This is Hard to Write
One of the advantages of having your own sailing magazine, is that when it comes time to change your personal boat, you have a ready-made way of telling people! Not that it happens very often.
Racing at Hamilton Island
We have been the custodians of FAIR WINDS for the last 23 years of her 68-year existence. And what an incredible emotional and actual journey that has been. In the early days, our children, as toddlers, slept head to toe in the pilot berth, now they are forging their careers in different corners of the world. We have undertaken two major restorations; crossed the Tasman three times; circumnavigated Tasmania four times; crossed Bass Strait on about fifteen occasions; sailed to the South Pacific; and raced in Classic Yacht events in four Australian States and three different countries.
So why the decision to pass her on?
This summer we spent a month living on board, cruising through Bass Strait and the Southeast coast of Australia. It was another special adventure aboard this extraordinary craft. Anchoring 30 meters off the beach at Erith Island on New Year’s Eve with no other human in sight; sailing 220 miles from Flinders Island to Eden, with the windvane nodding and nudging us back on course as the miles disappeared under our transom. These and hundreds of other memories will never be erased. But the trip also taught us that we want more of this existence. We want to embrace the life that living aboard can provide, that means a different boat.
Smith’s Creek, New South Wales
Philip Rhodes is perhaps not as well know in this part of the world as Europe and the USA, where he is regognised as the consumate “engineer” designing sailboats and motorboats that were not only beautifully constructed, but also had sheerlines and hullshapes whose aesthetics eclipsed even those whom we sometimes consider to be the masters, such as Stephens and Alden.
FAIR WINDS is one of seven vessels drawn to his design number 633 (5 were built, 3 extant). Following World War II, Rhodes was at the height of his powers and could choose any yard in the world to bring his design to life. In FAIR WINDS case, he chose the German yard of Abeking & Rassmussen, builders of wooden yachts with a reputation of the highest quality and durability. She was built from mahogany and oak, with bronze metalwork throughout, alongside the famous Concordia’s and shipped across the Atlantic to her first owner on the West coast of America.
In the year of her launch she was written about in the two most popular magazines of the time “Yachting World” in Europe and “The Rudder” in the USA (Click to enlarge)
Her first owner was a Olympic Star Class racing sailor, who only owned her a few years before passing her onto a Mr Rockwell who owned her for about three decades, crossing the Atlantic four times, (transiting the Panama Canal) and eventually sailing across the Pacific to New Zealand where he sold her in the 1990’s. We bought her just after the turn of the Century, in Auckland and sailed her back to her new home port of Melbourne in 12 days, crossing the Tasman, transiting Bass Strait, learning to love her as we went. (Click to enlarge the two “Australian Sailing” Covers featuring FAIR WINDS)
Twenty Three years later she has had two major restorations replacing the teak decks in 2006 (when she also had a new engine) and the hull planking in 2014. She is now glassed Kauri and strong and dry.
There is so much that I love about her, that as I write, I’m fighting hard not to shed a tear or change my mind. She has a beautiful dinghy that sits neatly under her boom, crafted by a close friend, to a modified Rhodes Design. She has her new Hydrovane steering gear that has already crossed Bass Strait three times without the hint of an unplanned gybe or a word of complaint. She has her stunning new Doyle mainsail. She has….. But I better stop.
The sale price is $148,000. Details of her inventory and the works done under our custodianship are available on request. She’s currently bobbing eagerly on a mooring in Little Lovett Bay, Pittwater, awaiting her next adventure.
If you are passing by, please don’t mention this article to her. I need to find a moment to sit quietly, as the sun goes down and try to explain my disloyalty, in person.