CONSTRUCTION: One
inch pitch pine on steam bent oak frames of one and half by
one and a quarter inches, copper fastened. The frames are
spaced at seven inches. The keel is English elm
and the ballast keel of lead, 3 tons. The decks
are one inch pine, GRP sheathed.
Coamings, rails, deck fittings and interior trimmings are in
teak. The hull is copper sheathed.
RIG: Masthead cutter
with running backstays. She is rigged for roller
or slab reefing and there are twin forestays.
MAST: Hollow silver spruce
with double spreaders.
SAILS: Old main, new main, yankee, genoa,
jibs No.1 No.2 and No. 3,
staysails No.1 and No.3,
cruising chute.
ENGINE: Perkins 4107
36 hp.
WATER: 60 gallons .
FUEL: 22 gallons.
GROUND TACKLE: Large CQR
with 37 fathoms chain. Danforth kedge.
Electric windlass.
STEERING: Wheel.
AUTOPILOTS: Navic wind vane.
Autohelm 3000 .
DINGHY: Inflatable with outboard.
NAVIGATIONAL: Log, echo sounder,
GPS .
ACCOMMODATION: There are
quarter berths port and starboard under the doghouse forward
of which the galley and chart table are either side.
The saloon has two settee berths. The
fo’cs’le is very roomy and is presently used for sail
and warp stowage with a baby Blake toilet amidships.
MYSTERY
Robert
Clark’s award winning design broke new ground in 1935.
The concept of her masthead cutter rig with the mast further
aft than was usual thus putting more sail area in the
powerful foretriangle and reducing the huge and unwieldy
mainsails of the time was hailed as revolutionary.
Her lines are sweet, her construction strong yet light.
Her accommodation was regarded as comfortable and spacious.
When the first Mystery was launched in 1936 she got rave
reviews for her sailing qualities, proving herself very fast
and weatherly with a perfectly balanced hull which
allowed the yacht to steer herself even on a beam reach.
Some twelve yachts of this class were built but as was
common at the time, although the basic lines and rig were
identical, variations to the detail varied. Thus
with our example of 1937 we have wheel steering and a
doghouse. The accommodation plan however
conforms precisely to the original (as per drawing).
Click on
these plans to enlarge them
What we know of this yacht’s recent history begins
with a circumnavigation 1972 to 1975 UK to UK. We are
told that she rounded the Horn and survived a force 11 in
the South Atlantic without any mishaps. In the 1980’s she
was sailed to the Med. and thereafter was cruised for a
number of months yearly, mainly in the Aegean and Turkish
waters. For
the last three years she has not cruised but has been moored
in the water and hauled and painted as necessary (the last
time was in May 2000 when the topsides were
repainted).
This yacht has certainly proved herself a practical
cruiser and has looked after those sailing her.
She is a classic of importance being the start of the
illustrious career of Robert Clark who then used the basic
lines he had conceived for Mystery to build Ortac in 1937,
which was still racing at Cowes week in the 1970’s.
This yacht is an
exciting project for those capable of hard work and /or
investment.
