I wonder if, when they were first launched perhaps a century ago, the original owners of some of the magnificent Fifes taking part in their regatta in Scotland in July could ever have imagined that they would still be sailing in the 21st Century (see page 78)? That they are is testament to their original design and construction and the diligence of their various owners with refits and restorations over the years.
Yet these boats that we call classics are probably sailed harder, by dint of their modern sails and gear, than in their heyday when they were the cutting edge of sailing boat design and technology. They would have had the traditionalists shaking their heads at the lightness of their scantlings, at their spindly spars, narrow beam and swooping overhangs. These boats were designed as yachts from day one, unlike many of their predecessors which were working boat derivatives, pilot cutters and smacks.
Fast forward a century and I wonder what William Fife III would have made of the most extreme super-maxi built so far, the Juan K-designed, 99ft 34-ton Speedboat, which Matthew Sheahan sailed from Newport, Rhode Island. Compare that with the Fife Altair, albeit a few feet longer, which weighs in at a thumping 160 tons. As Matthew describes in his story about the overnight passage (page 90), which included an electrical storm and 47-knot squalls, she demands an extremely high standard of skill from her crew and the way they work together as a team, probably more so than ever before in the sport of sailing.
Perhaps the same was said of Altair's 28 crew when she was launched in 1931. But I wonder if Speedboat will still be around and sailing on the classics circuit in 2085?
