In the autumn of 2018, CARIBA made a successful return to racing in the 8th Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, and was a nominee in the following spring's Classic Boat magazine Awards in the Restored Sailing Vessels over 40ft (12.2m) category.In the autumn of 2018, CARIBA made a successful return to racing in the 8th Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, and was a nominee in the following spring's Classic Boat magazine Awards in the Restored Sailing Vessels over 40ft (12.2m) category. Both this return to the limelight and the award nomination were thoroughly deserved: CARIBA is a stunning example of Fred Shepherd's work - quite possibly one of his favourites - and her owner has faithfully honoured this while tastefully adding modern comforts in recent restorations and refits. Whether competing in the classic regattas with friends, or for stylish and comfortable family cruises, CARIBA is a classic all-rounder.
REFITS, MALLORCA - 4 x starboard side planks replaced in Birmani teak - All starboard side topsides refinish - 17 x oak frames replaced starboard side - New generator - New passarelle - New swim ladder - Deck brightwork stripped and re-varnished 10 x Awlbrite - Main & mizzen masts stripped and re-varnished 12 x Awlbrite - Cabin sole stripped and re-varnished 15 x Awlbrite - Re-upholstery of saloon settees - New sinks and taps at galley - Electrical system revision and new panelRESTORATION, MALLORCA Supervision by Michael Andersson Hidalgo - 27 x Oak frames replaced - 21 x Teak planks replaced - New lower stem - New engine - New electrical systems - Complete interior and exterior refinishing - Full rig refurbishment to pre-Second World War configuration
CARIBA may be said to have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, having had the good fortune to be built - to Lloyd's then top wood yacht classification, 18A1 - by one of the finest English yards of the Victorian and Edwardian period, J.G. Fay & Co., of Northam, Southampton - eventually Camper & Nicholsons' Southampton yard, and now better known as "Shamrock Quay". Landing on the cabin sole from her elegant, turned companionway stair is like alighting from a time machine. The quality of her mahogany panelled accommodation would be well-nigh impossible to replicate now without a mighty guilty conscience or access to a barn-find of old growth lumber. She was commissioned by 47-year-old London lawyer and Vice-Commodore of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Allan E. Messer, of Old Jewry Chamber and Belgravia a time-served yachtsman in smaller boats together with his more famous brother, the architect Arthur Albert Messer, who worked in both the UK and New York and Texas in the USA. In later life, through the 1920s and 30s Allan E. Messer would become part and then sole owner of the Fife 19-Metre MARIQUITA; her last owner as a yacht until her epic 1990s rescue and 2000s restoration. As designed and built - as CARIB - she was a gaff-rigged yawl, the only motive power being her suit of Ratsey & Lapthorn sails. She still sails today under Ratsey & Lapthorn cloth, but with the auxiliary benefit of a 291 hp Yanmar iron mainsail. After the First World War she moved to Denmark and became - as CARIBA - mothership to serial racing yacht (and Copenhagen department store Magasin du Nord - the Harrods of Scandinavia) - owner William Vetts ever changing collection of International 6-Metres. Vett won the first of his two 6mR Class Olympic Silver Medals at Le Havre in 1924. It nice to speculate that CARIBA was there and that it was from Le Havre that she moved to her new home port from 1925, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland - the yachting station of Dublin - under the ownership of Herbert Dudgeon, then Vice Commodore of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, and a member of just about every other Irish club. The European tour continued in 1927 with a move to Arcachon, Biscay France, under the new ownership of Bordeaux wine maker Bertie Seward. En-route from Denmark to