Saga: 16ft Danish Designed NZ Yacht
Sept 1960
Build Date
Mr M.S.J. Hansen/ Peter ‘Pop’ Jorgensen
Boat Designer/Boat Builder
16 ft 10 inches
Length
6 ft 5 inches
Beam
Pop Jorgensen and Saga’s Build
Saga could be the first boat Peter ‘Pop’ Jorgensen built in New Zealand. Arriving in NZ with his family in 1954 Jorgensen worked as a caretaker of a pine block in Snake Point, Queen Charlotte Sound. Whilst here John Gander believes Jorgensen started building Saga. Whether this is the case or not, we do know for sure that Jorgensen started building the boat that would become Saga whilst in Denmark.
Jorgensen used a design by the Danish Navy architect Mr M.S.J. Hansen and shipped the pre-cut Danish oak to New Zealand. The design was for a sleek double ended keeler. He used the smallest boat design from the series, but the designs could go up to 55 square metre yachts. Jorgensen is believed to have said these large yachts were very heavy but also very fast.
Saga was also originally designed as an open boat with wide side decks and an open cockpit. Jorgensen adapted the design to be more suitable for the Queen Charlotte Sound weather. He added a cabin and a self-draining cockpit making it ideal for weekend cruises round the sounds. Even with these adaptations to suit NZ conditions Saga was still one of kind in New Zealand.
The Bennett Brothers and Saga
Before Jorgensen completed the build, he sold Saga to Murray and Peter Bennett, two brothers from nelson and members of Aurora Sailing Club. They completed the build by lining the cabin with mahogany, adding a sliding cockpit cover, making the boom and mast and varnishing the yacht. They made the mast out of Oregon with a tabernacle, and it was made collapsible.
For good luck a Danish penny was placed under the 30 ft mast. The mainsail could be raised and lowered by turning a handle and Saga had a Marconi rig. One ton of lead was used in the keel which made the boat very stable. The led keel was also the biggest contributor to the one and a quarter ton weight of Saga.
The Bennett’s named the yacht Saga and after six years of work she was launched on the Aurora Sailing Club slipway in Nelson. In tribute to Jorgensen, they flew the pennant of Kastrup Sailing Club of Copenhagen where Jorgensen had been a member. Saga had berths for four with space for two in the cabin and two under the deck, one on either side of the cockpit. Saga’s permanent berth became a mooring opposite the Light House on the Boulder Bank. With only a 3 ft draught Saga could easily fit on its mooring.
Seaspay outlined the timber used in building Saga, but it does not mention the Danish oak. Seaspray believes Saga was planked with treated white pine. The first four planks in the hull were kauri. The frames were spaced 20 inches apart and measured 1 ¼ inch x 2 inches. The floor timbers were 2 ½ inch. Two steamed ribs were secured between each frame and were ¾ inch x 5/8 inch. The deck was 3/8 inch plywood with 12 ounce canvas over cabin sides. Lastly, the belting and toe rails are mahogany.
Saga From 1960 Up To 2021
The Bennetts owned saga until July 1962 when they sold her to Ian Longstaff of Paremata, Wellington. To get Saga to her new home Ian Longstaff and Roydon Thomas sailed Saga from Nelson to Wellington on the 25-27 August 1962. This included going through French Pass at night and tackling all the dangers of the Cook Strait. It took them 43 hours and they had to use a 2 hp Seagull clamped to the rudder at times including going through French Pass. At the time Saga would have been one of the smallest boats to cross Cook Strait.
Saga was then raced in the 1962-63 season and sailed in ‘S’ Division keelers (Under 30ft). Saga even won the HutchWilco Race. In 1965, Harry Jorgensen and an apprentice sailed/towed Saga from Wellington to Picton presumably for maintenance at Jorgensen and Sons Ltd. Also, in 1965 Saga had a Yanmar 3-4HP hand start diesel engine installed. A couple of years later this was replaced with an electric start.
In 1974 Pop Jorgensen again owned Saga and moored her in Waikawa where his boatyard was. Jorgensen installed a Stewart Turner Petrol engine in 1975. M Bennett of Nelson later owned Saga. It is unknown who owns Saga now. She was moored in Clyde Quay Marina, Wellington until around 2019 but in august 2021 Saga was in a cradle at Evans Bay, Wellington.
References
To research Saga we used jorgensenboats.nz including an Sea Spray article, article clippings, a newspaper article and a typed page of Saga data.
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