Classic Boat

It almost goes without saying (especially to readers of this magazine) that it isn’t just important that a boat should sail well, she should look good, too – and, many would argue, so should the crew. While it is common practice for race crews to wea

The oldest yacht ever to have raced in the Sydney-Hobart classic makes a return to the event on Boxing Day, following her recent restoration by the son of a former owner. Katwinchar was built in 1904 by coopers employed by Ricardo Watney, a keen sail

The 11th UK Maritime Heritage Forum convened in Glasgow on 13 and 14 November, co-hosted by the magnificent Riverside Museum and Glasgow’s very own 'Tall Ship' – 1896 steel-hulled, three-masted barque Glenlee. They were assisted as always by the Nati

Welcome once again to the annual Classic Boat Awards in association with Classic Marine, where we celebrate the best in the sometimes unsung world of classic and traditional boatbuilding and restoration. The pages that follow feature everything from

We have South Shore Boatworks to thank for the Plymouth Rock’R – a rocking boat cradle designed for children aged 1-3 and their proud parents (or grandparents) to enjoy. The design is in the spirit and tradition of the Banks dories that were once use

If the 1908 Fife-designed and built 15-Metre Mariska were a car, what would she be? A Bentley Speed Six or Type 57SC Bugatti perhaps, or possibly an 8C Alfa Romeo? Comparison is invited by the fact that Mariska is coming up for sale in a February cla

There must be something soothing about wooden boats that so many of my friends’ children recall growing up to the sound of gurgling water, an inch or less of pitch pine/larch or plywood from their little ears. Jack and Mollie, Ella and Hannah, Hamish

I well recall a difference of opinion with one of my Yachtmaster Instructor colleagues some years ago. Our boats were rafted up at the end of a long day and my crew were taking in our colours according to the ship’s standing orders. “I can’t be bothe

Across the world now, bands of people are clubbing together to fund projects of almost every type imaginable: new inventions, build projects, philosophical movements… The sort of ambitions once reserved for the few, who had access to wealthy backers,

On the first day of our holiday, we were enjoying a coffee by the harbour in Sami, on the east coast of Kefalonia in Greece, when we heard the cry “Kraken! Kraken!” from local children. We rushed to the quayside and, sure enough, there was an enormou

James Dodds, the boatbuilder turned artist who took his drawings of working boats from the boatyard to London’s famous Cork Street and beyond, is having a major exhibition of his work at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. Titled ‘Wood to Water’,

On Saturday 1 August 1931, the prestigious ‘Wylie Cup’ of the Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club was won by Alfred Mylne in his ‘30-footer’ (9.1m), Medea, a repeat of his victory in 1927. At the same time the Teacher Cup, for what the press termed ‘smaller

The sea specialises in life-changing experiences. Classically, these come about as a result of some event on a voyage, but not always. Sometimes, the coincidences that shape our destiny as blindly as the turn of a playing card tiptoe in without gale-

Here’s a starter for 10: which British designer drew Britain’s most influential post-war offshore racing yacht; the most famous post-war transatlantic 25ft (7.6m) wooden cruiser; the first aluminium-hulled ocean racer; the first motor sailers to real

We were so impressed by the Peggy Bawn restoration project back in 2005 that we ran over 20 pages of editorial on the boat, in the form of a full-length feature and a nine-part series on her restoration. She’s an 1894-built gaff cutter of 36ft (11m)

Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk WEST COUTRY ROAD TRIP Catching up with boatyards in the southwest of England It is a long, winding Cornish lane that takes visitors to the idyllic riverside spot that is home to Treluggan Boatyard. This is the yard th

Dennetts is one of those yards that keeps a relatively low profile for the amount of work it carries out, perhaps because it, like many of the upper Thames boatyards, already has more work than it can handle. What goes on here though, in a modest col

Where many identical screws are required there’s a solid case for the cross-head screw and electric screwdriver, designed to relieve the drudgery of the assembly line. But where the craftsman’s touch holds sway, the slotted screw and hand-powered scr

BY ROBIN GATES The wooden-bodied toothing plane is an old cabinet-maker’s tool used to improve the key when glueing exotic veneers. Grooves forged into the near vertical toothing iron give rise to a serrated edge of tiny teeth, each routing a groove

Most couples choose toasters and cutlery, but Abbie and Aaron chose instead, a 46ft Fred Shepherd to restore Designer Nigel Irens drew a lovely dayboat for this magazine. Now, many years later, plans are available again Ellen Massey-Leonard takes her