France CARIBA seems to have had her first 4-cylinder Kelvin paraffin auxiliary motor fitted by Dickies of Bangor, North Wales. In 1929 CARIBA returned to UK under the ownership of Surrey stockbroker and Royal Thames and Royal London Yacht Clubs member Arthur Moy Jr who cruised and raced her out of Brightlingsea, Essex. In 1935 she was converted to Bermudan rig, possibly under the supervision of Charles E. Nicholson, and sailed until 1938 as a single-masted cutter. In 1938 she was captured restored to yawl configuration by Brightlingsea photographer Douglas Went at the start of that seasons RORC Helgoland race, her spinnaker pole at a decidedly jaunty angle - and this is the rig she has recently been restored to. After Second World War service, apparently as a minesweeper, CARIBA was owned briefly by Royal Thames YC member and chemical dyestuff entrepreneur Dr Herbert Levinstein, before moving back to the Continent from circa 1948 until 1975 under the ownership of two Portuguese families, with berths in Lisbon and Cascais.Eduardo Jos Abecassis 1952-c1955 Family of the late Eduardo Jos Abecassis cAntnio de HerdiaPhilip Abecassis (son of Eduardo) According to Philip Abecassis, his father, Eduardo, acquired CARIBA in the U.K. from a friend of Fred Shepherd presumably Levinstein. In the early 1950s Eduardo hired Jack Laurent Giles to redesign her rig for alteration by a local boatyard. Through the 1950s and 60s, she seems to have alternated between yawl and cutter rig, with Ratsey & Lapthorn continuing to make her sails. The revolution brought about CARIBAs departure from Portugal in the mid-1970s, and, later under Italian ownership, she became well-known in the Caribbean as the charter yacht SPIRIT OF CARIB. Since the mid-1980s, under two German ownerships, firstly as SPIRIT OF CARIB, and more recently returned to CARIBA, this striking yawl has been based in Mallorca, at Puerto Pollensa and Palma, and an occasional attendee at the Spanish classic regattas. Her recent restoration took place in Palma under the direction of her captain, Michael Andersson Hidalgo. 2023 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.
- Carvel teak planking on oak frames - Teak laid on plywood composite deck - Teak deck houses and other carpentry
From aft - All deck carpentry in teak - Teak laid on plywood composite deck - White painted teak bulwark - Varnished teak capping rail - Open taffrail - Bronze mooring fairleads port and starboard - Pasarelle and ensign staff sockets - Bronze A&R-type mooring fairleads port and starboard - Bronze fluted ventilators port and starboard - Main backstays stainless steel anchor point - Mizzen mast - Bronze Antal self-tailing mainsheet winches port and starboard - Teak steering gear box/ helm seat - Engine panel and shore power socket to port - Throttle control to starboard - Traditional teak ships wheel with outer wheel over spokes - Teak binnacle with Raymarine Axion plotter - Steering flat hatch with large fixed portlight - Traditional chromed bronze and rubber buffered mainsheet horse - Raised non-opening skylight over owners cabin - Bronze roped main boom gallows; ship's bell - Bronze Antal self-tailing main runner winches to port and starboard - Bronze grilled hatches port and starboard over owners cabin berths - Forward to doghouse/ companionway with double leaf doors and sliding hatch - Grabrails to port and starboard - Skylights to starboard of doghouse lighting via stained glass panels - Brass grills to windows - Half Dorade cowl to port of doghouse ventilating galley - Dorade box and bronze cowl engine space vent starboard forward of doghouse - Deck prisms port over galley and starboard over chart room and aft head - Long butterfly skylight over saloon - Teak sockets for teak deck table for 8 peopleLemon squeezer prisms over saloon to port and starboard - Foresail sheeting self-tailing bronze winches to port and starboard - Smaller butterfly skylight over guest cabin - Lemon squeezer prisms over guest cabin to port and starboard - Main mast - A&R-type bronze staysail sheeting