Poole ABEst. 1958 · Parkstone

Shut in a garage since 1965 — an original Poole AB comes home

An original Poole AB rigged on her trailer on cut grass — varnished mahogany hull, Terylene sails, wooden spars, and a yellow lifejacket propped against the trailer hitch

Every class has a boat it would like to find, and this one takes some beating: an original Poole AB, shut in a garage since 1965 and untouched since, has been bought and brought back out into the daylight.

She is as complete as these things get. The varnished mahogany hull, the Terylene sails, the wooden spars and the slatted floorboards are all as they were when she came off the water. So is what was stowed with her: a 1960s lifejacket still in its packet, and the Seagull outboard that would have pushed her home on a windless evening.

Looking down into the cockpit — original slatted floorboards, the wooden rudder stowed across the transom, and the builder’s plaque still fixed to the aft bulkhead Untouched below: the original floorboards, the rudder, and the builder’s plaque still on the bulkhead.

A yellow 1960s lifejacket, still with its ties, lying on the grass beside the bow of the mahogany hull and the trailer hitch The lifejacket — found still in its original packet.

What came with her

The Seagull came with its whole folder: the twentieth edition of the operating instructions from British Seagull at Fleets Bridge, Poole, an unused service record card, and the spares leaflet — with the engine’s type and number logged in ink on the front, exactly as the leaflet nags the owner to do.

The Seagull outboard papers laid out on decking — operating instructions, a blank Seagull service record card, and an orange spares price leaflet with an engine number written on it in ink “Because without these we’re scuppered!!” — the spares leaflet, with the engine number filled in as instructed.

A letter from the builder, April 1962

The best of the paperwork is a single typed sheet on H. T. R. Poole letterhead: Harry Poole, the man who designed the class, answering an enquiry in his own time and signing it himself.

A typed letter dated April 24th 1962 on H. T. R. Poole letterhead — Boat Builders and Designers, Sailing School, head office 15 Burton Road, Westbourne, Bournemouth, works at Hamworthy Junction, Poole — answering an enquiry about the Poole A.B. and signed by hand 24 April 1962, signed H. T. R. Poole. The addressee’s details are on the original and are not repeated here.

I have pleasure in sending you details of the Poole “A.B” sailing dinghy, and apologise for the delay in replying.

The all up weight is 110lbs, and the depth is 1’8“.

As regards delivery, this will be 3-4 weeks from a firm order with deposit.

Should you wish to ask any further questions, please ’phone any evening after 9.30.

The head office was 15 Burton Road, Westbourne, Bournemouth; the works and sailing school were at Hamworthy Junction, Poole. The telephone number was Westbourne 65194, and you were welcome to use it after half past nine at night.

How she was sold

The cover of a period sales brochure headed THE POOLE “A.B.”, with a black-and-white photograph of an AB under sail in Poole Harbour, two crew aboard The brochure that came with her.

The outside of the brochure opened flat — a labelled cutaway of the hull showing bailing well, storage lockers, built-in buoyancy, raised floors, draining outlet and provision for an outboard motor, a dimensions panel, and two photographs of ABs sailing Opened out: the cutaway, the dimensions, and the class association’s address.

The dimensions, as printed:

  • Overall length 8′ 6″, beam 4′ 4″
  • Draft 2′ 4″ with centreboard, 5½″ without
  • Sail area 40 square feet
  • Weight 85 lb

The Class Association secretary of the day was R. Humphrey, 23 Marlborough Road, Bournemouth West.

The inside of the brochure opened flat — a reprinted press notice about the Poole A.B., the builder’s panel for H. T. R. Poole with insurance and hire purchase terms, and a price list The inside: a press notice, the builder’s panel, and what she cost.

And what she cost:

  • Basic price £69; Terylene sails £10
  • Canvas cover £6; buoyancy bags £2; bailer 7s 6d
  • Roof chocks £4; racing pennant 7s 6d; spruce oars and rowlocks £3 10s
  • Do-it-yourself: complete kit of parts ready for assembly £49, or a set of plans including the designer’s royalty for £2 2s

The brochure also carries a press notice from Raymond Lewis of the Scottish Field and the Ayrshire Post, which records that Harry Poole originally designed her for his ten-year-old son, and that she had already won races — among them the John Rooke Memorial Race, a handicap event with 81 starters.

“A first-class little boat”

The last document in the folder is a reprint of a magazine boat test: the Poole “A.B.” car-top dinghy, tested by Ian Souter Clarence and reprinted from Watersport, November 1961. He sailed her in Poole Harbour in August 1961 in Force 3–4, with Harry Poole seeing him off the jetty, and admits at the top of the piece that he had never much liked very small dinghies.

A magazine page headed WATERSPORT BOAT TEST: THE POOLE “A.B.” CAR-TOP DINGHY by Ian Souter Clarence, three columns of type beside a photograph of an AB sailing hard with two aboard, and a details panel at the foot The boat test, reprinted from Watersport, November 1961.

He came back recommending her. The test also puts on record a few things the brochure does not: the hull is hard-chine, built of marine ply to BSS 1088 specification; the rig is a sliding gunter on a silver spruce mast one person can step; the centreboard is mahogany, held down by shock-cord so it can tilt if it hits something.

Its details panel reads: length overall 8 ft 6 in, beam 4 ft 4 in, draught 2 ft 9 in with the plate down, carrying capacity 35 stone, sail area 32 sq ft or 40 sq ft with the jib, Terylene sails, price £79 including the sail. That last figure is the brochure’s own arithmetic — £69 for the boat and £10 for the sails.

First, does she float

The first job was the simple one. Her new owners planned to launch her the weekend after she came out, and if she took to the water as well as she had taken to the camera, the reward would be a sail across the harbour to Brownsea — the passage these boats were built for, and the one the fleet still makes every July.

Update: she floats. At the end of August she went into the water for the first time in more than sixty years, and she was sound enough for a row around with the mast stepped.

The varnished mahogany AB afloat on a reed-lined river, an adult in a yellow buoyancy aid rowing with pale wooden oars and a child sitting in the stern, her bare wooden mast stepped and stayed Back on the water, under oars.

The same boat seen from astern, rowing away up the river between banks of tall reeds under a cloudy blue sky Heading off for a row around.

And then what

What we do with her after that is anyone’s guess: museum? Donate to the club? Try to race her?

It is a genuinely open question. A boat this original is a time capsule of Poole Harbour sailing, and whether she belongs in a collection, in the club’s care, or back on a start line with the rest of the fleet is worth an argument.

If you have a view, or you remember her from before 1965, tell us. She is not in the register yet, and a hull that arrived with her own paperwork is exactly what it exists to record.

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