User:Dolly Varden Racing/sandbox

Dolly Varden Racing Yacht was built in 1872 at Whites Shipyard on the Isle of Wight. She was originally built as an “Itchen Ferry” design and used initially as a fishing vessel in the Solent. Her vital statistics were length 36.8 ft., beam 11.2 ft. and has a draught of 5.9ft. She carried at that time 500sq ft. of sail. However, her sleek line and fast speed brought her to the attention of a Mr Richard Grant, the then secretary of the Royal Yacht Squadron, who saw that she was wasted as a fishing vessel and would be better at racing. Together they won several prestigious races. In 1888 Dolly was sold to Thomas Ratsey, who was the co-founder of Ratsey and Lapthorne, a very famous sail making company based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. To increase her performance especially on tacking, Thomas decided to change the hull design. He strengthened it to enable the sail capacity to be increased so that she could carry 1700 sq. ft. of sail. He also removed her internal ballast and added an exterior lead keel. She was now classed as a Bermudian Cutter! With these modifications, she proved unbeatable and she won almost every race she was entered for. As well as racing, Thomas Ratsey also used Dolly as a test boat to try out several innovative sail designs including those used for the UK’s entry for the Admirals Cup. Thomas Ratsey and Dolly were well respected and Thomas was very well connected. As a result, many famous people were keen to get on board and sail Dolly. These included King George V and also Uffa Fox, who subsequently sailed with Prince Philip and taught Prince Charles to sail. In his book Uffa refers to Dolly as the “Queen of the Solent” and “probably the fastest boat in her length in the world” even though at that time she was then 63 years old! Thomas Ratsey loved Dolly even to the extent that in 1934 at age 83 when he had a fall that crippled him, he had himself winched aboard and lived on her for the summer season again where King George V and Queen Mary visited him. Sadly, that would be his last time aboard Dolly, as he died a year later in 1935. His son Chris continued to race Dolly right up to the start of the war when Dolly was then sold to Claire Lallow’s Boatyard on the IOW. This was when the next change was made to Dolly’s design as we understand that their boatyard and home was destroyed by bombing during the war and, with nowhere else to go, they converted Dolly into a more family friendly boat where the family lived for the rest of the war. They increased the height of the forecastle to accommodate extra berths and added a wheelhouse for extra protection. At this point, her main mast was reduced and a mizzen-mast added making her now into a yawl. So, Dolly’s contribution to the war was as a refugee home and also her lead keel was removed and used to help the war effort and ballast was once again carried internally. Unfortunately, we have no record of what happened to Dolly immediately after the war and during the 1950’s. What I do know is that she must have suffered somewhat because I know that around 1965 she was bought by a Dennis Riley and needed a great deal of work done to her to get her into a position where she could sail again. Dennis lived in a village of West End near Southampton and at that time Dolly was moored out on the Hamble River on piles near Bursledon. Dennis didn’t have anyone to help him sail Dolly so he offered to take members of the local youth club out in Dolly, if at least four senior members or adults would become her regular crew. Some of the younger members fell by the wayside, which left the four adult stalwarts to take her out most weekends. At this time, the group were unaware of Dolly’s full history, but they did know that she was coming up to her 100th birthday so in August 1970, the team decided to take Dolly on a birthday outing to Paris. They set sail from the Hamble River to Le Havre, and then sailed and motored up the Seine where Dolly was moored in the centre of Paris for a week before returning home. Over time, with the crew all pursuing other interests, and a general lack of interest Dolly was sold in 1978 to John Perkins who sailed her for a few years and then had the idea of taking her back to the design she had in her heyday. After 8 years on the Medway, he took her out of the water and onto his friend's smallholding and proceeded to strip her down. Unfortunately, it all became too much for John to complete and the work stopped. Dolly was left, covered only by a tarpaulin for the next 25 years or so, unwanted and unloved! In 2016, the smallholding was to be sold, and the owner was considering just setting fire to the hull. In a last ditch effort to save Dolly the owner contacted Grahame Knott, and asked him to take on Dolly. Grahame is a well-respected member of the diving community in Dorset, and is the founder of Deeper Dorset. Dolly Varden was in a very poor state with some of her hull on one side missing and damaged, but according to a surveyor, the hull was mainly sound and repairable. Grahame approached the International Boatbuilding Training College at Portsmouth who agreed to undertake the restoration labour free if Grahame would pay for the materials. Unfortunately, a change of management within IBTC meant that they were no longer willing to undertake the restoration, and Dolly Varden was moved to Weymouth, where she is currently. Grahame has registered Dolly with the National Historic Ships UK and she has now been officially accepted and registered as an historic vessel of national importance. Grahame has also tracked down various items taken from Dolly over the years. Her original racing pennant is housed in the Cowes Museum. The image is believed to be based on a sketch of “Dolly Varden”, a character in Charles Dicken’s 1880 novel, “Barnaby Rudge”. Dolly’s original tiller arm is hanging in Ratsey and Lapthorne’s offices. Grahame also has in his possession Dolly’s original flag box, which has the date etched on its back and some of her original flags. Ron Watkins, one of the group who sailed Dolly to Paris, has joined Grahame and their aim is to get her back on the water for her 150th birthday in 2022. It is estimated that the cost of restoring Dolly Varden to her former glory will be in the order of £300,000 and a huge fundraising exercise is under way to get the Dolly Varden sailing again.

