William Fife III 43 ft Gaff Cutter 1906/2002 - Sold

With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that some of William Fife III's best designs were those built speculatively as ‘stock boats’; perhaps because they were purely what he thought was right, with no outside influence from a commissioning owner or the requirement to fit a rating rule. EVA is one of these yachts. Her sweet, ‘Britannia Ideal’, moderate displacement lines that make her such a delight to sail are simply what Fife, the master, believed an early 1900s racer/ cruiser should be, and perhaps what the coming International Rule boats could have been like. Professionally maintained since restoration in 2002, in recent seasons EVA has been a winner in the Mediterranean, most recently of the Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez Rolex Trophy 2020 and 2021. She is very ready for more of the same.

2021
- Mast un-stepped
- All mast fittings and cables checked
- 4 x Coats of varnish on mast
- New jib stay
- New dolphin striker
- New main sheet
- New engine alternator
- New exhaust elbow
- New battery cables

2020
- New engine gearbox
- New shaft seal
- Propeller full service
- New purchases

2019
- New thru-hull fittings

2018
- New Raymarine wind and depth instruments
- Engine full service
- New engine mounts

2017
- Deck re-caulked with Sika

2014
- New standing rigging
- New Darglow folding propeller
- Topsides refinishing

2001-2002
Purchased as VALDORA by Juan Carlos Eguiagaray Pages, she was rebuilt in 2001-2002 at Astilleros Mediterraneo (Malaga), Astilleros Belliure (Denia) and Astilleros Belliure (Calpe), Spain, under the project management of Don Juan Belliure with master carpenter Rafael "Elcano", and re-launched under her original name, EVA. External collaboration was from:
- Duncan Walker, Farlie Restorations
- Moray McPhail, Classic Marine
- Davey & Co
- Bruno Barbara
- Christian Terraux, Dryade
- Ron Robinson Compass Adjusters
- Diego Cuenca and Jean Paul Jaquemin, Hood Espana
- Jual Belliure, Marina de Denia, Denia, Overseer
- Vicente Belliure, Puerto Luis Campomanes, Altea
- Jeremy Freeland, Collars
- Christophe Tonerre, Voilerie Tonerre

2020
- Winner of the Rolex Trophy, Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez
2018
- 1st Les Voiles d’Antibes
- 1st Porquerolles Classic
2016
- 1st AFYT Trophy

William Fife & Son Yard No. 505

EVA may have been designed to very loosely fit 2nd Linear Rating Rule in force in the UK at the time of her design in 1904, and she has similar dimensions to a “First Rule” International 8-Metre from the year after her launch. But we are now of the opinion that the sweet, “Britannia Ideal”, moderate displacement lines that make her such a delight to sail are simply what the master, William Fife III, believed an early 1900s racer/ cruiser should be – and perhaps what the coming International Rule boats should be like.

EVA is the third yacht built from Fife’s initial design. The first were CARMEN (design No. 489) and NINIA (No. 498), both built by Christian Jensen in Norway in 1902. In 1903, satisfied with the design, Fife put the finishing touches to it, reducing the ballast by one ton and increasing the flotation length from 27 ft 7 in to 28 ft 6 in. In the hope of a buyer coming forward, Fife speculatively started construction in 1904. In 1905, Glasgow coal merchant and stockbroker Francis Glen MacAndrew of Knock Castle, Largs - very near the shipyard - took ownership of EVA and she was launched in 1906, starting her life in regattas on the Clyde under the burgee of the Royal Northern Yacht Club.

She was sold just before MacAndrews's death in 1908 to highly successful Glasgow meat wholesaler and local politician Roderick Scott who in the years leading to the first world war, together with his wife Caroline (a sometime Glasgow chandler, and yacht owner in her own right), was building quite a fleet of characterful Clyde-based yachts, including the 1868 Inman of Lymington schooner AYACANORA.

Then, in 1913, renamed VALORA she began a long and happy ownership by Paisley lithographer Robert Graham whose yachting base and summer house was at the Firth of Clyde resort of Kirn, near to the Royal Clyde Yacht Club at Hunter’s Quay. In 1931 a 2-cylinder Kelvin patrol auxiliary motor was fitted - her first engine - and in 1934 she was converted to Bermudan rig. Quite the creature of habit, Graham also kept his 1904 Robertson of Sandbank sloop ELRHUNA - which he’d owned since new - until the second world war. But VALORA was sold in 1938 to neighbour and fellow Royal Clyde Yacht Club member Peter Simpson. ELRHUNA is also still going strong, presently owned by a well-known classic yacht skipper.

Subsequent owners during 66 years in her “home” waters of the Firth of Clyde and beyond were:

c1946-1948
Ronald L. Jay of Hyndland, Glasgow, who may have moored her at Largs.

1948-1958
Robert and J. Dunlop Urie, of Milgavie and Glasgow who moored VALORA at the Royal Northern Yacht Club, Rhu, with Dunlop Urie - a wartime RAF Spitfire pilot - becoming Commodore in the 1970s. She was re-engined in 1950 with a large, 4-cylinder Kelvin petrol motor.

