Sails of the CENTURY

When it comes to buying new sails, classic boat owners may face a bewildering choice of sailcloths and panel layouts – Nigel Sharp offers up some clarity

Running on blind faith

Used correctly, Stuart Turners are completely silent and reliable, explains Dave Selby

SEA SOLACE

Revisiting childhood Brittany holidays with his parents, Roger Barnes fills in some the gaps from those early travels but finds most joy in the human encounters

LUKE CHAPTER 9

Pellew is Luke Powell’s 9th pilot cutter replica, and his biggest... by far

ROD HEIKELL - The pilot

The Kiwi who came to the Mediterranean, fell in love, and never went home

1930S-STYLE COMMUTE TO WORK

After some serious restoration it is hoped that Scout will motor on into the next century

AFFORDABLE CLASSIC Halcyon 27

Those of us who were old enough to enjoy a pub, drive a car, go to rock concerts and sail offshore on yachts in the heady days of the 1960s were lucky. We were pitched headlong into an era of change, liberation, thrills and occasional spills. It was magic.

Who Was Really The First To Discover America?

A historical replica voyage has proved that the Phoenicians may well have reached the shores of the new world a full two millennia before Columbus

SAVING ADLARD COLES' YACHT

Cohoe IV has been in the Osborn family for more than 30 years, but she was commissioned by none other than Adlard Coles

BOSUN'S BAG

PRACTICAL TIPS FOR THE TRADITIONAL BOATER

PARISIAN POWERBOAT PIONEER

Founded in 1905, Despujols was one of the rst great names of international powerboating. Its nal boats built in the 1960s mark the end of the golden age of varnished wooden runabouts and artisanal yards

TOM CUNLIFFE - THAT SINKING FEELING

Experience may trump theorising, but who thought plugging cracked seams with soap was a good idea?

ON THE WINDS OF THE WAR

General Patton’s plan to sail When and If around the world was never realised – current owner Seth Salzmann intends to full the boat’s destiny

SETH SALZMANN -Thinking big

After a lifetime love affair with schooners, Seth makes manoeuvring his 141-footer look easy

PAINT Finishing TOUCH

We asked Thames boatbuilder Colin Henwood, who teaches finishing to students at the Boat Building Academy, to give us a crash course in paint and varnish. In this second part, he tackles the subject of a perfect traditional gloss paint finish

GROWN GRAB RAILS

In the second of our ‘lockdown projects’ series, we make good use of a wooden windfall

10OF THE BEST SAILING DINGHIES

In years gone by, you’d have had a 12 or 14ft clinker-built, lug-rigged dinghy with a pair of oars, but there is now a plethora of boats to buy, or build from kit or plan

The Fife Dynasty

When people speak of Wm Fife III’s designs, you might be forgiven for thinking he had been placed on this earth by angels. In fact, he learned much from his boatbuilding father and grandfather

TALL SHIP IN TENERIFE

Shipping aboard a square-rigger for some sailing in the Canaries was a chance to learn some new sail names and escape the northern hemisphere winter

JACK GIFFORD Lines man

When he’s not writing his Classic Design column for us, naval architect Jack Gifford is usually designing boats – or prospecting for gold in the Congo

SET FOR ANOTHER CENTURY

Curlew has been through a lot over the last 108 years, but her owner’s philosophy was to make a strong boat even stronger

ITALIAN FLAIR

Meet the family who have built over 3,000 boats

SPEETOG PLIER CLAMP

Speetogs may sound like slimline swimming trunks, but mixing these toggle-operated tools with your Speedos could engender life-changing events. Compact as nutcrackers, the Speetog plier clamp is the true terrier of the toolbox, as tenacious as those eager jaws and muscular levers would suggest.

RENAISSANCE OF A MASTERPIECE

From her controversial start, this beautiful, heavy-weather champion from Fife III has found many lovers in a century afloat

Sailing at a social distance

Harking back to simpler times during enforced boatlessness

HOW TO WHITTLE WOODEN SPOONS

Sailors on long voyages would pass the time whittling spoons. In the first of our ‘lockdown projects’ series, we learn how

CLEAN SWEEP WITH A BROOM

Bought in 2011, Admiral VII has been a labour of love, if not a busman’s holiday, for cross-Channel ferry captain Steve Morgan

BACK WITH A FANFARE

It was love at first sight for Alessandra Della Betta, whose first boat – 105-year-old Tirrenia II – was relaunched with a star-studded party after a decade out of the water

BOSUN'S BAG

PRACTICAL TIPS FOR THE TRADITIONAL BOATER

Bluebird The first twin-keeler

The revolutionary twin-keeled Bluebird was met with disdain from sailors in the 1920s, but then the rest of the world caught on...