50th Anniversary Collectors Issue - September/October Issue No. 300 Preview Now
July / August 2020
The vertues.
One of the finest Vertues afloat, RAUMATI was built in 1962 by E.F. Elkins Boat Yard in Christchurch, England, the most prolific builder of the type. Her bottom is planked with teak and her topsides of mahogany, over a backbone and framing of English oak, and she has a lead keel, bronze floors, and all-teak deck structures. She represents the final flourish of English classic construction before the first Cheoy Lee–built boats were imported from Hong Kong into the U.K. the following year. She is now owned by Gerry Williams and is based in Cornwall, England.
Most cruising sailors have heard of Vertue yachts. Though small in size—only about 25 ' LOA—they have an outsized reputation as the most successful design to come from English yacht designer Jack Laurent Giles during his long career. More than 200 of the boats have been built, and many of the exploits that their owners undertook have become legendary among ocean-cruising sailors.
Giles, who was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1901, was brought up on the country’s North Sea coast in Scarborough, a town best known for its School of Art where for 35 years yacht designer Albert Strange was the kindly and enthusiastic headmaster. Strange is best remembered for his beautifully proportioned canoe-sterned gaff yawls, such as SHEILA II (see WB No. 64). Giles was quoted as having “first got the idea of designing yachts at school,” in Scarborough, where he probably knew Strange. Giles went on to study engineering at Oxford University and then naval architecture at Durham University, which, being only 75 miles from Scarborough, was closer to home. He must have pored over yachting journals to study designs, and the influences of Strange and other designers of his day more than likely informed his thinking.
fter completing his education, Giles first worked as an engineer with Vickers-Armstrongs, a manufacturing conglomerate with a shipbuilding division on the River Tyne. He didn’t stay long; instead, in 1925, at age 24, he moved to Southampton on the south coast of England to follow his dream of designing yachts. There, he started working under the wing of Charles E. Nicholson, the middle son of one of the founders of the Camper & Nicholsons yard.
With his engineering background, Giles must have been fascinated by the yachts designed and built there after World War I. Among the Camper & Nicholsons projects of that era was the conversion of NYRIA, a cutter with a composite hull of steel framing and teak planking, 117 ' LOA, which in 1921 was reconfigured as the first really large European yacht to be given a Bermudan rig.
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Extraordinary boats: Andrillot, the original ‘Vertue’ design
- May 25, 2021
Andrillot is the original ‘Vertue’, the design which launched Laurent Giles’s long and illustrious career in 1935. Nic Compton reports
German boatbuilder Uli Killer was looking for a boat to sail while he was working on a big restoration project when he spotted Andrillot , a 25ft wooden cutter for sale in Dartmouth, UK.
The boat had recently undergone a three-year restoration and was said to be in very good condition for her age. The ad claimed the yacht was ‘an important part of our maritime heritage’ and that she and her sisterships had ‘become legends in their own right’. But to Uli, a relative newcomer to the classic world, she was just a pretty boat at the right price.
Andrillot as she was built with a gaff rig.
“She looked pretty and was affordable for us. I knew nothing about her history, and I had to ring a friend to ask him who Laurent Giles was!” Killer recalls. “Then I saw articles in English and American magazines and realised she really was such a famous boat, and hundreds of them were built. Being No 1 makes her more interesting.”
The boat Uli had inadvertently stumbled across was Andrillot , best known as the ‘original Vertue’, the first of a class which, 85 years after she was launched, is still going strong and now numbers around 200 boats. More by chance than intent, Uli had discovered a unique piece of maritime history, which he was able to buy for less than the price of a new VW Golf. He could hardly believe his luck.
It was in 1935 that Guernsey solicitor Dick Kinnersly commissioned British yacht designer Laurent Giles, then at the start of an illustrious career, to design a cruising boat for him.
“I was ignorant of yacht design but I knew what I wanted; a boat that would spin on a sixpence and I could sail single-handed,” he told British journalist (and fellow Vertue owner) Adrian Morgan 60 years later. “I don’t mind a transom, I said, and a good entry. I couldn’t afford an engine, so I needed ‘plenty of air’ aloft, which meant a topsail.”
The result was a modest 25ft 3in cruising yacht with a wide, distinctive sheer strake inspired by her working boat origins, and a manageable gaff rig (described by some as the ‘pinnacle’ of gaff rig design).
The hull shape was moderate in every way, and Giles himself was reticent about his achievement, saying: “There was nothing very special about the first conception, simply a contemporary interpretation of the Pilot Cutter theme with the same sort of displacement and general arrangements whittled down suitably to the very small size.”
