William Fife III International 8-Metre 1929/1997 Refit - Project - Sold

Designed and built for the Queen of Spain, grand-daughter of Queen Victoria, OSBORNE is from the same 1928 design as SIRENA (now JACQUES EDOUARD), built in Cannes for General Sir Arthur Paget and claimed the most successful 2nd Rule 8mR in the Mediterranean in light to moderate winds. The late 1920s were dominant times for Fife’s 8mRs with his SASKIA and CARYL winning the Seawanhaka Cup, and such was OSBORNE’s continued potency that in 1990 ace metric designer Jacques Fauroux considered her ripe for modernisation, becoming a 2 x class winner at La Nioulargue, Saint-Tropez. Restored to original configuration by Fairlie Restorations in 1997, OSBORNE is now in need of a refit having not been sailed for the past four seasons and her price reflects this, offering a keely priced entré to classic 8-Metre racing, or fast cruising as it used to be done.

These are historic and do not portray the vessel’s current condition.

1998 - HARRY SPENCER, THETIS WHARF, COWES
- Replacement mast after damage. Designed by Theo Rye

1997 - FAIRLIE RESTORATIONS, HAMBLE
- New deck structures to original drawings
- Cockpit modifications
- Teak laid deck on plywood substrate
- Interior remodelling

1997 - HARRY SPENCER, THETIS WHARF, COWES
- Completely new spars and rigging designed by Theo Rye

1990 - ANTIBES, FRANCE - SUPERVISED BY JACQUES FAUROUX
- Cascover sheathed externally
- Resin sealed internally
- Modern rig (since replaced)
- Revised deck layout (since restored to original configuration)

WILLIAM FIFE & SON DESIGN No: 776
HERMANOS SAGREDO YARD No: 13

OSBORNE was designed and built for Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain, a grand-daughter of the UK's Queen Victoria. William Fife was the favourite designer of Kíng Alfonso XIII and OSBORNE wasn't the first Fife to be built on the Iberian peninsula's north coast, where the great and the good of Spain spent their summer holidays rather than in the sticky heat of further south. Before the First World War King Alfonso's 15-Metre HISPANIA was built by Astilleros Kapard at Pasajes/Pasaia, near San Sebastian, and his 10-Metre TONINO by Astilleros Nervion, Bilbao. Both yachts also survive.

This was a strong period in 6 and 8-Metre design by William Fife Jr (III). The Fife archive reveals that OSBORNE lines are identical to another Fife 8-Metre not built at Fairlie, SIRENA (Fife No. 768, now JACQUES EDOUARD) built for Captain Arthur Paget of Cannes by the local Attilio Chiesa et Fils yard. In 1935 correspondence with OSBORNE's then owner, William Fife stated that SIRENA had been "the most successful 8-Metre on the Mediterranean especially in light and moderate winds." (see Gallery)

The Hermano Brothers at Las Arenas, Bilbao were busy through the 1920s building the yachts an affluent coastal community demanded: mostly racing yachts to the International and French metric rules, by designers including William Fife and Morgan Giles from the UK, and Joseph Guédon from France. OSBORNE's drawings were delivered from Fairlie to Las Arenas by Diplomatic Bag via Madrid (see November 1928 letter from the Spanish Embassy, London to William Fife & Son in the Gallery).

But OSBORNE - named after either her owner's grandmother's summer residence on the Isle of Wight and/ or the UK Royal Yacht 1870-1908 - was born into turbulent times in Spain; ownership by the Queen would be short-lived. After her husband's abdication, the boat moved to French ownership from c1933, initially at Saint-Jean-de-Luz, near Biarritz.

Her first French owner was charismatic colonial Charley de Ricou, an aviator during the First World War and then a pioneer of air transport in French Indochina and Macau - and an electrical engineering graduate who held senior positions in the the electrification of Vietnamese cites and Macao. Returning to France in the late 1920's he became involved in the automobile industry and took to yachting for his leisure, at one point owning two ex Spanish royal family 8-Metres and a 6-Metre. During the Second World War he is believed to have been a prominent member of the Resistance.

Subsequent owners from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s, always on France's western seaboard, included:

1935-1939
J[oseph?]. Trello, of Concarneau, a member of Societé du Sport Nautique de l’Oest who also owned the former King of Spain's Fife designed and built 8-Metre HISPANIA II (by then KAXI).

1939 -19??
Paul Fortin, of Angers, a YC de France member, and one of the leading lights in the development of sailing on the River Maine by Cercle de la Voile d'Angers. OSBORNE was then moored at La Trinité-sur-Mer.

1947-1952
Renamed GIL
M., later Mme., Oller of Paris, but moored at La Trinité-sur-Mer.

