My family moved in 1948 from South Wales to the banks of the River Medway at Lower Upnor. So a new ship came into my life, the Training Ship 'Arethusa 'on which my father had become a teacher. I didn't lose sight of paddle steamers either. The 'Medway Queen' ran trips too Southend from Chatham and the ' Queen of Kent' and the 'Queen of Thanet' ran down to Margate and over to the continent. My personal sailing needs were cared for with an ex navy 'Julia' dinghy which I bought a couple of days after moving to Upnor. The 'Julia' dinghy was 16ft long, clinker built. She was double ended, not unlike a ships lifeboat of that period, but fuller and more like the Norwegian style. She was very much like the old naval 27ft sailing whaler, but of course, shorter. I half decked her, fitted a false keel, then rigged her as a gaff sloop with boomless mainsail. I bought a barge's mizzen sprit for a mast. She was a nice comfortable cruising dinghy and I had a lot of fun in her, not only on the Medway, but cruising the Essex rivers too. She was moored in the river near the hard and I could see her from my bedroom window.

Cheers, Nerys

I should have checked my last post for autocorrect errors. My post should have started with “Nerys,” not “Beets.”

I first saw the Mt Washington in John Fryant’s Paddlewheels and Propellers catalog. Somewhere along the line I searched for John Braeynart, who drew the plan, and found a Steamboat Bill issue with his model of Mt Washington in it. After corresponding with John, I found out he would be coming to San Diego, so we arranged to meet.

Later, while at Naval War College in Newport, RI., we were off for the Martin Luther King holiday, so I had a chance to chase down the Maritime Museums and found John’s model.

A couple of years later, when Dumas came out with the kit, I was able to buy it. However, life has gotten in the way, in more ways than one. It does give me something to look forward to, and I have followed some on-line builds and gotten a few tips as well.

OK, I have probably drifted too far from “real boats,” so I am closing this up.9

Hi Peejay
O I envy you have looked at the Mt. Washington kit for a number of years. The other was the Graupner Glasgow side wheeler. The cost was one draw back for the Dumas kit and the Glasgow no longer sold. When you start please keep us(Me LOL) updated.
Rick

Beets: I can only imagine the sound of those paddle wheels from a few times having rented a paddle wheeler at a recreational lake, and from films, so I envy that experience. I am still tied to a walker - working toward using a cane with a physical therapist. In the meantime, I need to clear a work area in my garage, so I can still work while using the walker. And I need to send someone up to the rafters of my garage to recover my Dumas Mt Washington kit, so I can hear those paddle wheels again.

Thank you. Hope to keep the career going through getting my modeling going with my grandsons when they can come to visit.

Hi Peejay.
Great career.
Well done.
Keep it up.
Regards Bill.👍

There were other ships in my early life besides the tramp ships my father served on. We lived in Barry and I had an Aunt and Uncle who doted on me and in the summer used to take me on trips on the paddle steamers that plied the Bristol Channel. Starting from Barry PierHead, they ran to Weston Super Mare, Ilfracombe and Minehead. I suppose we would do about three trips to Weston in the course of the summer and one or two to Ilfracombe. My sister still has a photo of me, sitting in my pushchair at the end of Birkbeck pier in Weston, I was probably about three. In those days, very few people had cameras and there used to be men taking photos of everybody coming off the steamers, then when they came for the return journey, you found your own photos on the board and bought them as a souvenir of your trip.
Post war, P & A Campbells still operated paddlers in the Bristol Channel, and I had many an enjoyable trip on the Ravenswood and I think the GlenUsk, to Weston and either the Cardiff Queen or the Bristol Queen down to Ilfracombe.

Cheers, Nerys

Hi Tony,

I'm sorry to hear that you had so many problems with your eyes, I had visions of the Ary presenting you with a sword at quite an early stage in your career. However, your life post RN sounds as if it has been kind to you.
I was probably the youngest barge skipper at that time, but Les, the Ary boy who was my mate in Centaur went on to become skipper of one of Paul's sailormen whilst still only 20. He gave it up when his barge was put on lighterage duties instead of proper cargo carrying. Pleased you still get pleasure from your modelling, I'm most interested to see how you get on with putting RC in your Dragon. My model of my father's LST is all but finished, I'm just waiting for Alice to do some soldering for me. In the meantime, I'm getting on with a generic auxiliary barge.