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The boat’s capabilities were soon put to the test by Giles’s colleague Humphrey Barton, who borrowed Andrillot soon after she was launched and sailed her from Lymington to Concarneau and back, covering 855 miles in 23 days. The voyage, almost unheard of at the time on such a small boat, earned him the 1937 RCC Founder’s Cup.
More orders for the design soon started trickling in although, strangely, the class didn’t get its name until 10 years after Andrillot was launched. One of the boats built to Laurent Giles Design No.0015 (as it was then known) was Epeneta , which won the Little Ship Club’s annual Vertue Challenge Cup in 1939 for a 745-mile cruise of the English Channel. When Giles came to naming the class after the war, he chose the name Vertue in honour of that achievement.
Andrillot has been converted from gaff to Bermudan rig. Photo: Nic Compton
Other epic Vertue voyages soon followed, including notable transatlantic crossings. One, by David Lewis on Cardinal Vertue , was made while competing in the first OSTAR in 1960. He finished 3rd, behind Francis Chichester and Blondie Hasler.
Over the years, there have been several changes to the boat’s superstructure and rig, but the basic hull shape remained unchanged (indeed Giles believed it couldn’t be improved) until the design was adapted for GRP construction in 1976.
Reconfigured with slightly more beam and a higher freeboard, more than 40 Vertues were built in GRP, mostly by Bossoms in Oxford.
Wooden Vertues continue to be built to this day, both in carvel and strip-plank construction, and the company recently sent out plans for hull No.249 – though not all the plans sent out have been built.
As for Andrillot , the progenitor of this remarkable explosion of small boat sailing, she was owned by Kinnersly until 1947, after which she went through a succession of owners (seven in all) until 1982 when she was spotted by father and son Peter and Tim Stevenson.
By then Andrillot was in a dilapidated state. Peter and Tim had to tow her across the Solent and had her transported to a hay barn on the family farm near Lyndhurst.
The chart table was completely rebuilt for her new owner, including the non-original inlaid compass rose. Photo: Nic Compton
There, over the next two years, they gave her a full restoration, gutting the interior, doubling up several frames, and replacing the old Stuart Turner engine with an 8hp Bukh. By then, the yacht had already been converted to Bermudan rig and her coachroof had been extended, with the mast stepped on top of the coachroof rather than on the keel, as original. Peter and Tim kept the Bermudan rig but reinstated the bowsprit.
Andrillot across the channel
For the next few decades, Peter and Tim sailed extensively from the yacht’s base in Lymington to both sides of the English Channel. When Peter died in 2002, Tim took over the boat and based her on the River Exe in Devon. But eventually, the wear and tear of 35 years of sailing took its toll – particularly on the extended coachroof, which was creaking under the strain of the rig.
Tim entrusted the job of repairing the boat to Dartmouth-based boatbuilder Michel LeMoigne, whose CV includes working on major restoration projects such as the William Fife sloop Rosemary . He duly opened the coachroof up and replaced two deck beams, fitting three hefty posts under the mast step to transfer the load to the keel.
In the process, he had to rebuild the foc’s’le bunks and lockers. Once that was done, it was clear the rest of the interior needed to be updated, soon followed by the cockpit. And so one job led to another…
Andrillot in Darmouth where she was given an extensive refit. Photo: Nic Compton
Finally, near the end of the summer 2019, Andrillot was ready to be relaunched, but any hopes Tim might have had for a late season’s cruise were crushed when the surveyor spotted a crack in the mast – which had been there for years and never caused a problem – and condemned it.
It was the last straw for Tim and soon after Andrillot was put on the market. By the time a new mast was made and a buyer was found, the UK was deep in Coronavirus lockdown, so Andrillot wasn’t launched until August 2020 – three years after she’d been taken out of the water for repairs.
Uli Killer was in some ways a surprising buyer. A former CEO of a finance company, he quit his well-paid job in 2010 after becoming ill with the stress of work. In a dramatic change of life, he decided to pursue his lifelong love of boats and trained as a boatbuilder at the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis.
He then set up shop at his home in southern Germany where, alongside building bespoke dinghies, he embarked on a major project restoring an 1884 gaff cutter called Wild Duck. But, as it became clear the restoration would take longer than expected, he decided to buy a smaller boat to sail in the meantime. Which is when he discovered Andrillot .
Close encounters
Uli only had time for one trial sail on his new boat, before he and his son Moritz set off from Dartmouth to Vlissingen, Holland, at the end of August.
