FALMOUTH 18-FOOTERS


“He decided to take a one-off GRP moulding off her”


Below left: Moey waiting for the tide Below right: 18-Footers in 1904


she somehow found her way onto a beach up the Fowey River. John Andrew Senior (another St Mawes man – there’s a theme running here) went up to have a look at her in about 1980 with a view to buying her for his sons but “she was lying on her side with another boat collapsed on top of her with a ply coachroof as rotten as a pear”. Not surprisingly, John left her there, but she was subsequently discovered by Dougie Burnett (yet another St Mawes man, and responsible for saving many classic boats from similar fates) and John Milan who, in conjunction with John Fuge, restored her. She was


relaunched in 1989 and has been sailing ever since, now in the ownership of Bob Edwards, Daniel Duff and Chris Thomas, who bought her in 2005. Myrtle was also found on a beach – in 1981 up the River Fal by Chris Monk. After he made some enquiries he decided that he wanted to restore her. However, when he looked into it further, he thought that she was too far gone so he decided to take a one-off GRP moulding off her. Before doing so, he planed off some of Myrtle’s stem – if he hadn’t done so, the resulting hull would have been longer than 18ft by the thickness of the fibreglass. The


Experiments with sail area, rig and freeboard T


hroughout most of the history of the 18-Footers, there has been no restriction on the size or type of rigs. In the early years most of the boats had a


standing lug rig but then gradually adopted gaff mainsails. At that time it would seem that topsails were not always used, or perhaps only downwind, but they gradually came into more common use. In 1925, Tom Jacket offered to reduce Marion’s sail area to 400sqft (37m2


) “to encourage competition”


and this was then adopted for the class. Certainly, the 1936 St Mawes race card stated that “The SA of the 18-Footers is restricted to 400 square feet” In the late 20s, a couple of the boats experimented


with gunter rigs to “improve windward performance”. After the bermudan-rigged Marie was built in 1931, all the others followed suit. Mast heights of 40 to 50ft (12- 15m) were not uncommon, and Chin Chin’s was reported to be a staggering 60ft (18.3m) at one time. When Mo Sawle bought Marie in 1992, there were no other 18-Footers racing (Dougie Burnett had Magpie but rarely raced) and he had to race with the Bay classes in Falmouth Week. He wasn’t particularly happy with this so put a gaff rig on her so that he could race with the G Class – handicap gaff-rigged boats – in the more sheltered Carrick Roads. It would


seem that, just as they had in the ‘30s, the rest of the fleet has followed Marie’s example with regard to rig – they are now all gaff again. There is no restriction in sail area now, but all the


existing boats have a similar amount – around 550sqft (51m2


) for upwind sailing, as well as asymmetric


spinnakers held out with poles as long as the boat and often used with their inboard ends on a shroud rather than the mast to get extra reach. Such large sail areas need correspondingly deep


and heavy keels. The average draught is around 5ft (1.5m), and the lead keel that Mo Swale fitted to Francis, and then Moey, for instance is 1,150kg. Magpie has had a variety of keel configurations over the years – a centreboard originally, switching to a fixed keel, back to a centreboard and now a fixed keel again. Another important consideration with these


over-canvassed boats is freeboard. Lessons seem to have been learnt here over the years – Bob Edwards took the opportunity to add 3in (7.6cm) to Magpie when he bought her; temporary strakes were added to Myrtle before Whisper’s moulding was taken off her; and Mo Swale seems to have learnt the lesson twice as Francis had 2½in (6.4cm) more than Marie, while Moey has been given 3½in (9cm).


Falmouth 18-Footer


DESIGNED Various


BUILT 1898-2010


LENGTH OVERALL 18ft (5.49m)


BEAM Varies


DRAUGHT Typically 5ft (1.5m)


SAIL AREA Typically


550sqft (51m2 )


CLASSIC BOAT MARCH 2012


41


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