Bill Miller, love’im or hate’im!

Love’im or hate’im!



Every now and then an icon comes along and makes a difference in our sport. The Logan’s, Baileys’, Farr, Young, Elliott, Stewart, Blake, Hasler, Stagg, Dickson, Bouzaid, Davern, Coutts, you get the idea. Well, at another level there is Bill Miller, Godfather of the Stewart 34. Bill got into yachting late in life. He was in his 40’s when a property deal included a yacht. “A yacht!!”, “What do I want a F’n yacht for?” Bill was developing Mt Eden Villas into blocks of Flats, yes folks it’s all his fault Grange Rd, Mt Eden is full of 1 ½ bedroom boxes in blocks of 30 something, ripping down Victorian Villas and building concrete block boxes. Well it didn’t take Bill, a true competitor, long to find his next love. The rest as they say is History, but unless ingrates like me put pen to paper, some of our best will just live in our memories.

At 82 he goes yachting every Thursday and Monday Sprints during the summer, and winter racing every 2nd Saturday. Name me another sport that allows the over 50’s to compete with the young guns? But wait there is more, he doesn’t only compete, he and his handpicked team keep winning. It’s the best short course racing anywhere!! More on that later.

A few weeks ago I asked Bill why he thinks Stewart 34’s are such a good boat. His opinion is extremely biased, but who cares. If it wasn’t for people like Bill we would all be still be sailing dugouts. Bill gave me 26 reasons for just last year, 26?? I hear you say, 26 Stewart 34’s turned up most Monday nights for 0,06nmile W/L’s across the Harbour at Westhaven, Now the Y88’s do the same on Thursdays, watch this space for the next group of one designers keen to compete.

Bill and his mate George Backhus, a yank who got hooked on Stewarts ten years ago, will launch the book next year about the Stewarts and Bill reckons everyone who yachts should buy 10 copies. I did say he was biased. He also reckons anyone over 60 who can’t go yachting on a Thursday afternoon is a “f ‘n failure”. Well, Bill has a way with words. He once told a sail maker “I wouldn’t use your sails for toilet paper if I had diarrhea,” Thanks Bill, another gem. A hard core of old farts turn up each Thursday afternoon for a fang down the harbour and back, then off to Pioneer for a rum or 3. The rum that was won last week is consumed with gusto by these old farts and anybody is welcome (just bring some coke). Lonely Planet have it featured and randoms from all over the world turn up for a taste of Kiwi, and Bill is always welcoming, he puts you on a Stewart and away you go.

Bill recently lost his life long partner, his wife Bette, 250 old salts and many others turned up to pay their respects, even Brad Butterworth sent the biggest bunch of flowers, you see this old fart, has sailed with a few young guns that have gone on to world domination. Bette made the sandwiches for the crew.

I asked Bill, as I said before, what is so great about these Stewart 34’s?

Designed in 1958 by Bob Stewart the first one Patiki splashed down in 1959 and the old farts back then said too radical, too light, too this, too that and dismissed them out of hand, well since those days Stewart 34’s have done the Sydney Hobart, crossed the Atlantic, been around the world, and even across Cook Strait 59 times, once with a broken spreader. Aurora, Built for Les McDonald Snr for Wellington conditions and still owned by the family, run by Les McDonald Jnr ( his son ) and his family, 3 generations of McDonalds enjoy their Stewart Wednesday night racing in Tauranga. Bill delivered one to Nelson in 1976 down the west coast, got a fair kicking in 70knots off Raglan, called into New Plymouth for a cup of tea and a couple of crew had to return to Auckland, then carried on. The local cop thought they were mad. Probably were, (he still is), in those days they just got on life. No PC bullsh*t to stop the trip. They had a transistor radio for navigation, if they had a signal they were close to land, if not they were at sea. No www.metvuw.com in 1972.


That’s a Stewart in the foreground, Passion I think? Could be wrong


Those were the Days, half the crew sailed the match racing on Stewarts.



That’s Bill in the cockpit, I can hear him saying “trim faster” get off the bow, hurry up! What’s he doing?



