When we bought our trailer sailer about a year ago there was little information available on the internet about her sister ships. Pretty much all I could gather was what I heard from people at the sailing club, and I wasn’t sure I could trust half of what I heard. Someone even told me she had sailed in the Sydney to Hobart in the 70’s! After some more digging I have been able to ascertain some facts about the boat and to make it easier for others looking for the same thing I am writing this article to bring it all together. If you have more information please do post a comment.

Design and build
The Red Jackets were designed and built in Perth in the 70’s. They were designed for racing on the Swan River with a mast height that would be able to clear the bridges. The manufacturer of the Red Jacket was Ken & Hill Cameron of 103 Archdeacon Road, Nedlands, Perth. Apparently the manufacturing process was so smooth that it only took one week from them receiving the order for “Golden Screw” until it was on the water sailing!

The Red Jackets were the first of a series of small Yachts built by the Cameron’s. The Red Witch, Red Baron and Red Eagle are later developments from the same people.

Specifications
The information I have on her specifications are lacking but I can share with you the measurements I have taken my self.

* LOA 17.6ft (Length OverAll)
* Width 5.5ft
* Draft 2.5ft
* Mast height 6m
* Main; Luff 5.30m Foot 2.70m

Known boats
There are still a lot of Red Jackets scattered around Australia. I know of at least 5 in Melbourne, two of which are actively sailed. Below I intend to keep a running list of known boats. Who knows, perhaps we might end up organising a RJ Rendezvous on Port Phillip Bay.

* Carbon Offset, EG 605, Navy, Valberg Larusson, Williamstown Sailing Club
* –, GK 648, Orange, –, Williamstown Sailing Club
* –, –, Yellow, –, Williamstown Sailing Club

Web References
* http://en.allexperts.com/q/Yachting-2264/f/info-red-jacket-sloop.htm

Publications
Some of the best knowledge I have found so far is contained between the pages of published material, notably the Seacraft Magazine from 1970 and 1971. Below is a republication of an article published in the October 1971 edition of Seacraft Magazine.

Sea Safety For Trailer Sailors

Seacraft October 1971, page 50

I have watched trailer sailers in most States and have spoken to some 60 to 70 families, questioning them on various aspects of safety. “How far did they intend to go? What safety precautions had they taken? How long were they going for?” At the time I was conducting my own personal survey to see if I could improve on my own list of precautions.

The answers in general were: “Safety precautions? Hell mate, I’m having enough trouble sailing the thing … Don’t need them, I’m not going far … Well, I’ve got some life jackets, a compass, torch and some Band Aids”.

So much for the average trailer sailor’s answers on sea safety. It became clear to me that many of those who enjoy the pleasures of the type are woefully short on equipment and commonsense and that those who are interested in safety often don’t know where to start.

If you own a trailer sailer and if the yen to do some limited sailing offshore gets you, the time WILL come when you and your boat will have to handle some heavy weather. (See SEACRAFT, Self-Righting Trailer Sailer, December, 1970.) I thought the author of that article had an interesting story to tell and I wrote through SEA- CRAFT to find just what safety precautions he had taken.

His reply was far more than a list of safety precautions it is almost the story of his TS and although some yachts-men may not believe it all, I feel’ obliged to quote it in full because it is the very essence of this article and the story can be proved.

He wrote: “In reply to your recent letter about safety measures I have taken on my yacht Golden Screw, let me say by way of introduction that I am an army officer who loves ocean cruising. To be able to indulge in this I had to have a boat that could be taken with me as I am posted from place to place. The obvious answer was a TS.

“I needed one which could be towed behind the average six cylinder family sedan and that would be capable of surviving heavy weather with the necessary equipment. After inspecting many types I settled on a Red Jacket built by K. Hill, of 103 Archdeacon Road, Nedlands, Perth.

