William Fife III 34 ft Bermudan Sloop 1952/2008 - Sold

NYACHILWA is the second in a series of beautifully proportioned 34-footers to William Fife III’s last design, tracing their drawn-out canoe stern lineage from the 72 ft ocean racer yawl LATIFA and the 52-footer EVENLODE. The build of the first 34-footer, NYATONGA, commenced just before the Second World War (during which Fife passed away naturally), and was completed by members of his workforce after it. This exact sister, NYACHILWA, followed in 1952, wooing a select group of owners both sides of the Atlantic for almost seventy years, and enjoying a thorough 2005-2008 restoration by one of the master shipwrights of our times, Simon Grillet. NYACHILWA represents a rare chance to own and enjoy a Fife of this size.

2005-2008
RESTORATION BY SIMON GRILLET, FAVERSHAM, KENT
- Following the original construction methods very faithfully
- c 35% of the mahogany hull planking replaced
- c 30% of the frames and timbers replaced in oak
- All-new plank fastenings in copper and bronze
- Plank seams splined above the waterline and caulked below
- Stem replaced in laminated iroko
- Custom Colin Frake replacement rudder stock and tube in massive bronze installed
- New quarter sawn teak laid deck screwed directly to the deck beams
- Cockpit sub-structure and sole replaced
- New mahogany and teak galley

- William Fife & Son Design No. 830
- The Fairle Yacht Slip Ltd Yard No. 836

When long time Fife clients the Parker family of Fairlie and Little Cumbrae formed The Fairlie Yacht Slip Ltd to purchase the William Fife & Son premises after the Second World War - to prevent it becoming a furniture factory, Fife III having passed away in 1944 - the yard came with a boat in frame needing finished. Exquisite, of course; the last design - no. 830 - by ‘the master’, William Fife Junior (III).

Colin A.S. Parker funded completion, and the very pretty 34 ft sloop was completed by Fife’s workers under the direction of Archie Macmillan, a Fife employee since 1911, latterly as a draughtsman. Launched in 1951 as NYATONGA, such a pretty yacht of such provenance - and ideally sized for a post-war world - was bound to garner attention. Father and son, Lt-Col Geordie and Captain Peter Mackie-Campbell of Monkton, Ayrshire (formerly of Stonefield Castle, Tarbert, Argyll) commissioned an identical sister and she was launched in the spring of 1952 as NYACHILWA.

Archie Macmillan and The Fairlie Yacht Slip would continue to build these 34-footers as sloops and yawls until 1973, but apart from the same ‘aye sweet’ hull, their coachroof configurations became taller. So only NYATONGA and NYACHILWA are holistically faithful to William Fife's original design which can trace its beautifully drawn-out canoe stern lineage from the 72 ft ocean racer yawl LATIFA (no. 818, 1936) via Cowes sailmaker Tom Ratsey's 52-ft sloop EVENLODE (no. 823, 1937).

The Mackie-Campbells raced and cruised NYACHILWA on the Firth of Clyde until Lt-Col Geordie Campbell's death in 1956 when ownership transferred to J.L. Shaw of Otley, Yorkshire, quickly followed by Norman and Elizabeth McKinnon Manclark of Haddington, east of Edinburgh. The 1959 edition of Lloyd's Register of Yachts records NYACHILWA as "Sold US" - emulating NYATONGA's mid-1950s move there - and after that, NYACHILWA's US ownership history is harder to trace.

By the 1980s she was owned by Kevin Sullivan of New Jersey and moored in the Hamptons. Although NYACHILWA and NYATONGA may never have met up on the US East Coast, their 1980s and 90s owners (the Sullivans, and Marne Hickmann of NYATONGA) did at Mystic Seaport Museum’s 1989 Fife Rendezvous, attended by NYATONGA, another Fairlie Yacht Slip build to a Fife design MADRIGAL II, and the 1925 Henry B.Nevins of City Island New York-built Fife designed R-Class boat SCURRY (ex FIFI).