They were pushed on their way by strong following winds, with a dramatic wind against tide run past the Needles, a boat crashing into them in the middle of the night in Lymington, and a close encounter with a military firing range near Dungeness.
The RCC Founder’s Cup was awarded to Andrillot after she sailed 855 miles from Lymington to Concarneau and back. Photo: Nic Compton
In the end, it took them two weeks to make the 380-mile trip – including a week’s stopover in Cowes for repairs – averaging 50 to 60 miles a day. Yet, despite the drama of the trip, Uli was euphoric about his new acquisition.
“The boat felt really safe. Several times, we made 7-8 knots. It’s amazing such a small boat goes so fast – more than the theoretical hull speed. With the white cliffs near Eastbourne to one side, it was really beautiful. And when you go into harbour, people are interested in the boat and want to talk to you – we met such nice people all the way. In the evenings, it was so cosy and nice to snuggle in there and have supper.”
If Uli was ignorant of the boat’s importance when he bought her, he is certainly fully appreciative of her now. He is talking about taking her back to her gaff rig one day – perhaps in time for her 90th birthday – and hopes his son will take over ownership once Wild Duck is restored.
Once again, it seems, Andrillot will be handed down from father to son, as it was under the Stevensons’ long tenure. Almost by accident, it seems, the little boat with a big heart has reinvented herself and found a doting owner to take her to the end of her first century. Laurent Giles himself could ask no more.
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(1950), Dr, Joe Cunningham's round voyage, England - West Indies - Newfoundland - Ireland in (1952-3), Peter Hamilton's voyage from Singapore to England in , in Salmo to Quebec, Panama, Tahiti and California; and in 1960 David Lewis sailed in the single-handed race from Plymouth to New York, and returned in her to Shetland.
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| for great article on a Vertue being sailed through a Force 11 storm by Peter Kinsey. Reprinted from for article by Andrew Pool, WoodenBoat Magazine 1978
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"Have found your very interesting page and would be pleased to offer some information which I hope will be of interest. First Cheoy Lee built Vertue Bettina V58 1953 Cheoy Lee built Vertues throughout the late 1950's to the middle 1960's Fibre Glass Vertues (Vertue II) designed in 1976 with minor hull molds to enable GRP molding (less tumble home), in June 1999 VII No 44 under construction in England. 1986 Vertue redesigned for wood/epoxy construction and in June 1999 V227 has just started construction. On average four new Vertues are built each year. Plan cost about �800 Study plans �5"
Rupert Reed has a website on the Vertue's http://drumler.com/where-are- they-now/
BACK to C.L. MODELS PAGE
Here are a couple of interesting e-mails submitted....
The following e-mail was sent in by Wayne S...
Good morning (well, it's morning in san diego), james and cilla-- i notice that someone-- i think ben stavis-- sent you a list of models of older cheoy lees; and it hit me that there's a magnificent model that not too many people know about that isn't on the list. it's the 25' 3" vertue sloop, made entirely of teak by cheoy lee (they never made a glass one) of a design by laurent giles, as i recall. these are absolutely fantastic boats, and pretty rare. they were made of mahogany in england, and both the cheoy lee models and the english ones have made famous trips. the famous english sailor and racer humphrey barton thought they were the very best small cruisers ever built. he sailed an english one, vertue xxxv, from england to new york through hurricane-force winds, and wrote a book about it. the most well known of the cheoy lee models also had one of the best boat names i know of, "speedwell of hong kong"-- it made a long voyage, which was written up. good old-time ocean sailors drool when you mention these boats. one of the rare cheoy lee vertues is in san diego. i'll try to get your web page address to the owner, and enlist him in this effort to let everyone know about cheoy lees- the world's best boats. many thanks for your work on behalf of all of us the web page looks great. best-- wayne s...
Received this e-mail from Bob aboard "Patience"
Dear Friends,
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Vertue is a 25 ′ 3 ″ / 7.7 m monohull sailboat designed by Jack Laurent Giles and built by Cheoy Lee Shipyard, Stebbings & Sons, Bossoms Boatyard, and Jouët starting in 1947.  Rig and SailsAuxilary power, accomodations, calculations. The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more. Classic hull speed formula: Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL Sail Area / Displacement RatioA measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more. SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3
Ballast / Displacement RatioA measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize. Ballast / Displacement * 100 Displacement / Length RatioA measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more. D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³
Comfort RatioThis ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more. Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )
Capsize Screening FormulaThis formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more. CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64) Most VERTUES were built by different firms in England. Cheoy Lee built a few in the late 50’’s and early 60’’s. Some were built later in FG. The designed was changed significantly since the earliest boats of the 1950’s so dimensions listed here are only approximate. It is thought that approximately 100 have been built to this design. Embed this page on your own website by copying and pasting this code.
