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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
165 eventually arrived,one having to be abandoned and later re-found by its owner.We arrived about noon on the 23rd March,ten and a half days after leaving and the hospitality and friendliness of the New PlymouthYacht Club and its members was fantastic ...we got to Auckland on the 31st of March after doing a number of repairs on the boat in preparation for the return journey, and then went to Westhaven Marina to at least look at the NZ S-34’s.Although naturally they were all locked and no one was around even on the Friday and Saturday, we had a look at the boats and found it most interesting to see the differences - such as a much bigger cockpit and even looser rigging than ours.” The pair once again won the Short-handed Championship in 1995. Peterson sold Ratu VI in September 1996 to James Davern of Sydney.“I will always remember Ratu VI as the greatest little yacht that I have sailed,amazing performance,strong sea boat and very pretty.”–Ken Peterson James Davern celebrated being 60, and still being alive, by entering the 1993 Sydney/Hobart in his 40ft Beneteau, All That Jazz. Four days straight with 50 knots from the South,right on the nose. He’d done six previous Hobarts,but he was younger then,and by the time they reached Hobart he was buggered to say the least,and was looking for a tree to sit under. A lot of us idiot yachties have felt like that at times (there is an old saying that the best cure for seasickness is to sit under a tree). He started racing All That Jazz with the SSAA (Short-handed SailingAssociation of Australia) with Chris Kelly,champion cork- puller,ascrew. Itwasthenthathenoticedthislittleblueyacht,Ratu VI,whichtohisannoyancehecouldn’tshakeoff. Itdidn’tseem right that a 34ft yacht had no trouble keeping pace with a 40-footer,so he had a yarn with the owner,Ken Peterson,and learnt that Ratu VI was a Stewart 34,made in New Zealand,and christened Palmarie. He stored this information away. He’d just decided to sell the Beneteau when he got a call for help from an old mate, Bruce Hitchman, (who now owns the Stewart 34 Picaron) who’d had to abandon his yacht, Pacific Breeze, in the SSAA, Sydney to Plymouth (NZ), 2 handed race. They’d been flattened in a gale in the very unlovely Tasman Sea. Bruce and his crew had been picked up by HMAS Sydney after fighting for their lives for 24 hours. But Pacific Breeze was still afloat and Bruce had left the EPIRB on,so out went All That Jazz with a scratch crew to find her. TheTasman Sea didn’t want to let her prize go,so it was a battle with the remnants of the gale all the way,but find her they did,80 miles south of Lord Howe Island. Davern decided that all that running around the Tasman Sea and Bass Strait was a bit energetic for an old guy, so when Ken Peterson put Ratu VI on the market,he jumped at the chance. That was twelve years ago,and they’ve been together ever since. There was no balance in the rudder then, and with a breeze up she was a fair bugger to steer downwind, so designer David Lyons organised a 28% balance, for which the rudder stock had to go aft 150mm, and suddenly she became delightful in any wind strength. The first big race after that operation was the 1997 Sydney to Southport. Winds at the start were 30-35 from the South, but up went the big spinnaker,which stayed up until the finish line. Ratu VI was first on scratch and first on PHS in her division,and was a joy to handle all the way. That was the third Southport race she’d won since 1990,and the second on scratch. Since then, Davern and Ratu VI have enjoyed many adventures together, mainly with the SSAA, and with Chris Kelly as crew, winning a few,but always up with the leaders. In 2006,the twenty-five year old thirteen horsepowerYanmar diesel finally gave up the ghost, so it was replaced with only a slightly heavier Yanmar 28 horsepower engine, which gives great comfort when punching into a heavy seas. Davern is of the opinion that Ratu VI is close to being the perfect yacht; easy to sail short-handed, very forgiving of idiots, with a good turn of speed and comfortable accommodation in the ample room below. They’ll stay together until one of them swallows the anchor. Davern shares one of his“race reports:” “Middle Harbour (Sydney) to 33`44.1 and return. Sunday 25th March 2001. This is a personal report. I can’t say what happened to everyone else because I rarely saw most of them, most of the time. Only when they passed us.