Bid to bring Thelma home to Auckland

The owner of a classic Auckland-built yacht wants her back in New Zealand waters. ROBIN BAILEY reports.

On October 30 it will be 106 years since the great Logan yacht Thelma was launched in Auckland. Regarded as one of the outstanding creations of the classic period of Auckland yacht production, the beautifully restored Thelma is now sailing out of St Tropez on the French Riviera.

She is for sale and her Australian owner is keen that Thelma return to Auckland, where she would complement our growing fleet of restored classics. The price is $1.2 million, and Chad Thompson has been given the challenge of finding an owner, a corporate or a syndicate to bring Thelma home.

The driving force behind New Zealand Classic Yachts Ltd, Thompson is enthusiastic about returning Thelma to her home waters.

His experience with classic yachts goes back many years. His family has owned Prize since 1943 and he was responsible for her complete restoration. Since 1996 he has seen to the restoration of Tawera, the 50ft (15.2m) 1936 Arch Logan cutter, and Lady Gay, a 46ft (14m) 1935 Col Wild-designed-and-built launch.

"Our primary objective is to find Thelma a new owner so she can be enjoyed for what she is," says Thompson.

"We need an individual or a group committed to seeing her returned to New Zealand, where she will complete the big seven of New Zealand's classic fleet, sailing and racing alongside Waitangi, Viking, Rawhiti, Iorangi, Rainbow and Ariki."

Writing about the period 1890 to 1910, marine historian Harold Kidd says at that time Auckland had a group of highly skilled yacht builders and designers who still had access to stocks of superb-grade long lengths of kauri.

"Under the influence of Scottish immigrant Robert Logan snr, these builders had developed a three-skin diagonal monocoque construction which was immensely strong. The hulls produced were extraordinarily long-lived, being highly resistant to rot and damage. Hulls of more than 100 years old are therefore unremarkable in New Zealand."

The Logan brothers, Robert jnr, Arch and John, had left their father's business in the early 90s to set up on their own. Thelma, their first really large yacht, was built for marine merchants William and Alfred Jagger. She was launched from the Logans' yard on October 30, 1897. Her dimensions were 60ft (18.2m) loa, 40ft (12.2m) lwl, 12in (30cm) beam and 8ft 3in (2.5m) draught. The designer was Arch Logan, then only 32.

Thelma immediately became the scratch boat on the Waitemata, eclipsing the two former heavyweights, Viking and the Sydney cutter/yawl Volunteeer.

In 1912 she was bought by J.L.R. Blomfield, the original owner of Viking. Subsequent owners were W.D. Wilson (1920) and H.R. Hume and G.E. Creagh (1927).

They sold her in 1941 to commercial photographer R.E. Johnson, who equipped her for a cruise. A confirmed pacifist, he was heading for the then neutral United States.

Unfortunately for the owner, Thelma was impounded in the Pacific and finished up in the hands of the US Navy in Honolulu, being used for r & r by the military.

Eventually she gravitated to California, where her present owner, Australian IT developer Phil Dickinson, spent two-and-a-half years restoring her to her former glory before taking her to the Mediterranean.

Thelma has competed successfully on the St Tropez scene, particularly in the Prada Cup classic yacht series.

Thompson says the yacht's three-skin hull has ensured her longevity, and after the restoration work she is now in a condition to keep sailing long into the future.

Restoration of the interior is not complete, but much of the detail of how her accommodation was laid out has been retained. Ideally this work would be completed back in New Zealand to ensure one of this country's maritime treasures is returned to her original state.

Thelma website

* Email Chad Thompson