Impressive New Cutter At Sumner

Press, Volume C, Issue 29554, 1 July 1961, Page 5

Impressive New Cutter At Sumner

ON a vacant lot beside the main road approach to Evans Pass, where it makes an eye-catching and impressive sight for passing motorists, is the massive hull of a new 12-ton cutter which will become one of the most important additions to the fleet of the Banks Peninsula! Cruising Club. Recently launched at Lyttelton, the cutter has been taken by road to Sumner where the owners intend to take their time in making a particularly fine job of interior finishing and generally equipping the cutter ready for sea. Not many craft of this size are built in New Zealand for pleasure cruising, and the

owners, Messrs F. W. J. Murdoch and O. A. Brauer, of Sumner, have devised for themselves a very sturdy, roomy vessel capable of ocean cruising anywhere in the world.

She will have an overall length of 42ft and a waterline length of 35ft. which will ensure good sailing performances, notwithstanding the substantial bulk of hull. There is a beam of 19ft and a draught of six feet. With accommodation for six persons, the main cabin will have full head room, with a maximum of 6ft lin, and there will be galley.

locker and storage facilities for extended ocean cruising. There ■will be a total of five tons of lead—three tons will form the keel and tw r o tons will be stowed inside as ballast. The cutter will have about 800 square feet of sail with an auxiliary diesel engine of a type and manufacture yet to be determined. Built to plans originally produced by Sparkman and Stephens, world famous yacht designers, the cutter will be similar in plan and size to the “Brilliant,” in which M. A. C. Forster made a number of famous voyages, including a circumnavigation

of the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The craft marks a historic transitional phase in the boatbuilding industry at Lyttelton, for she was the last boat to be started by Millers, Ltd., before that firm -was taken over by Sinclair Melbourne. Ltd., who completed the hull of the vessel. The cutter will become a well-known landmark on the main road to Lyttelton, for the owners plan to take

about three years on finishing and fitting. They intend plenty of off-shor sailing before formulating plans for some ocean cruising later.