From the Stewart website

The Stewart 34 Story - John Lidgard


In early 1959 I was approached by Mr Peter Colmore Williams founder of Sonata Laboratories and invited to build him a 34 light displacement yacht to a design by RL Stewart.
Peters would provide a building shed and lines plan/general arrangement and would like the cast cold moulded, using the epoxy glues and resins, which his company manufactured.
I was to decide on construction details and Bob would follow up with drawings so future boats would conform.
I believe we were quite radical as we eliminated rabbit lines and many of the sacred cows of conventional wooden yachts. We used 6mm skins, the first (inner) from chainplates to waterline forward. The second square off centerline and the last at approx 90 degrees to the first. We skinned the finish all with 10 oz glass boat cloth and epoxy resin. I built the boat mostly on my own but were assistance was required Peter was a willing helper. It was meant to be a plug but Peter said not this one
Construction commenced shortly after Easter 1959 and the boat was launched October the same year. We also fitted her out with Spruce spars that we built alongside her.
Bob Stewart sailed the boat in the first race a Squadron Harbour Race. They started in the 3rd division with all other 36, 34 and 32 footers of the day.
It was a complete rout. Patiki as she was named, not only trashed all of her division by about 15 minutes but also caught up to and passed all of the division ahead, which had started 10 minutes ahead of her.
The early comment by the skipper of the Logan classic Queenie “ She looks like a bloody launch” was grudgingly given the appendage “ and what’s more she goes to windward like a bloody launch as well”.
Patiki was moved to 2nd division but had already caught the eye of James Davern.
Jim contacted me in January 1960 proposing a similar arrangement to my earlier one with Peter. In a very clever move he also persuaded his friend Ron Neil to build one. This was particularly favourable for me as Ron had a suitable building shed unused at his yard. Peter Colmore Williams also put me in touch with a former school friend of his Boyd Hargraves who contracted with me to build a 3rd Stewart 34.
By this time I already had one employee but within weeks there were six of us and by October 1960 Princess, Patiko and Pim for Jim, Ron and Boyd respectively were finished and launched along with a modified version built by Morrie Palmer for Basil Kelly, by crane from Queens wharf. Jim had been quite innovative and against Bob Stewarts advice had decided on a spade rudder.
The Patiki's as they were known in the sixties had a reputation for being hard to control downwind. This was probably due to the shape and construction of sails in the sixties and the fact that few of us were used to light lively boats. However they were still winning and it was obvious that the spade rudder made them move maneuverable.
Peter decided Patiki would have to have a spade, but wished to use the existing rudder stock, which was bronze, and only about 40mm round. It needed extending and he had the old shaft drilled out about 20mm and the extension turned down to fit. He then braised the joint. This caused a great deal of mirth and good natured chaff amongst my workers but Peter optimistically carried on.
I joined the crew for the first race, a cruising race to North Harbour Ponui. We didn’t make it past Queen’s wharf from our West haven mooring. The rudder blade floated up astern and we beat back to our mooring backing the headsail for steerage. Somehow we managed to regain the mooring and after immediately consuming the weekend’s beverages we decided to hire the Grumman Widgeon which in those days serviced the gulf and flew to Ponui where we inflicted ourselves upon the other Stewart 34’s and anyone else with a spare berth.
Princess was the top boat in those days although the others had occasional wins. We then moved to new premises and built Pamoana, Panui and Patrician shortly after.
Of the others sailing at the time Posiedon which Keith Atkinson built for Milton Miller, joined Princess and Patiko competing in the short offshore races then regularly held. In 1966 Posiedon competed in the Sydney Hobart race. I was aboard Poseidon when Ted Kaufman the owner of the top Sydney 40 ‘ Mercedes lifted a floorboard. “ The bloody thing’s got no bloody bilge!” he exclaimed” What are you bastards? Bloody suicidal maniacs!!” Milton got to Hobart not to far astern of Mercedes.
Although Patiki had originally been built with the idea of taking a mold off the hull before it was turned over, Peter had been too impatient to get sailing and it was not until Bill Miller took a mould of Princess that the original intention was carried out.

