Sonoma

THE HISTORY

We have uncovered some interesting facts about her design and her history and the times within which she was born on the banks of the Clyde in 1924 and registered to the Port of Greenock

The name SONOMA is purported to be the American Indian word meaning ‘Valley of the Moon’ the first record of this name was in 1823, one hundred years before the the Yacht Sonoma was built, when a mission was formed in the area and was later used to name one of the new counties of California in 1850, but it is doubtful that the Spanish understood the dialects and merely interpreted it with a form more familiar! But we like this one.

GENERAL FACTS ABOUT 1924

• Hitler sentenced to 5 years in Prison
• Ramsey MacDonald was 1st Labour prime minister 22nd January
• William Watson (no relative) made Lord Advocate of Scotland
• Frederick William Wallace wrote ‘Wooden ships and Iron men’
• An Olympic year opening in Paris on May the 4th
• Eric Liddle won Gold in the 400m and bronze in the 200m (Chariots of Fire)
• British Empire Exhibition held at Wembly and the stamps to commemorate were issued 23rd April
• Gleneagles opened with its own railway station
• U S bootleggers first used the Thompson machine gun
• Oxford Bags style originated on the ban of wearing knickers by under graduates at lectures, the bagginess allowed the knickers hidden, the style invented by Harold Acton of Christ church.
• Benny Hill was born.

What type of boat is Sonoma?

SIX METRE

This class yacht is unique, a one off design by G L Watson and Co we believe the only 6mr to be penned by the oldest and most famous of Scotland’s many ship and yacht design Companies. George Lennox Watson 1851-1904

In 1873 George Lennox Watson established the first yacht design office in the world. The ambitious, erudite, and cultured G.L.Watson was an enormously gifted designer. Working at the cutting edge of the current technology he became one of greatest designers of all time. www.giwatson.com In his time he produced four Americas Cup Yachts, along with presidential yachts and Royal Yachts. He was born the very year the ‘Americas Cup’ began. The Royal yacht ‘Britannia’ was built for Edward the VII in 1893 and it had won more than 200 Prizes by 1934. ‘Britannia’ passed to George V and upon the death of Edward and unfortunately Britannia was scuttled at George the V requested stating that Britannia (1893 - 1936) should follow him to the grave. On the 10 July 1936 after the Britannia had been stripped of her spars and fittings, her hull was towed out to St Catherine s Deep near the Isle of Wight and she was sunk by HMS Winchester (L55), commanded by Captain W.N.T. Beckett RN. GLW designed ‘Meteor II” for the German Emperor of Prussia, Wilhelm the II who described G L Watson as “One of the most prominent Yacht designers in the world". For 20 years G L Watson was the consulting architect for the RNLI "with his boats becoming renowned for their seaworthiness and durable qualities" (Wikipedia)

McGruers, one of the most eminent boat yards in Scotland who also designed 6mr yachts and many other classes also built ‘Sonoma’ for G L Watson and Co. They also built yachts and boats for many other important designers of the time. McGruers have a very long history of boat building going back to William the Conquerer having also built boats even for the French in the 13 century before forming their own company in 1897, that's some history. McGruers were the innovators of the hollow spar, both in Mast and Boom technology, this innovation had other more serious roles to play - Infact King George V’s yacht Britannia had a McGruer rolled hollow boom which was 84 feet long, 17 inches in diameter with a 3 inch wall thickness, and hollow lightweight oars for the polar expeditions.

Sonoma was launched in 1924 and modified to suit her rating class in 1925. Owned by two brothers Claud and James Allen, she was sailed and raced on the Clyde for a number of years. Copies of the original build drawings are available for reference in our rebuild and the originals are held by G L Watson and Co. who still enjoy a thriving business to this day of course.

In 1932 she was Owned by James and Willie McGruer and converted to a cruise racer with the addition of a smart little doghouse and a couple of bunks for their own use and copy drawings of this conversion are also in our hands as the originals are held by McGruers descendants. We believe she then went to Sunderland and was owned in 1936 by Mr H Lambert Esq. of Sunderland Yacht club, a painting of Sonoma in 1937 by artist Winston Megoran, is owned by Author Diana Ridley.

