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Maurice Griffiths G.M. A.R.I.N.A.

Eventide, Storm, Waterwitch, Riptide, Noontide, Gulfstream, Golden Hind, 31, 37 and 26 and all those in between! Bay Class yachts, Kylix, Lone Gull I and II, Athaena, Barcarole, Hacathian, Bawley, Cockler, Good Hope, Barrier Reef, Tidewater and many more.

At the last count the plans numbered over 140 designs. Sadly many of his earlier designs were lost in WW II 'due to enemy action'. However, speaking to Maurice he stated he was not too concerned about most of them, as they were not his best!

He is best remembered for his work in the field of shoal draft boats, bilge keelers and centre boarders. He studied the boats of the shoal waters of Americas east coast and spent a lifetime trying to perfect them. I think he made a good job of it, don't you?

Alan H. Buchanan

Mr. Buchanan lives in retirement in Jersey. Though he started his life in the design rooms of Shorts flying Boats in Rochester Kent, during WWII he too spent a lifetime developing designs, but more on the lines of the cruiser racer, with deeper long keels. Many of his designs are classics in their own right, and are sailed competitively still. We hope to add more of his designs to the gallery. The plucky little SeaFarer 18, the East Anglian, the Halcyon 23 and 27, the Neptune M/Sailer, the Nantucket Clippers and the Queen class boats. We have yet to find many examples of these on our pages, but there are thousands out there!

February 2015.

We have just been informed that Alan has passed away in Jersey, aged 92.

Read his obituary in the Jersey post here.

Kenneth Gibbs

Mr Gibbs ran a boatyard on the upper Thames, at Twickenham, from where he not only designed the Junior and Senior, but also built them and a few Eventides to boot. Sadly he is no longer with us. In his latter years he shunned contact with the outside world, especially the boating one, a shame. The rare picture on the left was taken in the 1950's during a test sail of a Senior with Y.M staff, Miss K. M. Palmer. (Some may have read of MG speaking very highly of her.)

Colin Faggetter

Colin Faggetter served as a Merchant Officer, mostly in the far East. Achieving rank of Second Officer. He was a navigation officer with B&I lines and P&O. When he left the navy he began a career as a boat builder, a shipwright, working at Fox's, Ipswich. Apart from his own designs he has built many other craft, including the Eventide. He designed the Goosander 23 and 27. He is now in retirement in Suffolk. His sailed his own 27 ft Goosander extensively in the UK and the Mediterranean. He recently sold it. He has a large folio of designs, from small pram dinghies to round bilge cruiser racers. The latest the Fulmar a 35ft cruiser racer. He has built almost every one of his designs as a model, some radio controlled! He did allow us to sell his plans at cost, (plus a simple royalty of £10 per set of drawings, see comment below.) on CD, see the Y.M. designs page for more. March 2006. Sadly December 2010 I have to report I have heard from Sheila his wife. Colin passed away early September this year. Since his death his widow has agreed to sell for the same low price as all our other drawings and to make a small donation to the RNLI when we sell a few.

John Rowland

Picture to follow.

(can anyone help with one?)

John designed the Mouette, based on the concept of 'Eric the Red' a dory design that successfully crossed the Atlantic. Built from the floorboards and pews of a church, it was adopted by Yachting Monthly and John refined the boat, and though it looks impressive from a distance, it has not proved that popular once you realise there is only sitting headroom, in a 27footer! This is why there are not many about! John Rowland died many years ago. I did have contact with a couple of his relatives for some years, but have heard nothing for 10 years or more.

I'm pleased to be able to add more information from a series of mails from Ray Hyde in the States.

My father had one of these boats, and our family sailed her for many years. Your description of her characteristics is accurate: tender at first, but once she puts her shoulder down, that's it.

I had the pleasure of Meeting the designer John Rowland when he was quite elderly. Apparently he was one of the last people in the US carrying freight under sail. He worked an old schooner right up into the late 1950's.

He tells the story of coming up Long Island sound in a snowstorm with a crew from Barbados. The crew refused to work in the snow, and he had to single-hand the boat into New Haven.

He was quite elderly when I met him, which was in the 70's. We spent a wonderful afternoon with him, and he told marvellous tales, which I still remember. When he was running his schooner, he had to pinch every penny. He told how he sailed her up a river and anchored up stream of his destination. Then, in order to get to the dock without a tug, he hoisted the anchor to short stays so it would bounce along the bottom, put the wheel hard over and laid her against the quay: no sails, no engine.

He said his original idea was to make an economical cruiser that anyone could afford, but he got overrun by the advent of plastic.

He wrote a book about his travels on the Passat, which I believe was one of the last of the grain racers to Australia, and may have been sister to the Parma. I'm sure there are pictures in the book.

