Davie Norris Boatbuilders
Christchurch, New Zealand
American Dream - Page 2
Boating New Zealand Article
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Morpheus’
brief was to combine the disciplines of ocean cruising and harbour
racing: a design challenge of weight versus strength and performance
versus comfort.
|
 |
|||
Schumacher’s
strategy was to rely on his proven hull form and to keep weight
out of the bow and stern. Interior cabinetry is foam with veneer.
|
Norris jokes that
since the family has moved on board and set up for cruising offshore,
the boat sits about 10cm lower in the water.
|
||
Morpheus had a boisterous shake
down cruise: Christchurch to Auckland with several squirts of 50kts-plus.
A blast of 53kts true wind set the boat’s speed record, under
trysail, of 17.4kts. The delivery included a lot of close reaching,
achieving 9kts upwind in 12-15kts wind; 10kts with sheets cracked.
|
||
Fifty-three knots sounded like
hard work to us. We settled for bright sun shine between showers
and around 20-30kts from Auckland’s faithful sou’west.
|
Gregory is a dedicated
racing sailor — check out the huge Volvo Ocean Race-style
carbon wheel and his broad grin behind it later that afternoon as
we started mixing it up with other boats in the prestart for the
Rum Race.
|
| Spoiling the effect
is an aluminum arch in front of the wheel which supports the compass
and provides a firm hold for crew who might otherwise grab the wheel.
The arch also provides the exhaust with a high gooseneck to prevent
seawater entering the engine but it looks a bit agricultural next
to the hi-tech carbon fibre wheel.
|
 |
With shorthanded
ocean cruising in mind, all controls come back to the cockpit and
winches either side of the wheel give the helmsman easy control
of the mainsheet. The only reason to leave the cockpit, apart from
spinnaker work, is for reefing. With his family as crew, Gregory
wanted sail handling to be easy and admits he could probably have
done - with just one, rather than two, winches either side on the
cabin top but, he says, “My philosophy
was: go with what’s proven. Don’t push any limits.”
When working the sails under pressure, he wants the crew to have
plenty of winches available.
|
An American trick
in this cockpit and on that of another I sailed on the following
day, was bottle or can wells moulded into the coamings — great
idea, although one local designer dismissed them as dirt traps.
|
Gregory maneuvered
the 50ft boat out of the marina with the Yanmar 65hp engine turning
the two-blade Maxprop. In good conditions, the motor pushes the
boat at 8.7kts. Gregory admits engine maintenance is not his strength
and largely left it to Norris to design an installation that made
routine maintenance easy. Three out of four sides of engine cabinetry
open out.
|
Clear of the marina,
we hoisted the mainsail, flicking its batons up between the lazyjacks.
|
We headed out Waitemata
Harbour and turned left at North Head to set ourselves up for screaming
spinnaker ride down towards Browns Island. The true wind peed was
30kts and there was a chance of beating Morpheus’ personal
speed record.
|
Morpheus
To those of you who helped to put Morpheus together, a huge thank you!.
She is pretty darn close to perfect in our minds
We've enjoyed meeting all of you and appreciate the effort in getting this boat ready to cross oceans.
Jim, Debbie, Chris & Pat Gregory
 |
|
|
|
|
|