The Ngaroto Sailing Club

During the summer months, (Oct -Mar), we organize regular regattas on Sundays. There were also sailing lessons conducted by Ross Wrenn at 9 am. just prior to the start of the regattas.

International Optimist

This is the most stable sailing dinghy, suitable for beginners and very young children from age 6 years. It is a flat bottomed pram-bow dinghy with a tiny spritsail. It has 3 flotation chambers so that it cannot sink even when filled completely with water.

*

P-class

The P-class fills a gap between the Opti and higher performance one man dinghies like the Starling, Zephyr, Laser, F.D.,3.7's, 505's and Paper Tiger.

This 3.7 comes complete with a trapeze for hiking out.

Starling

This boat is slightly faster than the Opti or P-class. Starlings are mostly made from marine ply. They are very light and easy to sail. Many are now made of fibre glass.

Zephyr, 11 ft dinghy

The Zephyr is a one man version of the high performance Mistral class dinghy, designed by Des Townsend. It is confined mainly to the Auckland area. Zephyr have since been overshadowed and replaced by the International Laser which is made of fibre glass and requires little maintenance. These photos were taken at Hamilton lake.

*

International Lasers

Most of the centre boarders at Ngaroto are Lasers. These are very fast, one-man dinghies which planes easily at 10 knots or more. However it also capsizes easily in wind gusts so that it is practical to wear a wet suit while on the water.

I used to sail a Laser in Borneo, an island 400 km east of Singapore. The northern part of this island consists of Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak; the rest, 80% is Indonesian Borneo. I lived in Sarawak until 1995 and did most of my sailing in the sea off Miri. The water was warm unlike NZ where a wet suit is necessary, especially in winter.

470's

I bought three 470's from an auction in 1984, cannibalized the parts and made one complete boat.

It was in fact too much boat for a single hander; I seldom raised the spinnaker or used the trapeze.

Very soon I found and bought a Laser in 1986 and did some serious sailing for another 10 years.

Paper Tiger

Paper Tiger

One of our most active sailors is Alex. He sails a catamaran and he just loves to run circles around us during the regattas on Sundays. The Paper Tiger is Ron Given's first and most famous catamaran design, intended for one man competition; but often sailed two-up. 700 are currently racing in NZ and there are large fleets in Australia and South Africa. It was designed in 1967 mainly for amateur construction in plywood; but fibre glass production hulls are increasing in popularity.

Phase Two, 4.02M

The Phase Two is a one design, high performance father and son, 2-men class, designed by Alan Warwick and Barry Thom in Auckland. The design is based on the same principle as the Laser; but with 2 sails. It performs similarly as a 420; but without the spinnaker.

International 420's

These 2-men dinghy has a jib sail and a main. A spinnaker can be added when required. (Princess Anne, sister of prince Charles used to sail a 420.)

Elliot 7.4M

The largest yacht in our club was the Elliot 7.4 owned by Gordon. It had a hydraulic operated centre board and required a crew of 3 men. The third man was required to raise or lower the spinnaker on downwind legs. At least two men are required to rig up the mast which is very tall (and heavy?)

South Bound

Joker 6.7M

At one time we had six Jokers in the Ngaroto fleet. Owen Johnston sailed ResiVor. He has been our club champion for many years. He knows all the locations of the wind shadows on our lake and he has the best crew available!

This boat sails [flat] because it has built-in water ballast tanks on both sides and heels less than a Noelex 22.

Bojangles is owned by Trevor.

Noelex 22

I have the only Noelex 22 in the Ngaroto fleet.

(Photos courtesy of Ross Wrenn.)

Other trailer yachts seen at Ngaroto

John Cusack sailed a Kestrel. He is physically handicapped but he was an excellent sailor. and a club champion many time. I learned to launch my trailer yacht by watching how he did it by himself.

Kestrel

Here is a mixture of other trailer yachts seen at the Ngaroto sailing club, during the summer months from time to time:

This Elliot 5.7 was seen only once. He never came back. I wonder why.

The Caribou is a 20 ft. trailer yacht which has 4 berths. They are designed by Frank Pelin and used mainly for day or week end sailing rather than open class racing.

The Hartley TS 16 is New Zealand's original trailer sailer designed by Richard Hartley. He has earned a world wide reputation for solid, easily built designs especially for the DIY builder. It is still very popular as a solid, safe family cruising boat, although probably not as competitive on the racing scene as subsequent stock GRP designs. It has a hard chine hull with ply over frames construction.

This dinghy also appeared once at Ngaroto and never came back again. Perhaps the lake is too small for this boat?                                                    

Peter's Espresso

The largest number of trailer yachts at Ngaroto are the 6.7 metres Jokers. A few years ago, we had 7 Jokers at Lake Ngaroto. The fleet has since been reduced to two. Some owners have moved on to keelers which are not trail-able. These need to be parked permanently at marinas. The fees are not cheap. I try to delay this process for as long as possible.

                                         

Trevor's Bojangles

Nigel's Taiko

                                         

Owen's ResiVor

This boat is presently being advertised for sale on Trademe. Asking price 14k

Joker 820 is the largest yacht in the Joker fleet. It even has a head (toilet) with a door!

The cost of yachting increases exponentially when the boat size goes over 25 feet. e.g. My Noelex 22 is worth 7.5k, the Noelex 25 has a market value of 28k, whereas a Noelex 30 is selling for not less than 65K. New 35's costs 139K! With advancing years, older yachties may become richer; but the mast seems to become heavier! It becomes too much of a bother to rig up and rig down, every time one goes sailing. 

To continue sailing, a compromise solution is to berth larger boats at a marina (boat parking). The mast is left permanently up with the main lowered or furled. The jib can also have a furler. No more hard work towing, rigging up, launching, recovering and rigging down the mast any more. The boat remains afloat always and the mast and other gears stay permanently rigged. The blue cloth is for protecting the sail against UV. The owner drives leisurely in his saloon (no more 4x4) to the marina, starts the motor and cast off; all within 5 minutes. Once clear of other boats, he removes sail covers, raise or unfurl sails, pull on the main sheet, cut the motor and away he goes, just like before; but all within 15 minutes!

Near Turangi on the shores of Lake Taupo, there is a marina at Waitetoko.  They charge $460 to $600 per year for each berth, depending on the size of your boat. Most of these were between 25 and 35 footers. I saw three Noelex 30's. ($50K to 70K) there last week. The place is run by the NZ government (DOC) and the waiting list for a berth is one year. Perhaps there is no need to buy a keeler or stop sailing at all when I grow older. I am now looking at other options for continuing this life style on the water.

Noelex 30

Elan 210

A Swedish designed sail boat which has a gennaker pole.