The Town’s Wedding Present

The Royal Family’s involvement in the sport of yachting received a further boost in 1949 when the people of Cowes presented Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh with the Flying Fifteen Coweslip as a wedding present. In addition to increasing the Royal couple’s involvement in the regatta circuit, she became the first of two Royal Racing Yachts to be designed by Uffa Fox, who frequently sailed with Prince Philip after they met during the Duke’s first visit to Cowes Week in 1948.

A year earlier, Uffa Fox had come up with the idea for the Flying Fifteen while relaxing in the bath one evening at his house in Cowes. Before he lost his train of thought, Uffa reached for the pencil in his dressing gown and sketched out the hull and keel on a nearby magazine. When he finished his bath, Uffa headed straight for his drawing board to draft the lines, sail plan and keel in more detail. Even though the 20ft keel boat’s birth was relatively swift, he had been thinking about designing such a boat for some time. Several friends had suggested the merits of a boat measuring at least 18ft that would not capsize, yet possessed the exhilarating planing performance of his earlier International Fourteen sailing dinghies. The Flying Fifteen successfully met this brief and over 4000 examples have been completed since 1947, starting with the launch of My Dainty Duck – Uffa initially called his new class Dainty Ducks before re-branding it as the Flying Fifteen due to its water line length of 15ft. To maximise the design’s longevity, Uffa decided to control the length, weight and sail area of the Flying Fifteen, thereby enabling some latitude to be given in the boat’s shape and construction. This in turn allowed future examples to be built in a range of different materials including marine plywood, moulded ply, GRP, aluminium and tufnol. Subsequent experience demonstrated that none of the differing types of construction provided a competitive edge. This allowed future builders to opt for the most cost-effective methods of construction, rather than being tied to materials or methods of construction that became prohibitively expensive. The same flexibility was applied to the choice of materials for the mast. Soon after launching My Dainty Duck, Uffa was able to experience the thrill of sailing her in more demanding conditions, as he recalled, “her speed, easy handling and low building and upkeep cost convinced me that here was a new world for yachtsmen. Then came a gale of wind and when it veered, we went out in this nor’wester and bright sunshine for one of the most exhilarating sails of my life. To windward she handled beautifully, and off the wind she swooped along triumphantly at what I thought to be 12 knots, throwing white water out on either side and lifting gaily to every sea. She filled me with such enthusiasm that I set to work and immediately designed a range of sisters, all of different sizes, each one being stepped up five feet, making the Flying Family of twenty, twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five, forty, forty-five and fifty feet waterline.”

Uffa subsequently formed a Flying Fifteen class at Cowes. Like all new classes, the Flying Fifteens required a nucleus of competing boats as quickly as possible to help attract more owners and build enough momentum to establish a viable fleet. To help encourage the building of these all important early examples, Uffa allowed some of his boatbuilders and friends to use the Flying Fifteen’s building moulds and the facilities at Medina Yard free of charge. In the meantime, Uffa competed with My Dainty Duck in the handicap classes in regattas around the country to create interest in the new design and attempt to generate further orders. Amid this ongoing promotional campaign, Uffa introduced Prince Philip to the Flying Fifteen by inviting him to sail My Dainty Duck. His Royal Highness enjoyed her thrilling performance and readily accepted a subsequent invitation to borrow the Flying Fifteen Neesa with Uffa for a race in the Solent organised by the Household Brigade Yacht Club in August 1949. Afterwards, His Royal Highness invited some of the competitors to join him for a drink onboard the 61ft converted MFV Fanny Rosa and remarked, during the course of their conversation, that he hoped to order his own Flying Fifteen shortly. Uffa clearly took note of Prince Philip’s interest and approached the Chairman of Cowes Urban District Council, Mr J F Sinclair, a few days later with a proposal for the people of Cowes to present a Flying Fifteen to the Royal couple. He suggested that the Royal Racing Yacht could be paid for by a public appeal along the lines of the Island Sailing Club’s successful fund-raising efforts among its members to pay for Bluebottle. Mr Sinclair backed Uffa’s suggestion, and the Council placed an announcement in the County Press on 27 August which officially launched an appeal to raise £400 towards the cost of the new yacht. He subsequently wrote to the town’s clubs, associations, shipyards, boat shops and factories to encourage them to support the appeal with an individual limit of 10 shillings for office workers, 5 shillings for the men and 2 shillings, 6 pence for apprentices. Like the Island Sailing Club’s earlier appeal for Bluebottle, the idea was to ensure that as many people as possible had the chance to contribute to ensure Coweslip would be a gift from the local community as a whole.

