Page 51 - Yachter Spring/Summer 2021

course westwards for home.
A few years ago, I wrote a book on the
development of that smallest of sailing, ocean going, warships: the sloop of war. I was examining the period between 1650 and 1763. One of the examples in this book was a pretty little two mast warship launched in 1754 at Chatham: HM Sloop Wolf. More than a year ago, I happed upon a Polish paper
kit of this ship at 1:96 scale which could be built into a highly accurate model. However, I did not want to spend hours making something out of paper, so I used the kit and its superbly printed sheets as a template for
wooden parts. I had also painted a picture
of this ship for inclusion in the book using watercolours. During the first lockdown I dug the kit out and started work.The model is not complete, but even the hull lines give pleasure to the eye. It will take yet another lockdown, if not more, to get her completed.
During the lockdown work was interrupted by another ploy which involved no travel.A small organisation to which
I belong, The Society of Model Shipwrights, had a website that needed substantial improvement. Another member, a scientist and superb model maker, myself and a retired Army Officer, who happened to be an engineer, had an electronics degree and whose hobby was building web sites, teamed up to achieve this improvement.The work
was fascinating and involved indexing 20 years of articles, drawings and photographs, creating a gallery of 120 models and paintings and developing short, pithy texts about the Society (anyone interested should check out www.modelshipwrights.org and have a look round the display). So, it was thank-goodness for the internet and access to e-mails, Dropbox and Zoom. Life for a while was lived in front of the computer.
All in all, I shall remember the first lockdown with affection, as a time when
I enjoyed matters nautical without being
able to sail my yacht. But come the second lockdown in the Autumn, my sailing scene had changed. My old wooden yacht, a Holman 26, had gone to a good home at Treluggan, up the Lynher River in Cornwall, and I had teamed up with an international folkboat built in GRP and she was in her shed at the other side of the farmyard. So, began another refit of a rather different nature.This time it was back to the Airfix
Kit before assembly stage.The boat so far
has been undone and when all the surfaces inside and out have been fully prepped the long task of repainting and refitting will start. I have no doubt this will occupy the third lockdown and more! Provided we are clear of the pandemic in the coming Summer,
she will be moored near Gins Farm, about half a mile upstream from this point on the Beaulieu River. Roll on Summer in order to get back to this place.
Words and photos: Ian McLaughlan
FEATURE 51