January
Work performed by Robertson
Fitting out cockpit.
Cutting out teak for cockpit cupboards and starting to make up doors.
Making up doors for cockpit.
Continuing to make up doors for cockpit. Fitting and cleaning up woodwork
Fitting water run and seat in aft cockpit. Fitting hinges on small cockpit lockers.
Fitting small cockpit doors in cockpit. Taking old beading off cockpit step and replacing with new surround. Letting deck light into cockpit step.
Cutting off old rudder stock, rebating and cutting rudder to take new stock provided by owner..
Pitting catches and handles to locker fronts.
Remove bow sprit and fitting. Scrape down to bare wood and apply 5 coats Deks Olje Nol. Sand down bunk fronts and apply one coat Dl.
Hinging locker and fitting lock to locker door. Fitting turn buttons and fingure catches onto doors. Fitting hand rail wood to bulkhead.
Finish blocks for transducer and fitted to hull. Refitted bunk and locker. Make up fitting cap for fuel tank. Start making door stop for boat.
Finishing off odd batterning work.
Taking out outboard block and bolt on side of bull and dowling up. Taking out locker and stove top. Sanding down inside boat and cleaning out. Applying coats of Deks 0lje.
Taking out old cooker unit and replacing with new.
Fitting fiddle on galley unit. Fitting bulkheads for chain locker in boat. Taking out and priming and undercoating.
Priming shelves. Deck Olj’ed flooring at fwd end.
Fitting chain bulkheads into boat and painting. Sanding down parts of interior and varnishing with Deks Olje no 2
Fitting chart table between bunks. Priming small bulkheads and sheaves where old patch was fixed. Fitting beading round samson post and refitting bow sprit onto boat.
Making up and fitting samson post on stern. Cuttigg and fitting bumper sprit in post. Clean up varnish work. Getting out wood for new rudder.
Planning wood for rudder and gluing together.
Roughly cut out rudder to shape and fitting samson posts to boat. Fitting securing nut in stern locker.
Cleaning up and shaping rudder stock holder. Drawing out shape for new rudder to fit stock. Rebated for holder. Untill perfect fit.
Cut and planned rudder to final shape. Fitted stock. making up rivets and clenched stock to rudder.
Finished rivits, cleaned up rudder and painted. Fitted to boat. Cut out fairleads in bulwarks and varnished.
Sanding down doors, toe rails and varnished with Dekolje Dl. Scraping out seams and
Finishing recaulking and puttying seams
Priming work areas of bottom and wiped down remainder of bottom. Applying overcoat of underwater undercoat. Fitted rudder. Varnished toerail and started making up beading for fwd end of coach roof.
Finished making up beading on coach roof. Screwed home and varnished.
Refitting new engine bearer and primed.
Making up bracket for engine.
Refasten petrol tank. Fix engine bearer into boat. Bolt engine in temporarily. Stop up beading round coach roof and deck.
Finish block for transducer and fitted to hull, refitted bunk and locker, Make up fitting cap for fuel tank, start making door stop for boat.
February
Work performed by Robertson
1.2.80 Fitted door stop. Purchased barrel bolts and fitted to doors.
4.2.80 Assist owner fit rudder. Start to make up flooring for cockpit. Bolt down enging. Make and fit and glue I0 dowels to fit screw holes.
5.2.80 Fitting cockpit floor.
6. 2.80 Fitting sealing ring in deck for petrol cap filler. Changing shelf arrangement under bridge deck. Fitting lock back on door and making fitting plate for barrel bolt on door.
7.2.80 Sanding down filler on beading and varnishing. Paint locker and fixing in sheaves. Finish off flooring and fitting arrangement for for leg on cabin sole.
8.2.80 Varnish beading round cabin sides, touch up paint work on top side.
12.2.80 Tighten up stern packing and fasten bolts. Fitting stern bearing to engine, tighten inner stern gland. Make up cradle and load boat ready for launch. Plane down door catching on beading. Apply under water undercoat to new transducer blocks and blocking areas. Fit door fittings.
