Roydon Thomas

From left, Frank Ballinger, Roydon Thomas, Pete Prendeville on board Shemara. Source: G Pascoe

Ilex leaving Wellington for Sydney1946.
Source: David Thomas

Roydon Thomas was a draughtsman and boat designer based in Evans Bay and Mirimar. He was also well-known personality in the Wellington boating world in the 1950s and 60s. He came from a line of sailors; his father owned the well-known trading schooner Huia.

Thomas was a keen member of the Evans Bay Yacht and Motor Boat Club, and as a kid raced a P-Class there, winning the Wellington Championship 1945/46. In 1946, at the age of thirteen years, he sailed as crewman on board his father's yacht Ilex across the Tasman to compete in the second Sydney to Hobart race. He is arguably the youngest ever to have competed. Ilex was also the first NZ boat to compete in the race. Later on he raced Z class at Worser Bay

As a teenager he and three friends built the Athol Burns-designed (modified by Thomas) Almero. She was launched in 1952 and was a sister to the Christina, built after school and also launched in 1952. Christina sailed to Australia in 1956; at the time, the smallest boat to have done so.

Thomas trained as a draughtsman with the Wellington Harbour Board. His first design for a yacht was drawn up in 1954 - a 23 foot keel boat design. The design was favourably reviewed in Seaspray magazine, which predicted a good future for him.

Shemara in a Cook Strait race 1972. Source: G Pascoe

Two were built - Shemara built by Frank Ballinger at his home on Grafton Road was, and is, a tank. Her deadwood is Jarrah, with inch-thick kauri carvel on birch ribs as 6 inch centres. Her transom is two inches thick. She has a lofty sail plan and you need at least 15 knots to get her going. Unless of course there is zero to two knots of wind, which will be just enough to get her moving, and the momentum of her weight keeps her moving. Shemara was launched in 1958 and raced with the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, and cruised extensively in the Marlborough Sounds. I purchased her from Frank in 2007.

Gazelle. Source: David Thomas

Thomas built for himself a sister to Shemara, the Gazelle, launched later the same year. Gazelle, though built to the same lines, was planked in cedar and carried no motor. She was very much the lighter boat, and in general airs up to 15 knots could sail rings around Shemara. She was painted red, and remained brightly coloured in red or blue through her life. She was renamed Reefer around ten years ago.

Gazelle was the winner of the longest Island Bay race on record at the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club. At a late stage of the race, all wind died out, leaving the fleet bobbing around. After some hours, as dinner time came near, each of the boats withdrew, either starting their engines or accepting a tow back to their respective berths; except the Gazelle, which had rum on board. Said rum was drunk, as the crew waited for a breeze which came in the next day. The race committee had to make the trip back to the clubhouse to get her finish time. After that, a new rule for abandoning races was created.

Gazelle and Shemara were neighbours in the Clyde Quay marina. Shemara is still there, one of the longest-term permanent tenants. Gazelle was sold to another Australian owner, who shipped her home about 2002.

Charmaine. Source: RPNYC archive

Thomas' next keelboat design at 28 LOA was a beefed up version of the 23 footer. Again, two were built, the Charmaine and Ondine. Both of these boats have had their adventures. The Charmaine was racing from Wellington to Akaroa one year in a strong Northerly with the spinnaker up. The Northerly built, as did the seas, and it was time to bring the kite in and think about shortening sail. However, no-one had the courage to go forward, so the kite stayed up, and all expected the sail to break apart. It didn't, neither did the rig, and Charmaine ended up with a race record for her class.

The Ondine was built by John MacDermott and Phil Hartley at Hartley's home at Balaena Bay. Ondine was raced regularly, and later sold to make way for Hartley's next build, the Spencer-designed half-tonner Odette. Under new owners, Ondine got caught in a tidal rip and a lee shore on Wellington's Southern Coast and couldn't claw out. It was decided to run her aground in a more-or-less controlled situation. Ondine was run on to a beach in storm conditions, and all hands were saved. Ondine was dragged up the beach by a tractor and taken back to town. It is a testament to the quality of the build that after the ordeal, the only real damage was two sprung planks.

