A little history

When first launched, Cariad was the largest yacht that Summers and Payne had ever designed and built. As her masts were first stepped in Southampton Docks, it was clear she was a thing of beauty to thrill on the water and turn heads on the shore. Her first owner, The Earl of Dunraven, saw out the 19th Century sailing Cariad in the Mediterranean and the Solent and in 1898 she won the Vasco da Gama Cup, a 10,000nm race from Lisbon around the Cape of Good Hope to India.

Further stretching her sea legs, Cariad was renamed Fidra for her first circumnavigation sailed by Sune Tamm from Sweden, she then became based in Cape Town with owner Henry J Wenborn, who returned her name to Cariad I. After the Second World War, Cariad I was taken by her then-owner, South African A.W. Flitton, to the Caribbean and then on two further circumnavigations. As the 1960s and 1970s came around, Cariad sailed primarily out of Durban and made headlines in the 1971 Cape2Rio race as she limped into Table Bay after getting caught in a storm and a crew member washed overboard but was thankfully recovered.

In the 1980s, following several years of chartering in the West Indies, it was decided to completely gut Cariad I, a process starting in Antigua and completed by Southampton Yacht Services. Refreshed, she returned to competing at Cowes Week in 1983, before her next owners took her to the Mediterranean.
The Pacific beckoned again in 1987, and Cariad was acquired by the Japanese Corporation, embarking on an epic voyage to reach Japan. The trip took its toll and subsequently, Cariad I was left abandoned in Taiwan in 1993 as the corporation was falling into bankruptcy. The Japan Charter Yacht Association stepped in to save her with funds raised from their members and extensive repairs were carried out in Singapore including replacing the broken main mast brought all the way from England. She became the flagship for several years, before she was once again left to the elements, discovered derelict in a Bangkok anchorage in 2005 by a British businessman Stuart Williamson. It was hoped he had the money and passion to restore Cariad and the project commenced in 2006 in Thailand led by Des Kearns. Tragically for Cariad, after the 2008 financial crash, Williamson was forced to sell, and more neglect followed. From 2008 to 2021, Cariad lay without maintenance in Raffles Marina, Singapore, and her condition continuously deteriorated. “12 years in the water without drydocking took its toll.” said Des, project manager for the 2006-2008 refit. “To describe the devastation to our previous workmanship, the word disappointment is an understatement.”

Re-building a thing of beauty

In 2021 shipping magnate Tim Hartnoll rode in on his white horse and rescued Cariad I. Once again, Des Kearns found himself with the opportunity to work with a passionate owner with the funds and dream to restore the magnificent yacht to her former glory. “Projects like this bring out the best in people because they are doing something exciting and worthwhile.” Says Hartnoll. “It attracts enthusiasts but being an enthusiast and a skilled artisan is not enough. The person must be an artist as well. If the team en masse are not artists, the project will fail.”

Cariad was returned to the PSS Marina in Thailand and Des Kearns set about assembling and reassembling his artists, many of whom had been involved in the previous refit. Expertise came from all across the world including British Naval Architect Paul Spooner and Australian Boat Restorer Mike Howett. Highly skilled local labour once again picked up their tools. From seeing much of their work undone following the 2006-2008 refit, Des vowed to ‘Build Back Better’ to give Cariad the best opportunity to have a long career on the ocean waves again. Her full restoration has been meticulously documented at cariad1986.com providing a fascinating insight into the materials, techniques and workmanship that has gone into the project.

When it came to the rigging, working on the longest and oldest gaff ketch in the world was always going to be a sizeable task, with the team at Paul Spooner Design working closely with Spencer Rigging to develop a faithful and durable plan utilising traditional techniques.

Twenty different assemblies were commissioned, from the bobstay to the topmast forestay, each hand-measured, cut and finished with fittings. In total, nearly 450 meters of rigging was completed, using a combination of 1×19, 1×36 and 7×7 stainless steel wire. On the spans and forestay strop the wires were hand spliced, served and leathered using traditional techniques in order to retain the historic look of this wonderful classic yacht.

