“A Completely Free Hand with the Design.”
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ROB ROY the famous 1956 Arthur Robb centerboard Yawl is For Sale
People who know the name Arthur Robb might assume that he was British, as this was the country where he rose to prominence.
But Robb was born in 1908 on this side of the world, at Hawkes Bay on the north island of New Zealand. He came from a farming and sailing background and gained considerable local fame as a helmsman. As a junior he had a good deal of talent as a designer and builder of small yachts and dinghies. The family may have been living in Auckland as Robb is claimed by a primary school in Devonport on the North Shore.
Robb chose to go to Great Britain in the early 1930’s to study boatbuilding and naval architecture. After doing odd-jobs, he became yard manager at Morris and Lorimers Boatbuilders at Sandbank, Argyll, Scotland. Robb continued sailing on 6 and 8 metre class yachts while entering design competitions around the world. He was encouraged to make a living as a yacht designer by Herbert Stone, Editor of Yachting (USA) after Stone saw one of Robb’s designs submitted for their competitions.
At the outbreak of the war in 1939, Robb joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. The adaptable Robb worked in both the Admiralty and Air Ministry collaborating with the very inventive dinghy designer Uffa Fox to develop an airborne lifeboat. Brilliant English scientists, academics and eccentrics often underpinned military inventions. Think of the engineer Barnes Wallis’ dam busting skipping bomb and the mathematician Alan Turing breaking the German Enigma cipher code.
Trained pilots and air crew were an extremely valuable resource. The idea was to drop a rescue craft by parachute to a downed aircraft crew who would not survive in the cold North Sea. The craft had to be big enough to carry a US bomber crew of 10 persons and shaped to fit under the fuselage of various aircraft. It needed to be lightweight yet incredibly strong to survive deployment of the parachutes and a water impact, then be self-righting, unsinkable and operable by an inexperienced crew. Uffa Fox with other RAF officers, including Robb designed the first ABL in 1942. It was built from double skin mahogany with waterproofed fabric in-between. To ensure the craft was not pushed back to an occupied coast by wind and tides, a pair of 2-stroke Vincent motorcycle engines was fitted together with a set of sails and a beginner’s guide to sailing (printed on waterproof paper). The ABL could hold course long enough to be picked up by a fast RAF rescue launch.
After the war Robb started practice in central London as a Yacht Architect & Marine Consultant. He worked with his wife Susan who handled contracts with prospective yacht owners and negotiations with suppliers of materials and equipment for the yachts.
Following the success of the famous Lion Class (think SIANDRA) Robb was contacted by August Boorstein, an experienced US east coast yachtsman to draw a yacht, giving him “a completely free hand in design” excepting the 56ft LOA, and that she must have a centre-board.
The Yard of Herbert Woods, started in the 1920’s on the Norfolk Broads, was chosen to construct Robb’s masterpiece, with the frames to be made from Canadian Rock Elm and the planks to be Honduras mahogany.
Herbert Woods’ yard in the 1950’s
As Melbourne celebrated the Olympics in late 1956, and Beryl and Miles Smeeton headed off from the Yarra River on their epic journey around Cape Horn, the finished vessel quietly slipped into the water near Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk Broads.
This was the start of a successful and storied racing career which continues nearly seventy years later.
Celebrated in 50s and 60s Miami-Nassau, Newport-Bermuda races vs FINISTERRE and others.
Famous for the celebrated “match races” against STORMY WEATHER in the 1980s.
Perennial contender in her class in Antigua Race Week from the 1980s until 2003.
Ex flag ship of the KnickerbockerYacht Club (NYC) and the Coral Bay Yacht Club (St. John, VI).
Transatlantic passage to the Azores and Ireland 2005.
Extensive cruising throughout Europe, the Baltic, the Mediterranean and Aegean 2005 to 2018.
Cruising and racing in West Mediterranean since 2018
Racing in Spain and France since 2022Vela Classica Estartit 2022/2023/2024.
Les Voiles de St Tropez 2023.
Since 2018, her current owner has carried out a continuous maintenance and renovation program handled by marine professionals. This includes a complete overhaul of the hull in 2023, the installation of a new engine, new sails and a new mainmast in 2020. It is rare that a yacht this condition also is so true to her origninal design. ROB ROY is entered in both Puig Vela Classica in Barcelona, September 2024, and Les Voiles de St Tropez 2024.
ROB ROY is the embodiment of the overused moniker “cruiser/racer” offering both sailing performances and comfort at sea for a crew of six, even for eight to ten for the duration of a regatta.
She is currently lying on the French Mediterranean Coast. She has been Imported into Europe, registered in Holland and VAT has been paid. She is for sale at 230,000 Euros.
For more information contact Yves Capelle or visit www.listings.classicyachtinfo.com/listing/rob-roy
