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Work in the shed – ‘Lucky Girl’ progress and ‘Niebla’ is due back for minor work.
‘Lucky Girl’ Restoration on-track
Fairlie reports that work is progressing rapidly on ‘Lucky Girl’, a First Rule 8m from 1909, designed by ‘the master’ and built in Finland at the Abo shipyard. ‘Lucky Girl’s’ owner is a European businessman who will ultimately be keeping her on Lake Constance in Switzerland. Following the completion of her restoration in May 2008, she will make her debut at the prestigious Fife Regatta.
The yacht has been under restoration for six months and progress has been on schedule and with the structural work nearing completion, she is on track for a spring launch.
‘Lucky Girl’s’ spars are now under construction, as is the faithful recreation of all the original spar fittings, plans for which were taken from her original drawings kept in the Fairlie archive. The only deviation from her original specification, is the addition of a small engine (completely removable for racing) which will make for easier shorthanded cruising.
Following her completion, ‘Lucky Girl’ will once again rate 8m and, therefore, be able to compete in 8m Class Regattas. You can follow her progress on the News pages of our website, which are updated weekly.
What’s in the Shed
‘Niebla’ calls in for a small refit
Fairlie’s recent new-build ‘modern-classic’ yacht, ‘Niebla’, is currently paying a brief return visit to the Shed for the fitting of a bow thruster plus the opportunity to deal with various other minor modifications.
As Paul Spooner’s first ‘new build’ project calls into the yard Paul comments: “It is satisfying to see ‘Niebla’ at the yard again, especially as she has had such a successful cruising programme and all seems to be working well and her build quality shines through”.
After a full and busy year of sailing, the classic Fairlie cruising yacht ‘Niebla’ has returned to the yard before heading north to Scotland in the summer, where she will be the ‘Mothership’ for a small Fife designed day race boat at the Fife Regatta.
Duncan Walker adds, “After ‘Niebla’ left the Fairlie yard in November 2006, she showed her cruising capabilities with an ‘extreme’ trip pushing north towards the Southern Irish Coast in order to skirt around a storm coming up from Biscay. Riding the back of the storm ‘Niebla’ headed south to the Canaries and away across the Atlantic, where the crossing was fast at one point clocking 750nm in 72 hours.
A glorious winter was then spent in the windward Isles of the Caribbean before returning in the spring from Tortola, by ship, to the Mediterranean. I understand that a very pleasurable summer saw her cruising leisurely around her home port in Northern Spain.”
Spar building a new venture
Although not known for their spar work Fairlie’s woodworking skills are easily transferred to this specialist market and the Company has won an contract to build and rig two 28 metre spars for a classic motor yacht restoration project being carried out under the supervision of G.L.Watson and Co.
Fairlie are working with Martin’s Rigging and Maritime Enterprises on this prestigious project.
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