1958-1968
Mr and Mrs Barney J Sandeman, Rhu, members of the Royal Northern Yacht Club. Sandeman family lore has it that she, unsurprisingly in our opinion, gave the famous Clyde International 8-Metre Cruiser Racers a run for their money.

1969-1971
Commanders A J H Goodwin and V M Lake, Rhu/ Helensburgh, both members of the Royal Northern Yacht Club.

1972-1975
Mr C P Van der Walt and Mr P J Hendrikse, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire later joined by L. Botha of Pretoria, South Africa.

Between 1975 (when Lloyd’s Register of Yachts curiously showed her home port as Durban, South Africa) and 1977 there is fuzzy period in her history.

1977-1992
Mr and Mrs Wallace Wade, Germany, residents of the Port of Santa Maria, Cadiz.

1993-1997
Sr Don Anastasio Perez, resident of Cadiz, continued with the name VALORA.

1998- 2001
Sr Don Jose Sanches Abril, resident of Malaga, acquired VALORA in a sorry state, with the intention of returning it to its original condition. He transferred it to the shipyard of Don Juan Francisco Sanches Alcaraz, ASTILLEROS MEDITERRANEO, Malaga. Another project, the BARBARA, a Camper Nicholson from 1923 more suited to his needs for family cruising, forced him to put VALORA on the market again.

2001-2013
Juan Carlos Eguiagaray Pages bought VALORA, being assured of the services of Sr. Don Juan Belliure as director of the project, contracts Astilleros Mediterraneo to carry out the restoration work. With Juan Sanchez Alcaraz heading the team in the shipyard, he carried out this task alongside master carpenter Rafael “Elcano”. She was re-launched in 2002 re-named EVA.

2013 to today
Present ownership

©2023 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

- Carvel mahogany with outer diagonal mahogany veneer
- Laminated frames
- Stainless steel floors and chainplates
- Raw teak laid deck on plywood substrate
- Mahogany deck beams
- Lead Keel; bronze keelbolts
- Mahogany interior joinery

SUMMARY
- Cutter rig with a single main mast, top mast and bowsprit
- Rigging; main gaff sail, topsail, forestay, jib and top jib
- EVA has two arrangements:
- one extra strong and heavy, from season 2003
- a new one made in 2004 by Collars
- Jib stay 2021
- Remaining standing rigging 2014
- All bronze fittings:by Dryade, Davey & Co., and Classic Marine

SPARS
- Oregon pine mast
- Oregon pine top mast
- Spruce hollow top mast; Collars (2004)
- Oregon pine boom
- Spruce hollow boom; Collars (2004)
- Oregon pine bowsprit
- New dolphin striker (2021)
- Spruce hollow bowsprit; Collars (2004)
- Oregon pine gaff
- Spruce hollow gaff; Collars (2004)
- Oregon pine forestay boom
- Oregon pine jackyard optimsed for Zaoli small topsail
- Set spruce hollow jackyard and jenny Collars (2004)
- New spreaders (2014)

RUNNING RIGGING
- Dryade blocks

SAILS
3 x Arrangements: for strong, medium and light winds, all in good conditions
All sails by Fabrice Hudelot, Incedence Voiles Méditerranée
- Main sail (2016)
- Yankee (2016)
- Yankee No.1 (2021)
- Yankee No. 2 (2021)
- Racing staysail (2019)
- Delivery staysail (2017)
- Jib (2018)
- Top jib (2018)
- Big topsail (2016)
- Medium topsail (2017)
- Small topsail (2017)
- Asymmetric Spinnaker big A1 (2014)
- Asymmetric spinnaker heavy A2 (2015)
- Asymmetric spinnaker reacher A3 (2019)

COVERS
- 1 x Bowsprit cover
- 1 x Mainsail cover
- 1 x All round covering board
- 1 x Hatch
- 1 x Skylights
- 1 x Cockpit tent
- 1 x Canopy
- 1 x Deck tent
- Collection of other covers

MECHANICAL
- Yanmar 3YM30 freshwater cooled Diesel (2012)
- New gearbox (2020)
- Flexibly mounted backwards; v-drive to shaft
- New shaft seal (2020)
- Darglow folding propeller (2014)

ELECTRICAL
- 12 Volt DC system
- 1 x Domestic battery (2017)
- 1 x Engine start battery (2017)
- 220V shore supply with 30mA RCCB

TANKAGE
- Stainless steel 70 L diesel fuel tank in bilge

- Radio
- VHF
- Raymarine wind and depth instruments (2018)
- Compass
- Girocompas (2020)

- 1 x Electric pump
- 1 x Engine driven pump
- 1 x Manual pump

- Sink with electric water pump (not installed)
- Taylor cooking stove (not installed)

Sailing
- James Robinson Taylor
On board
- Patricia Lascabanes