Wanderer II
Painting - Acrylic on Board
91.5 x 61 cm

The painting depicts the 24 foot gaff cutter, Wanderer II, skippered solo by Eric Hiscock in 1937 during a cruise along the south-west coast of Ireland and described in detail in his book titled Wandering Under Sail. The yacht is sailing west around the Old Head of Kinsale, towards Courtmacsherry Bay. The wind is blowing from the north and Wanderer 11 has her topsail set whilst she is in the lee of the headland.

In his book Wandering Under Sail, Eric describes this part of the trip by saying, "The next morning the wind was still North. but was fresh with some very strong squalls, as Wanderer, under lower sail and small jib, ran out of the Haven in brilliant sunshine bound to the westward. We passed very close in round the Old Head of Kinsale, and for a few moments were quite becalmed under its lee, but the west-going tide soon took us clear, and hardening in the sheets I fetched into Courtmacsherry Bay and beat into the estuary at its head, not to stop, but just to have a look at it."

I decided to paint the yacht with her topsails up to show the yacht with her full suit of working sails, noting that in another section of his book Eric refers to the fact that he would always carry the maximum sail to ensure a speedy passage, and in this case he may have raised the topsail as the wind dropped whilst he was in the lee of the Cape.

The lighthouse shows the black & white bands. Contact with the Irish Inspector of Lights and Marine confirmed that these were the colours in 1937 with the original red & white stripes changed to the new colours in1930.

Footnote: I received some further details from one of the subsequent owners of Wanderer II who owned the yacht in Hawaii from 1971 until the early 1980s during which time he had the challenge of losing the keel when during a storm Wanderer II dragged her moorings and became embedded in soft mud which tore the 3,000 pound keel from her bottom. An article in the July 1976 edition of Pacific Skipper describes the challenge of recovering and refitting the keel.

Specifications and details on Wanderer II:

Gaff Cutter, designed by Laurent Giles & Partners
Built by Napier at Poole, Dorset, in 1936.
Length overall - 24 ft
Length waterline 20.75 ft
Ddraft 5 ft
Sail Area 495 sq ft
Beam 7ft 2in
No engine
Sails - Canvas tanned a rich red-brown. Loose fitted mainsail

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