|
ONCE
UPON A P-CLASS:
With
the advent of the fibre glass P-Class
(first sailed by Gary Smith in the Tanner
Cup in 1977) and on display at the 1992 Boat Show it
is interesting to read of the origins of this little boat which go back to
New Year's Day 1920.
This story is from the notes of Hereward Pickmere and Harry Highet and
from Hereward's Diaries. Hereward was then fifteen and living in Whangarei
with a boat house at the bottom of the garden on the Hatea River and an
assortment of boats form punts to small yachts with the family launch
Kiakoa on which most holidays were spent.
At the Onerahi Regatta on New Year"s Day 1920 the first seven foot long
sailing boat made its appearance arousing considerable interest and
amusement - a "model" yacht sailed by a full sized man!
It was built by Mr Harry Highet, then a draftsman in the Public Works
Department at Whangarei and an amateur sailor of wide experience in
building and sailing small yachts . This little boat, Mascot, was sailed
by Harry, dressed in white "ducks" complete with yachting cap and as often
as not, smoking his pipe.
The idea of a small unsinkable trainer for boys greatly appealed to
Hereward's father, Arthur, a keen sailing man from his early youth in an
assortment of boats from open sailing dinghies to the 32 foot keeler
Niobe. He could see that this little boat would provide a cheap and safe means
for young people to learn practical sailing and seamanship.
Following the success of "Mascot" Hereward's father asked Harry to build
Hereward a boat. . This boat was launched on November 8th 1920 and called
Halcyon. She was 7 ft by 3ft 5inch with a 15 foot marconi rigged mast and
48 square feet of sail. Mascot was 7' by 3' and with a much smaller rig.
That
first sail especially with that rig sounded interesting! "Launched near
engineering works. Difficulties in management! Could not tack up against
current. Southwesterly gale -capsized. Left boat at Blakes and rowed home
in Selwyn's dinghy with fittings. Crosstrees broken - stays all loose.
Broke boom fittings"
Hereward spent the next 3 days repairing his little boat including
"tightening topmast starboard stay and mending broken crosstrees!"
Later
that month he complained of feeling sick "But Highet came down and we went
for a sail !" He still felt sick but the stomach ache had gone!
Two
days later, still too sick to go to school, he "went for a sail after
lunch Fine fun tacking with strong breeze. Capsized running before wind
which freshened suddenly - lifted stern (with me in it) right clear of
the water!" Halcyons rig was found to be too top heavy and was soon
changed .to gunther but the potential of this boat had become obvious and
Harry designed a simpler one-design seven footer, 7' x 3'6" easy to build
and rig. The third boat was built by Hereward and Joe Crompton and sailed
by Joe who was 6' 3" and this was his introduction to sailing!. This boat
was called Cheerio.
Further
improvements were made to the design and the fourth boat Firefly, built
by Harry Highet became virtually the prototype for the Class. Several more
little yachts were built before Harry was transferred to Tauranga taking
the design with him. It was in Tauranga that the Class became really
established and became known as the Tauranga Class Yacht.
Hereward and Joe kept an itemised record of that third boat which they
built: at Hatea Street during August and September, 1921.
Total Hours: 92.
Kelson secured & bulkheads made
14.5
hrs
Shaping & putting on sides 14.5
Decking, planing topsides
Hold, Hatch, Chainplates 20
General
21.5
Flooring and
fittings
0.75
Sail
2.25
Mast, gaff,
boom
4.5
Centre board Case &
bottom
8
Deck
Covering
2
Rudder & centreboard
1
New
rudder
2
Shrouds
0.5
Stitching sails to
spars
0.5
Costs:
1st timber account
1pound
5s
6d
2nd timber account
1pound10s
Sail material
1pound
6s
Timber (extra)
1s
Shackle
1s
2
Screw
eyes
6d
Nails and putty
3s
Red & slate
paint
4s
Rope
9d
Awning pulleys
3s
Yellow paint
1s
6d
Two split links
4d
S.W.P
9s
Misc.
