News

14:49 Sunday 9 Aug 2015 Sue Pelling/CWLHeritage of Cowes – sailing and boatbuilding talent runs in the family

Will and David Heritage sail into second place in opening race – photo Rick Tomlinson

The Cowes-based Heritage family have been racing at Aberdeen Asset Management  Cowes Week for years. David Heritage, a successful world class racing sailor, also runs the boatbuilding company David Heritage Racing, which specializes in both restoration and race preparation.

His son William Heritage (14) seems to be following in exactly the same footsteps. Not only did he make his name crewing for champion sailor Graham Bailey in the Dragon class at Cowes Week when he was just 10 years old, but he also showing signs of talent as a helmsman, and seems to posses a keen eye for perfection when it comes to boat restoration.

This week William is sailing a restored 19 year-old Flying 15 (Freddie Flintoff) crewed by his father David. They finish in second place yesterday. Chatting about the boat, Will said: “We bought it from a guy in Lymington, stripped it and re-fitted it out. We basically ended up with a bare hull. It was a bit of joint family effort. Dad did most of the hull work but because I enjoy the rigging and rope work I concentrated on that mainly.”

On what it is like to have his father at the front of the boat for a change, Will added: “I really enjoy having my dad crew for me because it is so easy.  We get on so well which makes communication easy too.”

He also says that his previous experience at Cowes Week has been a huge help: “I think what I learnt from Graham [Bailey] for the last four years was invaluable. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to sail with him, because he is such a lovely guy.”

The locally-based yacht building company that David runs is also booming with a resurgence in the Etchells class in particular.

David commented: “It has been absolutely brilliant. We have built seven new Etchells in the last 18 months, and potentially another three orders are on the way, which is fantastic. The Etchells is such a great boat for Cowes and, with the world championship here next September, I have a feeling it is about to get a lot busier.

“We have worked hard to upgrade the product, so we are really pleased with the way they are coming out. They are quite quick and, the good thing is, we’ve had a lot of input from some of the world’s top sailors, which is really important. All we need now is for some more top helmsmen to sail them. We’ve won a lot of the major championships but only finished second at the worlds, so we hope to rectify that soon.”

David Heritage Racing Yachts, based at Bridge Road, Cowes, are also known for their finishing work and David reports business is going well in that area too: “We do a lot of work with the Olympic Squad, including optimising hulls and foils and do general maintenance on them, and hopefully turn out a high quality product.”