Arnside Sailing Club have relaunched their restored Royal Mersey Rivers Class Yacht Severn with the help of a £5,500 Heritage Lottery Fund grant. The club bought the yacht earlier in the year and brought her back to the south Lakeland village where she was built by the famous local Crossfields of Arnside yard in 1912. She was launched on Friday June 15 and will lie on a swinging mooring near Arnside pier.
Severn, one of ten Rivers Class yachts built out of pitch pine on oak, for the Royal Mersey club, was restored with help from volunteers at the club and will be maintained in the same way. The 23ft yacht is built along nobby lines with the famous low-slung rounded counter and reflects the craftsmanship of the famous yard which specialised in Morecambe Bay Prawners aka Lancashire Nobbies for the local fishery as well as many famous yachts – including Arthur Ransome’s pre World War One dinghy Swallow.

Several Arnside yachts are still sailing (though none locally before the Severn returned) and the club would like to hear from anyone who owns or knows of one. Mary Hamilton, for the Arnside Archive Group, said: “To help us find out more about the Crossfields, we would like to hear from people who own boats built by them, the family or anybody who has recollections about the boatyard.”

Contact Alasdair Simpson  alasdairsimpson2@gmail.com

Rivers Class: LOA 23ft, Beam 7ft, Draught 3ft 6in

Local webcam (Severn appears at far right as camera pans): www.camsecure.co.uk/arnside

Arnside Sailing Club, 17 The Promenade, Arnside, Carnforth LA5 0HD

 

Severn gets towed to the water by “John’s” Tractor

A local farmer helps in stepping her mast

Oops, she lays over into the channel on her first night

The mooring is relaid and she rests further up the beach as a pretty sight for all to see

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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