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I enclose a number of e-mails received from Mike McKeon I am most grateful to him and leave his emails as sent to me , I have also posted relevant information in the various sections of the web site. Dear VOA, I have just sent you a photo of Austral Vertue and I found some more info that may be of interest --- I became good friends of Bill Heard of Geelong, Victoria, Australia the original owner and part builder of Corio Vertue in the 60's. The Geelong club had a keen racing ethic and a number of Illingworth/Primrose "Top Hats" that Bill raced against --- Bill was a very good skipper with a very keen feel for getting the best out of a boat and in races with too much or not enough wind Corio Vertue beat the Top Hats no worries and he beat them in OK conditions -- this was also with out new fangled 'go-fast' gear or adequate winches much to the fancy top-hatters chagrin. The second owner of CV was Alan Buller a 1st class chippie who did a lot of upgrading to CV, I don't know where she is now. Back in 1966 when I bought Austral Vertue from the 2nd owner Noel Waters I was contacted by a Mr. Chris Larrewyn who was building "Fionn" V 140 in Hornsby NSW and later moored in Botany Bay -- she was the extra strake hull, long coach house/ no dog house hull with the Andrillot gaff rig. He took me to see a pro built Vertue "Julia Jane" at a yard in Pittwater - north of Sydney - all teak and Huon Pine!! JJ was moored at Sorrento at the south end of Port Philip Bay here in Victoria - don't know where she is now. A subsequent owner of Fionn was a Craig Dempsey who has probably sold her since. Chris early 80's died in 2002 in the midst of building a 20' beamy yank boat. His address at that time was 3 Evesham Close, Balmoral via Rathmines, NSW 2283 Australia - his wife Mary may be still there I have lost contact. Re all the above -- if I can up date and clarify anything in the future I will let you know. Regards, Mike McKeon E-mail: mmckeon@alphalink.com.au Web-site: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~mmckeon Dear Michael, I did some ringing around today to Ken Shepherd [former co-owner of Bass Vertue] and Bruce Morley and tried to track down my Hobson's Bay YC mate Alan Buller [2nd owner of Corio Vertue] searched all my cupboards for photos and found some that may be of interest, and also books and magazines. The results are as follows -- Ken [81+yo] had memories of a lot of things but is not up to date being out of the yachting scene. Could not locate Alan Buller. Bruce Morley [V167 Tui Of Opua] is a wealth of info and makes an endeavour to locate the where-abouts of every Vertue in Australia, he told me that he sent 300 pounds sterling to the association some years back but has not heard anything from the association since - could you check this out ? Bruce offered the following snippets -- Bass Vertue is now owned by a lady shipwright Kate and is in Sydney Kotimu V117 [Andrillot rig, built in NZ] lost off the North Queensland coast Fionn V140 [built by the late Chris Larrewyn also Andrillot rig] was shipped to the UK some years back There is a Vertue in Geelong [I will have to check this out] and he reminded me that Fair Vertue [a GRP version] is here at the Royal Melbourne YC. Myself and Bill Heard -former owner of Corio Vertue travelled up to Sydney to meet Ed Boden when he was in Rushcutters Bay [the home base of the Sydney Hobart race] where i took some photos of Kittywake and Bill with Ed yarning in the cockpit. I also have a couple of letters from Ed Boden, we were neighbours almost in Micronesia -- one of his letters is in a custom printed envelope and the letter has a watermark on the letter sheet of a Vertue that Ed sent sometimes, quite impressive in those days before computers DTP !! I also have photos of Fionn being built showing Chris' excellent workmanship and some VG photos of Tui of Opua in the water 2 years ago. A page from the Yachting Monthly with a letter of mine. If you want to run a "Knots and Splices" tips page on the site I can send in some ideas that I learnt on the voyaging I did and I am sure there are a lot of useful anecdotes from others. Bruce is your man in the Antipodes, please make contact [and locate his payment?] he would be most pleased. It sounds as if there are around a dozen or so Vertues in Oz, at least 2 being cold moulded [the best way to build I think -- I have been building a cousin to Trekka and Sopranino - cold moulded]. Hope you don't mind my rambling on too much, but maybe out of it all you will eventually be able to have an authourative data base from this part of the world. Regards, Mike McKeon ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael WoodhouseTo: Mike McKeonSent: Sunday, January 04, 2004 9:23 PMSubject: RE: More stuff
Mike Many thanks for your email – no one could wish a Vertue owner any better !! I look forward with great interest to seeing your book when it is finished, perhaps we can publisie it on the site if that is what you would like,
Regards,
Michael Woodhouse http://www.vertueowners.org.uk
-----Original Message-----
Dear Michael, I am replying to the 2 mail responses you sent to me -- I think I sent another mail also saying that THE best built Vertue I have ever seen [and I saw some in the UK] is "Tui of Opua" owned/ built by Bruce [a communications engineer] and Thelma Morley [nursing sister] of ---
Regards, Mike McKeon ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Woodhouse
To: Mike McKeon Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2004 5:17 AMSubject: RE: More stuff
Dear Mike,
Thank you very much for your very imformative email about the various Vertues. I will update the site in the relevant sections. Happy sailing, and a very good 2004 to you.