Rum racing aftermatch, Bill is in on Pioneer with his book of who goes where.



















http://www.stewart34.co.nz/index.php


Bill runs the Rum race, just turn up and he will tell you which Stewart to sail on, bring a bottle of Mt Gay and you have just made 35 new friends. Kick off is at 3:30 in winter and 4pm in Summer. Get down to F pier before 2:15 or they will leave without you.

The 2005 Coastal from a Stewart Perspective
This year saw nine Stewarts, Pelagian, Pavo, Prism, Pahi, Playbuoy, Pampero, Phantasy, Playtime and Precedent line up on the start line in the 24th HSBC Coastal Classic with 230 plus yachts in a fresh southerly of around 25-30knts perfect for a quick ride to Russell. Upon starting some boats carried spinnakers shy and there were some massive round-ups a trifle hairy in close quarters. Off North Head, Elephunk lay beam on rudderless and helpless it was difficult maneuvering around Dusty and his crew. Once underway half way to Tiri many boats carried spinnakers quite a few chose to two sail it, at this point it seemed the breeze went slightly west, the Stewarts were relatively close up to Kawau, boats that stood off seemed to maintain better boat speed. Pelagian Playtime and Phantasy were reasonably close going across Bream Bay the breeze was still fresh going again more westerly making two sailing more efficient for Phantasy since there were only two of us, however we did hit 14.5 knots at times crashing down waves. Playbuoy Pahi and Prism had cleared out still carrying spinnakers. Going up the Tutukaka coast it was a pleasant change carrying the breeze up to Brett and maintaining 7-9knts.Most of the Stewarts cleared Cape Brett soon after 11.00pm however once clear it was hard on dark and bumpy the beat into the Bay was tough the breeze got up to over 30knts at times some of the big gusts took their toll, we blew our # 2 headsail out thus letting Pelagian (Kurt now has bragging rights on me) Playtime Precedent and Pavo get to us - that is yacht racing!

Congratulations must go to Playbuoy, Roy and his crew sailed a blinder, they won the third division on handicap were second on line to Mr. Woolfe a modified Young 11,Pahi was the second Stewart to finish eleven minutes behind Playbuoy Mark and Wayne and crew good going guys, even with gear failure came third on handicap fourth on line. This is the fastest trip ever made to The Bay of Islands by Stewarts. It should also be pointed out that these two Stewarts finished ahead on line of the likes of Pawn Broker (Young) Hard Labour [Farr 1020] Northern Rebel, Bavarian Wave, Fusio, Road Runner (young11), Acclaim (Farr 38), Share Delight (Farr 1020), Rock-N-Roll, Voodoo Lounge, some of these yachts started ten minutes ahead of the third division.

Special mention should go to Charles (Prism who finished third on line) for rallying the troops and making this a record Stewart entry. Next year is the 25th Anniversary, this is a wonderful way to start the summer season.

Rod
Phantasy

Remember this story on an earlier yachtyakka?

2 P boats battle it out over 90 miles in last weekends Balokovic Cup.

Report is by the one that finished 1min 30sec behind. Enjoy.

Waiting for crew, boat all ready? Cat 4 got everything? White flag. Night race so jackstays on, upside down light thing tied to lifebuoy, throw rope good to go. Throw everything unnecessary off. 5:50pm and still one to arrive. Bacon and egg pie and corned beef left at home. Looks like muesli bars and beer for the next 24hours. Crew arrive, lets go. First sched is check-in for start. Sea breeze west to south-west. Clear air kite start 15 secs late but ahead of opposition. More or less square to Bean, mid fleet, 4-5 lengths ahead of other p-boat. Round Bean to Browns, off the quarter, sea breeze dropping, p-boat behind a group of big slugs, stay high to keep clear air. Round Browns and shy kite to Passage. Dropped to 3-4 lengths to p-boat. We stayed out to keep clear of big boats so we weren’t rolled by the opposition, they dropped to the Waiheke coast and got through us at passage. Darkness, very light breeze. Has anyone been through Ruthe before? No, me at helm, calling the numbers to navigator. Through Ruthe, lost 4-5 boat lengths by the time we came back out into the gulf. Went below to rest. Woken at Calf to hoist genoa. Pack the kite. Caught p-boat under genoa, Still very light airs. Around Cow and into a huge hole. Kite up and maybe 1kn, flap. Opposition still moving, damn, flap. And away, flap, they went. And we waited, flap. F*ck this going nowhere sloppy sh*t, flap. They are getting away, flap. Can hardly make out their stern light, flap. Flap, f*ckin flap. Breeze? yes 1kn boat speed, OK up to 2 knots, we are going again, building apparent, excellent, where are they? Gone. Damn. Where are we? On the rhumb line to Flat Rock shy kite. A mile from Cow maybe. Still very light airs.

