Draft:Sheila (yacht)

''This article is about the 1905 canoe yawl yacht. For other uses, see Sheila (disambiguation).''

Sheila is a gaff-rigged canoe yawl designed by the British artist and yacht designer Albert Strange (design #70.) The yacht was built at Port Mary, Isle of Man in 1905 for his fellow artist Robert Groves. Sheila is a rare original example of an Edwardian era cruising yacht and is the oldest Albert Strange design still in commission.

History
In 1903, Robert Groves commissioned the yacht to sail the Celtic Sea and demonstrate that a proper British gentleman could sail his yacht without a professional crew. Albert Strange was already well known for this type of canoe yawl with a double-ended or canoe-stern hull and the two masts of the yawl rig. Sheila became his first ‘full keel’ design.

She was built and delivered in 1905 by Robert Cain, a beach based fishing boat builder complete with sails, anchors and all gear for a sum “considerably under £100”.

From 1905, Groves’ three month cruises in the Hebrides, illustrated with Highland scenery, charted anchorages, and his beloved yacht, appeared in Yachting Monthly for 5 years. They captivated readers, for at the time few believed that such a small boat was safe at sea.

In 1911, Groves sold the boat. In 1914 she was nearly destroyed by a storm in Dublin Bay. She was then beautifully rebuilt by her second owner, Captain Patrick Walsh, Ireland’s premier Humber Yawl Club member. In the twenties Sheila led a chequered life but in 1935 she found a new love with James Y Wilson, who kept Sheila until he stopped sailing in 1978, selling her and buying her back twice in the process,

In 1939, she was damaged by a stray bomb while being stored in a boatyard in Ayr. In 1978 she was found, dismantled, by Robert Burn in Woodbridge, who initiated a passionate restoration, facilitated by the pictures in Yachting Monthly, Groves’ drawings, and Strange’s plans.

Since 2016 she is kept in France.