13.2.80 Moving boat out of shed into water. Attempt to move into mud pan. Pumped boat out on tide.
14. 2.80 Move “Sheila” from pan to quay head and secure, pump out and check for leaks.
15.2.80 Pump out and recalk area near stern.
18.02 Move back to pan. Take out pump. Rake out seam at stern and recalk.
19.2.80 Start to carve out sheave blocks in top of mast. Replace pump in boat and pump out.
20.02.80 Finish cutting out sheave blocks in top of mast. Collect eye rings for mast and check fit. Begin making up blocks for sheaves to fit in. Turned “Sheila” round on quay and applied coat of D2 to mast.
21.02.80 Making up and fitting blocks onto mast for sheaves to run in. Sand down mast and apply coat of D2. Put mast in. Altered table leg and fitted.
23.02.80 Making up and fitting pin into sheave blocks. Preparing mast and stepping into boat. Starting to rebate boom for leach.
25.02.80 Pumped out boat. Make up Luff grove in boom and start to fit goose neck on end.
26.02.80 Moved boat round onto slip. Filled with water to find leak on stern. Baking out seam and recalking it. Fitting goose neck + reller and end off boom. Clean and sand down and apply D2.
27.02.80 Sanding down spars and apply D2. Recalking area at stern.
28.02.80 Moved “Sheila” onto trailer, lifted out mast and moved boat into shed. Removed rudder, blocked boat, raked out seams ready for calking.
29.02.80 Wash mud off bottom, sand down allexterior paint work and varnish. Varnish cockpit and undercoat topsides after minor refilling.
March
Work performed by Robertson
3.3.80 Coach house and toe rails and hatch cover — two coats of varnish –sanded and fared topsided and gave 2nd undercoat.
4.3.80 Painted enamel coat topsides.
5.3.80 Cut away stern post and reshape, prime plank seans. Recalk and top prime. Start to make blocks to hold in beam crutch. Final topsides enamel coat, varnished coach honse. Sanded mast and spars and coated with D2.
6.3.80 Fitting boom crutch halders in cockpit. Decks-raking out seams and putting in Jeffries glue. Dowling up unwanted boles in deck. Taping in water line and cutting in with antifoul. Fitting copper tube into rudder trucking. Coated mast and spars with D2. Putting fittings unto bumper and mission boom. Fitting trunking.
7.03.80 Antifoul bottom, replacing stern tube and rudder fittings. Moving boat from shed and slipping. Tied up on quay.
Sheila was moved to a mud berth from 8th of March to 31th of March.
April
Sheila left Robertsons boatyard on 4th of April
Albert Strange AGM on April 11th
May
On the 15th of May Sheila was surveyed at Robertsons
June
On 17th of June, Sheila got new squabs in brown hide.
She was also hauled out at Robertsons for additional works
July
On the 2nd she was put back to her mooring at Kyson point.
Sheila log – first cruise anywhere
To Stone Sailing Club River Blackwater for East Coast OGA Race 1980.
Thursday 17 July 1980
Skipper John Kresja – Deckhand and cook The Owner.
Cast moring 1500 hrs (guessed as no watch on board and ships clock unwound), started ships clock at guessed time. Wind SW 3 in river, HW entrance to Deben 1550. Overcast with warm front coming through, slight drizzle occassionally with alto Cumulus.
