PHALAROPE in 2007, fitted out for cruising offshore as a capable small vessel.

Images(6)

PHALAROPE has a typical Colin Archer style deep keel.

PHALAROPE has elegant wine-glass sections

Phalarope

Vessel numberHV000191

Builder W Holmes Boat Builder

Date1930

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 9.75 m x 3.2 m x 1.71 m (32 ft x 10.5 ft x 5.6 ft)

DescriptionPHALAROPE was the last yacht that Scot Skirving owned, having had five previous vessels before this yacht was built. He was a keen sailor and well known on Sydney Harbour as well as being a respected surgeon and close colleague of Sir Alex MacCormick, who was another senior surgeon, yachtsman and important figure in Sydney during the 1920s and 1930s.

Scot Skirving went to AC Barber in about 1930 and asked him to prepare plans of a small yacht based on the Colin Archer Redningskoite or rescue boat designs. The result was described by Scot Skirving in his memoirs as a 'splendid little 10-ton craft....a great sea boat'. Scot Skirving was a practical man and he rigged it himself as a Bermudan ketch and had it fitted with a Grey petrol engine. 'She is the best boat I owned and I still have her' he wrote.

There is a possible interesting connection between PHALAROPE and KATHLEEN GILLETT. Both are based on unknown Archer designs, and Scot Skirving was a friend of Jack Earl, KATHLEEN GILLETT's owner. Scot Skirving is known to have encouraged Earl to build an Archer designed yacht, so both yachts may possibly be derived from the same or similar set of lines.

PHALAROPE has all the characteristics of an Archer design including the profile of the stem and stern. It was built by Holmes at their North Sydney yard. Holmes had built at least one of his earlier yachts, PANACEA which was designed by Walter Reeks. By the 1930s Holmes was recognised as a builder of many fine motor cruisers and other powered craft, so PHALAROPE is important as a surviving example of a small yacht built by Holmes during this period of motor vessel construction.

PHALAROPE was bought by Ron Cottee in 1953. Cottee had previously owned a motor cruiser and this was his first yacht. His first voyage offshore had an unfortunate beginning. Sailing south along the NSW coast and less than a day out of Sydney it went ashore on Gerroa Beach, south of Wollongong on the 24th December 1953. It was refloated wihout any significant damage.

PHALAROPE remains in largely original condition, but has a sloop rig and a modern diesel engine installed.
SignificancePHALAROPE is a wooden cruising yacht built in NSW in 1930. It is an example of a yacht built at the Holmes' yard in North Sydney. It was a small cruising yacht built on Colin Archer lines, redrawn by A C Barber, for the well known Sydney surgeon Robert Scot Skirving.