Alan Buchanan designs
Peter K Poland salutes the aesthetically pleasing and ‘perfectly balanced’ boat designs of the prolific Alan Buchanan
Aesthetically pleasing, perfectly balanced boats
Those of us who were old enough to enjoy a pub, drive a car, go to rock concerts and sail on offshore yachts in the heady days of the ’60s were a lucky lot. We were pitched headlong into an era of change, liberation, thrills and occasional spills. It was magic.
On the yacht-building front, things had been pretty static since the end of the war. Materials and money were in short supply. However, as businesses picked up and richer folk found funds to fritter on leisure activities in the ’50s and ’60s, the British offshore sailing scene came back to life. Increasing numbers of beautiful new wooden yachts were launched – and most of these were British designed and built in British yards.
One of the top (and perhaps now underrated) designers to make his mark at that time was Alan Buchanan. Barney Sandeman of classic yacht brokerage specialists Sandeman Yacht Company put it well, saying: ‘Buchanan’s boats hit a sweet spot. He was most prolific before the (racing) box rules of the late 1960s spoilt aesthetics and good seakeeping qualities. His boats were still deep, relatively heavy displacement and had moderate beam by today’s standards.
‘The hull profiles were normally drawn out into overhangs that were beautifully harmonious with one another, and had a cutaway forefoot and a graceful sheer. Buchanan’s cruiser racers from the ’50s and ’60s are all perfectly balanced, and in the right conditions can still give modern yachts a run for their money. Quite recently, a Yeoman MKII [mid-1950s, 34ft 10in] survived typhoon conditions in the Pacific Ocean without damage. Over 100 modern yachts caught in the same storm found themselves in trouble through their lack of directional stability, preventing them from riding it out hove-to or running before it.
‘Buchanan’s designs are fast, good looking and well mannered – it’s hard to ask for more.’
Early experience
Alan Buchanan was born in 1922 and lived to the age of 92. From his early years he loved the sea and sailing,
messing around in boats at West Mersea where his family had a holiday cottage. He was 17 when the Second World War started and became qualified in naval architecture and aeronautical engineering before working as a wartime draughtsman and project engineer for Handley Page and Shorts. He was involved with the Halifax and Stirling bombers and Sunderland flying boats, and also played a part in Barnes Wallace’s ‘Dam Buster’ bouncing bomb project. Later in the war he visited aerodromes, advising fitters on how to repair damaged aircraft that had struggled home from bombing raids.
This early experience in aeronautical engineering provided Buchanan with knowledge and skills that were to be very useful when he turned to full-time yacht designing. As a recently qualified designer, Ed Dubois spent valuable time learning his trade at Buchanan’s office in Jersey in the late ’70s/early ’80s and told me he was always grateful for the engineering know-how that he picked up from this master.
Buchanan’s own career as a designer started in his home in Enfield before he upped drawing board and moved to Burnham-on-Crouch in 1952. One of his first designs – a 4-ton Bermudan cruising sloop called Puffin – was published in Yachting Monthly, and the following year his 29ft 3in cruising sloop Pintail won second prize in YM’s competition to design an estuary cruiser.
In 1946, editor Maurice Griffiths commissioned Buchanan to design a 3-ton sloop for amateur builders. The YM 3-Tonner – 20ft overall with fixed keel or centreplate – was a robust and seaworthy little coastal cruiser. Then, despite his fast-expanding workload producing bigger and grander designs, Buchanan remained loyal to the magazine that had helped kick-start his career by designing the jaunty little 19ft Wild Duck (1954). Its study plans were published in YM, and building instructions can still be found in Michael Verney’s book Building Chine Boats, available from the Eventide Owners Association.
Rapid impact
During the 1950s, Buchanan’s Burnham design office blossomed and he employed several talented young draughtsmen, including my old chum Oliver Lee. When Oliver later branched out to form his own company – designing and building the Ajax 23, National Squib and early Hunters – the influence of Buchanan’s unfailing eye for pretty and balanced lines was there for all to see.
By setting up his store in Burnham, Buchanan had a string of excellent traditional boatbuilders on his doorstep. Priors, William King, Tucker Brown, Petticrows and Stebbings were all just a stroll along the banks of the Crouch, and all flourished as their expert shipwrights rolled out a procession of Buchanandesigned beauties. And across the North Sea, he forged a valuable relationship with Dutch yards that produced numerous Buchanan designs in steel, some of which were finished in the UK.
Buchanan made a rapid impact in Burnham when – sailing his own 7-Tonner Taeping – he won the 1955 EAORA (East Anglian Offshore Racing Association) Championship. Taeping repeated this success in 1957 and, from 1958 to 1960, Maurice Laing’s beautiful Buchanandesigned Vashti pulled off the same feat for three years in succession. Then, a smaller Buchanan design – the 31ft Viking of Mersea – took the same championship in 1963. Rarely had one British designer achieved such dominance for so long.