Dolly Varden Racing Yacht
Dolly Varden Racing Yacht was built in 1872 at Whites Shipyard on the Isle of Wight. She was originally built as an “Itchen Ferry” design and used initially as a fishing vessel in the Solent. Her vital statistics were length 36.8 ft., beam 11.2 ft. and has a draught of 5.9ft. She carried at that time 500sq ft. of sail. However, her sleek line and fast speed brought her to the attention of a Mr Richard Grant, the then secretary of the Royal Yacht Squadron, who saw that she was wasted as a fishing vessel and would be better at racing. Together they won several prestigious races. In 1888 Dolly was sold to Thomas Ratsey, who was the co-founder of Ratsey and Lapthorne, a very famous sail making company based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. To increase her performance especially on tacking, Thomas decided to change the hull design. He strengthened it to enable the sail capacity to be increased so that she could carry 1700 sq. ft. of sail. He also removed her internal ballast and added an exterior lead keel. She was now classed as a Bermudian Cutter! With these modifications, she proved unbeatable and she won almost every race she was entered for. As well as racing, Thomas Ratsey also used Dolly as a test boat to try out several innovative sail designs including those used for the UK’s entry for the Admirals Cup. Thomas Ratsey and Dolly were well respected and Thomas was very well connected. As a result, many famous people were keen to get on board and sail Dolly. These included King George V and also Uffa Fox, who subsequently sailed with Prince Philip and taught Prince Charles to sail. In his book Uffa refers to Dolly as the “Queen of the Solent” and “probably the fastest boat in her length in the world” even though at that time she was then 63 years old! Thomas Ratsey loved Dolly even to the extent that in 1934 at age 83 when he had a fall that crippled him, he had himself winched aboard and lived on her for the summer season again where King George V and Queen Mary visited him. Sadly, that would be his last time aboard Dolly, as he died a year later in 1935. His son Chris continued to race Dolly right up to the start of the war when Dolly was then sold to Claire Lallow’s Boatyard on the IOW. This was when the next change was made to Dolly’s design as we understand that their boatyard and home was destroyed by bombing during the war and, with nowhere else to go, they converted Dolly into a more family friendly boat where the family lived for the rest of the war. They increased the height of the forecastle to accommodate extra berths and added a wheelhouse for extra protection. At this point, her main mast was reduced and a mizzen-mast added making her now into a yawl. So, Dolly’s contribution to the war was as a refugee home and also her lead keel was removed and used to help the war effort and ballast was once again carried internally. Unfortunately, we have no record of what happened to Dolly immediately after the war and during the 1950’s. What I do know is that she must have suffered somewhat because I know that around 1965 she was bought by a Dennis Riley and needed a great deal of work done to her to get her into a position where she could sail again. Dennis lived in a village of West End near Southampton and at that time Dolly was moored out on the Hamble River on piles near Bursledon. Dennis didn’t have anyone to help him sail Dolly so he offered to take members of the local youth club out in Dolly, if at least four senior members or adults would become her regular crew. Some of the younger members fell by the wayside, which left the four adult stalwarts to take her out most weekends. At this time, the group were unaware of Dolly’s full history, but they did know that she was coming up to her 100th birthday so in August 1970, the team decided to take Dolly on a birthday outing to Paris. They set sail from the Hamble River to Le Havre, and then sailed and motored up the Seine where Dolly was moored in the centre of Paris for a week before returning home. Over time, with the crew all pursuing other interests, and a general lack of interest Dolly was sold in 1978 to John Perkins who sailed her for a few years and then had the idea of taking her back to the design she had in her heyday. After 8 years on the Medway, he took her out of the water and onto his friend's smallholding and proceeded to strip her down. Unfortunately, it all became too much for John to complete and the work stopped. Dolly was left, covered only by a tarpaulin for the next 25 years or so, unwanted and unloved! In 2016, the smallholding was to be sold, and the owner was considering just setting fire to the hull. In a last ditch effort to save Dolly the owner contacted Grahame Knott, and asked him to take on Dolly. Grahame is a well-respected member of the diving community in Dorset, and is the founder of Deeper Dorset. Dolly Varden was in a very poor state with some of her hull on one side missing and damaged, but according to a surveyor, the hull was mainly sound and repairable. Grahame approached the International Boatbuilding Training College at Portsmouth who agreed to undertake the restoration labour free if Grahame would pay for the materials. Unfortunately, a change of management within IBTC meant that they were no longer willing to undertake the restoration, and Dolly Varden was moved to Weymouth, where she is currently. Grahame has registered Dolly with the National Historic Ships UK and she has now been officially accepted and registered as an historic vessel of national importance. Grahame has also tracked down various items taken from Dolly over the years. Her original racing pennant is housed in the Cowes Museum. The image is believed to be based on a sketch of “Dolly Varden”, a character in Charles Dicken’s 1880 novel, “Barnaby Rudge”. Dolly’s original tiller arm is hanging in Ratsey and Lapthorne’s offices. Grahame also has in his possession Dolly’s original flag box, which has the date etched on its back and some of her original flags. Ron Watkins, one of the group who sailed Dolly to Paris, has joined Grahame and their aim is to get her back on the water for her 150th birthday in 2022. It is estimated that the cost of restoring Dolly Varden to her former glory will be in the order of £300,000 and a huge fundraising exercise is under way to get the Dolly Varden sailing again.