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Chris 249 said..

Ringle said..
A slight digression.

is that Currawong for sale the old Gumblossom?

Nope, Gumblosson was built in 1973. I think Joubert had Billabong, the Magpie, by the time the Currawong in the ad came out.

A "proper" early Currawong would be more lurid - they had Butterscotch (which was butterscotch colour); Granny Smith (apple green); Lollipop (pink, since painted white but with pink coming through last time I saw her) and I think Flamenco was red.

Add Defiance (bright blue); Shenandoah (black); Plum Crazy (purple); Klinger (green); Providence (red) etc etc etc and one can see that in the early days of half tonners a white boat would have stood out!

As for Defiance, we had Wattyl mix a special tint so as to get as close as possible to the original 1972 launch colour.
It can be done!

Defiance just needs a black mast like the original.

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lydia said..

Chris 249 said..

Ringle said..
A slight digression.

is that Currawong for sale the old Gumblossom?

Nope, Gumblosson was built in 1973. I think Joubert had Billabong, the Magpie, by the time the Currawong in the ad came out.

A "proper" early Currawong would be more lurid - they had Butterscotch (which was butterscotch colour); Granny Smith (apple green); Lollipop (pink, since painted white but with pink coming through last time I saw her) and I think Flamenco was red.

Add Defiance (bright blue); Shenandoah (black); Plum Crazy (purple); Klinger (green); Providence (red) etc etc etc and one can see that in the early days of half tonners a white boat would have stood out!

As for Defiance, we had Wattyl mix a special tint so as to get as close as possible to the original 1972 launch colour.
It can be done!

Well done!

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lydia said..
You are forgetting the burnt orange vinyl bunk cushions or the lime green vinyl.
Freezing when cold and sweaty when not.
As for Currawong, the one I had was originally "baby **** brown"

a few of us often joked about holding a YA YA regatta as in get your YAYa's out, dig out the demin flares, body shirts and the PVC wet weather gear.
Adjust a few IOR ratings and play loud music.
Although Hobart still held IOR regattas until a few years ago.

My half originally had the lovely vinyl bunk cushions, and the early '70s piece de resistance was the wood-grain laminex carefully laid over real wood grain.

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2Shakey said..
Does anyone have information regarding the smallest yacht to compete in the Sydney to Hobart? I recall reading somewhere that a fixed keel Austral 20 competed in the late 70's?

I did some checking and while not the shortest, the 30' Black Soo that started around 1966 was probably the lightest at a designed displacement of about 1.6 tons, and at only 7' beam it would have been close to the smallest ever. It retired, but I don't know how far it got. The owner, Peter Zalai, got the modified 1104 Low Profile going well years later.

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Chris 249 said..

Ringle said..
A slight digression.

is that Currawong for sale the old Gumblossom?

Nope, Gumblosson was built in 1973. I think Joubert had Billabong, the Magpie, by the time the Currawong in the ad came out.

A "proper" early Currawong would be more lurid - they had Butterscotch (which was butterscotch colour); Granny Smith (apple green); Lollipop (pink, since painted white but with pink coming through last time I saw her) and I think Flamenco was red.

Add Defiance (bright blue); Shenandoah (black); Plum Crazy (purple); Klinger (green); Providence (red) etc etc etc and one can see that in the early days of half tonners a white boat would have stood out!

Currawong's measurement papers were dated 1973 and she originally had a light green deck. The topsides were a dark colour, but I can't recall whether it was blue or green. She was resprayed white in the late eighties-nighties about the same time the windows were modified. Some how she had a 'build' date of 1976, perhaps a long interior fit out.


A

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lydia said..

Chris 249 said..
Klinger is the smallest ever entrant, at about 27' and 2000kg. MASH was significantly lighter than Zeus but almost identical LOA, beam and LWL.

Four Winds (1), Smilie (Triton 28), and Spiesie's bubble-deck Triton 28 were amongst the shortest yachts to race. Tow Truck (Mumm 30) would have been second lightest, I think, after Klinger, then probably the Hick 30s and the Andreiu, Hick and Humphreys halves Zumdish, Einstien (??) and Half Hour - but two of them retired in the first few miles. Tow Truck, the IMS Hicks and Spiesies 28 were the only ones that performered anywhere near their potential, which seems to indicate that the really radical boats tend to be too hard on crew.

Nowadays there is a very simple reason small light boats cannot do well now.
Even looked at building a new 36 footer about 12 years ago and still could not beat these numbers.
The boats are measured empty so say 3200kg for a new 36 footer
There is about 63 kgs of mandatory safety gear/equipment per crew member.
So about 650kg of mandatory equipment.
3200/650 equals about 20% and sailing weight of 3850kgs
A hundred footer weights 30000kg and has say 20 crew
So 4% of weight
As it takes about 25kg to sink a Sydney 38 1mm according to the flotation data you see the problem

Perhaps this is why the prospect of 2 handed entries (often with water ballast) is ruffling feathers, not those sneaky autopilots?