Beautiful night so many stars and meteors. Two legs of a triangle course with shy kites and the forecast is for northerlies so probably a kite home!…Hmmm…..Patchy till dawn, rest of fleet to weather, hope this doesn’t knock. Consistent when there was breeze, 3-4kn average up startled out of stupor around 3am by something coming up beside boat to take a breath. We are not alone, big breath, pilot whale? Dawn arrived and so did a 30 deg shift to east, everyone up hoist genoa. Opposition, maybe 1 mile ahead and half a mile to weather. Must have gained on the shy kite run, hope they can’t lay flat rock from there. We are almost half a mile east of the rhumb line. I am off to stack a few zzzzs. Up again 2 hours later 5miles from the rock. P-boat is ~500m to weather and off our beam, great we have a yacht race again. Each shift knocks a bit and we look a little better. Opposition knows this and tack away. Wait till next knock and tack to stay in touch. Knocking more, excellent. We cross 3-4 lengths ahead. Too close to tack wait till they cross our stern, tack, build speed, how are we looking? Same speed, got 5 degrees, great. Lifting off them. Over lay Flat Rock, no point putting 2 more tacks in when it is this close. Kite ready? They follow us and make slight gain. Getting lighter as we approach, good call to over lay. Hoist kite around rock, no air, p-boat hoists kite sideways, still very light. They gybe, so do we. No air kite sagging. They drop main to fill kite and start to move. We do same. They come back to us we follow, boatspeed now 3 knots, kite shy, breeze filling in, hoist main, they do same. We are on their tail “Nice morning” I call. “Will be if you stay there” is the response, from Miller. Good, got them worried. Cat and mouse, we get an overlap to weather, they luff up. We respond, I hear “they’ve got us” from the other boat and then what the f*ck? Brace jumps off winch and our kite is all over their boat, bugger. “360, PENALTY” is the rather excited calls from them. We gather kite and do a turn. Build speed on port gybe, they have gybed but are dead in the water, we stay on port in better breeze. The call is to stay with the breeze. Maybe a mile of separation, breeze is still good but they are moving as well. We have to stay in touch, we gybe back. Gybed again before crossing but lost 500m to them, combination of unlucky shift and tide pushing us sideways, should have gybed as soon as we had speed. So what do we do? F*ck it lets throw some gybes at them, good practice for us and we may wear the old buggers out. Crossed Tiri channel just clearing the point. Weed? Where did that come from, why can we see the bottom? Chart says 20m. F*ck its shallow, depth sounder is on ‘simulation’ mode, what the f*ck is that? Who ever heard of a depth sounder simulation? By the lee to deeper water, lots of weed and rocks, a few scary moments. Breathe. Back onto the race, lets head to the beach, a few more gybes on the way to the coast, matched by the opposition. Count is one bad gybe each, are they getting further to leeward. Try sailing square, and then we match them for heading and speed. They still have 500m or so on us. About ½ a mile from the beach they gybe, we match them and it is shy all they way to Orakei. 8 miles to go. Are we quicker? Is it enough? 8.5knots, 9.2 on waves. Slowly pulling them in. About 3 miles from home we fly the no.3 genoa inside the kite. Adds maybe 0.2? Definitely faster. Got a 10.5 Too little too late. Finish maybe 200m behind. Results not posted yet.

Great race. 20hours racing with ~1minute between us. 3 hours with genoa the rest was kitework……got home and dropped into a coma at 7:30 for 12 hours. Best sleep I have had for years. Haven’t stopped smiling all day today (Sunday)..


Thanks Brett.



Princess and Pioneer do battle in the classic regatta , 2008