\"GleatBarfietExprers..,one ol thegteat sailingexpefrlences

By JENNY GREEN

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Express pilot Richard Pilkingtonat the helm of GBE l1 (above).

View aft from the for'ard trampolineto"'o:J;;i:5Jffi:?t'r:

Jenny Green photos

Cfrf"rg oboord o Greot Borrier Expresscotomoron on o mild, eorly summer ofter-noon wilh o fresh breeze blowing ond verylittle seo ond you're in for one of the greotsoiling experiences if speed by wind powerolone is your thing.

Stosh sweoiers ond comero geor out oflhe woy on one of the lwo norrow sportonhulls, settle in for the ride, ond the firstthings thoi impress you os host RichordPilkington monoeuvres his boot out ot theconfines of o lorgely monohull-dominotedWesfhoven, is the size of the beosl com-pored io whot we're used to then the quickoccelerotion, seemingly effortless speed,ond the eose of hondling.54

GREAT BARRIER EXPRESS

Designer Malcom TennantConstruction . FibreglassLOA .. ...8.5mBeam . ....5mDisplacement ...1077kgSail area 34.4 m'

;- pouse ot lhe enlronce while Pilkingtonleops oround moking soil ond centreboordodiustments, leoving us lo feel somewhotredundont, ond then he's bock in position,soiling the Molcolm Tennont-designed cotlike o dinghy, helm in one hond, moin in theother, powering down horbour oi whol, tous, seems on unbelievoble speed consider-ing the weight of lhe breeze; lhe only noisethot distinctive sound of woter boiling offthe bock of the rudders thot we normollyossociote with fost spinnoker reoches.

With o teom of us moking too muchweight oft in GBE ll's smoll cockpits wemove some bulk forword, stretching out fulllength on the springy mesh trompolene,peering through the holes ot lhe woterrushing by below, wotching the fine bowscut through the chop, flinging sproy bockoff lhe leeword hull.

Why, we ponder, hove we spent somuch time going slow in monohulls?

Senses, now fully owokened ond re-f,"\ed ofter o winter of being dulled by

.q . se of typewriters ond printing mo-r bus ond iruck diesel fumes, ond

.ckering of television sets in theevenings, our lhoughts turn to Chrislmosholidoys, bolmy summer doys ond the sheerpleosure of lying out on o soft lrompolenefor on efforllessly fost, comfortoble ride upthe coosf, oul to lhe Borrier, or whereverihe wind moy blow. And lhen we'reshocked bock to reolity by o good wet onethol slops unkindly over lhe foredeck ondsooks us to the skin.

Scromble hostily bock oft ond duckbelow to grob comero geor ond ottempt loslop this flying mochine on film, peeringthrough the porthole on ihe inside oisomeone peering ol us from the porthole inthe leeword hull ond up ot the eerierefleclion through lhe mesh of the sporsobove.

Then, wilhoul worning, experience lhotstronge sensotion ihot no monohull soilor- - ever shore

- the sudden silence ond

weightlessness thot reploces the fomiliorsound of woter ogoinst the fibreglossiopsides, os GBE ll flies o hull.

Bock on deck ogoin, we position our-selves oft ond survey the wide workingplotform between the two cockpits, domin-oted by the curved downhoul irock pointedbright yellow like the centrol outboord pod,in vivid ond effective conlrost to the dorkLumit trompolene mot.

Bounded fore ond oft by the oluminiumcross-beoms ihe deck loyoul seems cleonond efficient, olmost everything leodingbock to both oft cockpits so thot the wholeboot con be worked either single-honded orby o crew.

Wotching owner Richord Pilkingtonworking his boot olmosl wilhout thinking,odiusting lhis, tensioning thot, oll the timeenthusing oboul o design proiect he hosbeen closely involved with for over sixyeors ond knows his woy round bockwords,we slort to reolise why this porticulorcoiomoron design hos become so populor.

lnspired by o simple coostol cruising cotdesigned on lhe concept of o very directrelolionship with the oceon by Americonsurfer Micky Munoz, the Greot BorrierExpress ideo become known ond immedio-iely oppeoled to yotchsmen in NewZeolond from both rocing ond cruisingbockgrounds who wonted to get plocesquickly, eosily ond sofely in o booi with thedesign sophisticotion ond oppeol of osports cor.

Commissioned by Pilkington, who hodrecently returned from o circumnovigotionof New Zeolond in o 7 m monohull ond wosdrown to multihulls os o beiier, fosterolternolive, lhe Greot Borrier Express

turned out to be slightly longer, ond slightlylighter thon the Munoz cot

- ond foster

thon iust obout onylhing else oround on ollpoints of soil. lndeed the performonce ofhis dreom cot hos surpossed even Pilking-ton's expectolions ond wifh GBE cols nowthe boots to beot on the Aucklond Multihullsoiling circuil with two AMSA pointschompionships notched so for ond suf-ficient numbers to worront their own clossin ihe RAYC Feltex one design regotto, lhefuture of New Zeolond's first one-designcruising multihull cot closs looks rosy.

