''Tally Ho'' is a

gaff-rigged Gaff rig is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the ''gaff''. Because of the size and shape ...

cutter yacht designed by the artist and yacht designer Albert Strange. The yacht was built at

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on the ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

in England and has previously carried the names ''Betty'', ''Alciope'', and ''Escape''. In 2017, the Albert Strange Association, then owners of the boat, sold it to an English boatbuilder to be completely refit.

History

Albert Strange is best known for the canoe yawl with a double-ended or canoe-stern hull and the two masts of the

yawl A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan), to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put. As a rig, a yawl is a two masted, fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast p ...

rig. However, Strange designed ''Tally Ho'' with a

transom stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Orig ...

and a

cutter rig A cutter is a type of watercraft. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or Sail plan, sailplan) of a sailing vessel (but with regional differences in definition), to a governmental enforcement agency vessel (such as a coast gu ...

, which was an unusual design for him. Originally named ''Betty'', the boat was built in 1910 in

, West Sussex, England, by Stow & Son. The boat was built for Charles Hellyer of

Brixham Brixham is a coastal town and civil parish, the smallest and southernmost of the three main population centres (the others being Paignton and Torquay) on the coast of Torbay in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Commercial fish ...

, Devon, England, for relaxed cruising and deep-sea fishing. In 1913, Hellyer commissioned the larger '' Betty II'' and sold ''Betty''. After two other owners and a name change to ''Alciope'', ownership of the boat passed in 1927 to the then Lord Stalbridge, who renamed her ''Tally Ho''. ''Tally Ho'' was one of only two yachts from the fifteen starters to complete the 1927

Fastnet Race The Fastnet Race is a biennial offshore yacht race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club of the United Kingdom with the assistance of the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes and the City of Cherbourg in France. The race is named after the Fastnet ...

. The yacht crossed the finish under heavy conditions, 52 minutes after the John G. Alden–designed 30-ton

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

'' La Goleta'', but won the race on corrected time. While still based in Southampton until the 1960s, ''Tally Ho'' made multiple transatlantic crossings. In 1967, Jim Louden of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

embarked on ''Tally Ho'', heading home via the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

. After briefly chartering in the Caribbean, he made his way to

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 13,007 of a total population of 17,434. The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings a ...

by July 1968, where he chartered to transport 20 tons of

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copr ...

from Manuae away. While

heaving to In sailing, heaving to (to heave to and to be hove to) is a way of slowing a sailing vessel's forward progress, as well as fixing the helm and sail positions so that the vessel does not have to be steered. It is commonly used for a "break"; this ...

at Manuae waiting for daylight, the boat drifted onto the coral reef near the island, stoving in the port side, grounding her on the reef. While being floated with empty oil drums, ''Tally Ho'' rolled over, and in the process lost her mast, bowsprit, and rudder. Still, the boat was able to stay afloat long enough to be towed back to Rarotonga to be rebuilt. After some years, she worked as a fishing boat out of the Port of Brookings Harbor, Oregon, until 1987, under the name ''Escape''. From 2010 until 2017 the yacht was kept on stands in a boatyard in Brookings-Harbor by the Albert Strange Society.

2017 restoration

Until 2017, the Albert Strange Association owned the boat and had planned to restore and refit it. The hope was to eventually facilitate its return to the United Kingdom. Facing difficulties in their refit plans, in June 2017, the Association sold ''Tally Ho'' to English boatbuilder and sailor Leo Sampson Goolden for $1. He moved the boat to

Sequim, Washington Sequim ( ) is a city in Clallam County, Washington, United States. It is located along the Dungeness River near the base of the Olympic Mountains. The 2010 United States Census, 2010 census counted a population of 6,606. Sequim lies within the ra ...

for restoration. Goolden has gained media attention for his videos of the restoration which he publishes at the Sampson Boat Co. YouTube channel. In 2021,

Clallam County Clallam County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 77,155, with an estimated population of 78,209 in 2021. The county seat and largest city is Port Angeles; the county as a whole comprises the ...

required Goolden to apply for a conditional use permit, as the location where the boat restoration work was taking place was not zoned for that activity. Goolden settled the dispute with the county, and agreed to move the boat before September 18, 2021. In July 2021, Goolden's Sampson Boat Company and ''Tally Ho'' relocated to the nearby Port of

Port Townsend, Washington Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition to ...

, boatyard to complete the restoration there.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Sampson Boat Co.
– Official website of the restoration project
Sampson Boat Co.
(YouTube channel)
Yacht Tally Ho
– former official site, by the Albert Strange Association
Albert Strange Association
Fastnet Race yachts Individual sailing vessels 1900s sailing yachts