| subscribe | magstore.nz/boatingnewzealand Boating New Zealand 125
with teak fttings, all metal work being brass, giving her a good
appearance. She proved herself a very fast boat, beating in a
trial spin the best of our feet.”
After bidding goodbye to friends, Onelua set of at 1430
on 19th May 1913 under storm jib, staysail and trysail, with
a falling glass. It was almost a fat calm. A launch towed her
to the Rangitoto reef. By 2100 they were in full gale from the
north with mounting seas. Bow-down, with the stores packed
forward, Onelua was shovelling up the seas. Sensibly, they
ran back to Mahurangi to shelter after getting a pounding of
Tiritiri. Tere they found that the anchor winch was unusable.
Tey took the opportunity to better trim the yacht, fx the
leaking skylight, rig a preventer backstay and get some rest.
At midnight on the 21st they took of again before a
southwesterly gale. At 1300 the next day a standing jibe took
out the main shroud rigging screw, preventer-stay and backstay
chain plate. After some frantic work in heavy seas the crew got
the sails of and saved the mast, carrying on under bare poles.
Ten Onelua got pooped, the seawater flling the cabin to the
locker tops. It was desperate stuf.
After the gale eased Onelua made good time until she had
to heave-to for the night of the 28th of the high island of ‘Eua,
only 19 miles from Tongatapu. Te next morning they arrived
in Nuku’alofa to a royal welcome.
In his Rudder article, Swinnerton deducted the time spent
in Mahurangi and the time spent hove-to of ‘Eua, coming up
with a distance run of 1225 miles in 192 hours, an average “of
nearly six and a half miles an hour,” and a best day’s run of 216nm. Not too dusty, considering the conditions, but nothing to
justify the legend of a “fast passage” which actually took from
May 19th to May 29th. Swinnerton and Stenbeck returned to
Auckland on the Union Steam Ship Co’s steamer Atua, leaving
Onelua in the hands of her royal owner.
Te next local reference to Onelua is in the New Zealand
Yachtsman of 1st November 1913 when she was reported to have
carried away her mast again, of ‘Eua, during a state visit by the
King. Tis was put down to the substitution of locally-installed
iron rigging wire for Bailey’s original rigging. Tat rigging was
terribly suspect, as we have seen, so getting rid of it would seem
to have been wise.
While Bailey’s excuse about the rigging screws was probably
true, the stresses set up by a taller than usual gaf rig on a
beamier (therefore stifer) than usual large yacht were probably
beyond rule-of-thumb calculations and the materials and
hardware available in Auckland at the time. It must be said,
however, that the Logans had got it right with Ariki in 1904.
And one wonders at the absence of a proper shakedown, the
hasty preparations for departure and the lack of wisdom in
heading of into bad weather.
From here on the story of Onelua becomes fragmentary and
she attains an almost mythical quality. BNZBOATINGNZ.CO.NZTELL YOUR STORY
Do you have a vintage story you would like to share with our readers?
Contact Harold at: [email protected]10 YEARS WITHOUT HAULING OUTVITAL STATISTICS:
Boat name and design: ‘Jimmy’
Jimmy Cat Ltd
Moored: RussellDate coated with Coppercoat: 2007
How was it coated: Ian Stewart, Waipapa
Yearly use: 80 days
We received this lovely review of
COPPERCOAT from Ricco in New
Zealand. His catamaran “Jimmy” is
certainly a striking vessel!
We treat a disproportionally
large amount of catamarans,
mainly because lifting this sort of
boat is difficult and expensive, so the ability to clean the
hull in the water and not have to repaint is an attractive
proposition! Obviously, catamarans are a lot easier to clean
whilst afloat than traditional mono hulls, and Ricco has
certainly benefited from this.
“Jimmy was built in NZ in 2002, I designed it and chose
to use COPPERCOAT for antifouling. The whole project
has been a success on all levels, Jimmy is a rock star yacht.
COPPERCOAT has been fantastic. To have the best results I clean the hulls
~ 3 times a year snorkeling, using a wide, razor sharp SS scraper. Not having
to haul out a 60ft catamaran saves, besides the obvious expenses, a lot of
headaches. The cat needs to haul out for the first time in 10 years. On this
occasion I would like to renew the COPPERCOAT”.
Would Ricco recommend this product to others? It is a definite YES.
“The main saving is the trouble, work and cost of the yearly haul out. Especially
if the reason for doing so did not exist yet”.
Coppercoat and MEC Marine Services can be contacted on 021 2424280 [email protected] http://www.mecmarine.co.nzSEE US AT