All the best, Nerys
.

Hi Nerys,
Not far is the short answer. I got top grades on finishing education on the Ary and the plan was to go into the Port Line and train as a deck officer, but for some reason I can no longer articulate -decided at the last moment to join the Royal Navy lower deck. Seaman specialising in Radar first ship was the Belfast, second was the Bermuda. Whether due to a love affair in Bermuda I can't say, but I contracted severe conjunctivitis -so bad I couldn't operate anything and was transferred to Haslar after docking back in the UK. The doc on my case was a Queens consultant surgeon -so I guess he was well qualified to diagnose and treat me. After x number of weeks he prescribed specs, which then meant I couldn't continue in my branch. As the offer was only either writer or cook, I decided to take discharge. Otherwise I'd been doing quite well and an SD officer pathway had been mooted. Now for the mysterious bit -I hadn't been ashore more than two months when my eyes starting hurting again and I was diagnosed as having specs when I didn't need them!
After a variety of job adventures I ended up working for IBM -and of course outside of work, boating and modelling.
You must have been the youngest skipper of a Thames Barge back then all those years ago. Understand your passion for these craft -not made a model of one yet. The Kitty was here in Portsmouth for a while and we have the Alice at Gunwharf.
Re modelling I'm making progress on the Dragon -not yet at the planking stage. Will likely blog it in time to come -headed 'How to build a model with throwaway wood'. Should amuse members, especially the scratch builders!

That is for sure!!! Especially if you look at my unbuilt kits and plans!!! 😉😊

Sounds like you've had an interesting career PJ. Re modelling, - too many boats, too little time😁

JB

I know that many members here have talked about building their own boats, but though I have been “on the water for most of my life, except for rentals, I never had a full sized ‘personal boat.’

I was brought up in Grand Island, New York, which is situated in the Niagara River, just northeast of Buffalo, New York. Before my parents and older sisters moved to the house that I was born into, they lived in a cottage on the West River of the Island. They had a dock and an outboard powered open boat. It used to sit behind our back fence, but I don’t recall going out in it, unless I was very young at the time.

The house was about three blocks away from the East River, and we could see the South Bridge, and the superstructures and stacks of ore freighters and tankers passing by. (Although the northern tip of Grand Island is 8 miles from Grand Island, the river around the island is navigable.)

My next door neighbors had an outboard powered mahogany boat, which we used to go out early with his parents, and later for water skiing. I have a very strong memory of skiing on the East River when the boat “lost power,” and I went down with my skis. When I looked behind me, there was a Great Lakes freighter coming up the channel behind me. At that point, I abandoned the skis and started swimming for the edge of the channel. Then the outboard motor suddenly regained its life, and my friend quickly came up to recover the skis and me.

There were plenty of other boats as well. I received rowing and canoeing merit badges at scout camp, and in Sea Explorers, we restored a former Navy Utility boat, and we used to camp out on Strawberry Island, taking everything by boat.

There were also the Thunderboats that raced every summer until the boats got too fast for the width of the river.

As a Midshipman during summer training, there were LCM’s that took us to and from our troopship to the beach; later that same summer, I took sailing lessons and became qualified on Sunfish sailboats.

The following summer, I was the Acting First Lieutenant on the USS England, DLG 22 for six weeks, and the following year, as a newly commissioned Ensign, I was assigned as an Air Intercept Controller to the USS Canberra (CAG-2), pictured here.

My second ship was the USS Connole (DE-1056), which was still in construction at Avondale Shipyard, just west of New Orleans.

Following that tour, I went to the US Navy Logistics Support Activity/Naval Advisory Group, involving transfer of maintenance of the ‘Brown Water Navy’ to the Vietnamese Navy. My last ‘gray’ ship was the USS Barbour County (LST-1195), which was involved in the evacuation of Vietnam.

I also was on a Disney Cruise in later years with no concerns about standing watches.

As a result of being brought up on the river and ocean, I have come to love and model all kinds of ships and boats, so it often gets difficult to decide what type to build.