As the fund-raising appeal got underway, Uffa’s team of craftsmen were already hard at work on the future Royal Racing Yacht. Her 20ft hull was built of pre-war Honduras Mahogany on Canadian Rock Elm timbers, with an African Mahogany keel and stem in one. She quickly took shape and had been fully planked up by early September. Coweslip’s construction provided a high profile opportunity for the town’s maritime industry to show off the breadth of its skills. Uffa Fox arranged for the renowned Cowes based yachting photographers Frank and Keith Beken to capture different aspects of Coweslip’s construction for a commemorative photo album to be presented to Prince Philip. It included photographs of the hull’s construction in Medina Yard, the cutting of her sails by Chris Ratsey, Henry Bannister’s production of the cordage, Bert Guttridge’s casting of the keel, the Samuel White Shipyard’s fabrication of the fittings, and Ernest Rowe making the blocks. Some of the photos were subsequently released to the press to support the editorial features about Coweslip.

On completion of their hard work, it was envisaged that a major ceremony would be organised for the presentation of Coweslip to Prince Philip. Sadly, these hopes were dashed by Prince Philip’s hectic programme before taking up his next Naval appointment as the First Lieutenant of HMS Chequers in Malta. Instead, Prince Philip received a delegation from Cowes at Clarence House to thank them for the town’s generosity shortly before leaving London. With little prospect of being able to race Coweslip in home waters for some time, arrangements were made for the Royal Racing Yacht to be transported out to Malta. The idea of flying her out in a Vickers Viking of the King’s Flight was quickly dropped in favour of sailing her across the Solent to Portsmouth Dockyard, where she was craned onboard the aircraft carrier HMS Glory for the journey to the Mediterranean.

Prince Philip served in the Mediterranean Fleet until July 195,1 and Princess Elizabeth managed to join him for prolonged spells in Mal,ta which enabled her to live a relatively normal life as a Naval Officer’s wife. This interlude, between their marriage and having to take on more of The King’s duties, has been described by several people as potentially one of the happiest periods of their life together.

Coweslip’s arrival in Malta, enabled Prince Philip to enjoy many happy hours sailing around the local creeks and participate in some local racing. Even in Malta, Prince Philip’s duties restricted the amount of time he could spend sailing Coweslip, especially after his promotion to Lieutenant Commander in July 1950 when he assumed command of the frigate HMS Magpie. The higher temperatures experienced in Malta combined with Coweslip’s frequent use began to take its toll by the time Prince Philip returned to London in July 1951 to support Princess Elizabeth as she assumed more of her father’s Royal duties. The planking had started to open up and the deck was cracked in several places. Despite the damage, she was brought back to Britain in the stores freighter RFA Baccus and taken across to Cowes for a refit in Medina Yard to prepare her for racing in home waters for the first time. For the remainder of her racing career, Coweslip was kept at Uffa Fox’s home, Commodores House, where she became a well-known local landmark on the quay in-between regattas. This arrangement provided Prince Philip with a discreet location to join the Flying Fifteen during Cowes Week without having to run the gauntlet of the crowds and media ashore. Coweslip was hoisted out of the water in-between races, and Uffa’s ambition was to drop her in the water, hoist the sails and sail direct to the start line and start with the gun without any jilling about before the start. This was a fairly nerve-wracking experience, but they usually managed it. The Duke’s official commitments continued to restrict his opportunities to race Coweslip which led to Uffa Fox assuming the role of Sailing Master and competing in regattas across the country on Prince Philip’s behalf.

