by Mark Steele - Auckland, New Zealand A windling Reverend. Cup yawning,, Stan’s three brothers and a gathering of schooners

A friend of many years, Peter Spencer is a retired religious Reverend in the County of Essex, England, who just happens to build utterly `drop dead beautiful’ models of sailing boats, thus proving that the art, skills and passion of being involved with model sailing boats knows no bounds insofar as those whom it attracts. With a particular interest in schooners, the photos here show a couple of the models produced by this delightful clergyman who was a keen reader of the writer’s Windling World magazine for the duration of its published years.

That time exciting to many fast approaches, when nations and sponsoring companies will increase their spending and pour further millions, maybe `kazillions’ into their quests to win the America’ Cup now held by Switzerland. Sure we are all different in what we like and what turns on our excitement switches, presses our enthusiasm buttons, but for me the event has always seemed pointless and akin to throwing money into the ocean in a world where presently there is so much starvation and poverty. To each his own I guess and `if the cap fits, pull the string’, but I will never get worked up about it, that much I can promise.

Now here are three more lovely models from Keith Murrow of Hull in England, the first, Three Brothers of Rye Keith made for friend, Stan as a thank you present for all the publicity he had heaped on Keith’s boats. The hull was one of the builder’s fiberglass ones of a single-masted French fishing boat called the Louis Heloise around the turn of the century. Following on that one, the second is a gorgeous looking three masted schooner from a period when boats still had those glorious flowing lines. That’s a bit of an unfair statement but I think you’ll know what I mean, and the third is Keith’s most recent, a model of Ellen MacArthur’s round the world solo trimaran, the real thing also shown below

Held at Onepoto lake in Auckland, New Zealand on Thursday 7th December was a day of sailing exclusively for schooners of those in the windling group known as the Ancient Mariners. Long a dream of the writer to hold such a day, despite the uncertain late Spring weather sixteen schooners fronted, two of them (Ron Rule’s and Murray White’s) specially designed and hastily built in a matter of weeks for the event .. A short set course `just one crack at it’ with two boats together, timed trial event, and a set-course race, plus a break for a shared light lunch pondside and presentation of medallions made up the programme. The weather was beautiful and the sailing relaxed making the morning enjoyable and a fitting one a few weeks before Christmas. Bob Walters (pictured) sailed Mark’s Pinky schooner, Running Tide to take top honours in the first event, and Alex Bartlett won the `sort of race’, sort of handicap event with his vintage design schooner, Magic (seen below). The schooners made a lovely sight strung out heading for the first buoy (see photo), and among the new boats was John Stubbs lovely 1886 design oyster schooner, Mary J,. Ron Rules tidy little schooner, Sea-krit and Murray White’s new Black Pearl.

Brian Cuthbert of Whangaparaoa on New Zealand’s north island has built several attractive fishing schooners over the years and has also built a mullet boat as well as a 1937 vintage design sloop, Rival shown here in this excellent shot. by friend Alistair Reynolds.

A photo received from Will Lesh at Tippecanoe shows his new T50 one-design Marblehead (below) which is supplied with 3 different jibs. Nice boat with nice clean lines and several already on order.

Why did they call them `yachting shoes' I have often wondered? You could have used them for yachting I guess, and you could certainly have used them for sailing model yachts, but in the age of today they are not proper footwear for running around on the decks of fullsized yachts and would not be considered `pukka' like for that purpose now would they? When I was growing up and taking part at athletic events at college I wore them and again later playing competitive tennis, and you also wore them when fielding and bowling at cricket, and on the beach where they got sodden! Oh what the hell - I still have a decent pair which when I walk occasionally, I walk in, and I have on occasion used them in the summer when model yachting. See, they are yachting shoes after all!

The late John Spencer (seen below) of New Zealand designed and built the 73’ plywood Maxi, Buccaneer seen racing up Tasmania’s Derwent River in a display of raw power to finish ahead of the fleet in the 1971 Sydney to Hobart ocean classic. Where is this famous Kiwi yacht now some, may wonder? One story given me is that she went to Queensland, Australia where years later she hit a reef, another is that she is in San Francisco, yet another that she was seen in a tributary of the Derwent in Tasmania, holed, half sunk and infested with poisonous spiders. And then there is the crème de la crème story of them all, that she was caught running drugs on the Amu Darya river in Central Asia, her owner, a Jeman Garcia shot and killed aboard at point blank range by authorities, Buccaneer then confiscated, dismantled and her timber sold and used to build a small river village church .. John built her tough but he would have a huge chuckle if she was now part of a church, in fact he would be laughing himself silly to a second death!

And finally, to close there is a bit of poetry with similiarity expressed between old boats and us of human kind. Like vessels we too eventually must wear out and only the man `upstairs’ knows when or where we are all eventually destined to end our respective voyages.

Against time and tide
Mark Steele

Against time and tide our journeys go when our schooners of age set sail,
in our minds the knowledge that each journey could well fail
just ahead and up the river or mere meters of ocean ahead,
for our sails and keel and rudder, even our rigging is almost dead.

They certainly are tired and unable to withstand
the pounding and the punishment future times and seas demand.
The tides and lack of time combine and now provide formidable odds,
much of our lives on earth are gone and our sinking left to the gods.

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