Classic 28 - Classic 28ft 6 Tonner

Classic 28ft 6 Tonner. A true classic yacht, built in 1959 by William King of Burnham-on-Crouch to an F.B.R. Brown design.  Built to exacting standards for her owner with the very best materials.  3/4 inch teak planking on rock elm frames provide a sturdy and elegant foundation for this immaculate bermudian sloop.   Designed as a boat that would sail upright, would not draw too much water, and would provide as much comfort as can be had in a 6 tonner.  With beautiful lines and economical overhangs, Amble is a comfortable cruiser for three people.  Fully restored in 2013, she is now offered with an impressive inventory and considered specification and is ready to sail away to be admired and enjoyed in equal measure.  £35,000

In 1954 F.B.R. Brown designed the 6-ton Rundlet for himself, he wanted “a boat that would sail upright, would not draw too much water, and would provide as much comfort as can be had in a 6-tonner.”

Amble is Rundlet’s immediate successor and “practically identical” to her.  The changes made were small but interesting.  Though Amble has economical overhangs the counter is a little longer than Rundlet’s.  The alteration was made for the sake of appearance.

Design

The aim of the design is a comfortable cruiser for three people. Since the boat is under 24 ft L.W.L. and, therefore, too small for R.O.R.C. races, speed, both intrinsic and on R.O.R.C. rating, was left to take care of itself.  Speed, in a yacht, is never to be despised, and efficiency of rig and saving of unnecessary weight have not been lost sight of by the designer.

Amble is beamy.  Her designer says that she has demonstrated adequately that beam may be a substitute for draft even when sailing on the wind, and both the practical experience of recent years and the best current theory (at the time) of keel design indicate that this may be true.

The ballast/displacement ratio of 37 per cent is a good ratio in a boat of this size, planked in teak on Canadian rock elm timbers at 6 in centres, and with scantlings slightly in excess of Lloyd’s.

Though Amble is beamy, the architect has shown no tendency in the lines to run out to a full stern.  The lines aft are not pinched, but the hull shape falls into what may be called the “symmetrical” class.

The designer wrote of her early performance when she won her class at the Pattinson Cup and proceeded to gain a first and a third in the next two races: “Each of these occasions included a beat to windward in a smart breeze from the Sunk L.V. to Burnham.”  These are the very conditions under which the small, beamy yacht of moderate draft has been traditionally assumed to be at her worst; but of all man’s creations the sailing yacht is the most likely to baffle his reasoning.

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