About the classic yacht Amokura
1930s: Design & build
Amokura was built in 1939 for Major (later Sir Ernest) Harston, ADC to Lord Mountbatten. Renowned designer Fred Shepherd designed her and supervised the build, which took place at the yard of AH Moody & Sons Ltd, at Swanwick in Hampshire, UK.
Post-war
She was later owned by the author George Millar who wrote extensively about her in his book Oyster River describing a summer spent cruising in the Gulf of Morbihan in the early 1960s.
Amokura was later sold to Richard Carr, of the Carr biscuit family, who re-rigged her then sailed her extensively in the Mediterranean through most of the 1970s.
1980s & 1990s
In 1980 she was returned to Moody’s yard and her interior was stripped out to enable the structural beams to be reinforced and refastened. A new interior was installed under the direction of designer John Mumford and following relaunch Amokura was sailed to the Caribbean and the US East Coast. She returned to the Mediterranean before being brought back in the late 1990s to the UK for a refit at the International Boatbuilding Training College (IBTC) in Lowestoft. This included a light oak interior installed in keeping with her original construction.
Early 2000s
She spent the early 2000s cruising mainly in the UK before moving to the Mediterranean in 2007. In late 2012 Amokura sailed to Cockwells yard in Falmouth, UK for refit work including replacement of the deck. She then moved to Palma de Mallorca, Spain, before returning to Falmouth in 2015 for further improvement works with Butler & Co at Penpol, in Falmouth, UK. This included replacement of her wooden keel and new wooden spars with a sail plan designed by the late Theo Rye.
In 2019 Amokura entered the two-handed class of the Rolex Fastnet Race, crewed by Paul Moxon and Steve Jones. Offshore racing proved a tough test for an 80 year old yacht. She completed the RORC Myth of Malham race and the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, but following equipment failure, had to retire from the Fastnet.
Since 2020
Following Amokura’s retirement from the Fastnet, owner Paul Moxon embarked on a major structural improvement programme to equip the yacht for future offshore racing. This involved stripping out the entire interior of the yacht, upgrading the mast step and frames, and installing bronze reinforcements to ensure that the rig loads were correctly spread when the yacht was sailed under pressure.
Amokura subsequently competed in the 2021 Fastnet, again two-handed, and in 2023 with a full crew.
