Nicholson 55 - ‘Adventure’

[john_morris_uk]

Indeed. I sailed on Nic 55's quite a bit. More often with 12 crew. Mixed Male and Female. Sometimes RAF people too.

Was never a problem with people used to a bit of discomfort and of course less hull openings.

If the skipper was a grumpy one, fiddling with the port primary winch that is right over the quarter berth was a good leveller.

I think your memory might be slightly dodgy. The skippers berth was always the starboard one when I sailed them. Mates berth was to Port.

When crew fiddle with winches I call it "winch therapy" quickly followed by, "It might make you feel good but I'll need therapy if you don't stop fiddling with that winch!"

 

[capnsensible]

I think your memory might be slightly dodgy. The skippers berth was always the starboard one when I sailed them. Mates berth was to Port.

When crew fiddle with winches I call it "winch therapy" quickly followed by, "It might make you feel good but I'll need therapy if you don't stop fiddling with that winch!"

Probably! One could always try both to be sure.,

I can tell you that when moored up in a Scottish Island ( whose name I have forgotten! ) and you use candles wedged into the winches to illuminate a rather late cockpit party, bad language from the staff skipper can follow which also casts doubt on the parentage of submariners.

 

[Kukri]

I remembered this picture and I finally found it. Uffa Fox - Sailing, Seamanship and Yacht Construction - 1934.

 

[nortada]

One bloody Loo ??? What the hell is a Loo at sea?? We have heads in the Navy unless you were a Sludgemariner then its OK to call them Loo's. lol

Seem to recall, bucket and chucked was popular amongst the ladies who rather that than share the smelly heads with a bunch of grunts?

Don’t make ‘em that way anymore.?

 

[Bajansailor]

Uffa Fox's loo on Landfall reminds me of the loos which Peter Spronk used to fit on ply / epoxy sailing cats that he built in St Maarten.
The loo (ok, heads) was usually in a compartment on the bridgedeck, and it would have a proper loo seat and cover, but when you lift it up you can see the sea below - a wonderful invention, with nothing to break down.

 

[Biggles Wader]

Uffa Fox's loo on Landfall reminds me of the loos which Peter Spronk used to fit on ply / epoxy sailing cats that he built in St Maarten.
The loo (ok, heads) was usually in a compartment on the bridgedeck, and it would have a proper loo seat and cover, but when you lift it up you can see the sea below - a wonderful invention, with nothing to break down.

If you engineer that system correctly you get a self cleaning lid when it is not in use and a self washing bum when it is. Like a salt water bidet.

 

[Pete7]

The layout did surprise me rather...one loo and 10+ berths...

I can see it was ideal for minimalistic ocean racing forty years ago, but I'm surprised if some Nich 55s haven't been converted to more private/luxurious accommodation, if only for profitable charter.

Nah, there were only 8 berths at sea because the fore peak was full of hank on sails. Since storage was at a premium, sleeping bags were laid on top of each other for hot bunking, just just had to remember which green sleeping bag was yours or oppo's. Once south of Gosport the sails lived on deck in harbour and made a great berth. Two of us slept on the number one is was so long. However, I cringe at the way we stuffed wet sails into the sail bags, a fist and some violence was normally needed.

Trying to remember which one had the underside deck drilled with thousands of little holes to try and dry it out. Sabre, I think. Dasher also had a problem. Someone ran it aground the week before we were due to leave, so it was limited to the Solent until it could be inspected. We took it to Gibraltar instead as you did in those days.

Pete

 

[wombat88]

I remember Lutine in her youth. Was she ever varnished or do I just remember a varnished transom?

 

[Pete7]

A write up of life on board a service Ni 55.

Leaving the Pillars of Hercules and the fleshpots of Gibraltar behind we headed out into the North Atlantic. A boisterous Force 6 on the nose gave us a wide awakening plus a good soaking as we clawed away from the coast. The skipper spotted a much larger ketch to seaward and the race was on. Harsh orders where barked for the yacht to be converted from sloop to cutter rig. The large jib, which had made a very comfortable double bed in harbour, was now dragged up on deck. The vicious highfield lever resembling a huge mousetrap slammed closed on the deck and the No 3 raised. However, it was all to no avail, the large ketch left us standing much to the disappointment of the skipper who promptly retired to his berth with his favourite green bottle of Gordons, to reminisce about the Southern Ocean and his now departed strong black plastic bucket we lost overboard,

After a week of travelling south west with the weather improving each day, a volunteer was sought to fetch a loaf of bread from the lazarette. Now a Nicholson 55 may be a big yacht, but twelve crew are expected to live in a space no bigger than a four berth caravan. However, the huge lazarette takes up at least a third of the remaining boat. Accessed by a large hatch at the stern our volunteer lowered his way down into the dark and gloomy subterranean world. His eyes struggled to make out the vast range of stores kept for all sorts of emergencies. He crawled forward over a mountain of fenders and ropes as thick as his wrists towards a series of shelves before finally stumbling on his goal. The large orange sunblest basket did still contain loaves of bread, however, the smell reaching his nose told a sorry tale. For several days now the cook had been cutting off the mouldy crusts and combined with a long spell under the grill reducing the bread to charcoal meant the crew were blissfully unaware of what they were eating.

As each loaf with green patterns and a pungent smell were raised out of the lazarette, the Mate declared them unfit and consigned them to Davy Jones’ Locker. Finally, with the tray empty the volunteer desperately scrabbled around in case one had been missed. Instead, he came across a large heavy black plastic sack and asked the Mate what it was. The Mate peering into the gloom said, “That is a body bag, put it back or you will be using it later!” The young crewman fearful of the Mate, quickly did as he was told.

