PHILIP RHODES 48 FT BERMUDAN CUTTER 1930/2018 - Sold

SKAL, second only to DORADE in the 1931 Transat Race never received the accolades conferred upon the winner. In so many ways however SKAL was the remarkable contender - considering that she was the smallest among the fleet of ten, had an old fashioned gaff rig, and a poor handicap rating. Racing apart - and she has won some over the years - she is a versatile and comfortable yacht; well rigged and equipped for cruising, and has proved to be a dry boat whatever the weather. Enjoying a substantial restoration, and re conversion to a lighter and more manageable bermudan rig, SKAL is now a finely tuned sailing yacht with a beautifully enhanced interior fit-out offering generous accommodation with modern systems sympathetically installed.

Restoration began in 2006 and took four years at Hubert Stagnol’s yard in Brittany, France. All involved strived to stay close to the original plans and top quality materials have been used throughout the restoration.

SKAL was initially built as gaff cutter but under Commander Heppel’s long ownership was bermudan rigged for almost 40 years; vide the historic picture. The heavy gaff rig mast and boom moreover hindered the boat’s racing abilities and manoeuvrability. The most significant work undertaken therefore has been to bring her back to the Marconi rig and from study by Stagnol, the mast and boom have been replaced with lighter spars of first class Oregon pine.

The interior furthermore has been reshaped to host visitors in three separate cabins with washing etc facilities. To achieve this and more the entire electrical infrastructure, pipes, water and fuel components have been redesigned and replaced.

In 2018 the boat was sold and taken to Greece, where the current owner continued the restoration and refit which was completed in Q3 of 2021.

All stainless steel parts have been re-designed, built and painted in ivory. The entire rigging is brand new following specifications of the plan from Stagnol. External paint is from International Coatings and all brightwork is Epifanes. All through-hull fittings have been cleaned. New boarding and swim ladders have been made. All hatches have been renovated. The entire electronic equipment systems have been replaced by band new ones along with new batteries and battery charger. All sails are brand new.

SKAL was ordered by two well-known yachtsmen for the 1930 Bermuda Race in which she came a respectable 11th out of 42 starters, weathering some very bad conditions which had forced many of the fleet to retire. They also found her to be a comfortable cruising yacht as described in Richard Henderson’s 1981 book, “Philip Rhodes and his Yacht Designs”, ‘A dry boat with little water on deck, excellent sea-keeping capability and a comfortable motion.’ Her design shows a long keel but cut-away forward to reduce wetted surface and a full brandy-glass shaped midships section, which with her generous beam contributes to her to standing up so well to her canvas. The remarkably flat buttock lines explain why they found her making little quarter wave, thereby reducing drag. She has the classic Rhodes sweet unexaggerated sheer line and freeboard - and with relatively short ends is a compact boat with nothing excessive about her.

Richard F Lawrence bought her for the 1931 Transat, the second smallest yacht in the fleet. The race was famously won by the Olin Stephens yawl DORADE and while she has traded on this win ever since, SKAL has been largely forgotten despite coming second in the 20 day race with a crew of 8, at one stage covering 823 miles in 4 days. While DORADE took a more northerly course from the start, SKAL stayed with the fleet to the south, only cutting up to the north and crossing DORADE’s track on the approach to Ireland before turning south east a little late to approach Land’s End, thus losing valuable time to DORADE. Approaching Plymouth SKAL encountered near gale force winds and rain squalls but stood on still carrying her topsail and overtaking both a steamer and a steam trawler!

She remained in UK after the race and little is known of her history in that period save that she was believed to have laid up in Cowes until bought there by a young naval officer, George Hepple in 1947. The original rig is said to have been destroyed by fire in a wartime bombing raid and subsequently replaced with that of a Bermudian sloop. Commander Heppel sailed her as a family yacht out of the Helford River until his death in 1986 when she was again laid up.
In 2003 she was sold to a French owner and sailed over to Brittany for the major refit she now required. As work progressed it became apparent that the original structure had become very tired and only an extensive rebuild would return her to her original strength and capability.

The work was carried out by Hubert Stagnol in his Benodet boatyard 2006 – 2010. In 2007 she took time out to win the Belle Plaisance Race out of Benodet, finishing ahead of the great PEN DUICK, another famous yacht owned by the late Eric Taberley. SKAL took part in the 2015 Voiles de St Tropez regatta, once more encountering DORADE.

In 2018 was sold to her current Greek owner and was taken to Athens for the restoration – including the rig change to be completed.

- Hull 40 mm planking mainly long leaf yellow pine
- More than 90% of the structure rebuilt between 2007 and 2009
- Iroko garboards
- Copper and bronze fastenings
- Oregon pine 50 mm x 12 mm deck planking finished 2017 and cleaned 2021
- Coach roof rebuilt to original design with varnished mahogany coamings
- All port lights bronze
- Cast iron ballast keel stainless steel bolted 4 tonnes
- New rudder and hangings 2007

