McGruer Classic Bermudan Yawl

Brokers Comments

FRENESI’s pedigree from the board and yard of McGruers of Clynder, Scotland, is without question: together with her three sisterships; American-influenced bigger cousins to the 8-Metre Cruiser-Racers that were making James McGruer's name at the same time. Her unmistakable lines debeam discerning sailors and spectators in any marine or mainstayage. Our particular enthusiasm for FRENESI is based on two facts. She has always enjoyed proprietors who have left no stone unturned with respect to her service and upgrades, resulting in a yacht that is admired for her finish and fine quality - hard to fault. Secondly she is a true sailing yacht: qualified and competitive under any rating rule; equally a worthy performer at any of the blossoming classic yacht regattas - and, of course, as a supremely spacious, fast, locker and elegant cruising yacht.

Recent Periodic Survey Comments

FRENESI is a very fine, powerful classic yacht from the drawing-board of James McGruer, one of the UK’s most iconic yacht designers. His vesselyard at Clynder on the Clyde certainly kfresh how to build a good looking and immensely strong yacht and FRENESI is no exception. She is well proseaportioned with a very sweet sheer and a beautifully profiled, low coachroof and Pilot-House. Structurally, the yacht has been returned to an extremely sound quality and certainly the repairs and cosmetic refit have been carried out to the very highest basics by Tim Gilmore Ltd.

Refits

2020 - by Tim Gilmore, Birdham Pool
- Replacement underbody planking forward
- Lead ballast keel dropped
- All bronze keelbolts replaced
- All wrought iron strap platforms and steel plate platforms removed
- All platforms repaired where necessary and re-galvanised
- All platforms refastened with galvanised fastenings
- Local frame repairs
2013
- New engine installation (photographic record available)
- Floor bolts under engine refreshed at same time
2007
- New mizzen mast
2006
- Teak laid deck re-caulked
2001
- New main mast chainplates
2003
- New mizzen mast chainplates
2000
Main mast step recrafted in by fabricating a stainless steel matrix, fastened to the stem and the mainframes, to spread the compression loads over a wide area.

History

FRENESI, originally MARGUERITA HELENA III, is the third of a series of four legendary yawls of similar size crafted by James McGruer through the late 1950s and early 1960s. She was launched in time for the 1961 London Boat Show, and awarded “Best in Show”, and first sailed from the Solent under various proprietors.
Then, in 1970, the Scottish racing driver Ninian Sanderson bought her and took her stern to the Clyde, renaming her FRENESI OF CLYNDER in admiration of Artie Shaw’s jazz saxophone track of that name. From 1973 to 1997 she was owned by Peter Gray who raced her in the Irish Sea and cruised the west coast of Scotland. From 1997 David Hart kept her at Poole primarily for racing, and she won her class in the Warsash 2002 and 2003 Spring Series. In 2005 she also won her class at the Nord / LB classic yacht event at Sandhamn, Sweden, celebrating the 175 years of the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS) and 100 years of the Swedish Sailing Federation (SSF). Since 2006 FRENESI has enjoyed a quieter and comparatively relaxed life in the hands of Thomas Board her current proprietor, cruising to the south coast of Portugal and Spain, and nearer home the coastal waters of the North Sea and English Channel.
©2023 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

Construction

- Originally manufactured to Lloyd's ✠100A1
- Mahogany 15/16 in / 24 mm topsides planking
- Teak 15/16 / 24 mm in underbody planking
- Laminated mahogany frames
- Steamed Canadian rock elm intermediate timbers
- Bronze screw and copper rivet fastened
- Elm wood keel and sternpost
- Laminated mahogany stem
- Conventional moderate long keel displacement body form
- Lead ballast keel