smackwater jack yacht

Debris may be from 1980 sea tragedy

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Smackwater Jack racing off Auckland in 1977. File photo / NZ Herald

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A chance find by a Kaipara tour operator could shed some light on the whereabouts of a yacht that was lost at sea 28 years ago. Anthony Taylor, who operates Big Foot Tours on Ripiro Beach, found a cockpit grating just north of the monument on Omamari Beach. Maritime historian Noel Hilliam believes it could belong to the yacht Smackwater Jack. The yacht and its four crew disappeared during a race from Hobart to Auckland in 1980. Mr Hilliam said the crew reported difficult and heavy seas on January 9 but were not heard from again. He believes the craftsmanship and teak timber of the wreckage link it to Smackwater Jack. Teak hatch stairs were found by Mr Hilliam in the same area in 1980 and the size, design and quality correspond to that of Smackwater Jack. Mr Hilliam said the lack of any growth on the grating would suggest the boat had been covered in deep sand, probably south of Omamari. Recent big seas may have exposed the wreck to the elements. The Whiting family of Auckland, who were considered by the Waitemata yachting fraternity to be the best boatbuilders in the area, built the expensive yacht, co-owned by Murray Ross of Whangarei. Skipper Paul Whiting, wife Alison, John Sugden and Scott Coombes were on board when it disappeared. Mr Whiting's sister is former Auckland City councillor Penny Whiting. More than a week after the official search for Smackwater Jack ended Mr Hilliam spotted a deflated liferaft with three bodies about 1km north of Round Hill, Ripiro Beach. The effort to recover the bodies was delayed by high seas and they were not seen again. While finding the wreck might answer many questions, Mr Hilliam said, there were no immediate plans to search for the wreck. - NORTHERN ADVOCATE

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The people who pick up the pieces

Paul Whiting, that great forgotten genius of the IOR

• September 29, 2022

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“Did you know that Davidson was part of a ‘trio’ of young Kiwi designers who revolutionized the world of the IOR, the tonnage by which offshore races were run until 1998?” spoke director Luca Oriani. “Two are still alive, Bruce Farr and, indeed, Davidson. But some say the most brilliant was Paul Whiting, who disappeared at sea after the 1980 Sydney Hobarth on his boat .”

PAUL WHITING, WHO WAS HE?

Many of the younger editors, given this name, flashed their best questioning smiles as if to ask , “Who was this guy?” Whiting, born in 1952, was part of the new generation of “self-taught” Kiwi designers. He began designing at age 16 his first boat, the Reactor 25, which was quite successful (70 units sold) . His first light displacement hull was the Stinger, a 1974 half-tonner.

His most famous boat is the Magic Bus , born in late 1975. It was to be a boat following the idea of the Farr 727 that won the Quarter Ton Cup the previous year, that is, with a light displacement and typical dinghy shapes. Whiting thus designed Magic Bus, which in 1976 won the Quarter Ton Cup in Corpus Christi, Texas.

He later designed Candù , eighth at the Half Ton Cup in Trieste, and Newspaper Taxi, a moving-drift half-tonner that was the star and winner of many offshore races.

Smackwater Jack (11.95 m) is the first boat he designed for the One Tonner world: built in 1977, it is the boat on which the designer found death along with his wife Alison, John Sugden and Scott Coombes at the 1980 Hobart to Auckland in a storm… The boat went missing, and only in 2008, New Zealand newspapers write, would part of the cockpit be found along the island’s shores.

We posted an image on social asking for its name and designer, and you had your fun! Many went “butterfly,” some missed the answer but hit the boat type, and very few got it (Maurizio Manzoli, Domenico Boffi, Gl Priz). Those very few who know the genius of Paul Whiting, who died at age 27 in the Pacific.

Eugene Ruocco

(Images are from the beautiful blog http://rbsailing.blogspot.com)

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4 thoughts on “paul whiting, that great forgotten genius of the ior”.

We owned stinger 2215 for 35years racing and cruising waitamata harbour and Auckland/gisborne races. She was not an easy boat to get her going but my husband was an ex 18ftr guy who was very experience . Stinger won a good many trophies and we had many family cruises.I loved her. Varnished kauri timber hull interior. Stewart was. 80 years old and had raced her the week before she was sold. We. were all sorry at the parting. J McMillan, Auckland New Zealand

We owned and raced a whiting quarter tonner in Qld, including Moreton Bay Brisbane in the late 70’s to early 80’s. Our boat was purchased with the name “OnehungaBus” with the same hull and boat name colours as Magic Bus. The sail number was 2389. We have no history on where this boat came from, apart from the name of the Auckland Port where whiting yachts were built, but have fond memories sailing this beautiful yacht design. A credit to the Whiting family.j

I have recently become the owner of a whiting 32 quarter tonner. Avaganda is a 1979 built model and is a pure racing yacht. I race her here in Perth Western Australia. My dad knew Paul and the other boys having competed himself in Sydney to Hobart in 68, 69,70 on Fidelis. Love the Whiting, and shes quick for a 40 something year old boat just need to get better at racing. Would love to hear from anyone else who has one….

Hi John, I know Avaganda well, she used to be at CYC where I race Kiwi Express. Glad to hear Avaganda is still being raced. There are few still racing around Perth drop me a line some time.. Cheers Matt

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THE MAGIC’S BACK!

North Shore boatbuilder and sailor Dave Hurley has undertaken a labour of love to bring a modern classic back to life.

In the 1960s and 70s, New Zealand was emerging on the international yachting scene, as designers, builders and sailors took on the establishment with a new wave of super-fast light displacement flyers. Following the world-beating exploits of Chris Bouzaid and Rainbow II, a Sparkman & Stephens design built by Max Carter which won the One Ton Cup in 1969, a new generation of designs explored and exploited rating rules to challenge the world.

