Altair

Type

Schooner

Period

20th Century

Nation

Great Britain

Overview: Altair is a 108-foot gaff-rigged topsail schooner designed by the celebrated Scottish naval architect William Fife III and built at his family's Fairlie yard on the Firth of Clyde. She was launched as yard number 789 in May 1931 and is regarded as one of the finest surviving large Fife schooners, having become, since her 1987 restoration, a benchmark for authenticity in the classic yacht world. Specifications: LOA is 133' 10" / 40.79m, LOD 108' 4" / 33.02m, LWL 77' 9" / 23.71m, Beam 20' 4" / 6.20m, Draft 13' 11" / 4.25m, with an original rig of gaff-schooner and construction of wood. She is carvel-built with teak planking on oak frames, bronze fastened, with a teak backbone, webbed steel floors, and a teak deck laid over plywood, and is powered by a Gardner diesel engine fitted during her 1987 restoration. Service History: Altair was commissioned in 1929 by Captain H. MacCaw, whose brief to Fife called for "a sound, safe cruiser; safe to go to the South Sea Islands with no difficulty", though he never made the voyage and sold her after two years. She passed to Walter Runciman, then in 1938 to Sir William Verdon-Smith, before being taken up by the Admiralty for war service; postwar she left British waters under Portuguese ownership before Miguel Sans Mora based her in Barcelona for 34 years, followed by a Spanish family and, from 2005, an American owner who has campaigned her successfully in Mediterranean and Caribbean regattas. Notable Facts: She was restored at Southampton Yacht Services from 1985-87 by skipper Paul Goss and one of the Fairlie Restorations creators, Albert Obrist, and truly set the standard for all subsequent classic yacht restorations. The dyed cream Dacron used for her sails was developed by sailmakers Ratsey & Lapthorn to resemble Egyptian cotton, reflecting the owner's desire even for the sails to appear original, a technique soon copied by other classic yachts. She later underwent further yard work in 1999 at Cantieri Beconcini in La Spezia and additional restorations in 2007-08 and 2020-22, and remains one of the very few classic yachts afloat with an unbroken Lloyd's classification.