boat was constantly, behind schedule, not built to Crowhurst’s specifications and certainly not ready to cross the start line of the Golden Globe race by the October 31^st 1968 cut-off. 

Underway, the electronics never worked properly and the boat started to delaminate early in the race. She leaked like a sieve taking on water, very seriously in one pontoon. He knew early on that his boat would fall apart in the Southern Oceans. It was desperate. He just couldn’t do it and his boat as well his own abilities had let him down. Rather than face the shame and financial ruin of abandoning the race, Crowhurst had a different strategy. He stayed in the relative safety of the Atlantic radioing in false positions. These showed him still in the race. His aim was to sail in circles till the other racers returned to the Atlantic and then rejoin the race taking second in the prize for fastest time to complete the race. Well, that was his plan.

Tetley and his wife lived aboard their trimaran, Victress. He was the last to enter the Golden Globe race, practically doing it on a whim, quickly outfitting it for the circumnavigation. The fact that he was able to get her ready that quick was a testament to his Royal Navy training.  For most of the race his boat performed well. He started late but gained ground gradually. As racers like Chay Blyth and others abandoned the race, he found himself one of four competitors left and in third place. He knew that he wouldn’t win the prize to cross the line first as either RKJ or Moitessier looked like taking that. It seemed a certainty that Moitessier would also win the prize for fastest race.

Then a bizarre thing happened. In a spiritual epiphany, Moitessier abandoned the race, turned south out of the Atlantic and headed east for the Indian Ocean. There were three boats left: RKJ heading for home and line honors, Crowhurst who was ostensibly in third and Tetley in second place with a certainty of winning the prize for fastest time.

His boat had other ideas. He was in the Atlantic and on the last leg home when like Crowhurst’s, Teley’s trimaran started to delaminate. Thinking that Crowhurst was on his tail he pushed Victress too hard. She took on too much water and started sinking. Tetley was forced to radio for help, abandon his boat, his home and his opportunity of glory 1,200 miles from the finish. Tetley returned quietly home, was awarded a 1,000 GBP consolation prize and was pretty much forgotten.

Crowhurst, meanwhile was faced with a huge dilemma. With only RKJ left in the race, he could definitely claim the prize for fastest circumnavigation but he was horrified by the prospect. He knew that he would never get away with it. If he had come in second in the time race and third overall it was less likely that his logs would be scrutinized by the race committee led by an already suspicious Francis Chichester. Even then it was a big gamble. If he won the speed prize, his records would be pored over and he knew that he would be caught out. Crowhurst was a brilliant mathematician and had done a spectacular feat in calculating plausible false positions for months on end but he knew though that tough scrutiny would uncover his fraud.

In the end, was driven mad by the lie he had created. Had his boat performed he would most likely have completed the race. He would not have won but at least he would have kept his dignity. The shame and desperation was too much for him. His boat was found floating unmanned in the Caribbean. Crowhurst had thrown himself or fallen overboard.

Tetley’s story is less well-know but equally tragic. After the race  he took his consolation prize and started to build a boat called Miss Vicky with the intention of completing his circumnavigation. He was never able to raise enough to outfit her for the vessel. On a quiet afternoon in 1972, Tetley went to the end of his garden and hanged himself from a tree. He left no suicide note so one can only speculate why. It seems likely that the deep loneliness of his attempted circumnavigation had been especially tough on him. Followed by the desperation of failures and his sinking, one can guess that this as too much for him.

PART IV COMING SOON – HAS THE ROMANCE GONE

Great Sailors and Their Boats - Troubled Affairs, Part 2

Part 1

One of the most surprising relationships between Man and Boat was Francis Chichester and Gypsy Moth IV. Gypsy Moth IV is mythologized in England. She sits (sat? I think she may have been moved) next to the Cutty Sark at Greenwich, within spitting distance of the Maritime Museum and the Greenwich Meridian. She is a monument to Chichester’s circumnavigation and British maritime accomplishment.

In reality, Chichester had a very fractious relationship with Gypsy Moth IV. She was built for him with the single purpose of racing round the world.  She was long, thin, high off the water and light. At the age of 64 and in poor health, Chichester was very concerned that he could handle Gypsy Moth’s 54 feet for the hundreds of days his circumnavigation would take. He braved the longer waterline in the interest of speed.   

