Post by Mystique R333 on Apr 13, 2011 19:12:51 GMT 10
This info was sent to me by Doug Sharpin, who said, "Hi Colin ..........just came across this link from the past when I went to Corpus Christie for the ¼ ton Worlds and Business Machine nearly won it only to come up the wrong side of the channel to Magic Bus who won.
"Business Machine" was a special Kiwi 24 (same as Eygthene – Kiwi Yachts Florida was Ron's brother-in-law) with planning boards extending from the transom curving slightly down to emulate the stern wave – from there Ron drew the same lines into our Holland 25 and one in NZ called “the Sting”.
I got this new design in 1974 while export/sales manager of Ronstan, built the mould at home and went into business 1975, selling 6 the first year.
First H25 in the water was “Velsheda” then my “Irish Impact”, Christoph, Aquarius (all at Brighton)...are they still around?"
See Forum forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=118393
Forum states, "Business Machine was the second quarter-ton boat that was owned by Bob Chilton - Dallas/Rockwall, TX. His first was Truckin' Machine. Both were Kiwi 24's - designed by Ron Holland and built down in Florida by I believe Gary Carlin. Truckin' Machine was a fairly conventional cored manufactured boat while Business Machine had a welded aluminum tube cage inside (think of Imp) around which a lighter but stronger hull was hung on. As I remember, both boats (maybe only Business Machine) had B&R rigs with rod rigging where the forestay tension was adjusted by a hydraulic ram at the base of the forestay. Both boats used North Sails exclusively and were constantly refined. I also seem to remember that Business Machine had a slightly deeper keel than the other Kiwi 24's that were made.
Having raced against both boats, I will tell you that they were both extremely well sailed/sorted out and pointed like hell - nothing was left to chance. For but one example- I remember Truckin' Machine winning the Quarter-Ton NA Championship up in Vancouver back in 1975 or so. The navigator Jim Craig had charted the assigned racing area, and they had 2 spools (600' each) of quarter-inch line that they would use for anchoring in a foul tide. They used that 1200' more than a couple of times to great effect in winning that championship - as I said, nothing was left to chance! Besides the skipper Bob Chilton, the rest of the crew would typically include Gary Carlin, Mark Foster, Jim Craig, Mark Ploch and other equally talented crew members in a pinch.
The Quarter-Ton World Championship was held down in Corpus Christi in 1976. It came down to basically a match race between Business Machine and Magic Bus (designed by the late Paul Whiting) from New Zealand skippered by Murray Ross. It all came down to the last leg of the last race with a beat through the channel into Corpus Christi bay. Ross made the choice to bear across the channel (against a stronger ebbing tide) and cover Business Machine at the very last moment - a wise and gutsy call since he won the World Championship with Business Machine a very close second!"
Thanks Doug.
"Business Machine" was a special Kiwi 24 (same as Eygthene – Kiwi Yachts Florida was Ron's brother-in-law) with planning boards extending from the transom curving slightly down to emulate the stern wave – from there Ron drew the same lines into our Holland 25 and one in NZ called “the Sting”.
I got this new design in 1974 while export/sales manager of Ronstan, built the mould at home and went into business 1975, selling 6 the first year.
First H25 in the water was “Velsheda” then my “Irish Impact”, Christoph, Aquarius (all at Brighton)...are they still around?"
See Forum forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=118393
Forum states, "Business Machine was the second quarter-ton boat that was owned by Bob Chilton - Dallas/Rockwall, TX. His first was Truckin' Machine. Both were Kiwi 24's - designed by Ron Holland and built down in Florida by I believe Gary Carlin. Truckin' Machine was a fairly conventional cored manufactured boat while Business Machine had a welded aluminum tube cage inside (think of Imp) around which a lighter but stronger hull was hung on. As I remember, both boats (maybe only Business Machine) had B&R rigs with rod rigging where the forestay tension was adjusted by a hydraulic ram at the base of the forestay. Both boats used North Sails exclusively and were constantly refined. I also seem to remember that Business Machine had a slightly deeper keel than the other Kiwi 24's that were made.
Having raced against both boats, I will tell you that they were both extremely well sailed/sorted out and pointed like hell - nothing was left to chance. For but one example- I remember Truckin' Machine winning the Quarter-Ton NA Championship up in Vancouver back in 1975 or so. The navigator Jim Craig had charted the assigned racing area, and they had 2 spools (600' each) of quarter-inch line that they would use for anchoring in a foul tide. They used that 1200' more than a couple of times to great effect in winning that championship - as I said, nothing was left to chance! Besides the skipper Bob Chilton, the rest of the crew would typically include Gary Carlin, Mark Foster, Jim Craig, Mark Ploch and other equally talented crew members in a pinch.
The Quarter-Ton World Championship was held down in Corpus Christi in 1976. It came down to basically a match race between Business Machine and Magic Bus (designed by the late Paul Whiting) from New Zealand skippered by Murray Ross. It all came down to the last leg of the last race with a beat through the channel into Corpus Christi bay. Ross made the choice to bear across the channel (against a stronger ebbing tide) and cover Business Machine at the very last moment - a wise and gutsy call since he won the World Championship with Business Machine a very close second!"
Thanks Doug.