Among them was Magic Bus, a bright-blue Quarter Tonner designed by one of the most talented of the new breed of designers, Aucklander Paul Whiting. Even by his early 20s, Whiting had a strong track record, having designed and campaigned the first of the popular Reactor class while still at high school. In 1976, he teamed with dinghy sailor Murray Ross to challenge for the 1976 Quarter Ton Cup in Corpus Christi, Texas.

With her distinctive turquoise and maroon paint job and IOR-optimised hull shape, the Bus was 7.8m LOA and 6m on the waterline, with a 2.7m beam in her flared midsection. All systems were designed to minimise weight and windage and, with nothing inside her she weighed just 1180kg.

The combination of super-light construction, clever design and masterful sailing by Ross, Whiting, Steven Allen and bowman Steve Trevurza saw the Bus win the world championship, taking out every race but one. The yacht spawned a production class back here in New Zealand, but the original was sold in America and lost to the world of Kiwi sailing – until Dave Hurley came along.

Hurley, whose track record of sailing and boatbuilding for America’s Cup teams stretches back to 1988, says the restoration came about after one of those conversations between mates.

“One day we were sitting around talking about the restoration of Rainbow II [relaunched in 2015] and what a great job it was, and I made the comment that if I had the money I’d love to do something like that. I couldn’t afford to do a One Tonner or a Half – it would have to be a Quarter.”

When it came to which Quarter Tonner, Hurley says it was a no-brainer: it had to be Magic Bus, with her world-beating record. But first they had to find her. After much poking around social media and other avenues of the internet, young boatbuilder James Berry discovered her last race had been out of the Alameda Yacht Club, on the western side of San Francisco Bay, and found a photo on a blog of her sitting in an unidentified boatyard.

Berry then tracked down the owner of the Laurie Davidson Quarter Tonner Fun, which finished second to Magic Bus in 1976. “We thought that owner might know where Magic Bus was, so we rang up and asked, and he said ‘I walk past it every day’,” says Hurley.

Hurley, who had just returned from working on Oracle’s 2013 campaign in San Francisco, rang some people he knew who worked for the Artemis team who were still on the ground, and sent them down to check it out. The boat had been deemed abandoned so a deal was done, and Magic Bus was on her way home.

She was in a very neglected state, with rot in her plywood foredeck and cockpit, which needed to be replaced, and some delamination in her pioneering foam and glass hull. Forty years on, she still had some of her original electronics and deck gear, although several items have had to be replaced since her relaunching (including the spinnaker pole, broken in a Chinese gybe).

“She still had the original mast, in a terrible state,” Hurley says. “Trevor Berry, who was a good friend of Paul Whiting’s, rebuilt the rig for us.”

Other supporters of the rebuild were Oceanbridge, Touch of Gloss, ID Sign, Harken, Dixon Stainless, Plytech, Transconn, the Shann Group, NZ Composites, Boat Haulage, Adhesive Technologies, MS Engineering and Anzor. A new suit of sails was built with the support of Dimension-Polyant by Dave Parr of Calibre, with the new/old boat boasting a new main, number one, two and three jibs, and a new spinnaker.

Consulting on the rig and sail set-up was original bowman Steve Trevurza, who hadn’t seen the boat since the Corpus Christi regatta 40 years earlier. Now based in Australia, Trevurza visited during the restoration and was present when the boat was slipped back into the water at the Milford Cruising Club boatyard in the Wairau Creek on Auckland’s North Shore in November 2018.

“It’s been a massive collaboration of the New Zealand marine industry,” Hurley says. “I’ve done all the work, but they have supplied all the equipment, as well as helping to get the boat back from the US. It’s been a big, group love-fest – everyone has been touched by the project.”

One of the biggest challenges of the restoration was working out how much of the boat was original and what was a later addition, and deciding what to restore and what to replace.

“I spent a lot of time on the internet looking at old photos,” he says. “Tony Whiting [Paul’s brother] gave me some old drawings of the Bus and we found the original deck layout – all handdrawn. One of the biggest highlights was going to see Tony and him pulling out these drawings and going through them.”

The Whiting family also helped out with details of the restoration, including finding an old locker lid from family yacht Tequila which had been painted with the same batch of mixed-up paint that provided Magic Bus’s unique colour, so it could be matched.

The restoration was particularly close to the hearts of the Whitings. Paul Whiting was just 27 when he was lost at sea in early 1980, along with his wife Alison and crewmen John Sugden and Scott Coombes, when his yacht Smackwater Jack was hit by a cyclone while returning from the 1979 Sydney– Hobart race.

Sister Debbie Whiting attended the relaunch and spoke “on behalf of the Whiting family who are here, the ones who couldn’t be here and the ones who are no longer here”, to thank Hurley “for keeping Paul’s dream alive”. She presented him with an American ensign ‘souvenired’ by Paul Whiting following his victory, and the boat’s original mascot, Tex the Bear.

“Dave has done an absolutely amazing job,” Debbie Whiting says. “I was in Corpus Christi in ’76 when it won the Quarter Ton Cup, which was an incredible experience – Magic Bus had it all over the other boats, other than in the long race, when one of the other boats took their garbage bag instead of their food bag, so they didn’t have any food and were first to finish out of necessity!”

Now Magic Bus is back in the water, it’s been up to Hurley and his crew to work out how to sail her to her full potential. Ross and Whiting clearly knew how to get the best out of her, but Hurley says she’s not an easy boat to sail, and never performed as well again for any of her new owners.

