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SUMURUN
May 7, 2007
E
ven before Sumurun slid into Scotland’s
Firth of Clyde on this date 93 years ago
(in 1914), she was destined to become
an aristocrat among yachts.
Commissioned by a beautiful and flamboyant baroness as
a gift to her husband, named for an exotic harem girl,
designed and built by a legendary Scottish yard that
served many members of Europe’s royalty, and hailed as
one of the swiftest and most beautiful yachts afloat,
Sumurun’s story is filled with vivid personalities, a multitude of racing victories, and a serene elegance that has
transcended the vagaries of nearly a century on the water.
Sumurun with her original
gaff yawl rig sailing in the Solent
in the early 1920s
It is no wonder that those who love classic yachts the
world over have a special affection for her.
THE BARONESS
It was Lady Victoria Sackville of Kent who commissioned William Fife and Son
of Fairlie, Ayrshire, Scotland, to build Sumurun. She asked the yard to build “a
modest boat.”
Stunning, daring, and volatile, Victoria Josefa Dolores Catalina Sackville-West
was just as much of a head turner as Sumurun would become. She was born in
Paris in 1862, the second of seven children born to a British nobleman and
diplomat, Lionel Sackville-West, and his cherished mistress, an internationally
celebrated dancer of Spanish and Gypsy descent, Josefa de la Oliva Duran
(always known as Pepita). Sackville-West and Pepita could not marry because
it was impossible for her to divorce a husband she had left years earlier in
Drawing of
Lady Victoria Sackville
by John Singer Sargent
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Spain, but the two lovers remained together for nineteen years, until Pepita
died after childbirth when Victoria was just eight years old.
Cover photo by Franco Pace of Sumurun sailing past the Needles in the Around-the-Isle-of-Wight
Race after winning first place overall in the 3,000-mile 1997 Transatlantic Challenge race. Photo
of Sumurun by Beken of Cowes. Drawing and photo of Victoria Sackville and photo of Lionel
Sackville courtesy of Juliet Nicolson.
In the first few years following her mother’s death, Victoria and the rest of the children were looked after by friends of her mother’s where they had lived in the south
of France. She was then sent to a convent school in Paris, where she spent seven
long, unhappy years before finally being allowed to go to England to be with the
Sackvilles. Eighteen years old and turning into a captivating young woman,
Victoria was given a crash course in English and quickly acclimated herself to the
social graces of the upper class, all in preparation for the next stage in her life.
Lionel Sackville-West’s sister Mary, Countess of Derby, who had become an
extremely influential woman in England, convinced Queen Victoria that the
young and inexperienced Victoria should become her father’s official hostess
after he was named the British minister to the United States in 1881. Soon after
her arrival in Washington, D.C., this tall and slender daughter of the English
Lady Victoria Sackville
in 1900
foreign minister, who spoke with an exotic French accent, became the toast of
the capital’s society. With an alluring beauty, Victoria’s dark blue eyes, long eyelashes, and masses of waist-length black hair charmed the men. She later
claimed to have received at least 25 marriage proposals, among them one from
J. P. Morgan and one from President Chester A. Arthur. She declined them all,
and returned to England in 1888 with her father, who had by then inherited the
title of Baron of Sackville and ownership of Knole, the family’s palatial country
estate in Sevenoaks, Kent.
Victoria took naturally to the role of mistress of Knole, overseeing its many
servants and presiding over extravagant parties. She soon caught the eye of her
first cousin, another Lionel Sackville, who would eventually become the Third
Baron of Sackville after Victoria’s father’s death. Despite family opposition, the
two were married in 1890. Two years later, their daughter, Victoria Mary
Sackville-West, was born. Always known as Vita, she would grow up to be the
avant garde poet and writer, and master gardener of Sissinghurst Castle, whose
Lord Sackville as an officer in
the British Army
“open marriage” to Sir Harold Nicolson and intimate friendships with Violet
Trefusis (great aunt of the present Duchess of Cornwall), Virginia Woolf, and
other members of the convention-defying “Bloomsbury Set” created much gossip in more conservative circles.
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SUMURUN
Vita’s mother Victoria was herself the subject of wagging tongues because of
her sometimes-capricious behavior as well as her penchant for developing
close relationships with wealthy and prominent older men (among them
sculptor Auguste Rodin, millionaire William Waldorf Astor, diplomat Baron
Carl Bildt, and celebrated architect Sir Edwin Lutyens). Her husband, Lord
Sackville, was later described by Vita’s son, Nigel Nicolson, as “an English gentleman of Edwardian attitudes,” but for the first part of their marriage at least,
neither he nor his wife seems to have been overly troubled by the other’s extramarital dalliances.
