Specification
C-Class
Sail Number: 28
Designed By:
Built By: Terry Major and Paul Williams
Hull Material: C Flex
Owner/Skipper: Philip Slater
Former Owners: Paul Williams, Paul Ferris
Former Names:
Hull Colours: Mid Blue, Black, White
Topsail Colours: Light Blue
Length (ft): 24’11”
Approx year: 1980
History
The dredger-man, Terry Major needed a boat to replace the ‘Royal Oak’. He had always admired the ‘Serica’, a famous and fast boat built by Peter Ferris when he was in Looe. After discussion with Paul Williams who owned “Serica’, Paul and Ralph Bird took the lines off ‘Serica’ in 1976. The lines for the new boat were discussed. ‘Serica’ was inclined to squat a little when running hard, in fact she took a lot of water over her stern once and nearly sank. Ralph modified the lines of the run for the new boat, by making them a little fuller. The keel was straightened with slightly less draft and a straight sloping forefoot to stop the boat griping when dredging. Construction was started by Terry Major and David Pearce on the western foreshore at the head of Pill creek in a shed on the exact location where the ‘Florence’ was built.
She was constructed upside down over moulds, in C-Flex glass-fibre. The hull remained thus for three years until Terry decided that he did not need to dredge under sail. (He was a very proficient Haul-Tow dredger on the upper Carrick Roads and the River Fal.) The hull was moved the Paul Williams’ farm buildings and in the late 80s, David Pearce, his wife Jo and her father Paul Williams, rolled her upright and fitted her out. Steve Ferris made the horse, and the pins came from the rod rigging of a wrecked yacht. She is ballasted with jacks from Wheal Jane, glassed in and covered in concrete. She was Christened ‘Lottie’ by Pam Williams and Jo Pearce in 1980 at her launch.
Her topsides were mid blue, with black antifouling and a white boot-topping. Length 24’11”, beam 8′ 2”, draft 4′ 9”. She was moored in Pill creek off the steps from Jo’s field where dinghy outhauls were sited. Her first mast was a ‘solid tree’ which broke! She was dredged by ‘Golly’ and David Pearce for a while. Her current mast came from the ‘Stella’ (Ray Frost). It is still sound, hollow above the deck. ‘Serica’ was old – built in 1912 – and she was rested increasingly .
Paul Williams initially raced ‘Lottie’, sensationally winning the Fowey harbour race in 1997 or 8. Paul Ferris had sailed with Paul Williams since childhood and started helming her in 1994, he bought her that year and he won the first Silver Oyster Race! He managed to get Paul W out racing again from 2000 to 2016. Paul Williams gave ‘Serica’ to Paul Ferris in 1996 and he passed away six months later. ‘Lottie’ was moored on the same mooring in Pill Creek and laid up there from her launch until the winter of 2018.
We bought her in October 2017 which enabled Paul to concentrate on restoring ‘Serica’. She was a delight to steer, stiff to the extent that we have never taken a wave aboard, a common experience in our old boat ‘Rebecca’. Paul is a sound traditionalist and I’m sure I grieved him by rigging her with effective backstays and changing the winches for more easily used modern ones. I returned the enormous bamboo topsail pole to him and replaced it with a shorter aluminium one. The mainsheet was changed so that it could be sheeted and cleated from both sides of the after coaming. The gaff was extended to make a jackyard unnecessary.
A light blue topsail, a big jib and a cut down staysail from ‘Rebecca’ completed the sail plan. Her old mainsail, though very flat, is very serviceable and is very good in fresh weather. In her first winter with us she was laid up in her traditional place on the foreshore at the top of Pill creek opposite to the place where she was built. Her mast was lifted out using Paul Williams’ wooden derrick, hidden in the woods on the headland to the west side of the creek entrance above a narrow gully allowing a boat to ease in bow first, controlled by a stern rope to a buoy and bow ropes. Serica’s mast was similarly lifted and both were covered up for the winter before revarnishing in the Spring. Unfortunately when lifting the ‘Serica’s mast in the next year the derrick broke and the butt of the mast punched a hole in Serica’s deck, just missing ‘Bailer’ Ferris who was on the deck to guide the mast home. The mast extracted, both boats had to go elsewhere for re-masting!
