Taken many moons ago on the Norfolk Broads, where is she now?

This Senior was owned for many years by Martin Lewis, and sailed every creek in the Thames Estuary, and I do mean EVERY creek, if it were too shallow, he got the dinghy out!

Expertly sailed by David Showell and Catherine, here seen on home water, the R. Blackwater.

Topsham 2012

Here seen in UK inland waters, now she in in Holland!,  Where Chris lives.

Seen here at launch, easily raising the mast!

Outside his home in Holland, power washing off at the end of the season.

2015, Chris tells us she was stolen on her trailer, probably just for the nice trailer!

Was owned by Richard Doherty and lived in Hampshire. This Senior is now sold via this web site, we are waiting for the new owner to be in touch.  April 2005, welcome to Paul Moktar the new owner, we hope for more photos later.

See further down the page for an update, May 2006,  she has just been sold and Paul has bought  'Compass Rose'

Bit  of an odd one that...  maybe the owner can enlighten us...

John Stevens has unearthed this snippet for me...  According to the Book of Genesis, Asenath (אָסְנַת, Standard Hebrew Asənat, Tiberian Hebrew ʼĀsənạṯ) was an Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph son of Jacob to be his wife.   Now we know!

2011, a friend of mine, Phil, my regular crew, was holidaying in Cyprus.  He came across 'Freebooter' out there.  The owners said he knew she was featured here, (Get in touch so we can add a name and maybe a few photos!)  The owner now lives there and had her shipped out.

Is undergoing restoration and has sold to Stuart Keane.

Passed on to one of his sons, she can still be seen on the Suffolk and Essex rivers.

Pictured here on one of John Williams's trailers, about to leave the barn where she had resided for many moons.

   Oh Yes lots of it!!

Any one any idea what it is, it is 20 ft long, no sails thus no insignia. Kenneth did design many craft, is this one of his?

My boat doesn't have a name because when I bought her, she didn't have a
name.  This allows a strong possibility that during her approximately 20
years of existence the boat was actually given a name but I don't know it. 
If I was to assign a name, I would thus be changing a boat's name wihich is,
as you know, bad luck.  Why?  Any sailboat (like mine) that has character
and a decent amount of tractability is given the female gender.  This has
always been the case.  Have you ever been so unlucky as to call a girl or
woman by a wrong name?  Did you detect her anger?  That is why you don't
change a boat's name.  When using the VHF, I call the boat 'EVENTIDES',
which is sort of her surname and is thus allowable.
 

We like that!

Charles says,  I live in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  This Senior was built
somewhere in Canada.

Certainly a smart vessel. 

I have a bit more info on my Senior, should you want to add it to the website. She was built in 1973 by RJ Swift and originally named Pom. Sail number 1165. She has been on the Norfolk Broads for the past few years. I bought her from a chap called Ross Fergusson at Sutton Staithe. He bought her 4 years previously, at Brundall, named Tanglereed. The photo of the un named Senior after Dabbler in the gallery is her.

Brian Marsh

Thanks for the update Brian, look forward to seeing her with her new gaff rig!

Stephen has her in New Zealand and used to work for Yachting Monthly and Classic Boat, so no stranger to wooden craft like the Senior I suspect.

'Nancy Blackett' again,  February 2007.  Steve still tells me the name will change, I think he just wants to be 'Ruthless'  (Get it?)  What, never read Swallows and Amazon's, shame on you!

Apparently having got hold of garages, to hopefully store her in,  she only just goes into the largest one, because of the overhangs on the trailer and spars....

'Taro' Senior built by Roger and Rita Jones, seen here on Osea beach in the Blackwater about 1973.  Roger and Rita went on to build the experimental Eventide 26 in Ferro, that was such a success.  'Contaro' She has a page to herself in the builders section!

'Tavi'  This Senior is in South Africa and Pete the owner thought it was the only one!  however it is different, she has a fin keel, working through a lead keel bolted to the underside of the hull.  He thinks she may have been a centreboard version that was converted.  She is also built in GRP, one of only 2 we know of, see 'Heretic' above.

'Tarka' Owned by Danny.  No sooner had I entered 'Tavi' than her sister ship comes along!  'Tarka' was built in GRP from the same mould and is also in South Africa!  She was built with a fin keel as well but later converted to centreboard for easier trailing.

Here she is sailing on a dammed lake about a mile from Danny's home, very convenient!  It was a bluster F4-5. with 2 reefs in the main and a jib set he is making 4.5 knots

Danny says the tiller control was copied from an idea seen  on the web and works like a charm.  It enables him to go forward whilst sailing..   Hope you trail an emergency release line Danny!  You can see the advantage of the centreboard version, very shallow draft. however many fit internal ballast so as not to have to 'sit out'!

Chris has been in touch with the yard at Shepperton, but although they were helpful, stated the records had been destroyed by fire years ago and they had no information on the design, wonder if anyone else has... 