One of Victoria’s longtime and dearest gentleman friends was Sir John Murray
Scott, secretary to Lady Wallace, from whom he had inherited a vast fortune.
Her husband, Sir Richard Wallace, had been left the entire estate of the fourth
Marquess of Hertford. One of the richest people in Europe, Scott subsequently
left a major portion of his fortune to Victoria, who became the subject of litigation in 1913 when Scott’s family challenged the inheritance, charging
Above and below:
Lord Sackville on board
Sumurun
Victoria with “hypnotism” and alluding to much immorality not only on her
part but also on her husband’s.
The hearings were a cause célèbre, and society ladies eagerly arrived at court
each day with their seat cushions. Victoria was charming and dramatic,
wrapped the judge around her little finger, and was ultimately triumphant. For
Lord Sackville, however, it was a painfully humiliating experience and served
to deepen an already serious rift between the two of them.
Soon after the trial ended, Victoria decided to use some of her newfound
wealth to have William Fife and Son build a yacht. Sumurun was launched in
1914, and Victoria announced that it would be a gift to her husband. Sumurun
remained Lord Sackville’s yacht until his death in 1928 from complications of
influenza.
Old photos from Vita Sackville-West's photo album, courtesy of Juliet Nicolson.
Program cover from the yacht’s collection. Detail photo by Franco Pace.
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THE HAREM GIRL
This lissome new yacht was christened Sumurun after the character of a beautiful harem girl in the eponymous pantomime spectacle which had been staged
by Max Reinhardt in Berlin and went on to enjoy great popularity in London’s
West End in 1911. Such a namesake could not have been a more appropriate
choice for Lady Sackville, herself a compelling beauty with more than a streak
of Gypsy blood whose mother had been a dancer.
Based on tales from The Arabian Nights, the pantomime tells the story of a
wealthy old sheik’s favorite concubine who defies her master by falling in love
with a handsome cloth merchant. The glamorous silent screen star Pola Negri
played a traveling dancer in the stage production, and later starred in a silent
film of the same name (alternately titled One Arabian Night in the United
Cover of program for the Berlin
production of the play Sumurun
States). The movie was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, who also acted in it, and it
is considered one of his greatest cinematic triumphs.
THE BOATYARD
Sumurun was designed and built as a gaff-rigged yawl by William Fife and Son,
in Fairlie, Ayrshire, Scotland, on the eve of World War I. William Fife, III, was
then running the yard founded by his grandfather, and he is considered a central figure in the golden era of classic wooden yachts. From his drawing board
came not only Sumurun, but also the King’s yacht Britannia and such other
lovely vessels as Altair, Belle Aventure, Tuiga, Moonbeam of Fife, Hallowe’en,
Cambria, and America’s Cup challenger Shamrock I. All except Britannia and
Shamrock I are still sailing.
The first William Fife once declared that the secret to creating a great yacht
was to make her both “fast and bonnie,” and Sumurun displays all the hallmarks of her pedigree: renowned speed, exquisite lines, solid construction,
The craftsmanship of
William Fife and Son,
still unsurpassed today
and impeccable craftsmanship.
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SUMURUN
THE YACHT
In an article in the May 19, 1914 issue of The Yachtsman announcing Sumurun’s
launching, the writer declares:
More extreme boats, and less extreme boats than the really beautiful
90-ton yawl for Lord Sackville have been built at Fairlie. Speaking,
however, with a close personal knowledge of about 50 years’ duration
of the yard of Messrs. Fife, we should say there has not been fashioned
On board Sumurun near Dartmouth.
L to R: Lord Sackville,
an unidentified guest,
Vita Sackville-West. Vita’s husband
Harold Nicolson is standing.
Excerpts from
Vita Sackville-West’s Diary,
Summer 1920
May 20 • Sumurun, Calshot
Sail very slowly down to Calshot.
Lovely weather.
. . . [a boat] in which the best elements of several types have been
better or more harmoniously blended.
Exquisitely fitted out, Sumurun was lavished with the finest rigging, hardware,
and joinerywork. With a generator on board, she had the distinction of being
one of the very first yachts with electric lights as well as kerosene lanterns.
Sumurun was launched mere weeks before Europe was catapulted into World
War I. By the summer of 1920, she was sailing the waters of the English
Channel, with Lord Sackville and his daughter, Vita Sackville-West, on board.
