Jump to content

Ceramco for sale


Recommended Posts

Poor old Ceramco - there was talk by the previous (last?) owner after the 2013 Rolex Big Boat series in the US about doing another Sydney-Hobart, and then bringing her back to NZ which would've been pretty cool.  Looks like it would require a massive restoration effort now though. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

The world is littered with old race yachts some in very very good condition but the limiting Factor is their deep-draft I can see her staying where she is for ever

as an aluminium yacht builder I would never touch her with a 40 foot barge pole I know the work involved

they built her 4 line honours but she was never competitive enough being that much shorter than the maxi's of the day I remember the day she left on a ship for England

I also had my first yacht down there at Kings Wharf I think it was the day Outward Bound sailed for England I remember Wheels dropping a 4 litre pot of paint from the masthead onto the cork deck what a bloody tragedy that was

Link to post
Share on other sites

nothing wrong with the mast as designed by Farr - Farr's design would have specified mast stiffness characteristics and safe working loads for standing and running rigging and deck fittings, just as he did for my yacht's design. The problem (devil is always in the detail) was the selected Navtec system (by Blake, supplied by Terry Gillespie) which included bending solid rod rigging around the spreader tips with a sleeve around the outside. You would think no one had ever heard of fatigue before.

There were questions about this when Ceramco was first rigged in Auckland. On arrival for the start in UK Blake was further warned about the problem by Digby Taylor (they had problems on their delivery trip) and the Flyer guys(they also had problems during trialling and developed their own discontinuous link plate system), but in his ignorance/arrogance Blake chose to ignore this advice and the catastrophic rigging failure was the result.

Another good read, for some balance, is the "The Shape of Speed".

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...