Radio Orwell gave a # 1600 hrs time check to show the clock guess only nine minutes fast. Wind a fine reach down the river to arrive at the bar at 1645, wind now only 2 and dead ahead for the entrance. We made our way out with too much optimism and too much desire to be on our way as it was soon obvious that we were making no progress down the coast against the ebb tide even when the wind perked up to 4, in fact so little progress that we only just got back in at 1900. We had become slightly lulled by the lack of progress and carrying full sail (almost necessary to get in over the full ebb) we had a nasty 1/4 hour getting in, with considerable difficulty finding the bar buoys in the rising wind over tide swell. Full sail necessary on the port quarter with a nasty following sea caused some embarrasment just on the bar as it was very difficult to stop her broaching. Added realism since the sounder never went above two feet under the keel and therewere some of those characteristic gravelly noises an we touched a couple of time. We managed but it was far too sporting by half, too much like one of Albert’s graphic paintings for comfort no whit improved by having stowed an outboard in the dinghy (S.P.) which at the fearsome speed reared up to a ghastly angle and began to fill up. P.B.O. ready with a knife to cut it adrift should it sink (brand new at £750). Mercifully it remained afloat, just, and ship was moored under the Bawdsey shore. A chastened pair got supper, and planned complicated proceedures to alert the extra crew coming up from Kent for the race that there was were doubts. Deckie found the skippers sack damp foom slopping bilge in a place that he had reckoned was O.K. He was begining to learn the difference between the sea and the river but not fast enough as events were to prove. all in bed by to 10:00 22:00
Friday 18 July 1980
0625 forecast gale warnings for Thames but forecast SW 566 Possibly gale later vis good we decided to go and had a hearty breakfast arranging with the ferryman (Charron?) to be towed out over the bar at 0800. Deckie not learning fast enough not with oilies on got wet hoisting main over bar, hoist mizen an gooseneck pin broke–brail up mizzen. He was delighted to note that this was the only fitting on the whole boat that he had not made personally himself having been given what appeared to be a perfectly good bronze gooseneck fitting which was ideal. The bronze was crystalling in classic state and had failed in mild bending, a fact that I should have been aware of and done something about before (like a million and one other things.) Proceeded parallel to the coast close hauled with 1 1/2 hours water against us. wind force 3 west.
0900 off Felixtowe Pier close scrutiny showed that S.P. was taking water in little gobs through the centre plate case which would in due course be terminal. Critics here would say why have it at all, my reply being that the race is a social affair and you are cut off without one and I am foolishly purist enough to dislike rubber dinghies (which even deflated would occupy an unacceptable amount of living space.) S.P. is intentionally a thing of beauty and great effect and sails AND what was good enough for Strange and Groves (a dinghy is always shown in his pictures) is good enough for me. We hove to and I bailee it out and stuffed the wet pair of socks in the plate slot – magic. We begin to pick up the water as the Platters buoy with its mournfull buoy passes 50 yds to leward.
1030 Naze tower
1100 Walton pier. Wind WSW 4 sea lumpy flood vis good.
1130 pumped bilges and went about to clear Gunfleet sand. 2 washing up bowls (statistics this!) in the bilge showing that her first trip in sea after 3 years out of the water was telling.
1230 Clacton pier making reasonable time the skipper said who was very happy with the way Sheila went. Deckie went below a the wind rose and he suddenly became very tired (Stugeron or cash flow worries?) and was able to get some sleep (Big plus for Stugeron as deckie gets very sick very easily).
1330 Tack round Knoll cardinal mark and into Blackwater. Deckie sudenly sick for 1 min then fit again, goes back down to sleep with wind just 6 on the port tack. Skipper later reveals that he spends most of the next hour lying on the foredeck with Sheila sailing herself in long tacks. Deckie gets keen and effects an amazing confection with rope to hold the mizzen boom in place which lasts the whole weekend and adds another 1/2 knot even hard on the wind. Very lumpy with much water on the foredeck and over the cabin top which finds the usual extra places to come in which the river Deben had not discovered.
1530 Off Bradwell power station and back to hard tacks. Deckie makes some Earl Grey and choclate biscuits served, skipper has a very well earned rest as deckie takes the helm (some might say for the easy bit, his only defence being that it later transpires that this weekend is the longest he has ever been on the sea in anything far less a small boat)
1700 drop anchor off Stone Sailing Club 50 yards ahead of Gipsy our rival from the Deben who comes aboard for a second issue of tea. Skipper collects 2nd deckie from shore and a fine steak supper is served by the first deckie. After this extravaganza the non-owning members of the crew go ashore for beer and regulations. The P.B.O decides to reset the after steve in the mainmast to a position that he knew he had had before taking it out for stage 2 of the resetoration of the boat earlier in the year. It works as she handles like magic next day with no weather helm even with the side decks under water. Many O.G.A. members come down fron Maldon on the first of the ebb during supper providing a fine sight and their manouvres provide much entertainment, specially those of a huge Botta from Holland about 3/4 the size of a Thames barge, immaculately turned out which proceeded to beat up the anchorage in fine style. Anchor light set 21.30 and to bed.