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TEL/FAX +44(0)1803 833899 | [email protected] Sailing yachts Laurent Giles Vertue II
Enquire about Laurent Giles Vertue IIEmail us: [email protected] Alternatively please fill in this form and we will contact you about this boat
Apply for financeVisit our partner’s website to apply for finance  Full specificationWooden Ships Comments on this Laurent Giles Vertue II Based on the famous Vertue design by Laurent Giles, this is the very first example of what was known as the Vertue II, the same lines but built using GRP, completed in 1979 and built to Lloyds 100A1 classification. Shortly after completion, the boat was exhibited at the London Boat Show in 1979. This is the first and and possibly the best GRP Vertue II, a superb and immensely capable short handed blue water cruising boat. The most notable feature of this boat compared to other examples of the Vertue II is her interior. Because she was due to be exhibited at the boat show, the yard put a lot of time and effort into building her interior using solid teak giving her a cozy and comfortable feeling comparable to some of her earlier wooden sister ships. Later boats were not fitted out to this high standard due to the extortionate cost. Sold into Swedish ownership in 2010 where she has been based ever since, cruising the archipelagos and coasts of the Baltic. Last year she was sold, bought by an Australian for an intended long distance cruise and she had considerable investment with new gear and equipment in readiness for that trip. Unfortunately plans have changed, the trip cancelled and the boat must be sold once again. The boat had been totally prepared for this voyage and is a fully equipped, turn key blue water cruising boat in ready to go condition. Recent updates include: 2021 survey New Liferaft New roller furling headsail system New batteries New EPIRB and PLB She has been well maintained and continually upgraded over the years. She is well set up for single handed sailing, easily handled by one person and capable of offshore cruising in rough weather if required, the Vertue has often been referred to as the ‘greatest offshore cruiser’. Length on Deck 25’8″ Length Waterline 21’6″ Beam 7’10” Draft 4’5″ Displacement 4,100kg/9000lbs Ballast 2000kg/4400lbs Construction GRP moulded hull, heavily laid and built to Lloyds 100A1. 2 ton external iron ballast keel. GRP moulded decks and coachroof finished in blue non slip coating. Scrubbed teak hand rails on the coachroof deck. Lewmar hatch forward of the mast Moulded self draining cockpit with a scrubbed teak capping rail and Treadmaster non slip mat on the thwarts. Sprayhood with a zipped back to shelter the cockpit. Tiller steering with a transom hung wooden rudder, rebuilt in 2016. Stainless steel pintles and gudgeons. Aries wind vane steering fitted. Masthead bermudan sloop rig on a deck stepped alloy mast. Mast steps fitted. New Selden single line slab reefing boom in 2016. Stack pack system fitted on lazy jacks. The mast and rigging is over spec for a boat of her size making everything very strong. Twin lower shrouds and a single cap shroud to internal stainless steel chain plates. ProFurl C290 roller furling genoa system, new in 2022. Split standing backstay. Inner forestay for storm jib. Fully battened mainsail with lazy jacks and stack pack system. Genoa by Hood in good condition. Second genoa, storm jib, working jib and spinnaker. Lewmar 16 primary cockpit sheet winches and a pair of Lewmar non-self tailing secondary sheet winches. Lewmar 16 self tailing winch on coachroof for running rigging which is led through jamming clutches. Yanmar 2GM20 16hp twin cylinder diesel. Complete and thorough service in 2022. Full set of spares and tools aboard. Stainless steel shaft with an Aqua-Drive coupling to a centreline fixed 3 blade bronze propeller. 5 knots cruising speed. 17 gallons of diesel in an incorporated tank under the engine built into the keel. 20 gallons of water in a plastic tank under the saloon sole. 2 x AGM domestic batteries and 1 x engine start battery, all new in 2022. Small inverter for 240 volt, new in 2022. Accommodation 3 berths plus an extra berth in the fore peak currently used for storage. 6’2″ headroom throughout the saloon. The interior of this very first example of the Vertue II was finished in solid teak panelling all done to a very high standard and gives her a cosy comfortable feel in the cabin similar to that of her earlier wooden counterparts. Steps down from the cockpit with a quarter berth to starboard and galley to port. Galley has an Origo twin burner meths stove on gimbals. Stainless sink with manually pumped fresh and salt water. Various lockers, cubby holes and storage shelves around the galley give plenty of stowage space. Half height bulkheads with the recognisable curved top found in Vertues separate off the main saloon. Settee berth either side with trotter box forward. Lockers behind under the deck head and storage beneath the seats as well. Teak shelf and storage lockers at the forward end of the saloon either side, each with a brass oil lamp on gimbals. Custom made stainless steel solid fuel cabin heater mounts on the bulkhead. Centreline door into the forepeak with a heads to starboard and the 4th berth/storage