Traditional cruiserr

When I was a kid I collected so many old yachting magazines my parents thought the floor of my bedroom was going to fall through. My favorites were the oldest ones. I can still vividly remember their smell. If you go back to before the '60s you will find the world of yachting populated with a tremendous variety of vessels. Today, science has eliminated the oddballs and given us a bland world of near-look-alike racing yachts. The same thing threatens the world of cruising boats. In my perfect world the harbor is full of varied yachts of individual, pronounced and proud character that in most cases echo the character of the owner.

One of my very favorite designers was Laurent Giles of Britain. His designs always carried a unique stamp that was best exemplified by his Channel cutters.

In 1937 Giles designed Amaryllis for a retired sailor. The boat was raced and cruised, and when World War II started, used to smuggle French resistance fighters across the English Channel. The boat was cruised through the '50s and eventually, in 1987, was bought by veteran sailor Simon Phelps and restored. Phelps was so taken with his restored yacht that he commissioned the Laurent Giles firm to redesign the boat in fiberglass. The Giles company made the boat bigger, but retained the original character of the lines. The boat is currently being built by Rock Run Yachts of Plymouth, Devon, England.

This review puts me in a tough place. Sometimes old is just old and being old doesn't make it good. I have never sailed this boat and perhaps Amaryllis has sailing characteristics belied by her general appearance. I'll leave room for that. But, with so many fabulous looking boats back in the '30s, I don't think this is the one I would have chosen to resurrect. I wonder what good old dead Laurent Giles is thinking? While the look of Amaryllis is certainly that of a traditional Bermuda yawl, I don't find the lines that attractive. It's hard for me to put my finger on why. I just don't see the level of harmony I need in a hull shape here. Maybe it's in those anemic ends. Okay, wash my mouth out with soap.

The bow of the original is almost straight in profile, which was unusual in a day of exaggerated spoon-bow profiles. This straightened stem would give Amaryllis a finer entry. Curiously, I see that on the redesigned version the designers have added some fullness to the bow sections. I prefer this aesthetically, but I can't help thinking that fine bow had something to do with the performance of the original. The stern overhang about equals that of the bow overhang. The LOA is 43 feet, 7 inches and the DWL is only 30 feet, 9 inches. When you couple this with a displacement of 30,240 pounds you get a D/L of 464. Beam is narrow by today's standards at 11 feet, 10 inches.

The rig has a large mizzen that is stayed independently of the mainmast, i.e., there is no triatic stay connecting both masts. The long stern overhang makes sheeting the mizzen easy and keeps the sail out of the cockpit. The SA/D is around 15.5. The mizzen makes a great riding sail for when you are at anchor and the sail should be built with full-length battens. This may look out of place, but will prolong the life of the sail.

The layout for the new Amaryllis is very conventional with quarter berths and V-berths. There is one head, a big wet locker, a large nav center and a nice galley. The doghouse has port and starboard seats. It's a very workable interior and it would look great outfitted in wine-colored, velvetlike upholstery. Sure it will be dark below, but to some of us that's the appeal of this type of boat. Going below should have that "back to the womb" feel. A wee nip of a good single malt should brighten things up sufficiently.

The vintage look is so seductive-it's hard to resist that abrupt doghouse with its squared off windows-but I'm afraid it will be hard to carry off in fiberglass. The new, boxed cockpit coaming will not help. That's the rub with these resurrected antiques. When you take away the traditional timber detailing it's easy to end up with an aesthetically awkward hybrid. I hope the builders of Amaryllis II can avoid this.

I can still taste that soap.