Saturday 1 October dawned to force 5 winds and a threat of rain but after 18 months the die was cast for the relaunching of "Nan" C24, the 1950 James and Stone built Brightlingsea One Design.
In Brightlingsea the midnight oil had been burning as Bruce Finlayson finished off the seemingly never-ending task of small unfinished jobs. The morning dawned with Bruce, Will Jenkins, Tom Sargeant, Bob Herbert, Colin Smith and Reg White attending to the last few jobs and a mere 45 minutes after the Schedule "Nan" was towed to the hard.
A few words over a few glasses later Reg White poured some champagne over Nan some 55 years after he had performed a similar task on her before.
The building team launched her and with a few running adjustments and before being weighed Nan was soon planning up to 8.9 knots under Reg's expert helming supported by Tom and Bruce. All returned under the smart suit of Mark Self sails trimmed in matching hull green expressing themselves satisfied apart from "where's that small leak coming form?"
The story started in March 2004 after Dave Chivers had identified David Draper as a willing seller of a workmanlike BOD and a deal was done.
Back in the yard the first major decision was to tidy and repair or to do the full strip down and rebuild and after little hesitation the full rebuild started with little thought to the economic consequences but certain in the benefits likely after 50 plus years use and abuse.
After stripping down 50 years of paint, varnish and repairs Nan was rejigged back into shape and all damaged and substandard parts removed. She had dropped 6" in the stern, the deck beams had dropped due to failed fixings, the decks were at the end of their useful life, some ribs were broken and a few planks damaged.
After the necessary tree buying expedition new ribs were inserted and after ensuring the timbers were deemed dry enough the whole hull was West'd inside and out using a heated tent to control conditions.
Major decision two was the mast and the Tornado section in use at acquisition was deemed too heavy and after a few more discussions wood was selected over aluminium and self-build over purchasing and once again timber was sought out and found in the West Country.
About this time major decision three took place in that any saving by reusing old kit was pointless and new fittings, sails, etc. were the order of the day.
With parallel activity the mast and booms took shape under Bruce Finlayson's hand and Tom Sargeant took over hull finishing and painting and it remains a mystery as to how he can achieve a spray finish with a brush!
As the summer arrived hopes of an early launch rose and fell as some problems came, were conquered and went but 2005 became the target.
Specialist work started with John Saker's exceptional stainless steel fittings, Mark Self's drive to provide a BOD's sails and Rob Whites support in sourcing Ronstat fittings as part of a number of fit outs. By this time Sybil (C5) had arrived in a sorry state and is next on the stocks. How has it happened? From the efforts of numerous people in Brightlingsea, the support and advice of numerous others and an expenditure that followed the traditional boat builders rule of 1, Estimate the cost, 2 Double the estimate and 3 Double the estimate
again.
Has it been worth it? Of course we now have a perfectly shaped and rebuilt to new BOD fit for the next 20 plus years.
The future? Nan will be joined by Sybil in 2007 and in 2006 Reg White will be sailing her in the series races to bring a bit of spice to the racing.
Otherwise look for the green hull out in the Estuary on its way to the Anchor at Rowhedge for lunch.
