Tom Cunliffe
Pilot Cutters Under Sail
Wednesday 8th October @ 8.15pm
The pilot cutters that operated around the coasts of northern Europe until the First World War were amongst the most seaworthy and beautiful craft of their size ever built. The small number that have survived have inspired yacht designers, sailors and traditional craft enthusiasts over the last hundred years. Their speed and close-windedness, their strength and seaworthiness, fused together into a hull and rig of particular elegance, bought them an enviable reputation.
Tom Cunliffe is a renowned yachting journalist, with monthly articles in Yachting Monthly and Practical Boat Owner, and occasional TV series (The Boats that Built Britain, Island Race, Yachting TV ). We are delighted to have him coming to GXSA to tell us about the boats that he is passionate about.
Here is a short extract from Tom’s Extensive Website
“I’ve been Mate on a coasting merchant ship and run yachts for gentlemen. I’ve operated charter boats, delivered all sorts of vessels, raced at quite high levels and have been teaching sailing intermittently for thirty-plus years. I became a Yachtmaster Examiner in 1978.
Classics have been my passion and for forty years I owned wooden gaffers. My wife Roz and I have sailed them all over the Atlantic, from southern Brazil to Iceland and from the Caribbean to Russia, with a number of trips to the US and Canada thrown in. I love traditional craft, but now I’ve finally gone bermudan. I’m happy sailing anything though that does the job properly.“