In the wake of a grand Tracker

Builder Phil Wilson helms the still-pristine Tracker while sailing nicely just astern is Ontrack.

Thirty years ago Alan Wright designed a yacht to fill what he perceived as a hole in the market. The objective was a boat that was lighter and faster than the traditional boats of the 50s and 60s.

The result was the Tracker, a 7.7m (25.5ft) yacht with a masthead rig that quickly attracted attention after an enthusiastic boat test in Seaspray magazine. Some were built in wood off the plans. Others followed in glass reinforced plastic after a mould was taken from the original Tracker, built by Phil Wilson.

Today there is an active Tracker Owners Association and members have a busy class race programme, including some notable performances in the Short-Handed Sailing Association's Simrad Barrier series.

A boatbuilder who served his time at the Devonport Naval Dockyard, Wright became a teacher in his late 20s. He spent two years teaching high school at Manurewa before moving to Auckland Technical Institute to run the boatbuilding course.

That's where the Tracker enters the picture. "Because I had to teach design calculation I thought I had better design a boat from start to finish as a project," says Wright.

"That took about a year and then came the Seaspray article and I began to sell some plans and my career as a designer took off.

"I have probably designed 80 boats ranging from 4.5m (15ft) to 22m (73ft) with most of them being racing/cruising family boats.

The Tracker was designed as a keel yacht that could be trailered and be built as a twin bilge keeler or a drop keel trailer yacht. Because marina berths were expensive and moorings often difficult to get, Wright says he felt it was timely to create a boat that could be put on a trailer.

"I thought there would be a big upsurge in trailer yachts so I kept the Tracker a bit narrower than I would have liked so it could be trailered without having to get an extra-wide permit," he says.

"I went for a masthead rig because at that time there was still resistance to fractional rigs. A lot of the people going into my boats were going straight into keelboats and the masthead rig was easier to sail. The flat-out racing types were opting for fractional rigs having moved up through the dinghy classes."

If he was doing it again now he says: "I would have made the boat a bit beamier, put on a spade rudder and a fractional rig and with modern material made it 30 per cent lighter. Having said that a sail aboard Tracker this month to mark the 30th anniversary was great. I had last sailed one about 1978 so I was absolutely delighted with the performance in 12 to 15 knots of breeze and a flat sea. The boat was really lively."

Aboard Tracker, with designer Wright and builder Wilson, were the owners, Stefan Lenz and Birke Karl. Sailing in tandem was Ontrack, the newest of the breed, with owner David Spitz at the helm and Tracker Association president John Goldsmith along for the ride.

Ontrack was launched last year. Spitz found the boat unfinished sitting on a cradle in a shed at Alfriston where it had been for 15 years. Spitz, the commodore of the Waitemata Trailer Yacht Squadron, is an experienced cruising sailor who finds his acquisition performs up to all his expectations.

The Tracker owners are both new to sailing and have graduated from day trips to overnighting. Lenz crewed through the winter series on a Tracker out of Westhaven and helmed one downwind leg in 30 knots of wind and more than 10 knots boat speed. He is confident that Tracker can handle anything he can.

The Tracker Association is marking the 30th anniversary of the class with a dinner at Richmond Yacht Club on Saturday, October 8. Association secretary Peter Worsley says with Wright as guest of honour they are assured of a memorable night. Inquiries to (09) 303 3386.