She should have been a delight but from the start it was a troubled relationship. She was a rocker. Even on her mooring, she would hobbyhorse, presaging perpetual seasickness for Chichester. She was very tippy. During her sea trials, she healed too far over in fairly moderate conditions and had a tendency to broach. Chichester was worried sick that she would capsize.

He had substantial weight added to the keel. So much weight, that it diminished her speed to that of a boat with a much shorter waterline.  So he had a boat that was longer than he wanted to handle that went slower than a boat several feet shorter. Not a great start.

During his circumnavigation, it is clear from his autobiography that handling and fixing the multitude of gear failures caused Chichester a huge amount of stress. It was rare that he spoke of Gypsy Moth IV with affection during the first half of his circumnavigation.

In the end, she did the job and with some significant changes to the keel length and rigging at his stop-over in Sydney, he made her easier to sail on the homeward leg, even surviving a capsize in the Southern Pacific.

I still find it surprising that a boat that is generally regarded as a symbol of the highest British sailing accomplishment, a boat that is more famous that Robin Knox-Joshnton’s Suhaili, let alone Ellen Macarthur’s boat, BQ/Castorama was actually a bugger to sail and worried Chichester sick.

PART 3 TOMORROW - TRAGIC AFFAIRS

Great Sailors and Their Boats - Troubled Affairs, Part 1

There is an old saying that the happiest day of your life is the day you buy your first boat. And the second happiest day is the day you sell it.

I can’t relate to this. I have only ever owned one boat, a very used Cape Dory Typhoon. She was 12 years old when we bought her, solidly built, fairly well-maintained, a little grubby and her sails were functional but old. My wife and I loved her. We gave her, her first name Alad (a contraction of our first names); we cleaned her up, worked on her teak, and then tried to clean the teak stains I had created.  We bought her presents like new cushions and a sturdy British Seagull outboard engine. Above all we sailed her. Every weekend we could, without fail on “lovely” Galveston Bay.  Never more than a day sail but she was our sanity and a very important part of our early marriage.

When our son came along, we sold her. It was a sad day. We were blue for weeks about it. We still miss her.

Since then, it’s been renting and reading. Chartering whenever we can and reading pretty much anything written about sailing (lately, especially the backs of the sailing magazines. At some point Alad II is going to happen).

Mostly I have been reading about the great sailing adventures of the single-handers: Chichester, Knox-Johnston, Slocum, MacArthur and even Donald Crowhurst, poor guy. The thing that struck me most about these stories is the range of relationships these sailors had with their boats.

Like love affairs, they come in many varieties, from the spiritual to the down-to-earth nature of a long solid marriage, from the troubled short-lasting affair to the tragedy of a flawed relationship.

At one end of the spectrum was Bernard Moitessier with his speed machine, Joshua. She was a model of functionality. Built out of steel with a telephone pole for a mast, not especially beautiful to look at but Moitessier had an almost spiritual relationship with her. In my view, Moitessier seemed have spiritual relationships with just about anything except living humans. Moitessier had the opportunity to be the most famous sailor ever. He had a shot at winning the first and fastest son-stop solo circumnavigation in the Golden Globe race of 1968. Instead, he abandoned the race and rather than return home to his real wife, he stayed at sea to be at one with Joshua, the sea and nature.

Then, there were the more down-to-earth relationships that Knox-Johnston had with Suhaili and Slocum with Spray. Like a comfortable long-standing marriage, they knew their boats well, what they could expect from them, cared for them and were grateful for what they got in return. Nothing too flashy or passionate, the relationships just worked, They weren’t especially sentimental about each other but like a good marriage it was based on trust. Man and boat, counting on each other, protecting each other.

PART 2 TOMORROW. – FRANCIS CHICHESTER AND GYPSY MOTH IV

Same Boat - Different Points of Sail

In my daily pecking around Flickr to bring you dramatic sailing pics, I have spent an inordinate amount of time at StevieB's gallery of shots from the Grenada Wooden Boat Regatta. One boat in particular fascinates me. I know nothing about her but she's a beauty from any angle.

 

 

Suhaili and IDEC

There is so much that is amazing about Francis Joyon's accomplishment. It's hard not agree with Magnus at Rule69's assertion that it's the most incredible feat in sailing in 20 years. 54 days round the world. Christ, he made it from Brittany to the Azores in two days.

It started me thinking about the  Golden Globe, the first solo round-the-world race in 1968-69. Robin Knox-Johnson accomplished the same 28,000 miles in 313 days.  The contrast could not be sharper. In 40 years, the same course is accomplished in 4-5 times faster. What does it say about the evolution of boat design?

