For two weeks in mid-June it looked as if those evocative black and white photographs taken by Beken of Cowes had come alive and the past was racing again. But this time the scene was in glorious colour, as the Richard Mille Cup brought a magnificent collection of classic yachts to the English south coast.
It was just like the days when King George V sailed his beloved Britannia: young, 20-strong crews hauling ropes on swept teak decks; towering spreads of washed-out buff sails; varnished spars glinting in the sun; and polished brass binnacles and ship’s bells.
Some things on these classic leviathans simply haven’t changed: the bronze oxidising to a deep venerable brown green, the teak weathering to a pleasant pale grey. The hulls often painted a broken white, with a cove line of gold leaf applied along their length accentuating the gorgeous sheer. The deep keels and heavy displacement that keep an easy motion at sea, a little like the suspension on an old American car. And a gathering of them together is still an arresting sight.
It all began in Falmouth on 10 June, where a small but glamorous fleet assembled of 11 yachts ranging in size from the 41ft 6in (12.5m) gaff cutter Cynthia, built in 1910 and recently restored by Peter Lucas in Devon, to the 185ft (56m) LOA three-masted schooners Adix and Atlantic, built in 1984 and 2010 respectively. After three days of competition in Falmouth Bay, the fleet raced the 65-mile passage to Dartmouth and then overnight, east again, to Cowes for three days of racing including a race round the Isle of Wight, before a final 100-mile offshore pursuit race to Le Havre.
A MAJESTIC SIGHT
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TAKING OWNERSHIP
WILL BRUTON ON UPSKILLING ON BOARD
SPECIAL REPORT
DAN HOUSTON ON CHANGES TO THE SHIPPING FORECAST
NAVIGATION BRIEFING
TOM CHENEY ON RACING ACROSS THE CHANNEL
NEW YACHTS
SOME EXCITING, AND VERY DIFFERENT, NEW 40-FOOTERS
21ST CENTURY TWINS
RM'S DISTINCTIVE NEW FLAGSHIP OFFERS AN ENTICING COMBINATION OF GOOD SAILING QUALITIES, SPACIOUS ACCOMMODATION AND TWIN KEELS AS STANDARD
UNLIKELY HERO
A CROSS-EUROPE ADVENTURE IN A 10FT DINGHY SEES SANDY MACKINNON NEARLY COME A CROPPER OFF WHITSTABLE’S MUD FLATS
HER OWN WAY
COLE BRAUER IS THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO SAIL SOLO NON-STOP AROUND THE WORLD. HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT HOW SHE’S SHAKING THINGS UP
THE MIGHTY ESSEQUIBO
JAMES AND JAYNE PEARCE DISCOVER THEIRS IS THE ONLY YACHT IN THE COUNTRY CRUISING REMARKABLE GUYANA
CAPE NORTH
CRUISING BEYOND THE ARCTIC CIRCLE, JANNEKE KUYSTERS AND WIETZE VAN DER LAAN ENJOY A SURPRISING SUMMER IN NORWAY
DOWN WINDING
WHICH DOWNWIND SAILS ARE THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR YOU? AND HOW DO YOU TAKE THE STRESS OUT OF SAIL HANDLING ON A TRADEWIND PASSAGE? TOBY HODGES QUIZZED MORE THAN 240 SKIPPERS IN LAST YEAR'S ARC TO FIND OUT