€15,000
Yachting World Dayboat
“Woodworm” is for sale
Boat comes complete with everything to WIN!
This is the last boat to be built by the legendary Don Young from Fishbourne on the IOW. He was a professional builder from a very early age and he loved all things wood.
I sailed the YWDB Championships with Don or Dad as I will call him from now on and I can still remember several of the races, especially the cadet race as I managed to win that one!
Over the years he built five or six of the Wooden Cold Molded boats and I have been lucky enough to race in four of them. He built one for me to teach my family to sail and that has been used extensively, she is called PaPa 2 as that’s what my children called him. We enjoyed many championships in that boat as well as just pottering about in Cork Harbour.
Woodworm was the last ever boat he built or will build as he passed away in 2019, as I say to Mum at least he missed the lockdown and all the messing with C-19!
One wooden Dayboat is usually enough for anyone but I am currently the lucky owner of two…….One of them needs to go to a good home and be used, Dad hated to see his boats not being used.
That is really the story of Woodworm, she was sitting in his boatshed in the IOW and I wanted to get her sailing before he slipped away on us. The work started by me bringing the boat to Cork so I could work on her and get ready for the 2019 Championships in Rock.
The rest of the story is below…….This was written for Dayboat notes in Aug 2019
Woodworm…….The extra Three minutes an hour!
Woodworm came into my hands in Jan 2018 as a project. Originally Dad built her to sail locally himself with little thought to class racing……..She was sitting in his boat sheds in the IOW not being used so I decided it was time to change that! Dad hated seeing his boat unused…..
Dad always loved the Dayboats and he wanted to use up the last of his wood on one final project. The name Woodworm comes from the fact that the wood he used on the tank tops has lots of black marks on it that look remarkably like Woodworm! Also he tells me that at 89 years old he personally feels like he has Woodworm so that’s the name and it will stick!
So first things first make a list of what we need to do to make her class legal.
- New Rig
- New metal plate ( Re-work case to suit as originally had wooden board)
- New Rudder and tiller
- New Combi Trailer (So we could get her home and back to Rock)
- All new fittings
- Increase the weight 38kg’s
- Get boat measured and certified
- Buy new Anchor!
- Go to Rock
- Find out if the extra 3 minute’s are built in FOC?
So as you can see there was a long list of jobs to get done and I started in anger ticking them off one by one. Working with local boat builder Jim Walsh in Cork we slowly got her together and finally at the end of March 2019 she hit the water for the first time. No leaks from the new bailers and all seemed to be well with the fit out etc………For that race the max wind speed was only 4 knots so we didn’t really learn that much and there was little evidence of the free three minutes!
Pete, Sally, Bob and Kath all enjoyed a trip over to Cork back at the start of the project to officially measure Woodworm. A bit like all of the boats Dad built he did not exploit the tolerances he built her bang down the middle, Woodworm followed the same pattern.
Biggest thing we discovered at the measuring (officially at that time!) was that she was close to 40kg underweight. Lots of wood was required to bring her into line and Jim filled in the sides of the centercase with solid mahogany, classy but expensive wood. However it worked and very quickly we found ourselves close on weight. We allowed 5kgs for fittings and varnish etc…..and when the final weighing day arrived she was just a fraction over minimum. Perfect…….
No more time, the sailing season had started for me straight after the March sea trials so we finished off a few small jobs and packed her up ready for Rock. Back in the shed now for a couple of months and the final unveiling to the Dayboat public came on the 22nd June in Rock for race two of the Championships.
The reality of it was I was slow on that day and ran aground a little too often!! The mainsail looked too full and the rig was not set up right. Next day no sailing so rig down, spreaders adjusted and a few other small changes. Seems better but still no sign of the three minutes??
Finally on the penultimate day we started to move well. I had been sailing with the rig far too tight and as soon as I realised we were moving again quite well, not as fast as PaPa 2 but why would we be? After 4 races you cannot expect to be at full strength.
Last day was much better, good speed, great sailing and I actually felt it was possible to win a race. Only down to my own greed and the great sailing by Mike and ultimately Pete it was not to be, no race win for Woodworm this time. Well not quite correct! James beat all comers in the opportunity race so we have one really nice trophy on the shelf this year, well done James.
We will be back again next year in Brixham all being well and I will be doing my best to win a trophy for Dad. Without his forward thinking way back in the 80’s when he built his first boat and then in the 90’s with Papa, Papa 2 and Woodworm the Young Family would not have such a strong link to the Dayboat. We love the class, the people, the family feeling and will be back, thanks Dad.
Congratulations
I have to add my personal congratulations to Colin and Chrissy for giving us all a masterclass in sailing in Rock. Coming back from the dead on two occasions was impressive to watch. Make sure to enjoy the winning feeling its very special and not easily come by.
Nigel Young
So now she is looking for a new home. This is a very special boat to me and my family and she now needs a new owner. One Dayboat is enough so if you are in the market for one of the fastest Dayboats in the fleet with some great history this could be the one for you?
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or would like more info. Boat is 100% complete, all new kit, new sails, ropes, Carbon Rudder and stock……the very best of everything
Contact seller:
Nigel Young
nigel.young@northsails.com
+353872514434
Cork, Ireland
20/12/2024