CLASSIC SIX METRE NEWSLETTER

- 7-
drawn close to the Finnish coast. In the
entire history of the Baltic Sea Cup races
during the Soviet period, there was only one
case of a (failed) attempt to get to Finland.
Being a national class, they became the
training vessel for a generation of USSR
skippers. There are more than forty L-6’s at Saint Petersburg of which half are currently in
sailing condition.Other L-6’s are in the Baltic countries, the Ukraine (Black Sea) and as far
away as the Far East of Russia (the Sea of Japan).
Founded in 2001, the L-6 national association has revived the more than 150 year-old
tradition of the 100 Mile Race. It is said that, in 1852, six British yachtsmen, smarting after
the America debacle, set sail with their six yachts to wreak revenge on another country. They
arrived at Saint-Petersburg just in time to participate in the newly instituted annual 100 Mile
Race from Kronshtadt Island around Nerva Island and back. On 18 th and 19 th June 1852, the
British yacht “Claimor” won the race in 14 hrs 48 min - which still stands as the record.
Course of the 100 Mile Race
Vadim Manukhin is the owner of the L-6, Nika (Victory), president of the Russian L-6
Association and a professor at the Marine Technical University. J. Scott Rohrer is a
former owner of Sixes and curator of the Seattle Center for Wooden Boats’ 40 ft. loa
Universal Rule R-boat Pirate.
A set of plans for every Six (Part II)
In last year’s letter, we mentioned sources of plans for the architects Camatte, Fife, McGruer
and Mylne – and also the plans archived by Norske Veritas for the Scandinavian Sixes it
surveyed during their construction.
We can add David Boyd's drawings which are held by The Archivist, Argyll & Bute Council,
Kilmory, Lochgilpead, Scotland, PA31 8RT and the Camper & Nicholson ones at The
National Maritime Museum, Woolwich. Fife's plans including Six-Metres are now almost all
held by Fairlie Restorations, Unit 4, Port Hamble, Hants SO31 4NN, England
(duncan@fairlierestorations.com).
We have also found an additional archive of Camatte plans near Bordeaux and we have been
notified of the new ownership of the Mylne archives by Ace Marine at Fife.
The National Naval Museum of Oslo has plans for many of Johan Anker’s boats. In the 2003
issue of this letter, Tim Street mentioned that Knud Reimers’ plans for FIN 65 Bambi had
been found at the Maritime Museum in Stockholm and that Christian Jensen’s plans for N 71
Flapper were thought to be in the municipal museum of Soon, Norway.
There remain, however, many Sixes whose plans are permanently lost.
Until recently, the only solution for these boats was to “take off” their lines manually and to
ask a naval architect to produce a set of “as is” plans.