The Tumlaren class was adopted in 1937 by the then Royal St Kilda Yacht Club as their One Design class racing yacht.
Designed by the Dane Knud Reimers in 1935 the Tum fleet, of which there are 7 actively racing on Port Philip Bay in the Classic Yacht Association Sunday races.
Ettrick is no exception.
Build in 1955 by Ronstan Marine at Advantage Rd, Highett, Melbourne, Victoria. Ettrick was named Chanda and launched with varnished topsides, white below the waterline and a sky-blue boot top. She is planked in full length Douglas Fir with same wood spars.
Fast forward to 2012...
Ettrick was found on a mooring near Sandringham in a sad state.
She was purchased by Doug Jenkin and cradled in the shipwrights Ferdi Darley shed in Williamstown where Doug and family restored her to racing condition. Peeling back through the layers of paint, purple, orange, cream and white the true history was revealed.
When Doug took on the project, she was indeed purple, flew a hot pink spinnaker with purple porpoise stitched in the centre.
After a year or so in Ferdi’s shed Ettrick was launched with gloss white topsides, navy boot top and black antifoul and went on to win many of the classic races.
In February 2015 Doug sold Ettrick to her current owner, Gordon Tait.
Gordon continued with Doug’s excellent work to take the boat to another level of restoration.
Gordon used this opportunity to strip the boat right back and using Richard Blake as the shipwright they repaired and restored her to an elevated level.
New works conducted in 2019:
- Rebuild of the forward port quarter
- New deck beams, marine plywood forward of the mast, new bow roller and mooring cleats
- Complete mast restoration including new standing rigging, chainplates, sail track, bronze boom gooseneck, runners and vang, halyard blocks, mainsail sheave. 12 coats of Awlwood.
- In the cockpit a new thwart was fitted with new main sheet blocks, new Andersen underdeck winches, Servo jam cleats, A new tiller and rudder bushes were fitted.
- New paint with a new colour scheme, White gloss topsides with gold cove-stripe and black antifoul.
- All the bright work was taken right back to timber and using International Awlwood up to 10 coats of varnish was applied.
- In February 2023 further work was conducted with new two pack top sides, painted gold cove line, antifoul and varnish.
A new suite of Doyle sails was also purchased including Mainsail, Genoa and Jib.
This regatta winning Tum is ready to race – step aboard and enjoy the best one design classic racing on Port Philip.
$40,000
Please contact Gordon Tait, gordietait@gmail.com, 0417 866 259, for more information or to arrange inspection.
See also: ETTRICK- When Ronstan Was More Than Blocks And Shackles on Southern Woodenboat Sailing
