It may have been way back in 1963 that the 43ft S&S-designed sloop Clarion of Wight won the Fastnet Race, beating gallant many-season campaigner Adlard Coles in the prototype Nicholson 36 Cohoe IV (with Keith Hunt of Kinsale in his crew) by just six minutes. But in 1971, Clarion became part of the Irish sailing story, brought to Dun Laoghaire by Dr Rory O’Hanlon, who would add many new aspects to her varied career.
Although she may have added to her Fastnet laurels by winning the Philip Whitehead Cup in the 1971 race round the famous rock, in 1972 she continued her owner’s interest in cruising beyond the Arctic Circle by fetching up in the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway in company with Dr Ninian Falkiner’s 12-ton Nicholson sloop Felise.
1963 Fastnet Race overall winner Clarion of Wight’s original hull profile was of a boat that was powerful to windward, but was also (below) a wayward monster downwind……..
HIGH LATITUDE COMMODORES
At the time, Ninian Falkiner was Commodore of the 1831-founded Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire, while Rory O’Hanlon was Commodore of the neighbouring 1838-founded Royal St George YC, and this co-location in high latitudes by senior Flag Officers has yet to be repeated. But although Felise subsequently spent some time in Wicklow ownership before disappearing from view, Clarion of Wight was something very special indeed in terms of yacht design development, and every so often her continued well-being is a matter of interest and concern.
Clarion of Wight under Rory O’Hanlon’s ownership, on her way to winning the Philip Whitehead Cup in the1971 Fastnet Race
Built by Clare Lallow of Cowes to the highest standards for the formidable partnership of Derek Boyer and Dennis Miller, she was one of the last blasts of the S&S proclivity towards a very raked rudder with a minimal keel-foot length to reduce wetted area.. She was ferociously competitive to windward, but decidedly headstrong when sheets were eased and spinnaker set.
PARTED COMPANY
Boyer and Millar soon parted company after their season of shared success; the latter commissioned the 36ft fin & skeg 36ft S&S-designed Clarionet, an old One Ton Rule boat that still sails today as one of Sam Laidlaw’s suite of classics. Dennis Miller meanwhile commissioned another S&S classic, the 43ft Firebrand, which was a sort of Clarion on steroids and still with a closed profile, while mainly appealing through her ultra-high build standard, topped off by varnished topsides.
For the hull profile of his new One Tonner Clarionet in 1966, Derek Boyer went wholeheartedly for the S&S take on the fin-and-skeg configuration……..
…but his former co-owner Dennis Millar stayed with the closed-profile for his new 43ft Firebrand, albeit with a tail put on the rudder
ED DUBOIS PET BOAT
One of the freakier memories of this period is the S&S One Tonner Morningtown for Mike Winfield, where weight-saving was pursued with balsa-core interior furniture, but one rough crossing of the Thames Estuary put an end to that even as Winfield was focussing on getting the production-line S&S 34 up and running. As for Firebrand, she was subsequently owned as the pet boat of the late lamented international yacht designer Ed Dubois.
He made it his personal business to turn the exquisite Firebrand into a viable spade-rudder proposition after an early attempt at a fin-and-skeg conversion saw some appendages come adrift in the mid-Atlantic. With Ed’s untimely death aged only 63, Firebrand had languished, but now she is restored, albeit with white topsides, and with tiller steering when her original incarnation was with a wheel.
Clarion meanwhile had been converted to a very successful fin-and-skeg configuration in new ownership, and when she came on the market again in 1970, Rory O’Hanlon persuaded legendary boat-builder Jack Tyrrell of Arklow to go over with him to inspect this noted example of Clare Lallow yacht-building. After a detailed examination, Jack commented that he could only dream of having a client prepared to pay the price for such quality of construction, and advised buying Clarion immediately.