From smoll beginnings os o "high speedcommuter cot" for Pilkington who ownedlond on Greol Borrier lslond ond wonted ofost boot to get him there ond bock, theGBE design ideo hos evolved inio one ofNew Zeolond's more interesting productionfibregloss boots, ovoiloble lo voriousstoges from hulls only through to thefinished, superbly presenled stoge of Pil'kinglon's own boot, GBE Il.

A slightly refined version of ihe originolGreot Borrier Express, with more soil oreo,more sophisticoted cenlreboord shope, ondimproved construciion lechniques oimed olo lighter siructure, the production GreolBorrier Express cols explode ihe myth ofbodly designed ond bockyord-built mul-tihulls, ond indeed GBE ll, lounched inSeptember ond o reol crowd-puller ot lheAucklond Booi Show, drove the point homewhen it won the oword for the besi finishedproduction boot ot lhe show.

Construction of the fibregloss versionsfeotures o light, sirong coremoi loyup,strengthened in the choinplote ond cen-irecose oreos ond oround the beoms ondsleeves. The hulls ore moulded by Moono

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View aft across the Lumit nylon trampoline working area. The curved boom vang track is stepped onthe main cross.member and supported by a stainless steel iumper strap below. Jenny Green photo

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GBE 11 (above), a refined version of Auckland designer Malcolm Tennant's original MickyMunoz-inspired Great Barrier Express, sporting more sail area and improved construction techniquesto reduce weight. David Pardon photo. A boom tent complete with windows and for'ard zipperconverts GBE l1 to a cruiser (below) and, say the makers, will withstand winds up to 30 knots. Twink

McCabe photo

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A threequarter rigged over-rotating mast carriesthe loosefooted main and is stepped on the main

cross-member. Jenny Green photo

Fibregloss in two holves ond bondedtogether, ond ore symmelricol in shope.Yochtspor Die l5 oluminium mosl extru-sions ore used for the moin ond ofl crossmembers, which hold the two hullstogether, ond smoller 100 mm tubes, olsoYochtspor sections, ore used for the othertwo beoms. The finished bool olso feotureso centrol fibregloss "outboord pod" whichis bosicolly o slowoge locker with twocomportments, the oft, o well for on 8.9kW outboord, with onchor stowoge ir ?for'ord oreo.

Decking is o combinoiion of two sepor-ote trompolenes, both mode by Boyd ondMocMoster in Aucklond, lhe for'ord onebeing o softer, wider mesh netting incor-poroting spinnoker louncher, ond o firmerLumit nylon trompolene mot for the workingoreo. The threequorler rigged over-rototingmost, feoturing fully-bottened, loose-foot-ed moinsoil (soils by Dove Giddens Soil-mokers) ond curved boom vong trock toprovide instont conlrol odiustments for fostreoching, is stepped on lhe moin cross-member ond supported by o stoinless sleeliumper strop beneoth.

From o fost, rocing coiomoron copobleof stoying emborrossingly close to muchlorger multihulls ond moking fosl monohullslook like borges, the Greot Borrier Expresscon be converted into o cruising boot by iheoddition of o cleverly designed boom tent,mode up by the Colifornio Convqs AwningCo, which utilises the moin boom ond

SEA SPR.AY - Deccmbcr, 1979

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spin.roker pole for rigidity ond increosesthe "minimol occommodotion", in the twonorrow hulls, to quile o reosonoble omount.

Hulls on ihe finished production boot orefitted with two bunks opiece, one oft ondone for'ord. A portoble golley, sloweddown one of the quorler berths whilesoiling, con be set between the iwo bunkslo give comping-style cooking focilitiesond, of course, there's room to sling holf odozen sleeping bogs down on lhe trom-polene under the boom cover

- provided

it's reosonobly worm weother.Owner ond gloss production bootbuilder

Pilkington, o greot exponent of the cruisingcopobilities of the GBE cots despite somedoubts on our port, tells us the boom tents,complete with windows ond zipper in thefor'ord section to ollow occess to thefor'ord trompolene oreo, ore well streom-lined in shope ond will withstond winds uplo oround 3O kn should get you cought inthe middle of your cruise.

lf the worst did come to the worsl os for-- rhe weother pottern wos concerned, ihe

lesign feotures fully retrocloble cen-,' :rds ond rudders onywoy, which

.rs lhot the cotomorons con not only bemoored in very shollow woter, on sondbonks ond other such hondy spots, but conolso be beoched in emergency. Aport fromtheir shool droft feolures, the high ospectrotio doggerboords ossisl good windwordperformonce, ond con be roised or loweredto odiust the cenire of loterol resislonceond thereby bolonce lhe helm, dependingon condilions prevoiling ot the time.

