Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
24 The following year he then ordered yet another Stewart 34 to be built-this once called Psychic. Davern was keen to match race against his son, but admits that Ken usually got the better of him. He raced her for a couple of years with mixed success before acquiring Cobalt, an Alan Warwick designed cruising yacht. He retired from racing and spent the next few years cruising in the South Pacific islands. Jim Davern is enjoying his retirement, splitting his time between his gorgeous beachfront home in Milford and his “bach” in Musket Cove on the island of Malolo in Fiji. He says he’d still like to buy back his Princess and have another go with the Stewarts. But the pundits think that’s just“Davern talk”. 3 - Modifications and Improvements Over the years, countless opportunities to improve upon the original Stewart 34 design have presented themselves. While the Association has passed on many of these in an effort to remain true to the intent of the Class Rules, many have been adopted not only in the interest of performance,but also to improve safety and reduce cost of ownership. This chapter will discuss some of the more important changes that have been adopted over the years. Masts The drawings for Patiki specified a mast of 48 feet, 10 inches in overall length, fashioned from spruce wood. After she launched, this proved to be a bit too tall, as the boat carried too much sail for her ballast package to counteract, so the mast height was soon after reduced to the current 47 feet 6 inches from the mast step. The single set of spreaders was also slightly reduced to the present 4-foot width. Classic yacht enthusiasts often quip“If God would have wanted aluminium masts, he would have made aluminium trees.” This light-hearted banter between traditionalists and modern thinkers may carry on forever. The fact that remains is that the original spruce masts on the early Stewarts tended to have a fairly high failure rate when they were subjected to extreme loads, causing some rather spectacular and frightening“gravity storms.” Stewart owner John Taylor introduced aluminium masts to the class in a somewhat peculiar manner. During a visit to the sailing mecca of Perth in Western Australia in 1968, he discovered some masts, fabricated from aluminium extrusions, in the boat yard of the legendary Australian sailor Rolly Tasker. Taylor purchased one to“take away,” carrying the 47-1/2 foot rig back home to Auckland as passenger’s baggage on his flight. He fitted the mast to Paprika and the lighter, stronger spar proved to be an immediate success on the race course. Recognising the benefits, soon the entire class switched from wood to aluminium masts, many being fabricated by the Auckland manufacturer YachtsparsNewZealand. RollyTaskeralsosoldafewmoreof hismaststoStewartownersovertheyears,andthese“T-10section” masts proved to be quite satisfactory for many years. Strict rules were made in a Committee meeting on the 6th July 1971 relating to the weight of the mast section, as any reduction in weight aloft would have given a boat an unfair advantage. The G2 section that was initially used made for an excellent rig, but at 2.81bs per foot, was well below the 3.5 lb minimum specified in the Class Rules. To accommodate boats with aluminium masts, the Class Rule was amended to permit the use of this mast as long as two aluminium tubes were fixed up inside the extrusion, increasing the mast weight to the required 3.5 lbs per foot. In theory this was fine, but in practice, there was always suspicion that on the odd occasion the installation of these tubes may have conveniently been forgotten, giving a boat an advantage of a 25% reduction in weight aloft!! WhenfibreglassStewartswereeventuallylaunched,YachtSparsrecommended“Die18”section,whichat3.51bsperfoothavealso haveproventobequitesatisfactory.Consideringthemanythousandsof racesthesemastshaveendured,theincidenceof failurehas been minimal. In 2008 a new Procter section of similar proportions was approved by the class. Rudders While most of the original-design skeg-hung rudders had been replaced early on, the challenge of developing the ideal rudder for the Stewarts persisted into the 1980’s. On one occasion while Pionnier was out of the water undergoing osmotic