The Royal Ocean Racing Club is hosting a talk by Leo Gooden who is a couple of years into restoring his Albert Strange 1927 Fastnet winning cutter Tally Ho
Leo’s talk will be on Tue, 23 April 2019 from 19:00 – 22:00 BST
Built in 1910 Tally Ho is Albert Strange’s largest surviving yacht, and the winner of the stormy 1927 Fastnet race. After a colourful career the 47’ Cutter was languishing in an obscure corner of the USA, and was in danger of meeting the chainsaw when Leo bought her for £1 and embarked on a complete rebuild.
Leo is a 29-year-old boatbuilder and sailor. Having learn the shipwright trade in the traditional boatyards of Bristol and Cornwall, he rebuilt his own 1947 folkboat and sailed it to Antigua, leaving engine and GPS behind. Since then he captained a classic 95’ ketch to the frozen north, and ran the deck on the gigantic 3-masted schooner ADIX.
This latest boatbuilding project has seen Leo move Tally Ho by truck up to the Pacific NW USA, where he has already replaced the Keel Timber, 1/2 of the sawn oak frames, and the Stern Assembly. The project is largely crowdfunded through documentary videos which Leo releases regularly online to an enthralled audience of over 100,000.
Leo will talk with photos about what led him to embark on this challenging project, some of the remarkable experiences that it has entailed so far (including working with the world’s last “Live-Oaker”, refurbishing a giant Ship-saw, and hosting volunteers from around the world), and his plans for Tally Ho when she is sailing again (spoiler – it involves the Fastnet race!)
Free for RORC members, £10 for non-members (payment due upon arrival).
If you need inspiration then check out Leo’s videos and details of the restoration (currently at 42 episodes) so far at sampsonboat.co.uk
Leo’s piece on restoring Lorema – his Folkboat was in the third issue of Classic Sailor, you can read it online (p26): HERE
Royal Ocean Racing Club,
20 St. James’s Place, London.
W1A 1NN