The Lulworth

Careful examination of Gaeta’s harbour reveals a mast towering above the surrounding buildings. Once identified, at 52 metres you can’t miss the world’s longest spar. What’s not immediately clear is what ship the mast belongs to. Answers begin on the quayside and end up down a very deep rabbit hole.

Sandwiched between the Guardia di Finanzia’s training ship Giorgio Cini and the Vaccaro patrol boat lies the Lulworth. The last of five fantastic Big Class racing yachts of the 1920s, Lulworth (originally Terpsichore) was commissioned in 1919 by Richard H. Lee of Torbay. Wanting to beat King George’s royal yacht Britannia, Lee contracted William White & Sons of Southampton to build him a boat that was up to the task. It took White’s just eight months to design and launch the 46 metre (153ft) LOA gaff-rigged cutter. Projects like this are the domain of the very wealthy. Material shortages had increased costs to three times what they were before the war, but no expense was spared. With a steel frame planked with mahogany, the legion of skilled shipwrights at the time knew how to bend wood to their will.

A lack of suitable spruce meant the lower portion of the original mast was fashioned from steel. As a result, she underperformed in her first few years. She raced and lost against established Big Class racers like Thomas Davis’s Westward, Thomas Lipton’s Shamrock, and, frustratingly, HMY Britannia. Tinkering with the sail plan wasn’t enough.

In 1924 Lee sold Terpsichore to Herbert Weld who rechristened her Lulworth, after the family’s castle in Dorset. Her rig was redesigned starting with her lower mast which was remade in wood. Naval architect Charles Nicholson also adjusted her keel balance and from that point forwards she sailed magnificently. Over the next six years Lulworth won 47 regattas, compared with just 12 in the previous four. Finely tuned she left all the big boats, including Britannia, in her wake.

Lost Beauty

The Lulworth is the last living example of a big racing yacht designed with the belief that more sail area meant more speed. With her long bowsprit and stern overhang she is certainly the largest gaff cutter in the world. Her 27.6 metre boom extends well aft of the stern and under full canvas she is stunningly beautiful. Original logs indicate speeds well over 20 knots, and today she regularly ticks off 16 knots in 18 knots of breeze. Beauty and efficiency don’t always go hand in hand, however. Gaff rigs gave way to Bermuda rigs, and today we have wings and foils.

When in 1930 the America’s Cup adopted the Universal Rule it did away with the calculus that made big gaff cutters so competitive. Most headed to the scrap yard. King George V’s dying wish was for Britannia to follow him to the grave. Thus, in July 1936 the Royal Navy sunk her near the Isle of Wight. Her location was never publicly disclosed, although it’s said local fishermen occasionally snag lines on her to this day.

Restoration

Docked in the Solent, Lulworth was bombed during WWII and abandoned. Fortunately, in 1947 she was rescued and converted into a houseboat by Richard and Rene Lucas. Mud-berthed on the River Hamble, she stayed there for the next 40 years. In 1990 new owners shipped the hull to Italy and spent 11 years wrangling over how a full restoration should proceed. Enter Dutchman and experienced classic boat restorer Johan van den Bruele.

For five years van den Bruele and his team worked tirelessly on returning Lulworth to her former glory. Finding enough skilled people for a project of this scale was itself a feat. Staff were recruited from around the world, all artisans with a shared passion for yachtcraft. Restoring a boat the size of Lulworth is not for the faint of wallet. The cost? An estimated 15 million euros.

What Next?

After relaunching in 2006 Lulworth won prizes for her restoration and once again competed in superyacht regattas. Since then the world has been in turmoil, and owning a boat of this size and construction is hideously expensive. The economic crash of 2008 was followed by a slower recovery in Europe and she was sold at some point around 2010. She was/is? available for charter – at 50,000 Euros per week.

Today, marine growth is visible on her hull and her varnish is peeling – no doubt Covid induced. Had 2020 been any other year, you might have expected a centennial celebration for the old gal, but there was none.

Lusting after her graceful lines there is vanishingly little video of Lulworth under full sail. I dream of taking her wheel on a sunny 20 knot day in one metre seas with a lively crew at hand. Better still, I’d sail her to the Caribbean, taking full advantage of the trade winds, and sip pink gins on the stern rail when we got there. I wrote to Johan and asked what her status is. I have yet to hear back.

Images

Further Reading

There is plenty of information on Lulworth via the links below:

• Yachting World, 2009
• Lulworth Yacht
• Classic Sailboats
• Classic Boat, UK
• Ocean 4 Future – (Italian – translate it using Google’s Chrome browser)
• Studio Faggioni
• Restoration documentary on YouTube