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Berthed in Marlborough New Zealand is just such a ship, classic lines, beautifully presented and an immediate attraction to every boatie that passes her by. Word around the local waterfront initially was that she was a masterfully restored classic beauty. Rolling off the tongues of very seasoned sailors were typical catch phrases; “Someone has obviously given hundreds of hours of TLC to restore her”; “That yacht must be close to 100 years old, but looks like new”; “A labour of love for someone”.

A labour of love she sure turned out to be and the rumoured tender loving care was not in restoration, but in building her from scratch.

Steadfast, a replica of the traditional French Pilot Gaff Cutter, Jolie Brise. Launched in Western Australia in February 2007, she has been the labour of love of Laurence Etheredge, a devoted yachting traditionalist.

Having previously restored a classic 100ft Topsail Schooner, Etheredge was equipped with the knowledge of the workings of older boats and had also developed some shipwright skills along the way. 

These skills would come to serve him well as he set about searching out his next project.  Originally inspired by the Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters that plied the coastal English waters at the turn of last century, he set about finding out more about them in the hope of finding one he could restore.

“I liked the lines of the Pilot Cutters”, he recalls, “They were successful cruising boats with a heavy displacement, classic lines and flush decks. In my opinion a thoroughbred working boat. Pilots themselves, were also among the most respected seamen in the merchant navy. So it was fair to conclude that their preferred design of vessel would have a lot of merit”.
 
Typically, Pilot Cutters would lie out to sea for several days, often weeks, waiting for a ship to pilot into port. Piloting was a competitive business and successful pilots possessed three key skills; perseverance, excellent seamanship and a fast vessel to chase down any arriving ship immediately it was sighted

Unable to find what he originally set out for, Etheredge’s path eventually lead him to the Jolie Brise, a ship that had been designed by Paumelle of France and launched at Le Harve in 1913.

The Jolie Brise not only served her captain and crew well in the ‘chase em’ down’ game of piloting, but she won the inaugural Fastnet Race in 1925. She then went on to win subsequent Fastnets in 1925, 1929 and 1930. Still sailing today, in more recent times, she was the Overall Winner of the Tall Ships Trans-Atlantic Race in 2000 and again in 2002. With such a fine pedigree, it’s not difficult to understand why a traditional yachting enthusiast would be attracted to her.

“I found a review of a book written about the Jolie Brise and ordered the book. By coincidence I had been aboard her some years prior”, Etheredge explains, “I decided to start looking for plans, which in turn lead me to the Exeter Maritime Museum who were the owners at the time. They sent me out the line plans as they had been lifted some years earlier by respected naval architect, Laurent Giles. From there I drew a full set of drawings, designing the yacht with the intention of submitting the plans for survey.

Thus begins the Steadfast story, a voyage of research, design, building, and, in her owners own way, that old pilot trait of perseverance. From laying the keel in 1990 to launching Steadfast in February 2006, took 15 years of interrupted building. Taking time out to develop other business projects, Etheredge estimates he worked some 20,000 hours over an eight year period building her.

Modern classics are somewhat in-vogue among the super-yacht fraternity, but Steadfast is a real classic. She is not a modern day classic built to classic lines and employing all the attributes of hi-tech yacht building and the creature comforts of super yacht pedigree.  The only noticeable concessions to modern day technology on Steadfast are the engine, radar and GPS. Every other component has been handcrafted using traditional methods. Sailing her is the same; block and tackle hoists and sail trimming, muscle power, purchase standing rigging, not a winch or turnbuckle in sight.

Even the manual anchor windlass with its ridged gears and cogs, looks like a piece of machinery that could have come into being during the industrial revolution. Previously used by the State Electricity Commission as a winch for raising power poles, it was salvaged from the scrap heap and converted to its present day use as a 2 ton anchor windlass. 

Built entirely of native Australian hardwoods and crafted to precision, Steadfast is a work of art in wood. Jarrah is the predominant wood used in her construction.

At the same time Etheridge embarked upon the Steadfast project, the replica Endeavour project had been underway in Fremantle for 18 months. This became a great source of advice on where to source materials. Working with the largest Jarrah Mill operating at the time, the volume and sizing of the required timber was accomplished, (Since the mid 1990’s, the milling of native hardwoods in Australia has been banned and Jarrah harvesting is now reduced to small volumes for furniture. It is interesting to note that similar to New Zealand hardwoods like Rimu and Kauri, Jarrah was also used extensively in the house building industry). 

After lofting the boat full size in a former wool shed, a plywood pattern was made for each frame, which was used to transfer its shape and the bevel to take the inside of the flitches. Sawn frames are made up of two sets of overlapping pieces called futtocks, which are cut with a changing bevel, each set overlapping its partner on the march up from keel to deck, with the butts staggered to avoid cross grain. The finished frames are 200mm x 100mm on 450mm centres, making for very heavy construction.

Jarrah planks, 45mm thick, 225 wide and 12 metres long were then fixed to the frames in the carvel tradition. Planks were steamed in a homemade steam box consisting of a 12 metre length of 250mm steel pipe, which was blanked off at one end and set on a slight slope. About a hundred litres of water was kept on the lower end, underneath which a fire was built and low pressure steam produced. A dip stick was used to keep an eye on the water level and a fan helped get the fire really hot.

Once steam was up, the first plank was put in the pipe and a loose cover placed over the open end. A second plank went in half an hour later. About one and a half hours later (the rule is an hour per inch of thickness) the first plank was hauled out and rushed over to the staging, where everything was set up for clamping it into place before it cooled off.

