JOEP NIESING SPIRIT OF TRADITION The Hoek ‘J slayer’ has arrived
The latest spirit-of-tradition (SoT) yacht from Dutch master Andre Hoek looks to pose a threat to the burgeoning J-Class. She’s 115ft (35m) long, is called Firefly and represents the first yacht of a concept that has been mulled over by spirit-of-tradition builders and designers, like Donald Tofias of the W-Class and Sean Macmillan of Spirit Yachts, for some time: the modern yacht that looks like a J – but is much faster. Firefly, claims her designer, is “faster than any J in any
wind strength and on any point of sail, and optimised to race in the burgeoning SoT class in the Caribbean and Med.”
Hoek Design anticipates that
Firefly will spawn a new one-design class called the F-Class. That might sound optimistic, but apparently two sister vessels were “under negotiation” as we went to press. Firefly, whose long overhangs echo Js like Svea, is more like a modern maxi racer underwater with a high-aspect ratio, T-style fin keel
and three-tonne lead bulb, 5.2m (17ft) of draught and a carbon spade rudder. Below, she has a minimal racing interior and a water ballast system that can pump five tonnes from side to side in two minutes. She was built in aluminium by the Dutch Bloemsma yard, builder of four of the recent J-Class hulls. Two months ago, we reported on the boom in popularity of SoT yachts. Firefly will start her racing programme this summer at the Superyacht Cup in Palma, Spain, this 22-25 June.
“Faster than any J in any wind strength and on any point of sail”
Our Boys 1911
Fast – but not a ‘steroid smack’
Our Boys was built by James William Shuttlewood of Paglesham in Essex, writes owner Steve Watsham. Her oak-on-oak build is unusual for an Essex boat, most of her sisters being planked in larch. There is a rumour that she started her build as a yacht, but she was certainly completed as a smack and registered on 18 May 1911. Her sailing gear was removed in 1945, and the last person to sail her while she was still a working smack, the late Douglas Stoker, Lord Mayor of Mersea, joined us during the 2005 Mersea Dredging Match to show us the right way to dredge for oysters. Our Boys finished her working life in 1985 and
went through several owners until bought by my younger brother, who died young from ill health in 1999, when Our Boys fell into my care. She was moved to St Osyth boatyard one rainy afternoon in late 1999 barely afloat, and a restoration began. A
LYDIA EVA Under her own
year later the shed doors were opened and Our Boys was re-launched to a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale, my brother’s favourite tipple, and some misty eyes. She has since proved, despite her reputation as a ‘galloping maggot’ to be fast, particularly as she’s not a ‘steroid smack’ and has no topmast.
steam This photo, by Richard Johnstone- Bryden, shows the recently-restored Lydia Eva outside Great Yarmouth under her own steam. The 98ft (30m) fishing boat, built at
West Lynn in 1930, is believed to be the world’s last steam drifter. Back in 2007 (CB228) we reported the
start of a seven-figure restoration. Richard is now writing the story of that extensive restoration for a future issue.
CLASSIC BOAT JULY 2011 17
C/O THE OWNER
RICHARD JOHNSTONE-BRYDEN
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