YACHTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 189, 12 August 1939, Page 17

YACHTING.

SHORT-END KEELER.

AMATEUR'S EFFORT, i

BUILT IT SINGLE-HANDED.

FOR OCEAN CRUISING

(By SPEEDWELL.)

The last pleasure craft reviewed in these columns, Mr. H. R. Jenkins' 92-foot ketch Golden Hind and Mr. I'. R. Colebrook's 42-foot motor yacht, were professionaliy built. as the majority ot Auckland's fleet is. Each year a few boats am built by enthusiastic amateurs and lately some of these have been fairly large craft. They are usually the work of a crew over the winter period and are frequently put in frame professionally, being finished off by their owners.

It speaks well for the skill and determination of a yachtsman who can build a sizeable keeler single-handed, from laying the keel to making the rigging. This is what Mr. Fred. ■!. Xorris. of Devonport. has done. For the past 10 months all of his spare time has been occupied in building a '25-foot short-end keel yacht, and last week she was taken from the shed, off the Lake Road, to the Devonport Yacht Club's hauling-out area on the waterfront, where the lead keel of about two tons will bo cast and the finishing touches put to the boat by her owner.

Designed by Mr. TV S. Woollneot, of Stanley Bay. the yacht is intended for offshore cruising. 'She has been stronsly built on •the single-skin principle, with inch plankiug and six fore-and-aft stringers which are only 1"i inches apart. Four bulkheads add to her strength and, as tho view shows, she has pleasing lines with a moderate cabin top, a good sheer and powerful forward and after ends.

The yacht is 25ft overall. 22ft on the wateriine and has Bft 21n beam with 4ft Sin draught, ail excellent proportions for a sea-going craft. She will be sloop-rigged with one headsail set on a short bowsprit, and a Bermuda mainsail.

Below deck, the yacht is well fitted for ocean cruising, the best us*> being made of every available foot. Mr. Norris has gained his experience In a hard school and comes of ;rood sailor stock, the family being -well-known in Tauranga. bcrtli his father and grandfather being master mariners. He has owned several boats, one of his earliest being the 14-footer Sea Rover, followed by the 24-foot, keeler Irene, his last boat being the .'l."ft keel yacht T>alsy. built by Mr. Chas. Bailey in 1805 for the late Mr. William Lind. of Devonport. Mr. Norris owned the Daisy for seveTal yt>ars and visited most of the ports from Tauranga to the Bay of Islands in her.

Deep-sea experience has been gained by Mr. Norris when, as one of the crew of Mr. Geo. Dibbern's ketch To Rapunga. he took part in the "trans-Tasinan race from Auckland to Melbourne In 1030. He also cruised with Krilng Tambs in the Teddy and did a lot of work to the hulls of both of these craft when they visited Auckland.

From this experience, he has laid out the cabin arrangements of his new yacht, to be christened Nada. She will have a small self-draining cockpit and immediately forward of this is the galley, 4ft long. Tho main cabin is 7ft and fore cabin oft, with sft Gin headroom under th*» cabin top. Ideas gained from Teddy, To Rapunga, Ngataki and other craft in which Mr. Norris has sailed will he incorporated in Nada. The boat has wide deck space, with room to move about and although she is not expected to i>c finished before Christmas Mr. Norris plans to visit Sunday and Norfolk Islands this season. Next year, the yacht will he off on a much longer cruise to the islands of the South Tacifie.

The most remarkable feature of the work is that, except when riveting-lip. Mr. Norris lias done all the work of building the boat single-handed. even steaming, fitting and fastening the timbers and planks himself.

Mr. Norris still keeps In touch with Geo. Dibbern and Erllng Tambs. Mr. Dibbern has left Vancouver in To Rapunga on his way to Auckland and hopes to arrive before all of the Centennial celebrations are over.