‘Sonoma’ in 1936/7. A 33’7” LOD x 6’7” beam, when a Fractional Bermudan rig was fitted.

I wanted a yacht that was pretty to look at with no complicated electrics, engines, toilets, bunks etc. Just somewhere to sit out of the weather, hanging off the anchor in a bay. To ghost around the harbour and the bay in the sun, in all weathers really as Poole Harbour is perfect for that with a little attention to the tides and the sandbanks, and the Sunseekers! Perhaps join in a bit of Class racing in the Solent. Actually the only time I was nearly run over was by a yacht the three men on-board all enjoying a cup of tea and a chat, I had to utter the embarrassing words ‘Ahoy there’! To which they altered course slightly without even acknowledging our presence I could sail her even if no-one else was available and sometimes on my own just for the joy of it, you have to have had some time handling a yacht of this size with no engine in Poole Harbour, with the tides and sandbanks, but using the tides to move her in and out of the channels and to sidewalk across the harbour was ‘very interesting’. To be frank it only happened once as I didn’t own her long before the amount of water coming in was faster than that going out!

So I decide to start work on her.

With best intention I decided to ‘do her up’ a bit. After a LOT of mucking about by other shipwrights and boat yards, my god they make the world a difficult place. If anyone ever criticises wooden boats realize that it’s not the boat it’s the ruddy people. I finally settled on Lee Woodford who was at the time engaged on the Ex 12M Royal racing Yacht (The Queen and Prince Philip) ‘Bloodhound’, as the chief shipwright under the eye of the owner and Yacht Surveyor Tony McGrail, I had to wait almost two years in the end for him to be set free. Lee set about the work on Sonoma in short ‘Trenchers’ to help me with cost and we completed a lot of the work in a shed shared with the Poole Redwing fleet until Lee obtained his own shed. Link: Sonoma Restoration We transferred ‘Sonoma’ there and proceeded in earnest, and with much of the restoration done I decided to have her surveyed formally both for Lee and me and for Insurance. The Survey highlighted matters we were sort of avoiding, but we were convinced that despite the additional costs and time it was the right thing to do.

With all of the work in the survey is now completed. We decided to do everything we could as this was the best chance to get it right once and for all before the deck went on. The surveyor made the following note. Intense media interest, and an active world wide racing association, organizes regular regattas and events where these fine historic yachts are exhibited. Because “Sonoma” is believed to be the only G L Watson six meter design, she is already creating interest within the “meter” community so it is important to complete this restoration to a high standard so she can compete with her contemporaries. My client and his shipwright L Woodford (who was the chief shipwright on the renowned “Bloodhound” restoration) are progressing along this path steadily and we are anticipating no less than an A1 / concourse result.

Over the recent years a huge interest has grown in the 6M Class all over the world with many regattas and formal racing being held in some of the more prestigious yacht clubs around the world. Recently a large format and stunning book on the SIX METER (Class Type and not length) has been published, by Tim Street and Pekka Barck.

This book schedules the history of the class and lists every known Six Meter yacht in the world with wonderful photographs.

I just love the idea of going sailing with a pair of flannel trousers and a blazer and plimpsoles, and a collapsed peaked cap with an anchor on it in a good swell.

In the UK and Scandinavia they were all barking mad.

The move and the restoration

Sonoma is carvel constructed of Honduras Mahogany on White Oak, with an American rock Elm structure and originally she was painted topsides with a mahogany deck. We have kept all original timbers wherever possible except for the top sides as I just loved the mahogany when it was exposed so we replaced all that was not sound but later we ended up replacing all the boards above the waterline as fixings and re-fixing, digging out, oil and 'life' had marked, stained and spoilt her looks. New and old would always have looked like a patchwork repair after a season or so, and once you start to see all that wonderful hardwood why paint over it!

• The boards have been replaced with some of the last old stock of Mahogany, being all from the same batch she will look amazing, although they have been fitted at different times and will take a while to weather and wear in to a matching colour.
• She has been refastened throughout below the waterline above.
• Any new oak has been fastened with bronze screws or roves.
• New Oak frames where fitted have been green Oak steamed in.
• All the timber and connections below the waterline were checked and all fixings replaced, any timber not in absolutely sound condition was replaced.
• The Iron keel and deadwood were dropped and the jointing material cut out cleaned off and replaced with new this also allowed us to check the keel bolts which were 50/50, we removed most but retained enough to keep the keel and hull in line temporarily, all are being replaced with ‘malleable iron’ resourced from a ‘proper’ blacksmith, this is ideal for a cast iron keel.

