HELENA ANNE is the charming, comfortable, and fast result of the father to son fusion of George McGruer moving his father James’s experience and ideas forward with youthful exuberance during the last years of the British wooden boatbuilding industry as we knew it.
HELENA ANNE is the charming, comfortable, and fast result of the father to son fusion of George McGruer moving his father James’s experience and ideas forward with youthful exuberance during the last years of the British wooden boatbuilding industry as we knew it. Beautifully built in the knowledge that (as MARGUERITA HELENA IV), she would be McGruers' 1970 London Boat Show exhibit (winner of ‘Boat of the Year’ there), she has subsequently remained out of the limelight while being doted on by only four owners, including, as REFLECTION, by the co-founder of Brookes & Gatehouse. In current ownership for over 20 years, HELENA ANNE has been continually used, maintained and upgraded as a cherished family cruiser-racer.
Brokers Comments
HELENA ANNE is the charming, comfortable, and fast result of the father to son fusion of George McGruer moving his father James’s experience and ideas forward with youthful exuberance during the last years of the British wooden boatbuilding industry as we knew it. Beautifully built in the knowledge that (as MARGUERITA HELENA IV), she would be McGruers' 1970 London Boat Show exhibit (winner of ‘Boat of the Year’ there), she has subsequently remained out of the limelight while being doted on by only four owners, including, as REFLECTION, by the co-founder of Brookes & Gatehouse. In current ownership for over 20 years, HELENA ANNE has been continually used, maintained and upgraded as a cherished family cruiser-racer.
Owner's Comments
As someone once said, "a thing of great beauty in a sea of plastic". Apart from the replacement deck, to the best of my knowledge, and definitely while in my ownership , the basic, hull, cabin, cockpit and internal joinery is all completely original. The hull is watertight with no leaks. This, to me, confirms the quality of the materials and craftsmanship for which McGruers are renowned. Some minor joinery has been added, ie cockpit seat, CD Player. HELENA ANNE has been updated over the years with the new engine, sails and rigging, Self tailing winches, autopilot, electronics and wiring. She does not require any work, except routine maintenance and will be ready to sail when launched.
Refits / Upgrades
2022
- Topsides re-finish
2021
- New standing rigging
2020
- Sheet winches re-chromed
2017
- New engine installation
- Steering overhaul
2016
- New upholstery
- New navigation electronics
2014
- New windlass
2010
- New Furlex foresail furler
2008
- Bronze keelbolts drawn, checked, refastened
2001
- Re-wired
2000
- New Z-Spars boom
Mid 1990s
- Replacement composite deck
- Laid teak screwed to epoxy coated marine plywood substrate
History
MCGRUER & CO. DESIGN NO. 627
Nurturing client loyalty was a key element in the success of the Scottish yachtbuilders McGruer & Co. through the 20th Century. Many owners returned with commissions for their second and even third yachts, designed in-house: from the 1930s into the late 1960s mostly by James McGruer; then, after the 1968 launching of his last masterpiece yawl, RINAMARA, James became Chairman and passed the draughting curves to his son, George, who added more than a few of his own. The 55 ft ketch CUILAUN (design no. 626) and this seductive and beautifully built fin-and-skeg 38 ft 6 in sloop, launched as MARGUERITA HELENA IV (design no. 627), were George McGruer’s debut Clynder-built boats. Some debut.
MARGUERITA HELENA IV's owner, Chelmsford airscrew designer and aircraft de-icing systems manufacturer Thomas E. Godden, was a repeat client whose previous MARGUERITA HELENA III (launched in 1961, better known now as FRENESI) was the second in a line of fine McGruer cruiser-racer 43 ft yawls, with SULE SKERRY (1958), WESTWARD OF CLYNDER (1960) and COIGACH (1963) as her sisters.
Most Scottish yard launchings were springtime, but MARGUERITA HELENA IV - built under Lloyd’s supervision and accorded their highest 100A1 Classification - was completed in December 1969; in time to be trucked to the January 1970 Earl’s Court London International Boat Show where she was awarded “Boat of the Year”, as her older sister had been at the 1961 show.
At Earl’s Court, MARGUERITA HELENA IV’s matched and splined khaya mahogany topsides planking had been shown-off varnished, and this is how she was launched for the 1970 season, but it is believed that they have been painted since early in her life as this was Godden's preference. The original sails were by Ratsey & Lapthorn, and the low in the saloon sole-mounted auxiliary motor was a lightweight 2-cylinder 22 hp Arona diesel; a water-cooled version of the Italian Lombardini engine then only available air-cooled.
