Ready To Race

A classic wooden yawl might not seem the obvious choice for offshore racing, but nic compton finds this yacht up for it

- Nic Compton

There’s no shortage of stunning boats moored at Port Pendennis in Falmouth when I visit the marina in June, not least a couple of enormous, shiny superyachts being polished to death by their crews. But I haven’t come to see them. The boat I’ve come to see is tucked away at the far end of the outer jetty. With her glowing varnish, immaculately scrubbed decks and period fittings, Amokura looks every bit the timeless classic she is: a precious piece of maritime heritage to be nurtured and preserved and treated with the utmost respect and reverence. She’s a concours d’elegance winner; the lead boat in any parade of sail.

Yet, as she motored out of the marina towards the open waters of the Carrick Roads, Amokura wasn’t heading towards yet another classic boat festival, to compare baggywrinkle tying techniques with other aficionados. Far from it. This 80-year-old classic was off to Ireland to race, tack for tack and gybe for gybe, against a fleet of modern racing yachts in the 270-mile Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race. Not only that, but she was being sailed two-handed, by owner Paul Moxon and friend Steve Jones – not bad going for a 50ft wooden boat with no electric winches or other fancy gizmos.

And the D2D was just the qualifier en route to a bigger goal: this year’s Fastnet Race, in which Amokura was again competing in the two-handed division (sadly, she had to retire, facing a very windy forecast – see page 32). It’s an unlikely development for this old wooden boat with no previous history of racing (she entered the 1959 Fastnet, but also retired) and might be expected to be resting on her laurels, just happy to have survived so long. But her owner has clearly taken the old adage that ‘ships and sailors rot in port’ to heart and has ensured that both yacht and crew are race ready, regardless of age.