Hi Tony,
You, obviously took advantage of everything that was on offer to you on the Ary and did well on it, how far did you go in the Navy? I asked if you were an Old Boy, because I am in touch with one who lives in Australia. I met him 66 years ago in January when he came away as mate with me when I was skipper of the sailing barge'Centaur' . He wanted to come to UK last September for the Old Boys Annual Reunion, visit Hamburg to see the newly restored 'Peking' and sail on one of the barges in the annual Colne Match. Of course, covid prevented it but he's hoping to do the same this year. Wasn't the padre's name Simms Williams or something similar. I remember the boy falling from the mast, I think he died. It was a long way down. I remember the way, the boys used to man ship, all going to their stations on the yards, but you had to admire the 'button boy' standing on top of the mast.

Cheers, Nerys

Hi Nerys, Lots of these made round the world originally for Harbour defence work, so the designers probably never envisaged people taking them out in the open sea in 20ft waves chasing Taiwanese fishing boats😁 The navy and fisheries patrols used to take them right around NZ on a regular basis. I think most of ours were made in Sausalito California, but they were assembled in a number of countries, as were the 112 ft Fairmiles ( a number of those were built in NZ)

I remember Going out of Tauranga Harbour on a new 40ft tug on a fishing charter, (pic) and when we got half way out to Mayor Island, the waves were probably around 12 -15ft ( Tauranga has one of the fastest tidal streams in NZ and was going out at the time -wind coming in) One of the fisheries HDMLs was going out as well, and everyone was commenting on the roll it had on, heading about 15deg off the wave direction. We actually had to turn back as it was so rough,- the back deck was awash with chunder from all the guys sitting in the stern (the worst place to sit,- like a fairground ride!) Took the skipper about 10 mins to find a small enough wave to spin around on!

JB

Hi Nerys,
It all seems a bit weird now, remembering I practised on your back lawn all those years ago. And I did a bit of cutlass swinging -took that interest with me into the Navy, did some fencing for a while as a Junior Instructor at Vincent where I also was a silver bugler. I don't know if you was told about it but one of the Ary lads fell from the foremast during morning exercise whilst I was there. Don't remember what happened to him -I saw him fall down onto the netting over the heads, was taken away unconscious -and would you believe it his name was Nelson! I've not joined the Old Boys Association -too busy with other things, not to mention modelling! I don't remember the first officers name either -interesting to note he went back to sea again. The padre was bearded -I had so much respect for him I even let myself be talked into being confirmed by the Bishop of Rochester!

Hi Tony,
Thank you for pouring on the nostalgia with those Arethusa pics. It was always a great band, we could hear them practising in the band hut from our house. Of course a lot of things were practised on the lawn at the back of our house, I'm thinking Cutlass swinging, Hornpipe , gymnastics etc. My younger sister joined in with a lot of these activities and became quite proficient. I remember her being told off in school for doing gymastics like a boy. She also learnt the bugle and knew all the calls.
The Padre, wasn't he the local vicar. I remember him building quite a nice fourteen foot sailing dinghy.
Did you know that the First Officer, can't remember his name, when Arethusa closed down became first mate on a cross channel ferry out of Dover.
Are you a member of the Old Boys Association.?

Cheers, Nerys

Hi JB,

Not surprised your HDMLs rolled a bit, there's no sign of a bilge keel on them. Would have made a lot of difference. Bit late now!

Cheers, Nerys

Hi JB - as I said R9 was probably the most famous of the Miamis - plethora of pictures of her - what an ignominious end for a great sea-boat which had been looked after so well for many years - on the slipway at least twice a year for removal of marine growth and a general check - she was still in great condition when she left Kens care. He had turned down an offer from the US for her too!
The unamed claimed he was going to restore her to original - should be taken out and shot.....
Just a general lack of interest in the past - especially by the instant coffee generation - if a computer cant do it for them - not interested. Same types that think those floating monstrosities now called cruise ships are great ...............
Probably of similar mentality as the new curator of the Maritime Museum who claimed that models are irrelevant.........
Great pics of the Kiwi boats by the way - good to see

Hi Peter, sad to see old boats neglected, same happens everywhere, just lack of money to rebuild such big boats. Found a couple of pics of a SA Maiami and a Sea Plane tender, (SAAF ST433) in 2002 (supposedly the last survivor and being restored) Found a pic of R9 as well.

