JANE GIFFORD RESTORATION TRUST

PO Box 171 : Warkworth 0941 : Email  hugh@dysonsmythe.co.nz

NEWSLETTER –  JANUARY  2011

The Jane Gifford project passed another milestone on 27th January when she sailed again for the first time in many years.  Peter Sewell, Tom Wustenberg, Hobb Thompson, Ian Julie and Peter Thompson have achieved a great deal over the last few weeks in completing the rigging to the point where the boat could be taken out for a trial sail.  Thursday was a beautiful day and the Jane Gifford looked fantastic with all her canvas up and setting including topsails.  There was only enough wind to fill the sails.  There is still work to be done on completing the sheeting positions for some of the sails, placement of cleats, and other details and the mizzen topsail will need to be recut or replaced for it to set properly.  We owe a vote of thanks to all those or have helped complete the rigging.

Peter Thompson has also completed a new set of roller bearing blocks for the mainsail and mizzen sheets.  These have reduced friction greatly and will make the sails a lot easier to handle. 

The Jane Gifford has been very busy over Christmas with large crowds turning out for the public sailings.  At times, trips were run back to back to accommodate numbers and thousands enjoyed the beautiful weather.

The new landing barge for the Jane was launched in November.  This looks like a development of a Mahurangi oyster barge and is 8 metres long and about 2.5 metres wide.  It has been built so we can move passengers quickly on to or off the Jane if we are loading off a beach or anywhere else where there is no wharf.  The boat will hold about 20 people at a time.  The barge has a boarding ramp, floats in about 100 millimetres of water and is powered by a 30 HP Honda.  The outboard was purchased with a grant from Auckland Regional Council and the landing barge has been completed to a very high standard.

We still have to complete the galley and there are a few other minor finishing details but with the income we have had over the Christmas period we are hopeful that soon the Jane will be finally finished.

Mark Rothwell who is in charge of skipper and crew training has been doing a great job with our volunteer skippers and crew.  We have four volunteer skippers at the present time with another two coming on and about 35 crew.

The crew are all volunteers and have been upskilling over the winter with First Aid, firefighting courses and other training courses ashore and on board the boat.  The organisation is substantial to keep the boat running on demand at all times.  Arnold Nicholls is in charge of keeping the crew roster and Dave Parker takes the bookings.

It is pleasing to look back on the project over the last five years to see it close to completion.  The boat gives a great deal of pleasure to a lot of people, young and old.  The Jane has been in the water now for almost 2 years and is in great condition.

We may need to look at antifouling her again over the winter but the paintwork and presentation of the boat are still in as new condition and we can see the benefits of the careful construction practice that was put into the rebuilding of the boat.

Jane Gifford Steering Committee