Designed as a “fast cruiser,” Sumurun raced often in the 1920s and 1930s, and
her name quickly became synonymous with Big Class yacht racing, the era’s
May 21 • Swanage
Sail from Calshot to Swanage.
I am a good sailor!
grandest spectacle in sport. A favorite rival was her great contemporary, the
Fife yawl Rendezvous; and in fleet racing she competed with such noble yachts
as the schooner Westward and the royal yacht Britannia.
May 23 • Dartmouth
It has turned warm, and we had a
perfect day though very little
breeze. Lay on deck in the sun.
May 25 • At sea off Start Point
Start well, but get suddenly
becalmed and befogged and hurried
to heave to in a swell and a thick
mist, with foghorns hooting all
around.
As World War II engulfed Europe in the 1940s, Sumurun and many of her
sister yachts, including the famous America’s Cup challenger Endeavour, were
taken to the Hamble, across the Solent from the Isle of Wight, where their hulls
were secured in mud berths to preserve the wood. Sumurun was fortunate to
escape the fate of some other vessels, including Britannia, which were stripped
of all their hardware for the war movement and scuttled.
It wasn’t until after World War II that Sumurun was resurrected and fitted with
her first engine. Until then, she had always been towed out of the harbor and
Old photo from Vita Sackville-West's photo album, courtesy of Juliet Nicolson.
Aerial photo by Alison Langley.
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to the starting line of every race by her little gasoline-powered tender.
In 1948, the decision was made to re-rig Sumurun as a Marconi ketch to create
a smaller main for easier sail handling. The new rig, finally completed in the
1950s, originally included a little bowsprit, which no longer exists.
Sumurun had a series of owners following Lord Sackville, until her current
owner became her dedicated caretaker in 1980.
SUMURUN ON THE RACECOURSE
Today Sumurun is truly a legend in her own time, regularly taking top honors
in American, Caribbean, transatlantic, and European events. She was the outright winner of the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta in 1989. In 1997, she competed in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge and was first in her division to cross
the finish line — and first overall on corrected time. That same year, she won
the Vintage Class in both the Vele d’Epoca in Imperia and the Regattes Royales
in Cannes.
“. . . she has the powerful sweetly curved
midship section which helps to give power
without, and room within . . . .”
May 26 • At sea off Fowey
A perfect day again, but very little
breeze till dinnertime, when we get
about four hours moonlight sailing.
July 22 • Sumurun
Race this morning in a heavy wind.
Britannia wins. Anchor off Deal;
horribly rough.
July 23
Sail round from Deal to Dover this
morning in a very rough sea after a
beastly night of rocking about in a
swell. On the way to Dover our
dinghy gets washed adrift by a
specially heavy sea. One of the crew
gets his head cut open by a block.
Altogether an adventurous trip.
September 10
At sea I sleep on deck, in the gig, a
glorious night, quite calm, studded
with stars — never liked anything
better.
— The Yachtsman, May 19, 1914
She returned to the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta in 2002 to complete an
unprecedented clean sweep of the races on her way to another outright overall victory. She has also won the Atlantic Cup at the Classic Yacht Regatta in
Newport, Rhode Island.
In 2005, she returned to the Antigua Classic Regatta and narrowly missed
repeating her feat of 2002, gaining instead a comprehensive win in the Vintage
Class. The following spring saw Sumurun competing in the second Rolex
Transatlantic Challenge, speeding across the ocean to a victory in the Classic
Division.
Sumurun racing to victory in
the Vintage Class at the 2005
Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta
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SUMURUN
ABOARD SUMURUN
Below her teak decks, Sumurun is far more than comfortable. The saloon,
amidships, is an exceptional example of the early twentieth-century decor
found in the finest yachts of the Edwardian
era. Handsome paneling, bookcases for the
yacht’s library, brass bulkhead lamps, and
soft leather banquettes enhance the rich
atmosphere. The paneling in the companionway is the original Chinese oak.
The saloon also has a built-in bar, a desk
— one can imagine Vita Sackville-West
making entries in her diary here — and
recessed showcases displaying some of
Sumurun’s many racing trophies. At the
table, elegant meals are presented on fine
Spode stoneware. There is also less formal dining at the large table on deck, an
The saloon to starboard (above)
and the saloon to port (below)
especially pleasant spot for lunch.
“The main saloon is
a particularly
handsome apartment.