Malaguena preparing for her Pacific cruise 1968.
 Source: David Thomas

Thomas continued to design on spec and to commission through the 1960s, mostly work boats from dinghy size through to 47 foot trawlers. He also worked in commercial fishing. In 1967 he designed the 26 foot yacht Malaguena for his brother David, who sailed her over several years around the Pacific. In 1969 he designed and built the Westwind, a 28 foot Chatham dory type for his own use. La Panache, which is currently moored alternately in Clyde Quay and Picton, is a design of Thomas' although Phil Hartley told me she had been considerably altered during her build.

Stories of Roydon Thomas' life are legion. He had a reputation of a hopeless drunk. The "hopeless" aspect though is arguable, as his work maintained a high standard. He was however, a larrikin of the highest order. He is remembered by Phil Hartley's sons as always red-faced and genial. One story in particular can give an idea of the kind of escapade he got himself mixed up in. In 1966 he and several mates accidentally blew up a trawler in Evans Bay. The identity of the culprits was an open secret in the boating world, and his sister-in-law finally spilled the beans to a wider audience in 2007. Read about it here.

Roydon Thomas died by drowning in the Wellington harbour in 1971, aged 39. Special thanks to David Thomas for sharing some photographs and information. A book on Roydon Thomas' designs is in preparation.

Below: Excerpt from Shemara's log December 1962. Crew were Frank Ballinger, Roydon Thomas, Peter Prendeville, Peter Ballinger, P. Breed.

Mosquito Fleet: The Thorndon Dinghy Sailing Club

A Thorndon Dinghy Sailing Club race in progress. Source: Wellington Museum of City and Sea

The Thorndon Dinghy Sailing Club (TDSC) was organised in 1903. Both it and the Te Aro Sailing Club  (formed 1907 - more on this club in a later post) grew out of the demise of the Arawa Sailing Club, which started to fizzle out in 1901/02. There were several causes identified for the demise of the Arawa Sailing Club: it had tried to spread itself too thinly across classes for 14 and 18 footers, half raters and keelers; it had not rewarded regular entries, and youngsters became disenchanted by being priced out.

Younger potential members didn't bother to join the club and mucked around on their own account with yacht tenders with a spar and often not much more than a bedsheet for a sail. It was felt at the time that youth should be organised for their own safety and to learn to sail properly for the good of the sport (keel yacht racing in Wellington at that time being in a slump). It was senior members of the Thorndon Yacht Club and Port Nicholson Yacht Club (PNYC) who appear to have been the main drive behind the formation of the club. These men were owners of crack racing yachts: Mills a founding member of the PNYC, commodore (1903-1905), and owner of Rainbow (and later Iorangi); Turnbull a recent commodore (1899-1901) and owner of the Iorangi; J. S. Swan, soon to be Commodore (1906-1907). McLean was owner of Waitangi, and Renner who within a few years would buy a share of Waitangi, was owner of the 2 1/2 rater Muritai (Rogue), Georgeson and Bucholz were also yacht owners and  regular office holders of the PNYC.

Club picnic. Source: Freelance 26 Mar 1904

TDSC therefore started out well organised. There was a series of three scratch races in the calendar, to be raced on Saturdays (at that time still part of the working week for most people), based purely on who could go the fastest, and a handicap series to be raced during the summer months on a Wednesday evening. Handicap racing used the Mark Foy system, so competitors sailing a dinghy of any quality could compete, and know exactly how they had done as they finished. Each of the races was for a particular trophy, so there was plenty of opportunity for a variety of winners. In addition, each boat received aggregate points for a placing, which added up to a winning trophy at the end of the season. This was to encourage entries each week to stay in the running.

Thorndon Yacht Clubhouse ca. 1900

Wonder of wonders, the TDSC also had a clubhouse. The Thorndon Yacht Club (more a social club and place to store gear for yachtsmen than an active sailing club) was the only boating club in Wellington at the time with its own dedicated premises - a shed on Waterloo Quay. It was made available as a clubhouse for the TDSC. The site was abandoned in 1906/07 when reclamation landlocked it and the shed was removed to Thorndon Esplanade.

Oeo. Source: Alexander Tunrbull Library

The 1903/04 TDSC season opened on 11 November 1903 with a win for Waitangi, sailed by Baggett. She was likely namesake and tender for the yacht, as she was owned by McLean. In all, 12 races were got away that summer, with a fleet of about 12 boats. They were a real mish-mash, with some flighty names like Tilikum, Gee Whiz, and Moki (owned by fisherman Frank McKeever). Within two years most of them had been dropped from the lists.

