FAMILY FORTUNES
Many readers of this magazine will be familiar with the 1974-built 72ft (22m) aluminium maxi Mistress Quickly, designed by Bob Miller, built in Sydney and originally named Ballyhoo. But this is the story of a previous Mistress Quickly – now called Nerissa. She was designed as a yawl by Arthur Robb and built at Vincenzo Beltrami’s yard near Genoa in 1965 for William Whitehouse-Vaux, a shipping lawyer whose work took him all over the world.
It is said that Robb designed her to comply with, and be competitive under, three different rating rules: the RORC and CCA rules, which were in force at the time, and the International CR Rule (and as such she rated as a 10.5 Metre cruiser/racer). “Arthur Robb claims that nothing has been conceded to any of the three rules that could not be conceded willingly,” reported Yachting Monthly at the time. “In respect of both cruising comfort and potential performance, the boat incorporates all the features that the owner required and the designer intended.”
She was built with teak planking (from timber which had been stored for 80 years, so it is thought) on acacia timbers and frames (mostly steamed timbers but with four sawn frames in the main mast area), and with additional framework and floors in Monel.