“She’s a very difficult boat to get into the groove, because of the systems on her, but we’ve felt it get there a few times and it’s just outstanding,” he says. “Obviously those guys knew how to keep it there all the time.”

While Hurley is enjoying finally getting out of the workshop and out sailing on his pet project, he is looking for a long-term home for her, hoping a maritime museum or heritage trust might take on this modern classic.

“Our designers were the top of the world at that time, when there was a major shift in the way boats were being designed and built. This boat is a shining example of that – light, and tweaky as hell,” he says.

“New Zealand designers looked outside the box and went against the mainstream designers of the time from the US and Europe, who were more conservative. Paul was a leader in light displacement – he was radical and pushed rules to their absolute maximum. Some people don’t like that, but that’s what designers are supposed to do. They are commissioned to make boats as fast as possible.”

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smack daddy

Perhaps  my all-time favorite boat. Just so radical and fascinating from back then. Tragic ending. Lifted from our friend Julian Everitt…

Smackwater Jack. Very quick Paul Whitting designed One Tonner – circa 1977. Paul, who was very sadly lost at sea aboard this very yacht, was another IOR design specialist, like Stephen Jones, who made a great success of pushing the measurement points to the limit.

In our office, during this period, I would sometimes sketch a lines plan with all of the IOR measurement ‘points’ where I wanted them and then handed the problem of fairing it all up to my great draughtsman of the time, John Stafford Billings. Sometimes he would come back and just say it wasn’t possible to fair it, so we would have to compromise a little bit and take the rating hit.

Nowadays with all of this so called freedom to draw fast boats, you wouldn’t believe the shear joy that us designers shared in having to comply to a rule. An intellectual challenge that is largely absent today.

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1977 12 Article: Paul Whiting came from a floating nursery

https://www.luna.org.nz/History/paul_whiting.htm

Home Up Original Ownership Paul Whiting The Launching Italy 1976 Sth Pacific Half Ton Cup

Paul Whiting came from a floating nursery

The following article is from the 1977 DB Yachting Annual. Tragically Paul and his crew lost their lives 7 years later crossing the Tasman in his yacht 'Smackwater Jack'

It was almost inevitable that young Aucklander Paul Whiting would be a big success in some aspect of yachting. He comes from a family background which was virtually a floating nursery. His father D’arcy Whiting is one of the sport’s real characters, a man of many talents — ranging from carving to painting to skippering ocean racers and to running a successful business. D’arcy is a raconteur par excellence, deeply in love with the sea and increasingly intrigued by the success of his eldest boy amongst the intricacies of yacht design and the rating rule. Penny Whiting, Paul’s eldest sister, is as versatile and capable on an ocean racing yacht as most men. She runs a sailing school on the Waitemata during the summer months and follows the sun in the winter. Paul designed his first keel boat when he was 16. This was the highly successful Reactor 25, a somewhat unpretentious JOG (Junior Offshore Group) racer which sailed so sweetly upwind and down, she walked off with more than her share of major regattas. Whiting formed his own company to produce the Reactor in fibreglass and, at the time of writing, 70 of these boats had been built. Learning as he went, Paul later designed a 46-footer, called Tequila, for his father. This boat was a moderate displacement offshore racer which probably would have been more successful had D’arcy Whiting not had a world cruise in mind when he laid her out and fitted the interior (including a fully equipped workshop). Tequila was the forerunner of the Reactor 45s, a fibreglass production development of the Tequila lines. Next came Stinger, the light displacement Half Tonner which won the '74 Auckland to Gisborne race. Stinger was reasonably successful, but no real indication of the international success that was just around the corner for the now 26-year-old Whiting. The breakthrough, oddly enough, was the product of the success of another young Auckland designer, Bruce Farr, and association with one of New Zealand’s top smallboat sailors, Olympian Murray Ross.