1904/05 was the first full season, with 36 members and twelve boats. Healthy racing was had and of course, people's sporting blood got up, with the result that purpose-built racers were commissioned. The first of these was the Oeo built to order by Logan Bros. in Auckland for Stirling and Jones. She first began racing towards the end of the season in 1905, and carried all before her. It was now all on.

Source: Alexander Turnbull Library

The 1905/06 season saw the membership double, and new boats, most notably Rona, Irex and Vera joined the lists and Oeo had some competition on her hands. She still generally came out on top. However, Edwin (Ted) Bailey was brought on to race the under-performing Vera late in the season. She started winning consistently, managing to pull off a third placing on season aggregate.

The next few years belonged to Ted Bailey. For the 1906/07 season, he built the Zel for L. Palmer. Bailey helmed her for the three-race Saturday series, and won them all. The Vera, now he had shown how she could be sailed, won the season aggregate trophy. These two boats, along with the Irex, shared the top three spots for both series. Logan's Oeo, though placing reasonably well at times, was already out the back door.

Source: NZ Yachtsman 23 April 1910

The 1906/07 season saw the membership increase to over 100 members. The annual social had over 200 attendees, entertained (as for the previous year and several to follow) by Miss Hawthorne's String band. It became a tradition to display the winning dinghy of the championship series full-rigged on the stage.
A sculling race was organised by the officers of the club for the Port and Starboard watches of the training ship Amokura. The future looked bright.


In 1907/08 arrived Ted Bailey's Thelma. He sailed her himself, and as scratch boat won the aggregate series. Oeo had obviously had a kick up the backside the previous season, and came away the victor in the championship series. However only Oeo, Zel and Thelma had entered. Oeo was advertised for sale at the end of the season, in August 1908.

Source: NZ Yachtsman 01 Aug. 1914

Ted Bailey had a particular talent for fast racing dinghies. His Zel and Thelma, as well as his handling of Vera made him the go-to man in Wellington small boat racing. He also built several small racing keel yachts, including Lizzie in 1909 (as scratch boat, 11 firsts, 7 seconds, and 2 thirds in her first 21 races with PNYC). Bailey continued to build champions, including the 14 footer Nan in 1910 - scratch boat for the Te Aro Sailing Club until the war. He continued this form into the 1930s with the X class Lavina, which became national champion in 1937.

Despite the dominance of Vera, Zel and Thelma, racing was still good. Wednesday evening Mark Foy racing was still hotly competed, and that each race win resulted in your name on a trophy almost guaranteed a result for most competitors over the season. The club donated a trophy for the Amokura's Port vs Starboard watch race, and closer relationships were forged between the various clubs. This year the first sheds at Clyde Quay were made available -  the Thorndon Dinghy Sailing Club leased number 44 and sought to dispose of the the shed at Thorndon Esplanade to free up debentures.

Postcard showing the first row of sheds at Clyde Quay. Source: Gavin Pascoe

Bailey's Thelma won both the aggregate and championship trophies during the 1908/09 season, Blowfly and Zel sharing first and second for both series. Oeo won the other Blue riband event - the Oates Challenge Cup. For two years these boats had been untouchable, and the club imploded. At the AGM in 1909 it was decided to plan only half a year ahead. Only four boats registered for racing: Rona, Zel, Blowfly and Vera.

Nan. Source: Wellington Museum of City and Sea

It may be considered that the failure of the club was due in the main to the same reason the Arawa Sailing Club fell apart - wealthy men commissioning swift boats which destroyed competition for the people the club was designed to attract - young people wanting to have a go. This was undoubtedly a major factor. However, Like the Arawa Sailing Club before it, most of the youngsters were swept up as crew for the keel yachts, which had seen a renaissance once Clyde Quay was built, and there was once again a safe place to moor large private vessels (reclamation of the late 1890s and early 1900s had destroyed previous sheltered mooring sites at Thorndon and Te Aro). Some of them, like the Scott Brothers (Wairere) and the younger Moore brothers (Mahina, renamed Romp) purchased their own yachts. Others, like Frank McKeever, left to live the domestic life. McKeever got married and moved to Paremata, where he became active in the Paremata Boating Club during the 1920s racing his 20 foot launch Moki (which now sits in my garage awaiting reframing). Ted Bailey had obviously dominated the class and decided to move on to beating the fourteen footers of the Te Aro Sailing Club. To this end he built Nan in 1909 or 1910.

