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Name: Fair Lady
Design: China Doll
Designer: Phil Morrison
Year built: 1972
Build type: Professional
Builder: Wyche & Coppock
Construction: Clinker
Hull type: Single Bottom
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ntoa 11-May-2008 |
The life of N2620 Fair Lady. Design: China Doll, designed by: Phil Morrison in 1967 |
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Will Willett 17-Apr-2012 |
'Fair Lady' was built by Wyche & Coppock in October of 1972 - the original measurement certificate is shown below. As far as I know she spent the first 20 years based in Scotland at Perth SC before being sold to Ian Howlett in 1992. She was then on loan and eventually sold to Graham Pope of Severn Sailboats in Worcestershire. Now at the age of forty, she was bought by us (April 2012) and now has a life with the Willett family in south Wales where she will be used for family racing at Llangorse SC and on the Twelve circuit. 
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Will Willett 17-Apr-2012 |
For her age she is pretty remarkable. Although well used in early life, she was immacultely cared for. Latterly she has spent many years with little use and being dry stored: The wood is pretty much sound right throughout - only the odd dark spot here and there - and other than some UV damage to the varnish is still in excellent condition. Her set-up is untouched and until last week the controls were exactly as they were 40 years ago. Foils are all original too. I may be biased but she's a perfect example of craftsmanship in boat-building and we count ourselves lucky to get such an immaculately preserved boat of this age. In terms of racing prowess, she was joint winner of the Lairwell Trophy in 1973 in the hands of G.G.Cumming of Perth SC. (The Lairwell Trophy was presented in 1972 by the Twelve sailors of Perth SC to encourage the development of the class in Scotland. Lairwell, downstream of Perth on the river Tay, is home of the Perth Sailing Club.) In early April 2012 she was given a minor overhaul to get her race ready for her first outing at the Gill event in Annandale. This involved re-rigging the Proctor C mast, refitting her boom, and providing some basic controls - keeping everything as simple as possible but functional: Rig tension is via highfield lever, shrouds are fixed, and there are three controls - outhaul, vang, cunningham - and some mast chocks. A dangly pole will find its way onto the set-up in the coming weeks but other than this she will be preserved with her fine varnished finish and we'll just enjoy racing her... She placed 8th in her first outing at Annandale in the Scottish Championships last week with a best placing of 5th, and throughout the series showing particularly well against some of her vintage 'sisters'. We hope through the remainder of this year to visit one or two more of the Twelve open meetings, before hoepfully having more time in 2013 to travel with her even more. Some pics follow and I will add a few more photos when opportunity allows. 
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