wavecrest

[Guest]

I have recently bought a 16foot yacht but I am unsure of the class.
It has hard chines,a jib main, and spinnaker retracting keel and has two berths. The emblem on the sail resembles a three pointed crown.
Jeckell Sails consider it is possibly a Wavecrest.
Anybody have any ideas re class, owners club,etc etc

 

[Guest]

I have a 1960 book called Racing Yachts and Dinghies by James Bartlett which has photographs and descriptions of a large number of contemporary yachts including the Wavecrest. The desciption given matches yours exactly. If you e-mail me at dipper@milree.freeserve.co.uk I will scan the page for you. Don't rely on the class information - the poor fellow will be 41 years older by now!

 

[Guest]

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[Guest]

As a matter of possible interest, my first taste of sailing was back around 1957 when as a 14 year old I helped my next door neighbour build a Wavecrest from a kit over a period of a couple of years. The description you give sounds very similar except that we did not have a spinnaker. The centerboard was a heavy cast iron beast.

 

[andrew]

My father Alan Eckford designed the Wavecrest (your description fits) and sold plans, kits and complete boats from our house in Broxbourne,Herts. A partnership with Ron Sams of Sams Bros. in Hoddesdon, resulted in the completed and bare hull kits. As a child I was often in the works, Sams main buisness was bar billard tables,tennis rackets and hockey sticks. The wavecrest was built along with the 12ft Fleetwind the 20ft Spitfire the 27ft Fanfare and an amphibious caravan called the Otter, all to his design. Prototypes were built at home and wing-sails, foils asymetric keels were all used on one offs. Your centerplate was of galvanized 3/8 or 1/2 inch steel, not cast. I often went on deliveries and remember some
spirited sails on the east coast in wavecrests, including helming one new pride and joy over a submerged post causing a return to repair the damage!--- Production stopped
around ´64 G.R.P. was becoming too popular. Alan continued to design boats until his death in ´90.

 

[teddyboy]

My father Alan Eckford designed the Wavecrest (your description fits) and sold plans, kits and complete boats from our house in Broxbourne,Herts. A partnership with Ron Sams of Sams Bros. in Hoddesdon, resulted in the completed and bare hull kits. As a child I was often in the works, Sams main buisness was bar billard tables,tennis rackets and hockey sticks. The wavecrest was built along with the 12ft Fleetwind the 20ft Spitfire the 27ft Fanfare and an amphibious caravan called the Otter, all to his design. Prototypes were built at home and wing-sails, foils asymetric keels were all used on one offs. Your centerplate was of galvanized 3/8 or 1/2 inch steel, not cast. I often went on deliveries and remember some
spirited sails on the east coast in wavecrests, including helming one new pride and joy over a submerged post causing a return to repair the damage!--- Production stopped
around ´64 G.R.P. was becoming too popular. Alan continued to design boats until his death in ´90.

 

[teddyboy]

my father built 2 wavecrests in his garage at grays thurrock he sold one dont know who too and the other was given to a mr allen dennis of chadwell st mary in essex ,i did see a wavecrest on a moring at lea on sea near southend ,dont know if there is any connection to any one buying one ,have pics of both boats ,my father also built a fleetwind in our front room ,he had to knock the wall down to get it out on its side the sail number was 170 and named CLORIS ,he also introduced the fleetwind as a class boat at the thurrock yacht where i beleave many boats were built on the club light ship called the GULL in the lower deck ,where there was a bar for social nights regards COLIN his son .

 

[DownWest]

Hi Colin
Talk about digging things up... A recent conversation with someone who's father had built a Wavecrest resulted in him sending me a copy of the original plans, along with some photos from the time. A cousin still has the prototype Fleetwind, in which I had my first sail out of Gravesend in 1950 as a very small child. I later was allowed out by my father at six yrs solo (my mother was more twitchy..) and I sailed her quite a lot in Falmouth and elswhere. We never had a Wavecrest as a family boat, but did sail the Stormwind. this was a one off with a folding cabin, that became the Wavecrest. Lots of fun back then!
Andrew

Didn't remember I was registered under my name back then...

 

[Colvic Watson]

It was the first cabin boat we had as a family, I remember it well, Dad sold it to buy a Spitfire.

