GETTING INTO OUR STRIDE…

 Marking a clear direction for the magazine, we featured 9 classic boats in GRP and asked you for the 10th. (Clear winner was the Contessa 32 in our January letters pages by the way)  We also ran a feature on Whooper‘s owner and crew and how they train to keep on winning races, looked at restoring a Mirror Dinghy (How many of us started sailing in one of these?) and looked at the link between sailing a spying. Yes, there really is one…

We were salvaging a Folkboat and sailing away; actor John Rhys Davies filmed aboard a Dunkirk Little Ship… and we were meeting Britain’s oldest fisherman –  Bill Hocking – 71 years afloat; a guide to the famous Paimpol music and sailing festival – with some pilotage notes…

The issue is now online and can be downloaded instantly from our online  SHOP Here

PLUS:   Boat handling, sail repair methods, do your own pre-survey and much more!

Contents are as follows:

Editorial   Older GRP designs are the equivalent to wooden boats 30 years ago

Eye opener   For this month’s big picture

Signals   Shipwrecked sailor, Yogaff, new OYT boat, Falmouth marina plan, John Lennon, and a strange raid in the Netherlands. Plus new series: Classic Coast is your chance to share your favourite places

AC survival guide    Guy Venables in Bermuda on the America’s Cup jamboree

Association news  Stella success, S&S in Denmark and the Classic Motor Boat Club

Smylie’s boats   Mike Smylie on the Coble (or do we say cobble?)

Around the yards   J-Class tender restoration, small steam launch, Cambria comes out, Sailmaker Lawrence, a barn in Suffolk and back to Harker’s Yard

The Post   Your letters and feedback – keep them coming!

Andrew Bray   Certificates…. or hands-on experience?

Nardi’s nods   Federico Nardi’s pick of GRP classics: Knud Reimers’ Bacchant IV

Guest column: Lucy Woodall   Sailing through seas of pollution

Folkboat to France   Leo Coolden bought a rotting old Folkboat, restored her and then set sail to discover the harbours along the Brittany coast

Paimpol sketchbook   Claudia Myatt worked her passage to the festival on a pilot cutter, drew sketches, drank cider, made music and hitched a ride home

Whooper – what makes her a winner?    The venerable Laurent Giles sloop has been winning races all

COVER STORY Ten great GRP boats 46 Folkboats, Twisters, Vertues and more. Long-keeled GRP boats
make a sensible choice if you want a simple sailing life

People of the sea   Meet Bill Hocking, at 87, Britain’s oldest working fisherman

John Rhys Davies   “Boats keep me sane” admits the Lord of the Rings actor as he films aboard a Dunkirk Little Ship

Spies at sea   From ‘Riddle’ to Ransome, real-life tales of espionage afloat

Rowing: the St Ayles Skiff   The success of the build-it-yourself community row-boat

Designers: J Francis Jones  Best-known for the Kestrel class, he had many individual boats to his name, and a secret career as a yachting columnist

On Watch: Kit for Christmas   Gifts for your loved-ones (including the boat) plus calendars

Over the Yardarm, Calendar and Next Month  Drinks, Coming events and a preview of December’s Classic Sailor

Sailing skills: Reversing   Boats aren’t meant to go backwards but sometimes they have to

Surveying: what to look for   The tell-tale signs to check before you call the surveyor

Practical: Restoring a Mirror dinghy   A simple but satisfying project to start with: you can’t go too far wrong!

Practical: Palms ancient and modern   Des Pawson on the sailmaking hand-strap for pushing needles

The last word: Lucy L Ford   When it comes to oilskins, ‘voluminous yellow’ is not a good look

classicsailor.com

The paper issue has sold out but you can download a digital issue in an instant online:  HERE