Berthon Gauntlet information
classic ocean racing yachts

Coch-Y-Bondhu

  Current owner:  Paolo Zangheri
  Location:       Club Nautico Rimini, Italy
  Year built:     1936
  Build number:   497
  First owner:    H G May
  Size:           17 tons
  Previous names:

Boat location

There is a detailed account of this boat's history (in Italian) on the Italian classic shipyard and brokerage website Zacboats.

Coch Y Bondhu has recently undergone major restoration, and has been successful in various regattas.

From the Panerai website (I can't give a direct link because of the fancy technology they use that manages to break how the internet works - you need to visit the site and search for 'Coch Y Bondhu'. Except that you can't. Just click through each page of results, as if you were leafing through a book. It's old school but when the website gets too clever, there's not much else you can do).

Coch y Bondhu means red and black in Welsh and is also the name given to a fishing fly. This 1936 ketch is built from iroko planks on an oak frame and backbone. She has a teak deck laid on oak beams and her masts are silver spruce. She began life as a Gauntlet Class 17 Ton with a canoe stern and took part in the Dunkirk evacuation before ending up in Italy. In 1967 she was given a transom stern designed by Laurent Giles and her rig was changed from a sloop to a ketch. She was abandoned at the Carlini yard in 2000 and lay there for six years. Her new owner Paolo Zangheri then had her restored at the Cantiere Navale dell’Adriatico owned by the Tosi brothers in Rimini. In 2009, the ketch finished second in her class at the Barcolana Classic in Trieste where she also won the prize for best restoration. Coch y Bondjhu won the same accolade at the 2010 Mare Maggio in Venice.

From the Mare Maggio website, I believe this must be Coch Y Bondhu, illustrating her transom stern and ketch rig dating from 1967.

Success at the 2009 Barcelona Classic in Trieste