COMETA

General
Information

·
Design                   S
& S  Olin Stephens  1945

·
Design No            577

·
Build date              1946

·
Built for                 J.
P. Wilson  Chicago  USA

·
Built by                  Henry
Grebe  Chicago
USA

·
Type                      Auxiliary
yawl

·
Engine                   M65HP
Perkins  naturally aspirated

·
Dry weight            18
Tons

·
Overall length       16.3 M

·
Waterline length  12.5 M

·
Beam                     4.2
M

·
Draft                      2.6
M

·
Home port            Falmouth,
UK

·
Med port               Cannes, France

Cometa is
registered as a British ship.  MCA
No. 908876

History

Comet
was designed by Olin Stephens and was built, under Rod Stephens’s
direction, in 1946 at the Henry Grebe Yard in Chicago
for John P. Wilson, an eminent Chicago
lawyer.  She was named after
John’s 6 metre named Comet, in fact one of Olin Stephens’s first
6metre’s that was built in the early 30’s.  The 6metre was the club class at
Charlevoix, Lake Michigan.

John bought the famous John Alden Schooner Malabar X in the early
1930’s after winning the Bermuda Race.  He took her to the Great
Lakes and raced her from Charlevoix.  Both Olin and Rod raced frequently with
John on Malabar X.  He employed two
full time crew to maintain her.

In the early 1940’s John decided that he wanted to sell
Malabar and have a racing cruising yacht that was easier to maintain.  He was aware of the successes of Dorade
and Stormy Weather and decided to get Olin to design a yawl that would be
competitive but also allow for family cruising and entertaining his pals /
business associates.  The design
lines / dimensions of Comet are almost the same as Stormy Weather but she holds
her beam for some 3 feet longer.
She has a coach roof that gives ample head height for a tall person and
an open layout below decks designed for comfort and entertaining.  The masthead rig is lighter and some 3
feet shorter that Stormy.

She was owned by the Wilson
family until John P Wilson died in 1960.
She stayed on Lake Michigan until
1988.  Little is known of her
sailing during this time.  In 1988
she was bought by a family in Annapolis,
Maryland.  It is believed she did some racing
around the Chesapeake Bay.  By 1994 she had had very little
maintenance done and needed substantial work.  She was offered for sale and it is
rumoured that she was given away because of the cost of refit.

Howard Park, an artist, finally acquired Comet around that
time.  He took her to Stonington and proceeded
to replace the teak deck with a ply glass fibre structure.  He was planning to sail her around the
world.  He did most of the work
himself.  He left for the voyage in
1998 returning to Stonington
3 years later.  A measure of the
quality of the build was that she completed the round the world trip, mostly
single-handed.  Upon his return he
put Comet up for sale.

The current owner saw Comet in Sept of 2001.  She required a major refit / restoration
to take her back to her original condition.  He bought her in the October and shipped
her back to the UK
to restore her to the original drawings. The detail in respect of the
restoration is available including a large collection of photographs
documenting work at each stage.

Ed Burnett, Yacht Designer / Naval Architect, was engaged and his
brief was to restore her to her original design.  A team of professionals was put together
all with a skill in wooden boats.
The team had access to all the original drawings held in Mystic Seaport
Archives.  Very few changes were
made to her appearance apart from minor changes to the original main mast and
deck layout for sheet winches and tracks.
Below deck a dedicated Nav., Station was installed to allow for the
latest Nav., / electronics systems.
This entailed moving the quarter berths aft by 3 feet, into what was the
engine bay and boxing in the engine. The design of the interior was
maintained.  New wooden masts /
booms were made, by Collars, in the original wood: Sitka Spruce from Alaska.

After just over 2 years of planning and work she was relaunched in
Cornwall, UK by Olin Stephens, in June 2004.  He was very complimentary in respect of
the restoration and the quality of workmanship.

She was sailed to the Med., in the Sept., to participate in Les
Regates Royales in Cannes
and Les Voiles de St Tropez.  In the
Nov., of 2004 Classic Boat ran a feature article on Cometa.  She has featured in a number of
Magazines / Newspapers and was chosen by Franco Pace to feature in his 2006
Calendar - April.

She is a fast and comfortable yacht, without vices.  She has beaten Stormy Weather, Dorade,
Tamara IX and Solway Maid, and continues to amaze.  At Argentario Week 2005 she had a 3rd
and two 1sts winning her class.  She
performed well at St Tropez coming 4th out of 25 yachts.

Gordon Wilson, grandson of J.P.Wilson, joined Cometa in La Ciotat
Sept 2005 and spent 2 days on board.
He had not sailed her for some 38 years.  He has also provided a number of photos
from Comet’s launch and adventures on Lake Michigan.

Her home port is now Cannes France.