With fhe slory told, the onlics in close tothe oil whorves for the comeromen com-pleted (never seem lo look os impressive onfilm os when he puts oll the geor owoy) ondthe conversion of three hitherto stounchlymonohull-inclined yochtspeople pretty wellwropped up, we heod off down lowordsBeon Rock ogoin for iusi one more time,flying o hull occosionolly ond hitting oguesslimoled I 8 knois in one porticulorly

urst.1 feeling of slight opprehension when

,l you're sitiing in, or on, leoves the',-.sr is compleiely reploced by one ofexhilorotion os GBE ll forges for'ord,perfectly in control provided the helmsmonor o crew member in lune with the booikeeps the moin in hond . . .

With ihe ofternoon lurning inlo one ofthose lhe Woitemoto Horbour is worldfomous for, with sporkling blue woters ondo fresh ofternoon seo breeze, the lempto-tion iust to go on ond on is olmost too muchfor those of us new to this sort of speedsoiling.

But good things olwoys come to on end,so vowing to tolk owner Pilkington intotoking us soiling ogoin one sultry summer'sdoy when the office heot becomes.unbeor-oble, we reluctontly heod bock towordsWesthoven, ond prepore for o complelelydifferenl ossouh on our senses, the soundsond smells of Aucklond city closing up forthe doy.

I Cm olmost heor the groons nowi notonother "bock-to-bosics" story surely.Well in o woy, yes, onolher one, prompledby whot oppeored ot first sight to be orevivol meeting ot the locol yocht club.

Now os most older, fotter, bolder (l wosobout to odd senile) Kiwis remember, weonce hod four closses of smoll soiling boot.Threequorters of lhese were box-likeobiects, slightly shorper ot one end lhon theother. Some survived the influx of modernoverseos ond locol designs, some didn't.

Mony of you will recoll thot obout 1960the morket volue of the lightest, smoothesf,most geored-up ldle Along wos oboulholf whot it hod cost to build. To roce one,complete with oll lhe hossles of o thirdmon, wos old hot, the closs hod becomeexlincl. Just where oll the boots disop-peored to wos onyone's guess, bul disop-peor they cerioinly did.

Finns, Dutchmen, OKs, ihis Moth lhotMoth, you nome themi confusion, expense,ulcers, trying to nol only keep up with theJoneses but beoi them os well.

The yeors rolled on, cotomorons, Losers,Troiler Yochts, Windsurfers. Closs rocing otclub level olmost disoppeored, hondicop-pers climbed higher up the woll ond whennewcomers io the sport osked whot sort ofboot they should soil they received 50different "expert" opinions ond decided toioke up tiddlywinks insteod.

Well ofter oll thot progress (l guessthot's the word) it would oppeor we hoveolmosl gone full circle ond thoi is whot Istorted io write obout in the firsi ploce.

The opporent revivol meeiing witnessedwos thol of no fewer lhon four respectoble

old ldle Alongs, some plonked, some ply,some wilh cotlon soils ond one with ogunter rig. I om not hinting ihot we shouldoll modly rush off ond stort building ldleAlongs (o look ot my old plons con beorronged for o modest fee), but I omconvinced thot these guys for their $ I 00 to$250 outloy ore hoving fun.

Close closs rocing, friendly rivolry,finishing the course when everything else isblown off it, sofe fomily booting o boot losii in ond not on, oll for o froction of thecost of the smoller troiler yocht closses.They moy nol be leorning quile os muchobout soil ond rig odiuslmenls os lhemodern dinghy soiler, but ihey surely getgood locticol experience ond onything theydo lock is obviously mode up for some-where iudging by fhe expression on lheirfoces when, in mixed rocing, they finishoheod of mony dollors' worth of gleomingplostic in the form of whotsit's lotestdesign.

We must, of course, keep up withdevelopment closses, Olympic closses ondpopulor nolionol closses, but for lhose whohoven't got sights set on Tollinn or nolionoltitles ond ore o little post climbing bock inloo copsized dinghy, don't give up the sport

- lry rocing o vintoge ldle Along.

I hod better leove it ot lhol -

they hovecome to pui me owoy ogoin. but if onyonecon remember whot hoppened lo the Mof-fot Cup pleose let the Bockword Boys in iheBoxes ol Oomoru know; they might wont torevive thot too. tr. EDlfOn'S NOTE: Anyone wqnlingto contoct Groeme Ferris, his od-dress is 32A Lune St, Oomqru.

Down ln Oamaru, GRAEME FEFRTS ls convlnced that a rew guys ln thetr$100 to $250 boats are haylng all the lun . . .

IDLING ALONGAGAIN

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Omru MJI Dhoto

SEASPRAY -

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