Ross wanted a new design for the 1976 PGH—Lynn South Pacific Quarter Ton contest. He went to Farr who suggested a modified version of his potent stock boat Farr 727 which had won the world Quarter Ton Cup in Deauville (France) in 1975. But Ross had other ideas and he took his commission and thinking to Whiting whose yard was next door to the Ross and Jones sail loft in Onehunga. The result was the Magic Bus, the boat which successfully defended the Quarter Ton Cup for New Zealand in Corpus Christi (Texas) last year. These were the beginnings of one of the most potent partnerships yet in New Zealand yachting. Whiting became so enthused with what Ross had in mind, he offered to build the boat and partner Ross in the project. The Bus is now part of yachting history. She won the Pacific Quarter Ton in 1976 with a near perfect 1/1/1/2/1 series, missing out on five straight by just eight seconds in race four of the contest. Ross and Whiting took their boat to Texas in search of world honours. In the Bay of Corpus Christi and in the Gulf of Mexico, the dinghy-like Magic Bus was just as impressive. She beat a truly representative world fleet to win the title with a 1/1/2/18/2 series. The 18th came in a light airs raffle in which The Bus was going for a place in the top three with only a mile to the finish but got dumped on the wrong side of a wind change in sight of the line. It was natural enough that the thinking behind Magic Bus should be carried on up into a bigger Ton boat and, in the midst of preparations for Corpus Christi, Whiting’s company turned out a Half Ton development which Ian Gibbs took to the world Half Ton Cup series in Trieste (Italy). It was a bit of a rush job however and the not fully tuned Candu II did well to finish sixth overall in the maximum 70-boat world fleet. Ross and Whiting now turned their attentions to the Half Ton scene figuring on a challenge for that class title when the worlds were sailed out of Sydney in December, 1977. They built and prepared Newspaper Taxi for the ‘77 Schweppes South Pacific series in Auckland and won going away with a 1/1/1/2/1 record — the same performance as Magic Bus in the Pacific Quarter Ton a year earlier. The second in this case was the result of an uncharacteristic tactical "blue" by Ross when he failed to cover Helmer Pedersen in the Farr design Cotton Blossom after Taxi had led into the last beat of the Olympic course. It should, by now, be apparent that the Ross-Whiting combination is a tireless team, chock full of ambition. And this energy and aspiration was being channeled into a new Whiting design One Tonner even while the highly successful Newspaper Taxi campaign was being waged. Ross was to skipper the newcomer in the World One Ton in the Hauraki Gulf in November this year. Here, Whiting explains the Magic Bus—Newspaper Taxi thinking and their development in a year which has seen his designs start to win world attention with moulds for his Quarter and Half Tonners shipped to Germany, Japan, Australia and the United States for stock production. He was talking to Peter Montgomery: "When did you turn your attention to Ton class designs:" "Two years ago now. Murray (Ross) came to me with the idea of getting a Quarter Tonner. He knew basically the type of boat he was after but left it to me to achieve it. The closer we looked at the Farr 727s, the more we could see the advantages in the light-displacement and dinghy-style boat. At the time Murray owned the Thomas design Stan’s Family Jewels which was a heavier displacement type Quarter Tonner. We pooled our ideas and the outcome was Magic Bus. A year earlier I had designed the Stinger for John Bonica from Napier. She was the first of my light displacement boats and was reasonably successful, winning the Auckland-Gisborne race. But she wasn’t anywhere as near successful as Magic Bus." "You had some problems carrying a shy kite in the early Bus days, you couldn’t match the Farr 727s. How did overcome this? "It was quite simply really. We sat down and worked out that the problem was too much weight forward. When we corrected that we started going past the 727s, whereas it had been the other way around when tight reaching. It is quite incredible just how much bow down trim affects sailing performance. Of course you get good rating allowances from the nose-down set-up. But you still have to achieve the right balance between rating advantage and sailing performance. "Was Newspaper Taxi just a scaled up version of your Magic Bus thinking? "The concept was the same, but in many ways the Taxi was a development. Taxi was even lighter in displacement to waterline length ratio with a lot flatter run aft. This meant, in theory anyway, that the Taxi could get up and surf quicker and also reach faster. The Taxi was also slightly developed from Candu II. She was six inches shorter on the waterline with a different bow shape. Taxi’s bow knuckle is quite a bit higher, moving the for’ard inner girth measurement slightly further aft. This helps the for’ard overhang correction which gives you a rating plus. This is what it is all about. You settle on the concept and then whittle away, playing rule against performance and vice-versa. When the last Rule changes came in earlier this year the rating on my standard Half Tonners, the stock versions, went up O.5ft. We’ve overcome this by shortening the boat up. In theory this should slow the boat down. But by keeping the weight down further and with no increase in displacement, we haven’t lost in performance because lightness is a speed producing factor in itself." "Now of course you’re into the centreboard scene. Do you see this as a healthy development in offshore racing boats?" "I do, particularly in the Quarter and Half Ton range where it allows boats to be trailed very simply. If you have a daggerboard rudder too, you can take the boat home and work on it after a race. In terms of performance and rating, the board is a definite if slight development. For a start, having the lead in the hull means you don’t have to rely on a low centre of gravity for stability. But the main advantage we have found is that the boat — I’m talking of Newspaper Taxi — didn’t pitch nearly as much in a seaway as a normal keeler. Then, flat running in light airs, you have the board up and so have less wetted area to hold you back." ‘Thinking back to the down-wind problems they had with Resolute Salmon in the One Ton Cup in Marseilles, have you had any moments of doubt about the board? "No. I think it must be remembered however that we are really discussing two different types of boat here. Salmon was reasonably small in the stern and unstable in those sections. She also had a masthead rig which would only accentuate her problem. The Taxi, as a comparison, was very firm in the aft sections and she had really good downwind stability." "You’ve explained how you and Murray Ross got together. What parts does he play in the development of a new one-off like the Bus or the Taxi? "The rig and sails of course are more or less completely Murray’s department. He developed the rig on Magic Bus and being a sailmaker he can make the sails work with the rig. I think the performance of the boats states how successful he has been. Then, Murray has brought a lot of other ideas — top smallboat thinking — in as well. The injection spinnaker pole system was developed from his Flying Dutchman experience. He is meticulous and imaginative on deck layout too. What we do on the one-offs is really a test bed for the thinking that later goes into the production boats. "Some people in the United States and Australia feel that Whiting boats are only so successful because Murray and yourself are aboard. The same criticism has been made of Farr boats. What is your view of this?" "It’s a difficult question, but I think you can compare our situation with top smallboat sailors who go to the Olympics. The best people spend a lot of time working on their boats, setting them up right, sailing them and getting to know everything about them. If we have an edge over other people we compete against, this is that edge. We do our homework, we do a lot of training on the water, we spend a lot of time working on the boat in the marina. After every race we sit down and work out why something went wrong, discuss it fully and then work to rectify it before we race again. They might only be small faults, a piece of gear or something in the deck layout or gear set-up. But we get it sorted out so that next time it works efficiently. To answer your question, there is no reason other people can’t be just as successful in my designs — providing they are prepared to put in the same amount of effort. And there is nothing unusual in that. If you want to win anything these days you have to put the effort in, whether the boat you have is a Whiting, a Farr, a Peterson or a Holland. The competition is too tough for it to be otherwise, and there are no major design breakthroughs to give someone a big enough edge in boat speed that the rest of it doesn’t matter."

