Used as a sail training vessel for the Royal Engineers and sailed in the Baltic.
“1968, skipper was Col Stan Townsend, retired, he lived in Parabola Road, Cheltenham. Frequented AAC Chepstow.” – Geoff Smith
“Being in the military in the early 70’s I had the singular privledge of crewing for Lt Colonel Townsend, Skipper of Ragna R, in 1972. We made the journey from Kiel to Sweden, Denmark and back to Germany, travelling westward through the Gota and Trollhatten Canals emerging in Gothenberg, then west to Aarhus, finally returning to the BKYC. Such a memorable time. Would love to see Ragna again, if not I would like to find a library picture, if anyone knows an archive source. Stan (Townsend) said he had never taken the vessel on this journey and was quite anxious, but apart from the many locks, storms on the Vattern and Vanern we were victorious, managing to sail under the bridge at Gothenburg at low tide avoiding a mast collision. Anyway, happy days, hardly a mis-spent youth! Certa Cito” – B Murphy.
“I crewed the Ragna R in the Baptist in 1976 while serving with the RAPC App college, I can’t remember the name of the skipper /owner but I think he might have been a retired army officer. It’s nice to see she is still going and I can remember my 2 weeks in the Baltic as if it were yesterday. One vivid memory was sailing the boat in a force 7/8 and the skipper somehow falling overboard and receiving an horrific rope burn to his hand. Somehow we managed to get him back on board!” – Ross Seaman.
She is now used for RYA sailing courses and skippered by Charles Telfer (RYA Yachtmaster, Instructor, Examiner). UK contact: 01604 412397
She is coded for commercial use under the UK MCA Code of Practice for Small Commercial vessel. In 2010 she was berthed in St Katharine Dock by the Tower in London and only used privately.
2012 – carrying out complete hull and topsides strip and repaint and revarnish, antifoul,and deck repair.
2018 – Ragna R is now berthed in Haslar Marina, Gosport and is now exclusively for recreational and private sailing. After her refit of new mast and rigging, her sail wardrobe was replenished with new mainsail, no 1,2 and three foresails plus a new Cruising chute which with the original spinnaker completes her recent refurbishment.
“March 2021: Bought be myself from Charles Telfer and moved from Haslar Marina to the Elephant Boatyard for assessment for return to seaworthiness. That turned out to be Ragna R’s last sea journey as, following a full survey, she was declared as being at ‘end of life’ without full restoration.
In June 2022 the yacht was moved to a hardstanding near Chichester Marina where she’ll be protected from further deterioration whilst she awaits rescue by someone with very deep pockets.
Since arriving at her new home in Chichester, we’ve completely stripped the paint and antifoul off to expose any damage to the planking. She turns out to be in remarkably good condition. However, the steel frames are so badly corroded that 50% of them need replacing. That’s incredibly invasive surgery for an old yacht plus nobody knows how to do it.
We’re now in the process of erecting a semi-permanent shelter over the yacht. I’ve attached a few pictures.” Stephen L Card
