Mako of Burnham

Mako of Burnham was built by Stebbings in 1959 and is an early example of an Alan Buchanan Brabant class sloop.

She was originally built for Mr L.B. Dyball, of Poole, and she was sailed by her owner in the 1961 Fastnet race (Class III), although she didn’t finish.

A few years later she was sold to a Mr John Bentham of London, and in 1980 was being owned by Major M.W.B Best R.A., who worked at the Kiel Training Centre in Germany. Today, Mako of Burnham is owned by Mr P. Fawcett and sails out of Heybridge Basin, Essex.

At some point the sail number was changed from 105 to 1912.

Brabant class

The Brabant class was designed by Alan Buchanan in the late 1950’s, and comprised of steel hulls from the Netherlands being shipped to Burnham-on-Crouch to be finished by Stebbings.

Measurements vary slightly from one example to another and those shown below are for Mako of Burnham, taken from the Lloyd’s Register of Yachts.

LOA 30.9′ LWL 24.0′ Beam 9.1′ Draft 4.7′ Sail area 400 sq.feet. TM 10 tons

At the time of the Brabant’s launch Buchanan had already been building steel hulled yachts for owners in Holland and elsewhere on the Continent for a decade or so. Then, in 1959, there was an easing of import restrictions which began to make it economic to import the bare steel hulls to the UK for finishing.

Some of the first few hulls were made by Tak Bros. of Raamsdonksveer, with 3mm topside plating, 4mm bottom and keel plating, and 4mm floors. At least one later hull was built by J.J. Beijnes of Beverwijk (for Tegerin). Although steel had been in use for a long time, its use for smaller yachts, like the Brabant, still caused debate in the yachting journals of the day.

Maid of Alderney

The steel hulled Maid of Alderney was built in 1958 and is an example of an Alan Buchanan designed 31′ Brabant class sloop.

Below decks there was a double berth in forepeak and two single berths in saloon, and another quarter berth. The Brabant has seagoing abilities and another Stebbings example, Tegerin, has made multiple Atlantic crossings.