Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

Eve away together - Classic Boat magazine Jan 2006

Rookie skipper (on Eve of St Mawes, at least) Diggory Rose describes how it feels to command a charter classic.

After a long enough career in sail training and skippering two large traditional boats – Duet for the Circidan Sailing Trust and, more recently Provident for Trinity Sailing – a rare and usual opportunity came my way to skipper a commercial charter bout for a change. But not just any charter boat…. which is how I came to be standing on the quay at St Mawes, Cornwall, bag in hand on a glorious Sunday morning, about to take command of Eve of St Mawes.

Built ultra-traditionally over three years Eve was the first achievement of Luke Powell of Working sail, and owes her pedigree to the late-Victorian pilot cutters of the Scillies. A hard-working boat paying her keep, she is quite simply a boat built a century and a half late. Seaworthy to a fault and gorgeous to look at she is the quintessence of traditional boatbuilding, carried through in detail; there is no epoxy or lamination nor, and most impressively any plywood, even in her interior.
For Adam and Debbie Purser, who run Classic Sailing. It was love at first sight. Their aim was to combine their experience of Tall Ship and sail training, and offer thoroughbred sailing on an intimate scale. A cosy yet curiously spacious boat for her size Eve’s reputation was always founded on quality; quality build, quality food, quality sailing and quality good times!

I first came across her in Brest 2000. Hooked, I did what I’d never done before: I booked to sail as a guest. I sailed in Eve to the Scillies with Debbie as skipper and, I will admit, the sailing qualities of the stout little pilot cutter astounded me. Perhaps it was love for me too.

So when Adam and Debbie were looking to increase the workforce to three, I was interested. Classic Sailing has expanded not by buying more boats, but by offering their distinctive personal approach as marketing agents to fill berths for other boats – Tall ships Stavros S Niarchos  and Prince William; Bessie Ellen, the west country trading ketch operated by Nikki Alford; Annabelle J, Phil Cogdell’s steel pilot cutter and, next year, Ezra, the latest product of working sail. Debbie and Adam wanted to carry on skippering, but also needed to balance it with time in the office. Hence my new job; part skipper of Eve of St Mawes, part office junior and part refit and maintenance worker.
That was how I found myself ready to take Sarah, Charlotte and Matt, our trio of Day Skipper candidates, and Sarah (other Sarah) and Caroline – two Competent Crew – for a week’s sailing. Debbie was along to show me the ropes and where the important items of equipment were kept (corkscrew, wine glasses etc) and most importantly, to offer advice and guidelines as to the Classic Sailing way.
No.8 – a replica pilot cutter punt, a gem in her own right – takes us to the mooring. Our guests start their traditional sailing experience by rowing her, gig-style, across St Mawes harbour. The forecast being favourable, we elect to keep her with us – she needs to be towed behind, but it gives us a vicarious pleasure watching her follow gamely in our wake. After a thorough safety brief – this is Day Skipper after all – we set sail for Falmouth.
Initial impression if Eve is that she handles like a much larger boat. Coming from Provident she looks tiny but as I realised early on, her personality is big. Sail handling is best achieved with a combination of sweat and tail, but nothing is so large as to be unwieldy. All the traditional techniques are applied and soon the team work is moving smoothly. “Two, Six, Eve” is irresistible and everyone joins in with gusto. Coming to anchor under sail, she is well managed and predictable, a good environment for refining skills.
Our Day Skippers are impressed but will they be able to do the same? Initially nervous, the soon realise that Eve’s handling allows them to pull off everything the text book says they should. She is sure-footed but not overbearing, fast without being flighty, and the sense of achievement of those on board deepens by the hour. She tacks positively and stays as well as… well a cutter! Downwind she is more demanding but as sail trim is so crucial to helm balance, this serves to raise everybody’s game. Soon the crew are working together running backstays on and off and calling the trim like old pro’s; I love it and so does Eve. As instructor, pride in my candidates and my new command grow in parallel.
After a couple of days the guys have it down pat allowing me to concentrate on another, more challenging, aspect of the job: cooking. Classic Sailing are not the boil-in-the-bag food philistines of some RYA courses. Meals are freshly prepared with local produce. Debbie shows me her recipes and I get into the swing of it, adding some of my own. Enjoying food is part of the job, as I discovered at my interview.
Day three, and Deb goes home “to give you some room” and there we are flying solo at last, as it were. What a day! Sarah’s task is a windward passage to the Helford but, with all the worry of her command, I’m not sure how much pleasure she gets. The rest of us are having a ball. Free of the tender, eve charges upwind at 6 knots, as joyous as us. The Competent Crews grin. It looks like this in brochure and here we are!
By the time Adam joins on Thursday for his share of the handover we’ve got it wrapped. The last day is spent reaching back and forth across the Carrick Roads, one watch pitting their new sail-trimming skills against the other to see who can send her the fastest – 6.4 knots appears on the clock to cheers all round. We head into Falmouth for a final dinner ashore, the temptations of the Spanish restaurant proving too much to bear.
The satisfaction on everyone’s face is telling; Eve has made us look good and we know we have made her look good. Add to that the realisation that we’ve done no more than four hours motoring all week and the smiles get broader.
And the Day Skippers? All passed with colours flying maybe just a little higher for having gained their knowledge on a ‘proper’ boat.