The UK Connection
Meet The Tartan 37's
British-Built sister:
the Condor 37
Although there were 486 Tartan 37's built, that number doesn't include all of the examples of Sparkman & Stephens design #2253. Across the Atlantic, Condor Marine of Penryn, Cornwall, England began building their version of the design in 1978.
Tom Schneider (T37 Hull #118, RAINBOW) is active in the Northwest Tartan Association and was kind enough to send along information on a Condor 37, DODGER TOO, owned by Leif Watson. Leif and his Condor 37 were present at the Tartan NW rendezvous at Poulsbo, Washington this past September. Through Tom and Leif, we are able to bring you these photos and Leif's commentary.
(From Tom Schneider:) This one comes out of England and has been kept at Squalicum Marina in Bellingham since 1990 after a brief stint at Point Roberts. The owner is Leif Watson, who sent the following:
About our boat:
We have a Condor 37 built in England. This is the same hull as the Tartan 37 produced in the US although we have some minor deck mods. We bought the hull from the molding company who built Condor for the Round the World Race (mid 70’s). It was then sent to the east coast of England for fitting out and sat in the yard for 2 years until we got around to building. The yard was Harley Marine at Hoo, near Rochester on the Medway-east of London.
Leif Watson's Condor 37 DODGER TOO
The Condor 37, bow on
We launched on the 23 of June 83 and on the 24 sailed her around to the South coast for more fitting out-electronics, spray hood and other necessary items. We spent 3 days doing this, stocked up the boat and set off to Gibraltar. That was our shakedown sail-9 days across the Bay of Biscay, past Spain, Portugal and in through the Straits. Absolutely nothing went wrong, even the weather was great with a following wind all the way across Biscay. In fact the only items that have really gone wrong have been electronics-primarily radios although the original sat nav worked for about 2 years before giving up the ghost-the new GPS is much better and more reliable. We spent 2 summers and 1 winter in the Med-winter in Cyprus. Sailed as far as Israel and loved Turkey and the Greek Islands. Crossed via Madeira, Canaries and made landfall in Grenada after 22 days. Went to Carnival in Trinidad then up the chain to the Virgins, Puerto Rico, Hispanola then through the Bahamas and cleared into the US at West Palm Beach. We then went up the “ditch” to Virginia and left the boat for 2 years at Urbana on the Rappabannock (awesome place-the people are utterly fantastic). We then “sailed” across at 55 mph on the 1-90 to Bellingham.
The family resemblance!!
The cockpit - Note the raised bridge deck!
So far we have been as far south as Gig and as far north as Garden Bay, BC. We spend most of our time in the San Juans just taking it easy, although with the beating the Northern Peso has taken in the last few years we find it expensive and strangely can even purchase some yachting equipment cheaper in Canada than in the States. We really like the way our boat sails, reasonably comfortable motion, fairly fast considering how much junk we have on board and our layout with a full aft cabin works just great for our family.
The Galley - quite similar to the T37
The main saloon, quite different from the T37!
The forward cabin and Vee-Berth
Of course the new boats are wider giving much more room and maybe even sail a bit faster but few look like a “proper yacht” having more in common with a French family sedan than a yacht. Guess I’m just old fashioned. Our first boat was a racer/cruiser, Ed Dubois (we jokingly called him "Ed Dubious") design, didn’t really sail very well nicely-jerky motion, had to be sailed upright or would broach-very scary, lost about 3’ because of the stern profile. It was a relief to get rid of her although we lost a bomb on the sale. I look forward to seeing the other boats in Poulsbo in September. I’m sure we are anxious to prowl this variant too!
Our thanks to Leif for sharing his lovely Condor 37 with us, and to Tom for getting the information to us!