Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
I cannot find reference as to why ‘Sundancer’ was an unofficial entry in the 1976 Cape to Rio race. Maybe it’s just that she was simply too big at 32 metres LOA. She was long and sleek, and in a strange way quite attractive.
This is how she was described by Colin Farlam who reviewed her back in 1976.
“As an unofficial’ entry in the Rio race, the visiting staysail schooner ‘Sundancer’ will start well after the rest of the field have sorted themselves out and complete the course as part of her passage back to Darwin.
“From aloft her deck could easily be mistaken for that of an old fashioned narrow gutted plank-on-edge type yacht that was popular toward the end of the last century, or even perhaps that of a very large one-way proa. Ultra-light displacement and the absence of an outrigger dispel these possibilities which leave us to think that she could have started life as a maxi I.O.R. ocean racer and that somewhere along the line suffered the misfortune of being sandwiched between a quay and a supertanker.
“In point of fact she is a radical yet extremely seaworthy, fast passage-maker possibly as revolutionary as the now legendary Olin Stephens designed yawl ‘Dorade’ was when she first appeared in 1931.”
A more complete description of her was written by Bill Rabinowitz as follows:Quite the most revolutionary boat to call at the Cape for some time is the three-masted schooner ‘Sundancer’, taking in the Cape to Rio Race in the course of her circumnavigation and then, possibly, carrying on for a second time round.
Take one look at her and perhaps, you say to yourself: “What a narrow craft, uncomfortable, tender and wet.”
Go aboard and talk to her skipper, Felix Holmer of Exeter, and see the photos of her sailing and you find that she is stiff, fast and dry and exhilarating beyond measure to sail. At 32m long overall with a beam of only 3,66m, she draws a scant 1 metre, but has a keel measuring 6m, from deck level and drawing 4,27m. The keel is weighted with lead at the bottom and, for the rest, contains one ton of reserve diesel fuel.
Designer is Len Last who built her for himself just outside Exeter in 1971. The boat is a very radical experiment and needed a lot of self-confidence to handle her. She has two rudders, but in fact the for’ard rudder is kept locked or slightly trimmed (by hydraulic transmission from the smaller wheel in the cockpit). Felix, who acted as navigator and alternate skipper, till he bought her from Len at Tahiti uses the for’ard rudder only for manoeuvring when docking, and considers that for the expense involved it would be cheaper to provide a bow thrust motor for this purpose.
Australian Sea craft for January 1975 publishes a comprehensive article on this boat
describing her as the “world’s fastest schooner” and recounting in detail her 3009 miles covered in 14 days. Felix told me that her best run, from noon to noon was 269 miles, in the Indian Ocean. About eight hours of this was under gale conditions and he would not be surprised if, given, the correct conditions, she would cover 300 miles in 24 hours. (‘Ondine’s’ best is 309 miles – Editor) The sail plan, too, is revolutionary and I was at first nonplussed to find no tracks on the main and foremast. Felix explained that only the mizzen sail is hoisted on a track and fastened to a boom. The other sails are virtually big staysails, hanked to forestays, hoisted to the mastheads of the masts 18m above deck, with the sheets led right aft to the deep cockpit. The main staysail is sheeted to a large winch gear-driven by a coffee grinder aft of the cockpit. The mizzen and fore staysails are sheeted to winches at the stern of the cockpit. A flying jib is also flown shackled to the bow frame. She thus has a conventional sail virtually only on the mizzen mast and three large jibs with a smaller jib when fully canvassed. A photo taken on the reach flying this full suit shows a angle of heel surprisingly small for such a spread.
Felix says the schooner is stable in any direction and she runs straighter and better than any yacht he has sailed. In heavy conditions and big seas she gives one a tremendous thrill as if riding a huge surfboard. Felix finds she cannot run before properly owing to the sail plan, but has to tack downwind at angles midway between a run and a broad reach. The extra distance sailed is fully compensated for by the speed of the boat.
Her flat, clean teak laid-deck tapers to the stern almost as sharply as to the bow. This gives her added strength, as do the flat topsides of her steel hull. Only the coaming of her deep cockpit protrudes 30cm, otherwise everything is flush – and above deck she was as shipshape as ever a sailor could wish a boat to be.
She left England in May 1974, sailed through the Panama Canal to the Marquesas, the Societies, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Christmas Island, Rodriques Island near Mauritius, Mauritius and direct to Cape Town.
Below she is filled with foam at the forepeak, then comes a watertight bulkhead and a chain locker leading into a sail locker (both reached from a hatch on deck). Then comes another watertight bulkhead, two double cabins (one with heads and basin), a large roomy saloon (which could sleep four if necessary) but bunks only one as Felix carries a crew of eight). Then, still going aft, the keel casing and motor cover divide the navigator’s “office”, with his bunk immediately aft to starboard, from part of a long table directly opposite a large; roomy galley to starboard. On deck now and aft of the cockpit is a hatch down to a small workshop and, aft of the hatch, is a big French coffee grinder winch with the stern narrowing sharply to the jack staff flying the Red Duster.
All in all it is a very comfortable and thrilling boat on which to sail. Were I 20 years younger without family ties one of the three berths to Rio which Felix is offering for R600 would have been snapped up then and there. The only snag is slipping. The keel has to be hoisted up a certain distance on deck so as to protrude only the depth of her rudders. Then, cradles have to be built to support her on the slip. It cost Felix R600 to slip her in Australia, so here she will just be brushed down underwater.
Incidentally her rigging, last adjusted at New Zealand, will also be set up here. She has PVC tubing over the shrouds – very efficient chafing gear – and has had to replace only two sheets and one halyard since leaving England. When doing nine knots or more, the spinning prop is coupled to generate electricity, which was the case all the way across the Indian Ocean in the robust trade winds.
SEE THE YACHTSMAN RSA MAGAZINE REPORT HERE: 1976 01 – Yachtsman RSA – OCR