JB

Hi Peter, we had 12 HDMLs here and they were known to roll more than just a bit. They were used for fisheries patrols more or less in the open ocean when the navy was slowly getting new patrol launches (Brookes Marine with 12 ft of the bum cut off to save cost (some govt moron thought it was a good idea) crashed through waves (sailors got broken ankles occasionally) and with the twin Paxman v12s, they were so noisy in the engine room, they had to build soundproof offices for the engineers. I stood next to a Paxman in a test shed on the navy base one time, and you had to scream at someone 1 foot away, talk about racket!

There are still around 8 running privately (or stored), - unfortunately, the Tarapunga (ex navy survey HDML) recently caught fire and sank off the coast near Nelson. It had been fitted with Gardner 8 L3s by the guy who bought it from the navy in the 70s, and was probably the best of the remaining ones (it's been over to Australia and back and met up with an ex NZ HDML sold there.) I actually was invited to have a look over it by that guy when he was re building it in the old viaduct Harbour. Big engines for a small engine room. They were railway surplus from old shunting engines. Black Watch (with masts) sunk at her moorings last year, was towed up a creek and chopped up.

We had a number of Maiamis here during the war and they operated from Fiji (pic of one with Fijians on board 1952). Also the RNZAF had the only 64ft HSL sold outside the UK (still around in different form) We had a similar number of Fairmiles as well but only one remains (no engines- houseboat now in Whangarei). One other was turned into an accommodation block on a theme park. All the good ones (ex ferries) went to Shri Lanka ( one was the subject of a terrorist hijacking off the coast of Shri Lanka)

The HDMLs are pictured with their later replacement vessels.

JB

Hi Nerys,
on the nostalgia theme -these Arethusa photos might interest -taken in 1955 (year before I joined) by Frank Earl. Re the band, you would have heard that on Sunday mornings marching up to the church. I was in that -used to play tenor & bugle & latterly Drum magor. Re the officer looking over the side on boat lowering -that's Tiny Fuller, seamanship officer. As for the ships company picture -it's difficult to make out people's faces. I can just make out the first officer and 'Fergie' the 2nd Officer. Perhaps you can make out your dad! Incidentally, the ship's padre, a short stocky man with a withered arm was a marvelous wood carver -and my love of modelling was stimulated by a model he had built (all with one hand) of a three-masted ship I saw on one occasion when visiting his house.

The Montage shows R9 (outer boat) and Circe in happier days - boat at very top is a converted HDML - also based at Hout Bay - rolls on the proverbial wet blanket ! Ask me how I know.............

Some very sad news & pictures from my friend - R9 the last Miami serving with SAN was sold on by my friend Ken to someone unnamed who had been trying for years to buy her. Unnamed insisted he wished to renovate her and live aboard on the Berg river. Instead she was neglected and left to rot at the mooring she was delivered to - photos show the sad result and the irony also of the Sarik hobbies version shown as R9. He had further bad news in that he had lost the battle to keep his Ford Class SDB ex SAS Rijger afloat as her hull had thinned too badly and he was forced to scrap her after she sank twice at her moorings.
The good news is he is almost halfway through renovating his other Miami "Circe" (ex R18 not R5 as I thought - R5 became Iona V the very first Miami i sailed on as a child) and is currently working on the other SDB ex SAS Oosterland whch can be seen lying alongside the stripped & rusted hull of Rijger

Hi Tony,
glad to hear you got to sail again - your other trips sound very interesting.

One of the best things about living in the UK was the boat shows - both model & full size. Not talking about the Southampton display of plastic bottles but rather Beale Park and the Classic Boat show. Mostly wood and ranging from a tiny water jet powered paddle ski to some very large yachts and fishing boat designs. Lots of interesting people to talk to including Ian Oughtred with his classic Scottish designs and Alec Jordan who cuts wooden boat kits to order (Jordan Wooden Boat Kits ) . Most of the classic designs were on display and clubs like the Folk Boat one were busy selling plans & kits . Spent many enjoyable days there over the years and met many interesting people - including the art editor of a well known boat magazine who was building a Cape Henry - which is the bigger brother of the Cape Cutter. Would loved to have owned one of those.