It may be argued that the Thorndon Dinghy Club was actually a great success, in that it did indeed, create new, skilled and confidant yachtsmen - they just moved on and sailed yachts. The club's failure lay in not attracting new members.

One of the final and most significant actions of the Thorndon Dinghy Sailing Club was to use leftover funds to commission a trophy named the Thorndon Dinghy Club Challenge Cup, to be competed for by other centreboard racing clubs of the region. This trophy was hotly contested for decades.

Source: NZ Yachtsman 02 July 1910

The NZ Yachtsman magazine, inspired by the Thorndon Dinghy Sailing Club and another club for 10 footers in Auckland, the only two fleets for ten footers in the country, in June and July 1910 published lines, sail plan, and structural drawings of a ten footer to encourage a one-design element to the class. It was too little too late however, as both clubs were winding up. It's interesting to note that at first blush, the design looks very like Ted Bailey's Thelma - high wooded, beamy and bluff but with a fine entry at the waterline.

The only record of any boat being built to this design was in Evans Bay in 1913 by a man named Forbes, who also at the time owned Bailey's Thelma. Forbes departed from the construction plan, using an internal diagonal skin rather than ribs (was Thelma built thus?). Another unnamed person in Evans Bay took on the Blowfly (by no means a shabby boat).

Interrupted by the war, plans to resurrect the class came to nothing, but these were among the first murmurings of the creation of the Evans Bay Yacht and Motor Boat Club, created in 1919, well known for the quality of its centreboard racing into the 1960s.

Source: NZ Yachtsman 16 July 1910

Source: NZ Yachtsman 09 July 1910

I created a few tables while researching this article, of officers, fleet and placing for each race reported by the newspapers. There are a few inconsistencies in spelling, etc., but if interested, you can see them here

Pet

Pet's lines. Source: NZ Yachtsman 28 October 1916

Pet was built by Charles Bailey in Auckland, and was launched in 1877.

Pet at Thorndon

She was of an unusual shape - in an era of slab-sided vessels and plumb stems, she had quite a pronounced tumble-home and a ram bow. This made her both longer and wider at the waterline than at deck level.

This construction was to cheat a class racing rule of the day which was based on measuring the beam and length of a boat at deck level - a smart little trick to make the boat bigger where it matters and therefore have a faster theoretical (and practical) maximum hull speed. Needless to say, like all other rule cheaters, it didn't take long before a new system was arrived at in the eternal tussle between the designer and class handicappers.

Charles Hill in 1916.

Bailey laid the keel and framed up the boat "on spec", and the structure hung in the rafters of his workshop for some time before being purchased. She was unnamed, and become known in the yachting fraternity as "Bailey's Pet". The nickname stuck when she was purchased by Charles Hill in 1877. Hill was a hatter by trade, and was one of the founding members of the Port Nicholson Yacht Club in 1883.

Hill had Bailey plank her up, and fitted out as an open centreboarder, and after a couple of races in Auckland, brought her to Wellington, where she easily beat her competition.

In 1879 Charles Bailey arrived from Auckland with his recent build Toy, a lightly built open boat of cedar with a clear finish, and sporting the latest in light wire rigging. Toy won the second class race of the annual Wellington regatta. Hill took advantage of Bailey's presence to do some work on Pet - having her half-decked over, and a small counter added. Pet was entered in the first class race but had to withdraw when her rigging failed.

Red Jacket in Christchurch

1880 was a big year for Pet, and secured her fame as the classiest racer in town. She was entered in the Anniversary Regatta for second class vessels, which was greatly anticipated for the clash with Red Jacket, built in Sumner about 1865. The race was postponed due to rough weather. A week later, Pet led the fleet, Red Jacket 50 yards behind, when the wind died away and the race postponed once more. The next attempt was got away in rough weather, and one of the mark buoys came adrift. It was once again a "no race". However, the Regatta Committee in a surprise move, decided to award the prize to Pet, as it felt she was the better performer. Furthermore, the Committee decided to run another race to decide second place!