Ray Hyde

from Dec 04

Contact us at enquiries@eventides.org.uk

		Maurice Griffiths G.M. A.R.I.N.A. Eventide, Storm, Waterwitch, Riptide, Noontide, Gulfstream, Golden Hind, 31, 37 and 26 and all those in between! Bay Class yachts, Kylix, Lone Gull I and II, Athaena, Barcarole, Hacathian, Bawley, Cockler, Good Hope, Barrier Reef, Tidewater and many more. At the last count the plans numbered over 140 designs. Sadly many of his earlier designs were lost in WW II 'due to enemy action'. However, speaking to Maurice he stated he was not too concerned about most of them, as they were not his best! He is best remembered for his work in the field of shoal draft boats, bilge keelers and centre boarders. He studied the boats of the shoal waters of Americas east coast and spent a lifetime trying to perfect them. I think he made a good job of it, don't you?
		Alan H. Buchanan

		Mr. Buchanan lives in retirement in Jersey. Though he started his life in the design rooms of Shorts flying Boats in Rochester Kent, during WWII he too spent a lifetime developing designs, but more on the lines of the cruiser racer, with deeper long keels. Many of his designs are classics in their own right, and are sailed competitively still. We hope to add more of his designs to the gallery. The plucky little SeaFarer 18, the East Anglian, the Halcyon 23 and 27, the Neptune M/Sailer, the Nantucket Clippers and the Queen class boats. We have yet to find many examples of these on our pages, but there are thousands out there! February 2015. We have just been informed that Alan has passed away in Jersey, aged 92. Read his obituary in the Jersey post here.

		Kenneth Gibbs

		Mr Gibbs ran a boatyard on the upper Thames, at Twickenham, from where he not only designed the Junior and Senior, but also built them and a few Eventides to boot. Sadly he is no longer with us. In his latter years he shunned contact with the outside world, especially the boating one, a shame. The rare picture on the left was taken in the 1950's during a test sail of a Senior with Y.M staff, Miss K. M. Palmer. (Some may have read of MG speaking very highly of her.)

		Colin Faggetter

		Colin Faggetter served as a Merchant Officer, mostly in the far East. Achieving rank of Second Officer. He was a navigation officer with B&I lines and P&O. When he left the navy he began a career as a boat builder, a shipwright, working at Fox's, Ipswich. Apart from his own designs he has built many other craft, including the Eventide. He designed the Goosander 23 and 27. He is now in retirement in Suffolk. His sailed his own 27 ft Goosander extensively in the UK and the Mediterranean. He recently sold it. He has a large folio of designs, from small pram dinghies to round bilge cruiser racers. The latest the Fulmar a 35ft cruiser racer. He has built almost every one of his designs as a model, some radio controlled! He did allow us to sell his plans at cost, (plus a simple royalty of £10 per set of drawings, see comment below.) on CD, see the Y.M. designs page for more. March 2006. Sadly December 2010 I have to report I have heard from Sheila his wife. Colin passed away early September this year. Since his death his widow has agreed to sell for the same low price as all our other drawings and to make a small donation to the RNLI when we sell a few.

		John Rowland

	Picture to follow. (can anyone help with one?)	John designed the Mouette, based on the concept of 'Eric the Red' a dory design that successfully crossed the Atlantic. Built from the floorboards and pews of a church, it was adopted by Yachting Monthly and John refined the boat, and though it looks impressive from a distance, it has not proved that popular once you realise there is only sitting headroom, in a 27footer! This is why there are not many about! John Rowland died many years ago. I did have contact with a couple of his relatives for some years, but have heard nothing for 10 years or more. I'm pleased to be able to add more information from a series of mails from Ray Hyde in the States. My father had one of these boats, and our family sailed her for many years. Your description of her characteristics is accurate: tender at first, but once she puts her shoulder down, that's it. I had the pleasure of Meeting the designer John Rowland when he was quite elderly. Apparently he was one of the last people in the US carrying freight under sail. He worked an old schooner right up into the late 1950's. He tells the story of coming up Long Island sound in a snowstorm with a crew from Barbados. The crew refused to work in the snow, and he had to single-hand the boat into New Haven. He was quite elderly when I met him, which was in the 70's. We spent a wonderful afternoon with him, and he told marvellous tales, which I still remember. When he was running his schooner, he had to pinch every penny. He told how he sailed her up a river and anchored up stream of his destination. Then, in order to get to the dock without a tug, he hoisted the anchor to short stays so it would bounce along the bottom, put the wheel hard over and laid her against the quay: no sails, no engine. He said his original idea was to make an economical cruiser that anyone could afford, but he got overrun by the advent of plastic. He wrote a book about his travels on the Passat, which I believe was one of the last of the grain racers to Australia, and may have been sister to the Parma. I'm sure there are pictures in the book. Ray Hyde

from Dec 04		Contact us at enquiries@eventides.org.uk