What a smashing display of dinghies. My choice would be the 2nd and 4th photos. They are my sort of boat. Number 2 reminds me of the little known Kent 14 that was built by Cooper at Conyer , just before and just after the war. Several of the Kent clubs raced them for a few years. It was my pleasure to own two of them at various times. However there were many nice boats on display and I am pleased to see how many were more or less traditional. The nearest show to this that we have in the UK is the Dinghy Show, last time I went it was at Alexander Palace, but I went away disappointed as so many of the exhibits were pure racing platforms,

Cheers, Nerys

Just a few of the NZ designed sailing dinghies at the 'New Zealand Sailing Dinghy' display, early 2020 at the Viaduct Harbour in Auckland city. All the boats are NZ designed (some international, designed and built to rule here) and many designs going back to the 20s (the little 7ft P class for example) Many of these old designs are still raced today ( some re-modelled in f/g) Most of the big boat designers, (Farr, Given (cats), Elliot, Spencer, Wellsford, Brookes etc) have all started with designing small dinghies and a number are well known round the world for their larger boats. We had dozens of classes of dinghies back in the 60s/70s but have mostly disappeared with the advent of plastic tubs imported from overseas (many of those made here now) .

There are currently over 43 classes sailed here at the moment,- (including 6 cat classes) -majority of them plastic now,- so there are plenty of choices for kids ( a big number of girls getting into sailing as well, with a number doing very well o/seas, which is good to see. I was asked to take my 12ft Cherokee racing dinghy down to the display as it is quite a rare boat now (very lightly built 3/16 ply and didn't last too long if neglected. There is no class for it any more, but still a few around (used to be over 100 strong round NZ, with national champs in the 60s and 70s) Mine is the red and white dinghy at the back.

The 4 man unbalasted 18ft M class (largest un-ballasted dinghy in NZ) at the front, (M46) is absolutely superb, it has been fully refurbished using modern techniques, and is full of flash modern fittings, coded lines by the dozen, sheets - sailing computer ,-everything! Think the hull is from the 50s. Boat is worth around $50,000 + from memory. A few modern ones have been built, but keeping to tradition. Some amazing scale models of dinghies as well (the big clinker ones actually riveted as per the full size and super accurate.)

JB

Nice solid looking yacht Ron!

JB

Watching lions and elephants while fishing Peter,! sounds like a spot fishermen dream of😁

JB

Do you know Red, I agree with you about the modern plastic racing machines. I lost interest in dinghy racing when plastic 'things' took over. There was character in the old wooden dinghies, you saw one you recognised it. You saw the plans of the new ones in your yachting magazine. You could buy a kit and build one yourself. Think of the phenomena of the Mirror Dinghy. They would never have reached the numbers they have done if from the start they had been an off the shelf plastic tub. Think of all the lovely wooden boats we never see today, The Thames Estuary one designs, the Snipe, the National 18, the Jewels, I could pontificate for hours. Most yacht clubs had their own one design class and some lovely boats many of them were. The easy build wooden boat encouraged development and I don't suppose we will ever see anything like it again.

Cheers, Nerys

Thank you Tony for posting that photo of the Arethusa. Sheer nostalgia for me, that was how I used to see her out of our lounge window.

Cheers, Nerys

Hi Ron.
You might try Classic Sailboats.org.
This is a register of such boats still in existence or lost for what ever reason if they were ever registered.
Regards Bill.

No they did not give the exact date. only the port . frustrating...many unanswered questions.

Hi Red,
I did single handed! Sold that and got a Lysander -in the hope it would encourage participation -then only when i motored her and never out in the Solent! I've not been real boat sailing for a number of years now. Sea time is on Maritime Volunteer Service vessels, local one is a 35' Nelson -used to be onboard the Royal Yacht. The other pics are an ex RFA tender -crewed that from Gloucester to Portsmouth, very rough passage, made water and had to stop off at Brixham to pump her out. The other pic is the Arethusa as I was talking about my time on her a few days ago.

