Could the International Rule 10-Metre be the most perfect of all the Metric classes? 58 ft/ 18 m of overall length is enough to wow - if RITA IV doesn't already do that by looks - yet handy enough to sail and race with family and friends. And RITA IV brings that extra dimension of being a William Fife design, and, what's more, a former Royal Yacht.
Could the International Rule 10-Metre be the most perfect of all the Metric classes? 58 ft/ 18 m of overall length is enough to wow - if RITA IV doesn't already do that by looks - yet handy enough to sail and race with family and friends. And RITA IV brings that extra dimension of being a William Fife design, and, what's more, a former Royal Yacht. Rescued from oblivion by a passionate syndicate of died-in-the-wool yacht racing aficionados and superbly restored at David Viera and Miguel Ministro's Absolute Yachts, the result is structurally sound, fair, fast, and a true delight to the eye - in fact the definition of 'Fast and Bonnie'.
Brokers Comments
Could the International Rule 10-Metre be the most perfect of all the Metric classes? 58 ft/ 18 m of overall length is enough to wow - if RITA IV doesn't already do that by looks - yet handy enough to sail and race with family and friends. And RITA IV brings that extra dimension of being a William Fife design, and, what's more, a former Royal Yacht. Rescued from oblivion by a passionate syndicate of died-in-the-wool yacht racing aficionados and superbly restored at David Viera and Miguel Ministro's Absolute Yachts, the result is structurally sound, fair, fast, and a true delight to the eye - in fact the definition of 'Fast and Bonnie'.
Restoration
By Absolute Projects, Setubal, Portugal
- Keel up restoration saving structural items where possible
- Deck arrangement and structures replicating the original configuration
- New rig
- Conforming to Lloyd's Rules and Regulations International Classes
- Conforming to the International Ten Metre Class Association Rules
DAVID VIERA OF ABSOLUTE PROJECTS:
"We were perfectly aware that most of the wood and metal structures of RITA IV were beyond any possible repair. The main backbone structures, the stem, wood keel, sternpost, horn timber and deadwoods needed to be replaced.
"The upper clamp/ beam shelf also needed replacement: it was found pitted with too many holes and damage in the deck beam pockets. The lower longitudinal bilge stringers could be saved and were reinstalled after repairs.
"All the deck beams, cockpit and hatch carlins were replaced, not only for poor condition, but also because the deck layout had been changed over the years and the project was to bring RITA IV back to her original design.
"Most of the original Honduras mahogany planking above the waterline could be saved, though requiring "surgical“ restoration. Many of the original steam bent timber frames were in good shape; some needed restoration but we were able to re-use most of them. The main steel frames were all too damaged and corroded; none could be saved and the decision was to replace them with new main wood frames following Lloyd‘s Scantlings for the International Metre Classes.
"The lead keel was found asymmetric and was corrected. All the original bolts and screws were replaced by new ones in silicon bronze; all the copper nails (attaching the bent frames to the planking) were also replaced.
"The overall hull shape and geometry of RITA IV was checked and corrected to the original offsets."
JOHN LAMMERTS VAN BUEREN OF PROJECT TIMBER SUPPLIERS TOUCHWOOD:
"Touchwood was honored with the order to supply all wood for this project: the Sitka spruce for the spars, deck beams, stringers and shelf; the mahogany for the hull planking and the teak for the deck. We were lucky to source a superb, veneer grade Sipo mahogany log of 11 metres in length which was quarter-sawn to specification for the hull planking and superstructures. The result is structurally sound, fair, fast, and a true delight to the eye."
History
William Fife III Design No. 736
The stronghold of activity and interest in the International Rule 10-Metre Class has always been the Baltic Sea and its associated coastlines out to Norway. In Denmark, royal approval and patronage ensured a strong 10mR fleet there through the 1920s and into the 1930s, often with six boats coming to the start line. Even as relatively recently as the mid-1980s, the register of Dansk Forening for Ældre Lystfartøjer (the Danish association for older pleasure craft) included four active 10mRs, though by then dedicated cruisers.
For his third 10mR, and fourth RITA, King Christian X commissioned this beautiful design from Scotland's William Fife III for building by English ship and boat builders John I. Thornycroft & Co's boat, truck and engine building venture in Copenhagen's Sydhavn, Thornycroft Scandinavia A/S, established in 1913.
The yard's master boatbuilder, C.F. Hansen - originally from Helgoland - had previous experience of working to the famous Scotsman's exacting specifications in the build of serial racing yacht (and Copenhagen department store Magasin du Nord - “the Harrods of Scandinavia”) owner William Vett’s Fife-designed 6-Metre BONZO, in which Vett won the 6mR Silver Medal at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games 6mR and 8mR Classes regatta sailed at Le Havre.
Construction of RITA IV was closely supervised by the King's Sailing Master, Holger Rodkjær. Fife's specs in metric units included 29mm mahogany planking of not less than 560kg/m3 density. Her inventory included two masts: the racing one of silver spruce, and a second made from Danish larch. Although Lloyd's Register of yachts credits her original sail inventory to the English Ratsey & Lapthorn loft - a suit made in 1925, possibly for RITA III - the contemporary Danish press mentions only a suit by Johan Freytag of Copenhagen.
