They may call it the Crosshaven Traditional Boat Weekend, but if it hadn’t been for the presence of the Cornish lugger Barnabas, the traditional boats would have been on the sidelines in face of the impact of classic timber yachts like Maybird, Aline IV, Lady Min and Pat Murphy’s beautifully-restored Kinsale Colleen class Pinkeen, now based in Cork Harbour and well on the way towards her 80th birthday.
And through the weekend, the wooden classics in turn were outnumbered by vintage plastic fantastics. With the very first glassfibre keelboat being built in America in 1936, no-one can claim the material is new-fangled. Production of little boats was under way well before the end of the 1940s, and by the mid-1950s seagoing sailing cruisers and motor-yachts were being in in GRP on both sides of the Atlantic.
Vintage Nich 32 and the versatile Albin Cumulus, owned by RCYC's John Duane. Sailing in sunshine under the old prison walls of Spike Island was a timely reminder of the freedom we enjoy every day. Photo: Robert Bateman
The multi-purpose 1978-designed Albin Cumulus from the drawing board of Swedish designer Peter Norlin. Photo: Robert Bateman
MODERN CLASSICS
At the very least, they’re now “modern classics”. For the best of the boats from that era, and since, have survived and thrived as well-loved vintage cruisers. And though wooden fanatics may describe them with the late Don Street’s scathing derision as being “built with frozen snot”, it’s reassuring to see such craft making the best of a supposedly traditional boat weekend to get together and strut their stuff.
The Alan Buchanan-designed timber-built Kinsale Colleen Class Pinkeen dates back to the 1950s. Photo: Robert Bateman
Family sailing and then some – the 26ft Westerly Centaur was an early and successful Laurent Giles exercise in designing an able fibreglass production cruiser. Photo:Robert Bateman
“Only the best for the Admiral”. RCYC Admiral Annamarie Fegan at the helm of the Simon 31 Meitheal. Completed by the Kingston family’s Kilmacsimon Boatyard upriver from Kinsale, the Simon 31 ketch is considered by connoisseurs to be the best of the many finished versions using the basic Colvic 31 hull and coachroof. Photo: Robert Bateman
SUDDENLY IT’S SUMMER
They were able to do this on Sunday when the weather of a wayward weekend finally came together for a great sailing day’s fleet-manoeuvring on Cork Harbour. The Royal Cork officer board led the way, with Admiral Annamarie Fegan taking the helm on the Kinsale-built Simon 31 ketch Meitheal, and John Duane out from his mooring on the Owenabue river in his 1978 Albin Cumulus from the drawing board of Swedish designer Peter Norlin.
Varnished dog for a varnished cockpit and coachroof. If anyone is wondering what to get for Christmas for the owner of this modern classic, the answer is a nice elk-hide cover for that cold stainless-steel wheel. Photo: Robert Bateman
Classic GRP Drascombe owners tend to be in a world of their own. So where does that place the owners of a beautifully-restored original wooden Drascombe? Photo: Robert Bateman
It was a case of something for everyone, as each boat in the exceptionally diverse fleet seemed well able to find a point of sailing that appeared to suit them better than anyone else, and of course noted flyers like the 122-year-old Lady Min of Schull were fast every which way.
HERDING CATS
There are many times when trying to get the highly individual owner-skippers of unique older boats to do anything with some sort of organization is abut as easy as herding cats at a crossroads, but there’s a lot to be said for availing of the opportunities provided by a sudden perfect Sunday when the weekend had threatened to be lost altogether. The shared enthusiasm made for harmony and a very special day, when real boat nuts had a visual feast to remember.
The most senior GRP production cruiser at Crosshaven was reckoned to be the American-built An tSiochain, the veteran of an Atlantic crossing and many other sea-going ventures. Photo: Robert Bateman
A touch of reality. The presence of the Cornish lugger Barnabas put the “traditional” into Crosshaven Traditional Boats. Her gear may look very heavy, yet as seen here when properly trimmed, she needs only one hand on the tiller. Photo: Robert Bateman
The stuff of dreams. Lady Min effortlessly reaching hull speed. Photo: Robert Bateman
