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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
153 Packer sold Prince Hal to Peter Kraaycamp. She was purchased in early 1999 by Auckland coffee magnate Michael Allpress who’s first Stewart 34 was Privateer. Allpress sold to Len Light,her present owner in 2006. Light continues to actively race Prince Hal in the Stewart Championships and Ponsonby Cruising Club Rum Races. Princess Sail No. 809 Builder: John Lidgard Launched: 5 November 1960 Construction: Cold moulded diagonal triple skin tanalized sap kauri, glassed over Princess was built for sailing ace Jim Davern, in trio with Pim and Patiko. Keenly competitive, Davern had Lidgard experiment with the use of lighter weight sap kauri instead of the traditional heart kauri. Her decks and cabin are of ply, glassed over. Launching took place on Guy Fawkes Day, 5 November, 1960. John Lidgard recalled:“Jim Davern arranged the lead pour for Princess, Patiko and Pim and decided the boats would be better for extra lead. Princess and Patiko got the first keels and Pim we always reckoned, missed out a bit and was lighter.” Daverncommented:“Thefirstseason’sracingwasquitedangerousasnobodyunderstoodspaderudders. Princesshadadiamond shaped rudder, which was far too small. On 4 March 1963 The New Zealand Herald printed:“Princess First After Man Overboard. Losing a man overboard when the boat was moving at speed with her spinnaker set did not prevent J. V. Davern’s Princess finishing first in the annual Duder Cup harbour race conducted on Saturday by the Devenport Yacht Club. Remarkably, the man overboard, retained his hold on a rope and after being dragged through the water for a quarter of a mile, was hauled back on board. For four years, Davern helmed his beloved Princess to a podium finish in just about every race he entered. The challenge began to wear off, and Davern began looking for bigger conquests. Princess was purchased by T. R. H. Grover in 1965. He later sold to Ian Littler who went on to win the 1969/70 and 1972/73 Stewart Championships with her. Littler sold to Stewart Brentnall in 1973. Brentnall raced her in the Stewart Championships, taking second place spots in both the 1973/74 and 1974/75 series. Bill Miller bought Princess soon after and won the 1976/77 Stewart Championships. Miller recalls:“On a Wednesday evening race in 1977, Princess was flying a kite, following Namu down past Devonport Wharf at low tide. Somehow or other,Princess went on the mud and had to drop her kite. We were still on the mud and so I suggested to the crew that if they all get out on the boom and we’d let the boom out to try and heel the boat in such a way that she would come off the mud. Nothing happened. I had heard that if you walk up front on a Stewart when you are aground that the boat will somehow or other lift itself off. So I wandered up to the front and this duly happens-the boat sails off the mud with me on the bow and seven guys on the boom. Unfortunately they started dropping off into the water, one, two, three - all of them except Alan Day who had longer legs than the others and somehow managed to jump back on deck. After rescuing the others, Princess, funnily enough, was first home, mainly because we turned `round and put the motor on and went back to Westhaven. I didn’t get wet.” Free Drinks on Princess! In 1977, the Stewarts had a family race to Awaawaroa Bay down near the bottom of Waiheke Island. About 20 Stewarts rafted up and a few people were sent ashore to arrange a barbeque site. Ten minutes later,one of them came back,and dragged Bill Miller,who Princess blasts down the Harbour in the 2007 Classic Yacht Regatta Christine Webb