Buchanan also came up with some delightful smaller cruiser-racers; a breed of yacht sadly missing from today’s boat shows.
The 1955 Spartan is a good example. Several were built (with both carvel- and clinker-planked hulls), and in addition to making great little cruisers, some joined in JOG races. With a pretty transom stern, long keel, jaunty roof, a hint of reverse sheer and a fractional rig, the Spartan 2 is the epitome of a classic small yacht. A beam of 6ft 6in means she is no palace below, but a weight of 5,500lb and 61% ballast ratio ensure she takes the rough stuff in her stride. Around 50 were built.
Going up in size, the 25ft 1953 Yonder is of particular interest to me. This long-keeler has a short counter stern,
7ft beam, 4ft draught and displaces 3.25 tons, with a 1.25 ton keel. A small roof and jaunty reverse sheer give standing headroom – quite a feat in a pretty 25-footer. Yonder was built as a family cruiser by Priors and formed the foundation from which my 1954 Buchanan 25ft Wind Elf Mk.2 cruiser Josa ll evolved. I can speak for her comfort, practical accommodation, sea-kindly manners and spritely performance, because she whisked me safely across the Atlantic in 1968.
If you’re in the market for a small Buchanan classic, the East Anglian 28 is a good bet. She’s not only a lovelylooking yacht; there are still plenty of them around (about 100 were built by a selection of yards). Her beam of 8ft is generous for a 1957 21ft WL yacht, so the four-berth accommodation is surprisingly spacious – and her 9,300lb displacement (with 50% ballast ratio) ensures that she stands up to her sail.
Good value
The East Anglian Restricted Class emerged after a committee of sailors asked for a comfortable yacht of moderate draught that could be cruised and raced around the East Coast. Buchanan wrote: ‘I have not attempted to do anything startling or revolutionary but have tried to produce a good, straightforward boat with good performance and accommodation which represents good value for money.’ In order to allow a choice of inboard engine and interior modifications, he opted for a restricted class as opposed to a strict One Design.
He certainly succeeded. Not only did East Anglians win races; they’re also prettier than their South Coast competitors the SCOD and its GRP successor the Nicholson 26.
If a steel hull appeals, several models were built in Holland and finished by UK yards such as Stebbings. The transom-stern 30ft 6in Brabant class (1958) is a good example. Looking very much like an overgrown East Anglian 28, she has Buchanan’s typical sweeping sheer, long, low coachroof and a sharply angled transom, while a beam of almost 10ft gives her practical and spacious sea-going accommodation. If you’re in the market for a boat like this, don’t forget to check with Dutch brokers.
The Saxon 34 is another elegant class yacht designed in the late ’50s. Around 40 were built, many by Priors. With 26ft 7in LWL, 9ft 7in beam and 6ft draught, the Saxon is a development of the larger, Buchanan-designed, all-conquering Vashti class and every bit as accomplished, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.
Harry Butler owned a Saxon called Sael and told me: ‘I bought the Saxon because many years before I had a Buchanan Seaspray (27ft) which was a delight to sail. The Saxon was a beauty, built to Lloyds 100 A 1 in 1962 by Priors. She had nice accommodation in a classic, simple style, with a good heads and plenty of stowage – officially five berths, but better with three on board – plus great performance under sail; not at all sluggish. In the rough stuff, Sael was an absolute joy; dry, certain in movement and really capable.’
On the topic of basic maintenance, Harry added: ‘Owning a classic yacht requires a diligent approach – a stitch in time, etc – and a great love of varnish. But if you keep on top of things and make sure that the boat has an all-over winter cover, which mine did, it’s not a great deal more work than any other boat. In my ownership, the topsides were given two coats of Toplac over an undercoat and this lasted eight years, and still looked fine earlier this year when the boat was sold. The secret? A wash-down with Fairy Liquid, T-Cut on any scuffs and then a polish with Autoglym car polish. Simple.’
Harry summed up Buchanan’s flair, saying he ‘had a knack of designing robust and attractive boats that performed well at sea, while being conservative rather than innovative inside. In my view it’s a great but often underestimated formula. His boats look good and are a joy to own.’
When Harry reached the age of 70 and sold Sael, what did he buy? A Buchanandesigned Channel Island 32 semidisplacement motor yacht (to replace the little CI 22 that he also owns and is now for sale – an excellent buy for any sailor moving from sail to couth power).
Elegance and power
The 36ft Yeoman class is slightly larger than the Saxon and offers more of the same – same Buchanan elegance, same effortless power under sail, same practical sea-going comfort down below.