19.7.80 Race Day.
Rise 5.30 and have breakfast to gale forecast in deference to which race comittee sets short course, Wind 3 SW. P.B.O, in such a state of non-comprehension that he is below doing something quite unconnected with events when we cross the line 1 min late with about 20 boats ahead and the rest of the field behind with wind on the quarter and all plain sail and mizzen staysail with an old genoa set higgledy-piggledy to the stenhead, Some boats pass us here as we have not managed to sort out the topsail yet. At Bradwell wind SW 4 remove ancient genoa as something of a joke. We round the Bench Head as the turning mark in 1 1/4 hours with Deva (a past winner) and Amity (a past winner) in the big class. Both begin to draw away on our finest point of sailing, a fine reach, so skipper begins to concentrate hard and we begin to creep up on Amity and pass Deva. It begins to become apparent as Bradwell Power Station comes in sight that we can do well if we concentrate and the competitive spirit is urged on. Sheila behaves like a lynx outpointing everything in our area large or small and going faster than even some of the big boats, wind still 4. At Bradwell as we all start to tack we begin to make real progress passing boats evey tack (just as they was Stan’in in the words of a well known song). P.B.O, gets to learn a little about the business as the wind rises to 5 and we have slightly too much sail but speed up to the be 10th boat home.
So on the 19th she raced the East Coast Old Gaffers and finished 4th in the category “boats under 28ft waterline and over 20ft.”
On the 24th she got her new gaff, spinnaker boom, topsail yard
August
On the 4th, she got from Arthur G Taylor her gunter mizen, vertical cut with two reefs of points of 8oz 36″ cotton. Area 52 sq ft. Dressed with 3 litres Fabsil.
Sheila an analysis
An essential facet in judging Strange, the yacht designer must be the close scrutiny of one of his artifacts in the environment for which it was expressly designed. This I am fortunate to be able to do since I have recently restored one of his early yachts to her former glory and have done this from the point of view of Strange the theorist and have been able to prove his idea in practice. It proves nothing to read his writings and agree with what he has to say or even to decide that, within the context of his time he was preaching a new message. It means little to agree that, that message was responsible for a radical new view of yacht design for it is well known that of all the quasi arts yacht design is the most empirical. Yacht design is highly subject to fashion and rule and much to the personal predilictions of the designer. The question therefore must be asked “was what Strange preached uniquely worth achieving, and did he, in fact achieve it”
I am particularly fortunate in having acquired a Strange yacht of a definitive type and period without having any idea how she would perform except for the writings of her designer and first owner seventy five years ago. I am, therefore, fortunate in being able to judge his achievement without prejudice, and, as a bonus, judge it as nearly as possible in the context of the times since where she now sails, she is much surrounded by examples of what she would have known in her youth. It is, therefore, possible to compare her assets, character and performance with her contemporaries.
In order to possess, at the end, a true reflection of what yachting at the time represent sented a great deal of reading of contemporary literature was undertaken before and during restoration so that as scrupulous a job as possible could be done. No real comparison can be made, nor is it meaningful to restore an old artifact using solutions of a later period. By such modernisation it is possible to miss salient features of original execution and even to find that a problem has been “solved” that was not inherent in the original conception, leaving a blurred understanding of the work as conceived and the state of the art of the time.