As Etheredge recalls, “A well steamed plank has a kind of leaden feel and the
determination to get a 12 metre plank in place before it cools (about 15 minutes) is a
great exercise in collective willpower!

Two planks a day were normal for a crew of three, including fastening and getting
two more planks ready for the next day. Steadfast is caulked in the traditional way
with oakum.

Deck beams are also Jarrah, while the longitudinal’s are made from Karri, a very dense, long grain West Australian eucalypt.

Sheoak, a Western Australian hardwood renowned for its durable and stable composition, was used for the decking. This low maintenance timber is ideally suited to decking because it has less than 1% of expansion and contraction to moisture and heat. Laid over waterproofed plywood decking and glued directly on, the decking has a similar appearance to teak. 

All the spars are made from laminated Oregon. The boom being solid and the other spars hollow, using birds- mouth construction (See bow sprit end insert. )
Plugs were fitted in the ends of the hollow spars and in way of loading points. The lower mast is hollow for about the lower third.

All the rigging hardware was also made by the owner, including blocks, sheaves, chain plates and various other running and standing rigging components that make up the inventory of a traditional working boat. In total, 75 traditional wooden blocks were crafted out of Sheoak. The wear and tear on these blocks, in particular the sheaves and pins can affect the ease of movement when hoisting, lowering or sheeting sails. To make this general maintenance item a little easier than having to dissect the entire block to get the pins out in order to release the sheaves, Etheredge designed the blocks with a removable metal cap that is simply fastened with two screws. Innovatively, these caps are made from retired New Zealand coin stock. 10, 20 and 50 cent pieces not only do the job without the vulnerability of heavy corrosion, but are also a bit of iconic kiwiana. It seems totally appropriate that the old 50 cent coin garnered with Cook’s Endeavour should now be a working component on a vessel that embraces the sailing traditions of bygone days.

Some of the hardware was also custom caste especially to suit Steadfast’s application. Skylight hardware, off-set propeller shaft, bronze rudder bearing and bronze door handles were all custom made.

Running rigging is a supple, easy to splice, three strand polyester that the owner purposely had made in Korea.

Standing rigging is galvanised wire rope that has been ‘parcelled and served’ in the traditional manner, using cotton cloth, marlin and Stockholm tar. 

The gaff rigged mainsail is fastened to the mast using traditional ‘mast hoops’. Karri timbers’ long grain and flexible attributes made it the ideal wood to fabricate the hoops. 

Below decks Steadfast is spacious and airy. The main salon is vast by standards, with two traditional pilot berths running lengthwise along each side. Accessing these practical sleeping spaces is done through a crawl opening and once inside, crew are comfortably positioned with side support when sailing  on either port or starboard tacks.

Jarrah trim, varnished to a high sheen, adorns the sides and bulkheads, inserted with panels of the lighter coloured Queensland, Hoop Pine’. The overall ambience is traditional, solid, safe, comfortable, richly crafted.  

Traditionally, the main salon was used by pilot crew as a bunk room/come mess hall, where the pilots would gather while they waited for a ship. 

Forward of the main salon bulkhead, which is one of four watertight bulkheads on Steadfast and includes a watertight door, is a spacious galley.

Accessed through another watertight door forward of the galley, or by a separate companionway on deck, are three more berths, head and chain locker.

The Captains quarters are also separately accessed aft and furnished with two berths and navigation station. This cabin is perhaps the only space on the yacht where modern technology is visible. Instruments, switchboard, GPS/Plotter/Radar, are all located here.  

Readying Steadfast for sail is a little more involved than hoisting up the main and letting the furler out on the family sloop, but Laurence and his partner Grace manage the boat double handed. Once the sails are set, she is a dream to be aboard. Wide open decks without the presence of the often, too prevalent ‘toe stubbers’.

Steadfast stability lets the helm be left without the fear of her rounding up. In winds under 15 knots and going to weather, the helm can be left to its own for minutes on end without rounding up on falling off. The steering system is rope on a drum through a block and tackle mechanism, making steerage easy and light but without the risk of the system making its own impulsive manoeuvres.

Weather helm does come into effect when the wind picks up over 15 knots while going hard to weather. It takes over 10 knots of breeze for Steadfast to begin to heel under gaff main and three headsails.

Her clear, shear, sweeping lines leave a very clean wake as she glides through the waters of the Marlborough Sounds on a 10-15 knot day. This is where Laurence Etheredge and his partner Grace plan to base Steadfast and make her available for day charter, extended charter and traditional sail training.  

Why the name Steadfast?

“The working boats of the day often bore names like Vigilance, Providence, Perseverance and suchlike. I was particularly drawn to the spiritual idea and the images tradition, quality, strength and reliability at sea conjure up. Steadfast fit all of those images for me”.

True to tradition and her namesake, Steadfast is strong. And for a design of her day, she is also sleek. Her plumb stem and delicate, feathering counter stern are indeed best described in the pilot language of her day; ‘A cods head and a mackerel’s tail’

Steadfast Specifications

Designer  Paumelle/Etheredge
Builder   Owner/Laurence Etheredge
LOA   17.6
   22.6 With bowsprit extended
Beam    4.9
Draft   2.9
Displ   42 ton
Ballast   12 ton – 6 ton outside ballast on keel
      6 ton inside in bilge
Fuel   600 litre
Cruising range  400 miles @ 2500 rpm
Water   1300 litres
Engine   Cummins 4B3.9 76hp @ 2500 rpm
Batteries  12 volt engine & communications
24 volt house
Sails   Oceanus Cloth
Main   100sq m
Gaff topsail  30sq m
Headsail                      30sq m
Staysail  30sq m
Jib   30sq m

 

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