Lady Of Hamford 
(ex Vendetta)

An Invited Friend of The Harrison Butler Association
Built to an Alan Buchanan design in 1962

Lady Of Hamford : Round The Island Participant, July 2017
Lady Of Hamford is one of twelve boats built to Alan Buchanan's highly successful Vashti design. She was built for David Clarabut, an RAF veteran who took part in a daring and successful dive-bombing attack on the German battleship Tirpitz on 3rd April 1944. The Lady Of Hamford won many races under David's command in the mid 1960s. More recently she's had a full restoration by Harbour Marine Services at their yard in Southwold, Suffolk. This cost £100,000 but resulted in a nomination for 'restoration of the year 2017' in Classic Boat and an informative and well written article about the Lady of Hamford in the October 2016 issue of the magazine. She is still being raced and current owner, David Butcher, has entered her for the 2017 Round The Island Race on July 1st.
Originally called Vendetta, she was renamed by GW Thake when he became her second owner sometime between 1969 and 1970.

David Clarabut's Barracuda dive-bomber scores a direct hit on the Tirpitz
during Operation Tungsten on 3rd April 1944.
The battleship took seven months to repair.

Lady Of Hamford Statistics
Built : 1962 by EW Sutton in Great Wakering, England
LOA : 37' 9"
LWL : 26' 3"
Beam : 9' 7"
Draught : 6' 3"
Displacement : 11 tons TM
Lloyd's Register : N° 303076
MMSI : 235029481
Signal Letters : MGCV

The Hon Roland Platt (right), a previous owner,
aboard the Lady of Hamford

Lady Of Hamford Custodians & Home Ports 
David Butcher (2015-2017...) Solent, England
(The Hon) Roland Platt (?-2009-2010-?) Walton Backwaters, England
CWH Ingle (1974-1980-?) Walton, England
GW Thake (1970-1973 Upnor, England
DS Clarabut DSC (1962-1969) Upnor, England

Lady Of Hamford Links
• Lady Of Hamford article, October 2016, in Classic Boat (HBA Member's Only)
• Obituary for David Clarabut in the Telegraph, 18th February 2009

Page last updated : June 2017

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