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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
117 passenger’s baggage, we do not know, but after fitting the lighter weight spar on Paprika, it proved to be an instant success. Taylor won 6 out of 7 races that year, demonstrating to the Stewart Association that this new mast was a good idea. The previous season, with his old wooden mast, he had only managed 6 second placings. He was also the first to experiment with loosening his rigging. He reckoned that by slacking the cap shrouds (side stays), it allowed the slot between headsail and mainsail to open in fresher winds and the mainsail leech to also exhaust. The loose rigging allows the top of the mast to bend away a bit, de-powering the main sail, resulting in less heeling and better boat speed. Taylor was also the first in the Stewarts to install a hydraulic backstay adjuster. Taylor went on to win 3 Stewart Championships in 1970/71, 1971/72 and 1975/76. His son Andrew, who was brought up racing on Stewarts, crewed on KZ 7 in Fremantle in 1992 and on NZL20, Black Magic, which won the America’s Cup in 1996 in San Diego. Paprika was one of the yachts used in the Citizen Watch Match Racing Series. Dick Deaver sailed her to victory in 1982 and Rod Davis helmed her to a second place finish in 1981. In October 1985 an Association certificate was issued with a tag on the keel, subject to the owner providing evidence of the weight of lead in keel and subject to a complete reweigh. The original had steel casing with internal lead, the new one had a timber frame. This was apparently corrected. In 1986 Paprika was purchased by Jack Pearson of Auckland and soon after he sold her to the partnership of John & Sue Cockcroft and S.Wallace. John Toon & Geoff Evans purchased her in 1996. John sold his half-share in April 1999 to Bob & Sheila Stevens She is now owned by Grant Barker,a boatbuilder who is in the process of fully refitting in the backyard of his home inTitirangi. Paragon Sail No. 2300 Builder: Max Carter Launched: 17 February 1977 Construction: Cold moulded triple diagonal kauri, glassed over Paragon’s hull and decks were originally built for a Mr. Dixon in about 1967 by Max Carter. She was unique in that she had a center cockpit and a small stateroom aft. Dixon was a builder who lived in Avondale/Te Atatu alongside a tidal estuary with high tide to his section. He took delivery of the hull and decks intending to finish her off himself. He was well underway with this when work was halted by business and health issues. Theunfinishedprojectsatbesidehishouse,neglectedandexposedtotheelements and pests until purchased byTrevor Sheffield. Sheffield gave us the story:“Although not used as a hen-house, poultry had been nesting insideandtherewerefeathersanddroppingsinabundance. Sunhadopenedupthecabin sides and all was rather sad,to say the least. Itookovertheprojectandmovedeverythingtomydaughterandson-in-law’spropertyin Blockhouse Bay,as I was living inTitirangi with difficult access. The purchase included a Perkins diesel engine with a Paragon marine gear box (which inspired my name for a lady of virtue),mast and rigging which had come out of Lloyd Brookbank’s Patari (this was a hollow fabricated wooden mast,a roller reefing boom and stainless steel standing rigging which had been replaced with an alloy mast and new rigging).There was also a fabricated steel drop keel which was to have been fitted to reduce the draught and so enabling Dixon to take advantage of his water access.This was not a centreboard as the whole assembly was outside the hull and when raised added approx 18” in clearance. From the beginning I did not intend to fit this contraption as I wanted real performance and could see it having a negative effect on the value of the yacht. There was no rudder included in the purchase. Ittookmetwelvemonthstorestorethingstopre-neglectedconditionandanothertwelvemonthstocompleteParagon.Iglassedthe Paragon, the only center cockpit Stewart 34 Sharon and Rob Harper Collection