Sunbeams

The History of the Sunbeam

The Sunbeam might have been shaped by the waves themselves. Designed by Alfred Westmacott in 1922, she is regarded by many as his masterpiece. A classically curved keel boat with lines that are immediately captivating, she is an exciting day racer.

The first ever Sunbeam, V1 Dainty, is still racing today. Since her launch, only 48 Sunbeams have ever been built. Owing to the exceptionally high standard of specification and materials, all of them survive apart from Judy which was lost at sea in extreme weather conditions whilst sailing in Cowes week in 1939. The first 39 sunbeams were built to the original designs, by Woodnutt & Co on the Isle of Wight, until after the war when Woodnutts suffered a disastrous fire during which the Sunbeam plans and moulds were destroyed. No new Sunbeams could be built until a new set of plans were taken from the existing boats in 1965, since when a further four Sunbeams were constructed: the last, until 1999, being V44 Lucy, built on the Isle of Wight in 1983.

The fleet is raced in two divisions, at Falmouth in Cornwall and Itchenor in the Solent, and every year boats from both divisions make the annual pilgrimage to Cowes.

Like many small boys, Roger Graffy fell in love with Sunbeams, and first raced them as crew in Falmouth as a ten year old. It was his dream then to own – if possible build – his own Sunbeam. In 1999 that ambition came true with the construction of Milly at Mylor Yacht Harbour. Having launched Milly, and raced her in the 75th Anniversary Sunbeam Championships, Roger’s ambition was then to build a new generation of Sunbeams at the yard.

Milly was the first Sunbeam to be built for 16 years and the first ever built in the Port of Falmouth. She was named to celebrate the survival of the 75 year old Sunbeam class into the new millennium.

The construction of Milly was led by the highly respected mast shipwright Brian Crockford with his team of craftsmen at Mylor. Brian was then one of the few men alive with the skills to build a Sunbeam. Constructing Milly has been a marvellous opportunity to pass on his first class, traditional boatbuilding skills to a future generation of Cornish shipwrights.

The Sunbeams at Mylor Yacht Harbour are built in traditional fashion with seasoned oak frames and ribs planked up in pitch pine. Milly was built ‘the right way up’ starting with the centreline timbers. The stem and sternpost were fashioned from oak and the keel from elm. Once these were in place the hull moulds were set up and the ribbing laid on to provide the hull shape. Timbers of English Oak were then steamed into place. Before starting on the planking Brian Crockford decided to fit the 850kg lead keel saying ‘having it in place gave a visual check on any discrepancies in line or shape’. Planking up was handled by two teams starting from the garboards up to the bilge and then from the top down. Once complete Brian checked the hull for fairness and then the seams were caulked and stopped in the traditional manner. This traditional build is combined with the most modern of blocks, tracks and clutches that turn her into an exceptionally efficient racing machine.

Now that the exacting and painstaking task of lofting the lines from the table and offsets and constructing new moulds has been done, everything is in place for the construction of future Sunbeams. Milly was built to the highest standards, and throughout the process she was keenly monitored by Sunbeam enthusiasts who made regular pilgrimages to Mylor. The culmination of the year’s work was reached on August 2nd 1999, when Milly set sail across the Falmouth Estuary, exactly 75 years after the first Sunbeam.

Mylor Yacht Harbour has now built V46 Spray for the Itchenor fleet and V47 Kitty which is raced in Falmouth.