Smackwater Jack (Whiting One Tonner)

Smackwater Jack was another joint Paul Whiting and Murray Ross effort, following the Quarter Tonner Magic Bus and Half Tonner Newspaper Taxi. While Newspaper Taxi had been designed with the 1977 Half Ton Cup in mind, Whiting and Ross elected to enter the larger higher profile One Ton class with a new boat. 

As a development of the Newspaper Taxi concept, Smackwater Jack featured a broad stern with a long sloping transom and pronounced beam amidships. As with Whiting's earlier designs, volume forward that was lost through an aggressively concave waterline was replaced through a deeper forefoot, with a steep profile abaft the bow knuckle. A further topside concavity occurred near the transom in order to reduce volume and thereby minimise the after girth penalty. She had a longer rated length than her Farr-designed competitors (9.95m), and this was offset by a higher measured displacement (4,519kg), but also allowed more sail area, set on a relatively simple but bendy single-spreader rig.

Smackwater Jack on launching day - Okahu Bay, Auckland (above and below)

Smackwater Jack during the One Ton Cup trials (photo Jenny Green/Sea Spray)

Smackwater Jack sailing upwind, her concave bow shape clearly evident

Smackwater Jack cockpit detail

Whereas the Farr boats carried ballast within their centreboard fin, the centreboard on Smackwater Jack was only weighted sufficiently to ensure that it would sink (90kg), and the yacht thereby relied entirely on internal ballast to achieve the required minimum level of stability. The yacht was found to have insufficient headroom, and a new boxy cabin top was hastily constructed to meet regulations. The cockpit lockers shown in the above photograph were also deemed to be non-compliant and had to be filled in just before the One Ton Cup series.

Sailing to windward in the Hauraki Gulf, with her new the boxy cabin in view

Approaching a windward mark during the 1977 One Ton Cup trials

Smackwater Jack during the 1977 One Ton Cup trials (photo Maritime Museum)

Smackwater Jack started her racing career with wins in local coastal races, then went on to win the New Zealand One Ton Cup trials, held in September 1977. This did not look likely after the first race, when the yacht was forced to retire after breaking her forestay. This was followed by an indifferent fifth in the second race, but she went on to win the intermediate offshore race after holding out Jenny H. A third in the fourth race was followed by another win in the final offshore, for a clear win overall.

Sailing downwind during the 1977 One Ton Cup trials (photo Maritime Museum)

Smackwater Jack was the feature yacht on the cover of the 1977 One Ton Cup programme

However, alterations to the yacht before the Cup series proper seemed to have a detrimental effect on her performance, and a lack of on the water preparation seemed to affect her reliability. Some of her competitors sailed in the Southern Cross Cup trials which allowed them to develop their charges and overtake the Whiting design. The Cup regatta started disastrously for the crew, with the yacht again having to retire from the opening race, this time with a propeller that refused to close. She also had to retire from the gale-afflicted long ocean race finale, suffering from a host of gear damage after the second leg bash to windward where she began taking on large amounts of water. In the three races that she finished, Smackwater Jack failed to fire, scoring places of 6/4/6.

Smackwater Jack hauled out at Westhaven Marina (photo Facebook)

Smackwater Jack sails upwind with The Red Lion in close company to weather during the 1977 One Ton Cup

Sliding along in a light seabreeze on the Hauraki Gulf (photo Maritime Museum)

Smackwater Jack was later modified with a new rig, cabin and conventional companionway, and slightly more subdued gunmetal grey colour scheme, and joined Anticipation and the Farr 1104 Chick Chack in the New Zealand 'North' team for the 1979 Southern Cross Cup series. Smackwater Jack had a good series, with an impressive second place in a light-air Sydney to Hobart race boosting her to fourth yacht in the individual standings, although the team finished a disappointing fifth overall.

Above and below - Smackwater Jack during the 1979 Southern Cross Cup series

Smackwater Jack seen here at the start of the 1979 Sydney-Hobart race, with Police Car visible to leeward and Anticipation towards the lee shore (photo Facebook)

A close-up view of the crew of Smackwater Jack at the start of the 1979 Sydney-Hobart race, with skipper and designer Paul Whiting in a red t-shirt to the left, and below, Smackwater Jack can just be seen to leeward and ahead of Bacardi (SM67) (photos Phil Uhl)

A satellite photo of Cyclone Paul - 9 January 1980

Whiting and his crew then started in the 1980 Hobart to Auckland race, getting underway in calm conditions on 4 January. However, a storm developed in the Gulf of Carpentaria which crossed the north Australian mainland and entered the Tasman Sea as a full-blown cyclone, and tracked directly into the path of the Hobart-Auckland fleet. The Smackwater Jack crew managed to complete their scheduled radio call on 9 January, reporting that they were in difficult and heavy seas approximately 580 miles from Cape Reinga. That was, however, the last word ever heard from the boat, and a full scale search and rescue operation failed to find any trace of the yacht or crew. The NZ Herald reported in January 2008 that wreckage of part of the cockpit had been found on Ripiro Beach, on the west coast of the North Island, but this was never verified (and the wreckage did not look likely to come from Smackwater Jack in my opinion).

Updated June 2023