are to starboard. Heads is a Blakes manual sea toilet which discharges directly overboard. Aries Lift up wind vane self steering Autohelm ST 4000 tiller pilot with fixed mounted display/control unit in cockpit. Yeoman Navigator Pro AIS EM-track B400 class B (AIS sender and receiver) with its own chart display 3 anchors plus chain. Simpson Lawrence anchor windlass type S-L Hyspeed Double Action Lever Windlass. Lazizas Coastal valise life raft, new 2022 EPIRB, new 2022 Personal locator Beacon, new 2022 Life jacket, new 2022 2 x life line terthers Fire blanket in the galley Spare tiller Manual bilge pump Auto electric bilge pump Radar reflector Bunk and berth cushions Full galley equipment Paraffin cabin lamps 2 burner Origo spirit stove Bimini sun awning Custom made stainless steel solid fuel stove cabin heater. Sprayhood with zipped on back Engine spares Mainsail, fully battened Working jib Mainsail stack pack system with lazy jacks 2 x Lewmar self tailing cockpit sheet winches 2 x non-self tailing cockpit sheet winches Disclaimer: These particulars have been prepared in good faith from information provided by the Vendors and are intended as a guide, Wooden Ships cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. The Purchaser should instruct his agent or surveyor to validate all details as necessary and satisfy himself with the condition of the vessel and its equipment. Wooden Ships classic yachts brokers have an extensive database of boats for sale. With a wide range of sailboats , classic yachts , motor yachts and small classic boats , Wooden Ships has one of the largest selections of traditional wooden boats and yachts for sale in the UK. Latest listings Classic National 18 Dinghy Steel Gaff Cutter 26′ Gaff Yawl Ex RNLB Watson Class Lifeboat 15′ Dartmouth Launch Chris Craft Replica Barrelback 19 Runabout 19′ Fast Harbour Launch 36′ Motor Sailer Ketch 28′ GRP Falmouth Working Boat Gaff Cutter Laurent Giles Wanderer Sloop Iain Oughtred Ptarmigan Morgan Giles West Channel ClassFacebook posts.  Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email 2 weeks ago  How to Sell a YachtSeptember 5th 2022 How to sell a classic yacht – 10 things to expect from your broker. Selling a classic yacht can be daunting, but working with a broker can simp…  Sumara of Weymouth Adventures of a small yacht  Vertue Yachts in General Vertues are small yachts with a reputation for extreme seaworthiness. The original “Vertue” called Andrillot, was designed as a commission by Jack Laurent Giles in 1936. It was roughly based on the design of the pilot cutters such as Jolie Brise. It also has a striking similarity to the splendid yacht Dyarchy, although at just 25 ft 3” it was, of course, considerably smaller. The boat proved itself to be a very capable sea boat and so more were to follow. It wasn’t until 1939 that the name Vertue was adopted for the class. The yacht “Epeneta”, built to the same design, won the Little Ship Club’s Vertue Trophy for making a passage across the Bay of Biscay and so it was decided to name the class “Vertue Yachts”. Since then, the yachts have made many ocean voyages. Humphrey Barton described his eventful Atlantic crossing in the book Vertue 35. David Lewis entered his yacht, Cardinal Vertue, for the first Observer Transatlantic Race in 1960 which he describes in his book “The Ship Would Not Travel Due West”. The same boat under the ownership of Bill Nance held the single-handed speed record for a long passage of 122 miles per day over 53 days. There is a wonderful film about an engineless Vertue called The Restless Wind . It is well worth spending 40 minutes watching it and marvelling at the skill of the Skipper and his wife. Over the years some 200 Vertues have been built. They have various rigs and coach roof styles but the hull shape has remained virtually the same. There are a few steel versions but the majority are timber. During the 1970’s, Bossoms Boatyard of Oxford produced the Vertue II in GRP. The glass fibre version is about 6 inches wider but retains the basic shape of the wooden Vertues My yacht is number V198 and is called Sumara of Weymouth. She was built in, guess where, by Terry Newman and although the name Sumara sounds a bit like an Iraqi war zone, it is actually following the Velsheda tradition of combining the stems of his daughters’ names. I am not a believer in changing boat names because it tends to confuse the boat’s history.  Terry was an extremely talented boatbuilder and Sumara was built with a huge amount of thought and skill. Nowadays there would be a YouTube channel all about the build but as YouTube wasn’t set up until 14 th February 2005 we are grateful that Terry took some photos and gave me a splendid album. I have photographed each page and made it into a PDF which can be found in the “Downloads” section of this website. There are a few things that make Sumara rather special. Firstly, she was built in a barn besides Terry’s house. This enabled Terry to spend many evenings just sitting on board and carefully working out the fine ergonomics of the interior. He decided to place the two main sea berths in the centre of the boat with a pilot berth going off aft on the starboard side. Most Vertues are laid out as four berth yachts and, too be honest, there just isn’t