The
J-class yacht Velsheda was designed
by Charles Ernest Nicholson and
built in 1933 by Camper and
Nicholsons at Gosport, Hampshire.
She was built for businessman
William Lawrence Stephenson and
between 1933 and 1936, she won many
races and competed with other great
yachts such as Britannia, Endeavour
and Shamrock V.
She was laid up in 1937 and was
re-launched after a complete rebuild
in 1997.
Initial career
Designed by Charles Ernest Nicholson
and built by Camper & Nicholsons in
1933 for Mr W.L. Stephenson,
managing director of Woolworth
retail shops, she was built in 1933
at Gosport. She was Nicholson's
second design for a J Class and
Stephenson's second big yacht.
Velsheda was named after
Stephenson's three daughters, Velma,
Sheila and Daphne. She raced with
the greatest names in classic
yachting including Britannia,
Endeavour and Shamrock V between
1933 and 1936.
In her second season she won more
than 40 races and achieved an
outstanding record of success at
regattas from Southend to Dartmouth.
Other venues included Torbay,
Swanage and of course the Solent,
all under the control of the very
famous Captain Fred Mountifield. The
permanent racing crew at that time
was probably around 16 men and this
would have been augmented to around
30 for racing. When not required for
sail changes, spare crew were moved
to below decks.
In her 1930s heyday, she represented
the most advanced technical design
for spars, rigging, sails, deck gear
and ropes. Her masts were aluminium,
made by bending plates and riveting
them together. Sails were made from
the new Terylene threads and deck
gear now included winches for easier
handling of sheets. The standing
rigging was solid rod, even in the
1930s, but with so much stretch in
the rigging and systems it was
inevitable that J Class masts could
not be held in column and would
collapse in stronger winds. In
anything above a force 3, there was
serious concern about holding the
rig in place without collapse.
Below decks accommodation was
limited to just the main saloon,
owners quarters aft, and storage for
sails and equipment forward.
By 1937 she was laid up in a mud
berth on the River Hamble and became
derelict. Many sailors remember
visiting her - one recalls sailing
in the annual Warming Pan race at
Hamble, and all the visiting crew
being taken up the river to their
overnight accommodation on Velsheda.
Subsequent restoration
Velsheda was rescued from her Hamble
mud berth in 1984 by Terry Brabant,
who economically refitted her for
charter work with a new steel mast
and limited interior. Still without
an engine she sailed regularly along
the UK South Coast on Charter Work
and occasionally ventured to the
Mediterranean and Caribbean. She had
a chequered career: whilst on
charter during the early 1990s
Velsheda visited the UK East Coast
where she found herself on the beach
on a falling tide. Fortunately she
was recovered safely.
Occasionally she raced in the annual
Round the Island Race and although
in poor condition, she was still an
impressive sight, competing the 60
mile course in quick time. She was
laid up and moored at Gosport in
1995/6.
She was purchased in 1996 as a bare
hull from the bankrupt C & N yard in
Portsmouth Harbour. Southampton
Yacht Services on the River Itchen
were then commissioned to undertake
a major rebuild including a new one
piece carbon fibre mast and inboard
diesel engine installation for the
first time. She was re-launched in
November 1997.
Dutch businessman Ronald de Waal
(from European retail fashion chain
WE, formerly HIJ/HEY/ZIJ) bought
Velsheda in 1999 and has campaigned
her extensively in the Maxi and
classic racing circuits in the
Caribbean and in the Mediterranean
sea.