cleats to port and starboard - Smaller butterfly skylight over forward heads - Raised shallow scuttle forehatch to crew accommodation and forepeak - Sliding hatch and washboard - Bronze A&R-type mooring fairleads port and starboard - Lofrans Titan TTV Electric windlass - 2 x horizontal chain gypsies - 1 x Vertical warping drum - Inner forestay anchor point/ come staysail club gooseneck - Bowsprit running central over stemhead through stainless steel gammon iron - Bronze cranse; stainless steel dolphin striker and whiskers - Stainless steel sheathed knight's heads - Stainless steel anchor chain channel offset to starboard of stemhead - Bruce 33kg bower anchor stowage - Bronze stem anchor chafe protection strip - Bronze mooring fairleads to port and starboard
ENTRY VIA DOGHOUSE - All accommodation carpentry in vintage mahogany - Sole boards teak and holly - Companionway stair offset to starboard - Stowage area to port - Stair turns to port leading to passage with galley to port PASSAGE/GALLEY - Work surface panel lifts off over hob - 3 x Burner ENO stove with oven underx Sink bowlsx Mixer tapx RefrigeratorsStowage below and outboard - Stained glazed door to bronze opening port light - 2 x Deckhead lights - 2 x Deck prisms AFT TO OWNERs CABIN - Double berth to starboard - Single berth and banquet to port - Sideboard with ceramic wash hand basin between berths aft - Mixer tap - Hanging locker starboard fwd - Port lights port and starboard - 2 x Deck head lights - 2 x Reading lights - 2 x Bronze vent hatches - En-suite shower/ wc compartment - Ceramic-tiled shower stall - Electric wc - 1 x Deckhead light FORWARD VIA GALLEY to CHART ROOM TO STARBOARD - Outboard facing chart table - Stowage to aft and under - Ships breaker and electrical switch panelsVHF radio - 1 x Deckhead light FORWARD TO SALOON - Stained glass locker to port - Sideboard and stained glass locker to starboard - Turned fiddles - Upholstered settees to port and starboard - Buttoned leather back rests - Gimballed drop-leaf table offset to starboard - Turned, fiddled shelves outboard - Hull panelling hinged to access to structure - Stained glass lockers to port and starboard forward - Ships clock and barometer - 4 x Reading lamps - 4 x Deckhead lights - 2 x Lemon squeezer deck prisms - 1 x Gimballed oil lamp with smoke shade DOOR FORWARD to GUEST CABIN OFFSET TO PORT - Single ships berths to port and starboard - Turned, fiddled shelves outboard - Hull panelling hinged to access to structure - Drawer stowage under - 2 x Deckhead lights - 2 x Lemon squeezer deck prisms - Sideboard aft to starboard; turned fiddled top surface - Hanging locker to starboard forward FORWARD TO ATHWARTSHIPS EN-SUITE SHOWER/ WC COMPARTMENT - Stainless inset sink to port - Lockers outboard and under - Electric wc to starboard - Locker outboard - Shower - Grating sole DOOR ACCESS FORWARD TO FOREPEAK/ CREW BERTHS - Double V-berth - Boatswains stores - Chain locker - Forehatch access
RIG - Bermudan ketch rig - All wood spars - 2 x spreaders and jumper strut Main Mast - 2 x Bronze Antal self-tailing halyard winches - 1 x Bronze Antal self-tailing reefing winch - 1 x Spreaders and strut Mizzen Mast - 1 x staysail club boom - New running rigging 2018 SAILS - By Ratsey & Lapthorn - Mainsail - Mizzen - Club staysail - Jib/ Yankee - Jib top CANVASWORK - Covers for mainsail, mizzen and boomed staysail - Mast boots - Taffrail protection
MECHANICAL Main Engine - Yanmar 6LY2M-WDT 291 hp DieselTwin discs gearbox RD5061 SC 3:Vacuum valve in doghouse Diesel generator - Yanmar/ Sole 7GSC.6 kW; 230 V/ 50 Hz/ 28.7 A - Consumption 75% 1.7 L / 0.45 Gal/ hour ELECTRICAL - New electric systemV sockets throughout - 12V USB sockets TANKAGE - Watermaker, output 150 L/ hourWater (potable) tanks capacity 450 LFuel capacity 300 L - All batteries new 2018
- Raymarine GPS Axion plotterICOM IC-M330 VHF radiox ICOM Buoyant IC-M5 handheld VHF radios (2018)
- EPIRBMini AIS Handheldx Person liferaftx Lifejackets (2018)
- Tender 2.9m with 9 hp engineBirmani teak grating pasarelleBirmani teak swim ladder (2021)
