Fairlie Yachts Modern Classic 59 ft Bermudan Cutter 2005

NIEBLA was conceived for the owner of an 18-metre-long mooring outside his house who knew exactly what he wanted to fill that space: a new, non-fin keel, moderate displacement, classic influenced yacht that could effortlessly be sailed by 2-3, relatively easily maintained, and would offer maximum comfort within the restrictions of a long-ended beauty. The starting point in NIEBLA's form was the 1926 Alfred Mylne bermudan cutter CHICANE, for many a paragon of classic purposefulness at a very handy size, and NIEBLA’s future owner had fallen for her charms. He has remained her owner for almost 20 years; the brief has been well proven. NIEBLA is now a veteran of comfortable trans-Atlantic passages and cruises on both shores, in particular among the windy Caribbean islands, and the delightful fjords and sounds of Baltic Germany and Denmark. Just out of light refit at one of Germany’s best yards NIEBLA is ready for more.

“All in all, sailing NIEBLA left me thinking how I’d love to crack off and run her down the trades to the Caribbean, then laugh with her as she revels in those high seas and hard winds that prowl between the islands.”

Tom Cunliffe, Classic Boat magazine, February 2006

“NIEBLA feels like the sort of yacht with which one could build a lasting relationship.”

David Glenn, Yachting World review, January 2006

The design brief for NIEBLA would be a tall order for many a designer and yard – in particular to keep it all sweet to the eye. But at Hamble on England’s south coast, Fairlie Restorations had years of shipwrighting and fine carpentry experience in rebuilding Fife designs from the keel up, and a strong desire by Duncan Walker and in-house naval architect Paul Spooner to also build new. Fairlie were not virgins to a modern classic newbuild employing modern wood techniques, having built the Nigel Irens/ Ed Burnett deep-keeled 43 feet 'fusion' cutter KILRUSH NOMAD II in 1997.

Interestingly for a team so infused with working to the original William Fife drawings (which they'd owned since the early 1990s), to meet the brief, the inspiration for NIEBLA's hull design came from Fife's great friendly Scottish rival Alfred Mylne. For some strange reason that maybe requires a learned paper to analyse, during the classic yacht revival years, from the early 1980s, Mylne's reputation has somehow slipped into Fife's shadow, yet he was an absolute master in combining beauty with functionality in his work, in particular in creating elegantly big-boned, voluminous for the time yachts that still sparkle in performance.

The starting point in NIEBLA's form was the 57 ft Mylne-designed Bermudan cutter CHICANE, built in 1926 by Dickie of Tarbert and long time owned in Bermuda by Reid Kempe and family. For many, CHICANE had become a paragon of classic purposefulness at a very handy size, and NIEBLA’s future owner had fallen for her charms.

The result is a fascinating fusion of old and new: the elegance of early 20th Century yacht design married with the ease of handling of modern sail handling systems, and no compromise on the wonderful motion – especially on the ocean winds’ highway – of a long keel and moderate displacement.

©2024 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

- To RCD Class A
- Wood epoxy strip plank
- 3 x Mahogany veneer outer layer
- Teak laid deck on plywood epoxy
- Utlile superstructures from one log

GENERAL
- All metals on deck nickel plated by Techno-Coat for easy maintenance
- Deck Hardware: stainless steel Harken blocks and tracks
- Traditionally stanchioned reassuringly high bulwarks, utile capped
- Non-return scupper drain flaps
- Sockets for guardrail stanchions

FROM AFT

AFT DECK
- Mooring fairleads port and starboard at taffrail
- Ensign recessed staff socket
- Panama mooring fairleads port and starboard
- Associated 'Clyde' pattern teak and bronze mooring cleats
- Flush lazarette hatch
- 2 x Raised mushroom vents
- Gas bottle locker
- 'Lean-to' deep lockers port and starboard for 2 x 6-Person liferafts
- Andersen self-tailing runner winches port and starboard

COCKPIT
- Steering gear box aft
- Thomas Reid rudder angle indicator
- Large diameter plated and leathered ship's wheel
- Teak laid cockpit sole
- Binnacle pedestal; glazed steering compass housing
- Teak laid helm benches to port and starboard of steering box
- Teak laid benches to port and starboard forward
- Lockers under
- Throttle control
- Bose speakers
- Andersen self-tailing line winches port and starboard
- Associated clutches at under deck line tunnel mouth
- Andersen self-tailing headsail winches port and starboard
- Andersen self-tailing mainsheet winch forward
- Mainsheet track and car

MID DECK
- Butterfly skylight over owner cabin
- Forward sashes are forward opening
- Companionway house
- Companionway offset to starboard
- Off watch seat to port
- Sliding hatch
- Opening port to port
- 2 x Deadlight windows port and starboard
- 2 x Raised mushroom engine room vents
- Circular deck prisms port and starboard
- Headsail track and car outboard port and starboard
- Panama fairleads in bulwark port and starboard
- Associated 'Clyde' pattern teak and bronze mooring cleats
- Raised skylight over saloon

MAST POSITION

FOREDECK
- Aluminium raised self-tacking staysail track plinth
- Staysail track and car
- Large plated vent cowls port and starboard
- Opening ports under
- Raised sliding forehatch
- Portlights in deck port and starboard
- 'Clyde' pattern teak and bronze mooring cleats
- Windlass
- Flush deck hatch
- Mooring fairleads at rail port and starboard
- Panama fairleads in knights heads port and starboard
- Anchor rollers/ launchers port and starboard of stemhead