“After long discussions with Ken Hill and remembering that a yacht at sea spends most of its time going to windward, I decided to give the boat a masthead rig. Further details such as sails, rigging, fittings and an additional ’shoe’ on the solid cast iron keel to compensate for the extra rig were decided upon.

“Before committing myself I had to go to Sydney for more than two weeks and ordered the yacht the day after returning to the West. She went into the mould the next day and eight days later was sailing to Bunbury. Just over one week was needed to manufacture the boat, rig it, fit it with most of the safety ideas I wanted and be on our way to Bunbury. Remarkable!

“While in Sydney, the Crows Nest Shipchandlery team spent many hours with me deciding oh the best gear to use and the best way to fit out the boat.

“To give you some idea of the Golden Screw’s potential, we started 2.5 hours after the Bunbury Race fleet, stopped in Bunbury 90 minutes for a meal and we were home exactly 4.5 hours after the last boat finished the race. This last yacht was a. 24-footer and had won the 1969 event on corrected time.

“Conditions on the return trip from Bunbury proved the worth of the extra shoe on the keel. With Fremantle almost exactly down¬wind we were running under spinnaker only. Surfing was the ‘in’ thing for many miles. Suddenly, a wave crest lifted us, we broached to, and all on board thought we were about to become statistics. We were able to let the spinnaker sheet go and after two waves had swept over us, the boat came upright shaking like a wet dog. We hauled in the spinnaker sheet and pressed on.

“On the standard rigged Red Jacket, the spinnaker is 150 sq ft. My medium spinnaker is 250 sq ft and looking back it’s no wonder we broached as the wind was 40 knots from- the southeast. The problem could have been avoided if I had used my 100 footer but then perhaps we would not have surfed as we did. Incidentally, we ran 50 miles in six hours, 10 minutes.

“That trip to Bunbury proved the worth of several of my ideas. With a little additional cost and lots of work other trailer sailer men could do the same.

“Any centreplate TS could have two shaped pieces of lead or steel attached to the keel with through bolts with only a little decrease in performance and a huge increase in safety. This would mean of course that the plate could not be hauled right up for trailing and that the draft would be increased by about five inches. A small modification to the trailer would also be needed.
“Pulpits, stanchions and life lines are law for ocean racers. If a TS owner is prepared to buy, cut, shape and finally hold his material for a welder or argon welder then the costs will be quite low. I used 1.5in. aluminium tubing at a cost of $12 and the argon arcing cost $49. Anodising took another $9 and my life lines cost me $30.

“An inner forestay added as an afterthought was, I believe, the reason why we were not dismasted when we broached. It has caused some minor problems when tacking in light winds because of my huge fore triangles but has more than proved its worth in heavy weather.

“Most TSs have non-skid decks but as an additional help I glued many strips of non skid tape in strategic parts of the boat. I placed these strips on the fore deck, cabin top, and the sides of the cockpit well about three inches below seat level. This safeguard has proved its worth when winching in the genoa in a stiff breeze.

“We found that the removable mast support as supplied was not strong enough. This had been discussed before launching but we felt that it might be good enough. This small but important item taught me a lesson that is often forgotten in boats. If in doubt about strength, double the size. It is only when rigging is altered or enlarged that this problem occurs.

“For safety reasons I had twin backstays and masthead and hound shrouds fitted. If any reader is interested in increasing his yacht’s performance by increasing sail area, he will definitely have to use more stays. If adding more stays the following tips will help.

“Make sure that both places of attachment of “both ends of each stay are sufficiently strong or reinforced so that fittings don’t pull out. Don’t think that because there is an increase in stays and shrouds that the size of wire can be lessened. It CAN be but an increase in design area puts tremendous increase in pressure on so many parts that it is not worth the risk.

“An increase in this equipment on a TS will mean less room to move around and stays can cut badly when you are in a hurry, so cover the bottom five or six feet of them with plastic tubing. Twin forestays are not, in my opinion, necessary for support but they greatly increase the speed with which I can change foresails.

