Windling World: April 2002

a While singing a song of Sixpence… As | push the magazine into its seventh year, because | wanted to selfishly write about a footlong boat of mine, | break from tradition and include this little story as the editorial, – you hear enough from me as it is ! | needed another yacht like | needed a year-long prison sentence, but having said that, let me tell you what happened. One day at the pond, my friend and fellow ‘Ancient Mariner’, John Stubbs (whose little Footy Sox | had just admired) made the fatal mistake of saying that he would teach me to build one, while not wishing to believe that my comments at the time about “having seven thumbs, and a brain not at all in tune with model boat building’ was true ! What followed was a few months of John getting used to the reality of that statement, while | having established the difference between drilling holes, cutting out the hull sections and sanding to get the hull absolutely smooth, contributed precious little towards the beautiful boat of mullety lines that emerged in late winter. 1 won’t go into the matter of the wonderful (I thought !) Monet-style paint job | administered on the hull “Did you do it with the garden broom cos mine is missing ?” (John was to politely ask) and this led to the sanding off and repainting with several coats of primer and more than several of overcoal towards ensuring that the final result of the entire boat was indeed super *smooze’. | learned from him, that preparation is all important. Our youngest daughter had presented my wife and | with our first grandaughter a month or so before, and from the outset | had referred to her as Sixpence, so the naming of the little Footy was the Sixpence she would be. easy part, And so to this issue, where to salute a top flight ship modeller, at the same time reminding readers that WW does make efforts towards covering boats from many countries of the world,- we the feature wonderfully detailed Jennifer M of Wim Moonen of the — Netherlands. Some WW readers may just remember a story on Wim’s Drommen (at left) in the WW__ April 2000 issue. (Continued overleaf) Unable to Abel ! As a cost saving At the helm (continued) Clifford Hawkins has _ kindly answered my plea with an article, photos and plans that might help anyone interested in modelling the trading schooner Tiare Taporo, and George and Marla Surgent of Maryland, USA, have allowed me to use a nice story dealing with model sailing boats of old, that touches on the matter of getting the youngsters interested in building and_ sailing models at an early age. From WW’s “Would you believe it’ file – with the publication of the next (August) issue, WW will be seven years old. Not a long period | know, but it is longer than | ever expected when | put out that very first issue in July 1995. Thanks to the interest of my readers, many of whom | have never met and know only from letters and from exercise, it is unlikely that any WW Abel Awards will be made this year, | regret that, because | believe that one should honour where honours are due, but my overall short term objective is now simply, to keep the magazine going for this full year. Finally, it is a sad realisation that within this planet on which we live, there are growing numbers of people who no longer place any value on the lives of others. The killing of Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand’s greatest mariner, in early December in South America, drums home not only the need for acceptance of this reality, but at the same time it reminds us all that we should be careful lives as best we can, while we can. Sir Peter was much admired, and my simple memory of our one meeting, was when | drove him back to the home of friends in which we were both staying, at Moana inland telephone calls, it has somehow managed to —_/ keep going, even though | am hesitant in being a, ann. over-positive about its future. How much longer will WW survive ? How long is a piece of string, how stretchy is a rubber band ? At the moment, hopefully it will run for this full year, after that, unless we get more subscribers, this totally non- profit, thrice-yearly magazine that so many say they enjoy, could find itself in rough water. and cautious, but still try to enjoy our own township from the West Coast of our South Island. It was 1994 and | found Sir Peter to be both courteous and friendly but almost shy. The photo at left shows him at Moana, An inspirational and successful man, he was indeed “larger than life’. lucky that our paths crossed. | am Mark