Yacht designer:	Herbert William White (1919) Fairlie Restorations (2001)
Burgee:	Royal Yacht Squadron Royal Yacht Squadron The Royal Yacht Squadron is the most prestigious yacht club in the United Kingdom and arguably the world. Its clubhouse is located in Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom...  (1920) Yacht Club de Monaco (2006)
Build:	Composite Composite ship The technique of composite ship construction emerged in the mid-19th century as the final stage in the evolution of fast commercial sailing ships....  (mahogany on steel)

Lulworth is a gaff-rigged cutter that was built in Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1920.

The Big Class

The boat's name comes from Lulworth Castle

Lulworth Castle

Lulworth Castle, in East Lulworth, Dorset, situated south of Wool, is an early 17th century mock castle. The stone building has now been re-built as a museum....

, which belonged to her second owner, Herbert Weld, whose grandfather was a charter-member of the Royal Yacht Squadron

Royal Yacht Squadron

The Royal Yacht Squadron is the most prestigious yacht club in the United Kingdom and arguably the world. Its clubhouse is located in Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom...

. S/Y Lulworth (1920) was built by the White Brothers' Yard for Richard H. Lee, who wanted a racing boat to compete in the premier yachting league in Europe: the British "Big Class".

Because of premium spruce shortages after World War I, Lulworth's original lower-mast was made of steel instead of wood: this constraint handicapped Lulworth greatly, leaving her in the chase of older, more famous Big Class racers like Thomas Benjamin Frederick Davis

Thomas Benjamin Frederick Davis

Thomas Benjamin Frederick Davis was a wealthy buinessman, yachtsman and philanthropist.-Early life and education:...

's Herreshoff-designed

Nathanael Herreshoff

Nathanael Greene Herreshoff I , was an American naval architect-mechanical engineer. "Captain Nat," as he was known, revolutionized yacht design, and produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893–1920....

 schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 Westward (1910), HMY Britannia I (1893) and Sir Thomas J. Lipton's Fife-designed

William Fife

William Fife III OBE , also known as Wm. Fife, Jr., was the third generation of a family of Scottish yacht designers and builders....

 23mR Shamrock (1908).

Her sail plan was updated several times to no avail, until America's Cup

America's Cup

The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...

 naval architect Charles Ernest Nicholson

Charles Ernest Nicholson

-Biography:He was born in 1868.Nicholson's first design of note was the Redwing class. The Bembridge sailing club met in October 1896 to agree the need for a shallow draughted yacht - to allow for the shoal waters of Bembridge Harbour - which could be sailed single-handed, to replace the expensive...

 redesigned the rig with a wooden lower-mast and adjusted the keel balance. By 1924, Lulworth's flaws were corrected and she became an accomplished racer in all subsequent seasons of the Big Class: from 1920 to 1930, she partook in 258 regattas, taking 59 first places, 47 of which after 1924.

Obsolescence and revival

When the Fifteenth America's Cup was contested in 1930, it saw the offspringing of the innovative J-Class designs

J-class yacht

The J-Class serves as a rating for large sailing yachts designed between 1930 and 1937. Reserved for a wealthy elite of yachtsmen, these boats were used to compete with the best sailing talents in three races of the America's Cup.-The 1930s:...

 which made all gaff-rigged racers obsolete. Despite S/Y Lulworth's early successes against the J-Class Shamrock V (1930) before the America's Cup, handicapping rules in the Big Class were terminated and Lulworth's career was ended. 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

River Hamble

The River Hamble is a river in Hampshire, England. It rises near Bishop's Waltham and flows for some 7.5 miles through Botley, Bursledon and Swanwick before entering Southampton Water near Hamble-le-Rice and Warsash....

 where she served as a houseboat

Houseboat

A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a human dwelling. Some houseboats are not motorized, because they are usually moored, kept stationary at a fixed point and often tethered to land to provide utilities...

.

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

Lloyd's Register

The Lloyd's Register Group is a maritime classification society and independent risk management organisation providing risk assessment and mitigation services and management systems certification. Historically, as Lloyd's Register of Shipping, it was a specifically maritime organisation...

, 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". S/Y Lulworth is currently the world's largest race cutter.