“My cruise to Bunbury resulted in various happenings. One of my crew said that he would never again sail with me and I was dubbed The Mad Captain. I later applied for an invitation to enter the inaugural Fremantle-Koombana Bay race. Three or four days before the race the invitation was recalled by the club as the committee felt that ‘my yacht was not big enough for a race of such magnitude’.,

“I was disappointed, but on reflection it was a wise decision as the fleet was not escorted. I notified the club that I would be cruising after the fleet and that I would at no time interfere with the race.

“The race started in the evening with sou’east winds at around 12 to 15 knots which lasted until mid-night. At 2 am Golden Screw’s bottom rudder post fitting carried away and I realised that these must have been the only bolts in the boat without lock nuts. The spare parts box came to the rescue and the problem was fixed in less than 15 minutes.

“The rest of the race was a drifter and uneventful and caused me to think of a larger genoa. I decided on one that goes from masthead to bow to six inches short of the stern and which sheets home outside the safety rail. It is used in winds up to eight knots and I do not use a main with it. Light weather performance has improved greatly. I had, however, to change the position of my side lights as they were being blanketed. They are now well forward.

“This lighting problem must plague other TS if they have lights.

Many do not have any lights at all and this is a poor sort of attitude as you never know when you’ll be out at night. Without lights, you give the bigger craft little chance of missing you.

“During Easter 1969 I sailed from Perth to Rottnest Island with seven adults and four children aboard. The passengers slept ashore while I stayed on the boat overnight. A strong nor’easter struck during the night. Some local loss of life was caused by the big wind and some yachts were severely damaged. The Golden Screw was lucky not to be damaged as the wind caused her anchor to drag and again I was grateful for the precaution of carrying an extra anchor. The two anchors held with two fathoms of linked chain backing the pick.

“I have had some troubles with toe rails and despite the fact that I have life lines installed, they are not sufficient support when on the foredeck in a sea. Fitting toe rails on glass fibre can be difficult but I believe I have found the best solution. An inch by inch timber strip dowelled to the deck solves the problem. The help of another pair of hands makes the job easier but make sure that the dowel holes are sealed or you will have a mystery leak.

“Three further things are very important. In some States TS builders are required by law to supply flotation which is usually in the form of buoyancy tanks. This can be a real trap. Are the tanks air tight? Are they filled with some sort of flotation foam? There is only one answer to the first question.

“Fill the boat with water until the tanks are covered. Check for any air bubbles. That’s the only way to be really sure. As to the second question, you’ll have to take the builder’s word, but . . . there is only one way to make sure: swamp her and see if she floats!

“Place sufficient weight inside the cabin (bricks, rocks etc) to equal normal gear carried, and FILL THE BOAT WITH WATER. If she floats you’ve proved your point. If she doesn’t then this is a better time to find out than when out in a storm. While it caused me no end of trouble drying the boat out, I have actually carried out this procedure. My boat does float when swamped and laden. It’s a great morale booster in a blow to know that your ‘ground’ is not about to disappear from under you.

“When I bought my ‘certified’ safety harness, I felt that I had little to worry about. However, I decided to trial the gear just to make sure. The first thing that I found was that the lead was not long enough, the second was that at the time I had no points strong enough to attach the lead to. The third and most disturbing point was that the clip could and did come unstuck when most needed.

“Looking at advertisements for trailer sailers I noted that one of the most common extras quoted was roller reefing. The prospective buyer is led to believe that he is buying a trailer sailer with roller reefing capabilities. There is nothing false in this or in the buyer’s expectations, but again just one question. Can you reef your main by yourself? If you can’t, and you need two people for the task, who will steer?

“There are several effective systems of roller reefing, some good and some not so good. Basing my experience on a standard crew of two, I find the most effective system must include a mainsail halyard winch, preferably mast mounted which will also include a spring loaded pull out and return gooseneck. This allows the operator to wrap himself around the mast, unwind the winch a few notches and then pull out and turn the boom until the required amount of sail is reefed. It is slow but it ensures that your halyard, boom, mainsheet and sail are under control at all times. This allows you to judge more accurately by the motion of the boat, the amount of required reefing.