Steele Publisher/Editor | have known Dave Heanly of Christchurch, New Zealand for going on ten years. He and | have kept in touch by phone and letters, and I’ve also enjoyed a couple of good sails with him at Lake Victoria in that city. A mustard keen windling model yachtie, he has built and has owned at various times, countless models, his latest – the cutter Shanmara seen on the front cover of this issue. He once owned a sailing barge Ebbtide (above left) which featured on the cover of WW/April1998, a working boat with crew that from her logbook it seems, after weathering a squall in December 1991, sinking in shallow water in another, later turned turtle while rounding the pier while laden with cargo and sank. She was recovered, stripped down and later sold. | remember his gaff cutter Temptress of Lyttleton (above right) built at a scale of 1” to the foot and rather photogenic with her large spread of sails. According to Dave, and presumably taken from that vessels logbook, on 11th June in 1994, the vessel”came through the fleet to take the gun…well sort of” (Dave recorded) backed by a photograph to substantiate the claim. Later, he had a sudden hankering for and built – the Inis Fraio, an Irish coasting schooner featured in WW which was later converted to the impressive cutter Shanmara seen on the cover. Dave’s boats are usually crewed and | have always been amused by the names given them, like Pattabotti (looking remarkably like a certain tenor of similiar sounding name). Then there was the Captain of Temptress known simply as Punga, and his woman Brenda Phowie (pronounced Fay he told me). He and the editor have similiar weird sense of humours, and our letters reek of evidence of our ‘Bastardisers of the Queen’s English not so secret Society’ formed over a beer after our first meeting. Dave’s Canterbury J Shamrock was indeed a lovely boat initially a prototype which became a victim of ho oon mutilation when the clubhouse was broken into, then | aj ine at repaired and re-fitted for him by Christchurch Model Yacht Club member, Peter Vincent, the boat looked and sailed so well, It was later sold to the club as a club boat when Dave wanted to build the schooner.Dave and the early Shamrock are seen below left. These days he enjoys Shanmara and is pleased with the way she sails, Certainly a stunning looker as the cover photo testifies. There were of course, countless other model sailing boats over the years that | don’t know about. Once the editor of the Christchurch Model Yacht Club’s newsletter, Dave Heanly has a_— great imagination, and a wonderful ability to brighten others with his often almost whacky, sometimes dry Irish sense of humour. George (not the King) Surgent writes about ‘King George’ was what folks around Maryland, U.S.A called him way back when Grandad was a boy. Of course he really wasn’t a King, but because he lived on his own tiny island out in the river, the name seemed to fit. The story goes that he spent his early manhood sailing over the oceans aboard all manner of ships, and why he chose a life of solitude on the island remained a mystery, though his knowledge of ships and boats did not. From scraps of lumber, cloth, metal and string, the old man fashioned a myriad fleet of model boats, including square riggers, schooners, catboats, sloops, skiffs and even a Chinese junk, as my Grandad remembered. What made these models so fine, was not minute detail or sparkling finish, but their simple build, their recognizable character, and the fact that every one of them sailed. King George did not see much sense in making a boat to just sit on the shelf and look pretty. | am sorry to say that | have never seen one of those models. Though King George Inset: A Seaworthy Small Ships Polliwog displays her bow in a chop. Above, proud young builders of Polliwog at a small craft festival in October 1992 preferred his solitude, he was generous to young visitors, and gave many boats away. My Grandad had one for awhile, until it got away from him one day. | have a feeling that’s what may have happened to most of them ! What impressed him most, about King George’s models, was that they inspired him to build models himself, simple, sturdy ones that required no great skill of hand, or vast knowledge to sail, models easy enough to build and repair that a torn sail, dismasting or loss to King Neptune himself, was no_ big deal. have found that they produce the best performing and easiest to make sails. Some prefer cloth or other fabric. The bag-material sails take shape in the lightest breeze, are