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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
160 track. Within the next few weeks the port genoa car had parted company with the toe rail. Subsequently all sheets, halyards, control lines,blocks,jammers,genoa and mainsheet systems have been replaced. New sails have been purchased when required. Promise still uses the original storm jib, measured and signed in 1980, which is used for cruising and as the No. 3 genoa for race days when the breeze gets up and S-34s are the only boats on the water. After a couple of summers of Stewart racing Brett managed to persuade Geoff Bates to purchase a 50% share. Why a Stewart? Now the answer is easy,‘affordable one class racing’. But in 2004 the prerequisites were a boat also suitable for family cruising but still competitive. The options were the same then as now with Farrs,Youngs,the odd Lidgard or Lotus and an older but intriguing design called a Stewart 34. All except the S-34s and theYoung 88s were in the order of $100k+. At the time Brett had not heard of the S-34 Association but stumbled upon an event known as rum racing. He turned up one Thursday and was assigned to Pelagian. The course led them from the start/finish at Westhaven to Bastion buoy in a 15 knot WSW breeze. The lead changed several times on the way to the leeward mark and the S-34s went around Bastion buoy four abreast with the other Stewarts close at hand. It was at this moment Brett realized he had to get a Stewart. The rest is, as they say, history…. Oddities or characteristics? Promise was afflicted rather seriously by osmosis or‘pox’ early in her life. The present owners believe that about $12,000 was spent to skim off about 5mm from the original polyester and restore the hull with epoxy. It was a rather drastic and somewhat expensive fix, but effective. There are no signs of osmosis in the hull. The rudder stock is centrally located where it exits the hull but is approximately 10mm to the left of center at the cockpit sole. The keel is not symmetrical. There is a bulge in the lead and a twist in the tail. The twist in the keel and the tilt of the rudder must have been there since Promise was constructed,although Ted Turner claims to have fixed it when he had a run-in with Doris Rock in the 1984 Citizen. These items have been added to the‘never ending list of things to do’and hopefully will be attended to during our period of guardianship. Sailing Achievements. 2007 B & G Simrad 100, Shorthaul Division 1 Line and 2nd Handicap 2006 Canon Cup (Stewart Championships) - 2nd Handicap 2007 Stewart 34 Association-Most Improved Boat 2005 Canon Cup (Stewart Championships) - 1st Handicap Prospect Sail No. 1315 Builders: John Norris & friends Launched: 1972 Construction: Triple skin kauri over kauri stringers, glassed over with teak decks Prospectwasbuiltbyagroupofyoungfellows,headedbyJohnNorris,a3rd yearapprenticetoShipbuildersLtd.inMangere. Theyoung mendreamedof sailingaroundtheworldbut,onebyone,theyallgotmarriedandlostinterestintheproject. Shewaseventuallysold, unfinished to Charlie Andrews. Andrews then commissioned Norris to finish the project on his behalf. All the deck beams were joined by dovetailing in the traditional manner, an exercise in boatbuilding art. She is solidly built and was strengthened especially around the forward bulkhead,weighing approximately 10,500 pounds. She was fitted with a Gray Dixon rudder. In 1978 Andrews sold to Murray & Sue Wagener who sailed Prospect for 13 years. Wagener had done a lot of sailing in the M class and commented that“all M class yachties love the Stewarts. They’re also value for money these days and with the open transom they look just like a Beale at less than half the price.” When Prospect was on her mooring in Putiki Bay,Waiheke Island, the Boroona escaped her mooring and rammed into the side of her. It took 3 month’s hard work to repair the damage to the stanchions and deck, and Wagener took the opportunity to open the transom. She was then moored in Awaroa Bay where the boat was more secure, away from the vandals at Matiatia. The Wageners sold to Colin Hadlow of Waiheke Island in 1991. Hadlow stripped the hull and decks right back to bare wood