Tall Ship Leila

History

Leila has changed ownership many times during her long history and has been loved by generations of enthusiastic sailers and trainees alike.

She is built by F Wilkinson of Charlton, London for Mr Leonard Withers a member of the Temple Yacht Club in 1892. Build as a racing tall ship, she won the Round Britain yacht race in 1904. Over the first 50 years of the 20th century, she had many owners.

During the 1950’s though, she became a houseboat. Peter Tricker and his wife sold Leila to the Carter-Jonas family in 1959. Diana Whayman of Ipswich wrote to us in June, 2009:

“Together with my (late and) ex-husband we owned and lived on board Leila in Ipswich Docks until my husbands’ ill health forced us to sell up and live in a house!

We sold her to the Carter-Jonas family… I’m enclosing a photograph of her taken in Ipswich docks in 1956… We bought her full of mud after sliding off a camber edge and filling up – can’t remember if she was on the Hamble or on the Isle of Wight at the time. My husband was Peter Tricker and was a professional yacht skipper working for Geoff Pattinson … a fruit farmer from Essex who owned ‘Jocasta’ and sailed out of Cowes or West Mersea.”

Sailing Opportunities

In 2026, Leila will be offering a number of one-week hands-on sailing training voyages in UK waters.

With two professional crew and six trainees, a friendly and cosy atmosphere, this is the perfect opportunity to gain experience in all aspects of sailing a classic tall ship.

Cabins

Leila has two berthing options available:

• Two berths forward in the forepeak.
• Fourth berths in the main saloon.

Leila was built to race and, as you can see, it is pretty tight down below. We usually sail in the summer and just go down to sleep, eating and relaxing on deck. You will each have a bunk that is big enough to stretch out in and keep your belongings.