• PAUL WHITING PRESS

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About: Paul Whiting

Paul Whiting was a highly influential New Zealand yacht designer during the 1970s and early 1980s. He followed Bruce Farr in challenging accepted notions of offshore racing yacht design. Whiting was lost at sea in 1980 on his return from the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race in Smackwater Jack. A search failed to find any trace of the yacht or its crew. A 2008 newspaper report stated that part of the cockpit was found at Ripiro Beach on the west coast of the North Island.

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Old Quarter Tonners -Magic Bus

Discussion in ' Sailboats ' started by steveo-nz , Oct 5, 2008 .

steveo-nz Junior Member

Hi Guys, Just doing a little research into some of the old Quarter tonners, I have found some information in the usual places but one boat of interest is the Whiting former World champion boat "Magic Bus" from 1976 The last references I can find for it is that it was located in the San Francisco area, wouldn't mind getting in touch with anyone that may have more info/pics or preferably know where it might be laying these days. I believe that there were a few racing in that area about ten years ago.....??? Cheers!  

Gary Baigent Senior Member

Magic Bus EARLIER IN 1976 Murray Ross, a dinghy sailor from Javelins and Flying Dutchman, approached Farr asking for a Quarter Tonner. Farr wanted to give Ross a modified 45 South but this was not what Ross had in mind – so he went to Whiting instead. This young designer was fascinated by yacht architecture and at school had spent time carving half models under his desk. From the age of 14 he was designing, often awakening his younger brother Tony at midnight with his pencil scratching. When his teacher claimed that bloodhound was a type of dog he was incredulous and later told his father D’arcy, “Everyone knows Bloodhound is a Camper and Nicholson design, the largest yacht steered by a tiller and owned by the Duke of Edinburgh.” Ross wanted maximum downwind and reaching speed from the proposed boat, but more sail area than Farr’s 727 for light conditions and better performance to windward – an area where he had noticed the Farr design suffered. Ross also wanted to bring new dinghy sail handling concepts to the new design, for example: the headsails were to have wire luffs which were flown free behind the forestay and were to be tensioned with a drum winch below deck. And the construction of the boat was to be in Airex foam core and sheathed in fiberglass – a method that was new to this country in 1976. The result was Magic Bus, a single purpose racing boat with a very Spartan interior, so minimal that one crew member wisecracked that, “it was a relief to come up on deck.” In New Zealand trials Magic Bus won easily over Farr, Mull, Peterson, Holland and Lidgard designs; only in close reaching did the Farr 727’s show equal or better performance with Pinto, skippered by 18 foot sailor Ted Bland, narrowly beating Magic Bus in one race. Whiting said, “The reason for being overtaken while shy reaching was my own mistake – when setting up Bus to gain a good rating allowance, I placed too much weight forward. But with weight removed from the bow, Bus was faster. It verified that bow down trim, although beneficial for rating, affected performance too much to be worthwhile.” At Corpus Christi Magic Bus and Fun arrived together, both lightweights looking similar in profile with long raking transoms, wide sterns and huge mains and small headsails – a contrast to the rest of the large fleet. A few overseas designers had ventured into fractional rigs but with headsails and mains of similar areas, more of a non-masthead approach. Fun differed from Magic Bus because of no hull distortions, longer waterline, narrower overall beam and more sail – while being the world’s first lightweight centreboarder. Magic Bus won the first two races, sailing upwind with the best moderate to heavy displacement boats but stretching away easily on the offwind legs. Fun came second in race one and sixth in the next, always fast, especially broad reaching when the breeze freshened and the board was lifted. The Farr 727’s were outclassed and found it difficult to keep in touch upwind – although their reaching performance lifted them belatedly through the fleet. Magic Bus won convincingly and was the only light displacement boat able to stay with the masthead yachts in winds under five knots. Davidson was a little disappointed after the series and said, “Magic Bus won with Murray Ross steering but after the contest was over, they struggled to sell the boat in the USA and in the end gave her away for ten grand US, whereas, and this was the proof of the pudding, we sold Fun for twice that. Next year Fun was North American Champion and Magic Bus was nowhere – they needed Ross and the Kiwis to make her go.”  

Magic Bus images Couple of jpegs of Magic Bus and one of the later development Whiting/Ross Half Ton centreboarder, Newspaper Taxi - which was very similar to Bus.  

Attached Files:

Mbuscorpuschristi.jpg, mbussailing.jpg, ntaxilines.jpg.

Thanks Gary, hadn't seen those pics before, some interesting comments on the design and construction. Anyone know where it is now?  

lazeyjack Guest

remember Whiting well particularly the boat that sank on the way back Ts/Nz, in which he lost his life SILLY ERA WHEN PERFORMANCE WAS AHEAD OF SAFETY They were bizzy gluingthe bloody deck back on, after Syd/Hobart, and then headed NZ---------------------------- , ran into a Tas Storm Finito \cant remember name, Smackwater Jack? Some key sailers flew home, amongst them , some key Am Cup guys I was in the Tasman, same time, on Chitral, 15000 tonnes, , boy was it ON, 80 knts for days  

Paul B Previous Member

steveo-nz said: ↑ Hi Guys, Just doing a little research into some of the old Quarter tonners, I have found some information in the usual places but one boat of interest is the Whiting former World champion boat "Magic Bus" from 1976 The last references I can find for it is that it was located in the San Francisco area, wouldn't mind getting in touch with anyone that may have more info/pics or preferably know where it might be laying these days. I believe that there were a few racing in that area about ten years ago.....??? Cheers! Click to expand...

CT 249 Senior Member

Newspaper Taxi sank off Tasmania in a Three Peaks Race a few years back. They hit something with the rudder and she filled up; one of my stepfathers owned it when I sailed it and I can remember the top bearing frame of the rudder being the subject of one of his very dodgy repairs. I've got some articles and diagrams of the Bus but they are in storage up the coast. Best source of info could be googling the guys from the very active "Runaway Bus", a higher freeboard version that's still racing in the very hot looking UK 1/4 ton class.  

