Welcome to the Sumara of Weymouth website, which is mainly about a Vertue yacht called Sumara of Weymouth.
Well, it was all about Sumara, but I’m afraid there has been a bit of job creep over the years and now the website includes almost anything even tenuously linked to the good little ship and her adventures.
Sumara is a 26ft Vertue class wooden yacht. The original “Vertue” was designed by Jack Laurent Giles in 1936 but Sumara was built in 1990 by Terry Newman, who lived in Weymouth. I have owned her for over 34 years and had many grand adventures in her, some of which rather push the limits of small boat sailing. Occasionally we feel fit to call our little voyages “Expeditions” and sometimes a bit of climbing might be involved. In 2010 we sailed to Jan Mayen and climbed the world’s most northerly volcano for which myself and Tim Loftus won the prestigious Royal Cruising Club “Tilman Medal”. In December 2023 I was honoured to be appointed President Elect of the Arctic Club. So, although this is a predominantly a sailing website, I do drift around to cover all the aspects of training and choosing equipment for our Northern adventures.
In 2022 I attempted to reach Scoresby Sund on the East Coast of Greenland. It was a rather ambitious voyage for a little wooden yacht and it got quite exciting. Sadly I was thwarted by unusually strong weather and I decided to beat a retreat from the North Coast of Iceland back to Scotland. I have decided to have one more go to reach this elusive destination so I will set off from the West Coast of Scotland in 2026 towards Greenland. You are welcome to follow along by subscribing to the free blog.
Talking about drifting and job creep, we bought a little Volkswagen Beach camper van in 2019 and we have a dog which we call Tilman after the great H W “Bill” Tilman, so there may be a few posts about dogs, and vans, and dogs in vans, and dogs in boats.
Did I mention the little varnished dinghy we keep at Walton on the Naze?
Maybe its easier to say what the website isn’t about.
The website isn’t about selling stuff. It is strictly non-commercial for fun only – just like my boat.
Although I did once own a yacht chandler, it has since been taken over. The new owners decided to close the shop and sell everything online. They have also changed the product range from mainly selling chandlery and rigging, to chiefly selling what I believe are known as “gifting items”. I no longer have any influence over the company.
On this website, I will say what stuff works and what stuff doesn’t work.
The website is now pretty much fully functioning. We have:
- An active website which is updated regularly – especially when we are on expeditions
- A blog which is divided up into handy searchable categories and will give live updates of any “expedition” voyages
- A download section where you will find equipment lists, sailing schedules, chart lists etc
- A section about the yacht and Vertues in general
- Product reviews (strictly non-commercial). Just use the search function on the blog.
- Links to anything that might help like-minded people
- A link to some little videos
In 2023, I joined Will Stirling’s yacht, Integrity and we transited the North West Passage. Sumara wintered on the East Coast of England but is currently in Scotland getting ready to depart to Greenland in 2026
When voyages get underway, you should be able to join in the excitement by following the blog.
Please feel free to subscribe to the blog and make any comments via the comment boxes.