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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
161 and found her as good as new,beautifully built. Hadlow reckons MurrayWagener might have taken some of the lead out of the keel to make her lighter. 300 lbs of lead was put back in at the end of 1993, and Bill Miller tuned up the mast for him. J. Sullivan was reported to have owned her for some time. Prospect is presently owned by Joanne & GusWoolston,who keep her in her original home of Bucklands Beach. GusWoolston recently wrote“. . . the boat is still in excellent condition, my wife and I having just returned from an extensive cruise to the Bay of Islands where we experienced not a spot of bother what-so-ever.” Psyche II Sail No. 4642 Builder: Export Yachts/John Rea Launched: 31 October 1981 Construction: Balsa-core fibreglass Psyche was built for Ken Davern and his father, Jim. Extracts from Sea Spray, June, 1984:“Psyche and her skipper, Ken Davern were Stewart 34 Champions in 1984. Psyche was a bright yellow boat complete with psychedelic paint job. Ken bought a Stewart because the class racing was good and he wanted to get into match racing.” This also hailed the return of Jim Davern to the Stewart 34 Class. All the gear and fittings were chosen with racing in mind. The lightest possible gear was selected, and they kept as much weight as possible out of the ends of the boat. The bow was empty except for floorboards and the rest of the interior was thin plywood on kaiwaka frames. “I thought about weight all the time.Whatever the boatbuilder (John Rae) said, I virtually cut it in half,”says Davern. “Even the oven was the lightest available and the 3 lb. gas bottles were placed in the cockpit next to the aft bulkhead. Even the 15 hp engine was selected because of its power-weight ratio and is mounted as far forward as the Association rules will allow, 12’6” from the tuck. The water tanks hold a total of 50 gallons (189 litres) and the diesel tank takes 7 gallons (26.5 litres) and is as low as possible. Psyche weighed in 54.32kg under the required weight of 4717.4 kg. Lead correctors had to be installed prior to racing. To keep crew weight on the rail determined the deck layout. A solid halyard box was made up. The halyards, cunningham, reefing lines,outhaul,kicking strap and trim reef lead to the box which incorporates jammers and turning blocks to allow each control to be worked from the winches mounted on each side of the cabin top ... An invention by Ken’s father, Jim, enables the genoa sheets to be led to the toe rail as well as providing for and aft adjustments for different headsails ... The Stewart 34 is unique among masthead-rigged boats in that it thrives on having a floppy rig. Newcomers to the class and international skippers who come here for the match racing series are wont to tighten up the rig but always find themselves slackening the shrouds to make the boat go faster. The theory is that the loose shrouds let the mast fall off above the spreaders and this opens the slot between the genoa and main. Psyche has a foot of slack in the cap shrouds and 4” in the lowers. The amount varies from boat to boat and the right amount is generally found by experimentation. Ken Davern tuned Psyche’s rig during a day of tweaking shortly after the boat was launched and hasn’t touched it since.” In 1984 Psyche was in every Squadron Stewart 34 race. She has had four consecutive wins in the Kawau Island Race, an Olympic course, the passage race around Waiheke and a harbour race. Psyche also won the last race of the season around Rangitoto. Ken went on to win two Championships and made Psyche available for every Citizen Series since her launching. In 1989, Psyche was purchased by Rick Royden, another crack skipper who has continued to win the Stewart 34 Championship, seven times to date, taking the Handicap Points Prize in 1990/91 as well. Psyche gets the better of Pionnier in the 1982 Citizen Warwick Browne Collection