In those days the Colne Yacht Club at Brightlingsea used to put on a Sunday race for the One-Designs, and Lewis Worsp would tow a string of them down with one of his fishing smacks, which also carried a supporters club of wives, children and friends. A very happy time was had by all. I have a clock, presented to Peter for one 1st and three 2nd’s, 1937 for this series. Peter served in the navy during the war and was killed by a mine in February 1941.
My husband then wished to buy Duet, but Dudley wouldn’t accept money, for sentimental reasons, so in the end we swapped one of our clocks for Duet. This clock I still see when I visit his daughter who now lives in The Cotswolds.
From the end of the war my husband and I, and also our sons Richard and Rodney raced Duet regularly. I cannot trace exactly when we finally sold her, or to whom, but it must have been about 1952-53.
Duet was always considered a hard weather boat, but we always felt it was a combination of a heavy crew (we were all good do-ers!) and we also lacked the marvellous patience that some of the crews had in light winds. When I see the modern yachtsmen I am always amazed at how we got by, for we in Duet certainly hadn’t buoyancy tanks or waterproof clothing, although I think some of the boats were starting to acquire them by the 50’s.
The Restoration (Pictures from later refit)
The re-building of Duet after
becoming a total loss in November 1977. She had fallen 15 feet onto the concrete while
being hoisted for winter storage onto the first floor of the Wilkins Jam Factory. Her bows
were burst completely open, her fore-deck torn loose, the ends of her strakes shattered
when they were ripped from the stem, and the stem itself smashed by the impact.
During 1978, having failed to get any boatyard even to consider rebuilding her, her then
owners, Cecily and Walter Evans, were introduced to Geoff Bailey, as being an amateur
boat-builder and a professional expert in modern commercial glues. It took many hours of
devoted work, but he succeeded brilliantly and she is now one of the soundest boats in the
fleet and, remarkably for a clinker-built boat of her age, totally dry.
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Back on the water