Uffa transported the Royal Racing Yacht from Cowes to these regattas without the use of a road trailer, as he explained, “Coweslip was unrigged, her rudder unshipped, the fin keel unbolted, and then the hull, mast and boom lifted on to the top of my car. When you lash a boat down for a long voyage on a lorry, car – or anywhere for that matter – you must never take ropes over the hull. Most boats travel best upside down, as then they can never fill with rainwater, and because their decks are fairly flat they can be stowed cosily upside down on the car top. The ropes all over the boat chafe through the paint and, in tim,e through the boat itself, so Coweslip was lashed down to the special superstructure from her forestay plate, jib leads each side, and also spinnaker leads each side, by the two shroud plates and the main sheet horse. All lashings, being very short, allowed no stretch. This superstructure is made of stainless steel tubing and consists of a goal post on each bumper bar, joined by two fore and aft lengths of tube on each side. These have two cross-members going over the car at the front and back end of the body, where the roof curvature, being double, is extremely strong. This made a comfortable bed for Coweslip, her mast and boom. Though I have driven many thousands of miles with her on top and her 400lb fin keel in the back of the car, nothing has ever moved. I’ve never had any trouble, and this twenty-seven horse-power Humber Super Snipe of mine can do, on good roads, eighty miles per hour with Coweslip up.” On arrival, the keel and rudder would be retrieved from the back of the car, prior to being bolted in position, followed by the stepping of the mast. Thus, she probably clocked up more miles on the road than she did on her own bottom. During her first season of racing on the British regatta circuit, Coweslip competed in the Flying Fifteen Championship in Plymouth, the Island Sailing Club regatta in Cowes, Cowes Week, Burnham Week, and the Hamble Regatta. She won several race,s including Prince Philip’s first victory in Cowes Week. By July 1955, Coweslip had already won 56 races, come second in a further 14 races and third in 7 races, having sailed and raced in Malta, the Clyde, the Solent, Plymouth Sound, Poole Harbour and Hayling Island.

Uffa Fox wrote one of the best accounts of what it was like to race Coweslip on Prince Philip’s behalf when he described her participation within a regatta held off Lowestoft in the summer of 1958. As Uffa explained, he enjoyed a couple of very exciting races with plenty of drama, “in the grounds of the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club, we unloaded Coweslip, bolted on her fin keel, fitted her rudder, mast and rigging, so that she would be ready for launching and racing on the following day. After dinner in the club, we drove to Great Yarmouth, as we were fortunate enough to be sleeping and living aboard Admiral Mitchell’s steam yacht Ocean Mist.

The following Friday morning, June 20^th, we launched and raced, but the day was uneventful as the wind was extremely light. But Saturday the 21^st was a rousing day. There was a strong southerly wind, and I was fortunate enough in having a strong, keen and active crew – a lawyer of Norwich [Keith Flatman]. As the start was to windward, we were soon contending with the leaders for first place, and led at the end of the first round. There was a strong tide running to the northward, so, as we made our way south on the second round, we decided to go close in to the shore. After we had passed the pier, we sailed inside the ends of the breakwaters, and suddenly we hit the end of one, which burst a hole through our bow on the port side, and in the water rushed. Thank God for the long lead we’d had and a good crew! He dived up to the fore end, deflated the buoyancy bags so that he could get at the damaged spot, stuffed his handkerchief in amongst the planking and tapped it all down as tight as possible – all of which took some time. Meantime, there was I driving away to windward, single-handed, having to handle the jib, mainsheet, the tiller, and pump, as there was no thought of giving up, but only of finishing first. Even sailing like this we maintained our lead and rounded the weather mark first, but with a great deal of water aboard. We now set to work with both pumps and pumped all the water out before setting the spinnaker. This enabled the second boat with her spinnaker set to go through into the lead, and though once we’d set the spinnaker we closed the gap, in spite of pumping, we had to be content with second place on this day, and indeed we were lucky to finish the race at all. We had taken a risk which had come off, and the taking of this risk had made the race much more exciting, so we were happy, contented and well pleased with our second place.

