An All-Fijian Yacht
p. 57 · Read in the full issue
Gaffer (right), Jon Bateman’s 37 ft sloop, is 100 per cent. Fiji-built and 99 per cent. Fiji-grown. Except for the mast of Canadian Oregon, all the timber used came from the Yasawas, Kadavu and Viti Levu.
No mechanical tools were used during her con struction in a mangrove swamp at Lautoka. Most of the timber was shaped with an adze wielded by a boatbuilder from the Yasawas, Apenisa Momolevu.
Just two years after construction started. Gaffer (named after the Old Gaffer Association in England whose members sail gaff-rigged yachts) was in Suva on her first excursion out of Lautoka waters.
Mr, Bateman, from England, explained that he had gone for traditional lines to give extra comfort. He said Gaffer was a heavy boat needing a lot of sail to drive her. She has an 11 ft beam and a draught of 5 ft.
Vesi was used for the keel, frames and stringers, dakua for the planks, damanu for deck beams and trimming and dilo for the knees.
With a sail area of 600 sq. ft, the sloop has a designed maximum sailing speed of seven knots. A diesel engine gives her a maximum cruising range under power of 350 miles and a cruising speed of five knots.
Photo: Bal Ram.