Just a quick e-mail to say that I believe I have identified my Kenneth Gibbs design. I sent an e-mail to the membership Secretary of the sailing club local to Shepperton who passed it on. By chance, one of the readers had become friends with a John Emmerson, whose father was a founder member of the Club. I spoke with John and he says it was his father who approached KG with some drawings, KG designed the boat and the Halcyon Class was born! I got loads of information from John and it was a pleasure to talk to him.

It was featured in the January 1950 edition of Yachting Monthly, a copy of which I have borrowed from my boss, and I am sure it is the same boat.

I have asked him to check out your pictures and also sent him some close-ups of mine to see if we can get a visual confirmation of their identity.

Watch this space!

'Jasmine'

Thanks for your very fast reply, chaps like you do a sterling job but I fear often get taken for granted and used as unpaid consultants on a lot of projects.

Indeed, please do put the pic and the others I've attached on your website. (The awful legs aren't mine by the way). I'll be keeping a photo diary but I haven't done much actual work since bringing her to my home, other than doing a brutal job of stripping the paint from the bottom, and digging at what I think is rotten wood at the very bottom of the centre plate housing. Not sure what to do with that yet. Anyway, yes, will definitely be joining the forum when back from hols. And please do pass on my details, via this email if you like, to Chris.

I had expected to be stripping out and replacing lots of corroded metal fastenings (about 3,000 ?), but actually they're in quite good condition so that will save me some time. Was also expecting to have to re-caulk about 280' of joints...but apparently clinker boats don't have caulking, so more time saved there. Yet another job I thought would need doing would be stripping to bare wood before varnishing, but what I've read advises against this. However, I hadn't been aware of the woodwork jobs I mentioned, but I don't mind investing time "saved" learning the techniques and doing the work for a better end result.

 The book I have does describe how to do a 'butt' joint, but says to expect a little leaking. Although form the pictures it seems the damage on Jasmine is above the waterline, it would be nice to keep her as authentic as possible and not be fitted with extra little blocks and lumps, so I've spent this afternoon making some jigs to start practicing scarph joints on scrap pallets. Hoping to use the same technique on the ribs, will probably use a plane to match the profile as closely as possible enabling me to use solid wood.

The deck has been built as a new item, and differs ever so slightly from Chris's boat. I'm not expecting big waves so if it's not marine grade ply I might just waterproof it with varnish as best I can, worst case if it rots I'll need to build a new one in a few years rather than in a few weeks.

Working for the next few days, will be in touch again.

Thanks again,

Ivan

Hi John,

Back from hols now, returned to find a message from Chris on my answerphone so we'll hopefully meet soon.

At the bows the planks are joined edge to edge, I can't remember what pics I sent so it might have been a close up detailed shot from that area, further back they look more like clinker with pronounced sticky out edges (this is a technical nautical term !). But do bear in mind I'm completely new to all this so might be wrong. Underneath a hard setting putty has been used so I'll need to get rid of that. John Scarlett, who wrote the book I'm reading, does seem to be a bit of a purist, stating at one stage that it is possible to build a wooden boat without sealants of any kind, that is "dusted out, not mopped out". I'm probably not at his stage just yet, maybe another 30 years or so if I did it full time, so I might have to cheat a little, but as well as using the boat as an opportunity to go sailing, I have another opportunity to learn a new skill so I don't mind tearing up the collection of scrap pallets I have to practice my scarf joints. And I agree with you absolutely about keeping her in salt water, I might spend a season in a lake while I learn how to sail (did I mention, as well as never having worked on boats, I have also never sailed ?) but I'd like to have a home for on the coast as soon as possible.

And have just enrolled on the website, if you know anyone who would like to poke around and have a nose on my driveway they'd be more than welcome. We have biscuits.

Cheers,

Ivan


Great to hear you are getting on well and the offer of biscuits may well entice another owner to get in touch, Good luck,

John

We have had a request from a lady for information about a Gibbs design, the Halcyon 14.  She has a very pretty one of these dinghies and would like to know if there are others, there is one on the Gallery.  Hers is number 77.

If you can assist please contact her, her mail address is:-...  suitably disguised... you know take out the spaces and the  'at' and put in the '@'.

elainejohnston1 at icloud.com

Wonder if Chris King, the owner of the Halcyon 14 on the gallery pages can assist?

She  has  a trailer too.

Wagtail is moored at Pin Mill and I suspect we will see her at meets next year.

Sadly August 2010 we hear she is for sale, see our pages... Step forward the new owner Bryan Mott.

I've just enrolled, having been unaware that the somewhat sorry looking craft which I found abandoned under a tree, on a farm in Hertfordshire has turned out to be yachting monthly Senior.

I had no prior knowledge of boats prior to purchasing this, however was looking for a project during a lean spell of business 4 years ago.