the space for four people plus kit and all the sails on a 26ft boat. Up forward through a panelled door is a Baby Blake loo in a central position with a wash basin to starboard. There is a bin for the anchor chain. More about the interior later but it is very civilised, and that’s thanks to Terry. I have made a rather over length video about the interior which can be found here Secondly, Terry decided to build her out of a single log of Iroko on oak frames, with an elm keel and garboards. Varnished boats should ideally be built from a single log so that the planks all match. There is a little split behind the aft port window and a matching one on the starboard side! Because the log was sourced long enough, it means there are no scarf joints on the boat. Thirdly, the boat was built for pleasure. There was no rush, no short cuts. Everything was made by Terry, his wife and sons. They welded all the stainless fittings on the mast, they poured the lead keel and made all the engine controls. Terry even marinized the engine – which lasted for thirty years before I replaced it with a Beta 16 hp in 2020. Hull Planking Iroko from a single log with no scarf joints. All splined except the garboard and the next two boards. The planking was undertaken Mike Patrick (“Spike”) who was an expert at planking boats. Terry and family helped secure them. The hull is varnished with Epifanes Gloss Varnish. Frames Oak Keel and Deadwood Elm Ballast Keel Lead with Aluminium Bronze Bolts Deck Ply and teak. Teak replaced 2020. Chalking TDS. All bonded no screws. Engine Originally Kubota 12 hp solid mount with raw water cooling. Now Beta Marine 16 hp heat exchanger cooled and flexible mounts Controls Originally all rods and lever. Now bronze Kobelt system Propeller Special casting in aluminium bronze. Right hand 14 x 8 Mast Varnished Douglas Fir. Air draft 11.7 m (touching the aerial) Rigging Renewed for 2022 season. Wire by KOS. Rigging screws by StaLok Boom Recycled gymnasium parallel bar – Douglas Fir Sails Since 2009 Ratsey and Lapthorne, triple stitched in brown thread. Main, stay and Yankee Diesel Tank 14 gallons (63 L) giving a range of 200 nm at 2,000 rpm using 1.25 L per hour Water Tanks Two stainless tanks 17 L each Paraffin One pressurised tank (Taylors) plus aluminium tank in forepeak. Heating Eberspacher Cooking Taylors paraffin Performance Criteria (from Sailboatdata.com) Comfort Rating 54.56 (over 50 indicates an extremely heavy blue water boat) Capsize Rating 1.29 (The boat is better suited for ocean passages (vs coastal cruising) if the result of the calculation is 2.0 or less. The lower the better. The Vertue’s rating is very low indeed!) Sail area/displacement Ratio 14.05* (below 16 would be considered under powered; 16 to 20 would indicate reasonably good performance; above 20 suggests relatively high performance) This seems rather strange as a Vertue held the single-handed speed record for a long passage of 122 miles per day over 53 days. It seems that Sailboatdata.com are currently using a sail area of 300 square feet but Sumara’s sails are 395 square feet and other Vertues seem to have sails between 380 and 390 square feet. I have contacted them so hopefully the figures will be revised soon. (*This has now been changed so the ratio has increased from about 9 to 14) Ballast Displacement Ratio 40.91 (A Ballast/Displacement ratio of 40 or more translates into a stiffer, more powerful boat that will be better able to stand up to the wind). Vertues are very narrow and heel quickly to the wind becoming progressively stiffer. Displacement Length 494.12 (The lower a boat’s Displacement/Length (LWL) ratio, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed. less than 100 = Ultralight; 100-200 = Light; 200-275 = Moderate; 275-350 = Heavy; 350+ = Ultraheavy; Hull Speed 6.21 knots Pounds/Inch Immersion 550.04 lbs (249 kg) (The weight required to sink the yacht one inch. Calculated by multiplying the LWL area by 5.333 for sea water or 5.2 for fresh water).  No products in the basket.  Laurent Giles ArchiveThe name Laurent Giles has been associated with yacht design within the marine leisure industry at the highest level for nearly ninety years since 1927, when the first company to bear the name was founded by the extremely gifted and innovative Jack Laurent Giles. Now the Laurent Giles Archive, which is the largest and most complete archive of design materials consists of over 1300 different sailing yacht and motorboat designs the majority of which are in the popular 20’ – 65’ size range and many of which are national and international icons of racing and cruising yacht design. The full collection of design drawings, technical data and many building specifications, designer’s notes and photographic images has now been restored and documented, scanned and consolidated for use by yacht owners, boat builders and boat repairers, model makers and those of us who are simply looking for decorative nauticalia and are inspired by Laurent Giles’ unsurpassed design skill and artistic flair. Yacht Register Boat Plan Sets Posters & Prints Model Plans Owners Page Contact Us TestimonialsAdd your details to our owners page, latest additions.  Austral Vertue Browse the latest yachting articles from our blog1971 quite a dull year by all accounts.