more than strong enough for heavy winds within reason, and give way The miniature © skiff Polliwog presented here is a good introduction to this type of model. A before dismasting. few years ago, | worked great way to It recycle up a model for young the stuff ! sailors to put together at the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival. With precut parts, a few nails, dowel rod, plastic bag sails, a little tape and string, we had thirty-plus skippers ready to Jaunch _ their handiwork in little over an hour. The performance of these little ships was such, it inspired refinement, thus was born Polliwog. is also a and The initiated will recognize her as a fair representation of a flat iron skiff, a type once commonly found on the Chesapeake, throughout New England and beyond, a type still favoured by many sailors today for its economy and performance. The materials needed are few and common, and glue is not needed. Hull, keel, rudder, coaming and thole pin pads can be made of the same wood (I use spruce). The matter of sail material is subject to some debate, but | use high density polyethylene merchandise bags, the light, crinkly stuff used by Marla Surgent with a Polliwog (above) The sail plan shown in the drawing here, \ is a rig similiar to a fullsize version, \ and the original 1 model is rigged \\ this \ w \\ \ \ way, OT and Ne remarkably well. “Look at that, she really does sail?) “tsee a comment often — heard from many onlookers, Since the litthke model is not selfrighting, she can capsize in a strong wind, especially with the sail closehauled , but the remedy is to ease the main sheet and/or reef, the latter entailing only removal of the sprit boom and rolling up the desired amount of sail around the mast. (Continued overleaf) (from previous page) My wife Marla and | are active members of the Traditional Small Craft Association, and we direct our model Stuart Reid, a long time supporter of WW who lives in Katikati, in the North Island of NZ, has generously provided a half full size drawing of an International 1M hull that would provide the basis for a nice boat for windling. boat building activities at Spring and Fall Waterfront Festivals held at both the Calvert Marine Museum on Solomons Island, Maryland, as well as at the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival held at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Not only do we believe in exposing young kids at an early age to the joys of easy-to-build model yachts, and the pleasures of sailing them, but we greatly enjoy the times we spend so doing, and have a great deal of fun. New Zealand. Australian readers A$1O plus postage, UK readers 5 British Pounds plus whatever postage. Unfortunately | cannot reduce the hull plan down small enough to show 24) Editor’s addendum Maryland. Full size plans or schooner. Stuart wants WW to benefit in some way, and there is therefore a very moderate charge of US or Canadian $10 incl postage in the case of North American readers, and NZ$8 plus postage for those in George and Marla’s little boat kit company is in Prince Frederick, in Polliwog The Hummingbird is just a hull design, readers would have to arrange rig choice and sail plan. The hull could easily be used for a ketch of are available from them for US$7.50 plus postage. Seaworthy Small Ships, P.O.Box 2863 Prince Frederick, Maryland 20678 US.A STOP PRESS ! some subs fall due with this issue. In those cases, Renewal forms are enclosed within the magazine. NB: The NZ rate goes to NZ18 with immediate effect. it’s lines. i Out at Fleetwood in Lancashire, the model yacht and powerboat club there have some forty or so dedicated scale sailors who, having got hold of a redundant (in many cases, Marblehead) hull, then proceed to do their own thing. The results of their efforts, some of which are shown in this article, must surely drum home the fact that “where there is a will there is a way’. According to Jim Bennett, it was the late Cliff Money who started it all, and supervised the building of a wonderful model of the British Sail Training vessel Sir Winston Churchill, all nine feet of her built on an old A Class hull. That model has now been joined by a same sized model of her sister, the Malcolm Miller seen al right. The group sails every weekday afternoon, and on Wednesdays have a sailing schooner match, with the fleet divided into three classes for racing. (Continued overleaf) Usually fifteen to twenty boats take part, together making a lovely sight. Fleetwood is between Blackpool and Morecambe on the West