Wooden Ships Comments on this Danish Topsail Schooner
Built in Denmark by Ustrup of Vejle in 1934.
Originally built as a fishing vessel for gill net fishing, she is typical of the Danish designed vessels of the period with a bluff bow, sweeping sheer line and an elegant elliptical counter stern. Launched with the name MIAS, she worked out of Hvide Sande with the fishing number RI100. Sold to the UK in 1979 where she fished out of Sunderland, before moving to Maryport in 1987. She continued fishing until purchased by the present owners in 1996.
Converted to her current configuration by her shipwright owner between 1996-2000, she carries an eye catching topsail schooner rig and has an MCA Category 2 commercial licence for 12 persons. During the initial conversion all her hull fastenings were doubled up with approximately 10% of the oak hull planking replaced along with most of the deck beams, carlins and then a new deck laid.
Very nicely fitted out below decks with 8 berths including 2 doubles and 4 singles. Laminated teak bath in the heads compartment.
She has cruised over the last 25 years as a family boat and as a charter vessel, exploring the Irish Sea, Scotland, Ireland and Brittany.
A superb little ship that doesn’t need a large crew to handle her, ideal for continued charter work or sailing as a private yacht. She has excelled appearing in various films and TV productions with her rig making her very attractive to the productions crews looking for something a bit special. She also has the visual impact to command appearance fees for the various boat festivals around the UK where she is a regular attendee.
Wooden Ships Comments on this Laurent Giles Vertue V2
Laurent Giles Vertue No.2 built by E.F. Elkins of Christchurch in 1937.
This was the second Vertue ever launched after Andrillot, built by the well known Elkins yard who became prolific builders of Vertue yachts.
These early examples of the Vertue differ to the later boats that were more common and only 8 examples were launched. They have a slightly lower freeboard, more exaggerated sheer line and a lower coachroof with no doghouse. They are widely regarded as prettier boats than the later sisters, but have less volume inside and only sitting headroom.
The sea keeping qualities of these yachts is legendary, perhaps the most accomplished small cruising design ever built, the Vertue is a superb boat at sea and in heavy weather where they will out perform many bigger boats and give their crew an incredible sense of security and safety.
Sally II is built from excellent materials, pitch pine planking, lead keel bronze keel bolts and bronze strap floors, all of which will ensure her longevity.
Recent mast from Noble Spars and a good suit of sails.
The current professional owner has had the boat for 30 years, cruising first from the Solent around Brittany, the West country and the Channel then on the west coast of Scotland for the last 20 years. A 2019 survey gave her a clean bill of health from a structural point of view.
A very special boat with lots of detailed history, original blue book, builders invoices and associated documentation. She has been on the Lloyds register since new.
52’ gaff schooner with lines based on the Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters. Professionally bult Ferro cement hull, built by Skua Marine of Gweek, Cornwall for himself in 1989. She was not rigged and sailed until 2000.
Since being commissioned she circumnavigated to globe and more recently went on a 2 year Atlantic circuit between 2020-2022, sailing with a family aboard and regular supply of extras keen to join this stunning ship.
The boat has been a family home for the last 16 years in which time they have covered many thousands of miles around the world, proving the boat as a safe, comfortable and enjoyable floating home. The boat has been kept deliberately simple, from her marinized Fordson Major tractor engine to the manually pumped fresh water from a repurposed beer tap which means she is easy to maintain and a cost effective boat to cruise with.
The ferro cement hull is not to everyones taste, the strongest proponents of ferro are those who actually have the experience of owning one, but the boat has proven to be well built, very strong and a good sailing yacht with elegant traditional lines.
For those wishing to live and cruise a traditional boat on a budget, here is a ship which could be made ready to circumnavigate once again without much trouble, and is offered for sale at a reasonable and accessible price.
Wooden Ships Comments on this Knud Reimers Stor Tumlaren
Stor Tumlaren designed by Knud Reimers and built by R&A Hamper of Fareham in 1961.
The Stor Tumlaren is the larger version of the famous Tumlare, both with the notable canoe stern, curved stern post hung rudder and elegant low freeboard.
