One Man's Boat: Columbia 50 custom yacht

Some yachties reckon there is one hard and fast rule regarding the annual Rolex Sydney-Hobart race -- never sail out of Sydney Harbour and turn right in anything shorter in feet than your age plus 10.

It is a rule that would put most baby boomers aboard 70 footers on December 26 and suitable yachts of that length don't come cheap. Buying and campaigning a newish 70 footer for this year's Hobart race wouldn't give you much change out of $1 million.

But there is another way south. Buy a well-maintained racing yacht from the age when baby boomers were in their prime years, slap on a new set of racing sails and hope the boat's age allowance will give you a chance of being very competitive on handicap.

Such a yacht is Robin Harding's eye-catching 1970 Columbia 50 custom yacht, Robon III, that is now on the marina at Sanctuary Cove in Queensland and looking for a new owner with $125,000 in his or her pocket.

When the US-based Columbia Yachts launched the first of the 62 Columbia 50s it made back in 1962, the vessel was the largest fibreglass production yacht in the world. Designed by the legendary Bill Tripp, the yacht was -- by today's standards -- massively over-engineered and more than capable of standing up to any sea conditions.

It was also no slouch. A Columbia 50 won the 1966 Transpac race from the US west coast to Hawaii and also the Chicago-Macinac and Newport-Ensenada races.

The yacht originally came from the factory rigged as either a yawl, a schooner or a sloop but Harding's boat, which was one of the last launched, was put together as a dedicated racing sloop which was campaigned by the Columbia company in races around America.

Harding, a life-long sailor who is now 72, bought the yacht from a young American couple in San Diego almost two years ago after their dream of a world circumnavigation collapsed.

He moved to San Diego and spent $60,000 and six months preparing the yacht for its voyage to Australia. Unfortunately he fell from his bicycle just after he completed the refit and severed an artery in his forehead. He lost so much blood he had a minor heart attack in hospital and was told by his doctors to "act his age".

"When I was 70 I did a solo trip from Tahiti to New Zealand in another yacht, I thought I'd sail this one home across the Pacific," Harding told BoatPoint, "Now, with my wife threatening to leave me, I’ve been ordered to slow down."

Harding says the Columbia 50 is a 'joy' to sail. "She is a beautiful sea boat, very dry in the cockpit, and capable of sailing anywhere. She has wonderful traditional lines and would be a terrific fast cruising yacht.

"But I’d really love to see someone buy her, equip her with new racing sails, and give some of the new boats in the Sydney-Hobart race a real shock. She is still as strong as the day she was built and with her age allowance, I reckon she would be a real smoky for handicap honours."

Harding says the yacht’s raised dog house design makes her ideal for racing and cruising. When racing the crew can keep dry and warm but still be only a step from the cockpit. When cruising, the large windows in the dog house let everyone, including the cook, see out.

The yacht has new wiring throughout, new electronics and batteries, a new fridge and radar. On deck there is new roller furling on the jib and a new hydraulic boom vang.

There is also a new six-man life raft and a Zodiac dinghy with a 6hp Suzuki outboard.