| Re: Kittycat
[Re: waterbug_wpb]
#78056 06/22/06 05:07 PM 06/22/06 05:07 PM |
Joined: Jun 2004 Posts: 502 Port Noarlunga, SA, Australia Darryn
addict
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addict
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 502 Port Noarlunga, SA, Australia | I had a KittyCat when I was a youngster, my first catamaran, 27 years ago. After sailing Mirrors and Flying 11's it was very fast but fragile. Required a rebuild after everysail. We called it the "boatpark special", looked great in the rigging area, but self distructed on the race course. Thinking back on it though we were rather hard on it, being kids, and some of our repairs were very agricultural. The hulls had lots of bouyancy being wide and blunt, it was heavy, the one I had was anyway, the genoa was huge and the asymetric had a wire luff, single centreboard too, solid deck. I put twin trapeze wires on it probably contributing to the self destruction. Funny to realise I was sailing a cat with a spinnaker when I was a kid, moved onto skiffs after that boat, I never have understood the great devide between mono's and cats, maybe thats why. Darryn, Mosquito 1704 (spinnakerless) | | | Re: Kittycat
[Re: Darryl_Barrett]
#78059 06/23/06 12:13 AM 06/23/06 12:13 AM |
Joined: Apr 2003 Posts: 1,669 Melbourne, Australia Tornado_ALIVE
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,669 Melbourne, Australia | Quote from New Zealand Crew 'Forum' http://crew.net.nz/newForum/viewtopic.php?t=4088 I know of no active Kitty Kat sailing in Auckland - and haven't seen one race in Auckland since the early/mid 1970s. After their heyday, you used to see them at various holiday beaches, - you could buy them cheaply, before the days when off-the-beach surf cats were readily available in NZ.
I'm no expert on the history of these boats - the following is my memory - but I could well have some of my facts wrong.
I think Jim Young designed the Kitty Kat, and somebody (the Peet family of Glendowie Boating Club rings a bell) raced the boat with the 12 footers - either at NZ level or maybe the interdominions. That would have been in the late 50s I think (1958? about the the same time that Don Harland raced his Cherub as a 12 footer against what were then called Q Class in Auckland) - or maybe it was a bit later.
I think there was an article about this in one of the boating magazines a few years back (OK - maybe more than a few years) - perhaps written by Paul Titchener who has done a lot of writing about Auckland (Devonport in particular) and sailing over the years.
If I'm right about the Peets - then Brian Peet (whom you can track down via GBC) may be able to help. Brian - like me - is probably a little too young to remember the Kitty Kat in the interdominions - but will probably know the history. As a former Tornado sailor, Brian might be a good source. (I've only met Brian once, and that was many years ago - so I hope I'm not speaking out of turn). Jim Young of course will be able to help. All NZers know whom I mean - but for visitors - this is Auckland's legendary designer/builder - not the Jim Young so closely associated with the Tornado class in North America.
If you are in Auckland - the other source well worth checking out for the history is the library of the Auckland Museum. I'm not sure how you arrange access these days, but I once spent an entertaining day there - they had every Sea Spray magazine published since 1949.
Unfortunately my personal memories only stretch back to the final years of Kitty Kats as a class - there are some members here with more grey hair than me who should be able to add to this.
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