“I admit that I have been lucky in some blows. But I choose to believe that it was not all luck as I have tested EVERY system before it became needed.

“My TS has handled 40 knot winds and 25 foot waves off the continental shelf of WA and has taken a 65 knot southerly funnelling down Pittwater in Sydney. A 50 knot following wind 100 miles north of Gabo on the way from Melbourne to Sydney tested the boat solidly.

“One final thing that helps my boat greatly. I have a marine five ply half door which I insert in place whenever I leave protected waters. It is not waterproof and frequently a pint or two of sea gets past it but it keeps out the odd greenie taken over the stern or quarter.”

Well, there you are trailer sailer and would be JOGies. That is the story of one man’s effort to make his boat really seaworthy. Have you used all or some of these ideas? Or are you heading for disaster?

Here is a summary of Golden Screw’s safety features:
EXTERNAL
Keel 325 lb plus 125 lb shoe,
buoyancy tanks,
pulpits fore and aft,
life lines both sides,
side and mast lights,
twin forestays,
inner forestays,
masthead and hound shrouds,
twin backstays,
non skid strips in many places,
port and starboard jib sheet runner tracks,
port and starboard jib sheeting blocks,
port and starboard genoa and spinnaker runner tracks,
port and starboard genoa and spinnaker blocks,
port and starboard spinnaker brace blocks,
port and starboard sheeting winches,
additional alloy cleats,
compass and support,
stern light,
two anchors,
and tackles for AYF safety rules.
Ronstan cabin windows,
Kenyon Morse Speedo,
internal halyards for main and foresails,
roller reefing at gooseneck,
three genoas,
one jib plus storm jib main and storm main,
three kites 345, 250 and 100 sq ft,
spinnaker pole,
sheets for all foretriangles,
cabin top main sheeting,
inflatable dinghies (2),
cockpit awning,
cut down cross trees,
two lifebuoys,
Dan buoy,
floating marker buoy,
packet of dye marker,
safety harness for each member of crew,
mast head wind indicator,
spray jackets,
outboard motor.

Internal
Removable mast support,
light switches on mast support and wiring,
bunk cushions,
12 volt heavy duty battery,
fire-extinguishers,
Hand bearing compass.

If you can add all or part of this to your regular rig you will have improved your boat and will be that much better equipped for trouble if and when it comes. If you don’t carry any safety gear, keep her on the trailer but watch the tide!

This Sunday the sailing season formally opens at my sailing club, the Williamstown Sailing Club, and this year I am doing my bit to contribute to the running of the club. Today we launched a brand new website for the club witch we hope will bring people together online. The new website is: http://www.williamstownsailingclub.org.au/. Do take a look at the website and then come join us on Sunday for a social sail and BBQ at the club.

Tonight I sat down and charted the sailing routes from Melbourne to Reykjavík. An unusual thing to do on a Sunday night I know but I have been wondering about this for a long time now: when (yes when, not if) I set sail from Australia to Iceland, what route should I take? Well, first I have to see what options I have so I sat down and charted the options. There are six possibilities:

• North-west passage
• North-east passage
• Panama canal
• Cape Horn
• Cape of good hope
• Suez canal

On the map above you can see how these different routes would be sailed from Melbourne. As roaring forties blow from west to east past the south coast of Australia the most sensible option is to go east then north and later turn west in the case of Suez and Cape of good hope. Applications for prospective crew positions are now open. ETA for departure: 06am on the 2nd of May 2018.

+ Map of routes

Enter Farrier: In the world of trailerable trimaran designs none can beat the dedication and contribution of Ian Farrier. His world renowned designs are reported to be fast, safe, comfortable, easy to handle and all round very pleasant to sail. Farrier has been in the trimaran business since the beginning of the 70’s when trimarans were still a relatively undeveloped concept. Now after almost 40 years of designing and supporting builders, both amature and professional Farrier sports a portfolio with a wide range of meticulously designed foldable trimarans from 39 feet down to his latest, the 22 foot sport tri.

