BOB ALLEN We're probably all mad. Everyone in the marine industry, everyone in tall ships even more so. Taking strangers into a wildly variable environment where two highly active liquids interface, removing them from home comforts, tiring them out, watching them be seasick, ripping up their sleep patterns. Doing this in constructions of steel or wood (or GRP) sat in one wobbly liquid while trying to catch the other wobbly liquid in bits of cloth. At an angle. In the rain too sometimes. This may all be self-evident (well it is to 'us', them who does it and knows it works) but there is a bit of a gap. A gap in information, a gap in explaining what this square rig, tall ship lark is all about. People on the outside need a little convincing. Fore and aft sailors need a bit of convincing. Young and impressionable would-be trainees, and their blood relations who are sending them or letting them go or just stumping up the cash, need convincing. And I put all of this because I didn't want to start this story with the words 'There was this man called Bob'. There was this man called Bob. Bob Allen. Bob saw and liked what the Sea Cadets were doing with their brig Royalist. And twenty years before Royal Clipper he tried to do the same for P&O, big sailing cruise liner (big? 155 m on the hull, 10278 sq m of sail big). Did his best to convince P&O but nothing came of it. There is a second name that crops up in this: Colin Mudie, which ties in to why I am writing all this. Colin designed Royalist (we know that) and Bob had him run up the plans for the P&O clipper. Bob understood square rig, for young cadets and even for the general public. Understood it and believed it so much that he laid out explicit instructions in his will that his estate would go to build a 60 foot brigantine for the Sea Cadets. Designed by C Mudie. And I was to be his lead executor to ensure that it stayed that way. Now we're all mad. Mad but convinced about how good this square rig thing is. Mad and we have ideas, variations on how we use what we know. Different rigs, roller furling, disabled people, disadvantaged young people, replicas, conversions, xebecs. Mad, with ideas, but not always the money. Bob had his idea – sail training for younger sea cadets under square rig. And he was prepared to put his money to it. And damn it he went well before his time and set me loose to try and achieve his brigantine. Nice idea – steel, twin bilge keels, three crew plus eight trainees and set up more for day use with the possibility of 'overnighting'. For younger cadets – you have to be 13 ½ to sail on Royalist. Brigantine rig, and called Cavalier. Now I did some research and it seems that he didn't leave enough to pay for the whole vessel. Probably only about a third (this was 92/93) and though I did offer it to the Sea Cadets they rightly felt that they couldn't accept a part-funded project. What to do? Well, a Development Corporation somewhere up north said they were setting up a tall ship building and repair facility and offered to build the brigantine and invest in her completion. A 'result' and for a while it seemed it might happen but for reasons I have never quite understood this all fell through and I was back to square one. Now Mr C Mudie is fairly immersed in the world of square rig and is renowned for having ideas. One of which ran like this: he had designed a range of production GRP boats including an 18 foot twin bilge keel motor sailer. In an idle (sic) moment he revamped the hull up to 20 foot (if you know about GRP moulding you have a plug which is the shape of the hull which a (negative) mould is made from and then castings made from that. Adding bits to the original plug is not difficult). Make a nice open cockpit and twin masts with yards that slide up and down and you have a very nice 'gentleman's vessel' in which you and a friend (or your valet) can easily handle the rig. Remember 'mad + idea + money' – well this one fell at point three but Colin made up a couple of 1:12 scale models. And they sit in his office surrounded by all the other models. So it is the late 90's, I have failed to carry out Bob's wishes (twice now) and in conversation with the Great Architect I look over his shoulder at the model and ask how many I can have for the money. Two seems a reasonable number. So I do more research and make a third try at giving a project to the Sea Cadets. And they accept. There is a lot more to this story but the best bit is that there is now a 30 foot steel brig (called Bob Allen) working out of the Sea Cadet sailing school in Weymouth. And achieving 'sail training under square rig for younger cadets' in a way that I hope Bob would approve of. (There is a second hull awaiting completion). So what is so special? Having come all the way from 155m to 60 foot to 20 to 30 foot (42 foot sparred). She is steel for strength and long life. There is little in the way of intricate forming (a bit of bend in the way of the bilge) and so she is easily constructed. She has the same bilge keels as the 20 foot version so she can take the ground or sit on dry land without props or a cradle. She is quite beamy (9 feet) although not so wide that you would have problems taking her on a low loader. She has twin masts in tabernacles and the only novelty is that the yards descend on a halliard for sail stowing. Not furling – this is done with buntlines as normal – but for proper harbour stow it is safer to do this on deck. Not least you are hopefully inducting young cadets into square rig without too much that is scary and anyway they can wait until Royalist for the joy of running aloft. Big cockpit and almost the same number of bits of rope as any bigger brig. The rope sizes are smaller, the loads are lighter – you can haul three braces together in one hand, easily – and it can all be worked from the safety of the cockpit. The only other novelty is that main mast braces run to the fore mast, down and aft through yachty jammers, this being slightly better and easier than little belaying pins on the aft end of the cabin. There are belaying pins everywhere else though. What else? Very little fit out below. Since this is primarily a day boat and since chippy work adds to the cost the cabin is fairly bare. It is lined with Navyboard (vinyl fronted foam) to soften any contact with the steelwork. There is room for a chemical toilet and a galley. There is room to run canvas seats between the top of the bilge keels and the inside of hull. There is a full safety spec. including nav. Lights. There is a 30 hp engine and proper helm steering (so you can do proper 'helm's a lee' when tacking, not 'lee oh' with a tiller prodding your bottom). So does she work? Yes. Definitely, absolutely yes. Light airs of 8-10 knots and she is sailing, and tacking, making 2-3 knots. Everything is in easy reach and you can see every manoeuvre. And this last bit is probably what makes her special. In 'normal' big square rig you usually end up at one position for a sailing evolution - a brace maybe, and you probably see little of what is happening. On 'Bob Allen' you see it all: when it's 'haul spanker to windward' you are slacking the lee sheet with one hand, hauling the windward one with the other and probably ducking as the boom passes over. You see the whole thing. Not only does this mean that a cadet can be familiar with the various types of rope but also the parts of tacking. Or wearing. Or box hauling. And if you have someone who was looking to switch their ticket to square rig then they can in a day, or less, learn and do it all very quickly, without worrying that getting it wrong on a 'big' ship is going be ripping sails or straining crews. Which doesn't half add to your confidence. Oh yes – why two little brigs? Well, if you have a second one then you can have match racing. And you know what fun that would be. So thank you Colin for the idea, thank you Bob for the money and the understanding of what this square rig thing is all about. Still think we're all mad though. **** 1524 words Max May 2003