To place the exercise in perspective a little history of the boat herself and her inception is necessary. The Humber Yawl, from which she stems was a small 3/4 decked yawl rigged sailing canoe, with a centreboard, for use on the shoal waters of the Humber. When the Humber Yawl Club, which was affiliated to the Royal Canoe Club, was founded the type varied between about 12 and 20 ft long. They were usually built with clinker planking with a fixed deck but in shape very like a rowing canoe affording the crew (no more than two) considerable protection. Before Albert Strange became a member they were universally rigged with two battened lug sails, the after one stepped very close to, or on, the sternpost with the rudder hung outboard and the tiller having a large semicircular bend in it to clear the mast. Most of these excellent little boats were designed by the members for each other and, though they exhibited characteristics with other shoal draught boats in similar waters, rapidly became a type distinctly belonging to the HYC. They proved to be very fast, surprisingly stable and very handy in rough conditions; they were regularly sailed long distances and members of the club made extended cruises using awnings.
When Strange became a member almost the first design he executed that was published by the club in its Yearbook was different, its lines were notably more sophisticated and more beautiful and the execution of the drawings was to a much higher standard. Great thought had been given to the arrangements for the centre board, a subject that Strange was to make much his own in the yachting press. Yet the most striking feature was the rig. It displayed a gaff mainsail and mizzen and a jib set to a bowsprit. The design looked immediately modern and exhibited for the first time a feature that was to grace many Strange drawings, the delightful high peaked gaff. The whole presented a beautifully balance and though very clearly a Humber yawl must for the discerning have shown a new road forward, Development proceeded briskly as Strange and his friend-rival George Holmes vied with each other to improve the type though it was always possible to tell the difference as Strange’s lines always seemed to be be that much sweeter and more fair. The bats began to be carvel built and to sport little cabin tops but they were still affairs that could be put on the deck of a steamer and taken to Germany and Holland for Club cruises on the canals, a voyage which, at the time, cost £1. They were still very much centre-boarders and of light construction. By 1900 all the work had been done to turn the receipt into something bigger and in 1903 one of Strange’s pupils, then 23, asked his master if he would design him a Humber Yawl for use in the Hebrides. This was done and the result Sheila was built in the Isle of Man in 1905 for slightly less than £100. The hull lines were published in the HYC Yearbook for 1905 with a note by Strange that she was designed for an artists use in the Western Islands and that, since there was no draught restriction, it had been possible to design a full keel. This gave Strange the chance to extend the lines into a fine overhung bow and a true canoe counter. The deckplan is undistinguishable from that of a normal Humber Yawl, characterised by its maximum beam being 2/3 of its length to the bow. The cabin top, as shown on the sheer plan, is pure Humber Yawl, though there is more actual sheer possible with the overhung bow and counter. I have seen many of Strange’s canoe yawl designs and am still convinced that he never again achieved lines with such distinct character and fairness. He managed to fit into them all his preachings and to avoid any excess. He started with a small centre-board dayboat and derived directly from it a fully blown yacht. That Strange had indeed done just this, Sheila was very soon to prove, demonstrating a major step forward in the concept of what a really small yacht could, and should be.
To start with she is much more heavily built though her waterline length is no more than many of her forerunners. The essential midsection is, as Strange preached very brisk with no slackness. The bow, though beyond the waterline by 3 ft, is a delightful compromise between the racing “raters” of the time and the straight stem of the worrking boat. It is the very straightness of the stem at this angle that gives Sheila’s bow its stubborn yet racy character. The sections are a true V out of the water filling out as they travel towards the mid-section developing the reverse curve very soon after entering the water. The counter is clear of the water by 2ft and again the line leaves the water with no compromise turning up to the sternpost as the bow but with a larger curve. The sections come to a point but the V is very much fuller, satistying Strange’s dictum that a bow or counter should not slam yet should have some reserve buoyancy; his counter should part a following sea and lift the stern from it yet not drive the bow under water. The minimum freeboard is at the point of maximum beam and is a mere 16 ins. This feature, with the moderate sheer is pure Humber Yawel and I have no doubt whatever that for a crusing boat which one is on and off frequently, this is an enormous advantage. The overall sleekness and purpose conveyed is irresistible.
