Beauty, Good Handling, and Relevance
In his article beginning on page 22 of this issue, Nic Compton notes that the last sail-driven working Bristol Channel pilot cutter, CARIAD, was retired from her trade in 1922. These vessels were developed for the singular purpose of placing pilots aboard ships negotiating the Bristol Channel, and the qualities that made them so good at this job—speed, weatherliness, seaworthiness, ease of handling—also made them ideally suited for ocean voyaging. This was proven in the 25 years following CARIAD’s retirement, as she logged 30,000 miles around Europe as a cruising vessel. It is also proven to this day in the popularity of these boats.
Incredibly, more than 100 years after CARIAD’s retirement, eight pilot cutters—plus one pilot-cutter-inspired yacht—sailed in the Pilot Cutter Review, an event just for these boats at St. Mawes, England. Three of the contestants were originals and five were built relatively recently, well after the heyday of working sail. One of these recent ones, EVE OF ST. MAWES, was launched by Luke Powell in 1997, and appears on the cover of this issue. I’ve been mulling lately why such breathtaking boats, which could be obsolete, instead thrive into modern times. I’ve boiled it down to three factors
First, they’re beautiful. Even to someone casually acquainted with sailing craft, pilot cutters exude an air of timelessness, romance, and history. This is self-evident in Nic’s photographs.
Second, they handle well. Nic notes that their rigs are “deliberately simple, and says that their “advanced functionality, fine-tuned through decades of real-world development…was ultimately their saving grace, at least for a lucky few. As steam replaced sail…the old pilot cutters were snapped up by discerning sailors who realized they would make perfect cruising boats.”
The third factor is relevance—a milieu in which to express all of this beauty and functionality. The Pilot Cutter Review, Nic writes, was important to the “revival of the old boats’ fortunes.” The event, which is based on historical gatherings conducted at the height of working pilot cutters, was reconstituted in 2006.
A few other boats in this issue survive for reasons similar to pilot cutters. Consider the Fife-designed and -built MARISKA (page 74). The yacht fell into disrepair during World War I, when her greatest relevance was to donate her keel to munitions manufacturing. Today, she is in pristine condition and operating with the dual purpose of sailing in classic-yacht races and carrying passengers on charters.
Likewise, the existence of the Alden schooner WHEN AND IF (page 38) hung in the balance three decades ago after she grounded in a November gale. A visionary rebuilding saved her; an active charter program keeps her going now.
The bluefin-tuna-fishing boats built by Phil Fessenden of the Massachusetts North Shore are beautiful and functional and never went out of style; the survivors have never lost their original purpose of carrying parties on fishing excursions. Conti Coluntino, who is quoted in the article beginning on page 60, is the owner of the 38' Fessenden-built FLYING SORCERESS. He had a career in the Merchant Marine and in tugboats and recalls first encountering FLYING SORCERESS when he was just eight years old. “If there ever was a moment in my life that crystalized my destiny, that was it,” he said. Such is the power of good, timeless boats.
Editor of WoodenBoat Magazine
