Robertson 1929 "JULIETTE"

Design n° 505 A of G.L. Watson Office in 1928, JULIETTE was masterly built by Alexander Robertson & Sons of Sandbank in Scotland with yard number 180.

ACCOMMODATIONS

The interior fittings, mostly restored to their original state in 1992, can accommodate 6 people in 3 double cabins in the original layout.

- At the foot of the mahogany companionway in the centre of the yacht, a small passageway leads to starboard to the owner's cabin and to port to a toilet.

- Forward, the galley is located on the port side; through the toilet room accessible on the starboard side is an engine room where the generator and the charger/inverter are located. The remainder of the former crew quarters has been converted into a double cabin forward of the galley.

- At the very front, behind a watertight door, the double chain storage.

- The engine is placed in the axis of the boat at the front of the mast and is consequently in the galley with the electrical panel positioned above the engine box.

- At the back of the companionway, and occupying the whole width of the boat: the saloon and the double cabin at the back.

- The deck house, which overlooks the cockpit and the helm station, is also accessible from this aft cabin, which allows access to the helm station from inside the boat in heavy weather without having to go through the deck.

MAINTENANCE

In order to continue sailing safely in the years to come, it was necessary to ensure the structural soundness of the bilge and the frames ends and to replace the damaged metal floors, which are more than 90 years old, so that the hull could regain its original reliability. As this inspection and the necessary replacements required the removal and dismantling of a large amount of equipment to gain access to the bottom of the boat, it was decided to take advantage of this to carry out a more complete restoration, including the recaulking and painting of the hull, the overhaul of the mast, a complete overhaul of the electrical installation and the improvement of various equipments. The Gardner engine showed such weaknesses after the first few trips out of the yard that it was decided to replace it with a similar, but new model after 60 years of service. This work began in 2019 and was completed at the end of 2021 when the new engine was installed. The importance of the work and the irruption of Covid, which caused months of downtime due to the closure of the site, explain the duration of this work campaign.

EQUIPMENTS

Now used for pleasure boating, often only the owner and his wife, JULIETTE is equipped with the corresponding facilities:

• For short-handed manoeuvring with the mainsail, genoa and staysail furlers and the Barient self-tailing winches, 3 of which are electric (1 for the mainsail, 2 for the genoa).

• To anchor in safety with 2 chains of 100 m of 16 and 14 mm and a powerful windlass Lofrans of 3500 W.

• For a pleasant stay on board with 2 toilets and 2 electric marine macerator toilets, a pressurised water system, a water heater and a 6 places dishwasher.

• The electrical equipment is powered by a service battery bank of 16 LiFePo4 Lithium cells delivering 300A at 24V and two Optima batteries for engine starting. They are powered by a Dynamica mini 40 generator and managed by a Victron Quatro 5000w inverter/combo charger.

SAILS and RIGGING

• The wardrobe of 3 sails provides 270 m² of upwind sail area:

• 96m² battened mainsail, in spectra covered with taffeta

• 31 m² dacron genoa, on Profurl ED 52 furler controlled from the helm station

• Double ply dacron staysail of 43 m², on manual furler (a curved track in front of the mast makes it self-tacking).

• The 12.7 mm single strand NS22 Norseman rigging was replaced in the USA in 1989.

• The mast and rigging have been systematically inspected and overhauled every 10 years.

• Auxiliary engine Gardner 6-cylinder, 10-litre displacement engine cooled by a fresh water circuit circulating with an exchanger placed outside on the port side of the hull. A 6LB model developing 125 HP at 1100 rpm replaces since the end of 2020 the old 6LWS model of 96 HP placed in 1959.

• The auxiliary engine is fed by a 400 l fuel tank (refurbished in 2020). The generator set tank of 125 litres + the auxiliary tank of 80 litres, have a transfer pump that can feed the auxiliary engine if necessary.

• The stainless steel drive shaft, which ends in a variable pitch propeller on the starboard side, was replaced by Hundested in 2009, manufacturer of the system.

HISTORY

HOW PRETTY POLLY WAS BORN

Sir Thomas Kennedy Laidlaw, Privy-Council for Scotland of H.M. George V, formerly owner of Lufra, desiring a new boat, entrusted the George Lennox Watson firm (who had designed Britannia), with the design of the future Pretty Polly, this is 1928, the 505 A design is drawn up by R.J. Barnett. And construction entrusted to the Robertson shipyard.

For some time in the King's entourage , the Robertson shipyard has been relied upon because the King recommended this shipyard because of an emergency repair done to Meteor, a yacht of his cousin the Kaiser, with which the two monarchs were very pleased and in thanks , not wanting any honors, Robertson asked for a "good word" for potential clients. The anecdote and documented in an article in Classic Boat from June 2008, but which was told to me by David Hutchinson, a descendant of Alexander Robertson.

The request was; "I would like a beautiful, comfortable, fast boat that will stand up well to winter storms in Scotland, when it is ready call me." This was told to me by Caroline Corbalis daughter of Thomas, granddaughter of T.K. Laidlaw. The sail number 11, chosen because it was an auspicious number for T.K. and the name Pretty Polly and that of the horse T.K. admired most, a mare belonging to his friend Major Eustache Loder, like him a racehorse breeder (Pretty Polly is still considered one of the 10 best racehorses of all time).

Please note, Pretty Polly was baptized to the Royal Yacht Squadron.

HOW SHE BECAME MOONBEAM

In the aftermath of the war, during a regatta in the Solent, Colin Mac Neil saw his Moonbeam overtaken with no power to resist by Pretty Polly. After the regatta, in the Squadron Saloons, he met Robert (Robin) Laidlaw, and asked him to call him on the day he wanted to sell Pretty Polly, and so Pretty Polly became Moonbeam Junior, and then Moonbeam, when Mac Neil sold the first Moonbeam.This was told to us by Gordon, Colin Mac Neil's son.