An award-winning result

As the project neared completion and Cariad took to the waves with the stunning backdrop of the islands of Thailand, it was clear all those hours the team had spent on her paid off. The result was a majestic sight, just as intended when she was first launched 127 years ago. In February, the judging panel of the coveted World Superyacht Awards visited Des and his team, and Cariad was nominated in the Rebuilt Classic Yachts category. Winning the award was the icing on the cake for Des Kearns and the team.

Looking ahead, the owner’s overall plan is to race Cariad in the Mediterranean classic regattas, and a potential round-the-world voyage may be on the horizon again fuelled by Kym Clayton, granddaughter of Al Flitton who owned and circumnavigated on Cariad from 1952–1954.

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A Caribbean Collaboration: Mustique Villa Project (Summer 2023)

This past summer, we embarked on a collaborative journey with the skilled craftsmen at The Woodshack, based in Southampton. Together, we created something extraordinary for a luxurious villa on the picturesque Caribbean island of Mustique. Famed for its exclusivity and charm, Mustique attracts Caribbean cruisers, Hollywood A-listers, and discerning individuals seeking an escape. The villa owner entrusted The Woodshack with a commission to design a bespoke pergola that would allow them to savour the breathtaking island views using materials to withstand the tropical climate and high-class balustrading to complete the look.

Safety, Elegance, and Sophistication

Our task extended beyond ensuring structural safety; it embraced infusing elegance and sophistication with a wire balustrading system. The chosen 4mm 1×19 stainless steel wire rope, crafted from 316L marine-grade stainless steel, not only provided security but also contributed to the modern aesthetic of the wooden structure meticulously crafted by The Woodshack. Small diameter wires make for efficient and attractive balustrade infill and are commonly used in domestic projects, providing a fully weatherproof, strong, and built-to-last solution. Unlike glass balustrades, the 316L marine grade stainless steel cables do not need to be cleaned regularly and have limited glare with minimal reflection from evening sunlight which might spoil your view.

From design to production

With over 100 individually cut lengths affixed with terminals at each end, our loft, equipped with advanced tools, brought the design to life and the presses leapt into action. Each wire underwent meticulous eye-checks and hand-finishing. The project was assembled in The Woodshack’s UK warehouse before being shipped to the Caribbean. This meant all parts of the project could be checked, but the simple installation of the Spencer Rigging ball and socket system for balustrading required no specific expertise.

A Stunning Result: Mustique’s Luxurious Outdoor Haven

The portable nature of wire rigging allowed for easy installation, and the completed project, including the deck, staircase, main structure, and wires, made its transatlantic journey. With our wire balustrading seamlessly integrated, a truly special outdoor living space emerged, inviting residents and guests to indulge in the opulent views of Mustique.

Inspired to create your own project?

Spencer Rigging has decades of experience working with designers, architects, and DIYers to create stunning installations at residences and business premises. Architectural rigging is a stylish and practical answer to many problems and by utilising marine-grade ropes and wires together with top-quality fittings, the results, as seen here, can be both decorative and functional.

If you have a project in mind, Spencer Rigging is able to assist in the design, supply, and installation of complete architectural rigging systems to meet requirements and specifications – from bespoke balustrading for balconies to tension green wall cable trellis systems, we will be glad to discuss your plans. Give us a call or email the team.

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The company’s late founder, Harry Spencer, holds a legendary status for many in both the local and international sailing communities, and rightly so. “The more challenging the problem, the more determined he would be to overcome it,” his obituary states. “Spencer Rigging is simply an extension of Harry’s personality, a mere blend of artistic sensibility and brute force, with his unerring sense of the right way to do a thing, and his uncanny skill in managing any impossible job the world brings.”

PHOTO:JONATHAN EASTLAND/AJAX.

Operating from the unmissable Empire Buildings on St Mary’s Road, Spencer Rigging is part of the historical yachting patchwork of Cowes, used daily by visiting sailors and commissioned internationally to bring their expertise, experience, and problem-solving approach to projects large and small.

Early Beginnings

Harry Spencer was born in Gurnard, a stone’s throw from Cowes, in 1925. And although his career took him all over the world, he always referred to ‘The Island’ as home until his passing in 2009. When Harry left school at 14, he began a colourful career as an apprentice at J.S. Whites, a shipbuilding tour de force with sites on both sides of the River Medina. He would go on to be a chameleon of the industry, with stints in all areas of the marine trade, from pattern maker to yacht hand, yard foreman to RNLI delivery skipper, and shipwright to sail maker.

During the bombing of Cowes on the night of 4th/5th May 1942, he played his part during the bombardment by standing on a corrugated roof at Thetis Wharf (which he later owned) wearing a tin helmet, putting out fires with a garden hose. After the raid, Harry collected unexploded incendiary bombs in his rowing boat, which he described as being painted green and looking like leeks sticking out of the mud. In peaceful times a decade later, he would have a more leisurely commute in his rowing boat, venturing across The Solent and back each day to work in a Hamble sail loft.

With the closure of the shipbuilding sections of J.S. White’s, and most boat manufacturing moving to large facilities in Europe, there was a wariness of the future of Cowes, and its place in the future of marine manufacturing. Undeterred, Harry Spencer realised high-class stainless steel rigging was required for the new aluminium masts being produced – at the time a cutting-edge solution using the most modern of techniques. Soon his services and expertise were so in demand that within a year of starting what was to become Spencer Rigging, he had five men working for him including Ben Bradley, who would work with Harry for over 40 years. “I joined Harry, who was Skipper of a 12 metre called ‘Norsaga’ which was a trial for an America’s Cup Challenge mounted by the P&O Shipping Company,” Ben explained in an interview about his career with Memories of the Sea. “By chance, an aluminium mast left over after P&O pulled the plug on the project was sold to the Pirate Radio Ship ‘Caroline’ and so started further radio ship contracts including Radio Yorkshire and Radio Scotland. At the same time, yacht racing designers were specifying aluminium masts in place of traditional wooden masts and yachts were made from fibreglass, and in production numbers.” Business for Spencer Rigging boomed.

Home to legends

Home to Spencer Rigging since the 1960s, Empire Buildings is a striking feature on St Mary’s Road, and originally opened in 1910 as the Empire Electric Theatre. It was a small theatre run as a Music Hall and Variety Theatre, and right from its opening, licenced for dancing, plays, and music, it also showed early films along with the variety acts on its stage. The theatre was redecorated and reseated in 1913 and again in 1921, but the house lights went out for the last time shortly after.

During the war, Empire Buildings’ large footprint in the centre of town provided a vitally protected staging area and the building was used for bus storage and as an auxiliary fire station.

After Harry Spencer acquired the building, it was fitted out to provide the practical space demanded by the vast array of projects worked on by Spencer Rigging. With design and functionality at the heart of the business, the same attention was turned to the loft, providing a working area for the hands and space for thousands of metres of standing and running rigging. It was soon the hub of the business, and with each Cowes-hosted regatta, the yachting elite were welcomed through the enormous blue barn doors to discuss their requirements, as Harry and his team worked away with frenzied precision.

As Spencer Rigging expanded, it coincided with more international racing events, such as the Admiral’s Cup, which, by the 1970s, had up to 19 nations taking part, each team with three boats. The loft played host to several infamous Auscrew parties with kegs and coolers placed amongst the rope racks and ensuing nights of revelry are ‘somewhat remembered but never truly forgotten’ by those who were there!

Businesswise, Spencer’s continued rigging some of the world’s most famous yachts and found new markets in supplying marine technology such as high tensile cables and rod rigging to tented structures, roof tie bars and glass wall projects, evolving with client’s requests and driven by Harry and Ben’s innovative problem-solving attitude.

The tradition continues

Neil Brinsdon, Spencer Rigging’s current Managing Director, first joined the team in the Empire Buildings in 1991 shortly after leaving school. He would go on to spend almost 18 years travelling the world and working on a myriad of projects from Cowes to Korea before joining Advanced Rigging & Hydraulics, part of the Ancasta Group. When the opportunity arose to add Spencer Rigging to Ancasta’s portfolio, it was somewhat of a homecoming for Neil, and an opportunity to come full circle to continue the traditions he first learnt in the industry.

Today, the loft is home to unrivalled manufacturing and lifting facilities, producing rigging for all sectors, including wire swaging (1.5mm to 32mm), talurit swaging (1mm to 58mm), and rod rigging (-4 to –540). Its in-house production of lifting equipment includes webbing (CE Marked), chain, and wire slings, with a multitude of applications in the commercial sector. Clients still include classic yachts returning to Spencer’s for traditional re-rigs and bespoke projects for race yachts. In any sales particulars, a reference to Spencer Rigging is seen as a hallmark of an owner’s thoughtful attention to maintenance and integrity.

Marking its 65th year of operation in 2023, Spencer Rigging has moved with the times and the team eagerly awaits more diverse projects to apply their expertise in the years to come.

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Whether you’re looking to improve your racing setup with a rig-tune, new running rigging, or hydraulics service, or want peace of mind of a longer cruise with a full rig inspection and report, the team will be glad to discuss your requirements.

For larger projects, such as mast repairs or upgrades, or replacement standing rigging, the team have over 30 years of experience with quality products from industry-leading manufacturers, including BSI, Navtec, Sta-Lock and OYS.

Advanced Rigging & Hydraulics are the sole UK agent for Reckmann Yacht Equipment GmbH reefing and furling systems, and at the show you can see the latest range of solutions for yachts of all sizes. Reckmann systems are the first choice for yacht designers and discerning owners, and whether you want a full hydraulics system to make your cruising more relaxed, or need a state-of-the-art mast jack for optimum rig control whilst racing, we’ll help you to find the best products and onboard system for your boat.

To book a meeting in advance, please contact us at +44 0 1983 292 022, email info@spencerrigging.co.uk, or visit the stand in Ocean Hall at the Show.

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Taking place from 29 July to 4 August, the buzz of Cowes Week is hard to miss when it comes to town as thousands of competitors and boats of all shapes and sizes fill every inch of Cowes Yacht Haven. As well as at our loft on St Mary’s Road, we’ll be in the heart of the action this year in the Yacht Haven itself, with the Kingfisher Yacht Ropes van, stocked to the brim with quality products including Gottifredi Maffioli Grand Prix ropes and Tylaska Marine hardware.

For last-minute repairs, or upgrades to get you to the class podium, visit the van from Saturday 31 July to discuss your setup. Our rope experts and riggers will be on-hand for splicing services, making sure sailors can enjoy optimum performance and spectacular sailing all week!

We will also be holding a special giveaway during the week for a lucky winner to claim a Kingfisher Yacht Ropes splicing kit, worth over £100! Click here to enter, follow our social pages on Facebook and Instagram & visit the van in person for extra chances to win.

Good luck to all our colleagues and customers taking part in Cowes Week 2023!

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At Spencer Rigging, we’re thrilled to have so many international regattas, inshore and offshore races and events coming to town and support sailors with their rigging projects. From the loft in St Mary’s Road, a stones throw from the marinas at Cowes Yacht Haven and Shepherds Wharf, the team have been busy working on local boats and those visiting to get them race ready to enjoy trouble-free sailing, round the cans and heading offshore.

In May, Cowes Spring Classics Regatta kicked off a busy season for the Six Metre class, with a full calendar of events culminating in the World Championships which will be held in Cowes and hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron from Thursday 31 August to Friday 8 September. Together with our colleagues at Advanced Rigging & Hydraulics in Hamble, we carried out remedial works on the hydraulic system on Scoundrel in preparation for the first regatta – with the skipper reporting “they worked like a dream!”

By the middle of May it was great to see several yachts rigged by Spencer Rigging in decades past looking magnificent as part of the Richard Mille Cup. A new regatta for 2023, the Cup combined inshore regattas with offshore courses between 65 and 100 nautical miles long, on both English and French sides of the Channel, starting in Falmouth before heading to Cowes, then onto Le Havre. With all of the vessels built or designed before 1940, the Richard Mille Cup recreated the spectacle, sporting values and elegance of the regatta circuits of the pre-war years and it was a pleasure to see the white sails of the Schooners and Cutters peppering the skyline.

Looking into July, Round The Island Race is always a busy time for the Spencer Rigging team as one of the largest yachting events held anywhere in the world fills the local marinas. 1100 entries join the fray on 1 July 2023 with some 10,000 sailors onboard and there’s a blustery forecast for race day particularly on the south side of the Isle of Wight. Any boat, from cruiser to maxi yacht can and do enter the Round the Island Race, and it looks like the bigger boats will enjoy an awesome downwind ride from the Needles to Bembridge.

There’s a new date for the historic Rolex Fastnet Race in 2023 which has moved position in the racing calendar to before Cowes Week, setting off from Cowes on Saturday 22 July. For the 50th Edition, there’s a huge double-handed participation in the offshore classic, and we will be helping many teams get race ready before they take on the 695nm course. So far, it has been an exciting season of supporting RORC events and qualifiers, leading many teams to make tweaks and changes to their sail set up before the big push offshore.

Cowes Week this year takes place from 29 July to 4 August. Together with our co-workers at Advanced Rigging & Hydraulics and partners Kingfisher Ropes, you’ll find us in Cowes Yacht Haven all week, as well as at the loft in St. Mary’s Road.

If you’re looking to refresh your racing set up with a rig-tune, new running rigging, or hydraulics service, don’t leave it too late to get in touch – contact the team and we’ll be glad to help you get prepared for great sailing!

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Established in 1958, Spencer Rigging holds one of the most prominent names in the industry, famed for being a pioneer in the manufacture and design of yacht rigging, as well as an innovative developer of modern techniques for bespoke architectural projects, launch and recovery systems, and lifting equipment.

LEEA accredited and ISO 9001 registered, Spencer Rigging will continue to operate from the company’s iconic rigging loft based at Empire Building, St Mary’s Road, Cowes, with the team headed by Managing Director, Neil Brinsdon.

Spencer Rigging’s facility offers the capability to support a wide range of international projects, including the in-house manufacture of specialist lifting systems for the marine, commercial and construction industries.

Advanced Rigging and Hydraulics will continue to operate from its base in Port Hamble, with the teams on both sides of the Solent set to expand.

With a history of completing sailing rigging projects from dinghies to ocean racers, Spencer Rigging produces lifting and architectural equipment to clients across commercial, MOD and construction industries, and carries out non-destructive and destructive testing.

The rigging loft offers unrivalled manufacturing and lifting facilities, producing rigging for all sectors, including wire swaging 1.5mm to 32mm wire, talurit swaging 1mm to 58mm, rod rigging -4 to -540. Its in-house production of lifting equipment includes webbing (CE Marked), chain and wire slings.

Nick Griffith, Ancasta Group Managing Director, comments: “Spencer Rigging is a hugely respected name with a reputation built on trust and quality products produced by its skilled workforce, continuing the company ethos established by Harry Spencer over 65 years ago.

“We’re delighted to be extending this reputation to further enhance Ancasta Group’s turnkey boat repair, maintenance and after sales services that support clients through the lifecycle of their boat ownership, and continue to deliver trusted equipment and services to a wide range of industries.”

If you would like to receive further information about Spencer Rigging and our services, please contact us by phone or email:

Telephone: +44 (0) 1983 292 022

Email: info@spencerrigging.co.uk

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