RITA IV was christened at launching by Queen Alexandrine on Saturday 17th April 1926 with her husband present, and Lieutenant John W. Thornycroft in attendance representing the parent company. Her maiden sail was two weeks later, on Saturday 8th May, from the yard via a cruise of The Sound to her mooring at Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub (Royal Danish Yacht Club)'s Langeline clubhouse just north of Copenhagen city centre. Accompanying the King were Rodkjær, yard director R.F. Newman, and the King's long serving professionals Petersen and Pedersen.
RITA IV was raced by the King until the end of the 1929 season. A new Royal 10mR was commissioned from Johan Anker, and from the 1930 season RITA IV became KARAMA under the ownership of Danish shipowner A.P. Møller. Although it is believed that during 25 years with Møller KARAMA was mainly a cruiser, he kept her engineless. She remained thus until 1955 when a 6-cylinder Penta motor was installed in Denmark on transfer to her third owner, Pierre Poulain, whose oil tanker shipping line, Société des Transports Maritimes Pétroliers (STMP) was then a very significant client of A.P. Møller's Odense Staalskibsværft shipyard on the Danish island of Fyn.
Yacht Club de France and Société Nautique de Marseille member Poulain had KARAMA shipped first to Le Havre, then to Marseilles for the start of a brief Mediterranean period. Her second French owner from 1960 was Le Havre shipping insurer, newspaper owner and politician, Yves Chegaray, but this seems to have been a short-lived affair: the 1961 edition of Lloyd's Register of Yachts listed her as "Sold to U.S.A."
She is recorded on the west coast there under various names: as RAPIER in the 1970s when owned by David Emery Baxter at Newport Beach and Morro, California, and pictured in a learned Danish 1980s publication as still in California under the name KALALAU.
By the early years of the 21st Century her structure had deteriorated to the extent that she no longer sailed. Yacht designer and classic yacht enthusiast Doug Peterson did much to stir interest in saving this Fife gem. By 2008 she had been shipped to Brian Pope's Ocean Yacht Company yard in Cornwall, England to connect with a restorer. And three years later this happened: shipped again to Setubal, Portugal in 2011 for the beginning of the process by David Vieira and Miguel Ministro of Absolute Projects that has resulted in the magnificent yacht she is again, and is related elsewhere here.
Since 2015, as RITA IV again (it always remained engraved on her rudder head), she has been beautifying Lac Leman, Switzerland, and racing again to the manner born.
KING CHRISTIAN XAND HIS RITAs
1899 RITA (Komm. Bonnesen/ Christian N. Laudrup, Copenhagen 1894 as PRINCESS)
1912 RITA II (10mR d & b Max Oertz, Hamburg, 1907 as PINGUIN II)
1922 RITA III (10mR Johan Anker/Anker & Jensen, Asker, Norway 1919 as CYRANO)
1926 RITA IV (10mR Wm Fife III/Thornycroft Scandinavia, Copenhagen)
1930 RITA V (10mR Johan Anker/Anker & Jensen, Asker, Norway)
1937 RITA VI (10mR-Cruiser E Wedell-Wedellsborg/Nordbjærgs Bådeværft, Copenhagen)
Construction
- All scantlings to Lloyd‘s International Metre Class Rules
- Mahogany planking (25-30% original)
- On laminated mahogany frames (all new at restoration)
- All new bronze screw fastenings
- 2 x Intermediate oak riveted timbers (mostly original)
- All new copper rivets
- All new bronze strap floors and stainless steel web floors
- Bronze lifting eyes
- Sitka spruce new deck beams, stringers and beam shelf
- Original fir bilge stringers
- Composite ply and laid teak deck
- Mahogany deck structures
Deck Equipment and Ground Tackle
- Raw teak laid ply composite deck
- Varnished Sipo mahogany covering boards and king planks
- Raw teak toerail
- Varnished Sipo mahogany deck structures
FROM AFT
- Bronze rubbing strake at taffrail
- Bronze backstay chainplate
- Leather covered ash blocks for adjustable topmast backstay
- Bronze ensign staff socket
- Bronze mooring fairleads and rubbing strakes port and starboard
- Teak and bronze mooring cleat on centreline
- Flush lazarette hatch
- Original engraved bronze rudder head
- Bronze Fife-style engraved 'keyhole' deck plate
- Metal tube tiller; bronze yoke; turned wood end; modern removable extension tiller
- Bronze spinnaker cheek sheaves port and starboard
- Bronze mainsheet padeyes
- Leather covered ash blocks for adjustable running backstays
STEERING COCKPIT AREA
- Ray teak laid sole
- Raw teak raised seating port and starboard
