history fibreglass sabres

[Anonymous]

thanks for that info peter,
My sabre 1201 was built by Kim Snowball , so it must have been one of the first glass sabres around!.
She is still holding together and still fast after all these years!…

[Anonymous]

My wife’s Sabre 982 is either a Snowball or Smackwater, with a label saying it was supplied by a firm in Glenelg. The dinghy previously sailed with Larg’s Bay for many years. The bow had slight foam seperation problems easily fixed with the traditional hypodermic syringe load of resin. I there a way of telling who produced 982? Who built the windward mark boats?

Many Smackwater boats had construction problems. I bought a fleet of Pacers from them for the YMCA, and all were totally beyond repair after 5 years with major seperation problems.

[Anonymous]

This is not recorded as measured. The original plans were sold to W.O’Toole of S.A. probably in 1981.

Phillip Johnson
National Measurer

[Anonymous]

This evidence suggests that fibreglass Sabres were being built as early as 1981 by Kim Snowball and sold through an agency in Glenelg. I have checked 982 against photos of 1154, another Snowball, to verify she is identical.

From Peter Reid’s recollection 982 must have been produced when the national committee were trying to ban SA built fibreglass Sabres, thus she was not registered as measured. However, she was raced at several SA clubs for over 20 years before I bought her for my wife in 2004 through the SA Sabre Association. She was still set up with the original fittings lay out and Ray Brown sail. Since bought, 982 has been updated with discarded parts from four other Sabres from three different states!

I presume the Victorian concern was that you can get legal shapes from a mold which are faster than from a ply boat. Does this explain why the Botteril mold was taken from an existing boat to avoid wooden boats being outdated as has occured in some dinghy classes?

Thus, the Botteril Sabres were not produced in Victoria until seven years after the Snowball Sabres in South Australia. Of course there is an outside chance Bill O’Toole bought the plans, decided building was too complex, and later bought a Snowball and used number 982 for her.

Paul Fitzwarryne, 266

[sabre_admin]

interesting you say that as the current plywood sabres being built by express boat works only have a similar appearance to rex fetells abigail

[Author]

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