From tomorrow (24 July) to 14 August, Ponsonby Cruising Club invites members and visitors to step back into a golden era of Kiwi yacht design with Hard Chine, a curated display of original drawings, half models, and newspaper clippings upstairs in the club’s marina view room.
The exhibit shines a spotlight on the pioneering work of John Spencer, the North Shore boatbuilder and designer who redefined what fast, lightweight sailing yachts could be. Known as the “Plywood King,” Spencer believed performance and accessibility could go hand in hand. His boats were light, cheap to build, and blazingly fast; and many were constructed just across the harbour in Browns Bay.
Ragtime and Buccaneer
Two of Spencer’s most iconic offshore designs take centre stage in the display: Ragtime (formerly Infidel), and Buccaneer. Both were hard-chined monohulls built of plywood, and both helped turn the yacht design world on its head.
Launched in 1964, Ragtime was the first true ultralight displacement boat. She was fast downwind, agile upwind, and lean in all the right places. After early success in New Zealand, she went on to stun the offshore scene in the USA; famously winning the 1973 and 1975 Transpac Races and outpacing much larger, heavier yachts along the way.
Buccaneer, commissioned by Sir Thomas Clark (he driving force behind Crown Lynn pottery) as a 73-foot follow-up to Ragtime, was built to take on the world’s biggest ocean races. She did exactly that, representing a bold evolution of Spencer’s plywood thinking on a maxi scale.
Both boats challenged traditional ideas around weight, hull shape, and materials — and they delivered results. For Spencer, performance wasn’t about heavy displacement or expensive materials. It was about smart shapes, simplicity, and a willingness to break the rules.
The Spencer effect
John Spencer began designing boats in his early twenties. His early dinghy designs all shared his signature hard-chine, light-displacement style. Built from thin plywood sheets, they were fast, home-buildable, and easy to handle, opening the door for a whole generation of Kiwi sailors.
Spencer’s keelboats followed the same philosophy: fast, efficient, and far lighter than the competition.
Spencer’s Browns Bay shed became a legend in its own right. Locals recall peering in on their way to footy practice, watching plywood become performance under the hands of one of New Zealand’s most inventive minds. To this day, he has an ongoing online fanclub in the guise of the John Spencer Yacht Designer Boat Builder facebook group .
Boating New Zealand published an article about his last exhibition held by the Tino Rawa Trust in 2020.
Come see the legacy
The Hard Chine display runs daily from 9am to 5pm on business days, and is also open during all club race events. Visitors are encouraged to view the archive materials, share their stories, and, if inspired, sign up to speak on the final day of the exhibition.
Ponsonby Cruising Club
Westhaven, Auckland
www.pcc.org.nz
