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In 1946 the Walton & Frinton Yacht Club decided to look for a successor to the 12ft 6in Gem Class One Design that members had raced in the pre-war years. These gaff rigged open dinghies had been built since 1921 by Brooke & Halls, the forerunner of Frank Halls & Son.
After reviewing a number of different designs and specifications, the W&FYC Sailing Committee favoured a 14ft half-decked clinker built design by Robert N. Stone, the prototype of which, ‘Omori’, had been built before the war for a Club member, proving very successful. Robert Stone made one or two modifications and the ‘Omori’ design was decided upon by the W&FYC. At that time good timber was difficult to obtain and of the dozen or so boat builders approached, only James & Co.Ltd of Brightlingsea could offer delivery in time for the 1947 sailing season.
Accordingly, an order for six boats was placed with James by the Club on behalf of different members and it was decided to name the design the 14ft Jewel Class, the name appropriately recognising the success of the earlier Gem class, The first Jewels cost £150 complete with ‘good quality Union cotton’ sails and 8 Jewels were racing at Walton by the end of the 1947 season.
When they saw how well the Jewels performed and how suited they were to the local estuarial conditions, both for racing and for more leisurely family sailing, more W&FYC members ordered Jewels and the local fleet soon numbered almost twenty boats.
In the meantime, James & Co started building Jewels for individual owners all around the coast and other sailing clubs adopted the Jewel as their dinghy class. The first of these was Thorpe Bay Yacht Club near Southend and then Rhyl Yacht Club in North Wales, followed by Bognor Regis Yacht Club. As all these clubs were launching the Jewels off beaches or slipways, drop rudders were introduced, whereas the Walton Jewels all originally had fixed wooden rudders.
By the early 1960’s James & Co had built almost one hundred Jewels, with a few more being built by other boat builders, including John Titchmarsh of Walton-on-the-Naze, who acquired the sole rights to the design. Over the years, the number of Jewels racing at Walton declined as cheaper and smaller dinghies were introduced, often built in the easier to maintain glass fibre, but one or two Jewels continued to sail at the W&FYC.
Then in the mid nineties interest was rekindled in the Jewels at Walton and Club members started to bring Jewels out of retirement and others have been found in all sorts of unlikely places all over the country. These old boats have been brought back ‘home’ to Walton to be restored and in some cases almost rebuilt and Nick Mussett of West Mersea has been making sails for a number of owners.
There are now over a dozen timber Jewels back in commission at the W&FYC, including ‘Black Pearl’ which was fully restored and then generously donated to the Club by the family of an earlier owner. ‘Black Pearl’ can be used by competent members for racing or just to explore the Backwaters.
Such is the interest in the Jewels that in the meantime, John Titchmarsh has kindly assigned the rights to the Jewel design to the W&FYC, which in turn licensed Frank Halls & Son to build Jewels in GRP. The GRP version will require much less maintenance, the drawback of traditional boats and will help to strengthen the fleet at Walton and elsewhere as the opportunities for restoring the original hulls will diminish.
Current List of Jewels Belonging to Club Members
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Sail No.
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Name
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Owner
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0
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Omori
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Grace Randall
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3
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Amber
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Stephen Garner
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8
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Moonstone
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Martin Wilberforce
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16
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Spinel
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Robin Cooper
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29
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Lapis Lazuli
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Becci, Jon, & Tim Brooke
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49
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Topaz
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Mark Douglas
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68
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Quicksilver
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Carol & Michael Mitchell
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81
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Malachite
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Tony Blake
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97
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Black Pearl
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W&FYC
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100
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Precious
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Caroline Wilberforce
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101
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White Diamond
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Chris Brooke
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Polly
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Tim Goodwin
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Other Jewels Known to the Club
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15
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Cairngorm
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Martin Jarvis
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102
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?
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Richard Marshall
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7
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Emerald Star
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Spotted afloat Heybridge Basin
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82
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Ruby Star
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Last seen on sale in N.Ireland
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53
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Emerald
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D & N Jacobs
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?
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?
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Munns?
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GRP Jewels built by Frank Halls & son
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200
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?
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For Sale
Frank Halls & Son
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201
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?
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For Sale
Frank Halls & Son
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Martin Wilberforce, Jan 2012
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