SHEPHERD’S DELIGHT

It was becoming increasingly apparent that we were on a collision course. We, on Amokura, were on port tack and the 8-Metre cruiser racer Altricia was on starboard, and somehow the sight of her gleaming varnished topsides heightened concerns. When it seemed certain to me that it was too late to do so, Amokura’s owner and skipper, Paul Moxon, called for sheets to be eased so that he could bear away behind her. But the wind was light and with everything happening in slow motion, Amokura responded quickly enough to the turn of the wheel. Paul had judged it perfectly and we continued on our way racing in glorious sunshine among a fleet of 192 boats taking part in Falmouth Classics.

was designed by Fred Shepherd and built in 1939 by AH Moody and Sons at Swanwick, with pitch pine planking on grown oak frames (with steamed intermediates) and an elm backbone. She had been commissioned by Major (later Sir) Ernest Harston, whose brief was for “a sea-kindly family cruiser that would be fun to sail at weekends”. In a review from May 1939, she was described as having a “fine turn of speed when sailing, and a most satisfactory performance under power”, and was predicted to be “a dangerous competitor in ocean racing was one of the first casualties and retired into Swanage Bay having been “in trouble at an early stage in the race”, according to . Only three boats made it as far as Dinard. was, however, subsequently thought to have been one of the first boats to undertake a post-war cruise to the Channel Islands and France.