Mitzell - IA37

Mitzel was built by Earle Otway and his griend Gary Carr in Gisborne and launched in the summer of 1960. 

Earle had built a previous IdleAlong of the planked and riveted construction and when he decided to build Mitzel particular attention was paid  to weight and on launching day it hit the water at minimum weight . The boat was built exactly to plan but for some unknown reason it was particularly fast off the wind. We sailed the the yacht for two years in Gisborne with very good results following which after a transfer in his job he took the boat to Rotorua .

With a new crew he campaigned  the yacht very successfully in Rotorua also earning the right to represent the B.O.P in the Moffat cup on three occasions before achieving the ultimate goal of winning the cup in 1967 in Timaru whilst he was on his honeymoon . It sailed under the sail number IA27 in 1967.

 Work and family became a priority and the boat was sold to Owen Moxham 

There was a great photograph of Mitzel in full flight on the front cover of the Sea Spray  taken whilst racing off  Point Chevalier in 1965 or 66 .

A photo from a TradeMe advertisement for Mitzel - October 2011

Some Mitzel photos received from Gordon R around 2006:

Mitzel's bare bottom

This photo is labelled "Otway2_SpinnakerShotOfMitzel_Timaru"

Mitzel sailed by Earl O 1965-66