This yacht 'is in substantially original condition externally. Below decks she has been completely rebuilt, bulkheads and all, with a different layout, but in a similar style to the original.
This was necessitated by extensive repairs following damage in the October 1987 storm in the East of England.
The boat has had three owners in 70 years and has always been based on the River Deben.
The design was drawn up by Philip Allen following the lines of W A Robinson's Alden ketch "SVAAP", but with the addition of a counter and a gaff ketch rig. This design won second prize in a "Yachting Monthly" design competition. When Philip got married his in-laws offered to pay for the building of his design as a wedding present. Philip asked William Maxwell Blake to check the design, and this resulted in a number of changes, notably the alteration to cutter rig and the balancing of the hull lines according to rear-Admiral Turner's "metacentric shelf theory".
Philip Allen was the original editor of the RCC Atlantic Crossing Guide.
Solitary racing sucess - first in class, North Sea Race, 1956.
The boat is unusual in having had only three owners in seventy years and having been kept on the same river throughout that time'.

Information courtesy of Andrew Craig-Bennett

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