Regards,
Michael Woodhouse http://www.vertueowners.org.uk
-----Original Message-----
Dear VOA, I have just sent you a photo of Austral Vertue and I found some more info that may be of interest --- I became good friends of Bill Heard of Geelong, Victoria, Australia the original owner and part builder of Corio Vertue in the 60's. The Geelong club had a keen racing ethic and a number of Illingworth/Primrose "Top Hats" that Bill raced against --- Bill was a very good skipper with a very keen feel for getting the best out of a boat and in races with too much or not enough wind Corio Vertue beat the Top Hats no worries and he beat them in OK conditions -- this was also with out new fangled 'go-fast' gear or adequate winches much to the fancy top-hatters chagrin. The second owner of CV was Alan Buller a 1st class chippie who did a lot of upgrading to CV, I don't know where she is now. Back in 1966 when I bought Austral Vertue from the 2nd owner Noel Waters I was contacted by a Mr. Chris Larrewyn who was building "Fionn" V 140 in Hornsby NSW and later moored in Botany Bay -- she was the extra strake hull, long coach house/ no dog house hull with the Andrillot gaff rig. He took me to see a pro built Vertue "Julia Jane" at a yard in Pittwater - north of Sydney - all teak and Huon Pine!! JJ was moored at Sorrento at the south end of Port Philip Bay here in Victoria - don't know where she is now. A subsequent owner of Fionn was a Craig Dempsey who has probably sold her since. Chris early 80's died in 2002 in the midst of building a 20' beamy yank boat. His address at that time was 3 Evesham Close, Balmoral via Rathmines, NSW 2283 Australia - his wife Mary may be still there I have lost contact. Re all the above -- if I can up date and clarify anything in the future I will let you know.
Regards, Mike McKeon
I am a past owner of Vertue No 39, Kandy, and my father owned No 116, Hoitak. I am considering buying another one, having had a passing affair with a plastic Nich 35. Have you any information about Vertues for Sale, please? Yours sincerely, Roger Robinson
Username: Tony O'Hanlon Dear Mike- Recently I was visiting Camden, Maine and saw a boat (pic attached) that immediately got my attention-must be a Vertue I thought despite the unique deckhouse. The Broker in Camden through whom I bought Alaria confirmed that it is Kainui V106 still owned by Steve Garrand who has done the recent work. Her previous voyaging is described, as you know on the site. I was given his phone number and I hoped to encourage him to contribute to the site. Alas, the number has been disconnected with no alternate available. I will try to track him down. In the meantime I thought you might like a partial update on her. I have recently had some email correspondence with Darrell Chalkley after you forwarded his enquiry. He sent me some photos of Rosette. He has done a stunning job in her recent build. I encouraged him to submit her story etc to the site, it should be quite interesting. Thank you again for all your work keeping the site up. It is a great resourse for telling people about proper boats! Best wishes, Bill Cabeen ============================================================================== Mike I did it! I now own my very own "hole in the water to throw money into." And in a week or so I'll belong to the "people with boats in their yard" club. Maybe in a year or so I can join the "people who have boats in the water" club, and if all goes well I can someday join the "people who work on their boats in exotic locations" club! She's rough and run down, but there's a beautiful boat inside there. I am exhausted! Bryan went with me, we left at 7 am, got home at 10 pm. I've never been to that part of the world before and it's Washington's most visited tourist area. Having Bryan for a navigator is like having Charlie Chaplin for a meditation instructor... Ah, she's a beauty! Her name is Theresa, but that ain't gonna last. I'm thinking of TRISTAN JONES or maybe TRYSTAN. I can't use TRISTAN, as there already is one in Canada, but I like the various shades of TRYSTAN. It is, after all, a consummation devoutly to be wished. sigh... It seems that Port Townsend, Washington ( a centre of nautical history) executed a community project back in 1981. Wanting to commemorate and celebrate one of the finest small boats of all time, they had Laurent Giles expand the Vertue to 27 feet for fibreglass. They lofted the plans on the local dock and then built ten of them Each was a bit different, mine has a raised deck from cockpit to foredeck and is exceedingly strong, with 2 inches of glass (14 layers of roving!) at keel and stem, tapering to 3/4 inch at the sheer! She was cruised and lived aboard for about 5 years, was bought and put in a shed for a rebuild project. She was stripped and gutted, and there the project got derailed. And now I own her and will have her delivered next week. Her name is Theresa now, but I don't know if that was her original name. I'll tell you more of her history as I learn it.. A few pics are posted here (but will likely be removed soon)http://projectboatco.com/core/listing/pl_boat_detail.jsp?&units=Feet&checked_boats=1082781&slim=broker&&hosturl=projectboats&&ywo=projectboats& Dave |