Rainbow - a Logan masterpiece
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| click to view larger | The cutter Rainbow has often been described as Logan Brothers’ masterpiece. She was built in 1898 for Mr A.T. Pittar, one of Auckland’s foremost yachtsmen at the time, and with her launching, yachting on both sides of the Tasman received great impetus, for Rainbow undoubtedly showed Auckland and Australian yachtsmen that she was a boat of exceptional speed and beauty.
On her plan, Logan Brothers modestly described Rainbow, which was to become the most famous racing cutter in the South Pacific, as a fast cruiser.
Perhaps the most striking feature of Rainbow’s lines are the graceful proportions arrived at by Logan Brothers. Her profile is set off to perfection by the delicately drawn out bow and tapered counter, resulting in those long and easy waterlines so eagerly sought after by designers of racing yachts. Despite a moderate draught of 6.8 feet and a beam of only 8.8 feet, Rainbow managed to carry her big gaff cutter rig quite comfortably in a hard breeze.
Rainbow was built of three skin diagonal construction and copper fastened throughout. Her flush deck was unbroken except for a forehatch and skylight. Her cutter rig was carried on a pole mast stepped well aft with jib set flying on a short bowsprit, foresail hanked to lower fore’shroud and jackyard topsail.
Ronald Carter
Little Ships – New Zealand’s Yachting Fleet, 1948
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