GROUND TACKLE
Anchors:
- 1 x CQR 140 lb with 90 m of 12 mm chain
- 1 x CQR 105 lb with 150 m of 20 mm rode
Windlass:
- 1 x Maxwell 3500 electric

GENERAL
- Polished French walnut and white painted
- Accommodation for 5 (7 using saloon settees)
- Master cabin: one double and one singe berths
- Forward cabin: one single berth convertible to double
- Saloon
- Galley and WC/ Shower forward
- Forecabin or crew cabin/ work bench

DOWN WHEELED STAIR FROM COMPANIONWAY TO SALOON
- Lobby area; sideboard to port; passage port aft to owner cabin
- Engine space access
- Navigation area to starboard
- U-Seating to starboard
- Shelving outboard
- Drop leaf saloon table offset to starboard
- Bench to port on sliding track
- Passage forward offset to port
- Settee to port
- 2 x Isotherm fridges under
- Shelves outboard
- Sideboard port forward; dining service stowage
- Bulkhead lamps
- Deckhead lights
- Non-opening topsides portlights port and starboard
- Butterfly skylight in deckhead
- 'Lemon squeezer' deck prisms port and starboard

FORWARD TO L-GALLEY TO STARBOARD
- 1.5 Stainless steel sink aft facing
- Mixer tap, seawater pump; backup foot pump faucet
- Stainless steel top surfaces with deep timber fiddles
- Fold-up stainless steel plate drainer
- Cup/ mug racks
- Bulkhead cutlery stowage
- Lockers outboard and under
- Smev stainless steel 3 x burner hob with oven
- Opening port in deckhead for cowl vent
- Deckhead light
- Bulkhead wood framed electric fan

WC/ SHOWER COMPARTMENT TO PORT
- Sea toilet
- Inset ceramic sink
- Lockers outboard and under
- Shower

SKIPPER/ FORE CABIN
- Single berth to starboard
- Provision to extend to double
- Stainless steel workbench to port
- Vice
- Lockers and shelving
- Watermaker controls
- 2 x Opening ports in deckhead
- Deckhead lights
- Steps to raised forehatch in deckhead

AFT TO OWNER CABIN
- Inset ceramic wash basin with lockers below and outboard
- Hot and cold taps
- Double berth to starboard
- Stowage under
- Shelve and locker outboard
- Single berth to port
- Stowage under
- Shelve and locker outboard
- Dressing/ writing table athwartships aft between berths
- Drawers
- Non-opening topsides portlights port and starboard
- 2 x Bulkhead mounted, wood framed electric fans
- 2 x Bulkhead mounted reading lamps
- Butterfly skylight in deckhead with sun shields

RIG (CARBON FIBRE)
- Formula Spars mast
- Rod standing rigging
- Southern Spars boom (in boom furling)
- Spectra running rigging

SAILS
- North 3Di fully battened mainsail
- North 3Di yankee
- North 3Di staysail
- Banks Sails UK symmetrical spinnaker
- Banks Sails UK MPS
- 2 x Reckman stainless steel headsail furlers

CANVASWORK
- Covers for all deck structures

MECHANICAL/ PROPULSION
- Deutz 4 cyl 84 hp diesel main engine
- Variprop feathering propeller
- Maxpower bow thruster
- 6 kW Mastervolt generator under cockpit sole forward
- Thomas Reid (Paisley) rack & pinion steering

ELECTRICAL
- 240 V AC Shore power system
- 12 V DC Service system
- Mastervolt 2 kW inverter
- DC-DC 30 A Service/ navigation battery charger
- 2 x 80 A Service battery chargers
- 1 x 50 A Navigation batteries charger
- 3 x Domestic 12V Batteries under forward lobby sole

TANKAGE & ASSOCIATED
- 500 L Water tank under saloon sole
- 400 L Fuel tank aft of owner cabin
- 100 L Fuel day tank outboard of owner washbasin unit
- Sea Recovery Ultra Whisper 40 L/ h watermaker
- Gas bottles locker recessed on deck aft of helm
- 50L Grey water tank
- 40 L Black water tank
- 40 L Hot water tank in engine room

NAVIGATION
- B&G 3000 Nav system
- Furuno Furuno Chart Plotter/ Radar with mirror LCD in cockpit
- B&G autopilot with 1/2 hp electric motor

COMMUNICATIONS
- Furuno SSB with Pactor III
- Iridium sat phone

OTHER
- Nakamichi 12v CD player with BOSE speaker system

- 2 x 6-Person liferafts
- SOLAS Distress flares and rockets
- EPIRB
- 8 x Automatic life jackets
- Engine room auto fire extinguisher
- Cabin hand fire extinguisher
- Fire blanket

- Hand made wooden sailing dinghy
- AB Hypalon 2.4 m aluminum tender
- Yamaha 5 hp 4-stroke outboard motor
- Bauer Junior II diving compressor
- 2 x 12 L steel dive tanks

- Re varnish and paint
- Electronics update
- Carbon mast and furling boom ultra-sonic tested and overhauled
- Rod rigging replaced
- All furler systems serviced.