The owners and crew of the Red Jacket of course would not abide this, and laid down a one-on-one challenge in the newspapers. The Regatta race for second place took place, with Pet, although banned from entering, also going around the course. Red Jacket crossed well ahead of the fleet, including Pet. Hill may have been up to some clever gamesmanship here, but there was no denying now that nothing would be settled until a one-on-one private race was sailed.

Terms were agreed, and the race was to be around a moored mark boat at the head of Barret's Reef at Wellington Heads, around Somes Island and back to Queen's Wharf. The event was much discussed in the local newspapers, and a great deal of money was laid out in the pubs - mostly at even money. Pet won, and won easily. She was five minutes ahead at the mark boat, and won by 30 minutes, Red Jacket having to bail hard after starting her garboard planks on the beat up the channel in rough seas.

Later that year, Pet was shipped across to Nelson for a challenge race against the brand new yacht Isca. She also won that easily; The proud new owner of the expensive Isca so disgusted he never bothered racing again, and sold his boat. (Read Isca's story here).

Pet at her moorings ca. 1890

Pet remained the cream of the fleet until the arrival to Wellington of Robert Logan's Jessie Logan in about 1890. Luckily for Pet's racing career in Wellington, Jessie Logan was purchased and spent the next 15 years in Nelson, before suffering the indignity so common in those days of being converted to a launch.

Pet had a well-known, though somewhat secret internal ballast system when she was a centreboarder (see the ballast systems of Pet and Red Jacket below). To stiffen her up and make her better fit for regular club racing, deadwood was added to her keel and external lead ballast attached some time around 1888.

Around 1900 Pet was retired as a racer, and converted for use as a fishing smack at Warehou Bay north of Wellington, She was then converted to a motor launch and used for fishing a little further North at Paremata. She was wrecked while pursuing this work during the 1930s.

Pet's moveable ballast system

Red Jacket profile and ballast system

Pet readied for external ballast ca. 1888

Pet as a launch at Paremata in 1916

Isca - A little ship that could

Isca's lines. Probably taken off the hull.
Found in Jack Maddever's shed at Clyde Quay,
 and now in the posession of Bruce Askew.

The Isca was built at Clyde Quay, Wellington in 1880 to a Dixon Kemp design by T. R. H. Taylor, for A. S. Collins of Nelson. Her build was a single skin of 1" kauri on Australian Blackwood. She was not a success in Nelson, being down at the head. The smaller second class centreboard racer, Pet, was shipped across from Wellington for a challenge race, and beat the Isca easily. Collins lost interest and the Isca lay idle until Professor R. J. Scott purchased her for racing with the newly-formed Port Nicholson Yacht Club.

Scott tweaked her up, importing a new douglas fir mast from Australia, adding a lead shoe to the counter to bring her nose up a bit, and added 3 1/2 tons of external ballast. Her performance improved somewhat, and she won a few races in Wellington, though against inferior boats - mostly converted boats never built for speed in the fist place, or racing boats imported and too light to excel in Wellington conditions. He took her to Lyttelton in 1884 to compete the anniversary regatta there, but was defeated. The Isca was taken over by E. C. Batkin, who again took her south to compete the 1886 regatta where she emerged victorious in a strong Easterly. If nothing else, she covered a lot of sea miles in her time.

Source: NZ Yachtsman 27 November 1915

The Isca was 38 feet LOA, 32 LWL, with only six feet beam, and carried a 14 ft bowsprit. With her large club topsail set (see left), her rig stood 55 feet.

She was a yacht of the old gentlemanly school, immaculately kept during her time in Wellington, and campaigned hard. She was a well-known and popular vessel, as were her owners and skippers, but she was never the racer many claimed her to be. However, she had the reputation of being quick in stays, and her skippers used this to advantage when working the tricky shifts on the Hutt coast off Ngauranga and Kiawharawhara. Her victories against other first division boats were generally on time allowance, and she even had trouble beating the better quality second class yachts across the line.




Isca did however, have one moment of undeniable racing glory, which unfortunately also ended in her destruction.

Source: NZ Yachtsman 02 Sept. 1916

Isca had been entered in the Wellington regattas, but the best she had ever got was second. in 1892 she was beaten out by Mapu, and early February 1893 she was beaten by the Maritana on the run down from Korokoro. The Isca losing and resetting her topsail three times! The Rona, the latest thing in yacht racing had just been built that year to Alexander Turnbull's order by Robert Logan. She was en route to Wellington when the 1893 regatta took place, and had proved herself a speedy vessel in Auckland.


