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August 1929 - Her sleek bow swung up and sliced across the finish line to capture first place in the final race of the 1929 Lipton Cup Series. The 40 foot R Class yacht Lady Van, skippered by Jack Cribb, had just carved her way into the record books as the most significant racing yacht in Vancouver history. A 14 knot westerly that August afternoon made a perfect day for racing on Vancouver's English Bay. The day had been a long time coming for Vancouver sailors; the defeat of Seattle's Sir Tom ended a winning Seattle dynasty that had lasted 15 years. Lady Van was the seventh R - class design that the determined Canadians had taken into battle in their quest to top the skilled sailors from Seattle. Between 1914 and 1940, the Lipton Cup Races between Vancouver and Seattle were held in R Class sloops, essentially a 40 foot version of the majestic J Class yachts that sailed for the America's Cup during the same period. Lady Van was the epitome of sailing technology. To design their craft, the Canadians choose famed English designer Charles Nicholson, designer of the 130 foot J Class, Endeavor, arguably the fastest J Class of her time. The Vancouver sailors had some pretty definite ideas about what it would take to beat the Yanks. In their design brief to Nicholson they called for a lightish boat that could tack and accelerate quickly in light winds of summer and just to be on the safe side, they included all the data from Sir Tom. Nicholson delivered in spades. His design was sleek and carried a cloud of sail to boot. Lady Van was, as they say in the yacht club bar, a pencil - almost 40 ft long and barely over 7 feet wide. Her freeboard amidships was a scant 20 inches. No detail was overlooked; streamlined hollow spars, lightweight double planking, twin forestays, even a modern genoa jib was set on her towering Marconi rig. Lady Van was built on the north shore of Burrard Inlet at the Vancouver Drydock Company for a Vancouver syndicate lead by Tom Ramsay. Now after 69 years in Seattle, Lady Van is coming home. She was acquired in 2009 and is undergoing an extensive restoration in Sidney, BC. The Society is working to have the vessel ready by October 2010 to compete for the right to defend the Alexandra Cup for the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club against a challenge from the Seattle Yacht Club using The Center for Wooden Boats' R Class vessel Pirate. |
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Last modified: 04/15/10 |
