From time to time on British roads – more so in summer – you see a recent classic, like an Austin Allegro or Ford Cortina doing precisely 70mph in the middle lane. Piloting it will usually be a youngish man for whom the car is a modest entry to the world of classics, but just occasionally, the driver will be older and you know without having to ask that he bought the car new in the 1970s or 1980s and owns every receipt ever spent on it. Even in the automotive world it’s rare. In the world of sailing yachts, it’s unheard of.
In 2022 Classic Boat, our sister title ran the story of the 47ft (14.3m) ketch , the last yacht designed by James McGruer of the prolific Scottish family yard that designed and built so many yachts, but who became best known for racer/cruisers, including the ‘cruiser eights’. ’s launch in 1968 was perilously close to the end of the wooden boatbuilding