Purchased by her present owners in 2005, NYACHILWA was shipped back to the UK and received a major restoration by Simon Grillet at Iron Wharf, Faversham, Kent. From 2008 she has been enjoyed as a family cruiser-racer, taking part in local regattas, and regular participation in the British Classic Yacht Classic Regatta, Cowes.

©2022 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

- Carvel Mahogany planking on rock elm/oak timbers
- c 35% planking and c 30% frames & timbers new at 2005-2008 rebuild
- Copper and bronze fastened (2005-2008)
- Seams are splined above the waterline and caulked below
- Mahogany wood keel and sternpost
- Laminated iroko stem (2007)
- Oak rudder
- Rudder stock and tube in massive bronze, custom built by Colin Frake
- Deck quarter sawn raw laid teak direct on deck beams (2008)
- Mahogany trunk cabin and other deck carpentry

- Custom bronze mainsheet horse
- Tiller steering with bronze & lignum vitae handle. Custom fitting for tillerpilot
- Chromed Clyde cleats
- Varnished mahogany cockpit
- 2 x Gibb CR6 genoa winches
- Spare pair of identical winches in need of re-chroming
- Varnished mahogany coach roof sides; painted roof
- 10kg Fortress anchor, 60 metres calibrated 3/8th chain
- Spare anchor, chain and warp

- Varnished mahogany coach roof believed to be substantially original
- Oak hanging knees which were probably fitted in the USA.
- Interior is mahogany and largely original, although the mahogany and teak galley is new.
- Headroom below hatch 6 ft 3 in reducing to 5 ft 10 inches forward
- Deck head painted cream, revealing beaded underside of teak deck planks
- 1 x Quarter berth starboard
- 2 x Settee berths, cream vinyl covered, shelves above and lockers outboard of seat backs
- Drawers below settee berths and quarter berth
- Hanging locker forward
- Sideboards and lockers forward
- Dickinson Newport charcoal heating stove
- Electric lighting
- Galley in mahogany and teak with stowage for crockery
- Stainless steel sink and foot pump for cold fresh water
- Two burner Origo alcohol cooking stove
- Sliding varnished mahogany door access to fore cabin
- Head with manual Lavac sea toilet
- Stowage for sails and lines

RIG
- 5/8th fractional rig
- Sail area 505 sq ft (100% fore triangle)
- Original hollow spruce mast, completely stripped and re varnished 2009
- Rig removed and re-varnished every 2 years
- Internal mast wiring for nav lights and VHF antenna
- Hollow spruce boom
- Mainsheet blocks by Colin Frake
- Hollow spruce spinnaker pole (2018)
- All stainless steel standing and running rigging new 2008
- Dacron halyards
- Sailspar roller reefing to the forestay,
- Dyneema running backstays (new 2018) to bronze Highfield levers

SAILS
- Dacron loose-footed main (2019 Sanders Sails)
- Dacron genoa (2019 Sanders Sails)
- Both above hand-finished and leathered
- Dacron cruising headsail (2014)
- Spinnaker (2015 Wilkinson Sails)
- Storm jib (2009 Dolphin Sails)
- Spare mainsail

CANVASWORK
- Bespoke tailored canvas winter cover
- Tailored Cockpit and coachroof cover
- Sun awning

MECHANICAL
- Betamarine BD722 20 hp Diesel – 400 hours
- TMC 40 gearbox
- Stainless steel shaft
- Stuffing box

ELECTRICAL
- 40 A Alternator
- 2 x 90 Ah Lead acid batteries in custom enclosure
- Custom brass electrical panel

TANKAGE
- 55 litre stainless steel fuel tank
- 50 litre stainless steel water tank (2012)

NAVIGATION
- Steering compass
- Tack tick depth/speed instrument on removable washboard
- Portable opening chart table; fits over quarter berth or galley

COMMUNICATIONS
- Standard Horizon fixed VHF

- Manual bilge pump
- Electric bilge pump with float switch
- 3 x Gas auto lifejackets with harness and strops
- Deck level navigation lights
- Masthead LED Lopolight tricolour / all round white

- Warps; fenders