Winterwind 

An Invited Friend of the Harrison Butler Association
This boat NOT designed by Harrison Butler
   

  
 

Winterwind

Capable Australian Shallow Water Cruiser
Lesley Beck has joined the Association as an Associate Member, keen to know more about Harrison Butler and his boat designs. Lesley is the fourth custodian of Winterwind, a boat built in Australia in 1963. The builder is thought to have taken Harrison Butler's Zyklon design as a starting point, but then made some drastic alterations to accommodate a drop down keel so that she could cruise shallow waters. Harrison Butler did tackle the problem of shallow water cruising as evidenced by, for example his, Aella design of 1944, or his Sabot design of 1932. It's a shame Winterwind's builder did not go for one of these as only one boat, Rama II, exists of the Aella design and none to the Sabot design. As it is, Winterwind is too different to Harrison Butler's published plans to be deemed 'authentic'.
None-the-less, Lesley clearly has a capable boat, well suited to creek crawling. She's made several improvements to Winterwind to make life afloat more comfortable. She writes, “Being a slim lady, I have fitter a headsail furler so I don't have to walk out along the bowsprit and an electric winch to enable retrieval of anchor and mooring pendant at ease”.

Winterwind's cabin
Winterwind's drop down keel and associated mechanism

Winterwind Statistics
Built : 1963 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
LOA : 24' 7"
LWL : --
Beam : 8' 4"
Draught : 7' 5"
Displacement : --

Winterwind Custodians & Home Ports 
Lesley Beck (2012-2015...) American River, Kangaroo Island, South Australia
John & Wendy Manual (1986-2012) Goolwa, Lake Alexandra, Murray River
2nd Owner (?-1986) Port Adelaide, South Australia
Builder & 1st owner (1963-?) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Winterwind Links
• None found (November 2015)

Page last updated : November 2015 

 
  

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