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Euphranzel, Fenestra, Arandora and the others
September 13, 2010
They are the seven Dublin Bay 24 footers (waterline length) that last sailed in September 2004. They had wondrous names: Adastra, Arandora, Euphranzel, Fenestra, Harmony, Perriwinkle, Vandra (sunk off Howth harbour in 1974) and Zephra and I remember seeing them sailing in the Bay.
Euphranzel getting a coat of paint in the George.
Designed in the mid 1930s, under a commission from a group of Dublin Bay members of the Royal Alfred Yacht Club, yacht designer Alfred Mylne produced the largest one-design yacht in Europe. The classic lines prompted one owner to declare it a ”six-metre with a proper amount of beam” and the sea-keeping qualities, particularly downwind in heavy conditions were much admired. Although latterly used as dayboats, some of them raced and cruised offshore in the past, including Fastnet Races, the Northwest coast of Norway & throughout Scotland.
Currently, the seven boats are in a restoration yard in Benodet, west France, having been bought by the promoters of the Villefranche Classic Yacht Club.
The Villefranche club (a few miles east of Nice in the Med) is a development promoted by a group of Irish sailors / businessmen including Christopher Craig, John Sisk, Michael Cotter, and Ward Woods. Their plans include a pair of refurbished villas (with underground parking for classic cars) and the fleet of boats for day racing. Which they plan to rename “Villefranche 38” (overall length.) I prefer Dublin Bay 24.
Arandora at the West Pier
And Euphranzel is a beautifully melodious name which does not appear in Google, except in relation to the boat. What does the name mean?
And speaking of Google, they indexed and returned this posting within four minutes!
Topics: Sailing | 1 Comment »
September 16th, 2010 at
Euphanzel is a composite of the names of the 3 daughters of the owner: Euphenie, Joan and Hazel.