Normandy to Sorrento
Laurent Giles-Not your average Salty Dog
Earlier this week I dropped into the Wooden Boat Shop in Sorrento to return a cray pot that we had borrowed for our summer trip to Tasmania. As usual I couldn’t resist the offer of a whirlwind tour of the boat yard…. Tim Phillips, walking fast and talking faster, showed me the two Deal Island 50s being built side by side. YEULBA is still there under cover, patiently waiting for a saviour, the yard is beginning to fill up with Couta boats for the winter, the new shed with mast height roof is nearing completion and as we walk past PISCES, the unrestored Cray Boat, she tugs at my heart strings. If there is a busier wooden boat yard in Australia, then I’m yet to visit it…
But as I stood in the new machine shop and glanced out the window, I saw an unassuming little boat that without doubt had been drawn by the inimitable Laurent Giles.
It’s always hard to find the language that relates a specific aesthetic of a vessel to the name of its creator. Words like “elegant”, “utilitarian” or even “curvaceous” don’t really help. I can usually guess that a boat has been designed by Lyle Hess, Wally Ward or John Alden, but I would find it hard to put into words how I know this thing. Our boat FAIR WINDS designed by Philip Rhodes is often mistaken for an S&S, and that’s hardly surprising given that they were contemporaries working in the exact same corner of America using the same materials and with clients wanting similar outcomes. But having casually studied the shapes of many of Rhodes boats, I feel I can confidently pick one out from a bunch of S&S hulls…I just can’t tell you why. Much as the wine aficionado might know that he is tasting a Mornington Peninsular Pinot, it might takes the judgement of a sommelier to say which particular vineyard it came from.
So back to the unmistakeable Giles outside the shed in Sorrento. Perhaps because of recent stories in SWS, there seemed to be something intrinsically VERTUE-like in this craft, but it was obviously a little bigger. Giles’ designs are perhaps a little more ubiquitous in Australia than many of us realise. In addition to the famous Vertues, there are a few of the British built Westerly range, and at the glamour end, boats like shipwright Ferdi and Wendy Darley’s glorious RUTHEAN. And perhaps the most utilitarian of all, the SALAR 40 motor sailor built in both timber and glass, and by all reports a better sailor than you might imagine.
WAYFARER II- a Salar 40 previously covered in SWS
A little research shows that the boat in Tim’s yard is one of the Normandy Class, a development of the Vertue which Giles had designed 20 years previously. He saw a demand for a slightly larger yacht but with many of the same characteristics. According to the Laurent Giles archives, between 24 and 29 Normandy’s were built in the '50s & '60s. At 28’9” in length, with a beam of 8’6” and 6” draft, she’s a perfect size for a restoration which Tim believes could be undertaken with effort in less than a year. Not too big to make the project overwhelming, but big enough to end up with a boat that could sail ANYWHERE in the world!
And here’s an interesting snippet of information. There is a suggestion that this boat might have been built by the renowned Port Cygnet boat craftsman Athol Walters. Back in France there is an organisation compiling an international record of Normandy Design boats…. And they have this mysterious comment in their listings
“SULA” 1957 'Tasmania' is all we know !
Perhaps the boat in Sorrento is “SULA” ….. a Giles designed, Walters built British/Tasmanian gem!
Tim is happy to talk with anybody interested in taking on this project and would be willing to provide extremely reasonably priced hard stand fees and support during any restoration.
If you’re interested contact Tim to talk it though