Hi Ron ,
did they tell you when the boat was shipped ?- might make a search easier. She would be pretty old by now and may not even be afloat anymore - or may be rotting away in some obscure mooring. Looks very similar to many boats of that era - a quick look through my copy of The Rudder book confirms that . Sorry to say if she had a name change she may well be impossible to trace without the new one.

How do I go about finding a sailboat that has left the UK? Can not be found in a google search.

An email came in to me asking for assistance.

The boat was sold to someone from Essex, UK who then sold to someone from Canada they had it shipped to Canada.

The boat was called Seawitch, ex Yankse. She was built by W Roberts and Sons of Chester in 1911, she was built for the

For the Honourable C.J Wynn. Son of Lord Newbrough her dimensions were.. LOA 25 feet; Waterline 21 feet; Draft 4.5 feet;
Beam 7feet

When built she was rigged as a gaff Yawl, then changed to a Bermudian Cutter

The fact that she was shipped from Felixtow to Canada suggests that she was bought by someone who intended to return her to the original rig

Hi JB,
one of the joys of the Mermaid was taking her to Beira in Mozambique - and using her to surf
She did that well and you could usually get to sea again quickly.

Brother in law was a character - on one of his trips to Beira with the Mermaid he along with his brother claimed to have sailed out to the British Naval Blockade with the Rhodesian flag flying off the tip of the sail. They also claimed to have been assaulted with full full bottles of Gin , Rum and Whisky from the sailors on deck. I could never prove the veracity of the claim as they also claimed to have drunk the evidence before returning to home a week later.

I did later meet one of the officers from one of the ships in the UK but he could neither confirm or disprove the story even after asking some of his fellow officers from the other ships.

At least it made for a good story.

I cant really remember what it was like sailing the other Dinghy's - but do remember disliking the Enterprise - never could get it to sail well although there were many of them at the club. . I was only about 12 when we built the first boat and nearly 18 with the last - so memory a bit spotty on that .

Do know I don't like the modern rubbish - club was switching to Lasers which were awful in my view - completely lost interest and bought a cathedral hulled 16' Fisherman with a 50hp Mercury Thunderbolt - loved the electric start - used that for fishing on the local dams and Kariba for Tigerfish etc - although idly fishing for bream while watching lions or elephant on the shore was always a pleasure there

Hi Tony,
seems like you had the same problem - did you ever manage to sail again ?

Surprising for a tropical country the water was very cold - what I did not add that when I surfaced GF was hanging around my neck - as was the mainsail rope which was gradually tightening as the sail drifted underwater - for some reason the GF also never wanted to sail again - turned out she could not swim - grew up in Ireland where the water is a bit cold! Fortunately subsequent girlfriends could............

Funny my daughter loves boats - we go out every time she is here - son gets violently seasick and dislikes them intensely.

Bit of a shame Peter, Anzanis are quite collectable now, going or not! Re the GP14,- very few here, possibly imported by UKers moving here.- Never a class here though. Almost bought one instead of the Schock 15 (wish I had) as there was one for sale on our Trade Me site a few years back (needed a bit of re-varnishing etc, but looked pretty good) would have been far less work then the 15ft and still a good size.

We have the late 60s NZ designed 12 ft Sunbursts here, (wood and glass versions) in their hundreds still, which would be similar to the Heron and GP 14. Used to have lots of 12 ft Z class boats in the 50s and 60s which could plane really well on a reach. A mate had one in the late 60s and we planed it for about 5km home one day, non stop down Auckland harbour with our butts hanging over the transom😁 good fun.

JB

Hi Red,
that brings back memories! I had a Heron and took my wife sailing in Pompey harbour -took some persuading as she's nervous about being on the water. Got caught in a squall and she panicked as I tried to turn the boat into the wind and sat on the wrong side of the boat. We capsized and she was trapped under the boat. Got her out -still wearing her glasses, thank God, and waved for rescue. I was summer time and lots of motor craft were about but it took some while before a passer by got the message. I managed to right the boat and bedraggled boaters finally made it to Port Solent. Needless to say my wife has not been sailing since! And yes -we were wearing life jackets...