. . . The style is
Jacobean. The
workmanship here,
as elsewhere, is a
pleasure to behold.”
— The Yachtsman, May 19, 1914
Photos by Franco Pace.
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Three cabins, each accommodating two guests, are finished in
finely carved English white oak and rare woods and appointed
with built-in bookshelves, vanities, and desks whose workmanship rivals that of eighteenth-century furniture. The master cabin has an ensuite head with sink, shower, and bathtub.
The two guest cabins, one of which has a sink, share a head
with a sink, shower, and bathtub.
The article in the 1914 issue of The Yachtsman reported that
Sumurun had “that recently introduced comfort to a sailing
yacht, an ice-chest. . . .” Keeping her properly outfitted has
certainly become a far more complex matter in ensuing years,
but Sumurun remains fully equipped for comfort and safety at
sea. Constructed under Lloyd’s supervision, she is still classified 100 A-1 + LMC, testimony to the top condition in which
her structure and systems have always been maintained.
The master head (above) and
the master stateroom (below)
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SUMURUN
SUMURUN TODAY
Sumurun remains equally at home sailing to weather in the cascading, wind-driven
spray of a racecourse, running downwind in the more genteel environment of a
relaxing cruise, and lying at anchor in idyllic
locations.
Her sheer beauty, elegance, and Bristol condition
also continue to win Sumurun trophies in
Concours d'Elegance competitions throughout the
world, including those at recent regattas in Porto
Cervo, Sardinia; and Antigua. She was also
awarded
the
Thomas
Benson
Award
for
Restoration at the 1992 Museum of Yachting
Regatta in Newport, Rhode Island.
Racing off Newport, Rhode Island
She often spends her winters in the Caribbean and summers in the waters of
New England. From time to time she also sails to the Mediterranean and her
home waters of Great Britain.
Wherever Sumurun goes, she inspires yachtsmen’s
admiration and affection — as a jewel from the
grand age of yachting, as a powerful racer that still
shows her stern to most competitors, and as a perfectly kept vessel that brings credit to her owner
and a memorable sailing experience to her guests.
The 1914 Yachtsman article concludes that “. . . so
perfectly has she been put together that she looks
as if she should, bar accidents, wear for, well, say
Racing in the Mediterranean
a hundred years.”
In just as good — if not better — shape today as she was the day she was christened, Sumurun is well on her way to fulfilling that prophesy and more.
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Top photo by Onne van der Wal; lower photo by Franco Pace. Photos of twin and double
cabins by Alexis Andrews. Poem, Evening, from Orchard and Vineyard by V. Sackville-West,
John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd., London, and John Lane Company, New York, 1921.
Evening
When little lights in little ports
come out,
Quivering down through water
with the stars,
And all the fishing fleet of
slender spars
Range at their moorings, veer
with tide about;
When race of wind is stilled
and sails are furled,
And underneath our single
riding-light
The curve of black-ribbed deck
gleams palely white,
And slumberous waters pool a
slumberous world,
—Then, and then only, have I
thought how sweet
Old age might sink upon a
windy youth,
Quiet beneath the riding-light
of truth,
Weathered through storms, and
gracious in retreat.
—Vita Sackville-West
On board Sumurun
Cornwall, 1920
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SUMURUN
BUILT IN 1914
WILLIAM FIFE AND SON • FAIRLIE, AYRSHIRE, SCOTLAND
Length overall
94 ft.
28.60 m
Length on waterline
68 ft. 5 in.
20.80 m
Beam
16 ft. 6 in.
5.10 m
Draft
12 ft.
3.70 m
Sail area
4,000 sq. ft.
370 m2
Fuel capacity
250 gal.
950 l
Water capacity
340 gal.
1280 l
plus 45 gallons (170 liters) per hour from watermaker
Auxiliary power
210-hp. Cummins diesel engine
Generator
27 kW Onan
Cruising speed under power
8 knots
Simrad CR44 chart plotter/Radar/GPS with repeater on deck
Nobletec navigation software
Brookes & Gatehouse H1000 sailing instruments
Icom SSB M-802 and VHF M-602 radios
Satellite phone system
Audio entertainment system with FM/XM/CD players
Bose iPod docking station
Snorkel gear • Fishing tackle • Sun mats
15-foot RIB tender with 40-hp outboard
Crew of six
Accommodations for six guests in three cabins,
one with a double bed plus a single bunk,
one with a double bed, and one with twin beds.
©2007 • Brochure by Mimi Steadman & Co. ([email protected]) • Design by Tim Seymour