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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
140 Miller has done very well in the Stewart 34 Championships; his first win was with Princess 1976/77 followed up by nine more with Pionnier,including 1978/79,1981/82,1997/98,1998/99,2000/01,2001/02,2003/04,2005/06 and 2007/08. As of this writing, Miller was 84 years old and still racing competitively in the spinnaker division of the Stewart Championships. PionnierwastheonlyStewarttoparticipateinallelevenof the CitizenWatch Match Racing Series,winning in 1988 while helmedby John Kolius from the United States. In the 1987 Citizen Match Racing, Chris Packer on Pionnier, whilst racing against Rick Royden on Phlyer, was sailing downwind in about 25 knots of breeze. Royden wove his way through the spectator fleet on the inside,performing a white-knuckled gybe,missing some of the spectator boats by just inches. Packer,on the other hand was dead level on the other side of the track when he suddenly broached up into the steel Navy boat Hauturu,which,with a full compliment of officials on board,was acting as the committee boat for the day. Luckily,Pionnier hit a hatch on the side of theHauturu,which was pushed inwards absorbing some of the impact,and the damage to Pionnier was more or less just a complete write-off of the pulpit. Of course this was the end of Packer’s race. Royden over onPhlyer,withBillMilleronboard,begancheeringtheirvictory. “Hangon”saidMillerasheassessedthesituation“that’smyboatthat Packer’s crashed!” The race committee cancelled the racing about an hour later. Miller’s daughter, Christine also skippered Pionnier successfully with her all-ladies crew, winning the Stewart Ladies’ Division three times and numerous Ponsonby Cruising Club Ladies Race Series. Ain’t love grand! In 1979 or thereabouts, on a Wednesday night race, Bill Miller had on board his 18 year old daughter Liz and one of her rather attractive school friends, Genevieve. Bob Lawton, one of Miller’s key crew was struck, as they say in the Godfather, by a thunderbolt. It was the last race before Christmas and he could keep his eyes off everything else bar Genevieve. Lawton was not particularly happy with the situation however, because Genevieve went back home to Australia on New Year’s Eve. Around about the 20th of January Lawton came to Miller and said“I’m sorry I won’t be able to do KawauWeekend.” This was held in February and containedthreeveryimportantchampionshipraces. WhenBillaskedwhy,Bobreplied“I’mgoingovertoMelbournetoseeGenevieve and probably going to ask her to marry me.” That was all very well for Bob, and that is duly what he did, but Bill lost three races at Kawau. Bob did marry Genevieve and he still races on Pim on Monday nights and seems quite happy. Bill Miller’s advice:“Do not bring nubile young women on board in the middle of a race series.” Many of Miller’s crew on Pionnier have gone on to highly successful careers on the world match racing circuit and the America’s Cup. Brad Butterworth sailed as crew and helmsman for Miller for two seasons,as did Kevin Shoebridge and Dean Phipps.Jeremy Scantlebury crewed for two seasons. In the early 1980’s Brad Butterworth, then 18 years old was working as a sailmaker for North Sails. He and a few of his sailmaking mates used to crew on Pionnier. They didn’t earn much money in those days so they brought no lunch and not much booze, but nonethelesstheyhadalotof fun. Bette,BillMiller’swife,usedtosendanenormousplasticcontainerfullof sandwichesforlunch. Half of these were date sandwiches,Bill’s favourite. Bette was somewhat surprised when the container arrived back home with a note from Brad. “Bette, we don’t like date sandwiches!” In a recent email to Brad, thanking him for the superb floral tribute on the occasion of Bette’s passing,he was asked if he still liked date sandwiches. To date,no comment has yet been received. David Falconer became a partner in Pionnier in 2002. Falconer is also a keen racer and often shares the helm with Miller when they race together in Thursday Rum Races. FromBradButterworth,aregularcrew/skipperonPionnierinthe1980’s: Hi Bill, YesalongtimebutIseetheStewartsontheharbourwhenIvisitmymumsoknowyouarestillgoingstrongandthememoryofthosedaysracing around the harbour against a very competitive fleet was unforgettable. My recollections of the Stewarts racing and Citizen Series were one of very close and competitive racing. The boats were very even and sailed hard by good crews. The rivalry of Snedden, Davern and you was a great introduction into the keelboat world and the standard of racing was as high as any in the world due to the Citizen Series and the invited skippers.