I am not exactly clear on which is the smallest boat to have raced in the S2H but what i can say is that the info re Mulberry being designed as a 27ft extended by 2 ft isn't technically correct as I understand it. I have been racing on Mulberry down here in Hobart on the Derwent for the past two years, the owner being a close friend. We also had a good chat with Mulberry's long term previous owner. As i understand, she was always designed as a 30 ft boat (even though in the '77 film on the S2H it's said she was a 29 ft boat) by Ron Swanson, as part of 6 boats that were built to the design for the Sandringham yacht club..Mulberry still performs really well to this day and we have achieved numerous firsts and podium placings. Todays race in 20-30kt winds we managed a 4th. She is one tough little boat and i have great affection for her.

I got a phone call once about a crew slot on a S&S 34 years ago for a Hobart.
I went down to the club to meet with the chap and was walking through the hardstands when I heard a virtual torrent of invective issuing from a boat further up the row. I stopped and listened for a while, it was entertaining a first but became a bit unsettling when it didn't let up after a few minutes.
As I got closer I saw the name on the transom, this was the boat I was here to meet. I kept walking , did a lap of the pontoons and then jumped in the car and got out of there. He was still venting as I got in the car.

Two years later I was in Connie dock when I heard a stream of abuse echoing across the water. I looked up and there was the same boat with a very pissed off looking foredecky looking black as thunder being castigated from the back of the boat.
I felt for him. It was a shame, I thought it would be cool sailing a 34'er to Hobart . But there ain't nowhere to hide on a little boat, especially all the way to Hobart.

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shaggybaxter said..
I got a phone call once about a crew slot on a S&S 34 years ago for a Hobart.
I went down to the club to meet with the chap and was walking through the hardstands when I heard a virtual torrent of invective issuing from a boat further up the row. I stopped and listened for a while, it was entertaining a first but became a bit unsettling when it didn't let up after a few minutes.
As I got closer I saw the name on the transom, this was the boat I was here to meet. I kept walking , did a lap of the pontoons and then jumped in the car and got out of there. He was still venting as I got in the car.

Two years later I was in Connie dock when I heard a stream of abuse echoing across the water. I looked up and there was the same boat with a very pissed off looking foredecky looking black as thunder being castigated from the back of the boat.
I felt for him. It was a shame, I thought it would be cool sailing a 34'er to Hobart . But there ain't nowhere to hide on a little boat, especially all the way to Hobart.

I've experienced similar on social races out of the CYCA and RANSA. It is why I don't race, too many Alpha males whose manhood is dependent on winning a social race.

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[MorningBird said..[/b]

I've experienced similar on social races out of the CYCA and RANSA. It is why I don't race, too many Alpha males whose manhood is dependent on winning a social race.

Someone that shouts and yells alot ,,, in my opinion can be far from an " alpha male" ,,same goes for someone that is intimidated or quits because of the shouts , yells or insults are also far from an Alpha male.
Alpha males are alpha males because they are at top and they don't get there from pissing the majority of people off ,,but they do bruise egos on the way .

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Jolene said..

[MorningBird said..[/b]

I've experienced similar on social races out of the CYCA and RANSA. It is why I don't race, too many Alpha males whose manhood is dependent on winning a social race.

Someone that shouts and yells alot ,,, in my opinion can be far from an " alpha male" ,,same goes for someone that is intimidated or quits because of the shouts , yells or insults are also far from an Alpha male.
Alpha males are alpha males because they are at top and they don't get there from pissing the majority of people off ,,but they do bruise egos on the way .

Being flush-faced, hypertensive, loud and abusive isn't Alpha behaviour, be it male or female. Sometimes you need to shout on a yacht due to distance, wind and wave noise, and to identify acute safety issues. However, I too choose not to spend my time off being shouted at by someone who uses volume to cover for their own limitations. The one redeeming issue here is that some of these people are enjoyable company once off the boat and in the Yacht Club bar.

Does anyone else remember the Disney cartoon about Mr Wheeler and Mr Walker? Friendly pedestrian who becomes a monster once behind the wheel of a car. (or boat or tiller:)

Hi Guys
FYI Bob Cummings the owner and skipper of Screw loose in the S2h passed away last year

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Jolene said..

[MorningBird said..[/b]

I've experienced similar on social races out of the CYCA and RANSA. It is why I don't race, too many Alpha males whose manhood is dependent on winning a social race.

Someone that shouts and yells alot ,,, in my opinion can be far from an " alpha male" ,,same goes for someone that is intimidated or quits because of the shouts , yells or insults are also far from an Alpha male.
Alpha males are alpha males because they are at top and they don't get there from pissing the majority of people off ,,but they do bruise egos on the way .

Semantics. Everybody knows the type and that they proliferate in yacht racing.
I've sailed with some good people who know how to lead and get the best put of the crew they have, they are in the minority.
Yet as Bushdog says, off the boat they can be different people.

Mulberry, though these days known as Glenshiel 12 sailed by Hughie Garnham (ex S2H racer), and crew out on the Derwent. we have a lot of fun on her and given the right conditions can still do really well in the mid week multi club races.