GER 30 Mena (ex GBR 52)

Mena was designed and built in 1946 by Camper & Nicholson for A.J. Newman, the first British Six built after the war and first appeared at Cowes Week that year.  Although she raced regularly in the Solent and took part in two British-American Cup trials, she never sought to race internationally.  However, she does have two clams of note; she was one of only three British Six-Metres to survive after the final crash of the British Fleet in 1956 and remain unchanged right up to 1984.  The others being Thistle and Catherine.  In 1982 she was bought by Roger Hill and put back into racing condition when, together with Philip Beck and Razzle-Dazzle they tried to resuscitate the British fleet.  After that she went to Mumbles in South Wales where, owned by David Brewer and sheathed in Glassfibre, she was found by Tim Russell in late 1984.  Invited to the first ever British Open Championships at Cowes, she was unfortunately crashed on the motorway, so returned in a battered state to South Wales.  In 1986 she was bought by Nigel Biggs who sailed her single-handed round to Cowes to the second British Open Championships where, helmed by Tom Richardson, she finished first of the “Ancient” Six-Metres.  By 1993 she had been bought by Bill Trafford who had sheathed her, fitted her with a modern aluminium mast and taken her to Jersey.  In 1998 she was brought back to Cowes by Anthony Gibb and Ian Henderson who sailed her back across the Channel.  Restored by Lallows at Cowes and fitted with the former mast and boom from Asterix (now Cream) she won the British Open Classic Championships at Fowey, after which she was bought by Dr. Thomas Kuhmann who beautifully restored and updated her and has been a stalwart entry in most subsequent international events, with his 6^th position in the Europeans at Brunnen being perhaps his best.