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The Restoration of Unicorn K756

My love affair with the Unicorn “A” Class catamaran started in 1975, when I was just 16. I had learned to sail in the early 1970’s in a ‘Poole AB’ sailing dinghy, which was basically a smaller version of the Mirror. In fact, being keen to progress, I had just helped to build a Mirror with my brother and Dad, and we raced her at the Ayr Bay Sailing Club on the Firth of Clyde.

The Commodore of the Ayr Bay Sailing Club, the late Raymond Lewis, had managed to attract the Scottish Single Handed Sailing Championships to our humble wee club at Ayr Bay, and my best friend and I were asked to take on rescue boat duties for the weekend. The competitors gradually started appearing early on Saturday morning. A Firefly, some Phantoms, Toppers, OK‘s, and various other similar dinghies were all getting rigged in the car park next to the beach.

…and then they appeared! I’d never seen anything like it. Three absolutely stunning Unicorns, being towed on trailers that seemed too wide to be on the open road! Stuart Buchanan, Hamish Ramsay, and Keith Furnace had all driven down from the Royal Tay Yacht Club at Broughty Ferry, Dundee, with “Double Trouble”, Banana Split” and a 3^rd Unicorn I can’t recall the name of. I think it was something like “Revolution”, but it’s over 30 years ago now, so long ago I can’t be sure. We had a fantastic weekend, including the spectacle of one of them (possibly Hamish) pitchpoling, and then flying through the air in front of his boat.  Unfortunately he split a hull and had to retire.  Raymond, our Commodore, was also a freelance journalist, and I’ve still got the fading yellowish photos from the press. (see photos 1 & 2)

Being a teenager, my sailing career continued on a ‘shoestring’ but my brother and I managed to progress to a Fireball and then a 505 before we went our separate ways to university.  Whilst at university I longed for a Unicorn but couldn’t see how I could get my hands on one. I used to pass the former Troon Sailing Club occasionally and noticed a rather sad looking Unicorn (K434) called “Top Cat”. The port hull was completely red and the starboard one completely green.

I approached the club but they said that they had no record of the owner and that she’d been sitting there for several years.  There was no trampoline, but the mast, sail, cross beams, etc, were all stored in the club shed.  The club asked me for a donation (£60, I recall) and she was mine.  A friend helped me get her back to Mum & Dad’s house in Ayr, but unfortunately the hulls turned out to be waterlogged and beyond repair.  However, I’d also noticed an “Australis “ A” Class catamaran sitting in the dinghy park, with fibreglass hulls, wooden decks, daggers, rudders, cross beams,

trampoline, and a broken mast, so I returned to the club.  You’ve guessed it, …another £60 donation to the club and I’d acquired another “A” Class Cat. I spent a few months repairing the “Australis” and used the Unicorn rig to get us on the water.  For 2 or 3 years I enjoyed exhilarating sailing from the Ayr Yacht Club (it was fun dodging the fishing boats as I tacked my way out of the harbour!) in my ‘mongrel’, which I called “Two’s Company”.  (see photos 3 & 4)

My sailing was brought to an end when I emigrated with my new wife Valerie to South Africa.  We returned to Scotland after a few years and then moved to the east coast where we moved around a bit before settling in a lovely wee village just outside St Andrews. I got involved in many other things and sailing became a distant memory.  However, about 3 years ago I felt that I wanted to get back on the water, but decided that I wanted to bring an old Unicorn back to life in the process.

I found K756 on the internet one night and phoned her owner, a sailing instructor from the Lake District.  He’d only had her for one season, but wanted to get back to monohulls. She was built by Trowbridge & Sons, and came with a measurement certificate and lots of original receipts and paperwork, including Bob Dorks’ and Vic Croft’s book, “Unicorn Technology”.  Her name was “Banana Split Too” and I’ve tried to find out if there was any connection with the “Banana Split” which I saw at Ayr Bay in 1975, but haven’t come up with anything yet.  She was basically sound, but the paintwork was rough and the tramps were made out of heavy plywood. (see photos 5 & 6)  The road trailer was so rusty, I wondered if we’d make it back up to Scotland in one piece! …but we did.

As with all such restoration work, a job which I thought would take me a year or so, turned out to be about 3 years. Mind you, I only dabbled at it and had long periods away from it, but I must say the wait has been worth it, and I’m delighted with the result.

After removing the decks I strengthened the hulls with extra bulkheads, and coated the inside of the hulls with several coats of paint.  I had to rebuild one of the rear beam saddles, and replace the rear beam using a section from a broken mast I acquired from a rather helpful chap at St Andrews Sailing Club.  The front beam had been thickly painted with black gloss (yuck!) and so I spent some time carefully removing the paint and polishing the aluminium. New tramps were required, but I was reluctant to have them made for me (must be the thrifty Scot in me!) so I bought heavy duty tramp mesh from a dealer in Southampton and made them up myself using a heavy needle and black whipping twine. The beauty of the heavy duty mesh is that you can line up the holes in it and simply pass the needle though the gaps. It turned out to be quite a long job, but I’m delighted with the result. (see photos 7 to 12)

On 12 August this year we finally hit the water. (see photos 13 to 16) Life has a funny way of working in cycles, and the club I’ve joined is the Royal Tay Yacht Club, (which is where the 3 Unicorns that first ‘blew me away’ 32 years ago came from).  Sadly there are no Unicorns left there now. The last one was “Glasgow Kiss” (K1084), which went south a year or 2 ago. I’ve seen the photos of her on the website and it looks like she’s gone to a good home! However, the chap who sold K1084 now sails a superb “A” Class cat, and Stuart Buchanan and Hamish Ramsay (2 of the chaps from 1975) sail a Hurricane together (what a sight when they’re going full blast!) and there are a few Darts.

It was a reasonably gentle breeze for our first outing, and therefore I was happy to leave the trapeze till later on.  However, she turned out to be beautifully balanced and showed a good turn of speed with the windward hull just starting to fly.  As my confidence grows, I hope to get involved in racing at the Royal Tay, but for the meantime there’s no rush. I’m simply savouring the feeling of being back on the water with such a beautiful classic boat from my youth.

A few days ago, I received a phonecall from someone who’d got to hear my story.  He said that he’d got a Unicorn called “Easy Action”, which he bought 18 years ago as a project after she’d been pitchpoled, but he’s never quite managed to get round to doing anything with her.  Apparently she came from the Royal Tay too. We’re getting together soon so that I can have a look at her, so who knows, maybe I’ll be writing another article in a wee while with her story.

All being well I’ll come and introduce K756 and myself to the rest of you at next year’s Nationals.  As you’ll gather, I won’t be a threat to all you experienced Unicorn sailors, but it would be fun to do my bit just to swell the numbers.

I’d be happy to write a more detailed article about the restoration if there is enough interest. Please let me know.

Alistair Clyne

St Andrews

aclyne@supanet.com

K756