BOATS AT THE CLUB This is another in the series of articles aimed at providing you with an insight into new boats and other boats of interest at the Club. Contact Pat Catley through the Club if you are interested in having your boat featured here.
On 1 May 2021 Greg and Carol Patten will have owned their Inglis yacht G-Wizz for twenty years. Greg kindly shared the yacht’s history with me. G-Wizz was built in 1993 by Mal Hart in Victoria and hand crafted from western red cedar. She was designed by the Queensland yacht designer Jim Inglis and started life as a 47 footer with a lifting keel. Within two years G-Wizz was back in Mal Hart’s factory and extended to 50 feet. Over the next few years more optimisations were made with a Murray designed rudder and a longer, fixed keel added in a toolmaker’s workshop in Queensland. A keel stepped mast was also added during that period. G-Wizz raced extensively up and down the New South Wales and Queensland coast until late 2000.
Greg had been following the developments of G-Wizz over several years as he was keen to own an offshore Jim Inglis designed yacht and in early 2001 his nephew rang from Mooloolaba to say that G-Wizz was about to go on the market. Greg jumped on the next plane and after a very windy late afternoon sea trial made an offer which was accepted. Greg was very impressed with the quality of the vessel, especially how the fixed keel had been housed in the centre
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case using only horizontal laid keel bolts. Having built two smaller yachts in his younger years Greg knew what to look for and played an active role in the survey. He flew back to Adelaide and with Carol’s support put together a team to sail G-Wizz the1600 nautical miles back home to Adelaide.
In late May 2001, just before sundown, fully fuelled and provisioned, G-Wizz headed out over the Mooloolaba sandbar and into a 28 knot south-easter that built to over 30 knots during the night. Over the next few hours the crew discussed turning north and heading for Hamilton Island instead! The port stops for the trip home were planned to be Coffs Harbour, Sydney, Portland, Wirrina and Adelaide with the 3.3 metre fixed keel preventing refuge in bays along the way. The first two nights at sea allowed the crew to settle into some rough weather sailing whilst keeping well clear of the offshore longliners with many kilometres of fishing line. They also passed many pods of whales and dolphins heading north for the winter - a much better idea! Radio contact with prawn vessels told them the weather was the worst experienced for decades and when G-Wizz arrived in Coffs Harbour provisions were low with the crew needing a hot shower and sleep. They were greeted on the dock at 5.30am by a prawn fisherman with freshly cooked prawns for breakfast and a very firm congratulatory handshake. The
