fulmar fife yacht

The International Eight Metre Association

Fulmar being restored

Fulmar is a Fife design from 1930. She is a direct sister ship from the same drawing as Falcon. Below is a short introduction written by the current owner of Fulmar. She is currently in Scotland for a refit not far from where she was born on the Clyde. The Background picture is Fulmar currently in the shed for refit. The main picture is a sneak peak of the new position for the mast.

In May 2022, Fulmar started undergoing restoration at Rosneath on the Clyde, not far from where she was built back in 1930. Four sailing friends from Scotland, assisted by the legend Ian Nicolson and encouraged by Duncan Walker and Barney Sandeman, have commenced the work to bring her back to Concours condition and to return her into a full-on racing boat.

The engine, propellor shaft, windlass, heavy batteries, and cabling have all been removed, along with the ‘cruising’ equipment like the fridge, etc. This has drawn more than 350 kg from the boat and from critical positions.

We had the opportunity to see the sister ship to Fulmar at the Fife regatta in Largs. None of us had ever been on an 8mR before, and we were left a little bit stunned by the majesty of the fully rigged Falcon. Owner Jan-Willem Ypma and his crew could not have been more welcoming, and we started to develop ideas as we viewed the boat and also the scale of the job. However, our optimism was further challenged when John Lammerts van Bueren met us on the pontoon and said that we would need to move the mast position. This was apparently not a suggestion but a well-meant instruction – well, we would need to do it to compete with Falcon, so the decision was easily made.

A new mast from Collars is now on the boat, and new rigging is being made to suit the new mast position, and new sails will follow once the rig has been finalised.

We want to thank the exceptionally warm and friendly welcome given to us by the Class so far- and we haven’t even put the boat in the water and sailed yet.

Originally we planned to buy an 8mR for the 2024 Worlds at Royal Northern and Clyde YC as we thought it would be great to have a local boat sailed by RN&CYC Members (and, of course, she had to be a Fife). Still, we were encouraged so much by IEMA Members that we now have re-arranged our sailing plans and are considering competing in the Mediterranean Classic boat events following the Worlds too.

The Fulmar team aims to launch her in May and work the boat up sailing on the Clyde in the months prior to the Worlds. It will be fascinating to see how we fare within the Fleet, but as it is our first season, we have no great expectations. We are looking forward to the challenge, but we are mainly excited at the prospect of joining such a Fleet of beautiful boats and having fun, of course.

We are looking forward to meeting you all in Genoa in 2023.

William Fife “Fulmar”

Fife “Fulmar” Specifications:

Type: 8 Metre Class * LOA: 48′ 6″ / 14.7m * LWL: 30′ 0″ / 9.14m * Beam: 8′ 3″ / 2.51m * Draft: 6′ 0″ / 1.83m * Displ: * Sail Area: 820 sq ft * Hull Number: 785 * Rig:Sloop * Designer: William Fife III * Built by: Fife, Fairlie, Scotland * Restored By Fairlie Restorations * Year Built: 1930

Historical:

Fulmar (yard number 785) was designed and built by William Fife at Fairlie. Completed in September 1930, Fulmar was never raced by her commissioning owner who sold her to R B and J S Aspin for entry in the 1931 Seawanahaka Cup trials.

Known Racing History:

1934 – 1936 – Seawanahaka Cup winner

Restoration:

Fairlie Restorations – ” The hull was found to be in poor condition and following renewal of the wooden keel, the grown and steamed frames were also replaced. The bilge stringer and beam shelf needed only local repair whilst the whole hull was re-planked. This was fastened in the traditional way; copper riveted to the steamed frames and screwed to the others.”

“The deck was replaced in teak, and the fittings were replaced using patterns made from the remaining originals. No winches were fitted, and her deck layout is totally original.”

“With the intention of resuming her racing life, no engine was fitted and the rig was replaced following the original sail plan and specifications. Following her relaunch in 1995, she has been kept and raced in the Mediterranean, where she is a regular and successful competitor at the classic yacht regattas.”

