RELATIVELY new members to the Royal Southampton Yacht Club are Bob and Elaine Hazell, who live near Basingstoke, and own a Moody 336 Azrar III which is berthed on the Hamble. In addition to having full time careers, they are both involved in running the Offshore Cruising Club, Bob as immediate past Commodore and one of the skippers and Elaine as Social Secretary.
The club is built around Overlord, which is a magnificent 10-berth, 58-foot Bermudan sloop built in 1936 by Abeking & Rasmussen of Lemverder, Germany, for the Luftwaffe. She was part of a fleet of over 100 yachts, which were designed as 100 sq.metre, 50 sq.metre and 30 sq.metre yachts used at Lemverder for Officer training and in particular, for training Luftwaffe navigators. In 1945, Pelikan, as Overlord was then named, plus many more yachts in the fleet were taken as prizes of war at Kiel and later included in the reparations agreement, to become known as the “Windfall Yachts”.
Many of the yachts were distributed amongst the British Services and Pelikan was used by The Sappers at Chatham who re-named her Overlord. Between 1946 and 1955 she had a distinguished RORC record with the Sapper Yacht Club. In 1961 she was bought by Tony Venables, a 34-year-old retired Army Officer who had been her skipper while serving in the Royal Army Service Corps. Tony, who was planning to sell her after two years, to recoup his capital and the running costs, was persuaded to retain her and formed the Overlord Sailing Club, now the Offshore Cruising Club.
Now, she is the only 100 sq metre yacht still regularly sailing in the UK.
“Even though we now have over 200 members we still consider ourselves a group of friends and Tony is the Admiral of the club,’’ said Bob.
A book has just been published called The Windfall Yachts by Michael Cudmore, which traces the history of all known windfall yachts, from their original conception through to the present day. It is a fascinating read.
“Our members range from very experienced sailors, to those who had never set foot on a boat before sailing on Overlord. We are well aware that a crew has to be made up, not only of good sailors but also people who can cook, wash up, lift the spirits of the crew when they are feeling down, have a sense of humour and loads of enthusiasm. Guests are always welcome, they are our future members. The crewing of Overlord is structured with Skippers and Mates having to hold Yachtmaster and Coastal Skipper qualifications, and training encouraged to reach Watchkeeper status.
The sailing programme varies each year, depending on where the skippers and members wish to sail. Overlord is usually berthed at Gosport and sails the home waters during the spring and early summer, before setting off for cruising grounds that could include the west coast of Scotland to the north; South and West Ireland to the west; the Canaries to the south and Greece and Turkey to the east.
“Last year we cruised Brittany and the north and west coasts of Spain. In recent years we have visited Scandinavia taking in Denmark, Sweden and Norway; the Mediterranean and Adriatic as far as Croatia, returning via the islands of the Azores, and Scotland and the West coast of Ireland. Overlord has been ashore at the Elephant boatyard for her annual refit.
With a keen membership, and an enthusiastic refit chairman, expense is not spared in keeping Overlord in excellent condition. Over the last two years the galley and navigation area have been totally gutted, rebuilt and modernised, introducing state of the art equipment, but in keeping with a classic yacht. Other major refits have included a rebuild of the cockpit, and a total rerig including a new mast and spars reflecting her length. Her sail area combined with a folding propeller means that we can cruise at 8-9 knots in medium wind strengths. Overlord never fails to turn heads on entering distant harbours.
Said Bob: “The major advantage of sailing on Overlord is the ability to fly to distant ports, join a yacht in tip top condition, and then cruise with friends to areas that one might never normally have the opportunity of exploring. At the end of the cruise, one generally flies home from a different airport, leaving the next crew to take over.’’
He has been skippering Overlord since 1991, and between them they have clocked up many thousands of miles, visiting many fascinating and enriching coastlines and harbours.