I had the good fortune to sail on the Yeoman Mk2 Martooni – built by Priors in 1958 – when visiting classic yacht brokers Wooden Ships Ltd in Dartmouth, and wrote at the time: ‘Having drooled over her from a distance, I transferred onto Martooni. Her forepeak acts as the main sleeping cabin, there’s an amidships heads, then a spacious (albeit not wide by modern standards) saloon and a galley, navigation area and quarter berth right aft. In short, everything you need – plus fine internal joinery and woodwork.
‘On deck, she felt secure and moved fast and effortlessly. The only concession to modernity is the new Z Spars alloy rig. Her motion (and speed) under sail are a delight, and when we returned to harbour we lowered the main, glided towards the quay under genoa, rounded up, dropped the genoa and stopped alongside the raft of moored classics. No need to use the engine, no noise, no fuss. Pure sailing.’
Moving up in size again, the 37ft 3in Vashti class hit the scene in 1958, and Sir Maurice Laing’s Vashti was a serial winner. When selling a Vashti, Wooden Ships Ltd recently said: ‘The class was one of Alan Buchanan’s most successful and well-known designs, with about half a dozen genuine Vashti yachts built following the first boat called Vashti.
It has typical Buchanan elegance, with a stunning sheer line turning up to a superb long counter.
‘The beauty of the Vashti is her size, making her an extremely capable sailing yacht while also being very manageable and easily sailed by two people. Everything about the boat makes her easy to manage, with a well balanced and light helm and a sail area of only 480sq ft making each constituent part of the rig lightweight and easy to set and trim. The boat can be sailed like a dinghy, and the present owners have frequently tacked her upriver and on to her mooring without having to use the engine.’
David Butcher – the current owner of Vashti derivative Lady of Hamford – told me: ‘I wanted a classic wooden boat that could be cruised and raced. Being a proper displacement yacht, she does not slam or hesitate in a seaway. Unlike modern boats – many of which often want to round up – she’s predictable. And because you are sitting in her, not on her, you feel safe. In a recent Round the Island Race we had 35 knots on the nose and she was always happy, while a lot of plastic yachts around us were struggling.’
‘Ageless’
The 1961 Sinbad is a development of Buchanan’s own yacht Taitsing, and both these 37-footers follow Vashti’s influence. Sandeman brokers commented that on her maiden voyage from Priors in Essex to North Wales, Sinbad ‘entered the Round the Island Race and won. Subsequently from 1988 to 1992, during the ownership of Kathy Kilbey, Sinbad of Abersoch was campaigned in RORC Ocean Racing events, including the 1989 Fastnet Race, winning her class. At that time there were only a handful of 1960s Class ll racing yachts in a competitive enough state to race.’ This shows how ‘ageless’ a classic Buchanan design can be.
Sinbad’s current owner Gilles Graham told me he bought her because she was good looking, solidly built and simple to sail thanks to her long keel, adding: ‘She stays in the groove and sails close to the wind. She’s excellent in heavy weather, albeit a bit wet in large waves. But she cuts through them and maintains her heading beautifully.’
Bernard Hayman – long-standing editor of Yachting World – was another Buchanan fan. So much so that in 1963 he commissioned the design of a new 32ft 2in transom-stern cruiser (called
Barbican) that was built for him by Kings in Burnham. Hayman wanted a seaworthy and comfortable cruiser that could be sailed at decent speed and short-handed. He specified a seamanlike interior with full headroom, two quarter berths, comfortable saloon sea berths, a large chart table and galley and a heads in the forepeak. He also went for flush decks, a short and low roof and extra ports set in the topsides.
Typical of Buchanan designs, the boat was an unqualified success. Amongst many cruises, Hayman sailed from Burnham to the Clyde (via the Caledonian and Crinan canals) to report on Clyde Week, then returned to Burnham via Milford Haven, Plymouth and Portsmouth. He also cruised to St Petersburg, becoming the first yachtsman to visit Russia since the end of the Second World War.
If a 40-footer is within your range, the beautiful Kalina should be of interest. Her current owner, Rodney Challinor, told me: ‘Kalina is a variant on the Buchanan 40, with a flattened base to the keel to enable her to take the ground. My father had her built because of her racing pedigree,
having had a Saxon built before her.
‘Her main qualities are her performance (for her rating) and ease of handling in all weather. Although I race successfully offshore from Jersey, I have not done any of the classic circuit.
‘I knew Alan from the late ’50s. At the time, we thought of him as the “rock star” of yacht design and were intrigued by the friendly rivalry between Kim Holman and Alan. I sailed with him for a few years and became part of the Buchanan family, doing many EAORA races and sailing trials. The Buchanans were very kind to me. Indeed, their friendship with my family – and with Kalina – was instrumental in their move to Jersey.’