12s
6d
Total
5pound18s
1d
All the
early boats were built of mainly kahikatea with kauri or oregon spars and
had sails made of calico or unbleached sheeting. Halcyon was considered
complicated and too costly at 10 pounds - the others cost 7 to 8 each,
completed. These early boats were built with four water tight
compartments, bow , stern and sides, so that they could be righted free of
water after a capsize as they are today.
Early
on, people who saw little Halcyon beating up the channel in a sou'wester,
all alone, predicted an early, watery grave for the young skipper Hereward
however, progressed to 14 foot X-class, then mullet boats before buying
Arethusa and sailing to Fiji where he mapped and charted many of the Fiji
Islands. A number of these islands were at that time uncharted while
others had only previously been recorded by Captain Bligh on his epic
voyage in that ship's boat after being set adrift by the mutineers..
Hereward added a water-tight hatch on Halcyon's fore deck and both
Halcyon
and Cheerio carried spinnakers providing useful drill for later and larger
boats. After managing these lively little boats with spinnakers, single
handed , the X-class were child's play with all the extra hands and the
relatively slower manoeuvrability!
Cruising ? Why not.! With Harry Highet in Firefly, Halcyon and
Cheerio
cruised the Whangarei harbour, taking bedrolls, all provisions, utensils
and spares. At night the boats were carried ashore, laid on their sides to
form the walls and the sails were stretched across to form the roof. This
was one good reason for having these little boats "square" sided. They
could sit on their edge quite stably!
In
1920-21 there were no local Clubs, few yachts of any kind, in Whangarei
-perhaps 5 or 6 - and no organised sailing or boating apart from the New
Year's Day regatta at Onerahi which attracted many visitors.
Following a visit on 26.4.1921 by that great sailor Lord Jellicoe, then
the Governor of New Zealand, in the Government Steamer, Tutanekai, when a
fleet of launches met the ship off Manganese Point and escorted her to
Onerahi, it was realised that some organisation was called for. Mr A.R.
Pickmere, Hereward's father was the founding Commodore and because of his
great respect for the sea and his appreciation of the value of practical
sailing and seamanship, insisted that at least one flag officer and two
other committee members were active sailing men. At the beginning the
Whangarei Cruising Club had four of five seven-footers, the Club's first
class of racing yachts! The fleet then grew up in Tauranga and much later
became popular in Auckland where it was originally sponsored by the
Ponsonby Cruising Club.
One of
those early solitary sails by Halcyon was even logged when there was a
spare hand for recording. I wonder what sort of a timepiece Hereward
carried as in those days it would certainly not have been waterproof!
" Nov.12th Southerly Gales all
day with occasional rain squalls lasting 15 to 20 minutes."
10.00 Got under weigh
from jetty in bright sunshine with mainsail and jib set. Past mangrove
Island I set spinnaker for half a mile.
10.47 Turned into Long
Reach and set leader.
11.04 Turned back at
Kioreroa Bridge. Hove to in lee of mangroves during rain squall.
11.36 Underway
again. Span closed but went under bridge. Lead down Long Reach. Big sea.
Closed hauled from Kaiwaka Point to Rabbit Island.
12.20
Landed half full of water on Rabbit Island. Cracked
port garboard strakes. Put all gear ashore and got
almost everything dry in sun.
High Tide 1.0 p.m. Had
lunch, cleaned yacht, straightened rigging. reinforced shrouds.
1.20
Ready to leave.
Waited for white squall to pass.
1.45
Left in bright
sunshine.
2.07. Caught in
rainsquall off Kaiwaka Pt.
2.30 Passed
through Kioreroa Bridge after a good run against the tide.
2.50 Turned
into short reach. More rain.
3.20 Turned
into Home reach, Blowing very hard.
4,00
Hove to off Bluff to
talk to Pearson.
5.33
All gear in order.
Yacht washed down and ashore. Everything alright - rigging dismantled.
Halcyon only yacht out
today. Carried full sail (mainsail and leader) everywhere except on a
close haul.”
|
