New Hick 39 Envy has owner smiling after recent Geelong Week outing
by Media Services on 6 Mar 2009
Envy - Hick 39 Hick Marine
Peter Dusting entered his new Hick 39, 'Envy' in the the performance division of the recent Skandia Geelong Week so he could contest the 30 mile passage race from Melbourne to Geelong.
When Peter Dusting approached Hick Marine to design and build his new boat, he had firm ideas on what he wanted out of the project. The boat was to be a day sailer about 40 foot with a modest fitout, including a simple galley, four bunks and an enclosed head.
It had to be simple and easy to sail for his ageing crew and needed to to be quick enough to stay in front of the large fleet of Sydney 38's that sail regularly in Melbourne. Peter had successfully sailed a line of boats under the Valiant name, his last a Radford Sprint 35 and this new boat was the next step.
The final configuration was a 39 footer with a displacement of 5.5 tonne, cast iron keel and lead bulb. Whale Spars provided a double spreader aluminium rig and Doyle’s Col Anderson made the sails. To improve the build efficiency, the boat was infused in foam and glass over split centre line male moulds. This technique eliminated the need for a separate deck mould and greatly reduced the build time.
To ease the burden on the crew, Peter chose electric headsail winches and a hydraulic mainsheet system imported from Italy that has proven to be very user friendly and offers incredible control over the mainsail. The backstay, vang and traveller are all hydraulic and together with main and headsails can be adjusted via a pendant developed by Peter's son John. While the pendant is currently hard wired through an umbilicle cord, it will eventually be wireless, giving complete freedom around the boat.
The forecast for the race was for 20-25 knots on the nose and Peter was not sure whether some of his untried systems would stand up to forecast. However like most yachties, temptation took over and he motored out on the morning of the race into a 25 knot Port Phillip south westerly. To break up the fleet, the performance and cruising divisions started on a second start line 400m directly downwind from the bigger race boats and Sydney 38's that were contesting their own series as part of Geelong week.
'Envy' relished the hard upwind conditions and at the finish in Geelong she had passed seven Sydney 38's including Victorian legend Lou Abrahams in a fleet of nine boats. After the finish, Peter simply eased the main halyard and the mainsail retracted into the furling boom while they motored into Geelong to enjoy the festivities.
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