A daysailer with sneaky speed.
Many designs start as an idea brewing away in the back
of my mind, and are only brought to the fore when a prospective
client enquiries for something that fits the idea.
Rogue was one of these, I’d been thinking for a while
about a fast, general purpose sailing dinghy that would
row and outboard, all things which are not usually compatible
and the compromises to make the boat work in all modes often
mean that she doesn’t do any of them well.
My experiments with a series of open boats had given me
some experience and thoughts on proportions, construction
methods and layout, so when Bill Harford rang, wanting a
light but roomy outboard motor powered dinghy for fishing
around Northlands Cavalli Islands I was already halfway
there in terms of how I was going to approach the project.
Then Peter Elstone phoned from Napier wanting a sailing
dinghy to carry two friends and a pile of camping gear around
the lakes and inlets to which he would trail the boat.
After the proposal sketches were accepted by the two clients
I started the serious part of the design process, but due
to other commitments it took a little longer to finish the
drawings than I would have liked and I remember going to
the copy shop and sending off a sheet at a time, hoping
I was staying ahead of the two builders.
About the same time I sold my own boat to a man who threatened
me with a chequebook, (totally unfair tactics ) and, in
order to have a boat for the summer I got stuck into building
one myself, she took eight weekends and quite a few midnights
to get finished. Rogue and I had a really good time that
summer, covering about 1500 miles around the Hauraki Gulf
and the Kaipara Harbour.
Sailing the boat was everything I had hoped for, and during
the year I kept her she was raced with a surprising degree
of success, something that has been the experience of other
owners. She aquitted herself honourably in the two pair
oar class of the Weiti River Rowing race finishing second
(with two passengers aboard, the race is not a serious one
but once the gun goes all friendship ceases) I camp cruised
her a lot. I was single at the time and had few commitments
so had time to explore the many bays and estuaries in the
area. She proved to be just about perfect for the job, and
there were times when I took friends away for a weekend,
cruising in this little boat put a new face on yachting
for a few lucky people, several of these people are still
out there cruising in their own small boats.
In
addition to the big voyages she turned out to be ideal for
those lovely afternoons when being anywhere but on the water
would be second best, and as a daysailer she is capable,
comfortable, fast and very quickly rigged.
This design won the 1988 Traditional Small Craft Society
Beach Cruiser design competition, with her traditional styling
and rig, built from modern materials and with an efficient
underwater shape she gives away nothing in performance while
retaining her classical looks. Those who have built her
have been very happy with the performance whether pottering
about an estuary, making longer passages with camping gear
aboard or using an outboard motor to putt out to the point
to do some fishing. |