One should next examine the features that Strange considered a cruising boat ought to possess. It should, above all else, make life easy for its sailor. This for Strange was para-mount, he was constantly pointing out that the boat will survive long after the crew. All his work, however directed, constantly sought to solve this problem. First, then, the hull must give the sailor a good ride. He had no time for boats that slammed and jerked about.
He took trouble to see that his hulls parted the seas well, shaking them aside and not impeding the progress of the boat. In Sheila he has achieved this to a surprising degree for so small a boat and yet managed to keep the bow reasonably out of the water in a sea. Sheila keeps going, parting the waves and throwing them behind her, developing a steady gait that makes the passage fast and comfortable. The foredeck does get wet but Strange did not consider that this mattered as long as the crew did not and he took some trouble to arrange the rig so that foredeck work was kept to a minimum. He maintained that the proportions and the working parts of the hull should be such that everything can be done with comfort on the principle that it this is so then it is more likely things can be done when stress prevails. In Sheila the proportions of the cockpit and the steering position are a masterstroke and, blended with the cabin top, make sailing her a single-handers joy. Everything is in easy reach and all can be seen from a sitting position completely sheltered by the cockpit sides.and the cabin top, yet full control of the boat can be maintained sitting in this protected position. The fact that full control may be maintained from a sitting position is a tribute to the lack of effort to sail her at all, largely a matter of her perfect balance and simple moderate sailplan. Strange was not an advocate of the massive sailplane of the period, however beautifully they looked and always endowed his designs with moderate arrangements, designing the hull to be easily driven by this. The big sails and the amazing spars were the province of the paid hands and Strange was designing for the man who had to do it himself. He was very aware of the waterline length formula and his arrangements will easily push his hulls up to theirs. Sheila will sail beyond her theoritical maximum in quite reasonable conditions.
The next thing that he tried to achieve in his search for comfort was an easy rig. This must be placed in the context of the times when rigs were notoriously tricky things requiring many stays to keep them up. Again he did not go for mere clever ideas but started with a manageable concept; I suspect that his contemporaries called his rigs under-canvassed more often than even appeared in the yachting press. He carried the ensemble even further by arranging that should the boat be caught overcanvassed that not only would things not carry away but that the boat would keep sailing without vice. This he achieves with splendid style in Sheila. In early days of sailing her I did not have the reefing working and many April days were spent with the water over the cabin windows, her performance under these conditions was impressive and lead to a feeling of complete confidence – the essential cruising trait. Conversely the hull goes so well that it is not unreasonable to leave a reef in long after the blow has passed and still be going well. These features Strange knew well, designed into his boats, and are, I am convinced, the core of good cruising boats.
The design of the rig, as conceived, display his views well. Simplicity is the keynote and yet it is surprisingly close winded, ably abetted by the hull which performs well when pressed close. Many people comment upon his use of sloop rig where the more fashionable cutter predominated and his fitting out his rig without a stemhead forestay. Strange knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that taking off jibs on a wet, small, foredeck was dangerous and more than anything else he was aware of the capers that occur when a jib, set on a bowsprit, won’t pass reliably round a forestay. He knew from much personal experience of the dangers of these tangles and the chafe that they cause to the sail. Sheila is rigged, as were many other of his small designs, without a stemhead forestay and with a large single jib on a roller furling gear. This works superbly, and he knew that all he needed were reasonable proportions to ensure that the sprit did not carry away, and the rig with it. It has never shown any signs of so doing in 75 years and I never have to go careering onto the foredeck to clear a jammed sheet at a critical moment. The balance of this rig is such that she will carry this jib up to nearly half a gale and it is worth remarking here that this would be better if I had resisted the urge to improve on Strange. I added 18 ins. into the bowsprit and enlarged the jib, cutting it with a lower foot than shown in the original drawings. After having sailed her extensively this year I believe that Strange was right in his exact proportions and these will be returned to what was there originally. Strange knew, also, that if his rig was to perform well under jib and mizzen then both these sails had to be real and not jokes. His improvement of the Humber Yawl by the addition of a jib retained the size of the original mizzen, of which he was a constant advocate. He must have known well the pleasure of watching from the comfort of his cosy cockpit with his main safety in its crutch, all the other boats being flattened in a gale with their single masted rigs, and he peaceful with the boat well under control.
