Show/hide the Salcombe 'A' Class history

The Salcombe 'A' Class has it's origins in the Salcombe Saints.  In 1920, Sir Edward Thorpe, a Salcombe resident, who was Professor of Chemistry at the Royal College of Science, in South Kensington, had presented four 23ft LOA, Boat Racing Association (BRA) boats, designed by G.L. Watson and built by Fife of Fairlie on the Clyde, to the Salcombe Yacht Club for the use of the SYC members.  These were St. Andrew, St, David, St. George, and St. Patrick, which were joined for that racing season by Pierrette an 1899 Fife, and the old 24ft linear rater Daffodil.

Unfortunately, despite the great interest in the town and excellent racing, at the end of the season, the Salcombe Yacht Club declined this gift due to the cost of maintenance and the reluctance of its members to take responsibility.

The boats were therefore advertised for sale and sold that autumn as a fleet to Torbay.  The next year they were replaced by a keel boat based on the Conway River Restricted Fifteen Foot Waterline Class, designed by H. Hardy Simpson.

Thus, in 1921, three of these boats were built at Shadycombe, Salcombe by A. Chadder Blank for local owners, including Sir Edward Thorpe.  These were A1 Joan, A2 Jean and A3 July 4th.  Originally called the Salcombe 'J' Class after their names, the class was only changed to the 'A' Class sometime later.  
The first race that they competed in was held in August 1921, in a strong Easterly, when they joined the  'Handicap race for sailing boats not exceeding 20ft. l.w.l.'  There were originally nine entries, and the three new boats were joined on the starting line by Stella, Patience (later to become B5), Firefly (a 1911, 17 ft. centre-board, standing lug rigged boat built on the Thames) owned by H.H. Prince John de Mahe, and Titmouse.  The race was won by Stella sailed by Frank Cole, while Joan, whose mast snapped with a broken backstay, Titmouse which broke her bowsprit in a collision and Jean, with a torn jib failed to finish.

In 1922, the class consisted of the three 'J' Class, now becoming the 'A' Class, together with A4 Foam, a pre-1914 yawl, Patience, Firefly and Kittiwake. The Regatta was won by Patience, with A4 Foam second and A1 Joan, third.  By 1924 the Class consisted only of Joan, Jean, July 4th and Foam, by now rigged as a cutter and they raced under a handicap system, occasionally joined by other boats.

In 1929, they were joined by A4, the first Wiluna, A5 Pippin and A7 Juanita, all designed on the lines of miniature International Six-Metres and built by F. Morgan Giles at Teignmouth, as well as by A6 Sunshine and A11 Shadow, designed and built in Salcombe by Edgar Cove.  These were both 18ft. centre-board, clinker built, boats. They were often joined by the Pierrette, owned at that time by H. Emery Chubb, although later by the Prince de Mahe.

Juanita was built for Ian and his sister Elizabeth Jennings, of Woodcot, Salcombe and was, until 1935, quite definitely the top boat, winning at least forty silver cups.  It has been said that both Ian and Elizabeth Jennings had much to do with Juanita's design.

By 1935, the class had been divided, with Sunshine and Shadow forming a separate class for Centre-Board Boats not exceeding 20ft. l.w.l., and being joined by sundry other centre-board boats, while Pierrette, now with the number A9 and re-rigged with a Bermudian rig, had re-joined the 'A' Class.

By this time, Juanita had become so dominant that S.S. Macaskie who owned Wiluna, sold her to Dartmouth and ordered a new A4 Wiluna II from Morgan Giles, while at the same time, the Misses Chorlton ordered A14 Atalanta to the same design.  From 1936 until 1939 therefore, the class generally consisted of Wiluna II, now however owned by A. Crook, Juanita, Atalanta, Pippin, Jean and occasionally Pierrette  These were sometimes joined by  the Dragon, Golden Eagle, owned by the Sherring brothers of Woodside, which was given the number A8, but usually finished last.  During this period, Juanita no longer had it all her own way with Mr. Crook's Wiluna II often winning.

After the Second World War, the class re-started in 1946 with only two boats, Atalanta, now owned by Douglas Winter and Wiluna, which was now raced by Mrs. W. Crook, and usually helmed by Eddie Distin.  Places with these two changed frequently with Atalanta perhaps having the best of it.  It was not until August 1948 that they were again joined by Elizabeth Jennings in Juanita, who immediately re-started winning. Also in 1948, Bob Northcott briefly joined the class with A2 Jean, which he then took over to Torbay for that summer's Regatta, where sadly she broke adrift from her moorings and sank in a gale.

Towards the end of the 1948 season, Juanita, now owned by Mr. Woolcott, Atalanta and Wiluna were, for the first time for years, joined by A1 Joan now owned by A. Chadder Blank and re-rigged, A3 Janet, with a cut-down rig, owned by Capt. A.V. Cole and raced by his sons Michael and David Cole and A16 Shandra, owned by Mrs. Woolcott.  It is believed that Shandra was originally built by Morgan Giles in 1948 as his entry for the YRA competition to find a new Two-Man keelboat.

With the exception of Janet, which went up to Essex with the Coles in 1951 and subsequently was sold and then abandoned by her new owner, on the saltings at Pin Mill, and up until the end of the class in around 1956, a combination of these boats formed the small fleet, although occasionally other boats would join on a handicap system.
The class however now slowly disappeared as owners retired and when Wiluna was presented by Mrs. Crook to Brittania Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, the class died out in Salcombe.

Atalanta was sold to the Hamble and Juanita to Plymouth, where she was sadly wrecked in a gale.

Interestingly some boats still remain.  A1 Joan and A4 Wiluna II, have both been restored by Traditional Sail at Lincombe Boatyard, near Salcombe, (where Joan was built), for Pat Newberry and Peter Stratton respectively.  A14 Atalanta has been brought back from the Hamble by Jonathan Ward-Hayne of Modbury.  A9 Pierrette, has been beautifully restored to original by Adrian Wombwell at Tollesbury, Essex, and A12/A4 Foam restored at Salcombe by David Cater, to her original yawl rig.  It has also long been rumoured that Pippin is still lying in a barn somewhere 'above Loddiswell' and that Shandra may be in existence unrecognized, somewhere on the Fal estuary.

Tim Street.
8th February 2009