New Zealand was by no means a backwater in yacht design and construction in 1890. The new ideas had been spread rapidly around the world by publications like the books of British Naval Architect Dixon Kemp (from 1876), the English Badminton Library (from 1885) and the American Rudder magazine (from 1891).
The local students of design, Prof. R.J. Scott, John Waymouth Sr and his sons John Jr. and O.B. (‘Noll’), Robert Logan and his sons John, Robert Jr. and Arch, and Charles Bailey Jr eagerly took up the exciting new design principles.
In England, and in the US, fleets of yachts in various rating classes were springing up. In England a popular class by 1890 was the ‘2½ rater’, rating 2½ by the formula, expressed confusingly in ‘tons’. Typically, a 2½ rater was a keel yacht of 35 feet on deck, 25 feet lwl, 8 feet beam and with a sail area of 500 square feet. Some outstanding designs were produced which provided close racing plus the ability for the owner to cruise in relative comfort and safety – just the boat for the New Zealand conditions and purse.
By 1892 this country was emerging from the Long Depression of the 1880s caused by the Vogel Government’s excessive spending on infrastructure in the preceding decade. There was an ever-increasing optimism and affluence under a stable and progressive Liberal Government. All sections of society had more time for leisure and more money to spend on recreation. Yacht construction accelerated exponentially in the main New Zealand ports, with Auckland in the forefront, stimulated by its easy access to fine kauri timber and the Hauraki Gulf at its doorstep.
As mentioned in the last issue, John Waymouth Sr had considerable influence in yachting circles at this time through his position with the Auckland Yacht Club. He was a great fan of Nat Herreshoff, whose landmark design Gloriana, a 70-footer of 1891 built to the new rule, was the talk of the international yachting world.
In July 1892 the Auckland press contained reports of three new 2½ raters being built locally, causing great excitement among Auckland sportsmen, particularly since a batch of new 5 raters had been also announced. I will deal with the 5 raters in future articles.
These three 2½ raters were:
Gloriana – John Logan Jr was the nominal builder and first owner, but she was built by the three older Logan brothers at Devonport. This was to get over the ban on ‘professionals’ owning and skippering yachts, untainted by their employment by their father, boatbuilder Robert Logan Sr, but was
a precursor to the boys setting up on their own soon after. Gloriana was a tribute to Nat Herreshoff in both name and design, for she was almost an exact half-scale model of the American yacht, measuring 34’/24’6”/6’10”/5’4” and to Hell with scale effects except, of course, her rig was scaled down. Construction was frameless two-skin diagonal in standard Logan fashion and she had the Herreshoff yacht’s new-fangled ‘clipper bow’. She was the first of the trio, launched in late November 1892 and was ready in time to take part in the Auckland Yacht Club ‘evolutions’ on 8 December. She rated 2.72.
Rogue – A few hundred yards away from the Logans’ shed on the Devonport foreshore, Charlie Bailey Jr. built Rogue in his spare time at home, allegedly by candlelight after doing five and a half days’ work a week for his father Charles Bailey Sr. She too was launched in time for the AYC evolutions. She was similar in style to Gloriana but a slightly smaller boat, measuring 32’/26’/6’8”/6’ and rated 2.35. Her nominal first owners were Fred Russell and Charles Bailey Jr, to get around that professional ban.
Yum Yum – John Waymouth Sr designed his 2½ rater. The NZ Herald of October 22, 1892 reported: “The complete novelty of design embodies Herreshoff’s latest designs… it is quite unlike anything built in NZ.” The Auckland Star called her “of most peculiar model”. Waymouth’s son Oliver, ‘Noll’, was reported as her builder at “Hobson Street Wharf” which was the yard of his older brother John Jr, a professional boatbuilder. Oliver was an accountant living at Ring Terrace, St Mary’s Bay. Clearly, as with Gloriana and Rogue, the Waymouths were avoiding the professional ban too.
Yum Yum’s dimensions were 36’/24’/9’3”/4’7”. She rated 2.32. While her hull was considered radical enough, her rig was treated with some wonder. Gloriana and Rogue were conventionally rigged as gaff cutters, but Yum Yum, in the current fashion of some prominent English small raters, sported a standing lug mainsail and a single balanced headsail with a yard at the foot like a pond yacht.