The Rona was a 5-rater, desgned by G. L. Watson. The design had already proved herself in the shape of Valentine. Rona was part of the new breed of yacht - firmer bilges, more beam, less forefoot, long shallow keel - which lead to less wetted surface area and more boyancy. Rona by today's standards may have slack bilges and a large wetted surface area, but boats like her were light in comparison with the "Cheesecutter" section of Isca's type. With a beam of 7',4", and overall length of 44 feet, she had a far longer effective waterline

Rona won her first race in Wellington in late February 1893, Maritana second and Isca third. This was the second race of the PNYC first class season. Rona came second behind the Maritana in the first class race at the Wellington regatta in 1894 on corrected time after a close finish which included the Isca.

Atalanta - Stole Rona's thunder when she arrived in 1895.
Source: Alexander Turnbull Library

Robert Logan made the trip to Wellington to tune up the Rona for the 1895 Regatta, and she beat all of these boats. All were surpised however, by the Atalanta. who crossed the line first, but was later disqualified for carrying a larger mainsail than rated for in the regatta. Isca was nowhere.

Source: NZ Yachtsman, 27 November 1915

The 1896 Regatta saw both the Rona and Isca racing in the second class. A blustery Northerly blew, and the other three vessels in the race, Waiwetu, Mahina, and Mapu had to withdraw. Isca and Rona fought on, each sniffing their chance. They each passed the final mark at Korokoro in company, from where it is a straight drag on a reach to the finish off Queens' wharf (there was not so much reclaimed land in those days). It was felt that the Rona was making the better of it - Isca, in full sail, had started her planks under the press, and there appeared to be more water in the boat than out. Rona looked set to pull away and was felt by spectators to be sailing a better course when a gust caught her - splitting her mainsail and her foresail. The gooseneck on her boom also carried away. Both yachts crossed the line to great applause and cheering from the crowd crowding the waterfront - Isca having won by 27 seconds.

Rona went back to her moorings, while Isca, on the verge of sinking, turned straight around and went on the hard at Evans Bay. She never went back into the water.

Source: NZ Yachtsman, 02 May 1914

Isca sat and was finally broken up in 1897/8. Her lead was purchased by a plumber at Thorndon, who made nails of it. Her mast went into the Kotiri, recently built, as did most of her deck fittings and her canvas. Kotiri's mast had been found dangerously tender on her first foray into sailing during the 1898 regatta. That mast proved worthy of the import back in 1883, as it was still in good service at least into the 1940s. It had been put under plenty of pressure during its time!

Source: NZ Yachtsman 04 December 1915

Isca in 1892. Source: Alexander Turnbull Library

Robert Julian Scott Part 2

Source: Gavin Pascoe

Just linking back to the previous post on Scott, I thought it would be nice to publish this image, which he drew on the reverse of a letter to a friend in 1899, thanking him for putting his name forward for membership of the Wellesley Club, Wellington. It shows Zephyr going through a gybe in some heavy weather off Akaroa in 1893. No doubt a shared experience.

By the way, as an aside, Scott was first cousin to Falcon Scott of the Antarctic fame.











Boojum
The drawing below is another ink sketch of a design for knocking about. Not very much is known about her other than the name "Boojum" and that she was actually built. The name comes from Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark, a boojum is a being which makes people disappear. Quite a playful and slightly sinister name for a small boat designed for ease of single-handed sailing.



Source: Gavin Pascoe

Kia Ora
Kia Ora was a 5-rater and a very sucessful racer in her day. She shouldn't be confused with the Bailey and Lowe-built vessel which famously was attempted to cross the Pacific (against both the law of the day and good sense) in 1903.

She was built for J. B. Collins to be based at Lyttelton; and raced her first major regatta at Akaroa in 1898, where she came second to Pastime. It was felt at the time she had not been sailed to her potential. Collins continued to race her in the hotly-contested provincial annual regattas at Akaroa and Dunedin until 1913.

The Kia Ora had a long racing career, competing well into the 1930s, and now sadly sits in an irretrievable condition at Lyttelton.



