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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
143 Immediately after that Dickson was siphoned off to work on New Zealand’s first challenge for the America’s Cup. Playbuoy was not sailed again until Roy and his wife Marilyn went away for a weekend when he was home for a short visit in late February 1986. To say that Playbuoy did not have an illustrious start is an understatement!! Roy Dickson’s sailing background goes back to his childhood when he and his twin brother Frank, at age 10 in 1941, helped their father build the first family yacht which they raced with some success. As the senior Dickson moved up to an M Class and a 24 foot Mullet Boat, the boys developed their boatbuilding and sailing skills. Dickson recalls coming home from school and riveting on the wooden strips which his father had glued up the night before. At age 15 the Dickson boys were allowed to take out the family yacht on their own. The boys then sailed forward on the champion keeler, Ranger, for 5 years before helping their father in a three year project to build the next family yacht Tuahine, a 43 ft. keeler which the Dicksons raced and cruised for the next 12 years. During the next 30 years Dickson says he was lucky enough to compete in 7 One Ton and 2 Quarter Ton World Championships, Admirals’ Cups, Clipper and Kenwood Cups (Hawaii), Hamilton Island Race Weeks, Kings Cup (Phuket, Thailand) races on both coasts of the United States, 2 Sydney-Hobarts, 4 Transpacs (Los Angeles to Honolulu) and be involved in 3 America’s Cups. He also sailed with wife, Marilyn, to Rarotonga and Tahiti and made three Tasman Sea crossings. In his “spare time” Dickson coached the NZ Olympic sailing team from 1978-1980 in preparation for the Russian Olympics which New Zealand ultimately did not attend at the height of the Cold War. During this time he also assisted in the building of 3 more yachts which were raced and cruised as a family - a Townson 33, a Farr 1/2 tonner and finally the Stewart 34 Playbuoy which followed his experience with an earlier Stewart 34, Promise, which he owned with John Wood. Despite his extensive racing overseas, Dickson points out that he was never a professional and was not compensated for any of his sailing efforts until aged 55 - and by then it was too late!! Up until then it had cost the Dicksons all they had to pursue his favourite sport and Marilyn had put up without furniture, carpets etc. Playbuoy was the first Stewart to have her cockpit open at the transom after the consent of the Class Association was obtained. For cruising this was an excellent improvement and with the easily removable dead-bolted boarding platform made boarding and swimming easier as well as being very convenient for carrying the dinghy. Following his experience with Promise, Dickson also fitted Playbuoy with a sail-drive. Winning the Stewart Class Championship in 1989, 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2009 have been the highlights of Playbuoy’s racing career after many years of being the“bridesmaid.” Playbuoy also performed well in the Coastal Classics 2005, 6 and 7, finishing first in class and second in division in all four attempts. Probably the most exciting (afterwards) event in Playbuoy’s career was a spectacular Chinese gybe in her early days on the second reach of a Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron old style Olympic race. Playbuoy had just passed a Young 11 which had started 5 minutes ahead of the Stewarts. Her owner subsequently stated that he was doing 14 knots at the time and Playbuoy sailed past as if she was anchored. At that stage Playbuoy, sailing right on the edge of control, with both main and vang fully dumped, was overhauling a K class yacht which had also started 5 minutes ahead. The K, sailing without a spinnaker, then broached, leaving Playbuoy between a rock and a hard place. To go up would have resulted in a massive wipe out, so the instant decision was to bear away hard and narrowly clear the K’s transom. While Playbuoy was very briefly in the K’s lee, the spinnaker collapsed, then filled again with a bang, which broke the foreguy allowing the spinnaker to sky with the main already high as the result of the having the vang fully dumped. Playbuoy then continued to bear away at high speed and performed a most spectacular knock-down Chinese gybe. This happened to be captured on film by a crew member on the K. (see Playbuoy in the gallery on the attached DVD for the photo sequence). At the time of this writing, Roy Dickson was 79 years old. He is still actively racing Playbuoy in the spinnaker division of the Stewart Championships, the IRC Nationals and numerous other events, as well as local cruising. “I am not boasting about the IRC nationals!!! The problem was our own fault and stupid really. The boat was measured and weighed with stanchions and lifelines aboard as our first consideration was to race IRC in the