The man
A New Zealander by birth Farrier started sailing multihulls in his early twenties when he was still an engineering student. Having looked for a suitable boat to go cruising he eventually stumbled upon and bought an unfinished trimaran. Once completed Farrier lunched the boat in 1969 and sailed it from his Christchurch hometown to Auckland in northern New Zealand through some rough winter storms. Farrier found that the boat has some design limitations which made him not trust the boat to do a long voyage and decided to jump ship to join a 38′ keelboat headed for Tonga. During this voyage to Tonga Farrier found that sailing the keelboat was not only uncomfortable compared to the trimaran but also not as safe. Furthermore handling the keelboat was harder work and to top it all off the performance was not even close.

During this voyage Farrier decided multihulls, and specifically trimarans offered a superior sailing experience compared to keelboats. Farrier moved on to Brisbane, Australia where the monohull trailer sailer movement was in full swing. He started working on a trailerable trimaran design named Trailertri and completed the prototype in 1974. During the design process Farrier invented a folding system for the outer hulls to easily reduce the with of the boat for trailering. This system, the “Farrier Folding System-TM” was patented and is still today an essential component of Farrier’s trimaran designs.

The boats
Farrier Marine, Ian Farrier’s design office now offeres seven currently supported designs for trimarans, five of which are for the amature builder.

• F-22 new
• F-82
• F-32 new
• F-33 (prof.)
• F-35 (prof.)
• F-36
• F-39

Each new design has been built from experience gained form the previous design. Farriers designs have therefore been evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Most of his boats are built on the same concept but range in size and purpose. Continuous improvement is the epitome of quality control and 40 years of that has earned Farrier the title “The King of the Tri”.

Older discontinued designs include the F-24, F-25, F-27, F-28, F-31, F-9, Trailerati 18, Trailerati 680, Trailerati 720, Command 10 and Tramp.

The awards
Farrier is the only designer to have been included in the American Sailing Hall of Fame for a trimaran design and one of only two for a multihull. His F-27 built by Corsair was selected as “… a breakthrough design that made a tremendous impact on sailing by giving owners the rewards of multihull sailing without the hassle of a beam too wide for marinas and trailers”.

The Farrier designs have also earned sailing magazine “boat of the year” awards. The first of which was F-24MkII which won CruisingWorld’s boat of the year in 1996.

The comments
Farrier boats have a thriving community of boat owners. The F-Boat group on Yahoo has over 3000 members, many of whom have built their own boats.

The building process of a Farrier tri
And now for the fun part. The F-boats began as designs for amature builders and after a period of a focus on professional building Farrier has now returned to focusing on the amature builder. This is great news form me because I would not have money to buy a professionally built Farrier for many-a-years to come. However, if I build one my self I just might be able to manage getting one in perhaps a couple of years.

Building a boat is no simple task, especially when you have previously never attempted any serious building. However, many a such individuals have taken on the challenge and managed to complete a decent boat within a reasonable timeframe. This gives me hope that I just might become a part of this boat-builder elite.

Amature boatbuilding comes in at various stages. Some designers, such as Farrier will offer to ship the boat ready made requiering only assembly. This is the next step down from “sailaway” or the concept of just stepping aboard and just sailing the boat away from the factory. Self assembly is not much of a building process though for the owner and will be much more expensive. The next step down to basics is having the hulls factory made and shipped to you including most of the components needed to complete the build. This is a very sensible option for a first time builder. The hulls are the most time consuming part of the build and perhaps also the most crucial. The next step down is having the panels cut out by the factory and shipped to you. You then take it from there and build the boat your self. This will require you to do most of the work your self but saving a lot of time strip planking or starting completely from scratch. This is a very practical option as you will be saving both time and wasted resouces by having your panles computer cut. The lowest starting level though is just printing out the design and starting from there.