Related posts:

• William Fife 8 Metre “Sulaire”
• William Fife “Adventuress”
• William Fife 6 Metre “Sunshine”
• William Fife “Mignon”

Fulmar and Amita were at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club for many years. Fulmar was owned by Dr. Jack Balmer and Amita was owned by Stan Davies. both boats raced and were well maintained.

My Father, Hector Porter owned this boat in the 1950’s and I remember her well. I own a wooden tender which my father made for Fulmar, which is now 65 years old. It is clinker built 10ft 6ins, of larch, with a small sail, called’ Little Girl.’ I am trying to renovate this boat but some of the timbers are beginning to rot at the stern and i feel it may defeat my limited skills. Any suggestions welcome.

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In early 2000´s Fulmar was under the same ownership as the ketch, Kentra .

2022 – Fulmar undertook a restoration

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Our guide to Fife’s finest yachts

Every five years yachts built at the William Fife yard at Fairlie on the Clyde return to race and celebrate the design genius of their creator. Here’s our guide…

What a week of extremes! The Fife Regatta in Scotland, the fourth of this quinquennial event, packed in enough wind, weather and excitement to challenge the timbers of these most beautiful of classic yachts and the skills of their sailors. Within minutes, stern Scottish rain and wind up to 30 knots would give way to azure seas and sunlit mountains, headlands and islands – surely the most scenic and unspoiled sailing imaginable in those conditions.

There were duels aplenty, including a memorable one between the schooner Astor, here from California via the Caribbean and Gibraltar; Latifa, a canoe-sterned yawl sailed here from Italy; the 1931 8-Metre Saskia and the schooner Kentra, who has been relaunched after seven years ashore at Fairlie, the Fife yachts’ birthplace.

Another good battle during the week was between the Clyde Linear 30 Mikado, built in 1904, and the 8-Metre The Truant, 1910, kept locally and still sailing hard.

Yachting scribe Bob Fisher made an appearance sailing his dimunitive Mignon, having turned to the classics for his personal enjoyment, and Olympic champion Shirley Robertson took the helm of The Truant.

The oldest of the 20 boats was Ayrshire Lass, built by William Fife II in 1887, while Solway Maid, newly refurbished, was the last boat built by William Fife III at the Fairlie yard in 1938. Some of the big Med boats did not make it this time, but to have such an array of historic Fifes, seven of them over 100 years old, was an incredible achievement.

It’s also worth remembering that 40 years ago many of these yachts were just old boats, mouldering in the mud or fashioned into houseboats. The classic-boat revival has prompted not just a reappraisal but a surge of interest, passion, skills, knowledge and enjoyment, and the boats designed by the three generations of Fifes have been a vital spearhead of this interest. Who can fail to be moved by the power and artistry of their hull shapes, their exquisitely curved stems, or their voluminous sails?

Olin Stephens said that Fife boats are the most beautiful, and they can now be found around the world, but to see them sailing among the coasts and islands of their origin is incredibly moving. Several owners also reported their fastest ever sailing times, thanks to the constantly changing and challenging Clyde conditions.

Equally moving is the dedication of the owners who have brought them back to Scotland for this special regatta. Mario Pirri had brought Latifa all the way from Italy, and was sailing her during the regatta despite having broken his leg off Portugal on the way to the event (CB302, p19). Sadly, on the Wednesday his injury proved too much and he was re-hospitalised but is thankfully now making a recovery.

Latifa went on to win the regatta under local skipper Pete Wright, along with Jon Fitzgerald and a strong Clyde-based crew that Mario had invited to sail with him. Astor returned from the Pacific for the first time since she was built in 1923; Viola and the recently restored Ellad came from La Rochelle in France, and so the list goes on.