Sheila will close reach under jib and mizzen and though, naturally, she is not as respons-sive like this she is sailing very comfortably, this feature being well worth the small extra anticipation required for the time delay. This is again made possible by the easily driven hull.
The mechanics of the rig show care too. The main sail is loose footed and has mast hoops. He probably knew that with a big mast a sail performs much better aerodynamically when held away from the mast with hoops rather than jammed up to it with a lacing. The fact that you can easily climb the mast on hoops and that the sail will easily come up and down off the wind like this he must have known also. The loose foot enables very quick and effective reefing and the system that I employ allows me to take a very quick reef with the sail driving and achieve a perfect set. In every way it is better than roller reefing and is better for the sail. Strange knew of the performance to be gained from a high peaked gaff and most of his designs show this as do a number of his plagiarists. Looking up at the sail in practice shows that it hangs very little to leeward while dropping the peak at all spoils the windward performance. He knew that, for cruising, the gaff sail, well set, was infinetely preferable to a Marconi and with this I would absolutely agree. He said, many times, that there was no merit in bashing into a head wind, sane men stayed at home. Despite this Sheila is surprisingly effective on the wind, yet as soon as sheets are started at all she is off like a rocket. A fine reach well pressed is her best point of sailing which says much for Strange the designer when most of the boats of the period sailed best on a broad reach. We, these days, have become besotted with windward performance and, to make up for a lack of reaching performance in the Marconi rig, have to set a wild collection of things on poles. This, as Strange constantly preached, is not cruising: it is in many ways no different to the extreme boats of his own time except that foredeck gorillas have taken the place of the topsail yard men.
For manoeuvering in close spaces, alone, Sheila is pure magic. I always sail her on and off her mooring and through the rest, which activity has become almost unheard of. She is incredibly responsive, very quick and accurate through the wind and never loses way. Her brisk mid-section and good depth of straight keel ensure that she makes no leeway, often winning tacking battles for this reason alone. Her capacity to proceed directly forwards from a standstill on sheeting home the main is a constant delight and makes clear again that Strange knew which features were real and which illusory. Sheila will often outperform average Marconi rigged boats to windward solely because she goes forwards and not sideways. The ability to do these things so well is far more praise of Strange than I. At half tide my mooring is just her own length from the mud yet should I miss I can sheet the jib, let fly the mizzen and put the helm hard up. She will turn in her own length and when the mizzen is jybed complete that turn for another pass under complete control, to the constant amazement of onlookers. Heaving too beforehand (if alone) to get the main, and approaching under jib and mizzen, is so simple as to be a constant joy, and leaves her controllable and comtortable with the added advantage of being able to get the remaining sail off without moving from the tiller. Real cruising stuff, and this as Strange was always preaching, was what he considered cruising to be about. I have tried his receipt and find it to be without flaw. Many times have I blessed the low freeboard in the ease of getting on an off, many times the low cabin top in the ease of comfort and sitting vision. At all times I bless two main features that are pure Strange, they give everyone who sees her or sails her constant cause for comment.
Seventy five years ago Albert Strange saw what the small cruising boats should be, ! have no quarrel with his vision. I can say that what he set out to do was worth doing and that he has achieved it
Strange knew that the proportion with no excess was of far more value than fashion. No Strange design displays the gimmick. He knew the principles upon which he was designing and he incorporated those principles into a unique blend of the perfect. Many complain that his boats are wet, or tender, lack freeboard or sail, but they will grant that they look beautiful. They fail to deduce that their very beauty conceals the essence of form and skill such that all the features that they castigate become virtues yet are executed so well that they exhibit none of the vices they claim. Herein lies the essence of a Strange design; a clear view based on deep understanding and integrity, a willingness to defend that view and a capacity to carry it out. Sheila is all of these things and is a living monument to exactly what he set out to achieve.
M. B. Burn