WORK AND PLEASURE
Yachting World|July 2021
PELLEW IS THE LARGEST FALMOUTH PILOT CUTTER LAUNCHED IN BRITAIN FOR MORE THAN 150 YEARS, BUT REPRESENTS SOMETHING EVEN GREATER, AS JAMES STEWART DISCOVERS
JAMES STEWART
WORK AND PLEASURE

The upper reaches of the River Truro are not an obvious source of sailing innovation. No foiling cats fly over its shallows as at nearby Carrick Roads. The high-tech superyachts of Falmouth’s Pendennis yard are unlikely to appear anytime soon. Yet it’s here, among light-industrial units and auto-mechanics playing Radio 2, between a metal scrapyard and gas storage tanks, that one of the most interesting recent launches in British sailing has emerged.

In February 2020 the 68ft hull of the Pellew was lowered into the river from the Rhoda Mary Shipyard. When I visit a year on from that momentous day – the culmination of over four years’ work and goodness knows how many more planning – the frame of a similar 19th-century cutter stands on the hard mid-restoration.

“She’ll cost her owner a million quid to restore,” Luke Powell says. “But there’s no logic to wooden boats. Building one is just cavalier and mad, a romantic idea that it’s something worth doing.”

Grasp that and you’re halfway to understanding why Powell built Pellew, the largest Falmouth pilot cutter launched in Britain for more than 150 years. With 2020 lost, she begins her maiden charter season this summer.

Perhaps only Powell would have had the nerve for such a project. Through his company Working Sail, managed by his wife Joanna, he has not only designed and built eight Scilly pilot cutters since 1993, but has also helped rehabilitate a genre of sea kindly working craft that had been left to rot following the arrival of glass fiber. His largest previous cutter was Agnes, a pretty 46-footer currently sailing charters.

WORKHORSES OF THE SEAS

Esta historia es de la edición July 2021 de Yachting World.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición July 2021 de Yachting World.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE YACHTING WORLDVer todo
SPECIAL REPORT EXTENDED CRUISING IN THE BALTIC
Yachting World

SPECIAL REPORT EXTENDED CRUISING IN THE BALTIC

Sweden offers cruisers a warm welcome for winter - Janneke Kuysters has advice on how to boost your sailing time in the region

time-read
6 minutos  |
December 2024
NIKKI HENDERSON
Yachting World

NIKKI HENDERSON

SEARCHING FOR MORE SPEED? BEFORE TINKERING WITH TINY ADJUSTMENTS, MAKE SURE YOU'VE GOT THE BASICS RIGHT THE POWER DRIVING THE BOAT

time-read
3 minutos  |
December 2024
MATTHEW SHEAHAN
Yachting World

MATTHEW SHEAHAN

WHAT WILL THE BOATS OF THE 38TH AMERICA'S CUP LOOK LIKE? THAT'S THE $20 MILLION QUESTION IF BRITAIN OR NEW ZEALAND DECIDE TO DEPART FROM THE AC75

time-read
3 minutos  |
December 2024
Italy win first Women's Cup
Yachting World

Italy win first Women's Cup

The first ever Women's America's Cup was won by Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli after a single, twoboat shoot-out final on 12 October.

time-read
2 minutos  |
December 2024
LIVING HISTORY
Yachting World

LIVING HISTORY

THE ICONIC SEASON-CLOSING REGATTA LES VOILES DE SAINT TROPEZ WAS AN IMMERSIVE HISTORY LESSON FOR CROSBIE LORIMER

time-read
8 minutos  |
December 2024
Irish skipper wins Figaro
Yachting World

Irish skipper wins Figaro

Irish solo skipper Tom Dolan took a historic victory in this year's La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, winning the solo multistage offshore race overall only the third non-French competitor ever to do so.

time-read
2 minutos  |
November 2024
Youth AC puts on a show
Yachting World

Youth AC puts on a show

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's team won the UniCredit Youth America's Cup after a highly absorbing series comprising 12 international teams racing the one-design AC40s off Barcelona.

time-read
2 minutos  |
November 2024
UNCONTROLLED
Yachting World

UNCONTROLLED

HELPLESSLY APPROACHING AN UNINHABITED ISLAND IN THE GALAPAGOS WITHOUT ENGINE OR ELECTRONICS, JON VAN TAMELEN FEARED BEING IMMINENTLY SHIPWRECKED

time-read
8 minutos  |
November 2024
LAND OF THE BIRDS
Yachting World

LAND OF THE BIRDS

SKIP NOVAK DESCRIBES THE PERILS, CHALLENGES AND JOYS OF A CRITICAL EXPEDITION VOAYGE TO SURVEY SOUTH GEORGIA'S ENDANGERED WANDERING ALBATROSS

time-read
9 minutos  |
November 2024
FIRST STEPS TO BLUEWATER
Yachting World

FIRST STEPS TO BLUEWATER

YOU CAN GET INTO WORLD CRUISING FROM A STANDING START AND EXPERIENCE THINGS NO OTHER TRAVELLERS DO. CATHERINE LAWSON AND DAVID BRISTOW TALK TO FOUR COUPLES WHO PROVE IT

time-read
8 minutos  |
November 2024