Hi Nerys,
from what I remember the Heron was a difficult boat to build and the GP14 took a long time . The Enterprise was somewhat quicker but not like the Mermaid. Last bit I remember on her was my Dad tying cloth around the gunwhale stringers and pouring boiling water around them and then us trying to clamp them to the boat - steam coming out enough to hurt your hands through gloves - but the trick worked . Later I thought we should have used thinner planks and doubled them afterwards - would have been a lot easier. So have used that method ever since on all my models. Live & learn is what this is all about.

The Mermaid was no slouch - we won a few races in her at the local club on Odzani dam .
Not a great sailing area as it was surrounded by hills and wind was constantly variable. on one memorable occasion taking a girlfriend for a quiet sail was hit by a whirlwind - should have let go everything - but was hanging over the side to keep her upright when the wind crossed the sail and the force was now in the opposite direction - result was she turned over entirely - mast pointing straight down. Now we learned you could not right her - bouyancy tanks kept her afloat but the suction prevented you from righting her. After making sure said girlfriend was safe on the upturned hull started yelling for help. Fortunately the rescue boat arrived and towed me towards the clubhouse on the upturned hull (GF in the rescue boat) - in the shoaling water the mast hit the bottom and gradually she turned over and finally with a very loud sucking noise came upright - lesson learned never take a passenger without a lifejacket although I still hate wearing them

Hi JB ,
that Anzani on your dads boat reminded me of my grandfather - he lived in Simonstown - about 50yards away from Boulders Beach where he kept his sea going "canoe" "Candoo" - double ender but much shorter & deeper than a ordinary canoe. (unfortunately no pics as my sister has most of the old photos in the UK) . When he turned 75 my mother and her younger brother worried about him going to sea every day the weather was good and insisted on buying him an engine - which my uncle built a frame for on the back of Candoo . They made him promise that he would never go to sea without it - and he kept his promise. When he passed away some 11 years later the family was visiting . Uncle and I wanted to start the motor and see how it ran so placing it on a plank over a 45 gallon drum of water tried to start it. The starter cord broke - it was very fragile and looked like the original - after a short run to town we used the new starter rope - the Anzani refused to turn - seized solid .
The ladies from the boarding house opposite told us they had never seen him use it - later confirmed by the next door neighbours son. He might as well have used it as an anchor - was just an extra weight to row.................. Anzani was later sold for scrap.

Hi Nerys, the Ps were brilliant for kids, we used to enjoy putting the mast tops in the water and sort of sailing/floating them on their sides😁. I could probably do that with my Cherokee as it has a similar 'box' cockpit, (along with Starlings, Lasers,, NZ Moths, Oks etc) The Cherokee was originally designed in 58 as a trainer for Oks.
JB

Hi JB,
I never had the chance to seriously sail cats, they weren't popular in the places where I sailed, but even that one afternoon taught me that they were a law unto themselves and I only had that one because the one half was given me. It was in the days when Wharram cats in the bigger sizes were all the rage.

I like the look of your "P" class, they look an ideal trainer and in some photos reminded me of the Europa Moth which developed from the International Moth, but I imagine the Ps would be far more stable.

Cheers, Nerys

Hi Nerys, cats do have a different style of sailing required, (tacking must be done in the correct manner, or you will end up going backwards, or nowhere). I actually used to back my cat up like a car at times to get out of certain situations, and used to sail it backwards quite quickly ( for a few hundred yards at a time) by holding the main out, then backing around onto the wind and taking off. Great fun. Wish I had never had to sell it (1st wife disliked getting wet😁-bit of a sook)

JB

Hi Nerys, we still have a Flying Dutchman assoc in NZ. Used to be quite big in the 70s. There are also a number of Herons sailing here (also used to have reasonable fleets) As soon as the 'plastic fantastics' (lasers etc) started being produced, most of the old classes started disappearing. The Optimist has mostly taken over from the 'P'class (NZ designed 1923) as a trainer in NZ, although there are still good fleets (a lot of later f/glass versions as well )- shame, as the 'P' was like sailing a cork and you could never get into much trouble with one, Optis fill up if you tip them over.