Over past and present regattas, 45 different Fifes have made their way to Fairlie, and with people like this and boats like this, the future of classic yachts, Fifes in particular, looks set to power ahead for years to come.

For more details, including galleries of the 2003 and 2008 events, go to www.fiferegatta.com . CB will be covering sailing on Ellad and her restoration soon.

The 105ft (32m) schooner has enjoyed a long and varied history, being built in 1923 for Kenneth MacKenzie Clark of the Paisley thread-making dynasty. After just a year she was sold to Charles Livingstone (of the Cunard shipping family) and then to the wife of LSD guru Timothy Leary. But her present owner Ernst Klaus rescued her from near oblivion around 20 years ago and took her to Fairlie Restorations in 1994, who put a copper bottom over her planking, on which she sailed around the world for five years. She celebrated her 75th birthday at the first Fife Regatta, and has just been relaunched at Fairlie after a spruce up in time for her 90th birthday. Our photo above shows Mr Klaus (second from left) with regatta organiser Fiona Houston (middle) with the folk from Astor and a cake of Latifa.

Tringa is a most perfectly executed gaff-rigged example of the famous Clyde 19/24 class, named for her length on the waterline and her measurement on deck. The class was formed in 1896, after the earlier 17/19 class was thought to have reached its full development with Fife’s Hatasoo (who competed in the 2003 Fife Regatta), which no other boat managed to beat. Helmut and Gisela Scharbaum have built this yacht in Germany, having first built a quarter-scale, radio-controlled model and, over the years, their working models have been their primary focus. In the hours after their day jobs, much research has been done and the full-sized replica that you see here has taken them 3½ years to build, launching in 2010. Every detail has been carefully crafted and she sails well too, as only one would expect.

This 86ft (26.2m) schooner was built of teak on oak frames in 1923 for an australian surgeon, who owned her until she was attacked by Japanese submarines in Sydney Harbour in 1942. Her third owner raced her extensively in the Sydney Hobart Race and came fourth in the 1963 Transpac. Her present owner has owned her for 26 years, sailing her extensively in the Pacific and then setting out from California in 2007 to sail through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean, winning the Concours d’Elegance at the antigua Classics in 2009, and spending the last 18 months in Gibraltar where a new engine has been fitted.

Although calamity struck her owner Mario Pirri (right), sailing solo on his way to the Clyde (see main story) this elegant 70ft (21.3m) canoe-sterned yawl built in 1936 won the regatta overall. She was a favourite of Fife III’s, and rightly so. She finished second in two Fastnets just after she was built and Mario has sailed her around the world, as well as completing over a dozen transatlantics, many of them singlehanded. The weather had conspired against her coming to the last Fife Regatta in 2008, but even Mario’s accident could not stop Latifa from snatching a well-deserved victory, just a single point ahead of Astor, in Class 1.

Rediscovered in an Irish potato patch in 1963, The Truant was sailed hard for some years and then given to the owner’s godson – who wouldn’t want a 1910 Fife 8-Metre as a present? However, the boat was in need of a complete restoration and Ross Ryan was starting out as an artist, without the funds to do the job. Years later she was restored locally by Adam Way. The Truant was commissioned by Ralph Gore, Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron, who won many races in her. In 1912 she was UK class winner, as well as European champion in Stockholm, and she remained there during WWI, moving to Norway and then Ireland, where she was used for cruising. She has a relatively full body, good for the bouts of heavy weather encountered during the week.

Oblio is a gaff cutter built in 2007 by the boatyard of Hubert Stagnol in bénodet, France. The lines are from an 1899 design by William Fife III, and she is as fast and bonnie as one would expect from the designer. Her owner, Gordon Turner, sailed her well all week, even gybing her in heavy winds when most boats were tacking.

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Association AFYT

Catégorie Epoque

Numéro de Voile -

Architecte W. Fife & son

Constructeur W. Fife & son

Longueur totale 14.67 m

Tirant d'eau 1.95 m

Rating APM 148.9

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