Farrier has recommended to home builder using a method called vertical foam stripping. This involves laying down foam panels side by side and then strengthening them with fiberglass and epoxy. This is meant to be a fast and easy way to build your own boat.

Referneces
Rafale, a homebuilt F-9 [1]
Farrier Marine [2]

As most people who know us are familiar with; I love sailing! The fact that I hold the Round Iceland sailing record could be a hint and the story of how I met Suze could be another. For the reading pleasure of those who share my enthusiasm I am going to start putting sailing related articles on this site. Some written by me and some stolen from around the web. For this first article in this new category “Boats” I am going to discuss my favourite double keel boats, genarally known as catamarans, the Schionning Catamarans.

Jeff Schionning the founder and main owner of the small family outfit Schionning Designs was born in South Africa. Jeff started building boats with his father as young man and went on to start up his own boatyard in Knysna, South Africa. The yard specialised in cold moulded and composite yachts, building a number of boats between 20′ – 45′ feet. In 1986 Jeff moved to Australia with his two sons where he met his current wife, Lorraine.

In Australia Jeff soon started building Australian designed catamarans with his sons, which later led him to start making his own designs. In 1994 after building several of his own boats Jeff decided to specialize in designing leaving the boatbuilding to his sons. This was the start of “Schionning Designs“.

Schionning Catamarans are among the most beautifull catamarans in the world and though I havent experienced it my self yet, they are reported to handle excellently. A large proportion of the Schionning cats are built by amature home builders but none the less their boats are fetching really high resale prices, when they are available. Professionally built Schionning cats of about 40-50 feet are selling for as much as a million Australian dollars.

“The success of our designs I feel, stems from the practical commonsense approach of a boat builder, coupled with many years of live aboard experience and 50 – 60,000 sea miles in some of the worst conditions in the world. This experience makes you aware of the power of the sea and the need for a boat to be able to survive these conditions, protect her crew physically and psychologically as well as being a fast comfortable vehicle for all the good times”, says Jeff Schionning on his website.
The hallmark of the Schionning cats is their livable layout, safety and excellent performance. After looking all over the web for the perfect catamaran to suit our future sailing needs I finally decided on a catamaran designed by Schionning, more specifically the Wilderness 1230. I first noticed Schionning on a Finnish website of a home builder who is building a Schionning Cosmos 1100. The first thing I noticed was the beautifull design and after reading the builders praise I looked up the designer.

On the Schionning website I found all the details of his designs. After reading about his design philosophy I started looking at the details of some of them and found that they fulfill all the requirements I had been creating in my head. None of the other cats I have seen do that, even though many come close. The look, the layout, the performance, the emphasis on safety and even the price, if I can learn to build a boat and set a side 5 years for building that is.

Schionning also dares to be different. Theirs was the first “Batwing” catamaran for the home/production builder that I have seen. The idea to stick two masts on each hull rather than having one in the middle makes a lot of sense. The idea that two hulls should have two masts seems so logically correct that it begs the question why others havent done it a long time ago. Radical Bay has now been built and sailed by a fair few people and their reports on the concept have been very positive. Amongst he qualities they reportedly have are increased security, smoother sailing and easier handling [3]. These are all qualities that I appreciate and Schionning have reported that they will design a dual rig version of all their most popular designs. The first of which was the Wilderness 1230. The first customer to decide on building the dual rig Wilderness 1230 were Paul and Jo in western Australia. They are building Mahna Mahna and estimate she will take 5 years to complete.

I have allready bought the study design of the boat we eventually want to build but to be honest it will be a fair few years before we can start building. In the meantime I am planning on building my building skills by starting with a smaller boat but more about that in my nest article.

Schionning at Multihull Maven [1]
Schionning for sale [2]
“Are two rigs better than one” at Multihull Maven [3]