REUNION JUNE 14-16
Yachts built in the Cornish town of Looe are being invited to return home to celebrate the coastal town’s remarkable history of boatbuilding.
The new event is being organised by the Looe-based Cornish Lugger Association, which has been staging biennial regattas for wooden, sail-powered fishing luggers since 1989. Many of the luggers are more than 100 years old.
The Association is working with Looe Sailing Club, Looe Rowing Club and the Looe Boat Owners Association.
The Looe Harbour Commission is waiving mooring dues for the duration of the weekend. To register your interest, please email Paul Pengelly at: office4luggers@btinternet.com.
Made-in-looe Reunion Regatta Timetable
ALL WEEKEND:
There will be crab pot-making and oar-making demonstrations as well as refreshments and more. There will be historical and photographic displays at Looe Heritage Centre, West Looe. There will also be live music daily from 1530 to 2230. After the Second World War, Pape continued to be responsible for vessels of all shapes and sizes, among the better known ones being Sir Chay Blyth’s 65ft racing trimaran Brittany Ferries GB, designed by John Shuttleworth.
Launched in 1981, Brittany Ferries GB was floated down river on the early morning tide before being craned over the picturesque arched bridge that links the East and West Looe communities. Sadly, the racewinning trimaran is long gone but many other vessels from the same yard could return to Looe this summer.
AN ESTEEMED GUEST LIST
These include Bob Shillito’s Swift, a 1962-built Chesford Yacht & Launch Co boat, designed by Alan Pape, that is based nearby on the River Fowey.
‘Although Chesford was based in Kingsbridge, Devon, I understand that many of the boats were actually built in Looe,’ said Shillito. ‘I was astonished when an elderly guy came up to me in Fowey the other week and asked about the boat. It turned out that he was an apprentice boat builder in Looe in the 1960s and may have worked on Swift.’
Another Fowey visitor could be Guide, a 22ft motor launch believed to be built in Looe by Richard Pearce in 1916, whose owner is keen to learn more about her.
Tim Newcombe’s Millbrook-based May Queen, now the UK’S oldest shark-angling boat, built on East Looe Quay by Arthur Collings in 1936, is another planning to be at the weekend.
Many other boats are also heading home: Mark Haynes’ speedboat, Superstar, built by Gerald Pearn at Morval, near Looe, in June 1972; Cecil du Valle’s Composer, a 1978 Seadrift by Norman Pearn; Gill Vivian’s Freddy, an 18ft clinker-built Clifford Adams 1954 boat, now in Fowey; Jack Styche’s Joelle B, another Adams boat from the 1980s, and Paul Steeper’s Redwing, Songbird, join many Adams-built sailing dinghies likely to be present.