Custom Cambria

Cambria is one of the few survivors of the "golden age" era of sailing. She was one of the first yachts created under the new rules of the Grand Class and it would seem that she could be one of the standards of the new class, but her fate was not an easy one. Her client, Sir William Berry, was one of the biggest media magnates in Britain and the world. As a young man with a capital of £100 he set up his own publication and a few years later bought the dying Sunday Times, after which he acquired other publishers including the Daily Telegraph, then the most popular newspaper.

He built the yacht in order to cease to be a parvenu in the strictly structured society of Britain at the time - and to own one would have placed him at the top of the class, as George V himself had owned a vessel of the same class. Not being an expert, however, he chose as his consultant not so much unscrupulous as not impartial - this consultant used the work on the yacht to give popularity to the ideas of a friend of his regarding the rules of the handicap of this class. In the end, the rules were changed in such a way that Cambria, although designed by the famous William Fife, was not competitive in racing, after which her owner lost any interest in her.

Her long and difficult destiny between 1936 and 1995 is replete with many gaps. In 1995, the boat was discovered in Australia and subjected to an enormous amount of overhaul - even her kit was disassembled and partially replaced. The nearly six-year restoration process culminated in recreating the boat almost exactly as it was originally designed.