Charles E. Nicholson 48 ft International 8-Metre 1930/2022

VISION was conceived by Charles E. Nicholson and built by Camper & Nicholsons with the unarguable potential to be a winner, in particular at that time of the ‘Canada’s Cup’. She somehow took a little time to prove it, but over the past 40 years VISION has been perhaps the all-time most successful International 8-Metre (8mR) – eight-time winner of the coveted Sira Cup. Purchased in 2021 by a competitive and successful Italian racing yachtsman with the aim of winning the Neptune Trophy for authentic classics, a restoration and optimisation process begun in previous ownership was completed with aplomb at Imperia by Sibma Navale Italiana. Her owner reported, “We have restored VISION back to exactly as she was when built in 1930. She is very fast...”. At the 2024 World Championship in Scotland she won everything a classic 8-Metre can including the Neptune Trophy, Sira Cup and Coppa d'Italia. Gather a good team, step the mast, and she’ll do it again.

"After a short break [from top-level International Dragon racing] of a couple of years due to a busy job and family, I wanted to get back into racing again and was looking for a wooden Dragon. Andrea Quaranta told me to have a look at a boat in France. That was the half-restored VISION and I was immediately hooked. I bought her and moved the boat to his yard. We had a tight schedule but managed to get her in the water on time. We only had a few weeks to prepare for the [2022] World Cup but that was balanced by the level of sailors I had on board. All of them are top quality and some I even raced with in Fremantle on [the 12mR] ITALIA when I participated in the America's Cup Louis Vuitton series in 1987. We have restored VISION back to exactly as she was when built in 1930. She is very fast..."

[As told to classic yachting journalist - and the manufacturer of VISION's The Classic Winch Company custom Neptune Rule winches - Ron Valent, Classic Boat, April 2023]

2027-2027 BY SIBMA NAVALE ITALIANA, DOLCEDA, IMPERIA, ITALY
- Spars refit by Mario Quaranta

2021-2022 BY SIBMA NAVALE ITALIANA, DOLCEDA, IMPERIA, ITALY
- (Mario and Andrea Quaranta)
- Highly Recommended, Classic Boat Awards 2023 Restored Vessel > 40 ft
- Completion of the restoration started at PASQUI, Villefranche, 2010s
- Structural elements, cockpit design, and supervision by Nicolas Fauroux
- New marine plywood and vacuum bagged leak laid veneer deck
- All new cockpit
- All new interior
- All new Toplicht deck fittings
- All new rigging by Gottifredi Maffioli
- All new electronics by Sailmon
- All new sails by North (Guido Cavalazzi)
- All new winches by The Classic Winch Company

2010s BY PASQUI, VILLEFRANCHE-SUR-MER, FRANCE
- Keel-up hull rebuild
- Original counter reinstated during complete re-planking
- Naval architecture and supervision by Jacques Fauroux

2024 WORLD CUP - RHU, SCOTLAND
- 1st Neptune Trophy
- 1st Sira Cup
- 1st Coppa d'Italia
- 1st Generation Trophy
- 3rd Overall World Cup

2023 WORLD CUP - GENOA, ITALY
- 2nd Neptune Trophy
- 2nd Sira Cup
- 5th Overall in World Cup

2023 VELE d'EPOCA di IMPERIA, ITALY
- 1st 8-Metre Class

2022 WORLD CUP - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- 2nd Neptune Trophy
- 6th Sira Cup
- 7th Overall in World Cup

2002 WORLD CUP - HELSINKI, FINLAND (as VISION OF SEBAGO)
- 2nd Sira Cup
- 9th Overall in World Cup

2000 WORLD CUP - PORTO SANTO STEFANO, ITALY
- 1st Sira Cup
- 6th Overall in World Cup

1998 WORLD CUP - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- 1st Sira Cup

1995 WORLD CUP - MEDEMBLIK, HOLLAND
- 1st Sira Cup

1994 WORLD CUP - CANNES, FRANCE
- 1st Sira Cup

1985 WORLD CUP - ROCHESTER, USA
- 1st Sira Cup

1984 WORLD CUP - TORONTO, CANADA
- 1st Sira Cup

1983 WORLD CUP - HANKØ, NORWAY
- 1st Sira Cup - Glenn Foster helming
- 2nd World Cup

1982 WORLD CUP - VISBY, SWEDEN

CAMPER & NICHOLSONS YARD NO. 380
- Launched Monday 28th April 1930
- Christened by Mrs Joy McCann
- wife of Royal Canadian YC syndicate member W. Sidney McCann