We sailed straight under the crane on the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Quay, and hoisted Coweslip out. In my dripping wet clothes, I telephoned my old friend Leo Robinson of Oulton Broad. He immediately sent down a boat builder, and in next to no time, they were repairing the damage and making Coweslip water-tight. By dark, the work was complete and paint put over it so that we might race on the following day.

The next day it blew great guns from the south, which meant a long hard drive to windward, and a dead run home. I love racing from Lowestoft in a breeze of wind, as inside the harbour you have smooth water and as the starting line goes out from the southern arm of the harbour, you can come from the smooth water into a raging sea, and over the starting line, all in a matter of seconds. This wonderful contrast from calm to gale is great fun. But none of us wanted to get out there much before the five minute gun. As we went out, our starboard cross-tree carried away and this meant that if we carried full sail, the mast, too, would carry away, so in we came for smooth water of the harbour on the port tack, the mast standing well. As we had previously no intention of reefing, we had not rove off the reefing line and could not find it, so we used a thinner rope than usual and reefed until the bottom batten was level with the boom. I knew this would enable the mast to stand as it had brought the strains lower on it. Now, once again we sailed out into the rough and tumble for the start. As the starting flags came down and the gun fired, so this light reefing line carried away. Immediately, our mainsail unrolled and here was the boom drooping in the waves and we in no state to go to windward. Knowing the mainsheet was long, I cut the end off, and my crew rove this off as the reefing line. After quite a struggle in this seaway, we rolled the mainsail down again to the first batten, and started to chase the fleet, which had worked a long way to windward of us. On the port tack, I could drive Coweslip to the utmost as we were intact here with a cross-tree and a main shroud, but on the starboard tack I had to ease her through the squalls in order to nurse the mast. In spite of this, and the fact that we had reduced sail, we began to gain on the others and two thirds through the beat, passed the leading boat and went out into the lead. Though we had overhauled them fairly quickly from behind, and were out in front, we could not increase our lead to any extent. Then we came round the mark with a reach and a run home, and halfway through this, the second boat came up abreast, and then passed us because of our reduced sail. So once again, we had to be contented to take second place, as it was so rough that the committee wisely decided to stop all boats at the end of the first round.” After the race, Coweslip was hoisted out by the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club and dismantled to be loaded back on Uffa’s car ready for the drive north to Scotland where she competed on the Clyde.

Over the years, Coweslip participated in several notable events, in-between her racing commitments, including the celebrations in Cowes to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation in 1953; joining Bluebottle in the Solent to greet Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip when they returned home in HM Yacht Britannia at the end of the extensive Commonwealth Tour in May 1954; the London Boat Show in 1955; and Britannia’s first circumnavigation from August 1956 to February 1957. She was even used to open the Solway Yacht Club’s new slipway in 1958, after Uffa’s wife Yvonne cut the ribbon and declared the slipway ready for use. Once afloat, Uffa, crewed by local sailor Tom Hutchinson, raised Coweslip’s sails to contest another race which they went on to win and secure the “Kippford Quaich.”

