HISTORY When launched in 1920 she was called Terpsichore and was not an immediate racing success. The period coincided with a dip in the participation of large yachts in the racing circuit around England and Scotland and so with few top yachts to compete against she did very few races. In 1924 she was acquired by Herbert Weld who renamed her Lulworth in recognition of his ancient family residence Lulworth Castle. He also took on a crack crew and immediately started winning races. This was improved even further when, in the winter of 24/25 he had her rig redesigned and a new lead keel cast. The new rig had been designed and built by Macgruer and was much lighter than its predecessor. The result was immediate and the 1925 season was her best ever. The 1926 season was also extremely profitable for Lulworth with her winning 20 flags in 29 starts. But the end of her racing career was upon her when the racing and handicapping rules were changed and suddenly, she had to give time to almost every other large yacht in the fleet. Most of them even with Bermudan rigs! Despite this she still won five races in 1927 but only on days with heavy winds. She didn’t even bother starting if the wind was light. Between 1931 and 1933 Lulworth was for sale and did little actual sailing. Mary A. Beazley bought her in 1932 and converted her into a ketch with shortened boom and happily cruised her for several years. In 1937 she was sold to Carl Bendix who had made his fortune selling chocolate. He planned to sail her around the world but the approaching hostilities of World War II forced her to be laid up in a mud berth in the Hamble. Here she lost her masts when bombs from a German raid landed close by in 1943 and her hull was slightly damaged. In 1947 Richard and Irene Lucas bought and eventually converted her into a houseboat and lived on board for many years. Although possibly an ignominious ending to her racing life this did mean that she was preserved as a virtual time capsule which made her later restoration easier if not possible. SPECIFICATIONS Length over deck: 37.2 metres Length overall: 46.5 metres Mast height: 52 metres Boom length: 28 metres Sail area close-hauled: 855 m² Mainsail: 465 m² Topsail: 133 m² Spinnaker: 500 m² MPS: 862 m² Draught: 5.20 metres Displacement: 189 tons 39 Fotos: ZVG Johan van den Bruele, Ron Valent read more
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTA3NTQ=