Yacht Heritage?

L

lukecsmith

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 Dec 2009
Messages
153
Location
Cardiff, Bristol Channel
Visit site
Hi all. Following on from recent post on acquiring yachts, documents and such ..

Im wondering if theres a way of finding out a yachts history, heritage etc. I ask because the one I have was given to me by a relative. It was originally built and launched in 79 from a Doug Peterson design, to be raced. The originally buyer had it built minimally on the inside and with the best fittings up-top for racing. A helpful bloke in the boatyard explained to me that all winches etc. are the of the best kind, that the mast was an unconventional design at the time optimized for speed, etc. I got it in a bad way and Ive got it back up to a better state now.

Previous owner reckoned it raced the Fastnet in 79, amongst others, and did well in many competitions. Is there a way of finding out this stuff? I'd love to know if the boat Ive put some hours into over the last few years actually has a pedigree ..

Thank for any help.
 
Dredging through old copies of Lloyds register if it's part1 registered(or you can pay Lloyds to do it for you), and if it has racing history old copies of Yachts and Yachting from the relevant dates; it's dull and time consuming but the only way. Most stuff from this era is archived on dusty shelves if at all, not digitised on the web.

If you can track them down previous owners are usually good for filling in gaps in a boat's history.
 
lukecsmith said:
Hi all. Following on from recent post on acquiring yachts, documents and such ..

Im wondering if theres a way of finding out a yachts history, heritage etc. I ask because the one I have was given to me by a relative. It was originally built and launched in 79 from a Doug Peterson design, to be raced. The originally buyer had it built minimally on the inside and with the best fittings up-top for racing. A helpful bloke in the boatyard explained to me that all winches etc. are the of the best kind, that the mast was an unconventional design at the time optimized for speed, etc. I got it in a bad way and Ive got it back up to a better state now.

Previous owner reckoned it raced the Fastnet in 79, amongst others, and did well in many competitions. Is there a way of finding out this stuff? I'd love to know if the boat Ive put some hours into over the last few years actually has a pedigree ..

Thank for any help.
Click to expand...

The wealth of collective knowledge lurking among the forumites here never ceases to amaze me, so it's worthwhile to give the boat's name, as I'd not be surprised that someone remembers her.

IIRC there were one or two Doug Peterson designs in the '79 Fastnet, including Contention 33 3/4 Tonners.

I had a 70's one-off 3/4 Tonner a few years ago, and it was interesting how many people remembered her and gave me photos of her (one of which was in the Fastnet, with Kite and 'Big Boy' pulling well!)

Good luck with the research.
 
If she was registered you may find information about who owned her in Lloyds Register of Yachts (available in the National Maritime Museum library).

Or you may get lucky, as we did recently, when a man came on board our Twister and introduced himself as a former owner's son, and described sailing her in races in the Irish Sea during the early 1970s.
 
Ive just had a closer look at the papers. Theres quite a lot there actually, going back to build in '76. Her name is 'Willem Tell'. The original owner was someone called William Hugh Jennings of Falmouth. Shes 30.5 ft long, built by Sunship in Holland. I need to go through the documents I have and see if I can find out anymore than that. I'll also think about trying the Lloyds register as suggested. It was the previous owner who told me about the racing history, but theres nothing to prove it anywhere.

Thanks all for the previous suggestions. Sounds like something to try when Ive got some time to spare .. which isnt going to happen very soon!
 
lukecsmith said:
Hi all. Following on from recent post on acquiring yachts, documents and such ..

Im wondering if theres a way of finding out a yachts history, heritage etc. I ask because the one I have was given to me by a relative. It was originally built and launched in 79 from a Doug Peterson design, to be raced. The originally buyer had it built minimally on the inside and with the best fittings up-top for racing. A helpful bloke in the boatyard explained to me that all winches etc. are the of the best kind, that the mast was an unconventional design at the time optimized for speed, etc. I got it in a bad way and Ive got it back up to a better state now.

Previous owner reckoned it raced the Fastnet in 79, amongst others, and did well in many competitions. Is there a way of finding out this stuff? I'd love to know if the boat Ive put some hours into over the last few years actually has a pedigree ..

Thank for any help.
Click to expand...

Doug Is still around and can often be seen on the Med classic yacht circuit I believe he lives in San Diego. Trying googling him, he will be the best authority on yor boat.
 
Sequoiah1 said:
Doug Is still around and can often be seen on the Med classic yacht circuit I believe he lives in San Diego. Trying googling him, he will be the best authority on yor boat.
Click to expand...

An interesting idea .. Ive had a good root around on the tinternet. He doesnt have his own site and the only stuff I can find is info on wikipedia and on general yachting sites. No sign of any way to contact him that I can see. Unless anyone else has an idea of how I might be able to get a mail to him?

Those Beken photograph people are a bit strange. Theyve offered me 3 images of Willem Tell from '77, but I have to send them £25 to see the images, and then they give me £25 worth of enlargements .. except I dont know if its my boat theyve found at all. Im tempted, but its not encouraging when the entire email reply reads like this :

"£25 covers the 3 proofs & information
and you get a credit note worth £25 to spend on enlargements of Willem Tell."

Is it me or is a lack of common courtesy in an email off-putting? Whats wrong with a Hello, or a Thanks ?
 
I think you could say of Beken, they are in a dominant position. They have an extraordinary archive of yotpix and nobody else does. If you don't like it, you can't go elsewhere. Also, from the 1970's, the pix will be negatives or transparencies. They'll need to do some work to scan them, print them and send you proofs. The £25 maybe just covers their costs or maybe not, but makes sure you're serious. A few pleases or thankyous won't change that.
 
Hi,

Willem Tell was built in 1975(?) for Gerry Geeloff who was the head of Phillips the dutch electrical company as a half tonner designed by Douglas Peterson. I was under the impression that she was built by Standfast yachts but if you say that your details say sunship, well ..............!
Bill Jennings bought her late 1977 from Gerry having made a stupid offer that he said was the best one he'd had from anyone and he couldn't refuse. Bill raced her out of Falmouth, doing regattas along the south coast but mainly local racing. He eventually sold her to Darby Allen at the end of 1979 when he bought Celebration, a new SJ30.
Darby had Willem Tell for many years before selling her in 1988, I seem to recall, when she went to someone in Scotland.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top