Archive video. Sailing in the UK - 1967.

[dolabriform]

That was a Gallant 53 built by Southern Shipyards.

Nice looking boat

53ft GALLANT CLASS OCEAN CRUISER / RACER - 1970 - GRP - Lying: Italy - Classic Yacht Brokerage

 

[Skylark]

The Fulmar is not quite as nice row away view as a Twister. Still a lot more elegant than many of the modern high freeboard, snub bowed, wide arse boats being produced today.

Happy to admire your vessel but wouldn’t want to change it for my high freeboard, drop transom, snub bow, wide arse, twin wheel Beneteau. In the eyes of the beholder, isn’t it?

There’s plenty of room for us all, fortunately ?

 

[JumbleDuck]

I'm guessing that money wasn't the significant barrier it was information. Of the folks here who learned to sail in the 60s, what proportion had no family who sailed? These days we can google sailing schools, stump up less than a week's wages and start learning to sail. I suspect that those with no connection to the sea wouldn't have known where to start.

Maybe, but perhaps at Silhouette scale it was enough to read the Ladybird Book of Sailing and then have a go? That is (more or less, and perhaps not Ladybird) how my old Dad did it.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Maybe, but perhaps at Silhouette scale it was enough to read the Ladybird Book of Sailing and then have a go? That is (more or less, and perhaps not Ladybird) how my old Dad did it.

That's how I started. About 1965. OK a family member's Hurley 24 (?) , not a Silhouette but that was at the time the boat that I wanted. And I still have the Ladybird book, 'Sailing and Boating' I think it is. Also an Observer book for those nerdy boat spotting moments.

 

[Tranona]

One thing we tend to forget is that apart from dayboats and a few old wooden boats there was no ready supply of boats at the entry level and the only way to get a small cruiser was to build it yourself until GRP took off in the mid 60s. We also forget how short lived and intensive large scale British boatbuilding was. Less than 30 years to build what is still the majority of the under 32' or so cruising boats in use today. We also forget that to a great extent this growth was not matched in Europe until maybe 20 years later when the Med market opened up.

 

[Concerto]

By the end of the 1960's the market for home completion of a GRP hull and deck was taking off. This allowed many people to own a larger boat by doing a lot of the labour themselves. In 1968 my parents did that with a Northerny 34.

 

[Bobc]

I found my dad's old Shell Channel Pilot from 1971.

The most striking thing is the lack of any marinas, anywhere. None at Cowes, Yarmouth, Weymouth, Portland, Southampton, etc.

 

[Tradewinds]

By the end of the 1960's the market for home completion of a GRP hull and deck was taking off. This allowed many people to own a larger boat by doing a lot of the labour themselves. In 1968 my parents did that with a Northerny 34.

Just like Les Powles as well - Solitaire of Hamble

Finishing a solo circumnavigation: An extract from Solitaire Spirit by Les Powles

 

[Concerto]

I found my dad's old Shell Channel Pilot from 1971.

The most striking thing is the lack of any marinas, anywhere. None at Cowes, Yarmouth, Weymouth, Portland, Southampton, etc.

Just been checking Sailing Tours by Frank Cowper, published in 1893 and there were definitely no marinas then. His description of the Hamble is wonderful. "This is a deightful little creek to explore."

 

[dunedin]

The barriers to entry were pretty low then - a Silhouette and a swinging mooring didn't cost that much. While it is still possible to sail on a restricted budget, I think it's arguable that mainstream sailing is now a much more expensive sport than it was then.

We had a GRP Silhouette Mk2. Used to scare me silly the way it got blown over sideways, even after adding thick metal plates to both of the bilge plates to try to add more ballast. Felt much safer in the Mirror.

 

[JumbleDuck]

We had a GRP Silhouette Mk2. Used to scare me silly the way it got blown over sideways, even after adding thick metal plates to both of the bilge plates to try to add more ballast. Felt much safer in the Mirror.

We had the very first Skipper Mariner (later Skipper 17, later Eagle 525). Huge cockpit, nice airy cabin, pernicious lee helm. I suspect that's why they changed the design form a single centreboard to twin lifting bilge keels. The Jouster with which the Skipper was replaced felt like a liner in comparison.