The pedigree of the Stor Tumlaren was enhanced by yachting author Adlard Coles and his yacht Cohoe I which featured in his book ‘Heavy Weather Sailing’. Coles was a big advocate of the design with her excellent sea keeping characteristics and ability to weather nasty conditions.
This yacht was interestingly built in Fareham, unlike most of these designs which were built in the designers native country of Sweden. Because of this she does not have the usual problem of galvanised frames which became such an issue for most Tumlares in later years. Her excellent build materials are a testament to the commissioning owner who evidently did not scrimp on the build costs.
A sensibly priced boat taking into consideration the likely need to change standing rigging and update the systems. A very fine pedigree yacht.
Wooden Ships Comments on this Knud Reimers Tumlare Sloop
Tumlare sloop designed by Knud Reimers and built in 1937.
Her previous shipwright owner started a major refit including the fitting of a new laid cedar deck, however a move abroad meant the boat was left undercover and the project not completed. Purchased in 2018 by the present owner, the first stage of refit was completed in 2018 and the boat was launched and sailed. Over the winter fo 2021-2022 she had another major refit period where the following work was undertaken:
Ballast keel removed, rebedded and fitted with new bronze bolts
Garboard plank and next plank up replaced with all new bronze fastenings
Stern post replaced
New laminated iroko stern knee fitted
Many frame heels replaced with new sections scraphed in
With recent rigging and sails, a refurbished road trailer and an excellent annual maintenance program in recent years, this is a very fine example of this exquisite Scandinavian keel boat with a well documented recent refit history so her next owner can be certain of the condition of the yacht and will not be faced with any major repair work in the coming years.
The Tumlare is known for her superb sailing characteristics and despite the low freeboard they are surprisingly capable and weatherly boats. The larger sister, the Stor Tumlaren at 32’, was written about extensively by Adlard Coles in his book Heavy Weather Sailing as a prime example of a good sea boat.
The yacht is currently ashore on her road trailer ready to be moved to a new home.
Wooden Ships Comments on this 40′ Bermudan Cruising Ketch
40’ Bermudan ketch designed by Irishman G. O’Brian Kennedy, better known for his popular little sloop the Lymington Slipway.
The keel was laid and the hull built by well known yard Harold Kimber, Somerset in 1964 but the yacht was never completed.
She was finally completed and commissioned by Tideway Marine, Salcombe in 1980 for a Hampshire hotel owner who cruised the boat to the Med and used her for light charter work.
In the present ownership the yacht has undergone some significant refit work, including a new deck in 2015, and has been cruised extensively with trips to the Med, Azores and numerous voyages around the UK and northern European coasts. Much of this has been done single handed proving her as an easily handled and safe yacht even in very severe weather conditions that she experienced.
A very tough and capable yacht that has proved herself in classic regatta events as well as long distance ocean sailing with a well documented refit history.
Length on Deck 40’
Length Overall 46’
Length Waterline 30’
Beam 10’6”
Draft 6’
Full coverage of her 2015 refit in the following You Tube video:
Wooden Ships Comments on this Sparkman & Stephens One Ton Cup Yacht
Design No.1710-C8 by Sparkman and Stephens, built by the Paul Molich Shipyard, Denmark in 1966.
The yacht was commissioned by Swede Claus Turitz, World Champion in the One Ton Cup of 1966 and she raced in the 1968 One Ton Cup championships.
Nicely maintained yacht with a completed new composite teak deck in 2017 and new Volvo Penta diesel engine in 2025. In 2024 the yacht was sailed 3000Nm from Stavanger to the North Cape of Norway and back.
An easily sailed and fast yacht with classic S&S lines. It is very easy to see the evolution of the Swan yachts by looking at these earlier S&S designs.
5 single berths, galley with ENO gas stove and separate heads compartment.
A fine yacht in very tidy condition. Wintered inside undercover.
Wooden Ships Comments on this Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Marguerite
Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter built by Rowles of Pill near Bristol in 1893.
