All yachties will have heard the term ‘lugger’ but what is it? The term refers to the rig, ie, a lug sail, a four-cornered sail suspended from a spar, called a yard.
The idea is that it’s a simple to handle, raise and lower sai and typically used on working boats such the one pictured here, ‘Guiding Star’ that’s currently on sale with specialist broker Wooden Ships of Dartmouth.
Built in 1907 as a mackerel drift netter, Guiding Star is one of the last Looe Luggers built without an engine. Looe is a town on the south coast of Cornwall.
Wooden Ships says, “[Guiding Star], known as one of the fastest boats of her era, she fished until 1936 when she was sold by the original owners, family, Soady. Bought by a doctor from Paignton, she was converted into a private yacht by Uphams yard in Brixham, rigged as a gaff ketch with Bermudan mizzen and fitted with a teak coachroof which is still in place today. An interior was fitted to give comfortable berths and a saloon, much of this is still in the boat in the form of some delightful period joinery.
“After changing hands a few times, she was purchased in 1960 by Brigadier Jack Glennie, a true character by all accounts who cruised the boat extensively with his pipe-smoking French wife Marguerite around northern Scotland and Norway, taking paying customers on many voyages with the proceeds being donated to Save the Children.
“The previous owners purchased from Glennie in 1989 and undertook an extensive 3 year refit with much new planking and framing, new deck and transom.
“The current owner took charge in 2016 and embarked on a rolling program of upgrades and maintenance in line with his surveyor’s advice which has kept the boat in good seaworthy condition and improved her sailing performance. This included new keel bolts, several areas of planking, decking and stanchions, new sails and all new rigging, a full list of work done in the present ownership is available.”
Guiding Star is on sale with Wooden Ships at £75,000.