The boat is now ready to go except for the mast which is too far gone to be usable and will be replaced.

The craft had no docs, marks or plates, however I am told that the previous name was "Benny The Ball" !!

Spencer Perry

Hi John

Please find attached an image of the GRP senior now known as "Benny the ball" that my late father and I built. My father Brian Watkins at the helm pulling faces with my uncle (Bob Moss) who is still living in Letchworth.

The photo was taken by Vernon Rutt the owner of one of the farms that I refer to. He passed away winter of 2010/11. The picture was taken shortly before my father passed away it was on the river Orwell just off Pin Mill approx 1981. Second pic Pin mill as well.

Regards
Gary Watkins

Gary has sent us the history of the building of this Senior. December 2011, I have just realised the name comes from one of the amiable characters in the cartoon 'Top Cat'!

A Brief history of the building of the two glass fibre YM Seniors.

Moonfleet's pictures take the number of pictures to over 2000 on the gallery!

October 2015 and sadly Bob has listed her for sale as he just has not the time to use her....  look at the for Sale pages... 2 months later sold from our pages! December 2015. New owner and member David Bewick!

Hi, have a Kenneth Gibbs yacht I brought it in Scotland about 8 years ago with a hole in her side. I brought it to Salisbury where the hole ended up with re plying both sides and the top frame right around the boat. I then re plyed the deck and used it for 3 years on the Solent done 3 around the island races. Then one day on her moorings a yacht ran into her and smashed the transom so we had to lift her out, since then she has new transom and side covings and just finishing of new cabin roof. I believe she was built for a dentist in Brighton in 1964 and competed in the 1965 fast net she was brought by a writer called Ian Mitchel in Isla who sailed to Norway and wrote a book about her adventure called 'Isles of the North' and she is picture on the front of the book and inside. The 2 photos are of her coming home to be repaired from the Solent.

Tony Cowles.

I wonder if any of our members can help Tony out by identifying the design.  I know Ken built many boats by other designers, including our own MG and this may not be a Gibbs design.  However Ken did design many one offs and was no stranger to multi-chine ply..  Any helpers here.?

Hi, I built my Senior " Anuthee` many years ago and sailor her in the Morecombe Bay out of the River Wyre and spent many great times with good sailing mates, Rod Cragg, in the Ship Inn on Peil Island. Where I was licensee.

Had a few hairy moments in Fog and heavy weather, and once was hit by a hurricane whilst at anchor there, Quite a story there alone. Never once was I afraid of Anuthee not being able to take the weather etc, she was a good friend and protector. Even though small interior it was dry and comfortable and even fitted with `Bucket and Chuckit` Heads :O)

Oh how I miss those wonderful times.

Kind regards to you all . John

Jan 2015.  She is now called 'Nu Nu'

We are waiting for the pics of her with fin keel attached and sailing!

Sadly the time has come for the owner to part with her.

Hi Guys,

I stumbled across your website recently and thought you might be interested in a YM Senior that I built in the late 1970s.
I  redesigned the cabin to give the boat a more modern appearance, curved the transom and modified the cockpit so that it is self draining.
I had the late Len Hedges design a fixed keel comprising a 1/2 inch thick steel plate with lead ballast. The boat also has a larger sail area with a 7m mast stepped on the cabin roof and a bowsprit.
The boat is moored on Pittwater in Sydney Australia.

Cheers

Bruce Ansted

Replied to Bruce inviting him to enrol and also to share that keel design, pleased to say he has sent a drawing and though faint, feel there is benefit  to all if we can enhance the contrast and add it to the CD of drawings. John

Some Pics and details in from Mat our Senior Rep!..  of a nice Senior based in Norfolk UK on the Broads.

As the Senior rep I may at last have something useful for the site!

I've got to know Martin Bailey, who I believe joined the group on my recommendation earlier this year, and since then I have been hassling him to give me details of the YM Senior 'Freya' he built many years ago and keeps at Thurne in Norfolk close to where I moor my boat.

He did contribute an article in the 'We built a Senior' publication which I have a copy of. He recently sent me a selection of pictures which I have enhanced and may be useful for the Senior page on the site.

The boat is standard bilge keels with the centre ballast keel and gaff rigged. He wants to enhance the performance of the boat and spoke with me about the keels. I have since produced some drawings for him to basically increase the depth and do a bit of reshaping.
His intention is to have a couple of new metal plates made which will be bolted directly to the existing keels just to see what happens. If the results prove satisfactory the plan is to have two keels made to the new profile. I will keep you updated on progress.

Please find attached images.

regards

Mat Gravener

 

Jim Nicholls a Senior builder, has sent in a lot of scans from old copies of YM appertaining to Seniors.

Thought the lot should be added here for all to read!  Enjoy!

