Titia
Titia was designed by David Boyd and built in 1952 by Woodnutts in Bembridge, UK. She was built to the same plans as Marletta, for Sir Kenneth Preston and Robert Steele, to represent Great Britain in the 1952 Olympics.
Frederick (Fred) Brock, DSC RCNVR, purchased Titia in 1969 from a member of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) in Toronto. Fred was quite familiar with Six Metres, as after the Second World War he lived in Toronto for a time and crewed on boats at RCYC, including a summer with the noted Canadian sailor, Bill Gooderham. There was a small fleet of sixes there at the time.
Titia was painted bright red when she arrived at Rothesay Yacht Club (RYC) in New Brunswick, Canada, as one of the previous owners had changed the original white hull at some point after she arrived at the RCYC from the UK. She sailed with sail number KC22 at this time.
Compared to the older wooden boats at RYC, or the neighbouring Royal Kennebeccasis Yacht Club (RKYC), Titia was a work of art. The bright paint work was in good condition and she was fully equipped with two sets of sails, Ratsey and Lapthorn. The sails were a bit tired and in one memorable race the second main split a seam and Titia retired, having been well ahead of the RKYC fleet. Fred was so disappointed, as he only used the #2 for day sailing and did not have time to change mainsails before the race.
The winches were of large diameter, with a low profile, maybe 3”. The headsail winch handles were below the decks. She had a gold anodized Procter mast but a varnished wooden boom. The back stays were wire and after passing around the winches, the weather back stay was secured in a clamp.
Upwind there was nothing on the Kennebecasis river that could keep pace with Titia. Downwind she also held her own, despite her enormous #1 spinnaker. The sheets were a very small diameter and they stretched under load, so one was always tuning the spinnaker. The spinnaker also hung over the bow when the wind dropped in velocity. There was a long bamboo pole on board to keep the spinnaker out of the water on flat calm days.
Fred would also day sail her and he built a removable galley for those occasions. He also added a self tacking Elvstrom Canada jib, for day sailing. She had an ancient outboard motor, maybe a Johnson, that hung off a temporary mount on the port (?) side. He usually arranged a tow when going through the Reversing Falls into the Bay of Fundy.
Titia was perfectly balanced, be it sailing or when a crane lifted her. She had a removable ‘eye’ that screwed into the top of the keel and the crane hooked on to it. No slings were used and neither RYC or RKYC had a travel lift.
Fred sold Titia after the 1972 season to someone in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
She was later discovered by Matt Cockburn, rescued, and brought to Penpol on the Fal Estuary in Cornwall in the UK, where she was beautifully restored by Brian Pope and Andy Postle.
In their first outing in 2006, they won the French Classic Championships at La Trinité sur Mer, winning six of the nine races. As GBR22, they subsequently finished 4th in the 2007 Classic Worlds; 3rd in the 2008 European Classic Championships at La Trinité sur Mer, France; 4th in the 2009 Worlds at Newport, RI; 2nd in the 2010 Europeans at Brunnen, Sweden; and 9th in the 2012 Europeans at Nynashamn. She finished in 4th place at the 2018 Europeans in La Trinité sur Mer, France, and then (sailing as ESP72) in 3rd place at the 2022 Europeans in Cascais, Portugal.
More recently, at the 2022 World Championships in Sanxenxo, Spain, Titia (ESP72) finished 5th. At the 2023 World Championships in Cowes, UK, she finished 4th in the Classic Division.
Thank you to Fiona Brown, Tim Street, Leonard Lee-White and Mark Brown for information contributing to this profile.
Know something about this boat? Tell us!
