OUR YACHTS

Orca (Flying Cloud) - Honeywind - Wayward - Starship

Much of my adult life has revolved around building and using cruising yachts. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who knows something about the subsequent cruising or ownership history of  the boats I was involved in building.

ORCA / FLYING CLOUD -51' ferrocement cutter, canoe stern, aft cockpit.

 My first boat building project was a joint effort with my university friend Max Riseley. The lines were drawn as a "mini-Helsal" by Jo Adams, who had just had a great success with his design of the ferrocement yacht Helsal, winning line honours in the Sydney Hobart Race.  Working part time we constructed the hull and deck in a disused coke bin at the North Shore Gas company premises in Waverton, Sydney. Ours was the first yacht built there, although many other boats (mostly amateur) followed, until the facilities were demolished and replaced with apartments. My then girlfriend and later wife, Vicky, also participated in this project. After launching by the "Falcon" floating crane in 1971 (unrigged and virtually empty) , we lived on board,  even fitting the engine, propeller shaft, and rudder while afloat. Max and I sold Orca still unrigged and with minimal fit-out, and parted on amicable terms to build separate yachts. Orca passed through several hands and next came to our notice as "Flying Cloud" after being seized for smuggling  wildlife into New Zealand (1976?). She was was auctioned by Australian Customs, and quite a bit later, fitted with a  doghouse. She has passed through several hands, but as far as I'm aware  has remained a Sydney boat, usually moored in Pittwater.

                                                                                                        Launching Orca by floating crane 1971 (left) and about a decade later when renamed flying Cloud.

The photo below  left (provided by Jeff Jvancich  -thanks!) shows her with the added doghouse, while undergoing a refit in 2006.

HONEYWIND - 52' ferrocement cutter - counter stern, centre cockpit.

Honeywind's lines are similar  to Orca, but we had Jo Adams redraw the keel profile and the stern, and did the sailplan ourselves. Unusual features were a sealed spiral welded steel mast, and a furling system for the light genoa in which the whole stay rotated. Vicky and I built her in our spare time (weekends, holidays, and nights) between 1974 and 77, at "Jerusalem Park"  - a small egg and pig  farm at Oxford Falls, belonging to a lovely couple, George and Grace Sutherland. The farm is now a private school. The boat was launched fully fitted out, and 1978 we cruised her through New Caledonia, New Hebrides (as Vanuatu then was), the Solomons, and to Cairns via the Louisiades (Islands in the East of Papua New Guinea) and hence back to Sydney. We were married on board in Middle Harbour in 1979, and sold Honeywind in 1980 to provide capital for a home. The first new owner was Arthur Nomminson, who cruised her through the New Hebrides, and probably other places before eventually selling her sometime after 1988 (we went on board when she visited Sydney during the Australian bicentennial). She has probably passed through several hands since, and we noticed her berthed at Mooloolabah in 1989. Last  heard she was based at Abel Point Marina  at Airlie Beach, where she had suffered localised hull damage during a Whitsunday fun race.

WAYWARD - Nicholson 32' moulded GRP sloop - aft cockpit

We bought the bonded hull and deck in Sydney from Peter Low, and fitted it out during 1980 in Vicky's Mum's back yard at Balgowlah (where we also lived for some years in a caravan). After moving wife and newborn child to a block of land near Airlie Beach in 1981, I returned to sail the boat (partly by myself ) up to Shute Harbour where we put down a mooring. We sailed her occasionally during the year it took us to discover, among other things, that  we preferred a cooler climate.  We returned to Sydney in 1982, leaving Wayward behind. A flying visit to Shute Harbour brought her only as far south as McKay before the weather intervened, and the next attempt only got as far as Gladstone before I had to return to work. So Wayward finally returned to Sydney ignominiously on the back of a truck. I refurbished her  in the front yard of the house we'd bought in Sydney, and sailed her for a year or so around Pittwater, introducing our children to sailing. We eventually  sold Wayward in 1986 after having already started to build her successor. Last heard of she was moored near Scotland Island in Pittwater.

STARSHIP 13.46m - aluminium multi-chine lift keel cutter - aft cockpit

After we sold Orca, my friend Max had designed and built a 36' steel sloop (Eroica) in which he eventually circumnavigated via Suez and the French Canals, with Sandy, the lady who became his wife. We had similar ideas about what we wanted in our next cruising yacht, including that it be aluminium, a cutter, with stern boarding steps, about 42', and have a ballasted lift keel to combine shallow water access with good deep-sea performance.  Max designed the boat, and I built our multi-chine version as the prototype. Max and Sandy subsequently built themselves a beautifully crafted  round bilged version (Volo) in which they have cruised for many years including to New Zealand, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. Another multi-chine boat (Adja) was built professionally in West Australia, with a fixed keel. We met up with Bruce and Wendy Ardern on Adja in the Indian Ocean and South Africa in 1990. As far as I'm aware Wendy now owns Adja, and is possibly cruising in her .

In early 1986 I built the hull and tacked together the deck of Starship at Evans Head (NSW), in a slipway building belonging to our friends Peter and Joan Low. I employed a welder for the hull joints  but did most other work myself, working full time on her for just over 3 months. We then trucked the shell back to our front yard in Sydney where I completed the construction  part time, including welding deck, tanks, rudder, and mast (again sealed, but this time in aluminium), and fitted her out. She was launched just before Christmas 1988. The family moved on board immediately, and most of 1989 was taken up with a shakedown cruise to the Whitsundays and back to Sydney. We set off on our circumnavigation in February 1990, returning to Sydney in December 1993 via the route  shown on the maps. We still own Starship, and I'm slowly refurbishing her (currently in my front yard again) -  planning to resume more active cruising when our children are through university.

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