Coast , and the sailing venue there is well known for many RM and other World Championship regattas are sailed there. A wonderful clubhouse is seen on_ the previous page. Schooners are popular as these photos testify, the one below rig hte Perseus, built on an old Marblehead Anyone on the internet wanting to contact Jim Bennett, can get in touch through ww. radiosailingatfleetwood.org hull. Old hulls are very often discarded when racing RM’s and International One Metres are no __ longer competitive, and this would be a fairly common situation in many countries. Certainly in New Zealand it is the case. These examples only go to show that there can be life after death for many such hulls – a new life as the basis for a stunning old schooner to be raced as they do at Fleetwood, or just ‘windled’ as they are in New Zealand. 10 DPutoh Modeller Wim Moonen of the Netherlands might never admit to being a Master Modeller, (modesty would | believe, prevent that) but from what the editor has heard, and judging by the superb photographs of several of his fine RC models, he must come pretty close to it. The brig Jennifer M seen on this and the following page is now three years old, and has provided Wim with many hours of enjoyable sailing. Wim says that the brig sails very well indeed, has required little looking after, and ensuring that the batteries are charged before his Sunday sailings is about all that is required. He spent a great deal of time on the woodcarving details when building the model. Very few people in his area have square rigged models, so the Jennifer M is quite unique and always seems to attract a great deal of attention.. The model is 163 cms in length, 27cms in beam, the mast heights 97 and 107 cms . Total weight is 13.4 kgs, including 5.4 kgs of ballast. On the following page, several photos enable readers to appreciate the detail of the model, and also the very high standard of Wim Moonen’s modelmaking skills. 11 Sail plan prior – to shifting of main mast. c a ae and it was here that | found that the main mast had been shifted six feet aft. Photographs were taken of deck arrangements and sketches were made. | also became well acquainted with the schooner’s master, Andy Thomson whose storied past equalled that of the schooner. He was born in New York and went to sea under sail at a young age. Not only did he fall in love with the South Seas when his ship passed that way, but he found his life long love in Rarotonga where he married and made his home in beautiful Arorangi. There was no disguising the fact that his 14 4 sen-l-n wee origins were in New York. He invariably greeted me as “Harkins’. Li Li Let us now return to the beginnings of the Tiare Taporo. It was intended to launch her on 9th June 1913 but things never went to plan, It so happened that the ways subsided on the soft ground on taking the weight of the hull and it was not until three days later, after much toil, that deep water was made. t { As fitting out progressed cargo was taken in for Tahiti, but prior to sailing on the voyage, a pleasurable spin with guests was made in the Hauraki Gulf, and it was then that the fine photograph of the schooner (seen on page 13) was taken showing her French registration and flying the A.B. Donald house flag. lengthy voyage from Tahiti to San Francisco in 1918 to lift a cargo of case oil for Auckland, which port 5 \ = HY] = AUP \__ SHy/ U, | \ VAT, The maiden voyage commenced 3rd July that year under Captain Joe Winchester. The Tiare Taporo was later registered in Auckland which allowed the schooner to trade freely in the Cook Islands. This followed a a was reached 9th January the following year. It was probably then oa ne — al e Kah : 7 2 3 * ~~ we eeen J that the main mast was stepped six feet further aft. . . $ ° ; A > 4 eer xz 713 qa [ty = WZ ‘ 3 ’ . . % js Wf t 4 : ° ’ i € OER © © i One a . (Continued overleat) Continued trom page 15) Over a long period of time the Tiare Taporo had a number of masters who became South Sea identities but their careers, like that of the schooner, have become difficult to follow especially towards the end of her career when she went on Suva (Fiji) registry. It was then that Andy Thomson relinquished his command to Archie Pickering. The schooner (above right) heading out of Auckland, At left, her shortened bowsprit in 1962. Below left, a shot showing her Poop deck and main cabin in 1949, Directly below, the carved flower of the lime. The schooner did not go free of mishaps and in March 1960, when South Photo at right shows Captain Andy Thomson