Yvonne

Source: Seaspray, 01 Sept. 1946

Yvonne is a 5-rater designed by William Fife and built by Robert Logan Sr. in Auckland in 1893. Scott purchased her for his own use in 1908 and campaigned her hard in the South Island Regattas. She has been around a bit, including a long stint in Wellington, where at one time she was sheathed in fibreglass. This was painstakingly removed during the early 1980s by Mike Joy and others. She is now back at Lyttelton, and after some years of neglect now is seeing some much-needed attention.

Her most famous feat is the 'Jumping the mole' incident in 1909, which can be read about in Scott's own words here, published in 1946.  An account of her early history can be read here, published in 1937.

Some other designs

Below is lines of a canoe-stern launch published in Progress April 1911 issue. The article associated states she was built in Nelson, though a name is not given. She is reported as being very well-behaved in a seaway.

Source: Progress, April 1911

The lines and sail plan below, also published in Progress, are for a large fishing vessel. It is not known whether this vessel was built.

Source: Progress, April 1911

Drawings from the University of Canterbury collection

The images below are scans from the collection of the University. They show a contemporary rigging system, an exercise in sail areas, and an experimental propelling system.

Robert Julian Scott: Part One

Source:
NZ Dictionary of Biography

The man at left with the magnificent head is Robert Julian Scott: a British-born engineer who spent most of his life and career in Christchurch. He had an outstanding engineering mind, which can be read about on Te Ara and wikipedia.

He also happened to be a founding member of the Port Nicholson Yacht Club of Wellington. He had designs built in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. He began by radically changing existing boats, to designing yachts and rigs. He met with varying levels of success, but they were always somewhat experimetnal if not radical in concept. This piece discusses some of them.

Zephyr
The image below shows two versions of the same 36 foot (on deck) yacht, Zephyr. She was built by Green* in the 1870s and raced locally at Lyttelton and Akaroa. She was taken to Melbourne and then Hobart to race, with mixed results. The version left shows a somewhat unusual rig for the era, basically a bermudan rig on a sliding gunther, mast well raked. She was converted to gaff and external ballast added by the owner previous to Scott, which completely overpowered her.

When Scott purchased her some time around 1890 he completely changed her underwater profile by cutting away deadwood forward, and adding a 2 ton lead fin keel. The rudder as depicted here must have suffered tremendous strain. He returned the bermudan rig, but used a single pole mast fitted with a metal sail track for easy management. He used wire halyards to decrease windage and enable tighter luffs to his sails. This didn't become common until the 1950s. He called the racing mainsail a "batwing", referring to its extreme roach. His cruising mainsail was more conventional. In 1896 she beat the crack Logan-built Waitangi in the New Zealand championships at Lyttelton. By 1911 she had been converted to a motor launch.

Source: Progress. April 1911

Wellington Boats

Vixen



Vixen.
Source: NZ Yachtsman 20 May 1916

To encourage interest in the fledgeling Arawa Sailing Club in Wellington, in 1894 Scott drew lines for a 1/2 rater to be built by Rober Logan of Auckland. The boat was named Vixen (later renamed Waterbeetle). She arrived late in the 1894/5 season and was not a success. She was significantly altered by Bringans and Hogg at Clyde Quay. She competed well, but was never really consistently in the money, dominated by Jack Chalmer's Dauntless, and the two Logan-built William Fife designs Miru and Ruru.






Wylo

Source: Progress. April 1911

 Scott drew Wylo in 1904. She was designed to be a strong, easily-handled fishing boat which could stand up to most weather, but also be useable as a cruiser and racer. She was eventually built in 1911 by Ted Bailey at Clyde Quay, Wellington. She was among the first designs of the flat transom, stern-hung rudder keel yacht which became popular from the 1920s through to the 1960s. She was among the first sailing vessels designed to include an auxilliary.





When launched, Wylo sat a little higher than anticipated, but internal ballast being added, she became a very stiff and successful boat which made hundreds of Cook Strait crossings and still in good service into the 1950s. If anyone knows where she is now, please let us know!



Wylo prior to lauch outside Bailey's shed at Clyde Quay. Source: NZ Yachtsman 30 November 1911.

I'll write more on Robert Scott's work soon.

* Many yachts have been clamed to be NZ first bermudan rigs, but Green appears to have made a habit of it in the 1870s; 40-50 years prior to all of those claims in the 1920s!