COVER GIRL

Quarter of a century after managing her restoration, Nigel Sharp joined the crew to race at Les Régates Royales in 2019

- NIGEL SHARP

Immediately after we rounded the first windward mark and hoisted the spinnaker, the first big gust hit us. The wind speed indicator told us it was 32 knots and there was no doubt that the spinnaker needed to come down again as quickly as possible.

I was on board the 12-Metre Seven Seas of Porto on the last day of Les Régates Royales in Cannes. Marcus Kemp, captain for the past 10 years, had warned us in his pre-race briefing that the forecast was for “18 knots plus”; it was now clear that the emphasis was on the “plus”. The race crew, most having sailed together for about eight years, showed how well practised they were, not least during this crucial spinnaker drop.

And why was I on board? At the regatta a year earlier, I had met Marcus and said I had been project manager on Seven Seas’ restoration at Southampton Yacht Services a quarter of a century before. When I asked if I could come for a sail, he couldn’t have been more welcoming.

Seven Seas was designed by Clinton Crane and built by Henry Nevins in New York in 1935. Her 1990s restoration began in Spain, but part way through the Portuguese owner decided she should be trucked to Southampton for the work. She arrived in October 1992 as a bare, empty hull, with braces across from one sheer to another to retain her shape, and everything we added to her from that point – the deck, interior, machinery and the rig – was completely new. There are two aspects of the restoration I particularly remember – the difficulty of getting her to rate as a 12-M again and a Classic Boat front cover.