Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
110 Don Hargrave recalled:“Ken was a fanatic about performance. We pulled that mast out to remove 250 grams from the masthead fitting. Iwasmainsheethandandhewasalwaysonatmetodietmore! Weusedtoracewithacrewof 6,threeplates,threespoonsand one pot on board. There was never any water in the tanks,two beers each if we were lucky. She wasn’t equipped for cruising without having to cart a lot of gear down the marina.” On19November1969theSquadron’sSailingCommitteereceivedaletterfromtheStewartOwners’Associationaskingthemeasurers toinspectPahi.Themeasurers,JackBrookeandBobStewart,foundthatPahi’schainplateswere1’,3”inboardfromthepositionshown on the plans.The owner also advised them that the crosstrees were 3’,3”which was considerably narrower than the specified length. The Stewart 34 Committee immediately banned Pahi from Stewart races until everything was refitted according to the class rules. KenAllen won the Championship Series for 1973/74,taking the Handicap Points Prize at the same time. Hargrave had leased Pahi for the 1974/75 racing season,as did Jim Davern for the 1975/76 season. After 13 years of hard racing on his much larger Fidelis, Jim had taken time out with the launch Volunteer, and returned to racing on Honey, a fibreglass Mullet Boat which he had just built. After winning the Lipton Cup he decided on a bigger boat and the Stewart one-design class was still the best close racing he’d ever experienced. But before committing himself to purchasing another Stewart,he had a go withPahi for the season but with only average results. In 1977 Allen put Pahi up for sale. He wanted to build a new Stewart 34, still in wood, but lighter than Pahi. His new Stewart, Pendragon,wouldraisehiscontroversialprofiletoanewlevel. HughBurrettpurchasedPahiintimetoraceherforthe1977/78season. He then sold her in 1979 toTim Snedden. Tim Snedden and Pahi went on to win 3 Stewart Championships: 1979/80, 1980/81 and 1982/83 and the Handicap Point Prize in 1980/81. Bob Stanton reckons he could tell whenever Snedden had new sails;he was the one out the front! Pahi was the winning boat in the inaugural CitizenWatch Match Racing Series in 1979,sailed byAuckland ace Roy Dickson. In 1986 Snedden decided to sell Pahi and move up to a 44’Murray Ross design. The owners since then have been Mark and Wayne Taylor. Wayne and his father Stu had owned the non-conforming Patiki Pania for a long time but now the boys have a“real”Stewart 34. The Taylors continue to race Pahi with good results in the annual Stewart Championship Series and Classic Yacht Assn Regatta. As of this writing, Pahi was undergoing a major refit. Upon completion, the Taylors plan to ship her to Europe and participate in the 2009 Europe Classic Regatta Series. Palmyra Sail No.2612 Builder: Rod Holt Launched: 28 March 1977 Construction:Cold moulded double diagonal kauri,glassed over,teak over plywood decks Palmyra was the 2nd to last wooden Stewart built, this one by Rod Holt at his boatbuilding yard at Madden Street in Westhaven. Holt served his apprenticeship at Percy Vos’ yard, and had built himself an M Class skiff. It was considered “too extreme”and never passed the rigid rules of their Owners Association. Holt used larger frames and heavier construction in Palmyra as he wanted to compete in the longer coastal and offshore races such as the Balokovic Cup and Coastal Classic. With all the extra weight in the hull and interior,Palmyra was very tender so extra lead was added in the keel. A Gray Dixon designed rudder was later installed. After a few seasons of racing, Holt decided to build another Stewart in fibreglass and purchased a hull and decks from Export Yachts. He sold Palmyra to Alan Fletcher in June of 1981. Fletcher had the boat made lighter by stripping out the heavy interior and installing a lighter engine. In 1983, Fletcher ordered Prism, a new fibreglass Stewart, and sold Palmyra in 1984 to Alistair Moffat and Bert Blincoe. Don Palmyra blasting up the harbour, 1998 Bob Wharton