OK, RKJ's Suhaili was probably the slowest boat to compete. Moitessier's steel machine Joshua would have overtaken RKJ if he'd stayed in the race. The trimarans could have won if the boats or their skippers hadn't fallen apart (more on that at Captain JPs' blog).

The Restoration of Aphrodite - Epilogue

Back in September, I blogged about the restoration of a truly beautiful motor yacht ,Aphrodite.  Aphrodite is a 74' Long Island motor commuter yacht originally built in 1937 to ferry the industrialist, Jock Whitney from his home in Manhasset to Wall Street. 

She was restored in 2003 by the Broolkin Boatyard in Maine. Her skipper and guy in charge of the restoration, Captain Kirk Reynolds had this to say:

It is great to see such interest in the "Old Black Lady". As captain and the restoration project manager for the owner, I can truely say she is a most remarkable yacht. Aphrodite has undergone several periods of neglect, a couple of referburishes, 2 restorations and finally a rebuild. A credit the original builders to have made her strong and used the finest of availible materials of the day. Thanks to the Purdy brothers and to a man with vision, Jock Whitney, who in 1936 had a dream and desire to go faster than his brother- in-law, and to another man with vision, Chuck Royce who understands the need to preserve history and undertook this salvage project. Special thanks to all of the Brooklin Boat Yard crew for a spectatular job. Aphrodite was a complete "rebuild". Though completely dissassembled she was always unmistakeably Aphrodite during the rebuild, with that sumptuous stern and clipper bow. True, all off her wood was replaced,(she does still carry a few wooden pieces) her hardware was restored and replaced and most of all her soul remained. Aphrodite lives on. Captain Kirk Reynolds

Thanks. It's great to hear from a real Captain Kirk!

What a Beauty! Havsormen from Sweden

Later this month is the annual St.Maarten-St.Martin Classic Yacht Regatta. This stunning 52ft Marconi cutter, Havsorman has come across for it. Originally built in 1937, she went through refits in 1987 and 2000. That has to be the prettiest teak deck, I have ever seen. I hope they win everything.

BTW: You should check out the regatta web site. There's a nice slide show of lots of other classic beauties.

Wharram Tiki 21

There's a set of plans for a Wharram Tiki 21 for sale on ebay.  It'd be perfect for where I sail, but, but, but, enough distractions in life - raising funds to build the replica HMS Beagle f'rinstance - without having a set of plans shrieking at you to build them and friends asking you if you've started building yet.

  For those not familiar with Wharram catamarans, his site is worth a visit.  This essay sailing - a last freedom -is especially worth a read.  Just don't blame me if you find yourself mooning over cat plans and second hand boat listings.

By Peter McGrath

Ticonderoga

Ticonderoga is a 80' Herreshoff ketch. She was launched in 1936 as Tioga and then renamed Ticonderoga in 1946. She wasn't designed for racing but for "genteel afternoon sailing". Her owners had other ideas and she went to set more elapsed time records than any other sailboat, even beating the 19th century clipper ships. I had fortune of sailing on her once and she is a thing of sheer beauty with a clipper bow, raked rig and stunning brightworks.

The restoration of Aphrodite

I don't often write about motor yachts but Aphrodite is a bit special.

Aphrodite is a 74' Long Island motor commuter yacht originally built in 1937 to ferry the industrialist, Jock Whitney from his home in Manhasset to Wall Street.  Beats the bloody train any day.

In addition to shuttling Whitney to New York, she was host to many of the gliteratti of the day, including Lawrence Olivier, Spencer Tracy - even a birthday party for Shirley Temple. During WW2 she was loaned out the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

In the 1960s she was donated to charity and was then passed from owner to owner and despite best efforts by her owners she fell into a state of dilapidation, almost beyond repair.  Fortunately, in 2003 she was handed over to Brooklin Boatyard who took the incredible task of restoring her to her past glory.

It was more of a reconstruction and her current owner thinks of her as a replica rather than a restoration. The process took 45,000 hours, painstakingly , taking her part, digitally cataloging every element of the boat, re-making every piece, including re-building her original white oak frames and replanking her in copper-riveted Philippines mahogany.

The only original pieces are some of the brass fittings like the window winders.

She was re-launched  in 2005 and is now kept by her new owner in Long island Sound.

Read on below for a more detailed and see some superb pictures of the reconstruction process. A joy for any boat nerd like me .