'Voyage to America': Young Tiger, part two

This image was sent to me (Simon) on 13 March 2007 shortly after I had made a phone call and confirmed that I had finally traced the Westerly 22 designed by Denys Rayner in which I sailed across the Atlantic in 1965-66 with Sue Pulford

"We ran south across the Bay of Biscay in Young Tiger - a Westerly 22 - and made landfall on Cabo Ortegal and Los Aiguillones near Ortiguera, at dawn but the wind dropped leaving us riding these swells with little way, typical of the Bay where the long almost invisible swells of the deep Atlantic steepen over the shallower waters close to France and Spain creating, even in calm weather, the steeper seas that gives Biscay its bad reputation with ferry passengers. A small boat like this rides them easily but in a large vessel you can imagine the uncomfortable rolling and pitching they cause."

Landfall on Barbados - 5 January 1966. In the log from which I oil sketched this scene, I wrote: "Clouds collected during the night, obscuring the bright moon, and at dawn it was blowing hard with rain everywhere and haze ahead. We stared ahead until our eyes ached. Suddenly a break in the cloud let through a sunbeam which shone on the land about 10 miles off - green and incredibly exciting. Through the morning the weather cleared as we ran fast down the south coast of the island, staring at the little houses and the distant palm trees bent one way by the constant wind." (5 January 1966)

This was taken by me in January 1966 in Admiralty Bay, Bequia, British West Indies, part of the independent country of St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The boat is a 22 foot gunter rigged GRP sloop with fin keels (that's why she can be so close to shore) called 'Young Tiger'. She was sailed by me and Sue Pulford across the Atlantic from England. www.flickr.com/photos/sibadd/424329354/
Since being sold to George and Nancy Cochrane in 1966 'Young Tiger' has sailed on the eastern seaboard of the USA, been aground off Cape Hatteras, been sunk and raised. Now over 40 years old she rests on a trailer in Frederick, Maryland. Her owner, John Coyle, told Simon in March 2007 that he intends to take her north to Maine. Some recent images of Young Tiger are at:
www.flickr.com/search/?q=Washington&w=53381278%40N00

Young Tiger's route to the America's



all photos courtesy Simon Baddelley

That's all Folks

Be sure to visit Simon's Flikr photostream, one of the most amazing I've seen. And don't miss Simon's Wikipedia entry on Denys Rayner.

'Voyage to America': Young Tiger, part one

Simon's Stepfather, Jack Hargreaves, aboard Young Tiger

Young Tiger leaving for the Americas

Simon Baddeley steering Young Tiger

all photos and text courtesy Simon Baddeley

Simon Baddeley counts the originator of Westerly Yachts, Cmdr. Denys Rayner, as a family friend and his sailing mentor. His stepfather was Jack Hargreaves, an English broadcast celebrity and also a friend of Cmdr. Rayner. Over the cusp of 1965-1966, Simon and his crew Sue Pulford cruised Young Tiger, one of the early Westerly 22's, to Barbados and then Miami from Lymington, UK. This is the record of the voyage, as published in the Royal Cruising Club's 1966 cruising journal. Part one. This was, I believe, the first Atlantic crossing of the newly minted 22' twin keel yacht which was the opening song of the great opus which was Westerly. Simon has very generously shared this record with us, as well as many photographs. He blogs today at Democracy Street. You will need to click the text in order to read it. I have posted the original (albeit photocopied) text to keep the texture of the original publication.


footnote: from the RCC Journal contents page, (This is the cruise for which the Royal Cruising Club Challenge Cup was awarded)
To which I'd like to add my own hearty well done! to Sue and Simon.