barechested, C.W. Hawkins right. West Cook of Penrhyn Islands in the she experienced some leaking, and in 1965 she caught fire off Vanuatu. Her end came in a cyclone in March 1969. Below: Christchurch, New Zealand’s Euan Sarginson’s 1934 now restored A Class Madge. Below that, and still in Christchurch,, NZ, Paul David Brooks of UK’s Clevedon, seen above with his beautiful RC model of the schooner America. Cousins built this lovely “Four Foot Six’ class’ shown below. Above: From the USA, a sailing model of the schooner Aspinet built by John Hanks (see cover and story on his J Class models in August 2001 issue) Len Willford, WW reader of Plymouth, UK, sails this Fairwind seen at right, with another group previously featured. The group sails in a pond in the centre of the city. (Continued overleal) Continued from such appalling weathered conditions, you wonder how they stay afloat when laden with oysters.” page 17 Auckland “Ancient Mariner’, big John Stubbs (see At the helm this issue) built this lovely right at sloop which he launched in late September last year. The hull of this one (Kahlua) is identical to his ketch Lady Jean shown in the Aug O1 issue, but the mast of the sloop is considerably Above: “| tawt I taw…” I’ve gotta be careful as this is not a ‘cheesecake’ magazine, but one Auckland sailor ‘peoples’ his boats with intricately carved higher, and the deck layout more ocean-racing in design. From a ‘biggie’ to something smaller – this 12” Barry Gibson design Wee Windler Footy at right, beautifully built by reader Stephen Levesque of Plainville, MA in the balsa felines of the “femme fatale’ kind. Those who ask about these oft scantily clad, ample-bosomed, and on occasion topless types, are USA. The latest build (below) fromheii Doble of Picton, Ont ario, Canada, a 48” Skipjack. told that they have been ‘carved from memory !’ They have caused many close call when a pondside skippers with For those who may not know, these boats dredge for oysters under sail, primarily in Chesapeake Bay. As. Terry writes, “ these their own boats blasting dow nwind, steal a quick look and forget to steer clear. KERPLUNK ! are pure working Steady on fellas ! boats, some in Concentrate ! 18 A Friendship sloop was once described as ‘a state of mind composed of independence, tradition, resourcefulness, and a fortuitous combination of geography and language in the name of friendship’. The design originated from the Muscongus Bay sloop, a clipperbowed lapstrake or carvel planked boat with a centerboard (and again | am quoting from Roger Duncan) that was seldom over twenty-eight feet long, and used primarily to haul lobster traps among the Above:G land H. ledges. Between 1885 and 1915, over one thousand such boats were built in the Muscongus Bay area. Today, Friendship sloops are as popular as ever, are built and sailed for pleasure and _ the Friendship Sloop Society ensures that a hugely successful gathering of these boats takes place each year. (Continued overleaf) 19 There have been many famous Friendship sloops, one of them being Dictator, built in 1904 for a Deer Island fisherman, Stephen Gray. Again, thanks to Roger fri Duncan from ~~ his book ‘Friendship Sloops’, the boat was used by a succession of fishermen and later purchased in 1930 by an Alan Chesney for use as a yacht. In 1971 when he died, the boat was in a sad shape, and a Jarvis Newman reframed, re-planked and rebuilt Dictator, relaunching her in 1973. A_ year later, equipped with a new set of Hood sails, she was hugely successful in Friendship sloop racing. Newman also took lines off the original boat and made moulds for a fibreglass version. The sloops have always attracted modelmakers, and in Auckland, New Zealand, Ancient Mariners windling group’s Derek Nicholson has built an attractive model of Dictator .He is shown with the RC model top right on this page. 20 One of WW’s readers, and a very good friend of the editor is Robert Monk of MA, USA who for years has been in charge of publicity for the FS Association. From 1980 until 1995 Bob & Bette owned the Philip Nicholls designed sloop Secret shown on the back cover of this issue, using her extensively as a family boat . She often had so many on board, that Bob says, sailing friends used to refer to them as the “Boat People ’. Another Phil Nicholls sloop (The Philip | Nicholls) was almost completed when Phil died in 1979. Identical in her design and measurements to Secret, the sloop was saved from a death sentence as an outdoor exhibit at the Friendship Museum, and was later restored by Bob’s sons (with some help from Dad) working every weekend for a year, prior to being re-launched last July. Twenty- seven and a half feet on deck, the Monk’s Philip { Nicholls will be enjoyed and improved in the years ahead. She is seen below, moored just prior to a sail, emerging from above right, the garage workshop of restoration. When boats had hearts “There was something magical and alive in an old wooden boat. She had a soul that came from the live trees that became her timbers, a heart from the man who hewed and shaped her frames, and a beauty and simplicity from the nature that surrounded her. She was born much like a child, out of passion and love and great hopes and endless dreams, and she passed her life being thought of and cared for, and in turn looking after those The Friendship sloops have lovely lines, their clipper bows giving them an altogether “different from other bo ais.’ who loved her most. And she passed from sprightly youth into dignified old age, whose last years she spent quietly in sunny ‘ields or down on the shore with the tide washing her peacefully away; appearance and one gre and even in those last, last days she stirred the hearts of those who of art looked her way. appeal. And something of her passed on Malcolm Wilkinson of Auckland’s Ancient Mariners’ Seareach (above) flying the American flag, is another example of an RC Friendship Sloop model. into the toolshed her planks mended, or she seeped respectfully away into the earth from where she came’ Captain Roger Duncan His book The Friendship Sloops, 21 It was more a case of rum-flavoured black coffee as | remember, on wondertully relaxing “voyages’ | made aboard Pat Morgan’s old Hislop designed trailer-sailer Frisky Whiskey on Lake Brunner in New Zealand’s South Island. Just Pat and |, and Nip the dog, once a year for three or four years in the mid nineties. He would hand me the tiller saying “I’ll make a helmsman of you yet, Mark”, and we’d cruise to one of many isolated creeks he knew like the back of his hand, where we would tie up to a tree branch, give Nip time to go ashore and look for possums. Then we’d sit and “shoot the breeze’, let the brew warm the innards. Then back to Moana we would head, and Morgan would go out the following day and sail Frisky Whiskey to handicap honours in a 24 Hour race ! Well, I’ll be blowed ! Aaaahh…Memories ! The editor rum-inisces Il! 22 Wag beck ae model in 1917, free extremely sailing popular, yachts and were this old photograph appeared in The Model Yachtsman, May 19th issue. Many of the young — skippers assembled, I’d bet would have gone on in later years to sail fullsize boats, and many a famous face I’d lay odds would be among them. WW reader, Joe Fossey (centre of photo at right) and his late brother Ken, were introduced to model yacht building and sailing by their father at an early age. Seen after a days sailing at the Bay of Quinte with their late mother Daisy, Joe says he can remember sailing the little boat for several years. 23 TM ‘Nay, several boats, many JD sap, as in more Heard ) than one, sails ag white as pale men of English stock taken fright came ghosting by, the quietly neaced then passed a lowlp man, that was me, as in J” Louis De Vachesco Gomez Wireless A visiting friend, American Howard Shinbone, after witnessing an Auckland Footy race, expressed the opinion that courses for these small boats, would be better, certainly exciting, more over a short and tight course, ‘Windling World is a breath of fresh air from the Antipodes’ rather than one with longish ‘legs’ that tend to spread the (Reader, Peter White) fleet apart. A good example of ‘close — racing’ (Thank you Peter, ‘m touched, but then most people perhaps, are the races held for in Fairwinds Plymouth, UK, where the size of the pool results in just that, as the photograph shows. Food for thought, he if know that !!!- Ed) Below are two you can get into and sail. Built in Bude, Cornwall, and a little longer than a Radio A Class boat, these are Minuets. anyone should know…the foot bone (being) connected to the shinbone ! Brian Wiles of UK built this J Class looking boat (right) on the base of a_ hull designed and moulded as a ‘Woodspring’ One design. The overall length = of Woodwind is 54”, with a 9.25” beam. Photo courtesy of Marine Modelling International. 