U-Boat hunter project
“Some yachts hold such storied history in their timbers that they should be national monuments; there is no doubt that Zaida III should.” Bold words from the broker, but the 58ft (17.7m) bermudan cutter Zaida III is such an attractive proposal that it’s amazing she hasn’t been snapped up already. It might be the elongated cabin trunk and correspondingly small cockpit (not part of the original design) that is putting buyers o. The design is by the great Alden and the build, in 1937, was similarly by one of the best yards in the world: Henry B Nevins of New York New York.
Fine build aside, it’s Zaida’s story that makes her part of sailing, then world, history. She was originally built for the sailmaker George E Ratsey in the New York oce, Alden’s second design for the English émigré. Like her predecessor Zaida II, this one was given a simple layout of two spacious cabins. She was a floating oce that also raced successfully under a variety of rigs. After the USA entered the war, the Nazi U-Boat threat to Allied supply and troop ships on the eastern seaboard multiplied. When the US government enlisted yachts over 50ft (15.1m) as civilian-crewed Coast Guard Reserve observation and patrol vessels, George Ratsey quickly made Zaida III available. The number CGR 3070 was applied to her black topsides and she was re-rigged as a yawl. It was as CGR 3070 that Zaida III became famous while on patrol in December 1942. Blasted for three weeks by hurricanes and blizzards, and posted missing, she became the object of one of the biggest searches inhistory before being finally located o the coast of North Carolina. She was finally rescued and towed into Ocracoke, Hatteras on Christmas Eve 1942. Lawrance Thompson’s 1943 book The Navy Hunts The CGR 3070, about this story, is reviewed on p48. “In present ownership since 1978, Zaida III still sails the waters she patrolled in the war, now as a family cruiser. She’s a very pretty and practical yacht with undoubted performance. This is a major project: the boat needs a new deck, the cockpit and cabin trunk reverting to original, 60 per cent of the frames, underbody refastening (although it’s believed that 90 per cent of the hull planking is good), some keelbolts, rudder overhaul and more.
For both these project yachts, Tel: +44 (0)1202 330077, sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk