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History
Optimism rules in the Int. 8-Metre Class and so of course Cutty tou is getting ready for another racing season!!. I shouldn’t pick favorite boats but I do anyhow and Cutty has always been in my top 10 of Great Eights. Not just because she’s super pretty and a Sira Cup winner, it’s about her story and the people who care for her. Ever wondered why she’s been yellow for the past 90 years? Ready for a short story? Here we go !Cutty was built for Mr. Wilfred Harry Dowman. As a young kid he had a burning desire to go to sea and he did so at the age of 13 becoming an apprentice on board the clipper (?) Hawksdale. During a voyage he watched that most famous of all tea clippers the “Cutty Sark” pass "in a manner which could not fail to impress". It was a sight he never forgot... Later in his life Mr. Dowman owned a boatyard and ran a training school for "poor boys of good character" using the schooner Lady of Avenel. Fast forward to January 1922 when Cutty Sark, then known as the Ferreira, put in to Falmouth to repair storm damage and of course Mr. Dowman was determined to buy her. The purchase was completed in October 1922.8 Years later he decided to buy an 8-Metre and of course her name would reflect the floating love of his life. Now when and how that distinct color yellow became the signature of Cutty Sark I don’t know, but the 8-Metre Cutty has carried that color and heritage with pride, always has and always will. This is the story as I have heard. At the risk of having a great story ruined by the truth I hope that others here will be able to add and correct ?For sure Cutty always attracted exceptional owners in that line she has been owned by Alain & Gilles Minos for he past 40 years or more. Two passionate sailors from Arcachon, they love their boat as much as they love the sea. They keep Cutty tou in superb condition, cruising her from regatta to regatta. Over the years that beautiful yellow Eight has made a huge family of friends and I hope you will join me in raising a glass to Cutty tou and her owners Alain Minos & Gilles Minos, Cheers ! Whats next? Ohh that's simple, join Cutty tou and start planning the season ahead !I just realized that maybe not everyone here knows the Cutty Sark, well here she is in all her glory! The most beautiful, famous and fastest tea clipper of the 19th century. Build by Denny in Dumbarton, Scotland, the yard which built later the America’s Cup Challengers for Lord Dunraven and Sir Thomas Lipton. Cutty Sark still exists, she’s is on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.I am sure many of you are considering to have a fine mothership for your Int. 8-Metre, well, please don’t hold back and allow yourself to be inspired by the Cutty Sark. And if your partner mumbles something like; “darling, isn’t that a wee bit over the top?” Then all you need to do is mumble back; “honey, it’s been done before by Mr. Dowman, you know, the owner of that yellow Eight”. The famous drawing of the Cutty Sark appears on the bottle of the Minos brothers favorite whiskey. And why is it yellow, why is their boat yellow? If truth be told, that’s a result of a printing error.