24 It will please the many Starlet owners who read WW, to know that not only is the boat’s designer, Vic Smeed alive and well, but the original Starlet SI is still in his hands. The photograph at right (taken in August last year by his wife) took a lot of effort to obtain, for as I was reliably told, Vic has always Today there are good Starlet stayed well away from the fleet numbers in areas of front of any camera. Britain, in Auckland, NZ and in Victoria, Australia. Vic is The Starlet is still a popular not much into letter-writing. choice for those who want a but he reads (and says he model yacht with good sound enjoys) WW, and we keep in design, one that sails well and touch does from time to time. dalle for) a letters Mark Steele complicated building effort. 25 % j ad «\netex with | \ 4 Half inebriated or just a… By Mark Steele She was a SPENCER perhaps she still is, | have no idea of this once beautiful and extremely competitive New Zealand 1M’s present situation, and whether she was eventually confined to the rubbish bin ? Nationals sailed in New Plymouth in the Taranaki area of our North Island. Superbly finished in red, and always (in the Davies — years) immaculate in her appearance regattas As opposed to the classic scale or standoff scale windler of today, who _ at all entered, she was also sailed into second place in the city of | Auckland Championship regatta in September that year. sails models that are rarely sold off or discarded, the purely racing and highly competitive model yacht — sailor tends to discard a 1M or RM class of yacht once it has proved to be no longer The following year in Wellington at the NZ Nationals regatta, 1/2 Cut started to lose a bit of her competitive edge, and Davies had to be content with fifth overall, but the boat still “looked’ good, and was to prove good enough to take individual honours sailed by Geoff Davies in the Pandora Shield Challenge regatta. In 1994, with the Australian TS2 boats then the rage, Davies would sell the boat to a Neville Beatson, who later passed it on to someone else. competitive. Fair enough perhaps, as the serious racing skipper’s interest in model yachting is purely to have a boat that is highly competitive, and rarely does sentimentality enter the equation. In my active 1M days in Auckland, | saw two boats broken up and put in pondside rubbish bins ! Aside from my personal friendship with John Spencer, were | asked what | best remember of those formulative years of 1/2 Cut despite its pondering name was different. Built by Trevor Bamforth for Geoff Davies, she was in her day, in the opinion of many, one of the loveliest and at that time, extremely competitive one metre boats around the New Zealand scene, winning a great many NSRYS club events, and finishing third in the hands of Geoff Davies in the 1992 NZ 1M NZ 1M activity, the answer would have to be “the fast and immaculately presented 1/2 Cut”. It was a boat of lovely lines, one that was sailed exceptionally well by the likeable Geoff Davies. The choice of name ? Well, it was ‘different’ and is still indelible on the minds of a great many. 26 <>. 7%. Ss From Joe Fossey (see bottom half of page 23) who is another windler totally captivated by the 1/l2th Cornish workboat of Canadian Terry Doble, the model seen in WW a couple of issues back. Good photo, couldn’t resist it, What’s this “Surgeon’s mistake’ bit all about (see left), why not Foreskin’s Lament ? .Well, it happens ! Lots of those “circum-navigatory snip-snap whadjamacall-ums’ take place ! Half Cut ! Bah !Ultra conservative ! Rain, rain and then more rain, then at last – SURPRISE ! still more of the liquid falling-down stuff you guessed it, more rain ! In November as well as December last, Auckland was the place. Equinoxial (they say !) Come on readers ! Send us a pic or three of what you you’ve seen. Other interested, believe me. sail, or readers what are No chaps, there’s no truth in the rumour that the often mentioned | wanted to go on Seamaster to the Amazon with Sir Peter. Someone from the expedition said “GET STUFFED !” | thought | had been accepted cos | was (and | is) stuffed ! John Collins of the UK’s Woodspring Model Club owns this fine model of the famous cutter Bloodhound seen at left) being sailed in Bristol. Constant group at Onepoto terrorism in Auckland is now considering you ? Let’s all get lf we hide and we worry…well, the lunatics will then farewells Auckland reader, Doug Chitly who served his country in the second World War He died suddenly, left a wife Ronnie, and 3 daughters from an earlier marriage. He slipped moorings in April O1, sailed for new horizons, of on with our lives, a name change ! WW belatedly fear gripping have won, lear advances, logic retreats, 27 When A Friendship called Secret Boothbay Harbor, Maine – ‘July 1994