- Folding teak grated and mahogany foot rest/ seat
- Yanmar engine instrumentation
- Engine control
- Leather covered ash mainsheet blocks
- Bronze mainsail sheave blocks port and starboard
- Absolute 8.56 bronze mainsheet winch on centreline
- Raw teak cleats port and starboard
MAIN COCKPIT AREA
- Raw teak laid sole
- raised coamings to sides faired to trunk cabin fwd
- 2 x Absolute 8.46 secondary bronze winches port and starboard
- Raw teak cleats port and starboard aft of secondary winches
- 2 x Raw teak cleats port and starboard between secondary and primary winches
- 2 x Absolute 8.56 primary bronze winches port and starboard
- Bronze foresail track port and starboard with bronze and Tufnol GD cars
- 2 x Raw teak cleats port and starboard fwd of primary winches
- 2 x Large Dacron sheet tail bags under side deck port and starboard
- Large Dacron sheet tail bag under main sheet winch
- 2 x Quarter berths to port and starboard of steering cockpit
- Raw teak steps port and starboard ad fwd bulkhead
TRUNK CABIN
- Companionway sliding hatch
- Large butterfly skylight; bronze grills
- Bronze fairleads and rubbing strips mid deck (fenders/ mooring)
MAST POSITION
FORWARD TO WC COMPARTMENT:
- Smaller butterfly skylight over heads; bronze grills
- Raised Scandinavian style foredeck hatch
- 2 x Bullseye prism deadlights
- Bronze spinnaker pole stowage chocks
- Bronze padeye and sheave for pole downhaul
- Bronze and teak mooring cleat at centreline
FORWARD TO FOREPEAK
- 3 x Pipe cots
- Sail stowage
- Sitka spruce lockers to port and starboard
- Forehatch in deckhead
Accommodation and Domestic Equipment
Access via 5 x steps companionway ladder
GALLEY TO PORT AND STARBOARD UNDER HINGED MAHOGANY TOP SURFACES
TO PORT
- Top surface is fiddled
- Top opening refrigerator
- Dometic 'Origo Two' gimballed 2 x burner spirit hob
- Locker under
TO STARBOARD
- Top surface is large chart table
- Glasses/ cups rack
- Traditional nav instruments stowage at aft bulkhead
- Wooden sink
- Brass fawcet
- Stowage fwd of sink
- Locker under
- Ship's isolator panel
- Tank gauges for fresh water and diesel
SALOON
- Long "Concordia" style settee berths port and starboard
- Lockers under
- Saloon table stows at stbd fwd bulkhead
- Glasses locker at at stbd fwd bulkhead
- Flag pigeon holes at at port fwd bulkhead
- Butterfly skylight in deckhead
- LED lighting
FWD TO WC COMPARTMENT
- Dometic macerator electric toilet to starboard
- Locker to port
- Smaller butterfly skyli
Rig Spars and Sails
RIG
- Sitka hollow spruce mast, boom and spinnaker pole by Absolute
- 2 x Spreaders and jumpers
- Internal halyards
- 2 x Spreader downlights
- 2 x Absolute 8.30 bronze halyard winches
- 8 x Wood cleats
- Spruce folding boom crutch
SAILS
- In white Dacron by Europe Sails, Geneva
- 1 x Mainsail (2015)
- 3 x Genoas (2 x 2015; 1 x 2016)
- 1 x Symmetrical spinnaker (2015)
- 1 x Asymmetrical spinnaker (2016)
- 1 x Battle Flag replica of original King Christian X racing flag
CANVASWORK
- Covers for all deck houses and hatches
Mechanical Electrical and Tankage
MECHANICAL
- Yanmar 4JH4-TE 75hp Diesel under cockpit sole
- Traditional drive train; R&D flexible coupling
- 3 x Bladed Max Prop feathering propeller
- Vetus inlet strainer
- Vetus exhaust system w. waterlock and gooseneck
ELECTRICAL
- LED lighting
- Spreader lights
- House batteries
- Engine start batteries
TANKAGE
- Rigid plastic Vetus 60L diesel tank
- Deck filler; Vetus water separator
- Rigid plastic Vetus 66L fresh water tank
- Deck filler; filters
- Pressure water system
- Johnson Aquajet pressure pump
- Rigid plastic Vetus grey water sump tank with Whale electric pump
- Rigid plastic Vetus grey and black water holding tank w. associated plumbing
Navigation Communication and Electronics
- 3 x Raymarine MN100-2 Instrument repeaters at companionway hatch
Safety
- Whale double action manual bilge pump in cockpit sole
- Whale electric bilge pump
- Rule electric bilge pump with float switch
Other Equipment
- Fenders
- Dock lines
Image Credits
Main image: John Lammerts van Bueren
Sailing images: Société Nautique de Genève
Historic images: John Lammerts van Bueren/ Iain McAllister
Disclaimer
These particulars have been prepared from information provided by the vendors and are intended as general guide. The purchaser should confirm details of concern to them by survey or engineers inspection. The purchaser should also ensure that the purchase contract properly reflects their concerns and specifies details on which they wish to rely.