Again, it was anticipated that she would be ready for the AYC evolutions and the important Judges Bay Regatta on December 15, 1892. Unfortunately, John Waymouth Sr died suddenly in the first week of December. As a result, Yum Yum’s launch was delayed until December 30. She missed the Waymouths’ much-anticipated debut at the AYC evolutions and the Judges Bay Regatta.
In the meantime, Gloriana and Rogue had clashed at Judges Bay. Gloriana, although entered by John Logan, a crack skipper himself, was sailed by the famous helmsman, fisherman Ike Hunt, an indication of how important the Logans perceived the event. Rogue was sailed by Charlie Bailey Jr. Gloriana won hands down and, in fact, was never beaten by Rogue.
Yum Yum had a short shake-down cruise over Christmas. On the way back from Mahurangi she had a ‘go’ with Rogue and beat her home by half an hour. Probably because of her strangeness, a mystique rapidly grew up about her which persists to this day. She was universally expected to do wondrous things in future racing. Sadly, this never happened. By December 1893 the Observer was saying: “She is a bit of a failure as a racing yacht. She has just added another last to her list”.
In the Judges Bay Regatta that month, December 1893, she sprang her mast. The opportunity was taken to re-rig her; the mast was shifted two feet aft. The Waymouths then reckoned she could take on Gloriana. It was never to be. O.B. Waymouth sold Yum Yum to Davey Carter. She dropped out of the mainstream 2½ rater races but had occasional success in the ‘cruisers’ class.
Meanwhile, Gloriana, raced by one or other of the Logan boys, added victory after victory, unchallenged by Rogue, which also drifted off into the ‘cruisers’ races.
As the 2½ rater field narrowed it was augmented by conventional yachts, mainly straight-stem, counter-stern types which happened to rate about 2.5. The most outstanding of these was Corinna, built by the Logan Brothers and launched on January 24, 1893. Her hull form was similar to Jessie Logan, but with a conventional built-down keel. She was near enough a twin to the famous May Belle, built by the Logan brothers as the fishing craft Robina at about the same time. May Belle remained competitive as a racing yacht into the 1950s. Corinna was owned by P. Miller of Ponsonby but was usually sailed by Robert Jr. and Arch while their brother John raced Gloriana.
Interest in this exciting new development had spread throughout the country. In January 1893 the NZ Herald announced that no less than three 2½ raters were to be built in Lyttelton, one by Miller of the yacht Pastime, one by Sinclair of the yacht Mascotte, and the third by a Canterbury syndicate which had commissioned a design from G.L. Watson. It is a shame that nothing came of these grand plans, which might have laid the foundation of healthy class racing in the southern port.
Back in Auckland, Gloriana’s exploits became legendary. She started the 1893-4 season by winning the opening AYC 2½ rater race, her class in the Ponsonby Regatta and the Judges Bay Regatta in December, “spread-eagling the opposition”, said the Observer.
In early 1894, the Logan brothers shipped her to Wellington on the Talune and won the Wellington Anniversary Regatta second class race, on January 22, starting the race only minutes after being put over the side of the ship. Admittedly, the only real opposition was the old ex-Waymouth war-horse Mapu and the schooner-bowed Charles Bailey Sr-built four-tonner Mahina of 1891. Smartly shipped back to Auckland, Gloriana won her class in the Anniversary Regatta on January 29. As an exercise in publicity for the Logan yard, it was brilliant.
Back a few months, in September 1893, Charles Bailey Jr. had announced he was building a fourth 2½ rater Daisy, for William Lind of Devonport, to be “faster than Rogue” and slated to beat Gloriana.
She was three-skin diagonal-build and measured 35’/25’/7’9”/5’6”, rating 2.77. She hit the water on December 23, 1893, on the same tide and alongside the 64-footer Viking, from Charles Bailey Sr’s yard. Understandably, Daisy was somewhat overshadowed by her glamorous big sister.
Her first race was the 1894 Anniversary Regatta which, as we have seen, was won by Gloriana. She pushed Gloriana hard but was three minutes behind at the finish. She was not yet the boat to lower the flag of the Logan flyer.
So ended the 1893-94 season. Gloriana was still unbeaten. Rogue and Yum Yum were fading away and Daisy had shown only fleeting promise.
Next month Seven more Auckland 2½ raters arrive during the next two seasons. The pace quickens.