The build was commissioned by pilot Frank Trott at a cost of £500, she went on to be a very successful pilot boat and regatta winner in the annual pilot cutter races around the Bristol Channel.
In 1900 she became known as the ‘boat with the new boom’ after she was fitted with the first example of the famous Appledore roller reefing system which went on to become commonplace on all pilot cutters, enabling the mainsail to be reefed easily even in heavy weather. She still sports her original Appledore gear on the boom, overhauled and improved with grease nipples to enable regular greasing of the moving parts.
After retiring from her working life, she became a private yacht and then charter yacht, eventually ending up in the Caribbean as a charter vessel. She was sold here and moved to Covey Island Boatworks in Nova Scotia where a major rebuild commenced in the 1990’s involving all new frames and planking, new deck and refitted rig and interior.
She was sold in 2000 to the current owners, experienced wooden boat custodians and sailors, who have cruised her across the Atlantic and back, around Britain and taken part in numerous classic yacht regattas and events. She is a regular fixture around the West country coast spending recent years between Falmouth, the Scillies and Padstow.
One of the largest of the surviving original Pilot Cutters, a well respected and admired yacht with a great pedigree and history. She stands apart from many of the pilot cutters with her large and comfortable cockpit which is ideal for cruising, and her spacious homely interior which has far better headroom than most of her contemporaries.
Wooden Ships Comments on this Laurent Giles Vertue V131
Laurent Giles Vertue No. V131 built by Robertsons of Woodbridge in 1965.
This is another example of a long voyaging Vertue, yet again proving their worth as superb offshore cruising boats. Her second owner set sail from the UK for Cape Town via the French inland waterways and Suez Canal. She reached her destination but not after being hit by extreme weather in the Indian Ocean. She changed hands in South Africa, bought by a Ron Atkinson in 1071 who cruised and raced her extensively up and down the east African coast up to Mozanbique. He renamed her Zingela after a Zulu warrior.
In South Africa her rig was changed for an alloy mast to a more conventional masthead Bermudan sloop configuration, differing to the usual Vertue slutter type rig.
She was then sold back into UK ownership and shipped home in 1993 where she has remained, being cruised around the south coast.
31’ Dee 25 designed by Peter Brett and built by Allanson & Son, Lancashire in 1960.
Offered for sale at a nominal £1000. Recently the owner has found rot in several planks in the topsides, in the deck edge and in the beamshelf. He does not wish to undertake this work and is selling the boat as a project. Lots of positives to the boat, the right person could do these repairs and have her back sailing in quite a short time.
Peter Brett is best known as the designer of the famous Rival yachts, and he evolved the lines of the Dee 25 into his Rival 31 which was largely the same boat but with a little more volume and built in GRP.
He designed the first Dee 25, Fair Rover, for himself. The design was featured in Yachting World magazine in 1951 and she proved very successful in his local Irish Sea races. 10 more Dee 25s followed all built at the same yard in Lancashire with the class named after the River Dee on which they were built.
No. 2 Rondinella is a name many people will know, winning the Cowes-Dinard Race in 1959 and the only boat in Class 111 to finish the 1965 Channel Race which was hit by severe weather conditions. She featured in Adlard Coles book Heavy Weather Sailing because of her superb sea keeping qualities.
Such was the success of Fair Rover and Rondinella, the yard went on to build another 8 boats to the same design.
The design has not excessive draft with a long keel for good stability limited over-hangs and a generous beam for the period. It is said that the drying mud berth mooring near where Brett lived on the Dee Estuary was an influential factor in the design.
The interior rigid ply bulkheads with their signature keyhole design are an integral part of the design and contribute to her strength. She stands up well to her rig and is remarkably fast.
This yacht has been altered slightly with a cutter rig and a small bowsprit. Her staysail is self tacking on a boom with a roller furling jib making her easy to handle in all weather conditions.
She had a major professional refit in 2000 and another between 2014-2016. In the first refit the deck was replaced and the interior refitted. In the latter refit many cracked frames were repaired or replaced, the engine renewed and a new mast fitted.
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