Allan started sailboat racing at the age of four in his father's 22' Pied Piper. His father trailed behind in the dinghy with a camera to get this photo of Allan steering the boat with his sister as crew (Put Under Photo). In New Zealand, many young boys start sailing this way as evidenced by the country's prodigious list of successful int'l racing sailors. As he grew older, Allan sailed solo in Optimists and 'P' Class boats, eventually racing in all senior New Zealand dinghy classes. He progressed to race on most class type and one-design keel boats. This impressive experience on the water led him to a very successful track record designing racing skiffs.
As a child, Allan used his carpenter father's tools to build metre-long model boats using plywood, battens and scraps from his father’s shop under the house. But it was playing with his models on the family farm's pond which led him to work out ballast, displacement and sail area. Being a normal small boy, he liked speed and success.
Allan’s' first serious design was a Cherub class yacht in 1985. The next year he built an R-Class boat which led him to his first commission in 1987, an R-Class yacht for Mike Sanderson (Speedboat's skipper). Allan continued to refine his design and building techniques by constructing three more Cherubs for himself and one for Jeff Wilding (National Cherub title), followed by three 12-foot skiffs. His most successful project was the 12-foot skiff no. 2 which, in the hands of Chris Skinner, won two national titles and an inter-dominion title (between Australia and New Zealand) in 2004. It was the first New Zealand-designed boat to take the prize since Bruce Farr did so in 1971.
As a teenager, Allan worked at Fosters Ship Chandlery. In 1986 he went on his OE to Australia (OE is an adventure young—and sometimes not so young—New Zealanders experience when they travel for the first time overseas Many embark on these travels before settling down to professions). Allan stayed in Australia three years before returning to New Zealand where he worked for Irwin Industrial Tools as a costing officer. He stayed at that job for 10 years.
During this time he continued racing and building boats and also played rugby, a sport taken very seriously by Allan as well as the rest of New Zealand. Unfortunately, in 1997 he broke his neck while playing. Over many painful years, with fortitude and determination, he rallied from what could have been a catastrophic injury. And although his racing is somewhat curbed by this injury, his expertise on the water is expressed through his love of designing and building skiffs.
Allan’s newest project is the Roper 850 a low-cost plywood club and coastal racer. The Roper 850 has a light displacement of 1900 kg on a beam of 2,79M and auxiliary power from a transom mounted outboard. The sail plan is a generous 3/4 rig, with fractional and masthead gennakers flown from a fixed 1.5 metres prod.
Allan returned to work at Fosters Ship Chandlery in 2005 and works with the Harken crew on racing-boat winch installations and general servicing. He is also the in-house dinghy technical consultant. When Allan is not working, skiff designing, and building, he spends time with his partner Janice, his four-year-old son Timothy and his step children Coral and Joel. Fosters Shipchandlery is pleased to have Allan back on the crew. Allan can be reached at: alanr@fosterandco.co.nz
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