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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
22 The Patikis as they were known in the 60’s had a reputation for being hard to control downwind. This was probably due to the shape and construction of sails in the sixties and the fact that few of us were used to light lively boats. However they were still winning and it was obvious that the spade rudder made them move maneuverable. Peter decided Patiki would have to have a spade, but wished to use the existing rudder stock, which was bronze, and only about 40mm round. It needed extending and he had the old shaft drilled out about 20mm and the extension turned down to fit. He then braised the joint. This caused a great deal of mirth and good natured chaff amongst my workers but Peter optimistically carried on. I joined the crew for the first race a cruising race to North Harbour on Ponui. We didn’t make it past Queen’s Wharf from our Westhaven mooring. The rudder blade floated up astern and we beat back to our mooring backing the headsail for steerage. Somehow we managed to regain the mooring and after immediately consuming the weekend’s beverages we decided to hire the GrummanWidgeon (flying boat) which in those days serviced the Gulf and flew to Ponui where we inflicted ourselves upon the other Stewart 34’s and anyone else with a spare berth. Princess was the top boat in those days although the others had occasional wins. We then moved to new premises and built Pamoana and Panui shortly after. Of the others sailing at the time Poseidon which Keith Atkinson built for Milton Miller,joined Princess and Patiko competing in the short offshore races then regularly held.In 1966 Poseidon competed in the Sydney Hobart race.I was aboard Poseidon when Ted Kaufman the owner of the top Sydney 40 footer Mercedes lifted a floorboard.“The bloody thing has got no bloody bilge!” he exclaimed”What are you bastards, bloody suicidal maniacs?!!” Milton got to Hobart not far astern of Mercedes. Although Patiki had originally been built with the idea of taking a mould off the hull before it was turned over, Peter had been too impatient to get sailing and it was not until Bill Miller took a mould of Princess that the original intention was carried out. Jim Davern,“Father of the Patikis” Of all the great sailors who spent time on Stewart 34’s during their careers, Jim Davern undoubtedly was the first to help propel New Zealand to its pre-eminent position in international yacht racing. Davern was born in 1932. Typical of many young sailors of the day, he started sailing in P-Class, progressed to Zeddies, but by 1950 had elevated his game and achieved a second place in the Idle Along Nationals, behind Olympic silver medallist Peter Mander. At age 21 he had just finished his apprenticeship as a builder. His interest in sailing led him to apply for a position as a boatbuilder. He missed out on the job and decided to form his own business shifting houses off land that was being cleared to make way for the Southern Motorway. He relocated them on empty blocks of land all over Auckland, keeping some as rentals, and selling others to acquire capital. In 1959 Davern was ready to step up from centreboard boats to something more substantial. He recalls “I heard about this boat that Johnny Lidgard was building out on the Whau River for Peter Colmore-Williams from Sonata. I wanted a keelboat and the things I was looking at were boats like the Scout which were like a pencil, skinny like Fidelis. I went out to look at this and when I got in the shed that they’d put up I saw this big Mullet Boat. I thought, this is a bloody Mullet Boat. I don’t want a Mullet Boat, I want a nice sleek keel boat! When they launched it I went down to watch the first race against the A Class and all the rest of them. It was so bloody fast that they didn’t give it a gun. Johnny Lidgard went up to the control box on Orakei Wharf and said‘hey what are you doing, where’s our gun?’ They said‘oh, we didn’t think you were racing. How did you finish up there?’ ‘We just sailed past them’ said John. After that, I said, I’ll have one of those, and that was the start of the Stewarts.” Davern convinced two other friends to do the same and John Lidgard was in business building three more boats. When the yachts were nearly complete, he and the other two prospective owners paid a visit to the Lidgard yard where they would each select the yacht of their choice. Davern declared that the other two owners could have any yacht they wanted, except this one,