Northshore 369

Yachts bearing the Northshore name have become part of the landscape around Australia's waterways over the past 25 years. They've built a reputation as sturdy, no-nonsense craft which might not have all the niceties and knick-knacks of some of their imported rivals, but are strong and dependable in the tough conditions lurking around Australia's coasts.

One of the few brands left on the scene after Australia's production yachtbuilding industry shakeout a decade or more ago, Northshore Yachts is these days a division of the well-established brokerage, Sydney Yachting Centre.

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who knows more about the local yachting market than company principals Geoff Pearson and Bob Vinks, and both are staunch subscribers to the 'Be Australian, Buy Australian' view. So it's surely appropriate that they have become local boatbuilders as well as brokers, with the manufacturing plant near Gosford on the NSW Central Coast, and the sales office at The Spit on Sydney's Middle Harbour.

The core of the Northshore range has remained the 310, 340 and 380 models - voluminous people-carriers for family cruising/club racing. In spite of flurries of involvement in more performance/racing orientated directions, those cruiser/racers are still synonymous with the Northshore name.

Even the 370 Sports, introduced as Northshore Yachts' latest performance model several years ago (and winner of the BIA Sailing Boat of the Year Award for 2000), has that full-bodied, cruiser/club racer look.

Little wonder then that the new Northshore 369 has been turning heads and provoking surprised comments since its winter launch. Its looks are low-slung, streamlined and performance-orientated, with rolled gunwales and a big, open cockpit that's clearly capable of housing a racing crew.

The 369 doesn't look like 'a Northshore', and it doesn't even look like the 370 Sports, although it has been produced from the same hull mould.

What it resembles most - in concept at least - is the Sydney 38, the smart one-design class which has turned into a runaway success for fellow Australian yachtbuilder, Sydney Yachts.

Both yachts provide an accurate summation of the type of sailing many people are looking for these days: relaxed twilight club racing with any number of people onboard, from just a couple to a crowd of novice sailors, business associates, etc; regatta and coastal passage racing with a more dedicated, regular crew; and the occasional weekend or week away cruising with family and friends.

With more than 50 built to date, the demand for the Sydney 38 has revealed the existence of a pool of buyers looking to update to a yacht which is fun to sail, easy to manage and great to race, particularly now that the class has achieved critical mass as a one-design fleet. (Witness the strong fleets of Sydney 38s at this year's Whitsundays regattas.)

With the 369, Northshore Yachts is offering a slightly smaller version of this contemporary take on yachting tastes, and is promoting it as a more budget-conscious alternative.

Whether it will be able to build the numbers to produce one-design racing rivalling that of the Sydney 38 remains to be seen, but given the 'buzz' of interest surrounding the 369, and my first impressions from our test sail, I'll be bold and predict that the new yacht will be a success for Northshore Yachts and a step forward into new developments for the company.

THE DESIGNER SPEAKS
Sydney-based designer Scott Jutson drew up the Northshore's 370 Sports, and then produced this new design incorporating the 370's underwater hull shape. "The hull form is longer on the waterline and finer in the stern for increased performance on all points of sail," Jutson says in the 369's design notes.

He continues: "The design is aimed towards the entry level of serious club and IRC handicap racing, with the added benefit of one-design racing... The IRC rule promotes fast fun boats that don't need to cost an arm and a leg to provide good on-water returns for owners and their crews "The new Northshore 369 is aimed firmly at this contemporary market - a market that wants maximum performance for their dollar (and time) with minimum outlay for features that promote obsolescence.

"The 369 is designed and built for outstanding all around performance. This begins under water with our high performance vertical fin keel and laminar flow alloyed lead bulb, which puts the weight where it belongs.

"The entire structure is designed to meet both ABS requirements as well as Australian Standards and each hull will be certified by NSW Waterways.

"The rig and sail plan [is] based on the 370 Sports' runnerless, non-overlapping headsail set-up, with larger spinnakers for added performance downwind.

