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Foto: kospictures.com /2)After 1930, however, her time seemed to have come to anend. The Big Class disappeared, an era was over, and legendaryyachts were either sunk (like Britannia, after the death of KingGeorge V in 1930, according to his will) or demolished, or theysimply faded away. Only Lulworth was saved from the scrapyardwhen, in 1947, she was bought by Irene and Richard Lucas.By that time, she had already had a string of owners and wasnow lying, a dilapidated hulk, in a muddy creek of the RiverHamble. Richard Lucas was a true visionary: only months before,he had already saved the J-Class yacht Endeavour frombeing scrapped, literally hours before she was due to be brokenup. Richard, who had also won a silver medal for rowing inthe 1920 Olympics, saw the great importance of saving theseyachts for future generations.Die Eignersuite (oben) ist ebenso stilsicher und weitgehendoriginalgetreu wie das Deckslayout // The owner’s suite (above)and the layout of the deck are both stylish and as true to theoriginal as possibleLulworth was therefore restored, or rather repaired at theoriginal builder’s yard, White Brothers of Southampton, butonly to a state in which she could, just, survive the next 40years, serving as a houseboat in a mud berth on the Hamble.Irene Lucas recalls, »Selling up and having a large boat as ahouse rather than a small boat for the weekends was very muchthe ‘in’ thing to do back in the 1950s, and we never regrettedour decision. Some people thought we were nuts – until the daySouthern TV came to make a documentary about us. After seeingthe programme, many friends called to say they had neverrealised how lovely Lulworth was. My favourite comment wasfrom a lady who said she looked ‘beautifully nautical’.«During the summer of 1990, the fate of the yacht took another,decisive twist. Richard had already passed away in 1968and Irene had been living on board by herself for 18 years –but she was never lonely. She was embedded in the strong com-67