"Lulworth", with her 152' LOA, is the largest existing gaff cutter in the world, and the only survivor of the "Big Five"(Britannia, Shamrock, White Heater, Westward).
She was launched in April 1920, designed and built by in the Shipyard White Brothers in Southampton, for Mr Richard H. Lee, who didn't care about the enormous expenses for a boat that could compete against Britannia, the Royal Yacht of King George V.

But for the first four years the racing results weren't very satisfactory. In 1924 she was bought by Mr Herbert Weld, owner of the Lulworth Castle, in Dorset; after some modifications to the rigging, the keel ballast and the substitution of the original steel mast with a wood mast, a new exciting era opened to Lulworth: during the six following years she won 47 races, placed second 46 times, and third 21 times.

In the 30's, following the offspring of the bermudian rigging and the new J Class rules, Lulworth became an obsolete racing boat, In 1947 Lulworth was saved from the scrap yard by Richard Lucas and his wife Rene. She was taken to Whites Shipyard for restoration and mud-berthed in the River Hamble where she served as a houseboat.

In 1990 her hull was shipped to Italy in the hope of a refit. A meticulous renovation was started in 2002 which saved 70% of her furnishings and 80% of her steel frames. The sail plan from 1926 was replicated to recreate Lulworth's rig, which features the world's tallest wooden mast. Thus rebuilt to Lloyd's Classification, she was relaunched in 2006. She immediately entered racing competition and subsequently won Boat International Magazine's World Superyacht Awards 2007: "Best refit of 2006"

Sources:
"Lulworth 1920 - Il Restauro del Secolo"
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulworth(yacht)
Official website: http://www.sylulworth.nll

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