the biggest milestone!
Following few frantic weeks between April & May, we finally had a date set for the launch, Tuesday the 28th of May. The boat tent who had sheltered the boat and protected the team from rain and gales for 18 months came down, revealing Ibis. At last we could see her lines from a distance and we could admire her hull shape, from the straight southwesterly bow stem to the fullness of the turn of the bilge and the elegant, swooping stern and flat transom. I felt like thanking Percy Mitchell for being such an artist of wood and lines!
I can picture him in his bedroom at number 26 The Cliff, Mevagissey, deciding to give Ibis a more modern structure. Like he wrote in his autobiography (A Boatbuilder’s Story by Percy Mitchell), whilst describing the building of his first lugger, (the 39ft Westward) at 23 years of age: ‘The method of framing her out was unusual for Cornwall: every frame was made complete, bevelled inside as well as outside and erected in position. She came out fair and not much chipping was required for the planks to lay home snug to the timbers.
I had been advised by an old shipwright not to attempt this method [..] My being new to the job meant that I was not tied to old ways but, being sure of my lines and ability, took a risk that the old builders, working from a model, were not prepared to take.’
It was unusual for boatbuilders of that time still, to draw their own lines. Like Percy says, they used to work from a model made to scale. Percy was definitely a new type of boatbuilder, confident enough to break with traditions and embrace new techniques. He was very talented and demonstrated the great ability of understanding and teaching himself naval architectural skills, therefore a man of the future in many ways. As a suitable parallel, I like to think about the Ibis restoration as an homage to this forward thinker and genius of boatbuilding. Ibis will adorn the waters of Cornwall again, as part of Percy Mitchell’s vast boatbuilding legacy.
But we are not there yet! The good news is that the re-launch was a success, eventually. We were to go in the water first thing in the morning but instead we had to sit on the slings for 12 hours to fix a skin fitting. So Ibis was launched at dusk in the end which is reminiscent of her original launch, in 1929, which happened under the moonlight on a Spring tide. So now that Ibis hull is taking up well, we can start to turn our focus on the spars and on the installation of domestic systems like sink, galley, heads and a lot of painting! We feel very fortunate to have reached this milestone, it was two years ago, on the 14th of July 2022, that we managed to move Ibis from the top of Sailor’s Creek in Falmouth, after two weeks of patching her up as the tide was liberally going in and out of her rotted planks, keels and gardboard. I hope that we can celebrate her Name Day on this exact date this year, to mark the beginning of her new life.
Whilst all this work was going on, a dark shadow was cast by the sinking of the De Gallant and the loss of two sailors lives. Out thoughts and sympathies goes with the families and friends of the sailors and the good people of the Blue Schooner Company . We postponed any celebration for Ibis as a sign of respect for this terrible tragedy that affects so many people and above all, the two sailors lost at sea, Emma and Lea, who made the ultimate sacrifice. A fund-raising page was set up by friends to help the Blue Schooner Company in these difficult times. Their work on climate activism has inspired us and many others to find new and positive ways of using maritime heritage for a good purpose whilst establishing beautiful human relations. We thank them for their amazing work and we hope that their pain will abate with time.
If you feel like sending them some love and support, here is the link
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