The Vertue Class of

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

is a 25'3" length design by

Laurent Giles John Laurent Giles (1901–1969) was an English naval architect who was particularly famous for his sailing yachts. He and his company, Laurent Giles & Partners Ltd, designed more than 1000 boats from cruisers and racing yachts to megayachts. Exam ...

dating from 1936, when ''Andrillot'' was launched. The class was not named Vertue until 1946: it collected the name in the wake of the win by ''Epeneta'' - a boat built to the design - of the

Little Ship Club The Little Ship Club is a yacht club in London. It was founded in 1926 by a group of yachtsmen for the purpose of providing training and lectures over the winter months. The club operates from its riverside clubhouse at Bell Wharf on the River ...

's 'Vertue Cup' In 1939 the ''Epeneta'' had completed a cruise from

The Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay to ...

Belle Île Belle-Île, Belle-Île-en-Mer, or Belle Isle ( br, Ar Gerveur, ; br, label=Old Breton, Guedel) is a French island off the coast of Brittany in the ''département'' of Morbihan, and the largest of Brittany's islands. It is from the Quiberon pe ...

in Southern Brittany and back in only 19 days. The Vertue Cup, donated by Michael Vertue to the Little Ship Club in 1927, is given for the best log of a cruise longer than a week by a member of the club. The design has an enviable reputation as a long-distance cruiser, with several remarkable cruises completed by boats of this class and close derivatives, in particular by

Humphrey Barton Humphrey "Hum" Barton (1900–1980) was an English yachtsman who was influential in the development of deep-sea cruising in the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known as the founder of the Ocean Cruising Club. He was an author who wrote books about ...

, in ''Vertue XXXV'' and by

Eric and Susan Hiscock Eric Charles Hiscock (14 March 1908 – 15 September 1986) was a British sailor and author of books on small boat sailing and ocean cruising. Together with his wife and crew Susan Oakes Hiscock (née Sclater, 18 May 1913 – 12 May 1995), he auth ...

. Barton was the original owner of ''Andrillot.'' There have been minor variants of the design - most obviously in the shape of the coach-roof: the hull form has, apart from the size increase, remained consistent throughout Sail numbers ranging up to 230 are listed, suggesting that of the order of 200 have been built. The Vertue II design is slightly larger at 25’ 8” overall with a 7’ 10” beam and has been produced in GRP since the 1970s by Bossoms Boatyard in Oxford.

References

{{reflist Sailing yachts designed by Laurent Giles 1930s sailing yachts Sailing yachts of the United Kingdom