Mokoia

Mokoia was designed by Arthur C. Robb and built by Stebbings in 1948 for Major James Murray. She is a 10-ton auxiliary cutter with a LOA of 37’10”; LWL of 26’0″; beam 8’11”; and draft 6’1″. She was designed principally as a cruising yacht but proved from the beginning to be a very capable off-shore racer.

While she came second place in her first offshore race, the Harwich-Kristiansand, Mokoia is perhaps best known for her participation in the 1950 Bermuda and Transatlantic races. Accompanying Major Murray for these races was Wing Commander Marwood Elton. His daughter Jean was also aboard for the Bermuda race. They came 3rd Open in the Transatlantic Race and 10th in Class C in the Newport Bermuda Race. Accompanying Mokoia were two other British entries – Samuel Pepys and Cohoe. The book ‘North Atlantic’ by Adlard Coles gives an account of their races. At the time of the race Mokoia was using sails made by Cranfield and Carter, and Petticrows (of Burnham-on-Crouch) did the fitting-out for the long voyage.

Mokoia alongside HMS Glasgow at Bermuda

Mokoia (left) and Cohoe at Bermuda

From the left, Mokoia, Cohoe and Samuel Pepys. From ‘North Atlantic’, by Adlard Coles

At some point after, Mokoia was sold to the Watson family and sailed extensively from the Clyde, Scotland during the 1950/60s.

In 1972 she was sailed to Australia and records show that a boat of the same name took part in the 1972 Sydney-Hobart race, skippered by J.M. Tattersall. She finished 34th on handicap, out of 79 starters.

The Australian List of Shipping has her current home port as Sydney, Australia, and she also spent some time in Tasmania. She is believed to have undergone extensive restoration during the last decade or so.

For anyone interested, there was a Design Supplement article on Mokoia published in Yachting World November 1948.

Notes on the designer
Arthur Cecil (Arthur C.) Robb (1908-1969) was a British yacht designer working in London, England, after World War II. Born in New Zealand, by 1930 he was employed at yard manager at the boat building firm of Morris & Lorimers, Argyll, Scotland. During World War II he was a Reserve Officer in the British Royal Navy attaining the rank of lieutenant commander. It was at this time that he worked on the design of the airborne lifeboat.

Arthur Cecil Robb, M.B.E. was born in 1908 at Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, and was considered one of the great yacht designers of his generation. He came from a farming and sailing background, and gained considerable local fame as a helmsman. He also had a good deal of talent as a designer and builder of small yachts and dinghies. In the early 1930’s he was encouraged to make a living as a yacht designer, and, being in the Naval Reserve, chose to go to Great Britain where he became yard manager at the boat building firm of Morris and Lorimers at Sandbank, Argyll, Scotland.

At the outbreak of World War II he went to sea as a Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve Officer, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He worked in both the Admiralty and Air Ministry. In the latter he and Uffa Fox were concerned with the design of the airborne lifeboat.

After the war he set up practice in London as a yacht designer. His wife Susan assisted him in handling many of his contacts with prospective yacht owners and with firms that might supply the materials for the yachts he designed. He was well known throughout the world, but particularly in the United States, for his one-design cruiser/racers. Arthur Robb died after a long illness in London, England in 1969.

From the Arthur C Robb archive, Museum of America and the Sea, at Mystic Seaport. http://library.mysticseaport.org/manuscripts/coll/coll191.cfm

Kingcup

Kingcup, designer: Arthur C Robb, builder: Stebbings of Burnham

Kingcup was designed by Arthur C Robb and built by Stebbings in 1952 for a Burnham man Mr J.W. Ridsdale. Her construction was reported in the yachting periodicals, as was common at that time,

At Stebbings’ yard in Chapel Road work was proceeding on the 12-ton motor sailer being built for Mr J.W.Ridsdale. The deck and coach roof were in place and the interior fittings were being installed. The engine is a Ford V8 Mercury.
Yachting Monthly May 1952

Mr J.W.Ridsdale’s new 12-ton bmu. ketch rigged motor sailer to be called ‘Kingcup’ was nearing completion at Stebbings yard. She has the fore end of her coach roof raised and this coupled with bright yellow topsides will make her a striking looking yacht when she gets under way.
Yachting Monthly June 1952

My mother, who grew up in Burnham-on-Crouch, remembers seeing Kingcup on the river. She was always painted a striking yellow (Kingcup that is, not my mother).

And Peter Pearson recalls, “I certainly remember her myself. I have a recollection that she was up for a scrub on the pounds in front of the Anchor Hotel. You couldn’t forget her cadmium yellow topsides, she really was a beauty”.

Mr Ridsdale kept Kingcup for quite some time, but then the boat was sold and a subsequent owner, a lady teacher, brought the boat to Spain. After another change of ownership Kingcup passed into the care of the current owner, David Girling.

As mentioned in the Yachting Monthly piece, Kingcup she was originally built as a ketch. The Lloyd’s Register of Yachts records her later conversion to a sloop rig and mention is also made of modifications in 1957 and 1963 that had the effect of increasing her length overall by at least 5′. Details of the 1963 work were reported in Yachting Monthly,

The 12-ton Robb designed yawl ‘Kingcup’ owned by J.W.Ridsdale has been to William King & Sons [Burnham on Crouch] to have the iron keel removed to be replaced by lead and the bottom sheathed in Cascover by Leicester Lovells.

These days Kingcup sails out of Port de Sitges, Catalonia, Spain and is currently (April 2012) for sale.

Thank you to David Girling and Peter Pearson for their help bringing this information together.

Buttercup Royal

Buttercup Royal was built by Stebbings in 1950 and was an early example of Arthur C. Robb’s 35′ Lion class. She was built to the Lloyds 100A1 standard, as was her sister ship, Cloetta (also built by Stebbings in 1950).

Lydiette

Lydiette was designed by Arthur C Robb and built by Stebbings in 1949 for Lt.-Cdr. Anthony Spencer-Phillips OBE. She was similar to Mokoia, another Robb design built by Stebbings, but layed out differently below decks. According to the journals of the day Lydiette was a well known ocean racer and the Lloyd’s Register of Yachts of that time recorded her as being built to the 8 metre International Rating. Lt-Cdr Spencer-Phillips had been a British Naval Liaison Officer with the United States Forces during the invasion of the South of France.

In 1952 Lydiette changed hands and was bought by a Mr Hazzard of New York, with the intention of her taking part in the 1952 Rhode Island-Bermuda race. She was actually shipped in the same cradle used by Mokoia, another Arthur C Robb design from Stebbings, which had competed in the same race two years earlier (YM Jan 1952).

I’m not sure of the current whereabouts of Lydiette, although the Yachting Monthly piece from 1952 mentioned that Mr Hazzard might sail her back to his home country, Australia, at some future date. It is also possible that more information about her exists in the Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts.