‘Ariel’ and the Deben Cherubs

On Friday 25 October 2019, the Deben Cherub 'Ariel' was launched at The Woodbridge Boatyard after undergoing renovation of her topsides, splining, caulking, replacement of her Douglas fir mast, fitting of a new Dolphin inboard, and fresh paint and varnish. Much of the work was carried out and overseen by Tim Everson, her owner and great grandson of The Woodbridge Boatyard's founder. With her old caulking raked out, handmade larch splines shaped to go between each plank and fresh oakum caulking in place, she was repainted in her traditional dark blue.

Built between 1924 and 1937 by Everson & Sons of Woodbridge, the Deben Cherub has come to represent the yard for many. Strong, affordable and appealing to families they were constructed from oak and Canadian rock elm with planking of larch or pitch pine, everything fastened with copper. The classically East Coast gaff-rigged cruiser-racer is ideally suited to the confines of river and estuary sailing and became a model for many pocket cruisers to follow.

Half a century since the Cherubs were last seen in large numbers, racing from the Deben Yacht Club under the starter's 12 bore shotgun, fired by Alfred Everson, ‘Ariel’ and her Classic Boat Award proved to be a fantastic catalyst for the rest of the Deben Cherub class. The restoration of ‘Fortuna’ (and restoration of her original name, ‘Lindy Lou’) followed and the Deben fleet has again swelled to include 8 of the original 17 boats. These are:

CC2 - ‘Cherub’

CC4 - ‘Sea Pig’ - Currently a resident of our Tent of Dreams and available for restoration

CC5 - ‘Rohaise II’

CC6 - ‘Lindy Lou’

CC8 - ‘Charity’ - Currently a resident of out Tent of Dreams and available for restoration

CC11 - ‘Ariel’

CC14 - ‘Jubilee’

CC18 - ‘Lynette’

‘Lindy Lou’s restoration was considerable. The boatyard replaced a large proportion of her deckbeams and beamshelf, her decks, her cabinsides, several planks, remodelled her cockpit and interior, installed a new inboard engine. She was repainted and varnished and her new name traditionally signwritten.