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Her maiden race took place on 15 December 1934, a RNZYS
general handicap race for keel yachts over a harbour course in
a light northerly. She was given the same handicap as Victory
and came in 4th on handicap. Mr W. R. (Willie) Wilson was at
the helm for the race an honour due no doubt to the Wilson’s
family’s financial assistance in her building. After Xmas she raced to Russell in a fresh easterly from Kings Wharf to Cape Brett in 11 hours 30 minutes to win. She took several placings during the season and finished the season with two wins, one second, and two thirds. But her best first season win was winning the Heather Cup in the 1935 Anniversary Regatta in light conditions. The win was a great thrill for the young crew in their early 20’s with the yacht only 2 months after launching. (She has since won the Heather Cup twice, in 1961 and 1963, the Trimmer Cup in 1987 and her race in the 1996 Regatta making five Anniversary Regatta wins to date.) |
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In the winter of 1935 Logan supervised the tricky job of adding
an additional quarter of a ton of lead by wrapping it around
the keel and bolting it through and a new lighter mast was added
as she was found to be too tender. Her crew planned an offshore cruise in the summer of 1939\40 and were about to enclose part of her cockpit and shorten her rig when war was declared. Her crew all enlisted and served overseas. Mitchelson and Jervis with the RNZNVR, Tosswell, Geoff Ellison, and Haslett with the 2nd NZEF. Tragically Ellison was to be killed in a strafing attack at Suda Bay during the evacuation of Greece. Mitchelson served in patrol boats in the Mediterranean and the Pacific. Jervis served at sea on station at Singapore, Greece, Crete where his Escort Patrol ship was sunk following an attack, and the Eastern Mediterranean in the Battleship Valiant, Home fleet destroyers on convoy protection duties during which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his role in the ramming of a surfaced U-boat U-125 in the North Atlantic in 1943. He finished the war with the British Pacific Fleet. For the duration of the war Little Jim was stored on the hard under cover at Westhaven along with many others of the racing fleet while their owners served overseas. |
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