Her low wetted surface split keel and skeg-hung rudder underbody may hint at what might have become of the International 8-Metre Cruiser Racer Class then still popular on the Firth of Clyde, but MARGUERITA HELENA IV wasn’t designed to any particular rating rule, though intended to rate well in occasional races under RORC and IOR. She's undoubtedly slippery, with the weight kept out of the ends; one imagines she could rate very nicely under the RORC's present day IRC Rule.
Godden kept MARGUERITA HELENA IV for less than four seasons and then apparently retired from yacht ownership. From early in the 1973 season her owner became co-founder of Lymington-based electronic navigation aids pioneers Brookes & Gatehouse, Major Richard Gatehouse; becoming his second REFLECTION, replacing a 35 ft Arthur Robb Lion Class sloop of the same name. Inevitably she was a B&G test bed, but interestingly for a company so associated with yacht racing, Gatehouse seems to have been a committed cruiser rather than a racer; a member of the Royal Cruising Club as well as his home club, Royal Lymington. Richard Gatehouse passed away in 1982 and late the following year REFLECTION returned to the land of her birth with new owner John Wallace of Findhorn on the Moray Firth.
This charming yacht returned to England's south coast in 1999 in current ownership as HELENA ANNE. She enjoys the careful maintenance and upgrading regime applied by all her past owners - and many admiring glances.
©2021 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd
Construction
- Built to Lloyd's 100A1 Class (kept in class by owners
- Teak below waterline planking
- Splined mahogany topsides planking, copper fastened
- Substantial beam shelf
- Additional clamp chain plates
- Lead ballast keel
- Bronze keelbolts (drawn, checked, refastened 2008)
- Teak trunk cabin uprights and other deck carpentry
- Marine plywood coachroof, fibreglass sheathed and painted
Deck Equipment and Ground Tackle
GENERAL
- Teak laid deck
- Varnished king plank; covering boards; rail
- Lewmar stainless steel stanchions
FROM AFT
AFT DECK
- 2 x Chromed mooring fairleads on taffrail
- 2 x Associated chromed and teak bar mooring cleats
- Chromed mushroom vent
DEEP SELF_DRAINING COCKPIT
- All teak/ teak faced marine plywood
- Teak grating sole
- Emergency tiller point in sole
- Angled uncapped coamings
- Lewmar mainsheet traveller at aft coaming
- Harken mainsheet jamcleat block
- Block and cleat for headsail furling line
Chromed Lewmar self-tailing winches on blocks outboard
- 2 x ST40
- 2 x ST50
- Helm seats aft
- Access to lazarette and shore power socket under
- Whitlock white painted steering pedestal
- Sestrel steering compass binnacle
- Fold down cockpit table
- Raymarine repeater
- 'Hamble style' ship's wheel
- Whale manual bilge pump
- Cockpit seats port and starboard
- Very deep lockers under
- Gas bottle locker to starboard
- Stowage for Avon inflatable tender and tools to port
SIDE DECKS
- Lewmar headsail track and cars port and starboard at rail
- Chromed spring mooring line cleats port and starboard
- Teak chocks to starboard for pole stowage
COACHROOF
- Teak uprights; painted fibreglass-sheathed roof
- 3 x Windows port and starboard
- 2 x Opening ports port and starboard
- Varnished teak handrails port and starboard
- 2 x Stainless steel 'Ventilite' ventilators
- Cabin heater flue (2 x removable chimneys)
- Sliding companionway hatch in garage
- Hinge-down washboard and double leaf door
- Moulding for sprayhood
- 4 x Raymarine ST60 Repeaters
FOREDECK
- Lewmar forehatch on varnished teak raised plinth
- 3 x Chromed and teak bar cleats
- Bronze rail recessed mooring fairleads port and starboard
- Stainless steel stemhead fitting with 2 x nylon bow rollers
- Stainless steel pulpit
GROUND TACKLE
- 35 lb / 16 kg CQR anchor on teak chocks
- 60 m Galvanised, calibrated anchor chain
- 10 lb/ 4.5 kg Bruce kedge anchor
- Lofrans Tigres windlass with deck switch (2014)
- Driven from engine start battery with breaker
- Horizontal chain gipsy and warping drum
Accommodation and Domestic Equipment
DOWN 3 x STEPS TO MAHOGANY CABIN SOLE
- Mahogany carpentry
- From aft
GALLEY TO STARBOARD
- Force 10 gimballed marine cooker
- Crash bar