Rodney explains that Kalina’s vital statistics ‘are quite different from those of a modern racer. Although she is 40ft overall length, she is quite narrow at 10ft 6in, has moderate 6ft draught and a short waterline length at 28ft 4in – which increases dramatically when she heels or gets up to a decent speed. Her mast height is short at about 42ft, although a masthead 150% overlapping genoa and large spinnaker provide plenty of power in the right conditions.
‘Kalina’s keel is entirely different to that of a modern boat – she was built from the keel up, this being integral to the structure. Down below she is simple and well fitted out by Priors’ craftsmen. She has no fridge, hot or pressure water and a small galley, but her seven comfortable berths can all be used safely at sea. She is immensely strong, and can take all that is thrown at her. Many may think of her as a graceful old lady cruiser, but she was built to race – her plans show her as a “40ft Ocean Racer” – and was designed for the RORC rating rule then modified for IOR. She was quite a handful in her first year, with tiller steering. This was solved by a change in rudder profile and wheel steering.’
Brokers Sandeman Yachts sum her up admirably, saying: ‘Under her IRC rating she remains a force to be reckoned with in the right hands. Kalina also remains refreshingly original, yet has benefited from the consistency of care and maintenance that only a family ownership of 50 years can bring.’ She could be yours for £85k, VAT unpaid!
The GRP party
Buchanan was also one of the first designers to join the GRP party. His 1961 Bonito class started out as an all-wood beauty, but then moulders Seamaster Ltd started producing GRP hulls that were finished (with wooden deck, roof and interior) by Stebbings in Burnham. Some compare her to the GRP-hulled Nicholson 36, but I feel that the Bonito’s lovely looks and low roof give her the edge.
Wooden Ships Ltd say of her: ‘The design is interesting because the point of greatest beam [9ft 7in] is relatively far aft compared to many designs of the time. This created a wide and spacious cockpit with a lot of space in the saloon.’
Tyler Mouldings then changed another wooden Buchanan classic into a gorgeous GRP fast cruiser. The 1965 Queen Class is effectively a Vashti in disguise. Few 39-footers ever rivalled her balanced long-keel lines and graceful overhangs.
Buchanan also led the charge into small GRP family cruisers. His 1961 twin- or fin-keel Crystal 23 sold well, then took off once Offshore Yachts bought the tooling and revamped it into the Halcyon 23. A similar transformation befell the 1963 Diamond 27 (built by Thames Marine), which in 1968 became Offshore Yachts’ ever-popular Halcyon 27.
Very much a Folkboat-style family cruiser, with considerable offshore potential, this tough little long-keel yacht weighed 6,720lb, had a ballast ratio of 45% and a DLR of 361. Her practical four-berth accommodation gave her all-weather cruising scope, so it was no surprise that clubs like the Joint Services bought Halcyon 27s for training and adventure courses. To this day, she makes a good buy for serious cruising folk. One forum contributor wrote: ‘The previous owners of our Halcyon 27 sailed to the east coast of the USA, down to the West Indies, across to the Azores, Gib, the Med and back up through Biscay. So yes; they are seaworthy.’
Much the same applies to the 1964 Neptune 33 aft-cockpit sloop cruiser and 1972 Neptunian 33 centre-cockpit ketch. As usual, Buchanan’s unerring eye gives these adaptable and sweet-sailing GRP cruisers lovely lines. Both were moulded by Tylers and finished by Shuttlewoods. Anyone looking for a classy older-style cruiser with a motor-sailer slant would do well to check these boats out.
Buchanan’s Nantucket Clipper 32, however, has a very different ‘look’. One magazine wrote that its ‘yawl rig, traditional clipper bow with bowsprit and sawn-off counter stern provide something of a breath of fresh air, and would make her worthy of note even if she had no other redeeming features. Her old-time profile is married to the most up-to-date trends in design... there’s no doubt that it’s a most comfortable, well-finished cruiser with a good turn of speed and unusually spacious deck plan.’ So if you can live with unconventional looks, the Clipper (and her smaller sister) are worth considering. And if you fancy a classy motorboat, don’t forget the Channel Island 22 and 32. Both are ideal for retiring sailors.
Having started with Sandeman Yachts’ assessment of Buchanan’s boats (around 2,000 were built), the words of Wooden Ships’ Richard Gregson make a fitting conclusion. He puts it perfectly, saying: ‘Buchanan was a designer who got all aspects of yacht design right – from performance and handling to aesthetics and layout. His yachts are a testament to the brilliance of naval architecture in Britain at that time.’