The Eventider's News

   

Issue 14 Summer 2010   Page  5   Barcarole Barcarole
Site Home Page    Spring Sailing?     Glasstide comes home    Ocean Dove.   Owners tips      Scran Bag!      members boats Summer Sailing     Paint Offer      The Webmaster     The Burgee    Events    News
Back issues - 1   2   3   4   5   6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13
		Barcarole 'Barcarole'   The following mail came in this summer and it proved to be an interesting story.
		Hi John We have just bought and will be restoring to her former glory this winter a 'barcarole' from Rossiter’s boat yard in Bournemouth , in a bit of a bad state but looking forward to getting her back on the water having lost our eventide sailing off Boscastle in Cornwall and hitting rocks unfortunately this June !! She was built in 1958  by Seacraft and co ltd of Leigh on sea !! Registered in 1974 in the Lloyds register as owner being Mr A.G Blyth of Havesham in the port of Hamble !!
		We don't know who the last owner was as Mr. Rossiter told us that it was being worked on for the last ten years and the owner had 'given up' and hence owed the fee's etc 'bh6 6nn Bournemouth, Mr. D. J. Pomroy' is on some of the chandlery that came with the boat - but having no paperwork - We haven’t a clue about the boat.
		Your assistance and co-operation in working her history and her name would be greatly appreciated. We are also looking for plans/books/bits and bobs for her to help on restoration. Thank-you for your time. Paul and Carrie Hussey
		Hello Paul, Carrie,   sorry to hear about the loss of the Eventide, what was her name, sail number etc, we will write it up in the database....  she was one of the earliest Eventides if built then...  The design only appeared that year at the boat show I believe...  We have few details of these other MG boats as they were often one off at small boat yards for private owners and of course there was no owners group for them, so unless we have a name or some real clues we are sadly at a loss..  Re the Barcarole, have you any pics etc..   If she was in Lloyds I will look her up..........   (At this point I go off in search of one of my old copies of Lloyds list of Yachts.  These two books have proved invaluable over the years, and today was no exception....)  OK just back up in the office and would you believe she was called 'Barcarole'!  She was the first of the class then!  Fitted with a 2 cylinder 10hp Seafarer  petrol motor from 1969, she is 29.2ft overall, 24ft on the WL, beam of 8.3ft and draft of 4.9 ft.  Sails then  were 1967 by Taylor.  The launch date is given as 1958....  Though built at Leigh and registered at Faversham the home port was Hamble.  Jolly useful little tome this has proven!  I hope this little snippet or two helps, now we really look forward to the pics of her.  Have you got to the enrolment page of the site yet, if not you now have loads of info to enter there for our database!  Hope to hear again soon,  Regards, John Williams Website coordinator, Eventide Owners Group.
		Hello John, thanks for the speedy reply. Dose that mean that she would be called ‘Barcarole’??  Have you and any idea's on how to find original pic's of her for reference guides re-building etc ?  I have attached some pics of her as she is  have you a contact number so we can speak ??? Just a thought though we have a retired race horse called 'Carols Dream' !! Carrie’s name is Carolyn and she works in the bar industry !! And now a boat called Barcarole or in other words Carrie’s bar - ironic !! We were wondering what she was called - and now we have it !! I have just found on the internet Mr. Andrew Blyth whom I think originally had her built,  he was a marine architect and is based in Southampton - his website is blythbridges.co.uk.  I hope to speak to him Monday morning !!! Thanks again - Paul and Carrie
		Hello Paul,   Yes she is the Barcarole, 'Barcarole'! We wanted to do a write up on the Barcarole and wondered if you managed to get in touch with Mr. Blyth?  Would you mind if we featured her in our pages?  Regards, John,  Eventiders.
		Yes please John, including my contact details for anyone with knowledge or info or bits and bobs for her ! Not got hold of Mr. Blyth – seems he has  been away on business – Carrie loves the name 'Barcarole' seems to fit perfectly!!  I couldn't think of a better name!! It seems to have had the bilge keels removed - will be looking for similar to fit her with - sails etc - would like to place advert for bits and bobs required ??? Paul Hussey e-mail me at  landcruzers at msn.com phone  07502 145683  or 01237 475793
		Well the final chapters will take a little longer, Paul and Carrie and Paul's business  partner have joined the EOG of course and then they admitted they owned a boat yard down in Bideford!  They are transporting the boat there overland and will be working on her for the next year or so, I am hoping there will be further updates in the future, another Classic saved.  Hopefully they will also be able to get in touch with Mr. Blyth, who it would appear was a counterpart of MG's, so he will be getting on a bit! I was able to look up more information in my library of MG books, she was the first of 15 Barcarole's we think were built, a natural design progression for MG from the canoe stern and narrow stern boats 'Tinka' and 'Sixpence', dropping the centreboard and instead fixing solid bilge keels.  She was the start of the Bilge keel revolution.  The Eventide arrived in 1957/8 with bilge keel at the same time, and from then on so many thousand designs have all sported them as either an option, or in the case of many of MG's boats, the standard and reliable norm. John