Sunday cricket on the village greenI don’t believe it.
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Design. An attractive feature of the Vertue class is the degree of individuality in the appearance of the different boats. 1. Andrillot's gaff cutter rig. Several more Vertues have also been gaff rigged. Since the conception of the jaunty little gaff cutter Andrillot, which was launched in 1936 and was to become Vertue V1, the fundamental ...
Boat Search - Enter a boat name in the box below and click the Search button to search the database. Search for: Search. SUMMER NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2024. Posted on 09/08/2024 / Under News; Here is the lovely Vertue Sumara in Salcombe this summer, on her way down Channel. Welcome to the latest Newsletter.
The forerunner of the VERTUE class was the ANDRILLOT, designed in 1936 (specs above). Ten ANDRILLOT sister ships were produced prior to the outbreak of war in 1939. It was the fifth boat, EPENETA, that would ultimately give the class it's name but not until 1945. Over the years, various alterations were made to the […]
Most cruising sailors have heard of Vertue yachts. Though small in size—only about 25' LOA—they have an outsized reputation as the most successful design to come from English yacht designer Jack Laurent Giles during his long career. More than 200 of the boats have been built, and many of the exploits that their owners undertook have become legendary among ocean-cruising sailors.
One of the boats built to Laurent Giles Design No.0015 (as it was then known) was Epeneta, which won the Little Ship Club's annual Vertue Challenge Cup in 1939 for a 745-mile cruise of the ...
First Cheoy Lee built Vertue Bettina V58 1953 Cheoy Lee built Vertues throughout the late 1950's to the middle 1960's Fibre Glass Vertues (Vertue II) designed in 1976 with minor hull molds to enable GRP molding (less tumble home), in June 1999 VII No 44 under construction in England. 1986 Vertue redesigned for wood/epoxy construction and in ...
Boat Search - Enter a boat name in the box below and click the Search button to search the database ... Search. THE BOATS: Updated Version. This is the new version of information about the yachts which form the Vertue Class, designed by the Laurent Giles design partnership. Showing 1-16 of 273 results. V II grp 43 Eden Marindin Read more; V ...
This is the classic boat of choice for the single-handed long distance sailor. Yachting Monthly gave the Vertue 3rd place in its Top 100 Best Boats of the 20th Century. They enthused that: "Laurent Giles 26 foot classic has proved to be one of the most seaworthy small designs ever built… and her rugged profile is instantly recognisable 70 ...
Vertue is a 25′ 3″ / 7.7 m monohull sailboat designed by Jack Laurent Giles and built by Cheoy Lee Shipyard, Stebbings & Sons, Bossoms Boatyard, and Jouët starting in 1947. ... The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more. Formula. D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³ ...
The plans themselves cost only about $250 for a large vessel and are extremely detailed and well done. The remainder of the price is the "license." The license to build is the firm's commission on designing it and is what makes the boat a "Giles Vertue" and not just another 25 foot sailboat. It authorizes the owner to call it a Vertue.
Draft: 4′ 6″ ( 1.37 m) Displacement tons: 4.2. T.M.: 4.97 tons. Ballast ratio: 47.1%. Sail Area: 384 sq. ft. Rig: Bermudan slutter. With nine Vertue yachts under construction 1949 was a very prolific year for the construction of this class of little offshore cruising yachts; Virtue was the name given by Primmer & Snook to this speculative ...