Not only might VISION be the all-time most successful International 8-Metre (8mR) – 2024 winner of the Neptune Trophy, the World Championship for authentic classics; eight-time winner of the Sira Cup, the World Championship for pre-1960 boats – but she is also probably the 8-Metre that has crossed the Atlantic most times, albeit not under sail.

VISION’s first east-west crossing was during May-June 1930, appropriately from Canada Docks, Rotherhithe, London on the deck of a Canada Steamship Lines freighter. She had been built in just over three months by Camper & Nicholsons; one of three identical Charles E. Nicholson designs launched by their Gosport yard in 1930 to supply a burgeoning between-the-wars international demand for these beautifully proportioned, high-performance racing yachts. Also under construction only a few yards away at Gosport that winter of 1929-1930 was Sir Thomas Lipton’s J-Class America’s Cup Challenger SHAMROCK V.

VISION was on her way to Toronto where a very well funded, multi-member Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) syndicate led by Commodore George H. Gooderham had commissioned three 8s for a sail-off to decide which boat would challenge Rochester Yacht Club in a revival of the Canada v. USA 'Canada’s Cup' match racing challenge; sometimes described as "the Holy Grail of fresh water". Gooderham also hoped this would prove a launching pad to truly establish the Metre classes on the Great Lakes. At least in that he was successful.

The other potential Challengers were: QUEST, designed by William Fife Junior (III), framed up by his Fairlie, Scotland yard, then dismantled and shipped in felt lined boxes to Toronto for building by the Oakville Yachtbuilding Company; and NORSEMAN, drawn by William J Roué – famous for designing the fishing schooner BLUENOSE – and built at the RCYC’s own yard.

In trials at Rochester, QUEST was chosen for the 1930 Canada’s Cup match and subsequently defeated over five races by Rochester Yacht Club’s THISBE, a Clinton H. Crane design built by Henry B. Nevins of City Island, New York. VISION remained Toronto-based, contributing to what became, and remains, arguably the most consistently active of worldwide 8-Metre Class fleets; patiently waiting for her time to come – as her pedigree suggested it always could.

By the late 1970s, VISION had become almost a bona-fide cruiser-racer – very well fitted out below and with the then fashionable, post-INTREPID (S&S 12mR) ‘retroussé’ counter. In 1978 she was purchased by RCYC members Robin & Nicki Clarke and given a major refit/ restoration intended to make her a competitive 8-Metre in the days before the 12-Metre AUSTRALIA IIs winged keel changed everything. It became a highly successful and popular family affair involving multiple Atlantic (ship) crossings in European World Cup years, and the start of her remarkable Sira Cup record listed above.

In 1993, after sixty years as a North American, VISION returned to Europe in the ownership of Frenchman Eric Mallet, sailing from Arcachon near Bordeaux. She continued her winning ways, winning the Sira Cup in 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, and 2002.

Then, in the late 2000s, via 8-Metre aficionado Avia Willment, Metre boat restorer Brian Pope, and classic yacht manager Paulo Giorgetti, VISION entered her first Italian ownership with Mattia Conte, and Pasqui’s yard at Villefranch-sur-Mer, France, for the start of a major restoration process that would eventually be finished near Imperia Italy by Mario and Andrea Quaranta’s Sibma Navale Italiana for her second and present Italian owner.

Just as originally conceived in 1930, the 2021-2022 award winning restoration completion was always with the aim of keeping VISION a winner under the strict Neptune Rule code for authentic classics – and so it has worked out. At the 2024 World Cup on the Clyde she won the Neptune Trophy, and even also won the Sira Cup against boats allowed to use aluminum masts, self-tailing winches, carbon sails, and the most modern of fittings.

VISION is one of the most potent Neptune Rule classic 8-Metres - ready to win at the next World Cup.

