British Classic Week has announced a partnership with the Tall Ships Youth Trust, which will be the regatta’s official charity for 2021. British Classic Yacht Club commodore Jonathan Dyke said: “Young people need our support more than ever right now

We’re always fans of these wooden props from Dad’s Boats. They come in different timbers and this one is one of their larger props at 300mm (1ft) diameter. From £149; model shown £499 dadsboats.com Bronze, 1.5in, a thing of beauty. Ready to do an imp

The New York Bar Harbor 31 Scud is a rare best, an impossibly slender, long craft that at just under 50ft, was the smallest of racing yachts a century ago. These days, Scud, fully restored for the CEO of Prada, is an impressive sight to see. The old

Do you have memories of doing an RYA course as a young sailor? The RYA, which has been marking 50 years of its world-renowned training courses this year, has been collecting memories and anecdotes from sailors. The first RYA courses were introduced i

Gaff rig offers a feast of opportunities for creative sailors to cram on canvas, but, of all the options, two are akin to kicking in wind-powered turbochargers. If a schoonerman writes to say, ‘what about the gollywobbler?’ I’ll hold up my hands, but

I called again on the bakelite VHF and repeated: “We have white topsides, peeling varnish, patched, faded tan sails and a bearded old derelict on the helm who looks like Catweazle.” “It’s no good,” said the race officer. “I still can’t identify you.”

Tuzla, a suburb of eastern Istanbul, is the epicentre of the Turkish shipbuilding industry and home to the Naval Academy. The western shore of this peninsula that stretches out into the Sea of Marmara is also the home of Rifat Edin, a well-known figu

“It’s like a whole new world I never knew existed”, Lydia said as we pulled out of Penzance Harbour and set the sails. Mounts Bay is sheltered from the north-westerly, and we spend the morning ghosting through the wind shadow. It’s a calm, sunny morn

Maritime and military historian Ian Dear has spent a lifetime collecting facts, figures and pictures on the history of sailing and the two world wars. His detailed research and knowledge on the history of sail, the birth and spread of ocean racing, e

Restored by Michel LeMoigne, Designed Laurent Giles, Built 1935, LOD 25ft (7.6m), Rig berm cutter It’s exciting to see the return of the first vessel of any class, particularly when the class in question is as well loved as the Vertue. Andrillot had

When Oscar Scarpa decided to move with his wife and children from Venice to Milan in 1954, he made an innovative first choice that would guide the rest of his career. Indeed, the construction of his yard near the artificial lake of Idroscalo allowed

Built by Pieter van der Aa, Designed Sparkman and Stephens, LOD 55ft 8in (17m), Rig bermudan yawl When most people talk about building a boat for themselves, they have a kit dinghy in mind or perhaps, if they are ambitious, a small yacht, or somethin

The Yachting World Keelboat (which later became known as the Yachting World Diamond) was designed by Jack Holt and originally intended for home plywood construction. The plywood prototype, Zest, was exhibited at the 1961 London Boat Show. Bristol I w

Built by Spirit Yachts, Design Sean McMillan, LOD 44ft (13.4m), Rig bermudan sloop This might not look like the future; but the 44CRE is arguably the most ecologically advanced yacht yet built. Drive and all other systems are infinitely autonomous (i

Gadwall was one of six 30ft (9.1m) Xyris boats, designed by John Nicholson (the son of Charles E Nicholson who owned one himself in his later years), built by Camper and Nicholsons in 1939 and commissioned in 1945. During the 1950s she was owned by W

Restored by Harbour Marine Services, Designed and built by Saunders Roe, 1937, LOD 45ft (13.7m), Engines TSDY Saunders Roe, forever bound to 20th-century British engineering like the hovercraft, used to build boats like this Medina Class yacht to the

Designed and built by First Light Boatworks, LOD 26ft (7.9m) Finale is a hard dodger, ‘Pocasset’ variant of the popular, clinker Monomoy 26. Builder Woody Metzger delivered it to the customer in Florida, 2,000 miles from the yard in Chatham, Mass, ov

Uffa Fox was an unforgettable character and a great British yacht designer. Born in 1898 on the Isle of Wight, he grew up on the Cowes waterfront and completed a seven-year apprenticeship with SE Saunders covering boat and ship building and design be

Sean McMillan founded Spirit Yachts in 1993 after a decade designing and building classic yachts. Today, Spirit is the world leader in new, wooden Spirit of Tradition sailing yachts – they’ve built more than a few motorboats too. In 2020 year, Spirit

+44 (0)207 349 3758 Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk Johnson and Loftus Boatbuilders of Ullapool, and Alasdair Grant of Isle Ewe Boats on nearby Isle of Ewe, have joined forces to take on a big double project: the restoration of two historic herring

Acorn to Arabella is one of the boatbuilding projects we’ve been following on YouTube, thanks to the regular stream of high-quality videos put up by the builder, similar to Leo Goolden’s Tally Ho project and others. It is the story of two 30-somethin