Above: Andrillot Sail Plan as redrawn by Uffa Fox. This little gaff cutter Andrillot was launched at the Swanwick yard of Moody Bros. for Richard Kinnersley in the spring of 1936. Although she was later to become known as the first of the Vertue class, her rig was very similar to that of her first rival, Eric Hiscock’s Wanderer II. When the two boats raced each other, and later sailed in company, Andrillot was found to be slightly faster to windward, with her slightly longer waterline length and fuller sections. Eric also explained…Read more

Above: Northam Vertue in California. Here is a sight to gladden the eye of any Vertue enthusiast! Out of the blue I get an email from Scot Copeland on the West Coast saying that he has just bought this boat. He writes: “Hello Roger, I’m glad you replied so swiftly. So, the story goes like this: I’ve always known and respected the Vertue class, to the extent that as a young boatbuilder I enquired with Giles Ltd. about obtaining plans. Nearly 20 years ago I came across this exact boat. She was slipped…Read more

Above: Sally II in Scotland It’s sometimes said that if you collected any half a dozen Vertues together that no two of them would be the same. Well, thanks to some of the many kind people who have been sending in photos and stories to the website while we’ve been on our travels, here’s half a dozen collected Vertues to prove it. Adrian Morgan, boatbuilder, philosopher, historian and muse par excellence, recently sent some new photos of his lovely Sally, ‘vertue’ number 2, and I have to start with this one. Here is…Read more

The thing about a Newsletter is that sometimes there isn’t much news. My VertueYachts inbox has been strangely quiet for the past few weeks which only goes to show that even Vertue enthusiasts have another life around Christmas time, perhaps quite separate from their boats. Of course, for some of us, the search for enlightenment continues, largely unabated, through the winter, and for me this was recently rewarded with the revelation of a proverbial ‘thousand words’ worth of information about Gay Vertue. This rather grubby cover image appeared amid a pile of old…Read more

(Above: Bettina racing in the Trieste Barcolana regatta) When Edwin Mazzanti first told me about the group of Vertues that occasionally sail together around Venice and Trieste I had no idea that the ‘Adriatic Fleet’ represented the most spirited collection of classic Vertues in the world! They not only cruise in company but every year they race together as part of the wonderful Trieste Barcolana regatta, and award a beautiful silver plate to their own champion. This is a great example to those of us who would like to sail together in the…Read more

Last week saw Trieste hosting the famous Barcolana regatta which included a classic yacht division with the ‘Vertue Adriatic Fleet’ appearing yet again. Edwin Mazzanti, who owns the beautiful Elkins built vertue Return tells me that the fleet was also going to include Bettina, Fab, and Jan Gilda. Of course the famous Vertue xxxv is based in that area too, but will not apparently be taking part, nor will the Cheoy Lee built Lan Tao. Edwin keeps Return beautifully and has said he will send a full report about the regatta which I…Read more

Vertues aren’t usually compared to buses, but the sudden availability of second hand boats for sale just now immediately suggests a rethink on this matter. For months now there have hardly seemed to be any on the market, and now we’re awash with quite a selection of distinctive boats, all of them very special in their own way. Last month we saw how Fionn, Varna and Icebird had all come onto the UK market, along with the grp VII Patience. Well, now these boats have been joined by four more wooden boats and…Read more

Denis J. Hoolahan was a canny yacht broker, perhaps unsurprisingly considering his Irish background. When he began to import teak-built Vertues into the UK from Hong Kong in 1963 his foresight paid off, for that first boat, Hoitak, was followed by at least thirteen more over the next two years. I learnt to sail on Hoitak, which is the Cantonese for ‘Vertue’, and have had a soft spot for these particular boats ever since. I am reluctant to be too categorical about Vertue facts, as it’s early days with this website, and we’re…Read more