Davie Norris Boatbuilders
Christchurch, New Zealand
Blackjack
Boating New Zealand Article
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
WHEN BLACK JACK'S JAPANESE OWNER APPROACHED Bakewell-White Yacht Design for his new 43-footer, he laid his cards firmly on the table. He wanted a day sailer, his way. |
||||
 |
||||
Some boats indulge
several passions: racing short-handed, racing fully-crewed, coastal
or offshore cruising, fishing, even diving. Such versatility is
commendable — but. It always brings a but: compromise. Black
Jack doesn’t compromise. She meets perfectly her owner’s
wish to leave the office on summer afternoons, step on board, make
a cup of tea, heat some food in the microwave and have an easy,
wet, solo sail which will have him home before dark. |
||||
 |
|
And she meets the sports car looks he wanted — modern-classic, Louis Vuitton-type looks. |
 |
||
| We’ll
deal later with the practical aspects of his brief. Black Jack’s
sports car styling is what you will notice first.
|
|||
| Initially it threw
the team at Bakewell-White Yacht Design: the lines of a sports car
seemed to lend themselves more to the lines of a high-powered sports
boat than those of a yacht and Brett Bakewell-White admits at times
he felt they were drawing a part-yacht, part-powerboat concept.
|
|||
| His love of sports
cars helped: the sense of a bonnet sweeping into a low windshield,
the aerodynamic flow along the length of a car’s panels, the
open rear seats of a convertible.
|
There’s something
of that in Black Jack’s clean bow and foredeck which sweep
aft to a solid windshield with not even a jib sheet to distract
the eye.
|
The open cockpit
easily captures the wind-in-your-hair of a convertible sports car
but the key, at the owner’s request, is having the helmstations
well forward, more like a powerboat — you could sling your
arm nonchalantly over the coaming instead of out the window.
|
| The arch behind the driver also speeds up the boat visually, and keeps the mainsheet and its bridle clear of the cockpit. |
The boat’s interior is simple and clean but finished to the highest standard. The galley has a sink and a microwave oven, but no stove. Panels are American rock maple, decks are teak; the cabin’s feel is light and airy, as befits a boat destined for Japan. The heads are functional rather than luxurious. |
 |
|
|
|
|