When Clarion of Wight was converted to fin-and-skeg configuration in the mid-1960s, they even went with the brief fashion (soon obliterated by a rule change) of having a trim-tab on the after edge of the fin keel. This photo was taken in France last year, when Clarion seemed only one door away from the departure lounge
One problem was that the auxiliary engine, having been located aft in the original design, had been moved forward to optimise weight distribution in the under-body redesign. This resulted in an unusually long propeller shaft supported by several bearings which had to be in perfect alignment. It was an arrangement which seldom survived a gale at sea, and an abiding memory of the cruise to northern Norway in 1972 is of the number of times the prop-shaft required precision straightening.
AILSA CRAIG CRASH
Nevertheless, in the intervening years since the mid-’70s, subsequent owners recognised Clarion’s unique status, such that when one of them departed the Isle of Man bound north for the Clyde under power and set an autohelm course, even though they crashed into Ailsa Craig in the middle of the night with all crew asleep, no effort was spared afterwards to get her back to pristine condition.
Ailsa Craig – even the best-built boats are not improved by crashing into it
However, all that is now a very long time ago, and some years ago a French owner had Clarion of Wight lifted out into a Normandy boatyard and there she was forgotten, weathering steadily under zero protection until the world got to hear of it as a result of an announcement that she would be broken up unless somebody took her over pronto.
CROWD-FUND PROJECT?
Initially there was a movement among English yachting historians to crowd-fund her return to the UK for a complete restoration, but while this was getting under way it seems that an enthusiast from Brittany has swept in, taken the boat over, and slapped fresh paint on the hull, though the coachroof still needs much work. Nevertheless, the word for the moment is that Clarion of Wight is afloat again at the age of 63 years.
Clarion of Wight afloat again under Breton ownership, 11th August 2026. Photo: Facebook
However, as some of those involved seem to think that the Dr Rory O’Hanlon who owned her was the distinguished Carrickmacross-based politician and medico Dr Rory O’Hanlon, father of Father Ted’s Father Douglas, aka actor/comedian Ardal O’Hanlon, we need to clarify some facts to ensure that they know they’re talking about Dr Rory O’Hanlon (1916-1980), the renowned Master of Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital, and Commodore of both the Irish Cruising Club and the Royal St George Yacht Club.
Definitely not the father of Father Dougal. Dr Rory O’Hanlon brings Clarion of Wight in to win a Royal Alfred YC race in 1971. Photo: W M Nixon
That he should be central to this story is part of the fascination of Sparkman & Stephens design development during the 1960s. With Dick Carter’s successful fin-and-skeg designs galloping down the way, it’s intriguing to note that the first S&S designed was the 43ft Deb built by McGruer’s in 1963.
She’s now best known as Sunstone, but even as she was under construction, her profile was changed to give her a fin-and-skeg profile with which she raced successfully for many years with ISORA as David Hague’s Dai Mouse III.
Yet of all in this period of design upheaval, the one I found most attractive was the final variant on the Clarionet-Roundabout One Ton Design, which was a one-off boat broadly based on the Alpha 36 as seen in the Dun Laoghaire-based Sarnia originally built in Italy for John Sisk, and the Swan 36.
In 1968, a boat called Sunmaid V was built for Guy Clarabut, who sailed out of the Thames Estuary. Sunmaid saw the coachroof/deck arrangement simplified to its logical conclusion, and although a heavy-cambered deck can be awkward enough to move around, there was just something about Sunmaid V that had quirky ultimate appeal.
The ultimate. With a bit of extra camber in her deck, Sunmaid V is able to provide reasonable accommodation within a pared-back version of the Sparkman & Stephens One Ton concept
MAX LOSS
She disappeared from the scene for some years, and it turns out that she spent some time at Blyth in Northumberland. But lately she has been seen around the Solent again, a reminder of a time when any self-respecting owner expected something slightly different for his new boat, and Max Aitken made a wager with Clare Lallow in the Three Crowns on a Sunday night, the bet being that there wouldn’t be a brand-new South Coast One Design waiting for Aitken when he returned to Cowes the following Friday evening. He lost.