VISION Owners
- 1930 George H. Gooderham/ RCYC Syndicate
- 1930 George H. Gooderham, Toronto, Canada
- 1930 Robert George Osborne Thomson, Toronto, Canada
- 1940 Wilfred L. Ballantine, Ontario, Canada
- 1953 Walter Williamson "Bill" Inrig, Toronto, Canada
- 1975 John Turnall Chisholm, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
- 1979 Robin & Vicki Clarke, Toronto, Canada
- 1992 Eric Mallet, Arcachon, France
- 2009 Mattia Conte, Italy
- 2021 Present ownership, Italy

©2026 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

Originally built under Lloyd's supervision to ✠16R Classification
- In class with Lloyds until 1961
- Mahogany planking
- Oak longitudinal structure
- Laminated hardwood frames
- Intermediate steamed oak timbers
- Douglas fir beam shelves
- Partial bilge stringers
- Laminated floors and localised stiffening
- Lead ballast keel
- Marine plywood and vacuum bagged leak laid veneer deck
- Mahogany king planks and covering boards
- Mahogany/ Mahogany marine plywood superstructures

GENERAL
- Teak laid deck on marine plywood substrate
- Varnished mahogany covering boards, king planks, superstructures
- All bronze deck fittings

FROM AFT

AFT AND SIDE DECKS
- Ensign socket
- 2 x Mooring fairleads
- Mooring cleat on centreline
- Ash and bronze mainsheet blocks
- Wilmex sheave block (mainsheet)
- 2 x Ash & bronze blocks port & starboard (runners)
- 2 x Ash & bronze blocks port & starboard (spinnaker)
- Raw teak helm seats port & starboard
- 2 x Wilmex sheave blocks port & starboard (genoa)
Classic Winch Company winches
- 2 x Port & starboard (runners)
- 2 x Port & starboard (main)
- 2 x Port & starboard (genoa)
- 6 x Associated Tufnol cleats
- 4 x Tufnol and bronze blocks
- Genoa tracks and cars at port and starboard covering boards
- 2 x Padeyes at covering boards port & starboard

COCKPIT
- Raised coaming with raw teak cap
- Tiller
- Raw teak slatted sole
- Canvas stowage pockets
- Teak mounts for instruments port & starboard

MAST POSITION

FOREDECK
- Forehatch
- Mooring cleat on centreline
- Mooring fairleads port & starboard

GROUND TACKLE
- Anchor, chain, rope to Class Rules

- Typically simple 8-Metre interior
- Mahogany carpentry
- Raw teak sole
- Sideboards port & starboard
- Settee berths port & starboard
- Wood console with bronze self-tailing main halyard winch
- Open fo’c’sle for sails and gear stowage
- Raw teak partial sole

RIG
- Neptune Trophy compliant spruce mast and boom
- Designed by Fauroux
- Made by Parqui, Villefranche-sur-Mer (2020)
- 2 x Spruce spinnaker poles
- Standing rigging by Gottifredi Maffioli (2022)

SAILS
Dacron by North Sails - design by Guido Cavalazzi
2022
- 1 x Mainsail, Dacron Contender/Polykote (best in light airs)
- 1 x Genoa Light, Dacron (now training sail)
- 1 x Genoa Medium, Dacron, C-Cut
- 1 x Genoa 2, Dacron
- 1 x Spinnaker S1, Lite SL50
- 1 x Spinnaker S2, SK60
- 1 x Spinnaker S4, NY90
2023
- 1 x Genoa Light, Dacron Contender/Polykote C-Cut
- 1 x Genoa Heavy, Dacron C-Cut NorDac
- 1 Spinnaker S1.5, SuperLite (top dimension still best in very light wind)
2024
- 1 x Mainsail, Contender PolyKote (winner in Scotland, heavy wind)
- 1 x Genoa Medium, C-Cut 5.46 PolyKote (now training sail)
2025
- 1 x Genoa Medium, NEW - Never Used

CANVASWORK
- Top, transportation cover
- Mainsail on boom cover

- All new electronics by Sailmon

- 7 x VISION branded lifejackets

- Fenders
- Mooring lines

- In captions
- Special thanks to Ron Valent / The Classic Winch Company