Pressing further into the darkness, the young sailor spotted another smaller plastic packet high up on a top shelf. Intrigued he pulled it down as his eyes just made out the words on the label. “BREAD MIX”

Astonished he quickly called for the Mate again who asked for it be passed up on deck. The crew crowded round to see the exciting discovery. Faded and torn the label did indeed have the words ‘bread mix’ written in large bold print, an even longer naval part number and the familiar MOD crowfoot emblem. Finally, a date could just be made out, January 197- but the final digit was missing. The Skipper advised that it had probably been there for at least a decade but try it if you want. The package was quickly opened to reveal two smaller packets and a set of brief instructions.

Mix Packet A with a quart of clean seawater until a smooth paste is achieved. Added Packet B and kneed thoroughly. Stand for one hour then bake until brown.

The crew debated endlessly if the amount of salt in the seawater would be the correct for a loaf of bread but finally the packets where passed to the cook with a pan of seawater for the process to begin. After a while a tray containing a superb looking uncooked loaf appeared from the galley and was placed on the warm deck in the sun. Instructions from the cook not to touch it if you value your life! seemed genuine, so the crew went about there business careful to avoid the precious object.

By teatime a superb smell of freshly baked bread wafted out of the companion way hatch as the ravenous crew licked there lips. The highlight that evening was dinner with a starter consisting of a thick beefy soup and two slices of bread each followed by a hot curry before the crew settled down to the long night watches.

Despite several subsequent searches of the lazarette no further mysterious packages of bread mix could be found. The crew would now have to eek out meagre rations from tins until landfall in the Canaries and fresh bread was once again on the menu.

 

[Greenheart]

That's a great story.

I wonder what the big ketch was, that could have left a Nic 55 far behind in a force 6 on the nose?

 

[nortada]

Seem to recall at least one of the Nics was a yawl

 

[Kukri]

I remember Lutine in her youth. Was she ever varnished or do I just remember a varnished transom?

Lutine the First was a wooden yawl with a counter stern:

Laurent Giles Bermudan Yawl For Sale

For Lutine the Second, now Eager, see here:



Genoa and Trysail is a fairly unusual rig... I notice that the mainsail isn’t on the spars, which leads me to think that it was perhaps ashore at the sailmakers...

And here is a yawl:



Clearly an MOD 55; I was confused by the sail number but I think this must be ‘Sabre’ ,

Lord Trenchard was also a yawl.

And here is an aft cabin cutter for sale in Noumea:

Camper Nicholson 55 / Camper & Nicholson (Grande Bretagne) for sale in New Caledonia | Raiatea-yacht.com - Broker

 

[capnsensible]

That looks remarkably similar to the well known picture in the Hornet bar of a Nic motoring slowly astern to fill the spinnaker for a photo......

 

[Sandyman]

What a bunch of poofs. You lot have obviously never been on a weekend sailing jolly with a dozen or so pissed up matelots Stand fast the sky pilots

 

[Old Harry]

One bloody Loo ??? What the hell is a Loo at sea?? We have heads in the Navy unless you were a Sludgemariner then its OK to call them Loo's. lol

"Head" shirly

 

[Pete7]

That's a great story.

I wonder what the big ketch was, that could have left a Nic 55 far behind in a force 6 on the nose?

In theory it shouldn't have been a problem for the Nic rigged as a cutter, but the sails shall we say were well used, mostly resembling old bed sheets.

Think the RAF had a ketch/yawl version in light blue, we trounced that one on a run from Weymouth back to Gosport, as you do. We were on British Soldier, later renamed Sabre a red hulled sloop. We worried about the pumps being constantly used on the RAF's Nic as we overhauled here. Later back home one of their crew said the skipper had emptied the water tank into the bilge and the crew pumped it overboard by hand to try and lighten the boat. They hand pumped a full tank with 1 tonne of water

 

[Kukri]

Two tanks, total one ton. Assuming it was dropped into the deep bilge, the Whale 25 next to the port quarter berth should have it overboard in about ten minutes, with all those fit Forces people to spell one another on the pump, but given where the tanks are, just abaft the mast step, I doubt if putting it OB actually helped.

 

[capnsensible]

In theory it shouldn't have been a problem for the Nic rigged as a cutter, but the sails shall we say were well used, mostly resembling old bed sheets.

Think the RAF had a ketch/yawl version in light blue, we trounced that one on a run from Weymouth back to Gosport, as you do. We were on British Soldier, later renamed Sabre a red hulled sloop. We worried about the pumps being constantly used on the RAF's Nic as we overhauled here. Later back home one of their crew said the skipper had emptied the water tank into the bilge and the crew pumped it overboard by hand to try and lighten the boat. They hand pumped a full tank with 1 tonne of water

British Soldier became Broadsword, I believe.

With the original name, I was aboard in La Corunna in the late eighties on the main harbour wall. Our neighbour was an Argentinian sail training vessel....... Interesting run ashore.

One of the crew was missing as we came to leave. Turned out he had opened the hatch at the wrong end and was asleep in the lazrette. He obviously was then called Lazarus for the rest of the trip and that name may have followed him from that moment as a young midshipman throughout his subsequent career.

 

[Greenheart]

You lot have obviously never been on a weekend sailing jolly with a dozen or so pissed up matelots...

And here is an aft cabin cutter for sale in Noumea:

Camper Nicholson 55 / Camper & Nicholson (Grande Bretagne) for sale in New Caledonia | Raiatea-yacht.com - Broker

I could live with that. I'd have one loo, and Sandyman's drunken dozen can stick their "heads" down the other.

 

[Kukri]

British Soldier became Broadsword, I believe.

Ex Quailo III, now again Quailo III, lives in the Hamble. In extremely good hands. I know the owner and have sailed on her quite recently. Now green, to match the original green, found under the red.