Clara, 1884
A William Fife Jr. design
The Clara was a typical "six-beam" cutter. i.e her length was was six times greater than her waterline beam, designed and built by Will Fife, Jr., Culzean, Scotland, in 1884 for J. George Clark. In June 1885 she was purchased by Mr Charles Sweet who sent her to New York where, September 1885, she scored a first in class on her first outing. She continued for many years virtually unbeaten.
- Length overall, 63 feet 4 inches
- Waterline length, 52 feet 9 inches
- Beam, 9 feet 2 inches;
- Depth, 8 feet 6 inches
- Draft. 9 feet 8 inches
- Displacement, 37 long tons
- Sail area, 3,221 square feet
Clara was designed under the "1730” rule for the 20-ton class, and was typical of the "plank-on-edge" style, somewhat favoured in Great Britain at that time. Her plumb cutter stem and long counter were typical, as was her rig, with three headsails and a running bowsprit fitted to house, mast stepped well aft from the stem, short lower mast and long topmast and a long gaff. The low mainsail hoist was necessitated by the then traditional lacing of the sail to the mast (or occasionally the use of hoops) which precluded the use of intermediate spreaders for the shrouds, and therefore, particularly on a narrow beam vessel such as the Clara, engendered enormous stress.
William Fife Jr. (15 June 1857 – 11 August 1944), of Fairlie in Scotland was the third generation in his family to design and build yachts. At the time he designed the Clara he had completed a five year apprenticeship with his father, had worked for two years at the J. Fullerton shipyard further up the Clyde where he made an early start to his career as a designer, and had been employed as a manager in 1884 by the Culzean Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., some 40 miles south of Fairlie, having been recommended by his father’s greatly respected customer the Marquis of Ailsa.
At Culzean, he not only managed his employer's yard, but also started to design for his family’s original yard. He moved back to Fairlie full time in 1886 as the Fife Yard designer. Clara proved to be very successful both in British and American waters and started the recognition that ‘Fife of Fairlie’ was a world leader in yacht design.