Former Cariad Owner Builds A Replica Scale Model

by Richard Crockett

She had a few South African owners, but it was under the ownership of Krasni Sutic that she was prepared for the Rio Race – cutting her departure fine as she suffered damage in a tough storm after rounding Agulhas. But men were tough in those days and the crew, to a man, knuckled down and had her shipshape in time for the start.

‘Cariad’ was designed by A. E. Payne, with her hull constructed of teak which was laid over a steel framework. Her length overall is 118 feet, with a beam of 81 feet and a draught of 12 feet 6 inches. She is a gaff ketch with jackyard topsails on both the main and mizzen masts.

Now well into retirement, Sutic recently completed building a replica scale model of her, and judging from the pictures alone he has done a fine job with meticulous attention to detail.

This is what he told me about the build:

“The build took six months – about 840 hours – and is reasonably accurate. The extensive build time was due mainly to most components having to be hand built. The only outsourced items were the brass bottle screws, helm wheel and the compass binnacle.

“All the black painted fittings were constructed using copper, but as plate was unavailable, copper tube fittings were cut open, rolled fat and utilized in the build.

“The wood blocks are hand made, while the teak deck was laid and fitted into margin planks and caulked.

“Her sails were cut and stitched as close as possible to the original.

“In excess of 30 metres of string was used in the running rigging, which equates, at a scale of 1:40, to 1 200 metres of rope on ‘Cariad’.

“Unlike most models I have looked at, practically all the standing and running rigging is accurate and fully functional.

“Even the helm wheel actuates the rudder.

“To insure accuracy, I consulted an excellent publication. “The Gaff Rigged Ketch” by John Leather.”

Sutic says he learnt more about gaff ketches by building the ‘Cariad’ model than he did refitting ‘Cariad’.

 

The SAILING Publications library has original copies of the “The Gaff Rigged Ketch” and the “Gaff Rig Handbook”).

Enjoy the pics of this fine boat and the model too.