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| Peter Wallis writes:
"Black Swan was given to me as a wreck 47 years ago and laid in my garage until our eldest son became a dinghy sailor - I then restored her and installed very early McGregor radio with a Simtrop sail winch. She has an overall length of 2 mtr - weight 30lbs . Gaff rigged still using the original sail pattern with Egyptian cotton sails by Nylett. Recently I have fitted an RMG sail winch and changed the rudder servo - sailing can last all day on the 3,000ma 7.2v NIMH battery.
We believe the design closely follows Shamrock 111 from around 1900 - possible built early 1920 - when I first had her there was some sort of Braine steering . I have sailed her on and off for the past 40 years taking her inside the dinghy when we went to Brittany - now once again she is in regular use giving pleasure to our grandsons........she now sails regularly on Frensham Pond where there is an excellent facility for models of her size". |
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This 28" o.a. long yacht is a Seagull Special; the deck mounted decal
seems entirely genuine, but gives no clue as to manufacturer. At this stage
the yacht is unique, no other example having been encountered over many
years. The conundrum is that a boat so well manufactured must surely have
been put into quantity production to justify its costs.
The vessel appears to be as well specified as an Alexander, including a
fully adjustable rig, Braine steering, a lined deck and well formed spars
and fittings. The varnished terylene sails date to the late 50's at the
earliest. Of course the whole thing could have been got up as a careful
conversion, but evidence of any previous fittings is not visible.....and
that decal appears genuine. The boat belongs to Graham Davis. Anyone out
there who can add more?
This is an easy one - it's here
And this is what she looks like now
This yacht was built in 1962 by Arthur Levison, carved in pine, bread and butter style. The yacht successfully won the National Championships in 1968 with Arthur Levison at the helm and David Parkinson as mate
The yacht was extensively restored in 2007/8 by David Bell and is again in regular use racing at HCMYC in the classic race series
“ Viewed at Bonham's earlier in 2009, this mahogany planked, VMYG member John Gale built, 80 cm rule boat was to designs supplied by Russell Potts from the Model Engineer. The rule produced an attractive classic boat with overhangs.
The class was continental in origin and on W Bassett-Lowke’s initiative and the MYRA’s approval, was proposed as the rule to adopt for the first International Race held in Enghien-les-Bains in 1913 (not 1912 as illustrated and referred to in earlier editions of E W Hobb’s “Model Sailing Boats”). A sail-off in London took place at the Round Pond on Sat 20 Oct 1913 to decide the winner of the Sevres vase, as the 3 man English winning squad (Daniels, Vine & Johnson) had scored equally in France; the French delegation came over to sail at the same time, but the formal return match planned for 1914 never took place, presumably overtaken by the events of the War. The illustrated model was a new W Daniels design published on May 7th 1914 and is therefore not thought to be that of his own ‘AERIEL’ which he sailed at the 1913 events. The class died out, superseded by the A class in 1922.”
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