- 2 x Hob burners
- Oven
- Stainless steel sink
- Freshwater by pressure mixer tap and whale hand pump
- Crockery racks; food stowage outboard and under
- Well fiddled top surfaces
OILSKIN LOCKER TO PORT
- Shelves for easy reach items
- Beta engine panel
- Semi bulkhead
LARGE CHART TABLE TO PORT
- Drawer and locker under
- Waeco fridge/freezer below
- Navigation displays
- VHF Radio
- Ship's electrical panel
- Chart reading lamp
SALOON
- Settee berths port and starboard
- House batteries and water tanks under
- Stowage lockers and shelves outboard
- Drop leaf table over engine box
- Radio/ CD player
- Ship's clock and barometer
- Oil lamp
- Deckhead light
- 2 x Bulkhead lights
PASSAGE
- Sideboard, lockers and hanging locker to starboard
- Opening port
WC COMPARTMENT
- Jabsco manual toilet
- Ceramic basin
- Lockers
- Deckhead light
- Opening port
FORECABIN
- Berths port and starboard
- Stowage under
- Engine start/ windlass battery under
- Mahogany slatted hull sides
- Newport diesel heater and flue
- 2 x Bulkhead lights
- 2 x Opening ports
- Raised hatch in deckhead
- Access forward to chain locker
Rig Spars and Sails
RIG
- Bermudan sloop rig
- Original aluminium alloy keel-stepped mast
- Single pair of spreaders
- Halyard sheave bearings new 2021
- Z-Spar mainsail luff roller cars
- Halogen spreader lights
- Lewmar 30 reefing winch
- 2 x Lewmar ST30 self-tailing halyard winches
- 4 x Spinlock clutches
- Spinnaker pole track
- Z-Spars boom with 3 slab reefing system (2000)
- Kicker strut
- Spinnaker pole
- Furlex 300S genoa furler and foil (2010)
- Stainless steel standing rigging (2021)
SAILS
- Kemp Premium Dacron fully battened Mainsail with 3 reefing points (new 2020)
- Hoisted on a Z-spars roller car system
- Kemps Premium Dacron 140% furling genoa (2019)
- No. 2 furling headsail
- Kemp cruising chute with snuffer (2016)
- Hood spinnakerlittle used)
CANVASWORK
- Acrylic mainsail cover (2018)
- Cockpit cover (2018)
Mechanical Electrical and Tankage
MECHANICAL
- 35 hp 4-cyl Beta diesel (2017) diesel
- Stainless steel shaft; greased stuffing box; cutlass bearing
- Aquadrive flexible coupling
- 2-Bladed fixed propeller
STEERING
- Wheel steering via Whitlock pedestal with a Sestrel compass
- Whitlock gearbox completely overhauled 2017
- Connected to the rudder stock via a linkage
- Also driven by a Whitlock autopilot motor
- Facility to connect an emergency tiller
ELECTRICAL
- Rewired 2001
- All circuits protected by circuit breakers situated at the chart table
- 70amp alternator supplying all batteries via splitting diodes
- House Batteries 2x 110 Ah AMG batteries (2019).
- Engine start battery 80 Ah; 200amp fuse, battery isolating switch, 1 or 2 or both.
- Smart 10 A shore charger
- 240 volt socket with RCD
TANKAGE
- Stainless steel 70 L diesel fuel tank under the cockpit sole.
- 70 L Stainless steel water tanks port and starboard under saloon settees
Navigation Communication and Electronics
NAVIGATION/ ELECTRONICS
- RayMarine 9 in Multi Function Display (2015)
- Navionics chart system
- RayMarine digital radar (2015), a
- RayMarine series 400 course computer (2015)
- RayMarine instruments displayed in the cockpit:
- Depth; wind speed and direction; Boat Speed; Multifunction display.
- Furuno GPS unit
- RayMarine AIS 650 Transponder (2017)
- NASA Navtex
COMMUNICATIONS
- Vertex Standard VM-3500E DSC VHF radio
Safety
- 4 x Person liferaft (new 2022)
- 1 x Whale manual bilge pumps at cockpit
- 1 x Whale manual bilge pumps at accommodation
- Electric manual/auto controlled bilge pump
- Fire blanket
- Navigation lights, masthead, bow and stern fitted with LED bulbs
- Emergency tiller
Other Equipment
- Avon Redcrest Dinghy with foot pump and oars
- Large assortment of warps, fenders, tools etc.
- Original cockpit winches for refitting if desired
Image Credit
London Boat Show: McGruer & Co Ltd
Disclaimer
These particulars have been prepared from information provided by the vendors and are intended as general guide. The purchaser should confirm details of concern to them by survey or engineers inspection. The purchaser should also ensure that the purchase contract properly reflects their concerns and specifies details on which they wish to rely.
