Velsheda off the Needles - Steven Dews

Launched in 1933, the ‘J’ Class yacht, Velsheda, was designed by Charles Nicholson and built by Camper and Nicholson for the owner of the Woolworth chain of stores, W.L. Stephenson.  In her first racing career, which spanned between 1933 and 1936, she raced against many famous ‘J’ Class yachts and George V's Britannia.

Velsheda was highly successful, winning 40 races in her second season alone.  In 1937, she was laid up on the Hamble River and eventually became a derelict, languishing there until she was rescued in 1984 by Terry Brabant. With limited funds, he managed to get her sailing again.  Velsheda proved to be quite an impressive sight as she was sailed engineless around the south coast of the UK, making occasional forays to the Mediterranean and even as far as the Caribbean. Eventually, sadly, her upkeep was proving too much for her owner and she was, again, laid abandoned on a river. 

A few years later, in 1999, she was rescued again, this time by the Dutch businessman, Ronald de Waal, who had the resources to complete a major refit and turn the yacht, arguably, into one of the World’s finest and most stunning looking sailing vessels as she joined the recently renovated ‘J’ Class, Endeavour and Shamrock V, sparking a renewed interest in these magnificent racing machines.