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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
17 her a flat run aft, but given plenty of sail there is no doubt that in a strong enough wind she should be capable of exceeding her theoretical hull speed.”Sea Spray, December 1959 Patiki took the 3rd Division prize ahead of Scimitar and Gleam. The General Committee’s reply was,“that while the interest in the Patiki class is welcomed it is not proposed at this juncture to establish a one-design class. Patiki boats owned by Squadron members will race in the 3rd Division. All boats will be re-classified from time to time according to performance and availability.” In June the Squadron had received a letter from Peter Colmore-Williams requesting his yacht Patiki, be classified in the 2nd Division for the 1960/61 season. The problem was passed on to the Sailing and Handicapping Committee. It didn’t take long for Patiki to capture the attention of Auckland’s yachting cognocenti. “He [Jim Davern] was cruising in an outboard runabout at Great Barrier Island and it was blowing a little. There were several keelers waiting to come back to Kawau and the last to leave was Patiki with Peter & Noreen Colmore-Williams and their dog, Mitchell, as crew. Jim watched them start and then followed them in the runabout. Patiki arrived at Kawau considerably first. This made quite an impression on him. On his return he set about organising the building by John Lidgard, of course, of three hulls identical with Patiki.”Bob Stewart in Breeze September 1982 Like a lot of other keen yachties, Davern had been along to Lidgard’s shed on Lynwood Rd. to check on the“new boat” and its progress,“I first thought Bob Stewart had more brains than to design a boat like that, but then Patiki beat everything in sight and began to look interesting, so a few of us formed a syndicate and built three of them at once, mine being Princess.” John Lidgard set himself up in an old factory shed behind Ron Neil’s factory in Portage Rd, in New Lynn to build the three boats. Davern had talked Neil into buying one and then persuaded Boyd Hargrave to put his money into the other. Hargrave, who was fiercely competitive but new to sailing decided“if Jim & Ron were game enough he’d be in there too.” Basil Kelly was having Maurie Palmer build him one (Pania) so a date was set to have a collective launch of four new Patikis. It was a big deal for Davern to finance the building of a boat as he had a young family and a very young and struggling construction business.At the same time he acted as project manager for the new Patikis so that Lidgard could concentrate entirely on the construction of the three boats. All the timber came from the Thames. The others chose heart Kauri but Davern,beingabuilder,decidedonsapandmediumKauritreatedespecially by Hicksons. He wanted to experiment with this lighter wood and the new treatment, and it didn’t let him down. It actually proved more durable with no signs of plank distortion and gave a lighter boat whose class weight could be placed more efficiently. Launch day, November 5, was to be John Lidgard’s big day, but he had been run over by his work van the previous day and attended as a spectator only. ThefournewPatikiswerelaunchedbycranefromPrincesWharf,minustheir rigging and still without their engines, which hadn’t arrived from England in time.A fortnight later they were racing. Over a lunch at the Squadron, Jim Davern, Ron Neil and Boyd Hargrave decided they would all call their new boats by names beginning with the letter P, as the first boat Patiki started with a“P”. The tradition of naming all the boats of a class with the same first letter was established by the M-class. Jim Davern commented: “The first season’s racing was quite dangerous as nobody understood spade rudders. Princess had a diamond shaped rudder,which was far too small. It would have been okay with little sail but with more sail area you lost control. The rudders were about half the size they should have been and with the boat so full and wholesome most of the rudder was Pim, Pania, Princess and Patiko were all launched the same day from Princes Wharf Stewart Association collection