From aft
- Varnished teak capping rail over bulwarks
- Bronze fairleads each side
- Bronze ensign staff mounting
- Teak laid deck
- Boom crutch
- Bronze main sheet horse, ash and bronze blocks, tackle and cleats
- Varnished teak raised lazarette hatch
- Oak Sampson posts with bronze pins each side
- Bronze Lewmar winches on deck each side; mooring and or main sheet
- Raised varnished teak cockpit coaming
- Bronze and teak ships wheel offset to stbd in varnished teak mounting case
- Original Reid pattern worm drive steering gear
- Self draining cockpit with teak laid seating each side and raised teak slats in well
- Wide bridge deck and radiused coamings
- Bronze stanchions in deck sockets, rails and gates each side towards fore deck
- Bronze mountings and winches on deck each side for running backstay
- Raised teak sided coach
- Bronze ports; one each side facing aft and five each side of cabin
- Varnished teak sliding hatch on centreline, teak handles each side on coach roof
- Butterfly hatch skylight
- Bronze vent cowl to stbd on coach roof
- Life raft stowed on coach roof
- Main mast with 2 spreaders and fittings
- 2 x Anderson 40 two speed halyard winches on mast
- Bronze vent cowl to port
- Varnished teak hatch with bronze port light for’ard on coach roof
- Teak handles each side
- 2 x Bronze port lights in for’ard coach elevation
- Raised teak hatch with bronze ports on fore deck
- Bronze vent cowl
- Bowsprit in bitts
- Forestay
- Bronze fairleads in caprail
- Electric anchor windlass
- 2 x Anchors and chain

Summary
- Three cabin berth areas; two aft with wash basins and one forward with head and hot/cold water shower
- Large main saloon interior space

Main cabin area
- Access from aft via sliding hatch and varnished teak 5 steps over engine compartment
- Teak boarded cabin sole
- General interior in oak, teak and mahogany construction
- Varnished doors opening to aft each side to double quarter berths
- Each quarter berth with wash basin in locker at head and step up to berth
- Mattresses laid over berth frames
- Hanging cupboard on port side forward – also containing main switch board circuits
- Vertical hand rails forward at entrance to main cabin

Galley to starboard
- Sink and bronze period water pump against aft bulkhead
- 4 Burner gas hob and oven set in teak furniture
- Fridge freezer
- Lockers outboard above and to cabin sole
- Lighting over

Navigation station to port
- Chart table with drawers under
- Nav instruments and radio outboard
- Main switchboard on aft bulkhead
- Brass barometer high on aft bulkhead
- Half bulkhead and pillar to main saloon

Saloon
- Butterfly hatch skylight on centreline
- Brass “Owners” plate aft and bronze clinometer on fore skylight bulkhead
- The bronze opening ports to coach roof sides
- Brass period hanging lamp by mast forward
- U shaped settee upholstered berth to port
- Varnished mahogany drop leaf dining table with fiddles offset to port
- Lockers and bookshelf outboard under deck head
- 2 seater settee to stbd
- Bookshelf and lamp out board
- Locker to sole forward and small locker outboard
- Open door to fore cabin area secures against half bulkhead

Fore cabin area
- Head compartment with WC via offset angled doorway to port
- Wash basin to starboard
- 2 x Single upholstered vee berths
- Lockers and shelve outboard each side
- Bulkhead reading lights on aft bulkhead each side

Spars and Rig
- First class Oregon pine mast and boom
- Spruce spars
- All standing rigging and associated fittings stainless steel and bronze
- Other fittings in bronze (sails and runways, mast and boom

Sails by Quantum Sails to the dimensions in Stagnol’s drawings
- Cross-cut mainsail standard 3 reefs
- Cross-cut jib medium weather furling
- Cross-cut jib heavy weather furling
- Cross-cut Topsail light weather hanked
- Dyneema halyards with custom ends 10 mm -12 mm x 247 m
- Dyneema sheets / reefing lines 10 mm - 12 mm x 210 m
- Facnor LS 200 roller furling
- Facnor LS 165 roller furling

Canvas
- Winter covers
- Sunbrella mainsail cover
- External cushions (can be removed)

- Yanmar 100 overhauled 2021
- All filters renewed in 2021
- Max prop propeller refitted for higher performance in 2021
- All new internal cables in mast
- 3 x 170 Ah Domestic batteries new in 2021
- 2 x 170 Ah Engine batteries new in 2021
- 1 x Anchor windlass battery
- Battery stowage forward under fore berths
- Dolphin external charger
- 1 x 12V 80 A alternator:
- Battery charger new in 2021
- 1 x 50 litre day fuel tank
- 2 x Fuel tanks; 110 litres each
- 2 x Fresh water tanks; total capacity 390 litre
- Gray water tank
- Hot water boiler for shower, galley, fridge, pressurized water
- Sea water pump

- General Raymarine nav / com / radar equipment setup
- All depth sound, wind instruments are new
- Axiom 9 screen that can be fit on a wooden plank in cockpit while sailing
- Internal and external waterproof USB chargers.
- Ray 53 VHF
- RG58 VHF antenna with 30 m cable
- I70S Display
- Stng backbone cable 400 mm x 9 m, spur cable 5 m, 5 way connector, resistor, T piece
- Navionics chart
- Axiom 9+ MFD
- Quantum Radome radar with 25 m cable
- Quantum mast mount base
- ITC-5 Converter
- Smart transducer
- Wind transducer with 30 m cable
- AIS 700 transceiver

- Fully equipped for open sea navigation
- Manual and electric bilge pumps
- 6 life vests
- Fire extinguishers
- Inflatable dinghy

- Varnished teak and stainless steel boarding ladder
- Varnished teak and stainless steel swimming ladder
- Sunbrella covers for winter.
- Many wooden blocks
- Interior decoration
- Books
- Cooking items, dishes, utensils
- External waterproof cushions
- Hundreds of meters of ropes, warps
- Sheets for beds