Look Lively: The Story of Sir Alec Rose & Lively Lady

9,717 views  |   September 30th, 2014 

We were walking around Port Solent last weekend when we saw scruffy boat and then realised it was a famous yacht…

The boat in question was Lively Lady, a 36 foot cutter which is known as the vessel of the late Sir Alec Rose. With this trusty yacht, Rose achieved a feat which earned him and his boat a special place in the history books.

The Creation of a Legend

Originally built in 1948 by Mr SJP Cambridge, construction of Lively Lady took place in Calcutta, where the facilities to steam-bend timber were not so readily available. Hence, Mr Cambridge changed the original design to instead use ‘grown knees’ – bends which occur naturally in the timber, such as a large branch jutting out from the trunk.

Sir Alec Rose’s Lively Lady in Port Solent

Grown frames were stronger than those created using boiling or steaming methods, and it’s perhaps this design choice which made Lively Lady so formidable in the challenges she would later face…

The boat that circumnavigated the globe

Sir Alec’s Story Begins

In 1963, fruit merchant Alec Rose bought the boat with the intention of entering it into the 1964 Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race. The race was only the second of its kind; the first race in 1960 had been revolutionary in introducing the world to single-handed ocean yacht racing, which had previously been viewed as unrealistic.

Rose battled the Atlantic waves and completed the race in just under 37 days, placing him in a not-too-shabby fourth place. This would be simply the appetiser for Rose and Lively Lady, though, as in 1967 the 59-year-old set off on another single-handed voyage – this time around the world.

The Voyage of a Lifetime

Single-handed circumnavigation of the globe is certainly a trial today; but back in the 60s, it was almost unimaginably tough. Lively Lady had none of the modern instruments of today’s yachts – so Rose had to find his way without GPS or electronic charts to guide him.

He had to battle violent gales & ocean waves, ever-changing weather conditions, lack of sleep, extreme and prolonged isolation, and a host of other challenges. At one point in his journey, he even fell unconscious below deck for two hours after inhaling the fumes from the broken exhaust pipe he was trying to repair.

Against all odds, Rose and Lively Lady completed the 28,500-mile journey and was given a hero’s welcome on his arrival in Portsmouth. A day after his return, he was knighted for his achievement.

Rose passed away in 1991, but that wouldn’t be the end of Lively Lady’s adventures. In 2006, the 60-year old yacht began another round-the-world voyage, this time captained by Alan Priddy and crewed with 38 disadvantaged young adults. The Lively Lady Project was designed to help these adults develop the skills to turn their lives around.

Around and Around banner at Port Solent

The project later became a full charity, Around and Around, which still carries out voyages today – although Lively Lady is currently awaiting a rebuild and currently resides in Port Solent where we came across her last weekend. If you’d like to help Around and Around in their fundraising efforts to get her shipshape again, you can find out more at their website.

Would you want to sail around the world in a craft like this? Let us know in the comments below.

Posted by: First Class Sailing

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