Pen Duick 1 a real thoroughbred

She turns up here from time to time, often with others of the name. One could almost forget she is GRP :o)

I have some photos somewhere of when we went out in the admiration fleet when there were four PDs off Royan
 
dunedin said:
Sadly I think that is the boat that Eric Taberly was lost from, when trying to reef in bad weather.
With one of his later bermudan rigged boats, with modern reefing, he might be alive today.
http://www.classicboat.co.uk/articles/people/eric-tabarlys-last-night-alive/
Click to expand...

He wasn't reefing, he was stowing the mainsail before setting the trysail. Tabarly's crew were relatively inexperienced and his method was not one that an older generation would call seamanlike. He wasn't using a vang on the gaff. Tilman always did. We’ve all done silly things on boats in moments of over confidence. I certainly have. You can achieve the same result with a modern reefing system if you don’t secure the boom either into a rigid gallows or with a handy billy against the main sheet.
 
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DownWest said:
She turns up here from time to time, often with others of the name. One could almost forget she is GRP :o)

I have some photos somewhere of when we went out in the admiration fleet when there were four PDs off Royan
Click to expand...

Yes. The original was so rotted through that it was unrecoverable. So Tabarly used the old one as a mold retaining the exact same characteristics. He was apparently the first person to use this approach and, at the time it was the largest GRP boat.

About 30 years ago it got a complete re-do by Raymond l'Abbé and its now yet again stripped back to the bare GRP again and the interior has been gutted to create the next version. It is sitting in a hangar at Brest : Chantier Naval du Guip which specializes in restorations of classic boats.

PS The last shot shows them sailing into the harbour with 5 sails set...!!

Tabarly used to work it up the Odet under sail to his mooring.
 
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A month later, July 1998 we were sailing up the Sound of Mull in a fresh NW and sunshine, Pen Duick and another classic yacht (Kentra?) were beating up the sound and we started the motor so that I could take photos as they crossed us, later she anchored off Tob. about a boat length away from us and when the tide turned in the early hours made gentle contact. I was surprised to see her there so soon after losing her skipper. Other than anchoring so close which I understood was a French trait there was nothing to suggest she had a novice crew. I still have the prints but can't find the negs. to digitize them.
 
Quandary said:
.......we started the motor so that I could take photos as they crossed us........
Click to expand...



I was motoring, one time, in order to get in before dark and a classic fleet came sailing out towards me. Pen Duick tacked behind and came so close that I could have shaken hands with the crew. They were framed against the setting sun and the boat was barrelling along. It would have been a great piece of video but the camera was not at hand and it was gone in an instant.

You always rue the photography you didn't get.

Is there a class of lookalikes or did I see the real thing?
 
This part captures what I perceive as a perfect day's sail:

https://youtu.be/PpzKQITXPvw?t=75

Fresh air, wind, spray, good weather.

Sadly I will be sailing most of the winter in the UK testing bits of kit. And in the North Sea, not even the lovely West Country.

Loved the end too where the seagull flies into view.

Thanks for posting
 
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