For Case Varkevisser the rebirth of a hidden classic, a '67 Binks FD, was a labour of love. Here are the results of the saving of a classic. Thanks to Case for the details and pictures.

Case and Ric working near Mt Martha Yacht Club on Port Phillip Bay with the boat's original Miller and Whitworth sails.

For the second owner (Murray McCutcheon), after some 40 years of being in a carport unused, it was time for the FD to go to a good home, but not just any home. The former owner of the boat couldn’t bear to sell the boat to just anyone, it had to be someone who was prepared to put some love into restoring it and Case was that person. The boat was built in 1967 for Bill Hodder by Binks Yacht Constructions of South Australia. This boat’s claim to fame (other than its survival) was that it was sailed in the 1967 National Titles and the selection trials for the 1968 Mexico Olympics on Botany Bay NSW. The hull construction is fibreglass finished with black gel coat. The deck and cockpit are plywood with various coloured timber veneer trims and the cockpit floor is made of teak.  All the timber joints are as tight as the day it was built.

Bill Hodder and Murray McCutcheon sailing KA229 on Botany Bay in 1968.

The hull was very “bumpy” and a lot of time was spent getting it back to an acceptable finish and Case painted the hull with two pack black Northane. The deck is the original deck and although the deck had seen better days, Case wisely, thought it well worth preserving.  Which is a great outcome and the deck was also finished in two pack Northane, but obviously in clear. Most of the original fittings were refurbished and retained, there is of course a few modern ones. The mast is the original mast (with its diamond stays, which are no longer used on modern FDs) and was anodised black when originally built and this was also retained. 

Case and Ric sailed the boat at the recent Australian titles at Sorrento. Case said that ‘our expectations weren’t high; however, it did perform well in the light weather and in all the races we finished on the same leg as the fleet’.  

Perhaps not unexpectedly, Case said ‘In the stronger winds we were struggling to keep up. If only there was a cruising division…'