What is an old yacht worth? Deciding such matters is Simon Winter’s bread and butter
Simon Winter tells a good story about hanging head first over the windward side of a fishing smack, banging along in a head sea, trying to squirt ‘gunk’ into a tiny seam in the hull that was threatening to sink the boat on the other tack. “We made it home, let’s put it that way,” he recalls with a laugh.
Tales of derring-do on working boats don’t quite fit with the stereotypical image of an insurance broker, but Winter was toddling around on smacks before he can remember and his family have owned working boats all his life – the smacks Rosa & Ada (1908), Unity of Lynn (1906 and on the National Register of Historic Vessels) and Maria (1886) and Bristol Channel pilot cutters Cornubia (1911) and Mascotte (1904 and also on the National Register of Historic Vessels).
His father left school to work on the Thames sailing barges in the last days of trading under sail, and ended up becoming chairman of Medway Ports. Winter Jnr went to the highly academic Canterbury school, before university and a stint in the City as an investment banker. He was running the yacht account for an insurance broker, thinking he’d found the best way of combining a passion with work (‘and to date I haven’t tired of it – that’s the danger!’), when family reasons persuaded him to move south west in 2006. He set up as Simon Winter Marine, specialising in classic boats (75% of his business is classic), and today insures most of the working boat fleet along with many classic yachts around the world, from 21ft canoe yawls to 100ft Fifes.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Need For Speed
Saving lives at sea has always been bound to the speed of rescue, from the first rowing boats to the 60-knot, all-weather motorboats of today
ROW YOUR BOAT
There has been a steady rise in recreational rowing over the past few years, and the choice can be bewildering. What’s the right boat for you?
Traditional Tool
JOINER’S NAME STAMP
Classic misuse of a word
Real classic ownership involves rot, rust and reward
SCUD MISSILE
Herreshoff’s newly-restored Bar Harbor 31 Scud lit up the classic racing scene in the Med in 2020 with a double win at Cannes and Saint-Tropez
BOSUN'S BAG
PRACTICAL TIPS FOR THE TRADITIONAL BOATER
DOUG LEEN - Tugboat man
Vietnam vet, park ranger, dentist, small-craft conservator and tugboat skipper.... meet Ranger Doug!
CHANCE TO SAVE AN Albert Strange yawl
Chances at Albert Strange ownership don’t come up often, and Sheila II is the quintessential Strange – and one with a great history, too
AFFORDABLE CLASSIC Salcombe Yawls
A friend and I once decided that walking might make a change from sailing. So we set forth to walk from Branscombe to Bigbury, a 100-mile stretch of the south-west coastal path marked by knackering climbs and knee-wrenching descents.
Cardiff, Wales - Save The Elena Maria Barbara!
A rare, 18th-century schooner replica, restored to the tune of around £1 million, could be abandoned if a buyer is not found soon.