 

[DownWest]

I remember father building the original Spitfire in an extension to the garage. It had a sliding doghouse that slid forward over the cabin, to give more room for daysailing. This did not work so well, so the Mk 11 had a fixed doghouse and the 111 a longer forcabin. We had nos. 1,2 & 64. I recently spoke to a guy that had the original one and he sent me a photo of the remains still left in the corner of a boatyard. Bit past renovation though.

 

[teddyboy]

thanks for the reply my father went on to buy a tee od no1 and we sailed it at thurrock yacht club winning many races with it at canvey island and s-on sea also at gravesend , is there any chance you could get me a copy of the wavecrest drawings or do you want to sell them ,my email is cfranklin@sky.com

 

[Marorah]

I owned a Wavecrest from 1965 to 1969 which we cruised in the Solent, Poole and Studland bay and one unsuccessful cruise to cross the channel.

I only one I knew of capsizing called Bronco, which was owned by a chap called Len, the experience is written in my copy of the 1968 Firecrest magazine, which basically says that the capsize was due to unforcasted gale-force winds and an inexperienced crew. Len successfully managed right the boat and get his crew aboard again without even getting his feet wet. Despite the loss of equipment and rudder and under fore-sail only he then managed to sail back into the Solent.

I carried on with a sequence of further boats, ending up building and using a trapper 501 which was sold around 2007.

I would now like to build another Wavecrest but obviously need the plans. So my question is has anyone still got the plans. Andrew do you know if the plans are available please ?

 

[DownWest]

I owned a Wavecrest from 1965 to 1969 which we cruised in the Solent, Poole and Studland bay and one unsuccessful cruise to cross the channel.

I only one I knew of capsizing called Bronco, which was owned by a chap called Len, the experience is written in my copy of the 1968 Firecrest magazine, which basically says that the capsize was due to unforcasted gale-force winds and an inexperienced crew. Len successfully managed right the boat and get his crew aboard again without even getting his feet wet. Despite the loss of equipment and rudder and under fore-sail only he then managed to sail back into the Solent.

I carried on with a sequence of further boats, ending up building and using a trapper 501 which was sold around 2007.

I would now like to build another Wavecrest but obviously need the plans. So my question is has anyone still got the plans. Andrew do you know if the plans are available please ?

Hi Marorah and Teddyboy (TB, I missed your last post)
I do have a set of plans due to the kindness of another forumite and would be quite happy to send a copy to any prospective builder. They comprise two big sheets and appear to have all the info to build the construction frame and plenty of detail. Apart from the Fanfare, all the boats were aimed at amateur builders, so nothing complicated.
I need to find someone with a big copier, likely there is one in Saintes. Send me a PM with an address and I will see what I can do.
Andrew

NB, just looked at TB's history and that was his last post here, so..

 

[Marorah]

Found some photos of my old Wavecrest from the 1960's at Mudeford Quay

 

[Marorah]

Interesting whilst searching for ore Wavecrest information we came across this film from British Pathe, wonder on the amphibious caravan, winder if Andrew has seen it
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/amphibious-caravan

 

[DownWest]

Are you kidding? That is my father and mother (she in the natty trews) With Ron Sams and 'a model' (he later married her) showing off the Mk 1. All the production ones had an aft cockpit with the engine out on the transom. Obviously slightly better than in the cabin.. Over 250 were built and Raymond Baxter had one, which did a 'little' for sales..

 

[Wizdeas]

Spitfire owned by my parents before I was born. My mother, seen here, recently turned 94.

 

[DownWest]

Spitfire owned by my parents before I was born. My mother, seen here, recently turned 94.

Thank you for that! Brings back heaps of memories. We cleaned up at Falmouth week in the early 60s. in Spitfire mk 2 (maybe 3, with the longer cabin...) Four firsts, a second and a DNF, as the wind dropped, so nobody completed in the time limit.
Happy days..
Still building little sailing boats, but rather more slowly. The original Spitfire was built in our garage (extended..) in Broxbourne in a matter of a weeks. Father always built the first ones himself, to iron out the details for the average DIY guy.
Here is what I am close to wetting.
Not quite my take on the design, bit longer and less 'square'
DW