Positive Touch: The First Rocket 31

1982

Build Date

Jim Young/Jerry Cookson

Boat Designer/Builder

Length

Beam

Build and Launch

Launched in 1982 Positive Touch is the first Rocket 31 designed by Jim Young. The boat was built by Terry Cookson of Cookson Boats for Laurie and Jim Kean. They commissioned the boat after seeing an article on the Seaspray magazine in June 1980. Positive Touch was made out of 12mm strip kahikatea and 10oz glass cloth on the inner and outer faces. This construction method was new and provided for a lightweight, high performance yacht. Boats made with this method like Tickled Pink and Positive Touch were able to have fast planning speeds both downwind and across the wind.

This boat is also innovative because it is said to have introduced the “sport keeler” to the world. It was so new that the owners of Positive Touch were not used to racing keelers and got Jim Young to race the yacht for the first few years of its life in Auckland.

Tauranga and the furure

Positive Touch was later sold to people in Tauranga where it stayed for 25 years. Over these years it was stilling racing but had become tired if still competitive. Around 2000 Aaron Young, Jim Young’s grandson brought Positive Touch. Jim Young was said to be ecstatic that his grandson now owned Positive Touch and was making renovations to the boat. Aaron Young added a new keel, rig, galley and floor structure. Back in full racing trim Positive Touch was then raced by Aaron Young and proved successful even against high tech race boats between 9 and 13 metres.

The Rocket 31

Although the Rocket 31 design was truly a New Zealand boat it was a Cornish man that brought it the notoriety it deserved. Greg Peck raced the sister ship to Positive Touch, Camp Freddie and won every regatta in the 1993 English circuit including the class 1 at Cowes. He also won the Round the Isle of Wight race with Camp Freddie. The success of Camp Freddie and Viva Zapata (a slightly altered version of the Rocket 31 raced by Mike Bennett and won class II honours at Cowes) that year started the popularity of ‘sports boats’ worldwide.

References

To research Positive Touch we used the websites below and Jim Young’s memoir Jim Young: Designer, Boatbuilder, Sailor
Crew.org.nz, Yachingnz.org.nz, sail-world.com and fishingboating.world.

Fiery Cross – The world’s first canting keel yacht

Heatwave – Designed and raced by Jim Young

Tickled pink – Maybe the first Young 88 Boat