07-02-2008

Acknowledgement:

We would like to thank Robin Elliott, author of "Emmy - Seventy Years of M-Class Yachting" for allowing us to use the following excerpts from his book.  We recommend you read this comprehensive and detailed history of the Emmy.
Click here to order your copy.

Why the Emmy? What's so special about them?

These questions are often asked by bemused souls pondering the survival and present popularity of the 18-foot kauri-clinker M-Class, first formed in 1922 following designs by Arch Logan and adopted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

The Emmy, as the M-Class Yacht is affectionately known, is one of the few traditional racing yacht classes that has survived the relentless march of progress.  It is testimony to the quality of the Emmy and the dedication of those fine sportsmen committed to it that a class of expensive, wooden clinker boats continues to flourish in a world dominated by exotic, hi-tech materials and keel-boat racing.

Perhaps more than anything else, it is the comradeship that is at the heart of the Emmy's appeal.  For generations of yachties it has been the lasting friendships brought about by the close-knit racing and cruising scene that has made the class so special.  At it's cornerstone has been the unique facility of the Okahu Bay boat ramp where, with ten to fifteen boats and four or five crew each, the entire complement gather at the same rigging area both before and after the race.

Triumphs and disasters are a shared experience on each boat, to be related and embellished as everybody gathers to assist in the ritual of hauling out 'the beasts' over the sometimes treacherous slime on the ramp.

Of the Emmy's contemporaries in the pre-war dinghy world, none remain.  All three of the once-prolific 14-foot classes - T, X and Y - are gone, as has the 16-foot S-Class, which had its heyday in the years up to 1930.  The unrestricted 18-foot V-Class, which in the early 1950s evolved into the spectacular Flying 18's, hung on longest.  By they, too, have now gone the way of many other open-development classes, their decline hastened by the ever-increasing costs of new technology.  (Not surprisingly, though, many of the older and sturdier V's are still around the Hauraki Gulf, being cruised just as comfortably as always.)

Today the Emmy stands alone as the last of the big, unballasted centreboard dinghies racing on the Waitemata Harbour (or in the rest of New Zealand for that matter).  Its survival appears to have been a subtle and finely tuned mixture of good design, tradition, comradeship and plain honest fun, coupled with the gradual introduction of modern ideas without ever sacrificing its 'essential character'.

While nothing is ever certain, the future of the Emmy is at least promising.

The M-Class Men (men who made the Emmy)

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Arch Logan - The Wizard of Stanley Bay

Arch Logan, third son of the famous yacht builder Robert Logan senior and Margaret Logan, was born in Greenock, Scotland, on 18 December 1865.  Nine years later, the family emigrated to New Zealand, where, by 1878, Robert had set up as a boatbuilder in Devonport.  Learning his trade from his father, Arch was by 1895 the chief designer at Logan Brothers.

Arch's reputation as a designer and builder of the very best yachts stems from the period 1893 until 1910, when the Logan partnership dissolved.  Like their great rival Charles Bailey junior, the Logans built a huge variety of motor and sailing craft for an equally diverse clientele.  But it is their yachts, both centreboard and keel, clinker and carvel, designed by Arch, for which they are primarily renowned.

In 1910, for the planned development of the new Kings Wharf project, the Auckland Harbour Board bought back the 99-year lease on the Logan's yard.  It was a generous settlement and the brothers were now reasonably well off.  No longer under pressure to continue working at the same pace, the Logans decided to dissolve the old partnership.

Arch then set up on his own in a small way from his Stanley Bay house and boatshed overlooking Ngataringa Bay, on Auckland's North Shore.  He designed many significant yachts over the next thirty years and, if you could persuade him, also built launches and small craft, and continued working this way right up until his death.

Although many of his smaller craft had since passed into legend, Arch Logan's graceful keelers were still champions, as were his most recent creations, the 22-foot mullet boats Ngaira (1911) and Valeria (1912) and the 26-footer Omatere (1913).  By the time the first M's were built in 1922, Arch Logan was secure in his reputation as the best designer and builder on the Waitemata.

The fact that Logan was again building Patikis was major news.  The Marconi-rigged M-Class Patikis did not disappoint, and were certainly superior to the majority of 18-foot V-Class boats racing at the time.

As Logan grew older, building took on a lower priority.  He was still producing boats, as he would do right up to his death, but much of his time was spent on design.  His last Emmy was Manu, built in 1929 for the Chamberlins of Ponui Island.  Almost as a swansong, Manu harked back to the older Patikis in appearance, for she had the dark top plank, the old Logan trademark that appeared on most of his Restricted Patikis, and on many of his unrestricted ones as well.

Arch Logan's death, on 27 March 1940 in his seventy-fifth year, was overshadowed by that of the Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage, on the same day, but his achievements were recognised barely twelve months later with the creation of the Arch Logan Memorial Trophy.

Bob Stewart - Gentleman

Apart from Arch Logan, the one person who most influenced the M-Class in its early to middle years, and who was directly involved in its survival, was Bob Stewart.  Such was his stature as a designer and ace skipper within the small, close-knit community that was the Auckland yachting fraternity in the late 1940s and early '50s, and such was his abiding affection for the M's, that very little change in the class was ever attempted without consulting him.

