Hi All Please see the Presidents Report for
2010
Fifty years have now come and
gone and my coffee table is now adorned with a sparkling copy of our
class history ‘The First Fifty Years’ written by George Backhus. As
I thumbed my way through it, I marvelled at the amount of names and
personalities that have been involved in our history, not to mention
the boats and the colourful and delightful people who have sailed
them over the years. The truth is, our 50th is now behind
us and it is time for us as a class to look forward to where we hope
the class to be in the next fifty years.
I believe there is
something about this design, class and the people who sail them that
is worth preserving. These boats are not just great all round boats,
equally suited to racing or cruising; they for many of us, have
played a huge role in our lives, giving us many hours of fun both
and off the water.
I strongly believe in order for
the class to see another fifty years, it will be even more necessary
that we hold on to the following ideas:
1)
Good sportsmanship on and off
the water.
2)
Class thinking with the idea
of one design being in all our minds.
3)
Good racing fleet, with people
making extra effort to support our class championship.
4)
Support from all members in
the organization and running of the
association.
5)
Good comradeship among owners
once the finish gun has sounded.
While each of these things seems
easy when written down, they will only work if we all want to make
them work. It will take a lot of work and it will depend on each one
of us doing our part.
The year that was saw the
following highlights:
Hyundai New Zealand have
continued their support of us as our principle sponsor and it has
been great to fly their flag and to be able to support them in their
endeavour to become New Zealand’s number one in new car sales. The
corporate days held were much fun and I believe Howard Spencer may
have achieved his goal of taking line honours in our fun
race.
This year also saw the
completion of our book ‘The First Fifty Years’ written by George
Backhus. Rumour has it, that his significant contribution to the
history of New Zealand sailing may have helped him secure his
residency. But all jokes aside, the book is a fantastic resource for
us all; full of many facts and a few tall stories that need to be
remembered and I am sure this book will be a valuable historical
document as our class goes forward. I would like to personally thank
George for his efforts that I know were purely a labour of love. You
have done a great job and I am sure that all would
agree.
The fiftieth anniversary
celebration also took place this past year and this was a massive
undertaking that did not happen without the support of a few key
people. The event started on Friday night with a huge fleet of
Stewarts turning out in very fresh breeze to join in on the Royal
New Zealand Yacht Squadron Friday night rum race. It was great to
see so many present and past crews taking to the water to begin the
festivities. Saturday I believe, saw the biggest ever group of
Stewart craft together outside the floating Pavilion and it was a
good opportunity for owners to catch up and for crews to be swapped
among boats for the day’s racing. Throughout the day, the racing was
serious yet fun. The book was officially launched and we organized a
Stewart sail past, but little did I know that Stewarts are not able
to sail single file as some owners could not resist the urge to
catch up and overtake the transom ahead of them. The night’s
celebrations and cocktail party with guest speaker Brad Butterworth
was a success and I know most people enjoyed the night. The hard
core stayed on and enjoyed a night cap with Brad Butterworth and the
Taylor boys on Pahi.
The Stewart Monday night
championship was again hotly contended and the eventual champion for
the season was Roy Dickson and crew on Playbuoy. And the
non-spinnaker race was won by Wayne Boberg on Phlyer. This series
was organised again by the RNZYS with Barry Davies as the P.R.O. It
was an extremely well run series and it is certainly nice to be able
to just turn up and race and know that Barry and his team will take
care of all the hassles and ensure we all enjoy a good summer
series.
Throughout the remaining nights
of the week and weekends, Stewarts have been involved in most
organised keel boat races, including Rum Racing, Coastal Classic,
SSANZ two-handed, Saturday Series, Gold Cup, Classic Yacht Regatta,
Auckland Tauranga, White Island, Bay of Islands race week and Ladies
racing just to mention a few.
This year has also seen a few
new boats return to our fleet and a few having a good tidy up. It is
great to see Panacea back racing with us; Pahi, Patiko and Playtime,
all with new paint jobs. This is encouraging to see and good for our
class to see the boats not only being raced hard and used often, but
also being looked after so that they will live to see another 50
years.
I would like to take this
opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to the running
of the association in its many forms; you all do a great job, and I
hope that together we can go forward and enjoy another 50 years of
the iconic Stewart 34.
As a friend of mine once said,
“Without passion, it’s just wind and water”
Kurt Boyle
(Pelagian)
President 2009 - 2010
2 photos
of Aurora, December 1965. One of the photos, flying the kite,
notes wind speed 50 knots!
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