THENDARA

Design No 379
1937

Length Over Deck 105ft
Length Waterline 72ft
Beam 20ft
Draft 12ft
Displacement 140Tons
Sail Area (Sloop) 1016 Sq.Ft.

The following article was published on the website www.shipstamps.co.uk, by author John Sefton

Italy issued in 2002 a stamp to honour the Raduno di Vele d’Epoca in Imperia, on the stamp is depicted the yacht THENDARA.

Built under yard No 555 by Stephens & Sons Shipyard at Linthouse, Glasgow for Lord Arthur Young, one of Scotland's leading yachtsmen. She was the last yacht built by this shipyard. In 1937 Launched under the name THENDARA.
Tonnage: 87 gross, 49 net, displacement 140 tons. Dim. 37.00 x 23.16 x 6.09m., draught 3.95m.
Designed by Alfred Mylne. Built of teak on a steel frames. Ketch rigged.

She was the last big cruise yacht built prior to the Second World War. Her first skipper was Capt. Alan McMillan.
She took part in the Torbay Coronation Regatta, were she obtained her first success in the over 75 ton class, and the overall prize.
For the next three years she took part in several races, and made cruises mostly in the Baltic. A very frequent guest was Prince Olaf of Norway.

When World War II broke out she was requisitioned by the British Navy from September 1940 till September 1945, in use as a BBV (barrage balloon vessel) in the Clyde. She was handed back to the owner and was fitted out again as a yacht by her owner. She took part in minor regattas, the time of the big yachts was gone after World War II. When Lord Young died in 1950 on board at Benoder, England, the THENDARA was put up for sale.

First she was sold to an Australian person, who used the yacht in the Greek Archipelago, at that time she was rigged as a Bermuda Ketch.
Thereafter she appears in Italy, she was on the shipyard of Cantiere Navale Valdettaro at La Spezia, registered under a new owner from 1986 till 1988. Most probably the new owner tried to repair her. In 1991 after a change of ownership she was brought to Southampton Yacht Service, but a deal to restore her fell through. Yacht broker Mike Horsley brought the yacht to the attention of a European industrialist, and he got the money to restore her to her old glory.

Her old engine was replaced by a Volvo diesel 238hp, speed under engine 9 knots.
Sail area 924 square meters.
She has now 3 cabins for guests and carries a crew of 7.
In 1994 She was re-launched, thereafter she cruised widely and took part in classis yacht races.
She takes part in many races around the world. She still carries the name THENDARA.