Hi JB,

Your comments on the catamaran raised a memory.
I was given one hull of a Wharram catamaran and a set of plans the smallest one, about 16 ft if my memory serves me.
So built the other hull joined them up with the cross beams tying them , literally, together. Stepped a mast , found a couple of old sails from my Yachting World Dayboat that more or less fitted, rigged up a steering oar to have mounted centrally between the hulls. Derigged, towed to a nearby hard on the mainland side of the Swale at Harty Ferry. Set everything up. launched and with a friend, Val, who had never sailed before, set off across the river. There was a nice sailing breeze, but did she go. I was on a broad reach heading out of the river and she was proving a right pig to steer, just couldn't control her, she just kept going. Even in his lack of knoledge, Val could see how I was struggling, and said "If you can't turn her round, will we sail off the edge of the world?"
In the end, I had to drop the sail, paddle her round and then screamed back to the launching place. I never sailed her again , but sold her a little while later as "an unfinished project".

Sorry Nerys, I think someone's been playing again😁? These appeared before I'd even posted them?

JB

I've mucked about in boats since I was born (almost) parents always had small boats and canoes (father once had a genuine Canadian birch-bark sailing canoe) which they used on virtually all the southern lakes in NZ. My Favourite photo is of my father and me (about 2yrs old) in the canoe with me 'steering' an Anzani outboard which they used on it. Unfortunately, my father (ex RNZAF F/S Warrant officer) passed away in 1959,(only 42) but I must have inherited his love of boats, as I've gone on to have owned a few. I've mainly stuck to small boats due to the huge costs of storing launches (not to mention the maintenance involved), and all of them have been either built /re-built or restored (apart from a new 13ft 6" Aussie Savage 'tinny' and a new NZ Fyran 12ft 'tinny', - when I was single and could afford stuff😂).

I started at 12yrs old with a 9'6" double chined sailing dinghy, which had a 'P' class sail plus a jib, and probably sailed hundreds of miles in that, in all sorts of weather (no life jacket or boyancy in the boat,-never canned out once). Next was an 8ft skimmer wreck I found and re-bottomed which I used my mates' 10hp Italian Carniti o/board on. we had heaps of fun screaming around with that (he built one as well). Later had a 9'6" ply dinghy which I used for fishing and that had a lot of use with a Seagull 40 plus on the back.

Bought an 18ft 'A' class catamaran (pretty rough) and sailed it back home 12 miles (having never sailed a cat before) which was a bit 'exciting', and totally restored it, (new sail, tramp, cross beam, rigging etc and the hulls sheathed with F/G and Dynel cloth.) Kept that for a few years and had some fantastic times (once you've had a cat you don't want to go back) sailing at 15knts + is rather exhilarating, - especially when you are passing all the runabouts in rough weather! 😁

I'd also earlier built a 15ft delta hull with a Canadian 75hp 'Flying Scott',(Scott Mcculloch) which did 50mph (which was moving for 1973) Bought the Hartley 20ft as an unfinished shell and fitted it out inside,(all interior bunk framing etc) windows, motor, stern drive, trailer, electrics, tractor, (restored) etc. Used that for a few years but sold it to help finance a new house. Later bought a 10ft glass clinker sailing dinghy and rebuilt it, hoping my son would get into sailing,-but not interested (damned computers!) 😴

Next was an American designed (kiwi built) 15ft Schock day-sailer, which I spent a year restoring (13 yrs ago,-still have it), then a 70s 12ft NZ Pelin Nomad dinghy (free from a guy at work) which I rebuilt and still use with a 15hp Chinese rice burner on the back. Lastly was a 70s NZ designed 12ft 'Cherokee racing dinghy (also free as a wreck) which I spent about 4 months restoring and totally glassing (just went out last Friday and did around 10km on a perfect day,) - suffered later with burnt hands and face☹️ but worth the pain😁,- at least I Got off my butt!, been a bit slack lately (chinflu lethargy/burnout probably). Don't think I'll be doing any more boats (as long as someone doesn't come along with another free orphan! LOL) - can't see good boats thrown away, but I have a yard full of cheap oldies already so I'd have to resist😔. I do enjoy a challenge though.

I've put a few pics up of the boats (my 55yrs + worth of boating). I'm sure everyone would like to see pics of other members boats (or at least examples of what they had)- always interesting to see what others have been floating around on/ in.

JB

The pictures appearing with my last post, are not connected to me in any way.
They are nothing to do with this post either.
Nerys.

Pictures removed, Martin555. (Moderator)