Petrel, a French ?yacht from the 30's

[John B]

I was aboard this yacht , the Petrel on saturday. The owner knows very little about it's history so this is a long shot at getting a little info for him.
The boat is about 35 ft, very similar in appearance to an Albert Strange yawl (Double ended but a bit more freeboard).Pitch pine on oak frames,registered port for many years was Dunkirk. Also associated with La Rochelle.
A very pretty boat... no longer rigged as a yawl and very well looked after by the present owner. He is under the impression that it is a French design but the pitch pine that she is built from and the look implies an english heritage to me.
It's a long shot as I say, but someone out there may know of her.
Heres a rough sketch

she has a beautiful double spreader mast plus a set of jumper shrouds to support the top mast section. mizzen is removed (as I said earlier) and original wheel steering has been changed to a tiller.

[This message has been edited by John B (edited 03-12-2001).]

[Stephen]

Sounds like a vessel a friend of mine once owned. Do you have any pictures? Could be the same Petrel...

[John B]

Sorry Stephen, the one time I didn't have my camera with me... and that's all the info I have to date. Don't even know how long it's been here in NZ.

OK here's a little more data. the current owner has had it for around 25 years.... bought it off a couple of "Hippies" in Tahiti and sailed it back here .

[This message has been edited by John B (edited 03-13-2001).]

[Tanton]

Petrel might have been designed by the French architect Eugene Cornu. Author of many yachts in the 50's. He favored canoe sterns (cul de poule in french ). Two of his best designs: Le Cid and Striana.

[John B]

Thanks Tanton.... I'll try a search on that.

[Pier]

It could be also a Francois Sergent design.
Do you have a lot of mahogany inside? Is the boat in metric? Did the owner remenber what was the first engine?

[John B]

I did a search of Cornu but came up with zip.
I'll try sergent next thanks Pier

[John B]

I got a couple of shots of Petrel on Saturday.


maybe that will jog a memory.....

[This message has been edited by John B (edited 03-25-2001).]