Tudor Rose had several owners in the fifties and was then bought by a Mr E W Crisp who during part of his ownership was believed to have been Commodore of the Colne Yacht Club. There is a plaque in the saloon which displays a number of medals won under his ownership, four RORC and the rest West Mersea Yacht Club.
During the mid to late sixties he had her substantially rebuilt. She was replanked in teak from keel to waterline, the iron keel was replaced by lead, a Sparlight mast of reduced height replaced the Reynolds and she was given a masthead rig, dispensing of course with the running backstays. A new Sabb 18 hp engine with variable pitch propeller was fitted. As this is much heavier than the Stuart Turner the lead keel has its centre of gravity further forward, presumably to maintain her fore and aft trim. The keel bolts are stainless steel and one was drawn last year in the course of repairing a damaged section of the wood keel aft of the lead. It was found to be in perfect condition. She was entered for the 1971 Fastnet Race and finished thirty-eighth in Class IV. At some point the quarter berth was removed and the space now houses the inflatable dingy.
She was bought by Adrian Espin in 1983 in a neglected state, Mr Crisp having died some years previously. He did a huge amount of restoration and refurbishment bringing her back to good seagoing condition. He kept her in Brightlingsea.
I bought her there from Mr Espin in 2005, repainted and revarnished her, also carrying out a number of minor repairs. I got a shipwright to replace the galvanised steel bolts (64 of them) fastening two steel fabricated frames and the iron floors to the planking, wood frames and the keelson at a cost of £500.
I sailed her out to Punta Umbria starting in May 2005 via Dartmouth, l’Abervrach, the west coast of Brittany, the north coast of Spain, the west coast of Portugal and the Algarve finally arriving in late July.
I have kept her in a marina there since, cruising every year between Cadiz and Lagos. It is an excellent and little known cruising ground with two navigable rivers to explore, the Guadiana on the Spanish Portuguese border and the Guadalquivir leading up to Seville. I go down mostly in late autumn and early spring when the weather is usually better than most English summers. There is an excellent boatyard in Punta Umbria where I have had her slipped scrubbed and anti fouled twice a year and, as necessary, the topsides repainted. They are also good shipwrights as they used to build wooden fishing boats and have done some minor repairs satisfactorily.
