Ilex off Minorca

Like Marigold of 1892 racing off Antibes, Ilex was designed by Charles Nicholson and built by Camper & Nicholson in 1899. The most notable stage of her long career was racing and cruising with the British Army’s Royal Engineers Yacht Club. She won the second ever Fastnet Race in 1926 with the ‘sappers’ as the Royal Engineers are known. She went on to compete in eight of the next nine Fastnet races.

In the mid 1990s she had new Spanish owners and they arranged a full rebuild which was completed in 1996.