Classic Pond Yachts
Classic Pond Yachts
Laura is a 5 Tonner to the 1730 rule (the name of the rule, not the date!) of 1881, built sometime during the late 1880s She is very much a plank on edge design from that period.
i bought her from Russell Potts collection of models at Beale Park, she is absolutely stunning, she has been fully restored and is ready to go sailing, she even has a plaque on deck with details of when the restorations were done and by who, she is currently on display in our hall, even the wife loves her !
An interesting comparison of shearlines, the boat this side is Dolly.
Stunning model Pond yacht, she will be going sailing a lot this summer, mostly at Gosport, but also any VMYG meetings I can make. She could do with new headsails, a job for Catsails.
A picture of Laura sailing at Beale Park from the early 1990s I think.
A picture inside the hull looking aft, showing the underside of the deck, the transom and hull. When these boats were built the glues available were not very good, hoof and Horn glues from boiling down animals bones!, they were not waterproof and needed help, they used to 'sew' the lifts (that is the name for the timbers/layers used in bread and butter type construction) together, several ways that it was done, here you can see pegs fitted to the hull, with lashings holding the hull together, brilliant!
Inside hull looking forward, mast tubes in foreground. Looking at these pictures I realise I do have one important job to do, hoover out the bilges!!
The rather lovely etched brass plaque on Laura's deck, showing some of her history, a nice touch on this boat, we really should try harder to keep the history of these boats with the boat, I have seen details painted inside deck hatches, the history of these boats is such a big part of the interest in owning these old yachts. I love the VMYG logo on the bottom.
So all I have to do with this yacht is to take her sailing, she is a lovely model with real history, I am looking forward to getting her sailing, when we are allowed out again! I will take plenty of pictures and post on this page.
Above some interesting comparisons from Laura bow on, a picture from the day and a drawing, of a yacht called Oona, very extreme boats, bought about by a high tax on beam in the rating rule, they used to sail these offshore, there is a story of a new boat sailing from Cowes to go to Ireland on her maiden voyage.
https://www.classicboat.co.uk/articles/great-yacht-designs-11-oona/
she got into trouble in a storm in sight of land, the crew anchored, but the anchor was dragging in the storm, the crew were seen chopping down the mast to reduce windage, but she was driven ashore and lost with all hands.
I took Laura to Gosport for the VMYG day, we had her sailing on the pond, with no rudder sail trim interesting, she also has two mast positions, I am assuming the fwd position is for off the wind, and the aft position for on the wind, off the wind is not as it sounds, the only way was to have the jib from the end of the bowsprit on harder so if/when she luffs up, the jib makes her pay off.
I took both my older grandchildren to Gosport for the day, they are young and can run to catch the models, they loved it, I also took a couple of Toy yachts a Clyde model yacht and a bowman, I think they preferred the bigger ones.
The big advantage of having the grand children there, apart from the fact it is good for them, is that they turn them round and send them back, they got really good, they were altering the sails in the end, a great day, and Laura sailed really well, without a rudder it is all about sail trim!!