After the 1952 edition of Lloyd's Register of Yachts GIL/ OSBORNE was no longer listed and, at least via UK sources, there is a period less recorded in her life - though she may have remained at La Trinité into the 1980s.

After 1990 modernisation by Jacques Faroux in the ownership of Philippe Griset, and given back her original name, OSBORNE became a regular class winner at La Nioularge, Saint-Tropez (forerunner of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez) during the early 1990s, sometimes with Eric Tabarly aboard.

In 1997 OSBORNE returned to Spanish ownership with Luis Abenza who sent her to Fife specialists Fairlie Restorations for a makeover return to the boat her original designer would recognise. In 1998 she was awarded the Fundacion Hispania restoration prize at the 13th Trofeo Almirante conde de Barcelona regatta at Palma de Mallorca, as well as coming 2nd in class, and she participated in the Coupe Cartier authentic vintage division at that year's World Championship on the Lake of Geneva.

After early 2000s Palma de Mallorca based ownerships by Ian Peters (UK) and Ulrich Weber (Germany), OSBORNE returned to the port of her birth under local ownership and, based at Getxo, Bilbao.

OSBORNE finally arrived close to the house at Cowes she was named after in 2015 when she transferred again to English ownership and became a regular at the British Classic Yacht Club's Cowes Panerai Regatta. More recently she has been part of a Chichester-based charter fleet, but the pandemic took its toll on this new venture.

©2023 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

- Mahogany planking over hardwood frames
- Cascover sheathed, supervised by Jacques Fauroux (1990)
- Teak laid deck on plywood (1997)
- Mahogany superstructure and interior joinery (1997)

From Aft
- Bronze ensign staff socket and fairleads each side
- Running backstay to ash cheeked blocks
- Teak and bronze mooring cleat on centreline
- Bronze main sheet horse with ash cheeked block
- Tiller with bronze boss
- 2 x Teak and bronze main sheet deck cleats
- 2 x Highfield bronze levers for running backstay
- Low cockpit coamings
- Teak seating each side
- Hatch access in aft bulkhead to lazarette
- 2 x Lewmar 30 bronze 2-speed ST secondary winches
- 2 x Lewmar 48 bronze 2-speed ST primary winches
- Low trunk cabin with sliding hatch and wash board access
- Varnished mahogany coach roof
- Butterfly hatch
- Mast
- Spinnaker pole on deck to port
- Low level forehatch over foc’sle
- Teak and bronze mooring cleat on centreline
- Bronze bow fairleads port & stbd

- Descending companionway steps to the main cabin
- Teak and holly sole
- White painted deck head and contrasting deck beams
- Varnished saloon hull slatting
- Mix of white and varnished mahogany T& G joinery
- Galley to port
- Mahogany casing concealing facilities
- 2-Burner gas hob
- Sink with manual bronze tap
- Stowage in cupboards and lockers
- Doorway access to engine room down starboard quarter
- Stowage for fenders etc
- Forward in main cabin saloon
- Settee berths port and starboard with ample stowage under
- Large locker at fwd end of stbd settee berth
- Butterfly hatch light and ventilation at fwd end
- Doorway forward to head compartment with hatch over
- Hand basin to port and manual WC stbd
- Large foc’sle for sail and sheet stowage

RIG
- Spruce Harry Spencer spars with bronze fittings
- 2 x Lewmar 40 halyard winches on mast

SAILS
- 3 x Sets of sails:
Sanders Sails 2015
- Mainsail with 2 x reefs - Vectran
- Mitre cut genoa with hanks - Vectran
Star Voiles 1998
- Main tri-radial - composite Dacron
- No 1 Genoa tri-radial - composite Dacron
- Spinnaker tri radial - Nylon
Ratsey & Lapthorn 1997
- Main with 2 x reefs - cream Dacron
- No 1 Jib - cream Dacron
- No 4 Jib - cream Dacron
- Working genoa - cream Dacron
- Multi purpose spinnaker with squeezer - Nylon
- Spinnaker - Nylon

- 12 V DC Electrical system with switchboard in galley locker
- Battery charger
- DC Socket
- Engine space light
- Period brass reading and cabin lights
- Tricolour mast head and stern navigation lights
- 220 V Shore power

- Autohelm system with rudder angle
- Speed, depth and wind displays in cockpit
- VMG wind direction and speed analogue
- Speed master and depth master digital displays in companionway
- GPS
- Icom IC M44 VHF
- Blaupunkt stereo

- Automatic bilge pump with float switch
- Manual diaphragm bilge pump in galley
- Whale Diaphragm bilge pump in head compartment fwd
- Vented gas locker
- Gas detector

Sailing photos: Emily Harris - @ClassicYachtTV