A Stunning Vintage Nautical design: ‘En Course’ (In the Race)

The ultimate Hermes scarf for the yachtie in your life, and very hard to find. We’re offering this scarf at a very competitive price as it is genuinely vintage, slightly faded and with a few marks on, but you won’t notice these when wearing it, and it’s lovely and soft and drapey. Condition 9/10.

Its creator, Dutch marine artist, Yannick Manier, born in 1947, only designed three Hermes scarves – each one featuring huge and dramatic classic racing yachts: ‘En Course’ (literally, ‘In The Race’), Rafales (‘Squall’) and Vent Portant (‘down wind’). These scarves were issued in 1989, 1988 and 1992 respectively.

The two yachts battling it out on this scarf are the ‘Tuiga’ and ‘Hispania’, featured in marine artist Roger Davies’ painting ‘Tuiga, Hispania, and the Lady Anne’ (currently on sale for £37,000!). Davies’ picture depicts the three yachts competing against each other in Cowes Roads in 1912 in the 15-metre class. This was a popular class, and in total 19 vessels were built, all designed by William Fife, four of which are still sailing today, beautifully restored, the fourth being ‘Mariska’.

Tuiga and Hispania were both built in 1909 as twins, so that they would be equally matched in races.

After several years of complete restoration in England, Tuiga is today the Yacht Club de Monaco’s flagship. In 2010 she won the Cowes’ Westward Cup Regatta, and in 2013 she was voted the finest classic yacht of all time, by ‘Classic Boat’ magazine.

Hispania was first owned by King Alfonso XII of Spain. She was restored in 2005.

The Lady Anne was refitted in 1999.

The four Classic yachts competed for the first time in 100 years in the Monacao Classic Week in 2011.

The flags around the edge of ‘En Course’ represent each letter of the alphabet.
The semaphore signals spell a message in Morse code: arms up (u) is a dot; arms straight out (r) is a dash, and arms down 👎 is a space. The letters don’t mean anything in themselves, but when you put the signals into Morse code: ._ _… ._ _ _ ._. ._ _.. . ._. ._. .. . ._. . _ ._. .. _… ___ ._. _.. ._ __ .._ ._. . it spells out (in French), “abattra derriere tribord amure” which translates loosely as: “befall behind starboard tack” describing the scene between Taiga and Hispania.

Manier also produced a series of original watercolours, featuring the most iconic yachts of the late 70s and early 80s, currently available in a limited edition volume of 19 lithographs. The yachts include the infamous Admiral Cup-winning ‘Police Car’, an Australian yacht, designed by Britain’s top naval architect, Ed Dubois, and several of the winners of the 1973/4 and 1977/78 and 1981/82 Whitbread Around the World Races; ‘Williwaw’ which won the Admirals Cup and raced in the 1979 disastrous Fastnet Race; and the 73’ ‘Windward Passage’, which has been beautifully preserved and is still racing today.

This dramatic scarf brings the grandeur and movement of these enormous yachts to life. All three of Manier’s scarves breathe the very essence of the yachts’ beauty, as they crash through the waves – feel the wind whistling through your hair! Smell the damp of the spray!