“After all, tomorrow is another day”
These words, spoken by Vivien Leigh playing Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind” seem uncannily apt as I received the email below from Mark Watson.
SCARLET is a 1958 Laurent Giles design, looking fora new custodian and for infomation to fill the gaps in her history.
The arrival in Auckland in September 1953 of Eric and Susan Hiscock on the WANDERER III is believed to have inspired SCARLET’s first owner to commission her construction choosing Kauri planking over hardwood frames, Mahogany Cabin and deck of Queensland Beech over plywood. It is known that they sailed her to the Cook Islands and places north of New Zealand.
WANDERER III, the boat that inspired SCARLET’S construction.
The next confirmed stage of SCARLET’s voyaging is that she was first registered on the Australian Ships Register with the home port of Melbourne in 1983. According to a survey in 1984 at East Coast Marina in Manly, Queensland the 10 HP Bukh motor was fitted in 1982. The next major change occurred in 1989 when Geoffrey Born and partner Amanda York of Caboolture purchased SCARLET, trucking her to Perth in 1990 and after cruising off the lower Western Australian coast they shipped her to Darwin where she lived until 1996 when they had her delivered by sea back to Caboolture only to find it necessary to sell her later that year.
I purchased SCARLET from a couple in Williamstown. I believed that they owned her for 18 months and prior to that she was off Townsville for 4 years from where she was sailed to Williamstown.
I purchased her knowing that the deck, engine, working sails, standing and running rigging needed replacement/upgrading, so the first 12 months of ownership was very busy. During 17 years of ownership I have continued to makes a series of further refurbishments and provided consistent care and maintenance. The biggest improvement to her sailing ability resulted from moving the forestay metre closer to the top of the mast enabling her to carry a much larger foresail with a foam luff so that she sails well with the sail partially furled in heavier conditions as well as having more power in light air.
SCARLET made regular visits to Queensclif from December 2007 for quite a few years, she has always competed in the Sandringham Yacht Club Twilight races and of recent years the Wednesday Wonders along with social sailing and charity events. Many people have come to enjoy sailing while crewing on Scarlet and I and my family have had many hours of pleasure on board the good ship SCARLET. I am interested to hear from anyone who can fill in more details of SCARLET’s history.
Mark Watson