The condition of the original timbers and fixings are a testament to the quality of the originals, and the lack of stray electrical currents from ancillaries found on cruising boats has kept her relatively sound.

SONOMAS present history

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2001 Purchased Sonoma and delivered from Scotland to England

2002 Moved Sonoma from Poole to Emsworth by Sea, where a friend of mines father owned and rented out a boat yard, she felt that they would be ok as they mostly dealt with older wooden boats.after a long wait she was stripped of all fixtures and fittings, mast, boom etc, the cabin was removed along with engine, false bulkheads and I was told she would be ready by next April, came back to England in March and went to find nothing had been done , the original McGruers hollow spar had been dropped on the concrete and the top 6ft knocked off. I’m told that I’m lucky as it had ”shown up some faults in the scarf joints” I’ll bet it did!!!

2003Sonoma removed from Emsworth yard and returned to Poole for safety, to be stored in Redwings shed. She was returned without any of her fittings, mast, boom, bronze roller furling gear, standing rigging, winches, sails etc etc. I returned to ask where they were, and was told they were in ‘safe keeping’ all carefully stored away until I was ready to start work, and a bit buried in the shed as lots of boats out for the winter.

2004 After a long wait she was further stripped of the primer coat applied in Emsworth and a survey of her carried out by myself and the proposed shipwright Lee Woodford and a programme of work evolved.

2007 Lee commenced work and the hull was raised off the keel, she was in surprisingly good condition. I returned to Emsworth embarrassed at the time lapse and expected to get hit with a storage bill. What I got was “we've lost them, you shouldn’t have left it so long.” More to that story but another time perhaps. Everything below the waterline was inspected and replacement areas can clearly be seen in the photographs. On 280 you can see just above the rudder location, the staining that started to leech out of the wood and could not be resolved without replacing those boards. Another colour change occurred after a light sanding this showed that rubbing strakes had been fitted and removed a long time ago and left a line both sides that could not be sanded out either. Probably at that time I should have seen the cost involved, and resorted to painting her. Lee Leaves to do 3 months on another job.

2008 Lost Lee to another job which took almost a year and re commenced work in September, but only on 2 week stints to spread the cost and enable him to keep in touch with other clients. We move Sonoma to Lees own shed. Decide at that point to replace all remaining boards above the waterline for all sorts of reasons and especially as at the transom, many of the boards were thin and the fixings impossibly close together with the board ends were frayed and split. This coinciding with the other marks ,stains, fixings etc convinced me.

2009 Completed replacement of all the topsides boards and had her surveyed for Insurance as her value was now building fast. The survey highlighted some damage or split floors and beams which could have been repair but we replace them. We think this only showed up later after a couple of crane lifts while she was dry and loose made her creak and groan. Also evident were some bastardised frames around the chain plate area and we decided to replace rather than scarf on bits, those, and any others identified towards the bows and the transom so that all was prefect inside. This was the time to do all and everything before it was under the deck. The frames where replaced are with green Oak steamed in.

The detail of the survey has all now been completed. The top sides fixings are checked over as they have now been in some time and all the holesare plugged and fairing off, ready for splining in the new year and the final sanding and fairing of the hull.

We are considering the remaining work listed below.

• Replacing all keel bolts in Malleable Iron
• Replace the chain plates
• Construct new rudder to old pattern in Pitch pine
• Re construct cockpit carlins to the original cockpit layout and therefore replace deck beams to suit
• Re build mast foot step in Oak
• Re fix all existing deck beam and knees etc ready for new deck
• Form new support framing in Oak for the Mast and a f’ward hatch.
• Under going the restoration below the waterline completed and topsides commenced
• The top sides continued to full replacement of boards.
• The topsides prior to plugging splining and fairing off.

That's it for the moment. If you have any questions about Sonoma please use the contact page.