A Nicholson presumably - what size?

[A1Sailor]

I was in Bristol last week and got whisked from the airport by taxi. Return for my flight home was a more leisurely affair - yesterday was a lovely morning and I got the airport bus from "The Centre". Sitting on the upper deck I got lovely views and a guided tour! The next stop is...
Anyway, I'll digress since this is a boaty forum. I spotted a lovely looking yacht very neatly parked here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.446...v1pkDCIZAKPk0fiKA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en-GB
Can anyone help identify her? I've sailed on a couple of Nicholson 55s, on three separate occasions, and that was my initial thought - but the coachroof looks different and smaller. Is she a "Nicholson smaller than 55"? Or a 55 different from HMSTYs Dasher & Adventure?
I'm simply trying to settle my curiousity.
TIA.

 

[Kukri]

Very handsome boat!

The Ray Wall designed Nicholsons are here. If she is a 45 she is a very scarce and very desirable boat!

https://sailboatdata.com/designer/wall-raymond

I am of course completely biased.

 

[A1Sailor]

Thank you. I very nearly got off the bus to have a look - but didn't want to miss my flight! Somebody else, who I PMd, has suggested a 45...
https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/2004/nicholson-45-3494173/
https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/nicholson-45

 

[Kukri]

There is a forumite here who posts occasionally who is one of the fortunate eight people lucky enough to own a 45, but I fancy his is one of the wooden coach roof ones. They were the swan song of the big Nicholson cruiser racers because of the oil price rise which triggered a world recession and put up the price of GRP at the same time.

At present the Nic 55 owners group consists of five boats, one in Plymouth, one on the Orwell and three on the Solent and we know of one still owned by the MOD, one in Australia and one in Noumea but we are missing the other eighteen (we know two were lost).

 

[doug748]

Absolute cracker being offered by John Rodriguez, here:

http://www.jryachts.com/yachts-for-sale/nicholson-45/1701303

Wonderful, almost brand new, I tell you if I was 10 years younger..

 

[PeterV]

She's been there for many years (over 15). I always thought she was Adventure, but I'm not an expert.

 

[Kukri]

She's been there for many years (over 15). I always thought she was Adventure, but I'm not an expert.

Adventure, the RN Nic 55 which took part in the first Whitbread RTW race (and finished second to Sayula iirc?) was given by the MOD to Russia in 2003. So far as I know she is still in Russia.

 

[john_morris_uk]

She's been there for many years (over 15). I always thought she was Adventure, but I'm not an expert.

The Nich 55 ‘Adventure’ (a boat I’ve sailed many thousands of miles on and which has been round the world at least twice to my knowledge) was sailed to St Petersburg a few years ago and donated to the Russian Navy to encourage them in sail training. I assume they still have her.

 

[A1Sailor]

Thanks for all the responses. I was simply curious.

 

[gwommit]

If you use the "measure tool" in google maps the boat appears to be 12.3 metres or 40ft

 

[PeterV]

For such a lovely boat it's a pity to see her sitting there. We moved from the area 12 years ago, I reckon she may have been there nearly 10;years before that.

 

[fisherman]

Got this info from my daughter's father in law in Bristol;
"This boat belongs to the owner of the land it sits on which is one of the old entrance locks from the cut into bathurst basin where my boat is moored. The entrance was concreted in at the beginning of the last war because it could compromise the whole of the harbour should it be bombed during an attack on the docks. It has sat there for the past thirty years and despite a lot of offers it still sits there as the owner of the land doesn't like interference. I guess you remember the site from visiting The Quays when the kids lived there. She is a Nic 35 and was moved about ten feet when the new bridge was built alongside the existing swingbridge a couple of years ago. "

 

[bedouin]

Absolute cracker being offered by John Rodriguez, here:

Boat Details - John Rodriguez Yachts

Wonderful, almost brand new, I tell you if I was 10 years younger..

I'm in love - that is so close to my ideal boat.

Anyone want to make me an offer on a Centurion

 

[fisherman]

What, by the by, does the panel think of a Nicholson 26, 1965 vintage?

 

[doug748]

What, by the by, does the panel think of a Nicholson 26, 1965 vintage?

I don't know much about them a heavy, solid boat as you might expect.

This looks a very good buy:

1969 Nicholson 26 Sail New and Used Boats for Sale - www.yachtworld.co.uk

...though parts of the cockpit look dodgy.

Fitted out below in grand style by Burnes, Bosham, lots of lovely solid timber, looks like oak.

 

[Kukri]

The 26 is not quite ‘a plastic South Coast One Design’, but if they are not twins they are sisters. Plenty of headroom, plenty of ballast, plenty of draft... five feet, in fact, with encapsulated lead ballast. The Nic 26 is not as well known because she was built in relatively smaller numbers, being perhaps too close in size to her big sister.

Tends to get confused with the Contessa 26, a very different boat, which is a little slip of a thing, in comparison. The Nic 26 is halfway between a Vertue and a Twister. A solid well built boat.

Excellent choice, I’d say.

There was a thread about these:

Nic 26 experience/opinions please...

 

[Little Dorrit]

I

Absolute cracker being offered by John Rodriguez, here:

Boat Details - John Rodriguez Yachts

Wonderful, almost brand new, I tell you if I was 10 years younger..

I think I'm falling in love again.

 

[Goldie]

I’m afraid I’m going to differ here, I don’t think it’s a Nicholson at all and it’s certainly not a 35 as has been suggested.

I think it could be a Bowman 44 Corsair (not to be confused with the centre cockpit Bowman 46 which one or two websites also refer to as the ‘Corsair’). Look at the curves on the front of the coach roof, the Nic 45, lovely as it is, is more angular and doesn’t have such a flush deck. If it is a Corsair, there’s a lovely one for sale in the Netherlands, drop dead gorgeous.

 

[Goldie]

The Nich 55 ‘Adventure’ (a boat I’ve sailed many thousands of miles on and which has been round the world at least twice to my knowledge) was sailed to St Petersburg a few years ago and donated to the Russian Navy to encourage them in sail training. I assume they still have her.

Adventure, still owned by the Russian Navy, paid a courtesy visit to Gosport a couple of years or so ago. The Russians have clearly invested in her and she looked the best that I've ever seen her.

 

[Kukri]

I’m afraid I’m going to differ here, I don’t think it’s a Nicholson at all and it’s certainly not a 35 as has been suggested.

I think it could be a Bowman 44 Corsair (not to be confused with the centre cockpit Bowman 46 which one or two websites also refer to as the ‘Corsair’). Look at the curves on the front of the coach roof, the Nic 45, lovely as it is, is more angular and doesn’t have such a flush deck. If it is a Corsair, there’s a lovely one for sale in the Netherlands, drop dead gorgeous.ay

I think you may be onto something but the Corsairs that I can find pictures of have two windows on each side of the coach roof while the Nicholson 45 has one.