"The rig is an alloy development of our advanced swept-spreader, runner-less designs. It is simple to operate for the most casual sailing while not lacking in sail area for good light air performance... assured by a sail area/wetted surface ratio of 3.37."

To produce a lighter hull than the 370 Sport without sacrificing strength, a more expensive layup has been used for the 369, utilising a vinylester/e-glass/balsa composite for the hull and vinylester/e-glass/balsa and foam sandwich for the deck.

FIRST RACES, FIRST WINS
Our sail was aboard the first 369 launched, Gary Riley and Ken Murphy's Avanti. It had just arrived at their home club of Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club on Sydney's Pittwater, following a short, sharp burst of racing on Sydney Harbour. That was in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's winter series, where Avanti won its first two races, much to the delight of its proud owners.

Riley is relatively new to sailing, while Murphy grew up sailing dinghies around Port Hacking but has only recently become involved with keelboats, first of all with a Northshore 380. "We thought we'd cruise 80% of the time, but we got the racing bug, so we talked to [Northshore Yachts] about this new design."

Murphy said he and Riley plan to use their new boat primarily for racing with a crew of seven or eight in the RPAYC pointscore and twilight series, and are thinking of entering the Pittwater to Coffs Harbour regatta over the New Year holiday period.

Helping to get the boat and crew tweaked up is Jason Rowed, who is working with Northshore Yachts as Project Manager and Sales Agent for the 369. An accomplished racing sailor who also knows a thing or two about one-design class organisation through his involvement with the Farr 40 OD and Mumm 30 classes, Rowed is the driving force behind the 369's development.

We sailed in a weekday afternoon no-extras race on Pittwater, poling out the headsail for the first long running leg and then two-sail reaching or beating around the remainder of the course. The breeze ranged from around 8-15kt and we used a panelled Kevlar No 1 headsail and full main from Avanti's North Sails inventory.

The boat was slippery downwind, even with a poled out headsail rather than a spinnaker, and powerful and stiff upwind and reaching. The very big, custom-made aluminium steering wheel elicits a feeling of direct control and responsiveness and allows the driver to sit or stand comfortably to windward or leeward.

The wheel is positioned further forward in the cockpit than on most aft cockpit yachts, with the mainsheet traveller running across the cockpit floor behind the wheel. This layout provides a lot of space out of harm's way aft for guests, while ensuring that the crew weight is stacked forward while racing.

There was plenty of room in and around the cockpit for efficient crew work, and we weren't tripping over each other with eight aboard. The deck hardware includes Harken winches (44 speed for the primaries and 40s for the mainsheet and halyards/control lines) and is race boat standard.

Down below, the interior is kept light, simple and easy to maintain and clean, all great points on a racing boat. A double V-berth is optional in the forward cabin, which is otherwise used for sail storage, and there's an enclosed head with manual pump toilet, holding tank, vanity sink, opposite a hanging locker and storage space. There is seating either side of the saloon on comfy settees/bunks, plus a dining table and the galley located opposite to starboard.

The galley is pretty basic with a two-burner metho stove but no oven (in my opinion a must these days for any boat that might do some overnighting), manual cold water system as standard, sink and icebox.

The 27hp Yanmar saildrive diesel at the aft end of the saloon is housed under an engine box and the companionway, sliding right off to provide good access to both the engine and the batteries.

On the port side is the nav station, with single bunks either side in the aft quarters (double quarter berths are optional).

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
With the 369, Northshore Yachts appears to have achieved its vision for "a fast, simple, easy to handle one design racer with a smart usable interior".

It doesn't come with all the home comforts, bells and whistles, but then it's not intended to compete against the 'floating caravan' brigade.

It's a fun boat to sail and that's its major appeal. At less than $300,000 sailaway, it is also offering a new, budget-conscious option for those looking for a contemporary club racer/cruiser.

And even though the 369's looks might surprise, the fact that it really is an Australian-built Northshore will be regarded by many local yachties as a further stamp of approval.

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