She has a beam of 12 feet and draws seven feet and there were several departures from the norm in her building: "She wasn't an easy job really and we took eight months over her. Balandra was built of two skins of Honduras mahogany glued onto pre-bevelled frames which means all the ribs were laminated and pre-bevelled before they were put into place, instead of being steamed as we usually did." Jock's son Ross and Gary Smedley worked on one side of her planking and Jim Grove and Jock worked on the other. This was after Adam Brinton and Jock had prepared the backbone - a long job and an incredible amount of work because of the designer's requirements. 'The frame or backbone was also Honduras mahogany, which is, quite simply, the best boat-building timber in the world both for construction and interior joinery." This was Ross' first major job and he went on to serve his time with his father as a boatbuilder and become a first-class craftsman in the steps of his uncle Max. Jock said Balandra was worth the effort and he has followed her with keen interest. His long-time friend, Neall Batt, was with him on the delivery trip to Sydney and they sailed back in the crew in the Sydney-Hobart race crossing second over line behind South African yacht Stormvogel and fourth on handicap. Peter Green was the sailing master. At the end of 1990, she was owned in Hobart by Gerd Hennicke
Lady Nelson
The 32-foot motor-sailer sloop Lady Nelson was launched in 1969, built for Robert Robe Junior of New York who had earlier owned and restored the well-known ketch Ti- conderoga. "I was very happy with this boat which I designed and we built for Robert. She had a beam of 10 feet and draught of four and a half feet and is a very comfortable design. The main specifications were that she had to be a lifeboat concept so she's got a double ender cruiser stern. I don't know where he got the idea but I was very happy to do it. In fact, she has a similar stern to Van Diemen but a bit fuller. "There was a bit more work in it, but it looked nice once it was finished. Dave Wardrop was one of the boatyard workers who played a major part in building Lady Nelson which was constructed of Huon pine and teak."