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Rona (1892)
Encyclopedia
Rona was designed by one of the world’s greatest yacht designers, George Lennox Watson
George Lennox Watson
George Lennox Watson was a Scottish naval architect. He was born in Glasgow, son of Thomas Lennox Watson, a doctor at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and grandson of Sir Timothy Burstall, engineer and entrant at the 1829 Rainhill Trials.-Early life:...
. She was constructed in 1892 in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, by master craftsman and designer Robert Logan (Senior), for Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
merchant and benefactor Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull, whose collection of rare books was bequeathed to the nation as the Alexander Turnbull Library in 1918.
She is one of the finest surviving examples of a six-beam cutter (her beam fits into her length six times; i.e., she has very slim lines), she is a gaff rigged racing cutter, and is one of the oldest yachts still sailing in New Zealand. She is the oldest continuously registered ship in New Zealand.
Rona is an excellent example of 19th-century racing yacht design and construction, and is representative of an industry in New Zealand that has continued to exemplify innovation, attention to quality, and refinement into the 21st century. It is no accident that Rona was originally painted black, and that colour still is used on New Zealand's America's Cup yachts. The current strength of the boat-building and sailing industry in New Zealand owes a great deal to the traditions and standards established by the Logan boat-building family.
Rona was beautifully restored to original condition by her last private owner, John Palmer, in what amounted to an amazing labour of love, taking over nine years.
The fact that Rona has been able to be maintained as a fully operational sailing vessel for over 110 years is probably largely due to her construction in kauri pine (Agathis australis
Agathis australis
Agathis australis, commonly known as the kauri, is a coniferous tree found north of 38°S in the northern districts of New Zealand's North Island. It is the largest but not tallest species of tree in New Zealand, standing up to 50 m tall in the emergent layer above the forest's main canopy. The...
), which is a fine-grained timber of excellent quality for boat-building.
The Rona Preservation Trust was set up to purchase Rona (this was accomplished in November 2006, with assistance of grants from the Lotteries Foundation, and other benefactors), and to make her accessible to the community through sailing events, maintenance and training days and public open days.
Moored on the Wellington waterfront, she attracts New Zealanders and international visitors. Rona is a precious part of New Zealand’s maritime history and provides a unique opportunity to keep alive past sailing traditions and pass them on to future generations.
External links
Alexander Turnbull in NZ Encyclopedia 1966