Ponsharden (Later W. E. Thomas)

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" LINK="#FFCC99" ALINK="#FF9966" VLINK="#FF9966">  <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#CC3300" FACE="Arial" ><B>History & Homes of the Sunbeam One Design</B></FONT>     |   <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="History Homes of the Sunbeam One Design"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14">        <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="LEAN (Falmouth Boatbuilder)"><IMG SRC="0430e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></A>    <A HREF="id112.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Symons, Falmouth Boatbuilders"><IMG SRC="0440e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></A>        <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="History Homes of the Sunbeam One Design"><IMG SRC="0450e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="04658020.png" border=0 width="600" height="2" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Ponsharden (Later W. E. Thomas)</div> <bR> <div> <B>1925</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >:</FONT></div> <div> FP Friday May 15, 1925. Yachting - The Season's Prospects</div> <div> RCYC weekly races will begin on May 27th.</div> <div> The Channel Races to and from Fowey will take place on Aug. 10th and 13th respectively and the annual regatta will be held on Aug. 15th.</div> <div> There are great hopes of the six-metre class paying a return visit, probably in the early part of September. Falmouthians have most pleasant recollections of the visit of the famous little yachts two years ago, when we had a week's splendid racing.</div> <div> This year there is an addition to the Sunbeam class through the arrival of Mr. C. Foster's Maranui.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id93.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="JACKETT, T. (Falmouth Boatbuilder)">Mr. T. Jackett</A> of the Victoria Yacht Building Yard has fitted out: <I>Boris</I>, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id104.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="WatsonSmythe, C. (Una 1924)">Major Watson-Smyth</A></FONT>, <I>Pixie</I>, Mr. C. R. Corfield, <I>Merlin</I>, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sicklemore, Mr Mrs H. G. ">Mr. H. G. Sicklemore</A></FONT>.</div> <div> In the 14 ft; Miss Goldman will be a new competitor and Major Watson-Smyth will probably enter two boats. </div> <div> Mr. Penryn Goldman's <I>Mignonette</I> has been fitted out.</div> <div> It is improbable that Mr. C. B. Foster's <I>Cynthia</I> will be put into commission this season.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dowman, Wilfred H. (1880 1936 )">Captain Dowman</A></FONT>'s fine Schooner Yacht <I>Lamorna</I>, arrived from Cowes on Wednesday (13 May) </div> <div> Lord Inchcape's Steam yacht <I>Rover</I> is being fitted out in one of the graving docks.</div> <div> Yachts laid up at the Ponsharden Shipyard have been the Sunbeams (three of which have just been launched.)</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> FP May 28, 1926: The Late Mr. W. H. West (Aged 50) - Manager of Ponsharden Shipyard</div> <div> - formerly from the Dart, Manager of Simpson-Strickland and Co., of Noss, taken over by Phillips. Three years ago he left to take up a similar position at Falmouth. He was a prominent Freemason and past Master of the Dartmouth Lodge.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> RCYC: In 1935, the flagstaff was lowered, painted, fitted with galvanised collars and re-erected at a cost of only £11 by the Ponsharden Shipyard. [Mead]</div> <bR> <div> In 1939 <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" >the [RCYC] club had a 16-foot St. Mawes Design built for the use of its members</FONT>.  "Teal" was constructed by the Ponsharden Shipyard at a cost of £70, plus a royalty of £1 for the designer, Mr. Ferris of St, Mawes.  She was completed in June, but was little used before the outbreak of war.   As predicted by members such as <A HREF="id111.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dixon, Capt. Richard Travers">Capt. R. T. Dixon</A>, members soon lost interest in looking after a boat that was nobody's baby. [Mead]</div> <bR> <div> 1948:  [Pictures <A HREF="id40_ken_williams___re_whimsey_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="V5 Whimsey exSolent V5 Whimsey (1923)">Ken Williams</A>, Mayor of Falmouth, and, in 1974, at Penryn Rugby Club Centennial.]</div> <div> Formerly a Solent Sunbeam, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><I>Whimsey</I></FONT> was bought and sailed, in 1948, from the Solent to Falmouth by the late  Ken Williams. </div> <div> Ken managed the boatyard at Ponsharden for <A HREF="id166.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Silley, H.J. ">Mr. H. Silley</A>, of Falmouth Docks, and had agreed to do so only on condition that Silley released Mr. Thomas from the Docks, where he was shipwright foreman. </div> <bR> <div> The delivery run down to Falmouth was confirmed by Ida Williams,  Ken's widow, who, (aged 86) remembers <I>Whimsey</I> was later sold to a Mr. Sincock, then of Flushing.  She reminded me that Ken had also owned a Falmouth Quay Punt, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><I>Genesta</I></FONT>. Falmouth Quay Punts will form a separate on-line topic!</div> <bR> <div> Robert Sincock bought <I>Whimsey</I> from <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" >Thomas's Boatyard</FONT> at Ponsharden in 1949, and she passed on to his son, Mr. E. Sincock, for whom Toby West regularly helmed [on his other Sunbeam, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><I>Danny</I></FONT>?].</div> <bR> </BODY>