Uffa sold Commodores House to the Terry family and continued to live there as if it was his own until he died in 1972. The Terry family kindly allowed Coweslip to be kept at Commodores House until her retirement from racing in 1976, when she was transferred to the Royal Collection Trust (RCT) and acquired on long term loan by Cowes Library. She remained there on public display until 2004 when a lack of space led to her transfer to the nearby Classic Boat Museum based in East Cowes. However, the Museum suffered a major setback when it was given notice to leave its premises at the Albany Building, East Cowes in 2017 which triggered an urgent hunt for alternative places to store its collection of 50 boats until it could find new premises. In view of Coweslip’s links to Britannia, the museum approached The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust to see if it could offer sanctuary to the famous Flying Fifteen. The approach coincided with the Trust’s discussions with the RCT to take on responsibility for Bluebottle’s restoration and long term preservation. The RCT was very enthusiastic about the opportunity to bring Britannia, Bloodhound, Bluebottle and Coweslip together for the first time. Having worked closely with the Trust since its foundation in 1998, the RCT was confident that it could offer a secure, long term home to Coweslip and approved the plan for her to be displayed alongside Britannia in Leith. To help maintain Coweslip’s links to her birth place, the Trust agreed to bring her back to Cowes in 2022 to be placed on display at Commodores House as part of the commemorations to mark the 50^th anniversary of Uffa’s death. The trip enabled, the Flying Fifteen to be refurbished by the Cowes based David Heritage Racing Yachts, which had recently completed the restoration of Bluebottle for the Trust. The rejuvenated Coweslip took pride of place in her former home for the celebrations of Uffa’s life and work, in line with one of The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust’s core objectives to share the rich heritage of the four Royal Yachts it cares for. Afterwards, Coweslip returned to Leith to be admired by Britannia’s visitors. Although, Leith will remain her permanent home, the Trust is always open to the possibility of Coweslip attending future events if it presents a further opportunity to share her history in an appropriate manner with a fresh audience. As part of this vision, the Trust agreed to Coweslip’s return to Cowes to support the town’s celebrations to mark the 200^th anniversary of Cowes Week in 2026. Working in partnership with the Classic Boat Museum, the Trust helped develop a new Maritime Heritage Trail to celebrate this anniversary and agreed to temporarily send Coweslip back to the Isle of Wight. As before, David Heritage Racing Yachts ensured she looked her best before she appeared at the Classic Boat Museum followed by the Trust’s exhibition “Sailing Through Royal History” held in Commodores House from 31 July to 29 August.

Sadly, the manner in which the rules of the Flying Fifteen class have evolved prevents the possibility of Coweslip returning to top flight racing within the class along similar lines to Bluebottle’s successful second racing career since 2021. However, she can still be sailed and may participate in future sailing events at some point in the future. Until then, she will continue to form an important part of the Britannia experience in Leith.

Fairey Fox

Coweslip shared the honour of wearing Prince Philip’s racing flag with a second Uffa Fox design from 1956. The 24ft gunter rigged planing dinghy Fairey Fox was developed in secret by Uffa Fox to satisfy Prince Philip’s curiosity about the use of hydrofoils on a small sailing boat. Named in honour of her builder and designer, she was launched in 1956 by Fairey Marine. Uffa hoped she would reach speeds of up to 30 knots on the foils and have the potential to secure the sailing speed record. Sadly, the trials proved unsuccessful and the foils were discarded. However, Fairey Fox proved to be an exciting boat to sail that could take up to eight people in comfort with the ability to reach speeds of up to 16 knots and even had the capability to tow water skiers!

Describing the experience of sailing Fairey Fox, Prince Philip recalled, “She could do 16 knots with the helmsman’s heart only halfway into his mouth. Judging by her conventional performance and handling I shudder to think what she might have done with foils.” Two sling plates enabled her to be swiftly hoisted onboard HM Yacht Britannia, while her drop keel and relatively short spars minimised the amount of space that she occupied whenever she was stowed in the Royal Yacht. She joined Coweslip for Britannia’s first circumnavigation from August 1956 to February 1957 and provided Prince Philip with an interesting alternative to racing Coweslip and Bluebottle. However, after five seasons, Prince Philip decided that he could no longer justify the expense of running three Royal Racing Yachts and offered Fairey Fox on long term loan to the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth to join its fleet of small craft used to train the Navy’s young Officers. A year later, she was joined by Bluebottle and remained in Dartmouth until 1971 when she was transferred to the National Sailing Centre in Cowes.