Candy

Cadet Candy, sail number 2552, was built by Harry Stebbings for his daughters Brenda and Jean.

The Cadet is designed to be sailed by two children up to the age of 17. It is a one-design class, originally designed by Jack Holt in 1947.

Burnham-on-Crouch hosted the first fifteen International Cadet Weeks, from 1950 to 1964. This week of competition was the forerunner of the modern-day Cadet World Championships.

A British Pathé news film of the 1959 Cadet Week – Junior Regatta – is available on YouTube. Candy can be seen in the dinghy park (0:42 and 0:52) and sailing (3:43). Under the class rules, this was the last year that Brenda, then aged 17, was able to race in Candy. There were 164 entrants that year, and over the week Brenda and Jean were placed 67th. One of the races was dogged by very light winds, and many entrants retired and accepted a tow back to the Corinthian. Brenda was up for a tow back as well, but Jean was made of sterner stuff and insisted they carry on. To some embarrassment they came over the line last, with a round of applause from assembled onlookers on the RCYC balcony.

The Week was won by Jacques Rogge, with his brother as crew. Count Rogge KCMG, an accomplished sailor, grew up to become an orthopedic surgeon and later in life became President of the International Olympic Committee. Three other boats from Burnham took part: 1598 Tiki, sailed by R. and G. Campbell; 674 Otter, sailed by R. Harden and M. Worthington; and 1688 Loftee, sailed by L. and P. Read. All four of the Burnham Cadets were from the Burnham Sailing Club.

Flum II

Flum II was designed for Sir John Holder, Baronet, by Laurent Giles and Partners. Required to be a cruising boat, the design drew on ideas from Giles’ previous projects, including Wapipi and Myth of Malham‘s light displacement hull. In Sir John’s own words (Yachting Monthly, November 1953),

I sought a solution to the eternal triangle. A man goes to sea because he likes to sail his on ship. A woman, so often goes to sea only to “get some place” and the quicker the better. Wishing to sail and yet not become a wave-widower, I went to Laurent Giles and Partners for a sports car version of their ocean racers. It must retain the seakindliness and sailing qualities and yet be as fast under power as a motor cruiser we had previously owned. Instead of a large number of berths and crew-lockers required in an ocean-racer, it must have motor cruiser accommodation for four in two compartments, with a separate lavatory between. I was prepared to give way somewhat in the matter of going to windward, in return for which I asked for draught which would allow me to enter shoal harbours, and comfortable headroom below.

The finished boat had a LOA of 36.9 ft, LWL 29.5 ft, beam 9.9 ft, and draught of 4.6 ft. Her sail area was a fairly modest 564 sq. ft.

Built by Stebbings, Flum II suffered disaster when she was launched for the first time. A decision had been made to use the Priors crane. She was raised and swung over the water, when the crane’s lifting cable slipped, causing a sudden jolt. At that moment, the whole crane tore away from its concrete base and the crane’s boom snapped in two and sliced into Flum II, which had dropped into the river.

Wilf Burton, a shipwright who worked at Stebbings, recalls,

I took photos of her launching. When the crane broke off the ground and the boom broke in half, leaving 2-ton top half laying at an angle from the top plank stbd side to one plank above the water line port side. Also there were two 3 inch steel rods still fixed to the crane body now bent over Flum II holding her tight to the quayside like a giant claw.

Fortunately, there were no serious casualties, although a couple shipwrights, who were below decks, had a narrow escape, and a woman had to be treated for a gash to her leg. The boat was towed down river to the Petticrows stage, where the crane boom was lifted from her and the boat hauled out to be returned to the Stebbings yard.

Laurent Giles came to inspect the damage, and the owner instructed Stebbings to carry out the repairs. Flum II was then relaunched from the slip at Creeksea.

Thank you to Wilf Burton for sharing his memories of Flum II, and to Peter Pearson for other details of the fateful first launch.

Sagittarius

Sagittarius is an Alan Buchanan designed ketch built in 1966. She was originally named Moshulu II. The original commissioner of the boat pulled out before completion (possibly because of a considerable overspend on her construction), so a new purchaser had to be found. She was bought by the Argyriadis family and sailed back to the family’s home waters of Greece.

During the 1980’s Sagittarius changed hands within the family and crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice, to Puerto Rico and Cuba, and the Mediterranean Sea from Spain and the Balearic islands, to Sardinia and the Turkish coast. In 1987 she took part in the Transmed Race from Toulon to Gibraltar where she took line honours.

She has been in the Argyriadis family her whole life, and is today back in Greece sailing in the Aegean Sea.

Gladoris

Gladoris was a 7-ton bawley built for Mr Vanner during 1902 and launched from the slip at The Pound in March 1903. (Thanks to Pete Pearson for the research).

Restive

Photos by Chris Van Der Schyf.

Built by Stebbings in 1948, the 30’7″ sloop Restive was designed by Nigel Warington Smyth O.B.E. for use by himself and his family. The requirement was for a modern cruising yacht, large enough for three people but designed for easy handling by himself and his wife Barbara.

The specification and cruising qualities of Restive were described in detail in earlier editions of Eric Hiscock’s Cruising Under Sail. The designer kept Restive for many years.

Restive has a couple of ‘sister ships’. Black Cygnet was built in 1949 by the Falmouth Boat Construction Ltd (which was owned by Nigel W-S’s brother Rodney Warington Smyth), and nowadays is based on the Tamar. Peter Robyn, by contrast, was built in Sydney, Australia in 1950, without the blessing of the designer, and currently sails from Kettering, Tasmania.

Restive has sailed all over the world and was last known to be in Vancouver, Canada, where her mast was restored (details of which are here).

Nigel Warington Smyth served with the Royal Navy during World War Two. For some time based on the Helford river, and alongside his brother and father, Lieutenant-Commander Nigel Warington Smyth was involved with the operation of clandestine contacts with France, by sea.

Among the activities of the Helford unit, Nigel, along with his brother Bevil, designed surf-boats of various types that could land on French beaches to extricate and repatriate downed allied airmen. The surf-boats were also deployed further afield to support the work of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and its agents.

The clinker-built, double-ended SN1 was 14-foot, and could be carried on a motor gun boat (MGB). The 25-foot SN2 was designed for HMS Minna and was very similar to the 25-foot SN6 surf boat. Many, perhaps all, of the SN surf-boats were built by Camper and Nicholson.

Nigel Warington Smyth was made a Commander of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in March 1945, for “gallantry and great devotion to duty in hazardous operations” (London Gazette Issue 37002).