Defying all sorts of resistance and prejudice, in 1899 the English designer Charles Sibbick designed, and then built in his yard at Cowes, a yacht according to the Godinet rule (Jauge Nationale Française) for taking part in competitions on the other side of the Channel.
This yacht was named Bona Fide. In early 1900 she was to Normandy and then to the French Riviera, were she began to take part in races and to reap success (15 victories and 5 second places). In May of the same year she was brought to Paris to take part at the second Olympic Games of the modern era, which introduced sailing events for the first time. Having being delayed by red tape, Bona Fide could not take part in the first race, but she still won the Olympic medal.
Bona Fide was then brought to Italian lakes (Como Lake and then Maggiore Lake), where she remained for around thirty years, to be used more as a pleasure boat than as a racing yacht. She underwent the most significant alterations in 1962, when the auric rigging and the long tiller were replaced respectively by a Bermudan rigging and a steering wheel. The degradation became abandonment, and she remained in that state until 1999. Bona Fide was then brought to the shipyard, and in 2003, after three years of accurate work, she gloriously went back to sea and resumed an impressing winning streak in vintage yachts regattas.
Giuseppe Giordano
“Beppe is Cerida’s and Bonafide’s “Maitre Voilier” since 1999. It’s been so many years of passion and enthusiasm with him, Andrea and Vittorio; it’s been continuous tests and experiments, recklessly pursuing historical fidelity. It’s been an unforgettable adventure.”
Type
Vintage
Designer
Charles Sibbick
Builder
Charles Sibbick & Co
Yacht Type
Cutter Aurico
Year
1899
Hull Length
13.60
Length over spars
16.10
Waterline length
8.84
Beam
2.50
Draft
1.86
Sail area
110.00
Displacement
11.40
How we worked with Bona Fide:
During the restoration of Bona Fide by the Italian shipyard Cantiere dell’Argentario, we committed to reproduce a sail plan that would match the original project as much as possible. We made a set of sails whose appearance recalls the materials and working methods that were in use at that time.
The cloth, the cut type: English style for the jibs and vertical for the mainsail, with low panels and brown stitches, the eyelets that were meticolously hand-sewn as well as the leather finishes and the spring hooks: all this resulted in a set of sails that give the yacht a special fascination as well as good performances.
