Issue date
For Sale.
This is a subject that is difficult for me as many boats come up for sale and have new owners without information to help keep the Townson register up to date. As of now, I am aware of the following Townsons for sale. Evening Star, Spoiler, Khadine, Stardrift. If you have decided to put your yacht up for sale, could you drop me a note? I still receive enquiries from people looking for Townson keelboats.
Dave Stephens, Bliss, Townson 25, has her pulled out and stored for the duration of the winter down at Half Moon Bay. Beats the fouling up over winter.
New Owners / Members.
We welcome two new owners to the Association.
Mahina, Roger McDonald and Sue Fisher have just bought Mahina and she is in for a restoration job at this time. You may pick up Mahina flying an Australian flag (maybe) as they are living in Australia and will be coming over for the Summer. You may find Mahina on a mooring in Muddy Bay, or Matiatia, Waiheke if she is not out and about somewhere in the Gulf.
Earendil (Highlight). Richard Bland has taken over ownership of the currently named Earendil and is changing her back to her earlier name Hilite (Highlight?)when she was owned by Alan Reid and painted “bright” yellow. Hilite will be staying in Whangarei.
Classic Yachts and Townson Class Cruise to Patio Bay, Waiheke Island.
Saturday 1 December 2012.Take this opportunity to cruise with other Townson designs to this interesting destination. Be amongst the graceful classics of our time (you have one yourselves) and admire their grace as you sail with them. A BBQ and beach gathering will be held that afternoon.
We sail from Orakei Wharf, around Browns Island and straight to Patio Bay This should be an excellent occasion for us all. Cost $30.00 all inclusive. If you are interested in this classic experience, list with me.
Mark the date in blood for this event. Should be fun.
Out of the Attic.
Lou McGuire (ex Mahina) has been going through his collection of boating magazines that he has kept since 1946. Can you imagine the pile? He has sent various promotional articles that have appeared over time to the Association for our archives. There are some scary photos of Sunlight during that hard blow of 1976. He also sent a copy of the Royal Akarana 1980 Townson 32 Regatta programme featuring the sponsorship that year by Club Mediterranee. Acali, Peter and John Restall was featured at her launching as was Peer Gynt, Colin Reid and the ill fated Difference, Colin Barlow. We had 41 of our Townson 32’s entered for that Regatta and Class Championship.
Bob Elvin (ex Sunrise) has sent us a Townson 32 Register dated May 1975. This is a valuable document and we have logged it into the Townson 32 records. It rounds out some nice history since we had lost all previous 11 years of records until 1986. 48 Townson 32’s had been launched by then. A total of 73 were built. Thanks to Lou and Bob for sending us the information.
T32’s Rule in the First Simrad Two Handed
Delicado, Derek Brebner and Jason Butterfield were joined in this year’s Simrad 2 handed Short haul Division 1 series by Wandering Star, Gareth Wells.
Sat 14th July dawned fine but overcast for the 1st race of the series . The breeze filled in after the start to give 6-10 knots from the North. Delicado crossed the start line ahead of Wandering Star and remained in front for the entire race. Delicado picked the best of the patchy breeze to sail around Browns Island and reach down towards Passage Rock. We seemed to be doing well as we were able to stay with the Stewart 34s.
Rounding the rock in a traffic jam cost us a bit of time but we settled into the long beat up towards Motuihe looking forward to some extra breeze to get us into our favourite mode (Heavy beating). Instead of this, the breeze stayed around 8-10 knots and Delicado seemed to lose time on a bunch of Y88s around us, particularly sailing inside Motuihe. Wandering Star took time out of us at this stage getting to within about 300 meters of us. One of the nice things about two handed racing is the quiet discussion that takes place prior to making decisions, like which side of the Motuihe Channel to tack onto against an incoming tide.
We eventually ended up on the Motutapu shoreline and enjoyed a tactical battle with 3 "sport boats" (22-24ft) who were of similar pace to ourselves. For some reason Delicado did rather well sailing across towards the northern tip of Motutapu at Billy Goat Point. We turned the corner, hoisted the kite and settled into the old routine of trimming and watching the boat speed heading for Rangitoto Light. We identified Wandering Star by the size of her kite behind us and I thought we were holding her if not pulling away slightly. We crossed the line at Orakei Wharf at 5.02.57pm, 4th out of 12 boats and watched to see how far out some of our competitors were. We have become more aware of the boats in our division and now keep an eye on the ones who are near us. We saw Wandering Star cross the line at 5.16.11pm in 7th place and felt we had done enough to beat her.
A few quick calculations made me realise that we may have beaten much of our opposition, although we had no idea about the boats who finished in front of us. We had a fun sail back to Pine Harbour that evening and felt even better after seeing the results.
Results: H’cap Elapsed Line PHRF Place
Delicado 0.72 7 hrs 03.51 4th 5 hrs 44 1st
W Star 0.71 8 hrs 16.11 7th 5 hrs 48 2nd
Line honours went to a Farr 11.6, 2nd Farr 1104, 3rd Young 88
The next race is August 11.
Pott Black, Colin Hunt says that he did well (3rd) to the top mark and then custard fell on him. Next race should have Takahoa, Rob Ellis to give Colin a hurry up.
Winterless North Winter Racing.
Word has it that Andy August is sailing Aalita, the Townson 8.8 design #41 in the Kerikeri Cruising Club series. On the main sheet with glue on his hands and a continuous smile is Philip Poore, still going enthusiastically at 92 years of age. Awesome. Some of the races have been in the cold and wet stuff with winds up to 35 knots from the North east giving rather big seas to climb over. Their race courses are often over about 16 miles, so that entails a fair bit of time on the water.
Bucklands Beach Winter Series. Our man, Ron Geddes. Limerick has been braving a winter of strong winds and very wet stuff (on only one day could he use his #1, nearly always they survive with his heavy weather blade). He is having good (and successful) battles with the Young 88’s, a Lotus 9.5 in the light winds and held his own with the 1020’s up wind. Limerick is winning the BBYC restricted division, so far.
Finally
We have noted a few Townsons out there on the harbour making the most of the winter sailing and with so few boats around. Delante and Respect have been regular escapees. There was some surprise though at over 40 boats in Oneroa recently on a Saturday night, but that school holiday week had been superb and mild. Watch out for the approach of the next high, remove the moth balls and enjoy.
Article by:
Tony Kendall, Sunlight (currently mothballed)
