To safeguard a national treasure
There is only one yacht in the world that can claim to be a three-time Fastnet Race winner… Clare McComb on what it takes to keep a now 112 year-old maritime masterpiece going
Jolie Brise is one of the most famous boats afloat, a legend in her time. Launched in Le Havre in 1913, this pilot-cutter turned ocean-racer is the uniquely victorious heroine of three Fastnet victories and possessor of not one, but two, Blue Water Medals. She is far more than the sum of what she achieved in her early days – there is a spotlight on her today because she sails far and wide across the globe, crewed by teenagers – the small Tall Ship that packs a punch. A survivor. But who looks after and sails her? Who funds her? Safeguards her?
Toby Marris My interview with Toby Marris, Head of Sailing at Dauntsey’s school, in the south of England, looped round in a full circle. These days Toby is Jolie Brise’s skipper: so in this historic centenary year of the first Fastnet Race, which she won, who better to bring us up to date? After being in charge of her for over 30 years, his under- standing of this boat, her capacities and her potential, is unmatched at this time, and possibly for all time. Only George Martin, who brought her over from France in the 1920s, would have a claim to that title. He might well not win the contest. So how did a fine partnership of boat
54 SEAHORSE
and skipper come about? The roots of the story lie in an Isle of Wight childhood, in the days before ‘PFDs’, sea-safety still grounded in commonsense rather than regulation. Toby owes the freedom of his early adventures on the water to his father, a professor of economics, who himself had been introduced to sailing through his distant sailmaker Lapthorn and designer Nicholson family connections – powerful names on ‘the Island’. He encouraged his son to learn the ropes but was hands-off in the teaching. Toby was free to explore and experiment as much as he wanted, and he made the most of it. He began sailing a wooden Scow on the
River Yar, graduating, via the ubiquitous Mirror dinghy and various keel boats, to the family’s Hurley 20, a bilge keel cabin cruiser which he was allowed to take out, singlehanded, from the age of 13. After O-level exams he sailed her, with two other brave 15-year-old friends, to north- ern Spain. I asked if he had felt any fear at all, but the answer was no – he had observed the precautions observed by other boat owners in Solent waters, and simply followed them himself – ‘it was just commonsense really…’ I sense a strong contrast with another young Island sailor, Uffa Fox, except Uffa was impulsive, determined and, let’s be honest here, also slightly crazy. Toby sounds as if he had a much steadier head on his shoulders. He smashed his Yacht Master qualifica-
tion at 18. With his mother living in Cam- bridge, he qualified via Oyster World on
the east coast. Now certificated, he was taken on as crew of the square-rigger Kaskelot, still sailing today, and in those days mostly involved in film work, includ- ing such movies as Scott of the Antarctic and Robinson Crusoe. Toby describes her as basically a floating stage set. He thoroughly enjoyed his time with
Kaskelot, although by far the youngest aboard (he especially remembers meeting the young Tommi Nielson, whose Glouces- ter-based company, founded in 1988, today enjoys a worldwide reputation, spe- cialising in repairing, restoring and build- ing traditional ships, spars and rigging). In the early years Toby tried his hand at
many other land-based jobs: he was, at various times, a landscape gardener, a roofer, a ski instructor and even, rather incongruously, a re-insurance broker in the City. But he always came back to the sea. Oyster World had changed hands and
now hired Toby to deliver boats and also manage charters, before being taken on full time on his return. After a couple of years he returned to the south coast, work- ing as a freelance skipper and instructor, before applying for the post of Head of Sailing at Dauntsey’s school, sited far from the sea in the middle of Wiltshire. Dauntsey’s marked a complete turn-
about. The school has always been for- ward looking but at that time Toby says, ‘They did not know what they had.’ It is well known that Jolie Brise was initially purchased from her Portuguese owner, through an arrangement between Exeter
RICK TOMLINSON
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