CABBAGE PATCH YACHT

 

 

The history of “The Flying Lady “.

 

An amazing chapter in my life was the design and build of a, yet to be named, (at that time), a 100ft round bilge steel, luxury yacht.

After inserting a 3 line advertisement, (Of which was ridiculed by my wife) in a West Australian newspaper, I received a phone call from a guy who only identified himself as ‘Peter”

After a short conversation of my ability to build him a 100ft, steel, round bilge, schooner, we agreed to meet the next day at his office in St Georges Terrace above the stock exchange.

At that meeting I was asked about my previous background in this line of work, satisfied by my qualifications, he went on to ask as to what facility I had, what equipment it contained, and how many people I employed, to this the answer was NONE!

This did not seem to bother him, as he proceeded to write me out a cash check for AU$ 15,000, which in 1983 was a sizeable sum.

Cashed up, I went home stacked it up on the dining room table and waited for my wife to come home from work. Her first reaction was that I had robbed a bank, as she could not believe that someone would part with that kind of money, to a complete stranger that had nothing.

 

I then set about the task of renting a piece of vacant land along side of a market growers area, ( hence the name “Cabbage Patch”) built a small workshop from material purchased from Sims scrap metal, and met a struggling designer who Peter had commissioned to do the design.

After laying down the yachts lines, full size, it was obvious that the designer was out of his depth, which resulted in him having a massive heart attack, and passing away.

This left the owner in a dilemma that was resolved by me doing the design.

Work on the yacht carried on with me burning the midnight oil every night on the design, ready for my sole workforce of one man and a 15yo boy, during the day.

A great deal of interest was generated by the construction of, at that time, the biggest round bilge steel yacht to be built in Australia!

So much so that newspapers wrote stories on it and it became a tourist attraction.

In 1987, the year of the stock market crash, the boat was launched and the fitting out finished in the water.

On completion, the owner, of whom I had by now found out, had a devious career, cut the mooring chains at 2am in the morning, and headed for International waters.

By the time the armed water police were informed and set chase, the vessel was outside their authority.

This resulted in a personal lose of some two million dollars when placed in receivership as well as houses cars etc.

 

Since then, this magnificent vessel, with its gold plated taps, wine cellar, ultra modern galley and state of the art push button sail rig, has had numerous newspaper articles written about it.

A yacht that has under gone a name change, to avoid creditors and the tax man, chartered to the rich and famous, robbed by Philippine pirates, are only to mention a few.

 

Shown on Australian National TV, with your’s truly featuring of which I will show any interested party, this yacht, although giving me huge heartaches, fills me with pride as to how it was conceived, and built!

 

“Only the innocent, have been changed, to protect the GUILTY’

 

Sid Nixon