Based on the famous Vertue design by Laurent Giles, this is the very first example of what was known as the Vertue II, the same lines but built using GRP, completed in 1979 and built to Lloyds 100A1 classification. Shortly after completion, the boat was exhibited at the London Boat Show in 1979. This is the first and and possibly the best GRP ...
Vertue has been praised since the 1930s for her performance when the going gets tough.Adrian Morgan,owner of Vertue no x Sally II,talks about the design - and the legends Dimensions Y YACHTS MODERN CLASSICS The Vertue LOA 7.7m 25ft 3in LWL 6.56m 11ft 6in Beam 2.18m 7ft 2in Draught 1.34m 4ft 5in Sail area 35.35m2 380ft2 Displacement 4.5 tons
The boat proved itself to be a very capable sea boat and so more were to follow. It wasn't until 1939 that the name Vertue was adopted for the class. The yacht "Epeneta", built to the same design, won the Little Ship Club's Vertue Trophy for making a passage across the Bay of Biscay and so it was decided to name the class "Vertue ...
02-24-2004, 07:40 PM. I'am with Aramas on this and as a former Vertue owner can vouch for the surprising amount of room in a 25.5ft hull. Laurent Giles got a bit of magic into this design, they have a very comfortable motion, are relatively dry and a fair turn of speed. They would run the legs of a Serrafyn/BCC.
Boat Details. Description. The 25' 4" Vertue Class Sloop designed by Laurent Giles is one of the most capable and well-loved small cruising yachts ever designed, and thus requires no further introduction. However, stepping aboard FLYING FISH will shatter any pre-conceived notion you may have of what such a craft might look or feel like.
GRP version of the VERTUE. ... 1997), states that a boat with a BN of less than 1.3 will be slow in light winds. A boat with a BN of 1.6 or greater is a boat that will be reefed often in offshore cruising. Derek Harvey, "Multihulls for Cruising and Racing", International Marine, Camden, Maine, 1991, states that a BN of 1 is generally ...
Stay away from clutter and if you opt for the Vertue, enjoy the experience of sailing a boat that paved rhe way for the whole cruising lifesyle! BTW, another good book about vertues is Humphry Barton's "Vertue XXXV", a log of the first ever small boat, non stop east to west crossing of the Atlantic, from Lymington UK, to New York in 1950. Hum ...
The Vertue Class of yacht is a 25'3" length [1] design by Laurent Giles dating from 1936, when Andrillot was launched. The class was not named Vertue until 1946: it collected the name in the wake of the win by Epeneta - a boat built to the design - of the Little Ship Club's 'Vertue Cup'. [2] In 1939, the Epeneta had completed a cruise from The Solent to Belle Île in Southern Brittany and back ...
Laurent Giles Archive. The name Laurent Giles has been associated with yacht design within the marine leisure industry at the highest level for nearly ninety years since 1927, when the first company to bear the name was founded by the extremely gifted and innovative Jack Laurent Giles. Now the Laurent Giles Archive, which is the largest and ...
For many years we spent 10 weeks a year on a 25 foot trailerable boat cruising Australian waters. My better half is 6'1". We extended the v-berth to increase the sleeping room to a decent size. Despite up to 5 weeks at a time on board and despite no standing headroom for either of us, we truly never felt cramped.
Serif under sail in Plymouth. SERIF, V28 is for sale in Plymouth. Built by Cardnells in 1948, of mahogany on oak, she has the sublime, springy sheer of the early Vertues. She has a more spacious cockpit than most, and is an outstanding early Vertue in excellent condition. She is usually wintered ashore, inside at Mashfords.
Vertue boat plans ~ akimeme. Bill's log. Cutter sailboat plans. laurent giles 25 ft vertue ocean 1990 jack laurent giles, laurent giles 25 ft vertue ocean 1990 jack laurent giles ibtc lowestoft. yachts sold by classic yacht broker call us on +44(0)1202 330077 for more information... Vertue sailboat plans sailboat designs of jack laurent giles ...
A boat that sank in the Sound of Mull last month has been raised from the seabed. The landing craft Julie Anne, operated by Scottish Sea Farms, went down on 4 July near the company's Fiunary ...
Councillor John McKay, the council's executive member for climate change and biodiversity, said it wanted to work more closely with "industry partners, harbour authorities, marinas and boat builders".