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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
16 log reads; “First sail wind is light but Patiki seems lively and fast. . .” Bob Stewart took the helm for Patiki’s first race on 28 November. After rounding the first buoy he asked Colmore-Williams where the next boat was.“I don’t know,” was Peter’s reply, “I usually follow the boat in front.” Bob informed him wryly;“You are the boat in front!” “Designer Proved Right - R.L.Stewart deserted Helen for the day to try out Patiki, the new craft he designed for P. Colmore-Williams. Whether or not it was Stewart’s guidance or her trim and handsome appearance, Patiki proceeded to bolt away from the third division, finishing more than 12minutesclearof thepre-eminentthirddivisioncraft,GleamandFreya.”AucklandStar.Accordingtoherlogs,Patikiwasthegunboat in 3rd division in all of her races the first season. Not only had she exceeded her owner’s expectations, she was clearly a“breakthrough” boat. “The advent of the Patiki, the 1st of her class, cast more than a ripple through the Squadron fleet when launched in 1959. Reaction from conventional keelboat sailors was vocal. The tendency of the new design to perform spectacular broaches under spinnaker enlivened the harbour scene and I once overheard past-commodore, Alf Miller (Moana), refer to them as ‘double- decker mullet boats.’ But in no time they established themselves as highly competitive class racers,with sound cruising qualities too.Their popularity has not diminished over the past forty years.(If I sound prejudiced,I am.I raced one for 11 years.) Today they are known internationally as the boats used in our Citizen match-racing series.” Wilf Beckett, Breeze. In 1956 the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron organised their second yacht design competition. The first, held in 1942, in which Bob Stewart placed second, had produced the “K” Class yachts. They requested local and international designers to submit plans of a yacht which could become the next generation racing fleet, replacing the maturing K class, and hopefully injecting some adrenaline into its race programme. In addition to spirited sailing performance, the other stipulation required that the boat also could double as a comfortable family cruiser. A special committee was established to draw up the conditions and specifications. The Committee was impressed with the submission of a Scottish designer named James McGruer, and by January of the following year he had been instructed to prepare a design for a new keel boat class at a fee of 200 guineas with a royalty fee of 5 pounds for each boat built. The process took 18 months, with letters traveling to and from Scotland, until the plans and class restrictions were finally in the Squadron’s hands. By November 1959 the Squadron had paid for the plans but after that nothing more was heard about this new boat design. The launching of Patiki a month before may have shadowed McGruer’s efforts. The adoption of this“stepchild” may have also been the seed of an anti-Stewart sentiment that would ebb and flow through the ranks of the Squadron for the next fifty years. “With her big beam she needs plenty of sail and with an inboard rig on short overhangs ... with a masthead rig it has been a problem to design a spar man enough for the job without too much weight aloft.Calculations into taper,wind shadow,effects of recessed track and various mast scantlings down to differences of 1/32 of an inch, have proved to be among the most searching calculations in the design. With such a shallow hull and quite pronounced sheer, the doghouse had to be fairly high to give over six feet headroom, but this is only apparent in a section of the hull through the doghouse and does not look at all out of proportion in the profile ...Although the hull is of the big dinghy type with fin keel attached, no attempt has been made to give Patiki on launch day Stewart Association collection