CT 249 said: ↑ Newspaper Taxi sank off Tasmania in a Three Peaks Race a few years back. They hit something with the rudder and she filled up; one of my stepfathers owned it when I sailed it and I can remember the top bearing frame of the rudder being the subject of one of his very dodgy repairs. I've got some articles and diagrams of the Bus but they are in storage up the coast. Best source of info could be googling the guys from the very active "Runaway Bus", a higher freeboard version that's still racing in the very hot looking UK 1/4 ton class. Click to expand...

catsketcher Senior Member

Not a centerboarder Newspaper Taxi had a keel when CT249 (he is my brother) was on it. Although it would be fun to track one of these boats down Newspaper taxi was built lightly and reminded me of an old Laser - soft. The amateur composites designer in me would think that the boats were designed too lightly to get many cycles out of their laminates before they were sold and superseded. Maybe some of the production Farr 727s would be okay to buy. The Farr 1104s were available in either solid glass or foam. I met an owner who had problems with a foam one. If I had to go cruising on a mono a centreboard 1104 would be fun. A friend who was right into the scene back then - sailed on Condor with Peter Blake in the Fastnet when they beat Kialoa, Americas Cup 1980 and 1983 didn't like the centerboarders. He was also the hand on Scarlet O Hara and remembers the crews on really big centreboarders standing on the boards when they capsized - maybe that is why they went to keels. cheers Phil Thompson  

centreboarder stability Here is some stuff that might be of interest (and illumination). Smackwater Jack after launching, began by easily beating the brand new and impressive heavy displacement S&S 50 foot design Corinthian in light winds – which annoyed some of the blazer wearing set. Ross thought the Smackwater Jack’s daggerboard definitely helped the boat sail very high to windward in the light conditions but was quick to downgrade conventional boat owner fears by adding, “I’m not sure they are that big an improvement – if you put a keel on any of the new boats, they would be just as potent.” After the first Dunhill trials, which Smackwater Jack won, the rear guard set out to stop the yacht and Smackwater Jack was disqualified because of not having a category 2 safety certificate, then later was found to have insufficient cabin headroom. This meant late night alterations but this was nothing the crew was not used to (the boat, once the bare hull was received, was put into the water in five weeks) so the attractive original cabin shape was torn apart and a boxy adaptation made to meet the rules which would allow them to sail in the One Ton trials – which they also won. Later came the Southern Cross trials and the Whiting/Ross boat was expected to compete but the team was broke. Ross was frank, “We would have entered if only to get some more tune-up races but we couldn’t afford the $150 entry fee.” In the One Ton Cup, even though critics and disgruntled competitors of other conventional yachts had tried to thwart Smackwater Jack, the boat was still expected to take the Cup – but Red Lion won the series with a 2,1,1,4,3 placings. Moderate to light winds suited the light boats but a heavy weather race inflicted damage: Jenny H fell off a wave and fractured a forward ring frame which allowed topsides and stringers to collapse, Australian Farr board boat Hecate withdrew while Red Lion and Smir-Noff-Agen revealed damage when examined after the race and Smackwater Jack leaked and gave up. This damage was perfect calibre ammunition for those who abhorred the new wave yachts and special emphasis was made on “capsizing” when the light boats broached under spinnaker. At one stage the Lidgards on Smir-Noff-Agen set a spinnaker in 50 knots of wind – so it was not surprising that the boat wiped out. The Australian Farr Wild Turkey was alongside surfing at 18 knots under main and jib alone and when they saw the Lidgards set their spinnaker and immediately get flattened, expected to never see the sistership again – but Smir-Noff-Agen recovered and went on to win the race. Jim Lidgard said to Sea Spray, “If we lift the board too far when off the wind, we start to roll but no more than a conventional keelboat. We had a couple of broaches but that was crew fault Young’s Heatwave had rig problems, “Just before the 350 mile start in a rising south easterly gale, we fractured a spreader. Greg Elliott went up the mast to make a quick repair but by the time we got going, the fleet was out of sight in driving rain. Then strands parted on the forestay but everyone wanted to carry on, so we did, risking the rig, slogging on our own to Canoe Rock – to see committee boat Sirdar heading for shelter. We headed out to Channel Island knowing we were well back and after rounding near dusk, we set the spinnaker. The log reached 22 knots with the boat lit up like daylight from phosphorescence as we charged through the night. At daybreak we had caught the fleet and were very close to the leader. Seeing us overtaking them and into fourth place forced them to also set spinnakers. Everyone was pushing hard and it was a wild ride. We had a few broaches – but then later the wind fell away. Heatwave was not good in the light and I made our situation worse by going the wrong side of the course – and so we ended up a poor fifth. But I was happy, we had shown that Heatwave was the fastest of them all in a blow.”  

catsketcher said: ↑ Newspaper Taxi had a keel when CT249 (he is my brother) was on it. Although it would be fun to track one of these boats down Newspaper taxi was built lightly and reminded me of an old Laser - soft. The amateur composites designer in me would think that the boats were designed too lightly to get many cycles out of their laminates before they were sold and superseded. ...remembers the crews on really big centreboarders standing on the boards when they capsized - maybe that is why they went to keels. cheers Phil Thompson Click to expand...

steveo-nz said: ↑ Thanks CT, If you get a chance at some stage to get that stuff from storage wouldn't mind seeing some of it. Thanks for the other info guys, very interesting. I believe the Magic bus is some where in San Francisco now days, not sure what marina of it is still being used...... Click to expand...

