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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
18 out of the water. The following season we had a redesigned rudder and had control.” On the 9 November 1960 after much discussion the Sailing Committee and the Flag Officers of the Squadron resolved to place the Patikis in the 2nd Division. Bob Stanton noted:“When first raced in this (3rd ) division, being based on the LWL (length on water line) Patiki was so far ahead of the fleet the race officials couldn’t believe she had been round the course!” In the summer season Princess won four races and was 3rd in two. Patiki and Patiko also held their own and were strong competition to Ngatiwa and Rambler, both crack boats in the 2nd Division. AtaSquadronBoatOwners’Meetingon24May1961itwasdecided“thatthePatikiclassbeplacedinaseparatedivisionforthe next racing season.” The motion was carried 45 to 5. But the Sailing Committee was not convinced. They claimed;“ ...the Patiki type yachts have not yet justified their claims to be recognised as an independent division, the yacht owners’ recommendation should be deferred a season.” By July the Sailing Committee had decided, instead, on a separate light displacement division “complying with the intention of the Planing Hull Formula” to consist of the now 5 racing Patikis, Shemara, Scimitar and Vim. The motion was carried but Bob Stewart had his opposition recorded. Stewart’s other successful yacht, Helen, was the first of the K Class boats, which had established a restricted, but not one design keelerclassforSquadronracing. TheStewart34wasanotherchancetobringtoughcompetitiveracingtoNewZealand. Stewart was especially keen after experiencing hard and professional competition amongst the Dragon Class at the 1956 Olympics. The Patiki owners themselves didn’t initially press the issue, but in the winter they held a meeting to discuss the future of the class. Jim Davern anticipated there would be 10 Patikis racing with the Squadron by the start of the 1963/64 season, as there were already seven regular starters. At the time there were already eleven Stewart 34’s in the water, with four more boats under construction,so the group decided to form the Patiki Owners’Association. Davern became the Chairman and the secretary was Milton Miller, who was having a Patiki built. Bob Stewart accepted an invitation to act as their technical adviser. Jim Davern commented: “The Patiki class was so much faster than the pre-war keelers, we felt that we were spoiling the racing for the other boats. So we agitated for a Patiki division. That was when the Squadron decided on a light displacement division and after a few years actually made a completely separate division for our boats - called the Patiki Division, later renamed the Stewart 34 Division and we became a one design class.” “Looking back now,it’s fair to say that the advent of this little fleet of keelers heralded the start of a new era inAucklandYachting - the light displacement era. But at the time the boats had a mildly freakish air to them and old-timers were not greatly impressed.The Patikis,they reasoned, might offer a bit of sport in the harbour races held in light conditions. But in the heavy going outside they’d simply sail on their ears and pound themselves to bits. Some of these comments, of course, got back to the Patiki boys, which accounts for a wry speech I heard one night in the Royal Akarana (Yacht Club) clubrooms. The speaker was Jim Davern. And he was being very modest. He said:‘Of course we’re a bunch of Idle Along boys. We don’t know our way around the Gulf. And we’ve got to cope with sailing in a big bass drum. All that pounding ... but give us time. We’ll learn.’ There was some wriggling among the audience. For the occasion was one they hadn’t anticipated - the presentation of the Balokovic Cup to Jim Davern.!! And it wasn’t a fluke, for Princess won the next two Balokovics as well.‘I still say he sails the damn thing like a damned Idle Along’, snarled one of the old-timers. But his tone held grudging respect.”-Noel Holmes “ ... Princess still further consolidated her claim to being one of the most successful keel boats ever seen on the Waitemata when she won the Royal Akarana Yacht Club’s Balokovic Cup 100 mile cruising race for the second time in three years, this time gaining line honours as well.