Classic Sail 2027 Calendar

The Classic Sail 2027 Calendar features sailing craft ranging from traditional working vessels and cruising sailboats to exciting America's Cup contenders of the past. Kathy Mansfield, whose work is found in such nautical magazines as WoodenBoat, Classic Boat and Water Craft, brings together American and European boats in this very enjoyable pan-Atlantic collection.

This is Kathy's 25th calendar, designed and printed in the UK.

An Introduction to Classic Sail

Few boats can stir the imagination as completely as the classics from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The racing yachts of this formative period have not only great power in their enormous sail area but a grace and style of hull that has never since been equalled. These supremely functional boats were also works of art, a creative marriage of form and line, of wood and cloth and metal, of great craftsmanship.

If we widen the word 'classic' to encompass other boats of enduring value, we find elegant cruising boats, some many decades old and some modern; magnificent schooners and pilot cutters, and humble workboats that were designed to face the harsh rigours of sea and coastline and yet were imbued with timeless beauty. They inspire and appeal on many levels: the light on the wood and water, the skills of their boatbuilders, sailmakers, riggers and sailors, and their histories and stories. Let them stir your imagination.

Boats in the 2027 Edition

• January: The Lady Anne, always a sight to behold, one of four 15 Metre Class gaff cutters built by William Fife in 1912 that have now been restored.
• February: Viola, on the left, was built at the Fife yard at Fairlie in Scotland in 1908 to a William Fife design. Her French owners, who have sailed her enthusiastically for years, are bringing her to the US in 2026. On the right is Chips, a Maine-restored P Class yacht built in 1913 by W Starling Burgess in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
• March: In a gaff-rigged ballet, Tuiga on the left is about to pass Moonbeam IV at the Voiles de St-Tropez. Tuiga was designed and built at Fairlie in Scotland in 1909, Moonbeam IV in 1914.
• April: The Alden schooner Spirit, 47ft 6in long, was built in 1934 by Hodgson Brothers as a cruising vessel but races too, and has been carefully restored and maintained.
• May: The 68ft yawl Black Watch is a Sparkman & Stephens design built at the famous Nevins boatyard in New York in 1938, here racing in the Castine Classic Race in Maine. She is double planked in cedar and mahogany on white oak frames.
• June: Three restored P Class yachts on the start line at the Voiles de St-Tropez: Corinthian and Joyant, built in 1911, and Olympian, the middle boat, built in 1913. These three, plus Chips, have become racing favourites at the regatta in the last few years.
• July: Northern Crown, designed by Aage Nielsen, is a double-ended cutter, here sailing in the Eggemoggin Reach Race in Maine.
• August: Palma is a 34ft double-ender to a Ryder-Turner design, built in 2007 by Rockport Marine.
• September: The magnificent Tuiga, owned by the Yacht Club de Monaco, was designed by William Fife and built in Scotland in 1909. She is one of four 15 Metre Class yachts, and will be visiting the US in 2026 with a new mast after a dismasting in a storm in the Mediterranean the year before.
• October: The Sparkman & Stephens yawl Nora, 40ft 2in, was built in 1960 by William Healy and is sailing here in the Eggemoggin Reach Race.
• November: Mariquita heads downwind in the Richard Mille Cup at the Royal Yacht Squadron, in the Solent off Cowes. Designed by William Fife and built in 1911, she is the only 19 Metre Class yacht still sailing.
• December: The Universal Rule Q Class sloop Falcon was designed by Frank Paine in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1930, here sailing at the Voiles de St-Tropez off Sainte-Maxime. She is 52ft long with a waterline of 33ft 6in, hence that long, lonely overhang.

Calendar Details

• Wall calendar, opens to 12 x 18 inches (approx. 30 x 46 cm)
• 12 full-colour photographs by Kathy Mansfield, one per month
• Monthly date grid with space for notes
• Designed and printed in the UK

About the Photographer

Kathy Mansfield grew up in Massachusetts and, after studying at Cambridge University, made her home in England near Oxford. After a dozen years in academic book publishing, she reconnected with traditional and classic boats, writing for magazines such as WoodenBoat in the US, Water Craft and Classic Boat in the UK, and many others in Europe.

Besides the great classic regattas in the UK, US and Europe, she covers the French traditional boat festivals and also enjoys modern interpretations of all these boats, using new designers and materials – think Iain Oughtred, François Vivier and building in marine plywood. Her work has been used as book and magazine covers, on posters and in exhibitions.

She is a judge for the Maritime Foundation's annual Maritime Media Awards, which cover journalism, books, film and digital media.