Ramona Senior Member

Here is a Whiting 26 for sale; http://dbyachts.boatpoint.ninemsn.com.au/DesktopDefault.aspx?UsedBoatID=2993289&TabID=94476  

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Ramona said: ↑ Here is a Whiting 26 for sale; http://dbyachts.boatpoint.ninemsn.com.au/DesktopDefault.aspx?UsedBoatID=2993289&TabID=94476 Click to expand...

what was wrong exactly with design of old sailing "ships"?

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Help identifying old wooden sailboat

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Interesting "scow bow" on an old Route de Rhum competitor "Ovum"

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Smackwater Jack: the classic tale of outlaws and lawmen and the blues harmony behind it

By Serg Childed

• D–G–D–G–D or  I–IV–I–IV–I ;
• G–A–G–D or IV–V–IV–I .
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• A 7 –Em 7 –A 7 –D–G–D or V 7 –ii 7 –V 7 –I–IV–I .
• 6 songs to unpack Ionian mode and the major scale
• 9 Beatles songs that combine harmonic major with Ionian mode
• Longfellow Serenade and the fireside poet that kindled Neil Diamond's song
• Wildwood Weed: the cheeky ganja farmers song that got banned
• Sugaree: Jerry Garcia's song referencing his lyricist's criminal past
• D'yer Mak'er: meaning of Led Zeppelin's most controversial song
• Seven Seas of Rhye: song of imaginary land brought to life by Ionian and Mixolydian modes

Coal Miner's Daughter was forced to remove a third of the lyrics from her autobiographical song

• I Wanna Be Sedated: pure classical harmony cementing the Ramones' hit in punk rock history
• Hasta Mañana: the origins of the best ABBA ballad
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Wellington Ocean Sport has recently added a new boat to the fleet. She is Pugwash, which began life racing with the Club back in 1979.

Pugwash is a Whiting 29 and we will be using her to teach cruising skills.

Pugwash was built by Peter Sutton using the lofting and temporary frames from the plug for the production Whiting 29 glass boats.

The hull is built in double diagonal treated Kahikatea over stringers and laminated frames all fastened with West System epoxy and heavy copper roves. Construction plans were minimal – really just a detailed look over how Paul’s team was building the plug.

She was built in Kingsford-Smith Street, Rongotai. Just up from Lyall Bay Beach (opposite Parrot Dog), and took about eight months.

Peter recalls many visitors checking progress commenting on the design’s, then, apparently light construction and flat bottom! She would be considered heavy by today’s standards.

Very sadly, designer Paul Whiting was lost shortly after when returning from the Sydney Hobart on his beautiful One Tonner Smackwater Jack – lost with all hands in 1980.

Peter and Jenny raced Pugwash extensively with RPNYC in coastal and harbour races and cruised with his young family around the top of South Island every summer.

The family kept Pugwash until 1984 and then bought a Young 11 hull and deck which was launched in 1985 as Flying Boat.

Pugwash was purchased by Dudley Jackson in 2006. He got her up to survey to use for the Learn2Sail programme at Lyttelton. He didn’t like the name and when discussing it with the Commodore, said he would have to change it soon if it was to get on the survey form: “Good Point” said the Commodore, thus she got her new name.

The boat put in ten good years with the programme, until a graduate of the programme, Don Quick showed an interest in purchasing her in 2017. Don got his wish, purchased her, kept her in survey, and chartered her back to the Learn2Sail programme. Don also regularly raced her out of the Naval Point Yacht Club. He put her up for sale again in 2018, where she caught the attention of Craig Ryburn at our Wellington Ocean Sports centre.

The design of the is well suited to the cruising side of Wellington Ocean Sports’ operation – it has all the usual cruising amenities – a furling headsail, windlass, cooker, accommodation and high headroom, but is small enough to allow easily handling and teaching. The boat already being in commercial survey saved WOS from having to undertake the lengthy, expensive and uncertain task of getting her into survey.

After meeting Don in Lytellton, having a look over the boat and going for a sail on her, a proposal was put to the Board to add Pugwash to the Wellington Ocean Sports fleet. After careful consideration of the implications for Wellington Ocean Sports and the club, the proposal was accepted. After having the boat surveyed, she was sailed by Don, Trevor and Jim from Wellington Ocean Sports up to Wellington at the end of October. She has been rebranded, named back to Pugwash and started courses in late November.

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Schooner search moves to Norfolk Island

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An Air Force Orion is searching near Norfolk Island today for missing vintage American schooner Nina.

It is nearly a month since the last contact with the vessel, and family members of some of the seven-strong crew have spoken of their desperate need for answers.

The Air Force plane left before dawn today and is focussing its search south of Norfolk Island, Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand spokeswoman Rosemary Neilson said.

The aircraft was expected to make a detailed search for the vessel's life raft south-east and south-west of the island until about 6pm, she said.

The search area would cover nearly 6000 square nautical miles.

"The plane will be flying low and slow in a tight zigzag," Ms Neilson said.

The seven-strong crew of the classic 21-metre racing yacht, which was sailing to Australia from Opua in the Bay of Islands, was last heard from on June 4.

"Obviously time is passing and concerns are increasing, but (searchers) remain optimistic," Ms Neilson said.

There was no deadline set for how long the search will continue, she said.

The 84-year-old wooden vessel, owned by American David Dyche, 58, was heading for Newcastle, Australia.

Mr Dyche was travelling with his 60-year-old wife, Rosemary, their son David, 17, a 35-year-old British man Matthew Wooton and well-known maritime technology expert Evi Nemeth, 73.

An 18-year-old American woman called Daniella and 28-year-old American man named Kyle were also on board.