John

Hello John,

Although I've visited the EOG website quite frequently during the last year I never registered, However, that is now rectified as of a few minutes ago.

I'm up to planking.  I've done P & S Keel to Chine 1 and I'm now on Chine 1 to 2.

Basically, I purchased YMS 914 in the early eighties.  It was ideal (and great fun) to sail her on my local Rivers Trent and Soar.  Having a swing keel you could utilise the full width of the river when tacking against the current without damaging anything when grounding near the bank.  It was a fantastic little boat.  I've sailed larger boats on the local stretches of the river and it is really hard work when going against the current.  Then, for some stupid reason in the late eighties I sold her.  With my hand on heart I can honestly sat she was the only boat I ever regret selling - and I've had a few.  Soon after the sale I was scouring the boating press hoping to find another.  In 1994 I resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to build one, so I purchased a set of plans and was assigned YMS 1671.  Fast forward a few years.  2019 found me retired and needing a project.  I ordered the wood to build a senior.  I opted for utile rather than mahogany due to the cost.  Before the wood was delivered I visited my local Redhill Marina which I did once or twice a year just to see what's going on.  Low and behold, in the undergrowth with a tree growing in the cockpit, derelict, was the old love of my life, Wanderer 1 - YMS 914.  I paid £50 for it much to the amazement of the marina staff.  The remaining brass fittings were worth that but my main reason for the purchase was to have it as a pattern in case I got stuck during the build.  I've enjoyed building so far.  I build in my garage and it is tight - but possible.  I stopped over the winter due to the glue (West System) not working too well in low temperatures (Beetle Cement per the drawings being unobtainable).    I'm trying to be as faithful as I can to the drawings so it's copper nails and roves, but I have used silicone bronze annular ring nails for the planking - they are so tough.  I'm going to have an alloy mast and boom - why?  Because my original YMS 914 had those.  The colour scheme will be the same.  The original had a Seagull Century with a red prop and so will the new one.  I suppose I'm trying to recreate an exact replica of the boat I had so much fun with all those years ago. 

I have attached a few pictures.

1&2 are of the new rudder.

3 is the new boat in the garage.

4 is sailing the old boat on the Trent mid-eighties.

5 Ah yes.  Less said about this the better - engine retrieved after a week on the bottom of the Trent.

6 is the interior.

7 is sailing on the Trent at Trent Lock.

8 is on the mooring at Redhill.

Re 5.  Well it was one of those evenings in May in the mid-eighties.  A friend and myself had gone to do a bit of sailing after work.  There was a shower approaching as we came to the mooring so I opened up and removed the Seagull from the inside and placed it on its mount.  We sheltered for a few minutes in the cabin.  The shower passed, the sun shone and we rigged the boat and we set off.  A gentle motor down the Soar to the Trent and then sail against the current.  The first part of the sailing was very gentle but after the two pubs the countryside opens out and the wind was stronger.  On one particular tack there was a 'plop'.  "The motor's gone" I shouted to my friend. "Mark it" I said as Colin watched a row of bubbles float down the river.  I took a rough note of where we were as I completed the tack.  We moored up and I stripped off and went over the side hoping to touch the motor with my feet.  I dare not put my head under the water in the Trent.  There was always some dispute between us about where the engine might be.  We couldn't find it and Colin said he would ask a couple of diving friends to look for it the next day.  We sailed back to the Soar but Colin had to tow the boat, African Queen style, back to the mooring.  We quickly learned not to tow from the stem as this only pulled the bow into the bank.  I had to go to Bournemouth the following day to carry out an engine change on an aircraft.  It was a week before I was back with a Sea-searcher magnet looking for the engine, the divers having failed saying the current must have carried it away.  I was about to give up when the magnet latched on to the engine.  It was in about 8 foot of water.  In my haste to get the motor on board the little buoyancy that the water was giving it was lost as the motor broke the surface and back down it went.  I had seen the red prop and the chrome exhaust, I knew it was there.  A few minutes later it was on board and that's when the picture was taken.  I took the motor home, drained it, dried it, cleaned it and flushed it.  Within half an hour she was running as good as ever.  I was really impressed with this sturdy little motor.  A year or so later, British Seagull were advertising to overhaul the engine for £32 (I think) so although it was still running perfectly I sent it for overhaul.  It came back gleaming.  I was so pleased.  I had tremendous respect for British Seagull and their product.  I even changed the name of my small limited company to Silver Century Aviation Limited which is dormant but still exists today.

Regards, Mike.

PS  The reason the motor departed the boat was because in my haste to get out of the rain shower I placed the motor on its mount omitting to insert the retaining pin.  Gravity kept the motor in place during the motoring and gentle tacking, but as the wind increased, so did the heel and 'plop'.

Great to have you aboard Michael and I hope the few Seagull parts help to recreate that reliable old Silver Century of the 1980's!