Justin spoke about his Z class yacht he has bought.

From Ken Fox Re z class yacht

The first yacht I owned was a Z class. This was built for me by my father in the early 1950s.At the time I was at school and delivered groceries after school with a bike with the small front wheel and large basket earning one pound two shillings and sixpence of which I gave dad the one pound. We lived in a state house and my parents had come through the depression so it was a real amateur job .As can be seen by the photos dad made a lean to which did not go down well with a neighbour. Dad had work at Beazley homes in Judea Tauranga so the boats timber was sourced through them the boat being called Kanapine Queen. I learned several years ago it went to whakatane.Dad is the adult in the photo note the hat which most men wore back then and my younger brother is in one photo. The planks were screwed to battens, the deck timber covered with cloth and red leaded and painted. The mast was hand planed out of oregan timber and varnished.


Main sheets were from hemp rope and sails were from Boyd and McMasters. I cannot remember how long I sailed this boat but dad built me another z class at the Beazley workshop and I called it Revenge. Our boat trollies had wooden wheels and we would tow the boats home with our push bikes. A cotton cover looked after the boats on the Tauranga yacht clubs hard stand with the sails/rudder/centreboard stored downstairs in lockers and racks. We would race the boats in the Tauranga harbour and some days we would sail to the mount and anchor in Pilot Bay then walk over to the Oceanside to swim and surf get sunburnt and sail back home .Trips to Hamilton had us put the boats on a railway carriage for transport my parents not owning a car .The two certificates show 1955/6/7 so I probably paid for the second boat from my apprentice wages as I started plumbing in 1955. I have the photo of dad with his hand on the boat enlarged and on my kitchen wall how I talked him into making me a boat I cannot recall but my box brownie camera photos show the start of a life time of sailing. The photo with no 24 on the back is of the second boat with myself and older brother aboard. With Tauranga being tidal the trick was to sail to avoid the central currant by tacking close to the town side or hug the sandbank. Picnic days were up the harbour to Omokoroa or Pahoia where we would have regattas. Cheers Ken