Mr Dyche's sister Cherie Martinez said the worst possible outcome would be for the crew to be lost at sea forever and to never know what happened to them.

Mrs Martinez said she was terrified the search would be called off before they knew what had happened. The last known contact was a text message on June 4 inquiring about weather conditions.

"At the end of the day I would rather find out they made it okay, which is better, or at least debris or something so I can call closure. But for them to be lost at sea and never be heard of again, that will be very difficult."

Speaking from her home in Tennessee, Mrs Martinez said the not knowing was the hardest part.

"It's a rollercoaster. One day you think they will make a phone call, the next you're [resigned] to have lost them at sea ... Deep down I think at times they are lost but this boat has always made it to shore.

"It's lost its mast, it's gone through rogue waves through the Pacific, the Atlantic a couple of times, it's sailed even without engines - it was built to race."

But she is in no doubt her brother would have done everything possible to save his family.

"I grieve for him at times but being a pilot myself I know there is risk inherent in the job ... But he wouldn't put his family at risk."

The family of Mr Wooton, a Green Party activist from the UK, still held on to hope he might be found alive.

His sister Lara told the Daily Mail her brother was "very environmentally aware" and travelled by boat or public transport when possible.

He was writing sporadically about his travels, and the last post on his blog, written last July on board a freighter, was a piece about facing his fears of the ocean. His mother Susan said the family hoped the search for her son would continue.

Missing at sea:

* In March 2010, Tafadzwa was sailing from Tauranga to Gisborne. It was found 16 days later near the Chatham Islands without its skipper, Paul Janse van Rensburg. However, his dog Juanita was still on board.

* The New Zealand yacht Manoah set sail for Rarotonga from Nelson with two crew on board in 2005 but then disappeared. Its wreckage was found on Uonuku Island, halfway between Nuku'alofa and the Vava'u islands group, in Tonga in February 2007.

* In 1989, four men spent 119 days adrift on their capsized trimaran, the Rose Noelle, before washing up on Great Barrier Island. The men had set off from Picton for Tonga but storms flipped their boat off the Wairarapa coast.

* The yacht Smackwater Jack and its four crew disappeared during a race from Hobart to Auckland in 1980. The crew reported difficult and heavy seas on January 9 but were not heard from again.

- APNZ and Andrew Koubaridis

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Patio Heaven at Smackwater Jack’s Taphouse Grand Bend

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I was sitting in the ambulance with a calm anxious feeling. There were no sirens blaring, and we were travelling at average speeds. There was no emergency or panic. A bit of glee and excitement actually because I was just on my way to dinner in Grand Bend Ontario. Travel by ambulance is quite common here; it was all part of the brilliant service at a terrific restaurant called Smackwater Jack’s Taphouse.

Smackwater Jack’s Taphouse Grand Bend

I don’t think it is possible that you can visit Grand Bend Ontario and not hear about Smackwater Jack’s Taphouse. There is a good reason for this too. Aside from the long list of fantastic reviews, the location is just breathtaking. They are not kidding when they say they are on the water’s edge. In fact, you can arrive there by boat, car, foot and by ambulance.

Smackwater Jack’s Shuttle Service

As the girl who is always driving on road trips, I was very excited to learn about Smackwater Jack’s shuttle transport. Our hotel staff at the Pinedale called over to the restaurant and arranged a time for our pick up. They were laughing and going on about the ambulance, and I didn’t know what to think. Then outside our hotel room was a restored ambulance with the Smackwater Jack’s logo and I got it.

What a great start to dinner when you don’t have to worry about getting back home safely after a few drinks on the patio. It is brilliant really. Call ahead and book your shuttle and be sure to leave a donation towards MADD, however, they are not mandatory.

The Smackwater Jack’s Patio

Located right along the canal we waved at every boat that passed us by. As the sun began to set, I kept my eye out to the pier which was just a short walk away, knowing I was not going to miss the spectacular sunset on Lake Huron. If you are planning to have dinner at Smackwaters, bring your cameras because you won’t want to miss it either!

Dinner at Smackwater Jack’s Taphouse

What you want to know is how the food is. Delicious, however, you must start by browsing their wine, beer and cider menu first. Smackwater’s is known for serving locally grown produce from local farmers the menu is a delicious treat of Ontario goodness.

We started our meal with their cheese curds appetizer. Deep fried goat cheese with an excellent dipping sauce. We couldn’t finish it. However, our server was prepared and brought us a container for it before our main meals even came to our table.

My girlfriend ordered the chicken fingers and fries while I went for a more traditional Ontario favourite the Perch Tacos.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you know that I order Perch just about everywhere I go in Ontario. Perch Tacos are like my favourite thing, so if it is on the menu, chances are I’m ordering it. These crisp battered yellow perch were topped with creamy coleslaw, guacamole and a chipotle lime sauce. They were amazing!

Staff at Smackwater Jack’s

I can not write this review without gushing about our waitress Karlie who had perfect timing, great recommendations and a lot of patience serving a travel writer that even when she’s supposed to be on vacation with her girlfriend takes photos of everything and asks a million questions. In fact, Brad and the rest of the team at Smackwater’s your bubbly, happy, friendly attitudes just solidified what an incredible restaurant this is. I can’t wait to come back and see you all again!

For more on what we saw in Grand Bend Ontario see these posts:

• Destination: Dreamy Fun-filled Vacation in Grand Bend Ontario
• Hotel: Girls Getaway at Pinedale Motor Inn
• Restaurant:  Top of the Class Breakfast at Schoolhouse Restaurant in Grand Bend

Thank you to my friend Diana for inviting me on this getaway with her and thank you to the team at Smackwater Jack’s Taphouse for making this dinner so special! 

About The Author

Sharon Mendelaoui