During his early association with the M's, Stewart developed an interest in yacht design and became a protege of Arch Logan, who would vet Bob's first attempts and pass on his not-inconsiderable knowledge.  Stewart's first design to be built was Anita, a 28-foot short-end keeler launched for his father, and this was followed by two sailing dinghies, Scram and Betsy.  His next boat was an M.

The cosy conventionality of the M-Class was torn asunder by the arrival of Myth, considered a rebel boat (whose revolutionary introduction is described in Chapter 9 of Robin Elliott's "Emmy - Seventy Years of M-Class Yachting".

It was to Bob Stewart, now well established as a top keelboat skipper, that the M-Class owners turned for a way out of a confused and anger-filled situation.  Stewart's solution, although not what many wanted to hear, was typically fair, balanced and reasoned.  He stated that if the boat measured, it must be considered an M, despite its obvious differences.

The future direction and survival of the M-Class was decided in those few months early in 1948, and it is due in no small measure to Bob Stewart's wisdom and influence that the more extreme sactions being mooted at the time were not carried out.  Without his mediating role in the affair, and the final acceptance of Myth as a true M, subject to modification, the eventual restructuring of the class around the Davidson designs would never have taken place.

In his last years, Bob suffered from a debilitating short-term memory loss and was unable to witness the revival the M's have recently undergone.  His last direct contact with the class was on the morning of the Logan Memorial in March 1988, when, on a grey morning, he was brought down from the Meadowbank Home to stand once more by the yachts he had done so much to promote.  His delight in being there was obvious, but the weather conspired to make it less than convivial for one so frail, and after looking over the new boats and asking about 'my old Manene', he was taken back to the warmth of the Home.

Bob Stewart - a true gentleman - died on 28 November 1988.

Billy Rogers - The Curran Street Craftsman

Billy Rogers was perhaps the finest centreboard boatbuilder this country has ever seen.  Even today, those who were once his peers still regard his creations as near perfection.  Their praise extended not only to his design and construction, but to his finishing as well.

His assocation with the Auckland centreboard fleet was long and productive.  Like many involved in boatbuilding, much of the work he undertook consisted of repairs and general maintenance, but he soon began building new yachts as well.

Just as Arch Logan's mantle for keelboat designs had passed to Bill Couldrey and Col Wild, so did Billy Rogers become the preferred builder for Logan's clinker M's.  Mercedes was his first.  Arch must have been satisfied with the job, for in 1939 Marita, the last of the Logan M's, also went to Rogers.

By the end of the war, Roger's reputation was such that he was clearly the best clinker builder in Auckland and the preferred option for prospective M-Class owners.  His trio during the winter of 1946 - Marilyn, Makaere and Marauder - were followed by Monalua, Moani and Matana in 1947.  Monalua, probably his best design, was the last Emmy he worked on.  In 1962, Rod Lewis and Dick Church had rescued her from the mudflats at Glendowie and, having bought the bare hull, engaged Rogers to rerib her.

In 1965, Billy was called out to Frankham's slip following Monalua's destruction in a gale.  He declined to rebuild her: in his view she was beyond repair and it would be cheaper to build a new hull.

Failing health and a heart attack in 1968 put an end to his working days.  He died on 22 May 1972, aged sixty-six.

Keith Atkinson - The Last of 'the Old School'

When the M's began to claw their way back into the spotlight during the mid-1980s, it was often remarked how lucky the class was to have had the patronage of Keith Atkinson.

Of the twelve M's racing in 1987, eight were Davidson designs built by Keith Atkinson.

Atkinson served his time at Lidgards, where he worked on the Fairmiles and minesweepers as well as the M's that came out of the yeard in 1946.  On completing his apprenticeship, he was hired at a variety of boatyards before setting up on his own at Bute Road in Browns Bay.

By the end of the 50's, the Atkinson yard was one of the last in Auckland still doing clinker work.  When Mahina came to be built in 1960, such had been the standard achieved by Atkinson on the previous two M's that no other builder was seriously considered. There was other clinker work at Bute Road, too, but demand for it was fading. Kerry Alexander (now of Alexander Boats in Browns Bay) succeeded Ron Holland as apprentice at the yard when Moonlight and Matapan were built and he recalls that during his time there they also built several Sea Scout cutters and a couple of Frostbites.

When the Townson 32 design arrived on the scene during the 1970's, Keith set up a limited production line and turned out a dozen or so of these durable, well-mannered keelers.  It was through these that he returned to the M's.  Following delivery on Motivator and Masquerade, Keith went into retirement. He then built his last M, the champion Marksman, which he raced until his death on 15 September 1982.

Acknowledgement:

We would like to thank Robin Elliott, author of "Emmy - Seventy Years of M-Class Yachting" for allowing us to use these excerpts from his book.  We recommend you read this comprehensive and detailed history of the Emmy.
Click here to order your copy.